8/16/2019 How India’s map has evolved since 1947

How India’s map has evolved since 1947

livemint.com/news/india/how-india-s-map-has-evolved-since-1947-1565803882094.html

August 14, 2019

Indian map with mini tri-colored canvases in an attempt to create a Limca

Book of Record for the largest such map, ahead of Independence Day
celebrations, Navi Mumbai (Photo: PTI)

Updated: 14 Aug 2019, 11:11 PM IST Sriharsha Devulapalli

India’s internal boundaries have changed over past seven decades—the
biggest reorganization being in 1956, followed by nine changes in state
borders

New Delhi: Seventy-two years after India won Independence on 15 August

1947, the country’s internal boundaries continue to change, with the
announcement of the creation of two new Union territories (UTs) by
bifurcating the state of Jammu and Kashmir earlier this month.

While the latest move by the Union government to convert a state into two UTs
is unprecedented and remains mired in controversy, India’s internal
boundaries have undergone continuous evolution over the past seven
decades, as the charts below show.

The biggest reorganization of India’s internal boundaries occurred in 1956

when an official States Reorganization Act was implemented.

But even after that, there were nine changes in state boundaries.

Apart from the loss of territory to Pakistan in 1947 (parts of Kashmir, though
they continue to be claimed by India and are part of India’s map) and to China
in 1962, India’s external boundaries has changed only three times—when Goa

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/how-india-s-map-has-evolved-since-1947-1565803882094.html 1/5
8/16/2019 How India’s map has evolved since 1947

was subsumed into the Indian Union in 1961, Pondicherry in 1962 (officially)
and Sikkim in 1975. While most regions in British India achieved independence
on 15 August 1947, there were several regions that joined the Indian Union
later. States, such as Kashmir, Hyderabad, Junagadh, Manipur and Tripura,
became part of the Union in the period between 1947 and 1949, not always
without controversy.

By 26 January 1950, India had formally transitioned to a republic of states from

a dominion. It had largely amalgamated the smaller states into larger regional
territories, such as Saurashtra.

This union of states had three classifications based on whether they were
former provinces (part A), princely states (part B), and territories that were
going to be directly ruled by the Union government (part C), the precursor to
UTs.

Following the creation of an Andhra state in 1953 for Telugu-speaking regions

of Madras state, the State Reorganization Commission (SRC) was established
to evaluate the restructuring of the republic largely along linguistic lines.

In 1956, the country was organized into 14 states and six Union territories. It
remains the single largest reorganization in the nation’s history. Six states and
five UTs still retain their boundaries from back then. Interestingly, the SRC
recommended against splitting Bombay and Punjab along linguistic lines.

An expandable version of this image can be seen here

However, that recommendation fell on deaf ears as they were split

subsequently.

The Samyukta Maharashtra Andolan and Mahagujarat Andolan protests led to

the split of the Bombay state in 1960 into two parts: Maharashtra and Gujarat.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/how-india-s-map-has-evolved-since-1947-1565803882094.html 2/5
8/16/2019 How India’s map has evolved since 1947

The Akali Dal led the Punjabi Suba movement, which led to the creation of a
Punjabi-speaking and Sikh-dominated Punjab state, and the Hindi-speaking
and Hindu-dominated state of Haryana in 1966.

The mountainous parts of erstwhile east Punjab were also merged with the
then Himachal Pradesh, to create a Union territory.

The ’70s witnessed several changes in state boundaries along the north-
eastern frontier, often to douse the fires of militancy and violence. Manipur
and Tripura were granted statehood and the state of Meghalaya and Union
territory Mizoram were carved out of Assam in 1972.

Three years later, a referendum held in Sikkim, till then India’s protectorate,
voted for joining the Indian Union as a state.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/how-india-s-map-has-evolved-since-1947-1565803882094.html 3/5
8/16/2019 How India’s map has evolved since 1947

The ’80s saw the birth of two more north-eastern states when Manipur and
Arunachal Pradesh were granted statehood in 1987 (they were UTs earlier). In
the same year, Goa, Daman and Diu were split into the state of Goa and the UT
of Daman and Diu.The next changes to the boundaries happened in the first
year of the millenium, with Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh carved
out of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, respectively.

Unlike the linguistic basis for states in the ’60s, these states were created to
address long pending regional demands and inequalities in regional
development. Telangana, too, was formed on the basis of such demands in
2014.

The latest change to Jammu and Kashmir has been justified on the grounds of
development although that claim remains contested. This may not be the last
of the changes in India’s internal boundaries. Several regions across India
aspire for full statehood, although the intensity of demand varies across
regions, and over time. The development boards (established under Section

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/how-india-s-map-has-evolved-since-1947-1565803882094.html 4/5
8/16/2019 How India’s map has evolved since 1947

371 to promote equitable development) in states such as Maharashtra,

Gujarat and Karnataka, and territorial councils in the northeast could be the
potential contenders for statehood in the future.

But such boards and councils could also temper the demands of statehood, as
the political scientist Rononjoy Sen has argued, pointing to the Ranji Trophy
cricket teams of Vidarbha and Saurashtra as the “unfulfilled ambitions" of
statehood in India.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/how-india-s-map-has-evolved-since-1947-1565803882094.html 5/5