The Union and its Territory

Articles 1 to 4 (Part I)

• Art 1: "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States." The territory of India includes States, Union Territories and any territory acquired later.
• Art 2: Parliament may admit or establish new States (for example Sikkim in 1975).
• Art 3: Parliament may form a new State from an existing one, merge States, change boundaries, or change names.
• Art 4: Laws under Arts 2 and 3 are not constitutional amendments under Art 368. A simple majority is enough.

Procedure under Art 3

1. A Bill can be introduced only on the President's recommendation.
2. The President refers it to the State Legislature concerned for its views. These views are not binding.
3. Parliament passes it by a simple majority.

Reorganisation of States

• Dhar Commission (1948): rejected language as the basis. JVP Committee (1948): (Jawaharlal, Vallabhbhai, Pattabhi Sitaramayya) also advised against it.
• After Potti Sriramulu's death in a fast (1952), Andhra State was formed (1953), the first linguistic state.
• States Reorganisation Commission (1953) under Fazl Ali, with K.M. Panikkar and H.N. Kunzru as members. It accepted language with safeguards.
• States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and the 7th Amendment created 14 States and 6 Union Territories and ended the old A, B, C and D categories.

Later States

Present position

India has 28 States and 8 Union Territories. The J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 turned the State of J&K into two Union Territories from 31 October 2019: J&K (with a legislature) and Ladakh (without one). In 2020 Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were merged into one UT, which brought the number of UTs to 8.

Union Territories: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Puducherry.