While the government’s plan to create new provinces has triggered a countrywide debate with experts referring to the constitutional provisions on this subject, it has not adopted a legal and administrative course to build public opinion in this direction, suggesting that it was just a political gimmick rather than a well-thought out strategy as no committee or commission has been set up to work on this delicate issue.
Though many politicians are coming up with arguments for and against the idea of new provinces just for getting political mileage, no one has bothered to refer to the history of the countries which had adopted a rational approach to go for new administrative units besides analysing whether they had created new provinces on ethnic, linguistic, regional, population, resources or religious basis.
A thorough study into the history reveals that Indian authorities were cognizant of the challenges of future and they had introduced a major reform in 1956 to carve out new provinces. The Indian government, led by prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, had formed a commission headed by Justice Fazal Ali in 1953, which made recommendations for new provinces. Interestingly, these provinces and states were formed on lingual basis.
The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries and governance of India’s states and territories. The act reorganised the boundaries of India’s states along linguistic lines, and amended the Indian constitution to replace the three types of states, known as parts A, B, and C, with a single type of state. Although additional changes to India’s state boundaries have been made since 1956, the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 remains the single most extensive change in state boundaries since the independence of India in 1947.
Political movements for the creation of new, linguistic-based states developed around India in the years after independence. The movement to create a Telugu-speaking state out of the northern portion of Madras gathered strength in the years after independence, and in 1953, the 16 northern, Telugu-speaking districts of Madras State became the new State of Andhra.
Other small changes were made to state boundaries during the period between 1950 to 1956. The small state of Bilaspur was merged with Himachal Pradesh on 1 July 1954, and Chandernagore, a former enclave of French India, was incorporated into West Bengal in 1955. The States Reorganisation Commission: In December 1953, prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the States Reorganisation Commission to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines.
This was headed by Justice Fazal Ali and the commission itself was also known as the Fazal Ali Commission. The efforts of this commission were overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant, who served as home minister from December 1954. The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganisation of India’s states.
The States Reorganisation Act: The States Reorganisation Act of 1956, which went into effect on 1 November, eliminated the distinction between Part A, B, and C states. It also reorganised the state boundaries and created or dissolved states and union territories. Changes to states and union territories: On November 1, 1956, India was divided into the states and union territories:
States: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Mysore, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Union territories: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry, and Delhi.
States Recognition Commission-II: The Congress Party is mulling to support the demand for a second States Reorganisation Commission to get out of the dilemma created by the condition set by Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the party’s potential partner in Andhra.
The TRS, which is being wooed by the Congress because of its popularity in the Telangana region, has been asking it to take the vow of support to the creation of a separate Telangana state as the price of the partnership, says an Indian media report.
While an alliance with the TRS is expected to boost Congress’ prospects in Telangana, the party is loath to endorse the idea of a partition of Andhra Pradesh for fear of annoying the voters in other parts of the state. Telangana region accounts for only 16 of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh, and the party’s chief rival and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu can seize upon Congress’ support for the separate Telangana state to find favour with the electorate in the rest of the state, says the report.
The party strategists, who see the idea as pointing a way out of the bind, say that it can help identify the party with the aspirations for the separate Telangna state without getting seen as directly working for the dismemberment of the state — a sore point with the rest of the state which accounts up for 26 Lok Sabha seats.
Support for the States Reorganisation Commission can also help the party negotiate a similar problem it faces with regard to the demand for a separate Vidarbha state to be carved out of Maharashtra. The demand for Vidarbha state dates back to the 50s and the party’s attempt to duck it by creating a separate organisational unit for Vidarbha no longer goes well with the people of the region, the report concluded.