States and union territories of India


is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories in turn are each subdivided into a total of around 800 districts, which contain further administrative subdivisions.
Under the Indian Constitution and laws, the states of India are self-governing administrative divisions, each having a state government. The legal power to manage affairs in each state is shared or divided between the particular state government on one hand and the national union government on the other. The union territories are directly governed by the union government; no state level government exists in these jurisdictions.

History

1876–1919

The British Raj was a very complex political entity consisting of various imperial divisions and states and territories of varying autonomy. At the time of its legal establishment in 1876, it was made up of 584 constituent states and the directly ruled territories of the Crown. The entire empire was divided into provinces and agencies.
A province consisted of territory under the direct rule of the Emperor of India and a few minor states, ruled by Indian princes under the suzerainty of the Emperor. A Governor or Lieutenant-Governor acted as representative of the Emperor in that province and as head of government of the directly ruled territories in the province.
The governor or lieutenant-governor also served as the Emperor's representative to the constituent states of the province. The first three of the lieutenant-governorships were territories annexed to India from other powers and temporarily governed by the erstwhile Bengal Presidency, before being made into their own separate provinces. Agra and Bengal were still considered de jure parts of the defunct Bengal Presidency for judicial and legal purposes. Agra was separated in 1878 and merged with Oudh.
The Bengal Presidency was re-established in 1912 as a governorship. All these provinces had their own legislatures established by the Indian Councils Acts, and high courts established by Indian High Courts Acts. Laws passed by these legislatures needed the dual assent of the governor or lieutenant-governor of the province and the governor-general of India, who functioned as the representative of the Emperor.
  • There were three governor's provinces in 1912, styled "Presidencies" as a historical memento that they had been once governed by presidents. These were:
  • *Bombay
  • *Madras
  • *Bengal
  • There were six lieutenant-governor's provinces in 1905. These were:
  • *Burma
  • *Punjab
  • *Central Provinces
  • *Bengal
  • *Eastern Bengal and Assam
  • *Agra and Oudh
  • **North-Western Provinces and Oudh
  • **United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
There were territories ruled directly by the Government of India through nominated chief commissioners. These were former independent states annexed to India and since ruled directly by the Supreme Government.
  • There were the three chief commissioner's provinces. These did not have a legislature or a high court. These were:
  • *Ajmer-Merwara
  • *Coorg
  • *Oudh
  • *Delhi
The vast majority of the Indian states in the late nineteenth century were, in terms of imperial divisions, organised within the provinces. A good number of states were organised into imperial structures called agencies, or residencies. An Agent to the Governor-General functioned as the Emperor's representative to all the states in the agency.
  • At the time of establishment of the empire, there were only two agencies:
  • *Rajputana
  • *Central India
  • Several kingdoms were neither part of a province nor an agency; they each had direct relations with the Emperor:
  • *Kashmir and Jammu
  • *Nizamate of Hyderabad
  • *Kingdom of Mysore

    1919–1935

In 1919, the fourth Government of India was enacted by the Crown. This saw many major changes. The legislatures of the provinces were made elected ones rather than nominated ones. Some provinces were given bicameral legislatures. All provinces were elevated to governorships and all lieutenant governors were made governors. Burma was given a special status and made an autonomous province.
  • There were ten governor's provinces now. These were:
  • *Bombay
  • *Madras
  • *Bengal
  • *Burma
  • *Punjab
  • *Central Provinces and Berar
  • *United Provinces
  • *North-West Frontier Province
  • *Assam
  • *Bihar and Orissa
  • There were four chief commissioner's provinces. Their status mostly remained unchanged. These were:
  • *Ajmer-Merwara
  • *Coorg
  • *Balochistan
  • *Delhi
The Chamber of Princes was established by Emperor George V in 1920. One of the major consequences of this was the creation of many more agencies from the states of the provinces, granting them direct relations with the Emperor instead of with the Governors.
  • There were now 8 imperial agencies and residencies. These were:
  • *Punjab States
  • *Madras States
  • *Deccan States Agency and Kolhapur Residency
  • *Western India and Gujarat States Agency and Baroda Residency
  • *Eastern States
  • *Gwalior Residency
  • *Rajputana
  • *Central India
This saw the separation of all the states from the provinces and addition to before-mentioned agencies. This left all the provinces with only territories under direct Crown rule.
  • Several states continued their direct relations with the Emperor through this period, including:
  • *Kashmir and Jammu
  • *Nizamate of Hyderabad
  • *Kingdom of Mysore

    1935–1947

The latter years of the Indian Empire saw the enactment of the last Government of India Act by the Crown. This act granted full autonomy to Indian provinces. Provincial laws no longer needed the assent of the governor-general. This act created the office of a Premier in each province, who functioned as the new head of government and was responsible to the provincial legislature.
Bengal, Madras and Bombay which had been till now styled Presidencies, were now officially styled as provinces. The provinces of Orissa and Sind were created from Bihar and Bombay respectively. The Province of Burma which had previously functioned as an autonomous province of India was now separated from the Indian Empire, and established as the Crown Colony of Burma.
  • The new set of 12 governor's provinces were:
  • *Bombay
  • *Sind
  • *Madras
  • *Bengal
  • *Burma
  • *Punjab
  • *Central Provinces and Berar
  • *United Provinces
  • *North-West Frontier Province
  • *Assam
  • *Bihar
  • *Orissa
  • There were 4 chief commissioner's provinces:
  • *Ajmer-Merwara
  • *Coorg
  • *Balochistan
  • *Delhi
  • There were 8 imperial agencies and residencies:
  • *Punjab States
  • *Madras States
  • *Deccan States Agency and Kolhapur Residency
  • *Western India and Gujarat States Agency and Baroda Residency
  • *Eastern States
  • *Gwalior Residency
  • *Rajputana
  • *Central India
  • Three kingdoms were in direct relations with the Emperor.
In 1947, the last Act of the Crown was passed. The act dissolved the Indian Empire, the Imperial Legislative Council and the Chamber of Princes. The Union of India was consequently established from 9 former Indian provinces and 562 former Indian states.

1947–1950

Between 1947 and 1950, the territories of the princely states were politically integrated into the new Indian Union. Most were merged into existing provinces. Others were organised into new provinces and states, such as Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Malwa Union, Baghelkhand and Bundelkhand States Union, and Patiala and East Punjab States Union, made up of multiple princely states. A few, including Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Bilaspur, became separate states.
The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, made India a sovereign democratic republic. The new republic was also declared to be a "Union of States". The constitution of 1950 distinguished between three main types of states:
was created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State.
The French enclave of Chandernagore was transferred to West Bengal in 1954. In the same year Pondicherry, comprising the former French enclaves of Pondichéry, Karikal, Yanaon and Mahé, was transferred to India. This became a union territory in 1962.
Also in 1954, pro-India forces liberated the Portuguese-held enclaves of Dadrá and Nagar Aveli, declaring the short-lived de facto state of Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In 1961, India annexed it as the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states.
As a result of this act: