{"id":50231,"date":"2025-08-02T19:30:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=50231"},"modified":"2025-08-02T19:30:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T14:00:49","slug":"india-linguistic-reorganisation-of-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-08-2025\/india-linguistic-reorganisation-of-states","title":{"rendered":"Linguistic Reorganisation of States in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Tamil Nadu Governor recently criticised the linguistic division of states in India, calling it a factor in the creation of &#8220;second-class citizens&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>At Independence in 1947<\/strong>, India inherited a patchwork of provinces and princely states shaped by colonial administrative imperatives. These included:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provinces under direct British rule,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>565 princely states under indirect control.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Constitution, which came into force on <strong>January 26, 1950,<\/strong> declared India to be a \u201cUnion of States\u201d. The country, at the time, was divided into 28 states, falling under four categories.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Part A states (governors\u2019 provinces in British India):<\/strong> Assam, Bihar, Bombay, East Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Part B states (former princely states or group of princely states): <\/strong>Hyderabad, Jammu &amp; Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), Rajasthan, Saurashtra, and Travancore-Cochin.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Part C states<\/strong> included both the former chief commissioners\u2019 provinces and some princely states: Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg State, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Kutch, Manipur, Tripura, and Vindhya Pradesh.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Part D state:<\/strong> Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which was governed by a lieutenant governor appointed by the President.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Post-Independence,<\/strong> people expected the new democratic government to respect and reflect linguistic aspirations in governance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Development in Later phases<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>JVP Committee (1948\u20131949): <\/strong>The Indian National Congress set up the Linguistic Provinces Committee in December 1948, comprising<strong> Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, and Pattabhi Sitaramayya.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Findings: <\/strong>The committee formally<strong> rejected language as the basis for reorganisation<\/strong> and emphasised the risks of national disintegration due to linguistic division.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Creation of Andhra State:<\/strong><strong>Potti Sriramulu\u2019s<\/strong> 56-day hunger strike for a <strong>Telugu-speaking state<\/strong> led to his death in 1952, triggering mass protests.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In response, the Government <strong>created Andhra State in October 1953<\/strong> by separating Telugu-speaking areas from Madras State, marking the first linguistic state in India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>States Reorganisation Commission (SRC), 1953:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Government of India appointed ( December, 1953) a <strong>three member States Reorganisation Commission<\/strong> under the <strong>chairmanship of Fazl Ali <\/strong>with other two members were<strong> K.M. Panikkar and H.N. Kunzru.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Commission broadly accepted language as a valid criterion but rejected the idea of <strong>\u201cone language\u2013one state.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The States Reorganisation Act, 1956<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Act abolished the existing classification of states into Part A, B, C, and D, establishing a <strong>unified system of 14 states and 6 union territories.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It led to the formation of states like<strong> Kerala, Karnataka<\/strong>, and enlarged existing states by merging territories based on linguistic majority.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Bombay Reorganisation Act (1960)<\/strong> later created <strong>Maharashtra and Gujarat.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Created further reorganisations: <\/strong>Punjab (1966), North-Eastern states (1963\u20131987), Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand (2000), and Telangana (2014).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXcW-SDC9IvybsmykXhU2auZe8JIlZnna0LezxLul_f0eT4j8Ebwu8XIC-Xv1fj1aQTymwvOUOP6oM00ix1eMwJpMElha6rRa41t8h7KEehDg4DHxDkU-LVzm2VbD_L2sP9Embb4?key=CMhGR4k9HtvjGXCfZAsKWA\" alt=\"The States Reorganisation Act, 1956\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impact and Success of Linguistic Reorganisation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Preservation of Unity through Diversity:<\/strong> Contrary to fears of fragmentation, linguistic states have strengthened national unity.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The linguistic pluralism<\/strong> has helped tame secessionist tendencies, unlike in Pakistan and Sri Lanka where language imposition caused conflict.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Improved Governance: <\/strong>By creating smaller and often more homogeneous states, the Act aimed to bring governance closer to the people and enhance administrative efficiency.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Promotion of Regional Identity:<\/strong> It recognized and fostered the unique linguistic and cultural identities of various communities, promoting cultural pride and integration.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2008)<\/strong> noted that major secessionist movements (e.g., in Nagaland, Punjab, Kashmir) were based on ethnicity, religion, and territory, not language.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is a need to strengthen cooperative federalism to address regional aspirations without fuelling divisive tendencies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Periodic assessment of state boundaries, governance challenges, and inter-state equity should be undertaken through institutional mechanisms, without compromising national integration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-history\/what-r-n-ravis-criticism-of-linguistic-states-misses-10162580\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Tamil Nadu Governor recently criticised the linguistic division of states in India, calling it a factor in the creation of &#8220;second-class citizens&#8221;.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The States Reorganisation Act, 1956<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Act abolished the existing classification of states into Part A, B, C, and D, establishing a unified system of 14 states and 6 union territories.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">It led to the formation of states like Kerala, Karnataka, and enlarged existing states by merging territories based on linguistic majority.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Bombay Reorganisation Act (1960) later created Maharashtra and Gujarat.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Created further reorganisations: Punjab (1966), North-Eastern states (1963\u20131987), Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand (2000), and Telangana (2014).<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-08-2025\/india-linguistic-reorganisation-of-states\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50231"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50253,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50231\/revisions\/50253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}