States and union territories of India | |
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Category | Federated states |
Location | Republic of India |
Number | 28 States 8 Union territories |
Populations | States: Sikkim – 610,577 (lowest) Uttar Pradesh – 199,812,341 (highest) Union Territories: Lakshadweep – 64,473 (lowest) Delhi – 16,787,941 (highest) |
Areas | States: Goa – 3,702 km2 (1,429 sq mi) (smallest) Rajasthan – 342,269 km2 (132,151 sq mi) (largest) Union territories: Lakshadweep – 32 km2 (12 sq mi) (smallest) Ladakh – 59,146 km2 (22,836 sq mi) (largest) |
Government |
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Subdivisions |
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India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories,[1] with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
Main articles: Presidencies and provinces of British India, Agencies of British India, Residencies of British India, and Princely state |
The Indian subcontinent has been ruled by many different ethnic groups throughout its history, each instituting their own policies of administrative division in the region.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][excessive citations]
The Indian Empire mostly retained the administrative structure of the preceding Mughal Empire. India was divided into provinces (formerly, presidencies), which were directly governed by the Indian Emperor (who simultaneously was also the King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions) though the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, and princely states, which were ruled by Indian princes who acknowledged the sovereignty (suzerainty) of the Emperor. Most of the princely states were grouped into autonomous or semi-autonomous subdivisions of India called agencies. An Agent to Governor-General of India (AGG) was appointed to oversee the relations between the constituent princely states of the agency and the Government of India. A Resident was appointed by the Viceroy to each of the rest of the states (namely, Hyderabad, Gwalior, Mysore and Kashmir).
Main articles: Political integration of India, Instrument of Accession, Annexation of Junagadh, and Annexation of Hyderabad |
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".[13] The constitution of 1950 distinguished between three main types of states:[citation needed]
Main articles: Goa liberation movement, Andhra movement, Annexation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and States Reorganisation Commission |
Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State.[14]
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.[15]
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.[16][17][18][19]
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states.[20]
As a result of this act:
Main articles: Mahagujarat movement, Punjabi Suba movement, Annexation of Goa, 1967 Goa status referendum, 1975 Sikkimese monarchy referendum, Uttarakhand movement, and Telangana movement |
Bombay State was split into the linguistic states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act.[21] The former Union Territory of Nagaland achieved statehood on 1 December 1963.[22] The Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 resulted in the creation of Haryana on 1 November and the transfer of the northern districts of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh.[23] The act also designated Chandigarh as a union territory and the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana.[24][25]
Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969. The north-eastern states of Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura were formed on 21 January 1972.[26] Mysore State was renamed Karnataka in 1973. On 16 May 1975, Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union and the state's monarchy was abolished.[27] In 1987, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became states on 20 February, followed by Goa on 30 May, while erstwhile union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu's northern exclaves Damão and Diu became a separate union territory as Daman and Diu.[28]
In November 2000, three new states were created, namely:
Pondicherry was renamed Puducherry in 2007 and Orissa was renamed Odisha in 2011. Telangana was created on 2 June 2014 from ten former districts of north-western Andhra Pradesh.[33][34]
In August 2019, the Parliament of India passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which contains provisions to reorganise the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories; Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, effective from 31 October 2019.[35] Later that year in November, the Government of India introduced legislation to merge the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli into a single union territory to be known as Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, effective from 26 January 2020.[36][37][38]
Main article: Proposed states and union territories of India |
See also: List of state and union territory capitals in India |
State | ISO | Vehicle code |
Zone | Capital | Largest city | Statehood | Population (2011)[39][40] |
Area (km2) |
Official languages[41] |
Additional official languages[41] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andhra Pradesh | IN-AP | AP | Southern | Amaravati | Visakhapatnam | 1 November 1956 | 49,506,799 | 162,975 | Telugu | Urdu[42] |
Arunachal Pradesh | IN-AR | AR | North-Eastern | Itanagar | 20 February 1987 | 1,383,727 | 83,743 | English | — | |
Assam | IN-AS | AS | North-Eastern | Dispur | Guwahati | 26 January 1950 | 31,205,576 | 78,438 | Assamese | Bengali, Bodo |
Bihar | IN-BR | BR | Eastern | Patna | 26 January 1950 | 104,099,452 | 94,163 | Hindi | Urdu | |
Chhattisgarh | IN-CT | CG | Central | Raipur[a] | 1 November 2000 | 25,545,198 | 135,194 | Hindi | Chhattisgarhi | |
Goa | IN-GA | GA | Western | Panaji | Vasco da Gama | 30 May 1987 | 1,458,545 | 3,702 | Konkani | Marathi |
Gujarat | IN-GJ | GJ | Western | Gandhinagar | Ahmedabad | 1 May 1960 | 60,439,692 | 196,024 | Gujarati | — |
Haryana | IN-HR | HR | Northern | Chandigarh | Faridabad | 1 November 1966 | 25,351,462 | 44,212 | Hindi | Punjabi[43][44] |
Himachal Pradesh | IN-HP | HP | Northern | Shimla (Summer) Dharamshala (Winter)[45] |
Shimla | 25 January 1971 | 6,864,602 | 55,673 | Hindi | Sanskrit[46] |
Jharkhand | IN-JH | JH | Eastern | Ranchi | Jamshedpur | 15 November 2000 | 32,988,134 | 79,714 | Hindi | Angika, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bhumij, Ho, Kharia, Khortha, Kurmali, Kurukh, Magahi, Maithili, Mundari, Nagpuri, Odia, Santali, Urdu[47][48] |
Karnataka | IN-KA | KA | Southern | Bangalore | 1 November 1956 | 61,095,297 | 191,791 | Kannada | — | |
Kerala | IN-KL | KL | Southern | Thiruvananthapuram | 1 November 1956 | 33,406,061 | 38,863 | Malayalam | English[49] | |
Madhya Pradesh | IN-MP | MP | Central | Bhopal | Indore | 26 January 1950 | 72,626,809 | 308,252 | Hindi | — |
Maharashtra | IN-MH | MH | Western | Mumbai (Summer) Nagpur (Winter)[50][51] |
Mumbai | 1 May 1960 | 112,374,333 | 307,713 | Marathi | — |
Manipur | IN-MN | MN | North-Eastern | Imphal | 21 January 1972 | 2,855,794 | 22,327 | Meitei | English | |
Meghalaya | IN-ML | ML | North-Eastern | Shillong | 21 January 1972 | 2,966,889 | 22,429 | English | Khasi[b] | |
Mizoram | IN-MZ | MZ | North-Eastern | Aizawl | 20 February 1987 | 1,097,206 | 21,081 | English, Hindi, Mizo | — | |
Nagaland | IN-NL | NL | North-Eastern | Kohima | Dimapur | 1 December 1963 | 1,978,502 | 16,579 | English | — |
Odisha | IN-OR | OD | Eastern | Bhubaneswar | 26 January 1950 | 41,974,218 | 155,707 | Odia | — | |
Punjab | IN-PB | PB | Northern | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | 1 November 1966 | 27,743,338 | 50,362 | Punjabi | — |
Rajasthan | IN-RJ | RJ | Northern | Jaipur | 26 January 1950 | 68,548,437 | 342,239 | Hindi | English | |
Sikkim | IN-SK | SK | North-Eastern | Gangtok | 16 May 1975 | 610,577 | 7,096 | English, Nepali | Bhutia, Gurung, Lepcha, Limbu, Manggar, Mukhia, Newari, Rai, Sherpa, Tamang | |
Tamil Nadu | IN-TN | TN | Southern | Chennai | 1 November 1956 | 72,147,030 | 130,058 | Tamil | English | |
Telangana | IN-TG | TS | Southern | Hyderabad[c] | 2 June 2014 | 35,193,978[56] | 112,077[56] | Telugu | Urdu[57] | |
Tripura | IN-TR | TR | North-Eastern | Agartala | 21 January 1972 | 3,673,917 | 10,491 | Bengali, English, Kokborok | — | |
Uttar Pradesh | IN-UP | UP | Central | Lucknow | 26 January 1950 | 199,812,341 | 240,928 | Hindi | Urdu | |
Uttarakhand | IN-UT | UK | Central | Bhararisain (Summer) Dehradun (Winter)[58] |
Dehradun | 9 November 2000 | 10,086,292 | 53,483 | Hindi | Sanskrit[59] |
West Bengal | IN-WB | WB | Eastern | Kolkata | 26 January 1950 | 91,276,115 | 88,752 | Bengali, Nepali[d] | Hindi, Odia, Punjabi, Santali, Telugu, Urdu |
Union territory | ISO 3166-2:IN | Vehicle code |
Zone | Capital | Largest city | UT established | Population | Area (km2) |
Official languages |
Additional official languages |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | IN-AN | AN | Southern | Port Blair | 1 November 1956 | 380,581 | 8,249 | Hindi | English | |
Chandigarh | IN-CH | CH | Northern | Chandigarh | 1 November 1966 | 1,055,450 | 114 | English | Punjabi | |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu | IN-DH | DD | Western | Daman | Silvassa | 26 January 2020 | 587,106 | 603 | Gujarati, Marathi, English | — |
Delhi | IN-DL | DL | Northern | New Delhi | Delhi | 1 November 1956 | 16,787,941 | 1,484 | Hindi, English | Punjabi[60] |
Jammu and Kashmir | IN-JK | JK | Northern | Srinagar (Summer)[61][62] Jammu (Winter)[62][63] |
Srinagar | 31 October 2019 | 12,258,433 | 42,241 | Urdu, English | Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi |
Ladakh | IN-LA | LA | Northern | Leh (Summer) Kargil (Winter)[64] |
Leh | 31 October 2019 | 290,492 | 59,146 | Hindi and English | |
Lakshadweep | IN-LD | LD | Southern | Kavaratti | Andrott | 1 November 1956 | 64,473 | 32 | Hindi, English | — |
Puducherry | IN-PY | PY | Southern | Puducherry | 16 August 1962 | 1,247,953 | 479 | Tamil, English | Telugu, Malayalam, French |
Map | Name | Zone | Capital | Area | UT established | UT disestablished | Now part of |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arunachal Pradesh | North-Eastern | Itanagar | 83,743 km2 (32,333 sq mi) | 21 January 1972 | 20 February 1987 | As an Indian state | |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli | Western | Silvassa | 491 km2 (190 sq mi) | 11 August 1961 | 26 January 2020 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu union territory | |
Daman and Diu | Western | Daman | 112 km2 (43 sq mi) | 30 May 1987 | 26 January 2020 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu union territory | |
Goa, Daman and Diu | Western | Panaji | 3,814 km2 (1,473 sq mi) | 19 December 1961 | 30 May 1987 | Goa state and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu union territory | |
Himachal Pradesh | Northern | Shimla | 55,673 km2 (21,495 sq mi) | 1 November 1956 | 25 January 1971 | As an Indian state | |
Manipur | North-Eastern | Imphal | 22,327 km2 (8,621 sq mi) | 1 November 1956 | 21 January 1972 | As an Indian state | |
Mizoram | North-Eastern | Aizawl | 21,081 km2 (8,139 sq mi) | 21 January 1972 | 20 February 1987 | As an Indian state | |
Nagaland | North-Eastern | Kohima | 16,579 km2 (6,401 sq mi) | 29 November 1957 | 1 December 1963 | As an Indian state | |
Tripura | North-Eastern | Agartala | 10,491 km2 (4,051 sq mi) | 1 November 1956 | 21 January 1972 | As an Indian state |
Main articles: Federalism in India, Union List, State List, and Concurrent List |
The Constitution of India distributes the sovereign executive and legislative powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any State between the Union and that State.[65]