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Union and Its Territory (Article 1 – 4)

Articles 1 to 4 under Part I of the Constitution explains the Union and its
Territory.

Article 1:
Article 1(1) states that India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.

Article 1(2) states that the States and the territories will be specified in the First Schedule.

Article 1(3) states that the territory of India will comprise the following −

i. The territories of the States;

ii. The Union territories mentioned in the First Schedule; and
iii. Such other territories as may be acquired.
Article-1 describes India as a ‘Union of States’. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said that the Indian federation was
a “Union” because it was indissoluble, and no State had a right to separate from the Indian Union. The
country is one integral unit beside the fact that it consists of different states for the convenience of
administration.

The phrases ’ Union of India’ and ‘Territory of India’ has to be differentiated. The Union of India
includes only the States enjoying the Status of being members of the federal system and sharing the
powers with the Union.

The territory of India includes not only the States but also the Union Territories and such other
territories as may be acquired by India in future. First Schedule of the Constitution has specified states
and the Territories both.

Article – 2:
It deals with admission or establishment of new States. Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or
establish, new States based on terms and conditions.

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Note- Article 2 talks about new states which were not the part
of union article 3 talks about those new states which were
already in the union.

Article- 3:
It states that the Parliament may by law form a new State by separation of a territory from any State or
by uniting two or more States completely or in parts or by uniting any territory to a part of any State. It
deals with the following:

 Formation of new States

 Alteration of areas of States
 Boundaries or names of existing States
Thus Parliament can increase or diminish the area of any State or can alter the boundaries or names of
any State. Parliament follows the following procedures in this regard.

Step-1: Either House of the Parliament, only on the recommendation of the President, can introduce a
Bill giving effect to any or all the changes stated above.

Step-2: If such a bill affects the boundary or name of a State, then the President will refer the Bill to the
concerned State Legislature before introducing it in the Parliament for their opinion.

Step-3: If the State Legislature fails to express an opinion within the given time limit then it is deemed
that it has expressed its views. Parliament is not bound to accept or act upon the views of the State
Legislature even if State has submitted their views within the time period.

In the case of Union Territories, it is not necessary to seek the views of Legislatures of Union
Territories before such Bill.

Article-4:
It says that any law referred to in Article-2 or Article-3 will contain such provisions for the amendment
of the Ist Schedule and the IVth Schedule necessary to provide effects to the provisions of law and
may also contain such supplemental, incidental, and consequential provisions, as the Parliament may
deem necessary.

This Article allows for consequential changes in the Ist Schedule i.e. names of the States in the Union
of India and IVth Schedule i.e. a number of seats allotted in the Rajya Sabha for each state.
Constitution will not treat any such law altering existing States or creating a new State, as the
amendment.

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 Modern states are large and complex with several cultural and economic problems and historical experiences add complexity to their
problems.

STATEHOOD –

 Since independence Indian state has to deal with the demands of separate statehood
largely based on language, culture, ethnicity, religion etc.
 Later the basis for separate statehood demands were largely shifted to better
governance and greater participation, administrative convenience, economic viability in
the developmental needs of sub regions.
 The very beginning of 21st century in India also witnessed the creation of three new
states- Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand and more recently Telangana got the
separate statehood.
 As democracy takes firm roots such aspirations also grow. The hitherto neglected
sections of the populations realise their own importance, demand new provinces or
states want new borders and secure autonomy.

History

 In the 1950’s there was urging demand in the people, especially in the Telugu speaking
population, for reorganisation of states on lingual lines. Potti Sreeramulu started
indefinite fast for supporting his cause of states reorganisation.
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 His death on 56th day of fast resulted in widespread violence and the government was
forced to constitute a State Reorganisation Commission.(Fazl ali commission) In 1953,
the first state of Andhra Pradesh was created on basis of language.
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 On the basis of the recommendations of State Reorganisation Commission in 1956, 14
states and 6 UTs were created.

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 The chronology of states' bifurcation in India after 1956:
 1960 - Bombay state split into Maharashtra and Gujarat
 1963 - Nagaland carved out of Assam
 1966 - Haryana and Himachal Pradesh carved out of Punjab state
 1972 - Meghalaya , Manipur and Tripura were formed
 1975 - Sikkim became part of Indian union
 1987 - Goa and Arunachal Pradesh became states (earlier these were UTs)
 2000 - Uttaranchal (out of UP), Jharkhand (out of Bihar) and Chhattisgarh (out of
Madhya Pradesh) were formed
 Telangana (out of Andhra Pradesh), when it was eventually created in 2014, became
India's 29th state.
 Currently, 28 states & 8 UTs.(after Kashmir & daman change)

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 Various Statehood Demands in India
 Vidarbha: It comprises the Amravati and Nagpur divisions of eastern Maharashtra.
 The State Reorganisation Act of 1956 recommended the creation of Vidarbha state
with Nagpur as the capital, but instead it was included in Maharashtra state, which was
formed on May 1, 1960.
 Backwardness of region due to the neglect of successive state governments, is justified
as the basis for demand of separate state of Vidarbha.
 Delhi: 69th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1991, inserted Article 239AA in Indian
constitution which grants Special Status to Delhi among Union Territories (UTs).
 The amendment does not provide Delhi with the recognition of a full fledged state as
Public Order, Police & Land in NCT of Delhi fall within the domain and control of Central
Government.
 To gain the control of such substantive powers, Delhi government is aspiring for full
statehood.
 The question of the division of Uttar Pradesh into four states was a major poll issue
during the build up to the 2012 UP Assembly Elections.
 In 2011, then UP Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief, Mayawati,
passed a resolution in the Assembly to split UP into four smaller states – Purvanchal,
Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh – in the interest of providing
better administration. The resolution later got stuck with the Congress government at
the centre.
 Historically, the state comprised provinces that were collectively called ‘The United
Provinces of Agra and Oudh’. This was shortened by the Government of India Act 1935
to United Provinces and was later renamed Uttar Pradesh (as the term ‘province’ didn’t
fit in with the idea of Republic).
 In 1955, Ambedkar proposed the idea of splitting UP into three states – through his
book, ‘Thoughts On Linguistic States’.
 He suggested the creation of three states, with Meerut as the capital of the Western
Region, Allahabad as the capital of the Eastern Region and Kanpur as the capital of the
Central region. This is what the BSP had in mind while proposing the split in 2011.
 Harit Pradesh: It consists agriculturally dominated districts of Western Uttar Pradesh.
 Purvanchal: It is a geographic region of north-central India, which comprises the
eastern end of Uttar Pradesh state. It is bounded by Nepal to the north, Bihar state to
the east, Bagelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh state to the south, the Awadh region of
Uttar Pradesh to the west. Purvanchal comprises three divisions – Awadhi region in the
west, Bhojpuri region in the east and the Baghelkhand region in the south.

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 Bodoland: The Bodos are the largest ethnic and linguistic community in northern
Assam. The agitation for the creation of a separate Bodoland state resulted in an
agreement in 2003 between the GoI, the Assam state government and the Bodo
Liberation Tigers Force. According to the agreement, Bodos were granted the Bodoland
Territorial Council (BTC), within the State of Assam under Sixth Schedule.

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 Saurashtra: The movement for separate Saurashtra state was initiated in 1972 by
Ratilal Tanna. Lack of better water supply to the region, lack of job opportunities and
subsequent youth migration have been cited as major reasons for the demand of
statehood. Saurashtra is also linguistically different from the rest of the state.
 Gorkhaland is a proposed state covering areas inhabited by the ethnic Gorkha (Nepali)
people, namely Darjeeling hills and Dooars in the northern part of West Bengal.

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 Constitutional Provisions
 Indian constitution empowers the Union government to create new states out of existing
states or two merge one state with other. This process is called reorganisation of the
states.
 The basis of reorganisation could be linguistic, religious, ethnic or administrative.
 Article 3 provides the following procedure:

o Presidential reference is sent to State Assembly.

o After presidential reference, a resolution is tabled and passed in Assembly.
o Assembly has to pass a Bill creating the new State/States.
o A separate Bill has to be ratified by Parliament.
Reasons for Demand
 All these demands are from regions which are poor in spite of being rich in natural
resources and disputes exist over sharing and utilisation of natural resources with the
mother states.
 Linguistic and cultural reasons, which were the primary basis for creating new states in
the country, have now become secondary in most of these cases.
 Other factors being:
o Competition for local resources.
o Government negligence towards certain regions
o Improper allocation of the resources,
o Difference in culture, language, religion, etc.
o The economy's failure to create enough employment opportunities
o Popular mobilization and the democratic political process is also one of the reasons.
o ‘The sons of the soil' sentiments
Issues Arising due to creation of New States
 Different statehood may lead to the hegemony of the dominant community/ caste/ tribe
over their power structures.
 This can lead to emergence of intra-regional rivalries among the sub-regions.
 The creation of new states may also lead to certain negative political consequences like
a small group of legislators could make or break a government at will.
 There is also possibility of increase in the inter-State water, power and boundary
disputes.
 The division of states would require huge funds for building new capitals and
maintaining a large number of Governors, Chief Ministers, Ministers and administrators
as the case in division of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (establishment of new capital
at Amravati).

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 Creation of smaller states only transfers power from the old state capital to new state
capital without empowering already existing institutions like Gram Panchayat, District
Collector, etc. rather diffusion of development in the backward areas of the states.
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