States Reorganisation Act, 1956

States Reorganisation Act, 1956
Parliament of India
Long title An Act to provide for the reorganisation of the States of India and for matters connected therewith.
Citation	Act No. 37 of 1956
Enacted by	Parliament of India
Enacted	31 August 1956
Effective	1 November 1956
Status: In force

The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines.<ref>"Explainer: The reorganization of states in India and why it happened". 2 November 2016.</ref> Although additional changes to India's state boundaries have been made since 1956, it remains the most extensive change in state boundaries since the independence of India. The Act came into effect at the same time as the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956,<ref>"Seventh Amendment". Indiacode.nic.in. Archived from the original on 1 May 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2011.</ref> which (among other things) restructured the constitutional framework for India's existing states and the requirements to pass the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 under the provisions of Part I of the Constitution of India, Article 3.

The movement reached a turning point in 1952 when Potti Sreeramulu died following a 56 day hunger strike for a separate Telugu-speaking state. His martyrdom triggered widespread unrest, forcing the Indian government to create Andhra State in 1953, the first in India established on a linguistic basis.<ref>Koshi, Luke (2 November 2016). "Explainer: The reorganization of states in India and why it happened". The News Minute. Retrieved 27 January 2026.</ref><ref>Chari, Mridula (1 November 2016). "How the map of India was redrawn on the lines of language". Scroll.in. Retrieved 27 January 2026. The catalyst for this larger reorganisation was the death in 1952 of Potti Sreeramulu, a freedom fighter who had worked closely with Gandhi. Sreeramulu went on a hunger strike to press home his demand for the separation of the Telugu- and Tamil-speaking regions in the Tamil-dominant Madras Presidency.</ref> This set a precedent for other linguistic groups, leading to the appointment of the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) in 1953, chaired by Fazal Ali, which ultimately provided the framework for the 1956 Act.<ref>Koshi, Luke (2 November 2016). "Explainer: The reorganization of states in India and why it happened". The News Minute. Retrieved 27 January 2026. On December 22, 1953, Jawaharlal Nehru appointed a commission under Fazl Ali to consider these new demands. The commission submitted its report in 1955 and it suggested that the whole country be divided into 16 states and three centrally administered areas. The government, while not agreeing with the recommendations entirely, divided the country into 14 states and 6 union territories under the States Reorganisation Act that was passed in November 1956.</ref>

Background

Political integration after independence

Main article: Political integration of India

Administrative divisions of India in 1951. Note that Sikkim was an Indian Protectorate until 1975.

British India, which included present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, was divided into two types of territories: the Provinces of British India, which were governed directly by British officials responsible to the Governor-General of India; and the Indian States, under the rule of local hereditary rulers who recognised British suzerainty in return for continued authority over their own realms, in most cases as established by treaty. As a result of the reforms of the early 20th century, most of the British provinces had directly elected legislatures as well as governors, although some of the smaller provinces were governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the Governor-General. Major reforms put forward by the British in the 1930s also recognised the principle of federalism, which was carried forward into the governance of independent India.

On 15 August 1947, British India was granted independence as the separate dominions of India and Pakistan. The British dissolved their treaty relations with more than 500 princely states, who were encouraged to accede to either India or Pakistan, while under no compulsion to do so. Most of the states acceded to India, and a few to Pakistan. Bhutan, Hyderabad and Kashmir opted for independence; Bhutan remains independent, but Hyderabad was annexed by India, and the status of Kashmir became the subject of conflict between India and Pakistan.

South Indian states prior to the States Reorganisation Act

Between 1947 and about 1950, the territories of the princely states were politically integrated into the Indian Union. Several states were merged into existing provinces; others were organised into unions, such as Rajputana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Bharat, and Vindhya Pradesh, made up of multiple princely states; a few, including Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Bilaspur, remained separate states. The Government of India Act 1935 remained the constitutional law of India pending adoption of a new Constitution.

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".<ref>"Article 1". Constitution of India. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012.</ref> The constitution of 1950 distinguished between three main types of states and a class of territories:

• Part A states – which were the former governors' provinces of British India, were ruled by a governor appointed by the president and an elected state legislature. The nine Part A states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh (formerly Central Provinces and Berar), Madras, Odisha (formerly Orissa), Punjab (formerly East Punjab), Uttar Pradesh (formerly the United Provinces), and West Bengal.
• Part B states – which were former princely states or unions of princely states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state, and an elected legislature. The raj Pramukh was appointed by the President of India. The eight Part B states were Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), Rajasthan, Saurashtra, and Travancore-Cochin.
• Part C states – included both the former chief commissioners' provinces and some princely states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The ten Part C states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Cutch, Manipur, Tripura, and Vindhya Pradesh.
• The sole Part D territory<ref>"The Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956". Archived from the original on 1 May 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2011.</ref> – was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which was administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government.

In these classifications, Part A states had a Governor, Part B states had a Rajpramukh and Part C states had a commissioner.<ref>Indiapedia: The All-India Factfinder. Hachette UK. 2013. ISBN 9789350097663.</ref>

Movement for linguistic states

The demand for states to be organised on a linguistic basis was developed even before India achieved independence from British rule. The first linguistic movement started in 1886, in what is now Odisha. The movement gained momentum in later years with the demand for a separate Orissa Province to be formed by bifurcating the existing Bihar and Orissa Province.<ref>"Demand of separate province for Oriya". The Telegraph.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)</ref><ref>Sharma, Sadhna (1995). States Politics in India. Mittal Publications. ISBN 9788170996194.</ref> Due to the efforts of Madhusudan Das, the Father of Odia nationalism, the movement eventually achieved its objective in 1936, when Orissa Province became the first Indian state (pre-independence) to be organised on the basis of common languages.

The post-independence period saw the ascent of political movements for the creation of new states developed on linguistic lines. The movement to create a Telugu-speaking state out of the northern portion of Madras State gathered strength in the years after independence, and in 1953, the sixteen northern Telugu-speaking districts of Madras State became the new State of Andhra.

During the 1950–1956 period, other small changes were made to state boundaries: 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.

States Reorganisation Commission

Main article: States Reorganisation Commission

The States Reorganisation Commission was preceded by the Linguistic Provinces Commission (also called the Dhar Commission), which was set up in June 1948. It rejected language as a parameter for dividing states. Later, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the States Reorganisation Commission in December 1953, with the remit to reorganise the Indian states. The new commission was headed by the retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Fazal Ali; its other two members were H. N. Kunzru and K. M. Panikkar. The efforts of the commission were overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant, who served as the Home Minister from December 1954.

The States Reorganisation Commission submitted a report on 30 September 1955, with recommendations for the reorganisation of India's states, which was then debated by the Indian parliament. Subsequently, bills were passed to make changes to the constitution and to administer the reorganisation of the states.<ref name="economicweekly">"Reorganisation of states" (PDF). Economic Weekly.</ref>

Political map of India, 1956, after the States Reorganisation Act, 1956

Related changes by other legislation

The States Reorganisation Act was enacted on 31 August 1956. Before it came into effect on 1 November, an important amendment was made to the Constitution of India. Under the Seventh Amendment, the existing terminology of Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D states was altered. The distinction between Part A and Part B states was removed, becoming known simply as "states". A new type of entity, the Union Territory, replaced the classification as a Part C or Part D state.

A further Act also came into effect on 1 November 1956, transferring certain territories from Bihar to West Bengal.<ref>Bihar and West Bengal (Transfer of Territories) Act, 1956</ref>

Effect of the changes

The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 provided for territorial reorganisation of India. The Seventh Amendment of the Constitution of India divided India into States and Union Territories. Both of the above legislation came into effect on the same date. The following list sets out the states and union territories of India as reorganised on 1 November 1956:

States

1. Andhra Pradesh (1956–2014): formed by the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad State.
2. Assam: No change of boundary in 1956.
3. Bihar: reduced slightly by the transfer of minor territories to West Bengal (Purulia from Manbhum District, Islampur from Purnea district).
4. Bombay State: the state was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra State and Kutch State, the Marathi-speaking districts of Berar Division and Nagpur Division of Central Province and Berar and Aurangabad Division of Hyderabad State. The southernmost districts of the Bombay Presidency were transferred to Mysore State.
5. Jammu and Kashmir: No change of boundary in 1956.
6. Kerala: formed by the merger of Travancore-Cochin state with the Malabar district and Kasaragod taluk of South Canara district of the Madras Presidency. The southern part of Travancore-Cochin, Kanyakumari district, along with Sengottai Taluk, was transferred to Madras State. The Laccadive and Minicoy Islands were separated from Malabar District to form a new Union Territory namely Laccadive, Amindivi, and Minicoy Islands.<ref>"The States Reorganisation Act, 1956" (PDF). legislative.gov.in. Government of India.</ref>
7. Madhya Pradesh: Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh, and Bhopal State were merged into Madhya Pradesh; the Marathi-speaking districts of Nagpur Division were transferred to Bombay State.
8. Madras State: Malabar District was transferred to the new state of Kerala, South Canara district was bifurcated and transferred to Mysore State and to Kerala and a new Union Territory, Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands, was created. The southern part of Travancore-Cochin - Kanyakumari district, along with Sengottai Taluk was added to Madras State.
9. Mysore State: enlarged by the addition of Coorg State and the Kannada speaking districts from western Madras Presidency, southern Bombay Presidency and western Hyderabad State.
10. Orissa: No change of boundary in 1956.
11. Punjab: enlarged by the addition of the Patiala and East Punjab States Union.
12. Rajasthan: enlarged by the addition of Ajmer state and parts of Bombay and Madhya Bharat states.
13. Uttar Pradesh: No change of boundary in 1956.
14. West Bengal: enlarged by the addition of Purulia district, previously part of Bihar.

Union territories

The Part C and Part D territories that were not merged into other states were converted into Union Territories by Seventh Amendment of the Constitution of India:

1. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
2. Delhi
3. Manipur
4. Tripura
5. Himachal Pradesh
6. Laccadive, Minicoy & Amindivi Islands

Later changes

• Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 (by Indira Gandhi)
• State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970 (by Indira Gandhi)
• North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971 (by Indira Gandhi)
• Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 (by Atal Bihari Vajpayee)
• Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 (by Atal Bihari Vajpayee)
• Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 (by Atal Bihari Vajpayee)
• Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (by Manmohan Singh)
• Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (by Narendra Modi)

See also

• Partition of India
• Political integration of India
• Constitution of India
• Administrative divisions of India
• States and union territories of India
• Proposed states and union territories of India
• Unification of Karnataka
• Seventh Amendment of the Constitution of India

External links

• Text of the Act