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Rajasthan and Punjab gained territories from Ajmer state and PEPSU respectively and certain territories of Bihar were transferred to West Bengal. No changes in boundaries of Assam , Jammu and Kashmir , Orissa and Uttar Pradesh .
- 28 States, 8 Union territories
- Republic of India
In British India, until the Partition of India in 1947, the Punjab Province encompassed the present-day Indian states and union territories of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Delhi, and the Pakistani regions of Punjab, and Islamabad Capital Territory.
- 458,354.5 km² (176,971.7 sq mi)
- Lahore
- Punjabi
- Overview
- Government and administration
- History and current union territories
•Andaman and Nicobar Islands
•Chandigarh
•Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
•Delhi (also called National Capital Territory)
•Jammu and Kashmir
•Ladakh
The Republic of India is made up of eight union territories and 28 states. These two first-order subdivisions have significantly different governments. Each state has its own directly elected government under a chief minister, and the union government is represented by the state’s governor, who is the constitutional head of the state and is appointed by the president of India. Union territories, on the other hand, are governed, partly or wholly, by the union government of India. According to the Constitution of India, union territories are to be administered directly by the president of India, acting through an administrator (typically called a lieutenant governor) appointed by the president. Articles 239–241 of the constitution pertain to the administration of union territories.
The union government has the power to create new states, combine states, change state boundaries, and terminate a state’s existence. The union government may also create and dissolve a union territory, whose powers are more limited than those of the states. The union government also has the power to pass a law to provide a union territory with a legislature consisting of elected members as well as a chief minister, as has been done in the cases of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Puducherry. The lieutenant governors of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Puducherry play only a ceremonial role because these territories have elected governments. In union territories without an elected governor, the lieutenant governor holds power and can pass ordinances with the approval of the president of India.
When the Constitution of India was adopted in November 1949, Indian states were divided into four categories. Part A states were former governor-ruled provinces of British India, and they continued with governors and elected legislatures. Part B states were former princely states, or groups of princely states, with appointed governors (called rajpramukhs) and elected legislatures. Part C states included some former princely states and former chief commissioners’ provinces. The only Part D state was Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which was administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the union government.
During the reorganization of Indian states that was carried out through the States Reorganisation Act in 1956, all Part C and Part D states were either merged into other states or combined into a single category called “union territory.” Six union territories were thus created: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep (called the Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands until 1973), Delhi, Manipur, Tripura, and Himachal Pradesh.
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Himachal Pradesh is no longer a union territory; it was conferred statehood in 1971. Manipur and Tripura followed suit in 1972. Three regions—Nagaland, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh—were all previously part of the Indian state of Assam and were carved out into union territories. Subsequently all of them became states of the Republic of India. Only Delhi, Lakshadweep, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands have maintained their union territory status from the original list. Delhi was granted a legislature in 1952.
Puducherry comprises four distinct locations and was formed out of four former colonies of French India. It includes Puducherry (then called Pondicherry) and Karaikal along India’s Coromandel Coast, surrounded by Tamil Nadu state; Yanam, farther north along the eastern coast in the delta region of the Godavari River, surrounded by Andhra Pradesh state; and Mahe, lying on the western Malabar Coast, surrounded by Kerala state. Transfer of these French possessions to the union of India took place on November 1, 1954. In 1962 Pondicherry became a union territory of India. The Government of Union Territories Act of 1963 granted Pondicherry a state legislature. The territory formally took the name Puducherry in 2006.
Apr 16, 2024 · Punjab, state of India, located in the northwestern part of the subcontinent. It is bounded by Jammu and Kashmir union territory to the north, Himachal Pradesh state to the northeast, Haryana state to the south and southeast, and Rajasthan state to the southwest and by the country of Pakistan to the west. Punjab in its present form came into ...
Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and Rajasthan to the southwest; by the Indian union territories of Chandigarh to the east and Jammu and Kashmir to the north.
- 26 January 1950
- India
5 days ago · Chandigarh, city and union territory of India. Located about 165 miles (265 km) north of New Delhi, the territory is bounded by the state of Haryana on the east and by the state of Punjab on all other sides.
The state capital is located in Chandigarh, a Union Territory and also the capital of the neighbouring state of Haryana. After the partition of India in 1947, the Punjab province of British India was divided between India and Pakistan.
