Indestructible Union of destructible states
Topic: Federalism and Centre-State Relations · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
This phrase describes India's federation. The Union can never be broken, because no state can leave it. But individual states can be changed. Under Article 3, Parliament can create, merge or split states, or change their areas, boundaries or names, by ordinary law. The state's own views do not bind Parliament. The USA is the reverse. It is an "indestructible union of indestructible states" (Texas v. White, 1869).
Example
In 2014 Parliament split Andhra Pradesh to create Telangana, even though the state assembly voted against it. In 2019 Jammu and Kashmir was turned into Union territories. The Supreme Court upheld this in In re Article 370 (2023).
Don't confuse with
- Secession: this means a region leaving the country, and the Constitution gives it no place. Redrawing a state's borders happens inside the Union.
Related concepts
- Formation of new states
- Admission of new states
- First Schedule
- Land Boundary Agreement
- Linguistic federalism