Special provisions for Maharashtra and Gujarat
Topic: Special Provisions, Scheduled and Tribal Areas · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Federalism"
Meaning
Article 371 was added by the 7th Amendment in 1956. It lets the President give the Governor a special responsibility, a duty the Governor carries personally, for separate development boards. In Maharashtra, the boards are for Vidarbha, Marathwada and the rest of the state. In Gujarat, they are for Saurashtra, Kutch and the rest of the state. The boards make sure each region gets a fair share of development money, technical education and state jobs. It is a tool for fairness between regions inside one state.
Example
Vidarbha has had its own development board under Article 371. Even so, the demand for a separate Vidarbha state continues. This raises a common exam question: do such boards reduce regional imbalance, or do they only delay demands for new states?
Don't confuse with
- Article 371J (Karnataka): it also has a development board, but it adds local reservation in education and jobs, which Article 371 does not.
Related concepts
- Special provisions for certain states
- Special provisions for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
- Special provisions for Karnataka
- Special provisions for Goa