States Reorganisation Act 1956

Topic: Challenges of Nation Building: Partition, Princely States and Reorganisation · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Federalism"; Class 12, Ch 1 "Challenges of Nation Building"

Meaning

The States Reorganisation Act 1956 (Act No. 37 of 1956) is the law Parliament passed to put the plan of the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) into effect [7]. It came into force on 1 November 1956 and redrew India into 14 states and 6 Union Territories, mostly along the lines of the languages people speak.

It matters because it replaced the old colonial and princely patchwork of states with one common rule for the whole map. Together with the Seventh Amendment, 1956, it ended the Part A, B, C and D classes of states. It also showed that meeting language demands could make India's unity stronger, not weaker.

Explanation

Why the Act was needed

• The old map had four classes of states (Part A, B, C and D). The original Constitution (1950) set them up.
• Part A: former governors' provinces of British India, such as Bombay and Madras.
• Part B: former princely states and unions of princely states. Each was headed by a Rajpramukh (usually a former ruler acting as head of a state union). Examples: Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore-Cochin.
• Part C: smaller units run more directly by the Centre, such as Delhi, Coorg and Ajmer.

• Part D: only the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

• The boundaries did not follow language or culture. They came from British convenience and the princes' old territories.

• Andhra started a chain reaction.
• Potti Sriramulu died in December 1952 while fasting for a separate Andhra state.
• In 1953, Telugu-speaking areas were taken out of Madras to form Andhra state.
• Other regions then made similar demands, so the Centre needed one rule for the whole country.

The States Reorganisation Commission (SRC), 1953-55

• Set up: December 1953. It had three members.
• Chairman: Justice Fazl Ali. Members: K.M. Panikkar and H.N. Kunzru [5].
• Report: submitted on 30 September 1955 [5].
• Main idea: state boundaries should follow language boundaries. But the SRC rejected 'one language, one state'.
• A language group could be split across two states.

• One state could hold more than one language, if other factors required it.

• The four factors it weighed: 1. Unity and security of India. 2. Linguistic and cultural homogeneity (people in a state sharing a language and culture as far as possible). 3. Financial, economic and administrative viability (a state must be able to pay its way and be run well). 4. Welfare of the people and success of the Five-Year Plans.

• Other advice: end the Part A-D system, abolish the Rajpramukh, and protect linguistic minorities (smaller language groups living inside a state).

• Panikkar's dissent: he wanted Uttar Pradesh split, because its large size gave it too much weight in the Union.

What the Act did

• Created 14 states and 6 Union Territories. A Union Territory is an area governed directly by the Centre.
• Key new or changed states:
• Kerala: Travancore-Cochin plus the Malabar district of Madras.
• Mysore (enlarged): brought together Kannada-speaking areas from Bombay, Hyderabad, Madras and Coorg. It was renamed Karnataka in 1973.
• Andhra Pradesh: Andhra state plus Telangana, the Telugu-speaking part of Hyderabad state.

• Bombay: left bilingual, with Marathi and Gujarati speakers in one state.

  • The Samyukta Maharashtra and Maha Gujarat movements opposed this.
  • In 1960, Bombay was split into Maharashtra and Gujarat.

• Set up five Zonal Councils (Part III of the Act) [6]. A Zonal Council is an advisory body that brings neighbouring states together.

• Origin: during the 1956 debate on the SRC report, Nehru suggested zones with advisory councils "to develop the habit of cooperative working" [6].
• Chairman: the Union Home Minister [6].
• Vice-Chairman: the Chief Ministers of the zone's states, by rotation, one year at a time (Section 16) [6][7].
• Topics: economic and social planning, border disputes, linguistic minorities, inter-state transport, and issues left over from the 1956 reorganisation [6].
• Limit: their advice is not binding. They are tools of cooperative federalism, meaning the Centre and the states work together.

How Parliament can redraw states (Art. 3)

The 1956 Act, and every later new state, used the power in Article 3 [8]. The steps are:

1. President's recommendation. The bill can be introduced in either House only after the President recommends it [8].
2. Reference to the state. If the bill changes a state's area, boundaries or name, the President sends it to that state's legislature for its views, within a time limit the President fixes or extends [8].
3. Views are not binding. Once the period ends, Parliament can go ahead. It does not have to follow the state's views [8].
4. Simple majority. Parliament passes it like an ordinary law. No constitutional amendment is needed.

• Result: the Centre can change a state's boundaries without that state's consent. This is why India is called "an indestructible Union of destructible states".

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitutional base: Article 3 gives Parliament the power to form states and change their boundaries by ordinary law [8].
• Companion amendment: Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956. It made the Constitution match the new map [2].
• Abolished the Part A, B, C (and D) classes. Only States and Union Territories remained [2].
• Rewrote the First Schedule to list the new states and UTs.
• Allowed one Governor for two or more states.
• Allowed one High Court for two or more states (or a state and a UT).
• Inserted Art. 350A: every state and local authority must try to provide teaching in the mother tongue at the primary stage for children of linguistic minorities. The President may give directions to a state on this [2][3].

• Inserted Art. 350B: a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities, appointed by the President, checks whether the safeguards work and reports to the President [2][4].

• Zonal Councils are statutory bodies. They come from Part III of the 1956 Act, not from the Constitution [6].

• New states after 1956. These used Article 3 and often other grounds than language:
• 1960: Maharashtra and Gujarat.
• 1963: Nagaland.
• 1966: Punjab reorganised. Haryana and Himachal Pradesh separated (Himachal became a full state in 1971).
• 1972: Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura became full states.
• 1975: Sikkim. 1987: Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa.
• 2000: Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, formed on regional, tribal and development grounds.
• 2014: Telangana carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

• 2019: Jammu and Kashmir reorganised into two UTs, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

• Lasting effect (NCERT's verdict):

• Nehru and others feared that language-based states would lead to separatism (a region wanting to break away). This did not happen.
• State politics began to run in local languages, so power opened up to people beyond the small English-speaking elite.

• Meeting regional demands strengthened national unity.

• Problems that remain:

• Border disputes: for example, Belagavi (Belgaum) between Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Mahajan Commission (1966-67) largely upheld Mysore's claim, and Maharashtra rejected its report.
• River-water disputes, such as Cauvery and Krishna.
• 'Sons of the soil' politics (the demand that local people get jobs before outsiders), such as the Shiv Sena's campaigns in Bombay in the 1960s.

Don't confuse with

• Seventh Amendment, 1956: this was a constitutional amendment that changed the Constitution's text (Part A-D abolished, Arts. 350A-350B added) [2]. The SRA 1956 is an ordinary law passed under Art. 3 that redrew the actual map.
• States Reorganisation Commission (1953-55): this was the advisory body (Fazl Ali, Panikkar, Kunzru) that made the plan [5]. The Act is the law that carried the plan out.
• JVP Committee (1948-49) and Dar Commission (1948): these were earlier bodies on linguistic states. The JVP Committee was Nehru, Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Neither of them is the SRC.
• Zonal Councils vs constitutional bodies: Zonal Councils are statutory, created by Part III of the SRA 1956, and their advice is not binding [6]. Do not mark them as created by the Constitution.

Prelims Hooks

• SRA 1956 came into force on 1 November 1956 and created 14 states + 6 UTs. It was passed to carry out the SRC plan [7].
• SRC: appointed December 1953, reported 30 September 1955. Chair Fazl Ali, members K.M. Panikkar and H.N. Kunzru [5]. It rejected 'one language, one state'.
• Zonal Councils: five, set up by Part III of the SRA 1956. Chairman: Union Home Minister. Vice-Chairman: the zone's Chief Ministers by rotation, one year each [6].
• 7th Amendment, 1956: abolished Part A-D states, allowed a common Governor and a common High Court, and inserted Arts. 350A and 350B [2].
• Art. 3: the bill needs the President's prior recommendation. The state legislature's views are not binding. It is passed by simple majority [8].
• Trap: Mysore was renamed Karnataka in 1973. Bombay was split into Maharashtra and Gujarat in 1960, not by the 1956 Act.

Mains Points

• Accommodation as nation-building (GS-I):
• The 1956 reorganisation proved Nehru's early fear of separatism wrong.
• Recognising language identity deepened democracy and brought non-English-speaking groups into power.

• It strengthened unity, so India became a case study in managing diversity by accepting it rather than suppressing it.

• Federalism trade-off (GS-II):

• Under Art. 3, Parliament can redraw states without their consent [8]. This kept the Union flexible from 1956 to 2019.
• Critics say this weakens state autonomy, as seen in the debates on Telangana (2014) and Jammu and Kashmir (2019).

• A balanced answer pairs this central power with consultative bodies such as Zonal Councils [6].

• Unfinished agenda and reforms:

• Linguistic minorities, border disputes (Belagavi) and river-water conflicts remain.
• Reforms:
  • strengthen the Special Officer under Art. 350B [4];
  • use Zonal Councils actively to settle disputes [6];
  • set up a standing States Reorganisation Commission to judge new demands on clear criteria.
• The SRC's four factors, Ambedkar's 1955 call to split large states, and the new states of 2000 and 2014 all show that viability and good governance now matter as much as language.

Related concepts

• Part A, B, C and D states
• States Reorganisation Commission
• 7th Constitutional Amendment Act 1956
• Linguistic reorganisation of states

Read more

• The States Reorganisation Commission and the 1956 reorganisation