We should know our history while celebrating
Rajostava …!
Ø In 1947 India merged 571 princely states together and made 27
states on the basis of the political and historical considerations as a
temporary arrangement.
Ø Differences existed in many states raising linguistic issues
and the need for a permanent aroused.
Ø 1948 Central
Government appointed a Commission under SK Dhar a judge of Allahabad High court
to look in to this issue and submit a report.
Ø This commission preferred a reorganization of states on the
basis of Administrative convenience and geographical considerations instead of
linguistic basis.
Ø Again during the end of 1948 a JVP committee formed to study
this issue. (Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramaiah). This committee
rejected the idea of reorganizing the states on linguistic basis in 1949 and
suggested at fresh on account of the public demand.
Ø 1n 1953 India Government was forced to accept the demand of
Telugu speaking people with their agitation, 56 day hunger strike resulted in
the death of Potti Sriramalu, and Andhra Pradesh was formed.
Ø Further to that demands were raised from many other part of
the country for bifurcation of linguistic states.
Ø In 1953 Jawaharlal Nehru the then prime minister, appointed
another Commission under Fazal Ali to consider the demands.
Ø The Fazal Ali Committee report suggested to divide the
country in to 16 states.
Ø The Government agreed the report with some changes as 14
states and 6 Union territories under the State Re-Organization Act and passed
it in 1956.
Ø It was on 1st November 1956 the states of
Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Madras, Mysore, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal were formed.
Ø The six
union territories were Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh,
Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands, Manipur and Tripura.
Ø In 1960,
the state of Bombay was bifurcated to create the states of Gujarat and
Maharashtra following violence and agitation.
Ø In 1963,
the state of Nagaland was created for the sake of the Nagas and total number of
states stood at 16.
Ø Areas dominated
by people from France like Chandernagore, Mahe, Yaman and Karekal, and the
areas dominated by people from Portguese like territories of Goa, Daman and Diu
were made as territories.
Ø Punjab reorganization act was passed by the Parliament
based on the Sha Commissuion report in 1966. Following this, the state of Haryana
got the Punjabi-speaking areas while the hilly areas went to the Union
Territory of Himachal Pradesh. Chandigarh, which was made a Union Territory,
would serve as the common capital of Punjab and Haryana.
Ø In 1969
and in 1971, the states of Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh came into being
respectively.
Ø Union
Territories of Tripura and Manipur being converted into states, the total
number of Indian states rose to 21.
Ø Thereafter,
Sikkim in 1975 and Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh in 1987 also acquired the status
of states.
Ø In 1987,
Goa became the 25th state of the Indian Union.
Ø Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal were got the status of state in 2000.
Ø 2014,
Telangana officially became India’s 29th state.
Presently, India has 29 states
and 7 union territories. The states are: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh,
Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and
Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Maharashtra,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu,
Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal and Telangana. The union territories
are: Delhi, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep,
Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar haveli.
Linguistic states may encourage promotion
of regional languages. They may maintain
the culture and tradition to keep connected to the roots.
But the division of states based on the
linguistic basis has become the division of communities. It widened the
differences even more in the society and encourages discrimination. It weakens
the prime idea of single Indian identity in contrast to
linguistic/religious/regional identity
Having a common language all over the
country is very important in promoting national unity and integrity which will
not happen with the said division of states.
Division
of our country must have been based on administrative efficiency, capital formation,
human/natural resources, population density, convenience and area, not on
linguistic basis. Language is just a medium of communication, it can’t form the
basis of administration. Development of people is far more important than
speaking a language and dividing the communities based on language.
