CREATION & ALTERATION OF STATES & ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY
UNION OF INDIA
CREATION, & ALTERATION OF STATES & ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY
Creation alteration states territory:
PART I THE UNION AND ITS TERRITORY
Article.1
(1) India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.
(2) The States and the territories thereof shall be as specified in the First Schedule.] (3) The territory of India shall comprise—
(a) the territories of the States;
(b) the Union territories specified in the First Schedule; and
(c) such other territories as may be acquired.
EXP - Article 1 of the Constitution of India expressly declares & describes India as a Union of States. India”s constitution preferred union over federation, as the term union rejects the individual existence of constituting states & indicates that the Indian state is not the result of some sort of arrangement among the constituting entities and these states have no right or freedom to secede from India.
Even though INDIAN UNION is quasi-federal in nature yet the union has the last say and has powers to override any state’s decision. For all these reasons, India is known to be a union of states and not a federation of states like the countries of United States of America wherein the Federation does not have the power to create new states or alter borders of existing states
- Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.
2A. [Sikkim to be associated with the Union.] Rep. by the Constitution (Thirty-sixth Amendment) Act, 1975, s. 5 (w.e.f. 26-4-1975).
- The Uttar Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2000 created a separate state of Uttaranchal.
- The Bihar Reorganization Act, 2000 created a separate state of Jharkhand while the Madhya Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2000 created a separate state of Chhatisgarh.
- The Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Act, 2006 changed the name of the state of Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand.
- Similarly, the Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010 changed the name of the state of Orissa to Odisha.The Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 bifurcated the state of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh due to the 10 year long Telangana movement. The Act in addition to laying down the status of Hyderabad as the temporary capital of Andhra Pradesh and permanent capital of Telangana, determined how the assets and liabilities will be divided and defined the boundaries of the two states.
- Parliament may by law—
(a) form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State;
(b) increase the area of any State;
(c) diminish the area of any State;
(d) alter the boundaries of any State; (e) alter the name of any State:
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- Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 received the assent of the President on 9th August 2019. This act will be effective from 31st October 2019 and it reconstituted the state into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
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- (1) Any law referred to in article 2 or article 3 shall contain such provisions for the amendment of the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of the law and may also contain such supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions (including provisions as to representation in Parliament and in the Legislature or Legislatures of the State or States affected by such law) as Parliament may deem necessary.
(2) No such law as aforesaid shall be deemed to be an amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of article 368.
INDIA AN INDESTRUCTIBLE UNION OF DESTRUCTIBLE STATES.
Creation alteration states territory:
In India, neither the President nor the Parliament needs to take into consideration the views of the states whose boundaries are getting altered. Consent of the citizens of the states who do get affected should have a higher say in the process and their opinions should be considered to a level where their voices matter.