Indian State Formations
0. On Independence day, I look briefly at how some
of the current states came into being. Some of them
I had not even heard before.
This is now India looked before partition.
1. The United Province eventually became
Uttar Pradesh. Apparently, "uttar" was not just "north"
but also was "answer." Some early word play.
But given their way, they wanted to be called
Aryavartha. Failing which they wanted "Hind" or
even "Hindustan."
2. The centre had to put its foot down.
Ambedkar made some changes and Pant had to
promise not to continue with pompous names.
They still think they are India, don't they? :)
3. Rajasthan started as Rajputana with 22 princely
http://states. It look 7 different stages for modern Rajasthan
to emerge. The changes were initially happening on a
daily basis! It all started with the United States of
Matsya …
4. Not be left behind, a week later, a few others got
together and created Rajasthan Union. Less than a
month, we had an M&A :) The combined entity was
called United States for Rajasthan. The United States
had such an influence on naming!
5. It continued to evolve rapidly. This time the big
princely states agreeing to join; in particular Jaipur.
Finally, in the 1956 reorganisation of states, it settled
to its present confines.
6. Madhya Pradesh was initially Central Province and
Berar with Nagpur(!) as capital. It quickly became MP
while there was a separate Madhya Bharat, Vindhya
Pradesh and Bhopal. Yes, Bhopal was a separate
state for some time. In 1956, Nagpur (the capital!)
went to Bombay State.
7. A state losing its capital is astonishing and this is
what linguistic division did. For this we have to thank
the Andhra but then as it turned out, they couldn't stay
in one piece. Maybe linguistic was not the right way to
reorganise.
8. Which brings us to Bombay State. Which was one
long state, containing parts of what is now Gujarat and
Karnataka. In 1956, it picked up Saurashtra and
Kutch. Someone actually thought this was *one*
linguistic entity!
9. Bombay was meant to be a bilingual state. But it
didn't last long. In 1960, Bombay State bifurcated into
Maharashtra and Gujarat. There was even an attempt
to make the city of Bombay into an union territory.
More than a 100 people died in all this struggle.
10. Down south, Madras presidency became Madras.
It managed to be on both sides of the peninsula!
Whenever I look at this map, I am surprised at how
it encircled Mysore to reach out to Mangalore
(and Calicut).
11. Madras was not just bilingual but had all four
big dravidian languages. In 1956 it shrunk giving up
portions of itself to Andhra, Karnataka and Kerala.
In 1969 it was renamed for what it was: Tamil Nadu.
12. Interestingly, Andhra wanted Madras city as part
of Andhra Pradesh! Why not? Given what was
happening with Nagpur and Bombay etc.
13. Among the 500 odd princely states, the British
had 5 residencies (diplomats etc) in India; three of
them were in the south. Mysore grew into a superset
by taking parts of Madras and Hyderabad. And it was
eventually renamed Karnataka in 1973.
14. Travancore grew into Kerala. And Hyderabad split
into pieces that became part of Maharashtra, Karnataka
and of course Andhra Pradesh. All this in 1956.
15. When Andhra split recently, it was essentially the
old divide; the regions from Madras Presidency and
the regions from Nizam's Hyderabad. The old fault
lines, they don't go away ... Wouldn't Nagpur want to
be a capital again?
16. In the east, Assam was of course big. Arunachal
Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland were all carved out of
Assam. Many (like Mizoram and Meghalaya) started at
union territories and later became states, some as
recent as 87.
17. At independence, India had an hierarchy of states:
Part A t D. Many states have been split, and new states
have been stitched together. It is a dynamic process.
It will continue.
18. There is even a list of "aspiring" states. If you look
at this map, you will find the old boundaries and divides.
The old yearnings. They don't go away. They fade for
sometime and then they come back …
19. Haryana came from splitting Punjab in 1966.
Three states I haven't spoken about are Punjab, J&K,
and West Bengal. The reasons should be obvious.
And then Goa, Pondicherry, and Sikkim. More recently,
Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand.
20. The states of India will continue to evolve along
with its people. It has been a long journey.
Let me stop here and wish you all a very
Happy Independence Day!
http://explore.jed-i.in/
