STATE REORGANISATION (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – Polity)

Context: President of India and Prime Minister of India congratulated the people of Tripura, Manipur, and Meghalaya on the occasion of their Statehood Day.

Emergence of new States:

• Fazl Ali Commission: It suggested the abolition of the four-fold classification of states and territories under the original Constitution and creation of 16 states and 3 centrally administered territories.
• States Reorganisation Act (1956) and the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act (1956): The distinction between Part A and Part B states was done away with and Part C states were abolished. As a result, 14 states and 6 union territories were created on November 1, 1956.
• Later changes: Even after the large-scale reorganisation of the states in 1956, the political map of India underwent continuous changes due to the pressure of popular agitations and political conditions.

Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya

• In 1972, the political map of Northeast India underwent a major change.
• The two union territories of Manipur and Tripura and the sub-state of Meghalaya got statehood and the two union territories of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh (originally known as North-East Frontier Agency–NEFA) came into being.
• Initially, the 22nd Constitutional Amendment Act (1969) created Meghalaya as an ‘autonomous state’ or ‘sub-state’ within the state of Assam with its own legislature and council of ministers.
• However, this did not satisfy the aspirations of the people of Meghalaya. The union territories of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh were also formed out of the territories of Assam.