Reimagining India’s Political Boundaries: Insights into Reorganization of States

Abstract

The reorganization of States in India reflects a dynamic process of redrawing the political boundaries influenced by a number of rationales including the linguistic identity, cultural distinctiveness, administrative efficiency, regional development aspirations, tribal empowerment and strategic significance. Beginning with the landmark States Reorganization Act, 1956 and the subsequent reorganization Acts including the recent Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 and the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Act, 2019, the present paper aims to study and analyze the major political changes both at the State and the Union Territory level in India’s federal fabric / structure, highlighting the regional aspirations with the national unity.