The States and Union Territories of India Explained

Open a map of India and the first thing you notice is how much variety is packed inside a single country: snow-covered Himalayan ridges, the Thar desert, the long Konkan coastline, tropical backwaters, dense northeastern forests and island chains far out in the sea. To govern such a vast and varied land, the Constitution divides it into administrative units. Today, the states and union territories of India number 28 and 8 respectively, and understanding how they differ, and how they came to exist, is central to understanding how the country works.

This guide explains the idea of India as a “Union of States”, the difference between a state and a union territory, the constitutional route by which new states are created, and the long history of reorganisation that began with the merger of more than five hundred princely states and continues to shape the map even in the twenty-first century. It is written as an evergreen explainer, so it focuses on structures and milestones rather than on fast-changing details. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026.

Quick Facts: States and Union Territories at a Glance

A Union of States: What Article 1 Really Says

Article 1 of the Constitution opens with a short but carefully chosen sentence: “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.” The framers, led in the drafting stage by Dr B.R. Ambedkar, deliberately chose the word “Union” rather than “Federation”. Ambedkar explained in the Constituent Assembly that the Indian Union is not the result of an agreement between states that could later be withdrawn, and that no state has the right to secede. In other words, the units exist within the Union, but the Union does not exist because of the units.

This matters because India is often described as a federal system with a strong centre. The Constitution divides subjects between the Union and the states through three lists in the Seventh Schedule: the Union List (such as defence, foreign affairs and currency), the State List (such as police, public health and agriculture) and the Concurrent List (such as education and forests), on which both can legislate. Residual powers rest with Parliament. When the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, it already described India as a Union of States, but the shape of those states was very different from what we see today.

Article 1 also says the territory of India comprises the territories of the states, the union territories and any other territories that may be acquired. That three-part description is important: the country is not simply a collection of states, but includes centrally administered regions as well.

The Current Map: 28 States and 8 Union Territories

As of now, India has 28 states and 8 union territories. The states are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

The eight union territories

• Andaman and Nicobar Islands – an island chain in the Bay of Bengal, administered by a Lieutenant Governor.
• Chandigarh – the planned city that serves as the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.
• Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu – a single union territory formed by merging two earlier ones.
• Delhi – formally the National Capital Territory of Delhi, with its own legislature.
• Jammu and Kashmir – a union territory with a legislature since 2019.
• Ladakh – a union territory without a legislature, carved out of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Lakshadweep – a group of coral islands in the Arabian Sea and the smallest union territory by area.
• Puducherry – the former French territories, including Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam, with its own legislature.

Why the numbers keep changing

The count has never been permanent. In 1956 there were 14 states and 6 union territories. By the late 1980s the number of states had grown to 25, it reached 28 after the three new states of 2000, and it touched 29 with the creation of Telangana in 2014. In 2019, the old state of Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised into two union territories, which brought the number of states back to 28 while raising the union territories to nine. On 26 January 2020, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were merged into one, bringing the union territories down to eight. That is why older textbooks may quote different totals.

State versus Union Territory: The Key Differences

The simplest way to understand the distinction is to ask who governs. A state has its own elected government that exercises powers granted by the Constitution in its own right. A union territory is, in the constitutional scheme, administered by the President of India through an administrator the President appoints, which in practice means the Union government.

Special cases: Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir

Not all union territories are alike. Delhi was given special status through the 69th Constitutional Amendment of 1991, which inserted Article 239AA and made it the National Capital Territory with a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers headed by a Chief Minister. However, subjects such as public order, police and land remain with the Union government, and the Lieutenant Governor retains important powers. Puducherry also has an elected assembly and chief minister under the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963. Jammu and Kashmir, after the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, has a legislature as well, while Ladakh is directly administered through its Lieutenant Governor.

Union territories usually exist for particular reasons: strategic location, a small size, a distinct cultural history, or the need for central oversight over a national capital or joint capital such as Chandigarh. Several of today’s states, including Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Goa and Arunachal Pradesh, began their journeys as union territories before attaining full statehood.

How New States Are Created: Article 3 and Parliament

Part I of the Constitution contains the machinery for changing India’s internal map. Article 2 allows Parliament to admit or establish new states that are not already part of the Union, which was the route used when Sikkim joined India in 1975. Article 3 deals with something more common: reorganising states that already exist. Under it, Parliament may by law form a new state by separating territory from a state or uniting parts of states, increase or diminish the area of any state, alter the boundaries of any state and alter the name of any state.

The procedure in brief

• A bill for the purpose can be introduced in Parliament only on the recommendation of the President.
• Where the bill affects the area, boundaries or name of a state, the President refers it to the legislature of that state to express its views within a specified time.
• The views of the state legislature are not binding. Parliament may accept or reject them, and the President may extend the time limit.
• The bill is passed by a simple majority of members present and voting, not by the special majority required for amending the Constitution.
• Such a law is not treated as a constitutional amendment under Article 368, even though it changes the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule.

This design reflects the logic of Article 1. Because India is an “indestructible Union of destructible states”, in a phrase often used by constitutional scholars, the territory and even the name of a state can be altered by Parliament, though the state’s elected legislature must be heard. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld this reading. The same Article 3 machinery has been used for renaming too, for example when Madras State became Tamil Nadu in 1969, Mysore became Karnataka in 1973 and Orissa became Odisha in 2011.

From Princely States to Provinces: The Integration of India

To understand the present map, we must begin with the situation at Independence in 1947. British India was divided into provinces directly governed by the Crown, but roughly 560 princely states, ranging from huge territories such as Hyderabad and Mysore to tiny estates, were under indirect British paramountcy. When the British departed, paramountcy lapsed, and the princes were told they could accede to India or Pakistan.

The task of weaving these territories into a single country fell mainly to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, who headed the newly created States Department, and to his civil servant V.P. Menon, the department’s secretary. Using a mix of persuasion, negotiation and the Instrument of Accession, which handed over defence, external affairs and communications to the Union, most rulers signed on before 15 August 1947. Later came agreements that merged smaller states into larger units or into neighbouring provinces and offered privy purses to the rulers in return.

The harder cases

• Junagadh acceded to Pakistan, but the people and circumstances led to its integration with India in 1947 and 1948 after a plebiscite.
• Hyderabad, the largest princely state, joined India after a police action in September 1948.
• Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India in October 1947 through an Instrument of Accession.

The first Constitution classified the resulting units into Part A, B, C and D states. Part A comprised former British provinces, Part B comprised princely states or unions of such states, Part C comprised smaller units administered by the Centre, and Part D was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This arrangement was uneven and was meant to be temporary.

The Linguistic Question: Dhar Commission, JVP Committee and Potti Sriramulu

Even before Independence, the Indian National Congress had accepted in the 1920s that provincial units should be organised on linguistic lines, so that people could be governed and educated in their own language. After 1947, however, leaders feared that new linguistic provinces might weaken a country still reeling from Partition.

The Constituent Assembly therefore appointed the Linguistic Provinces Commission in 1948 under S.K. Dhar, a retired High Court judge. The Dhar Commission advised against reorganising purely on language and recommended that administrative convenience should be the main test. The demand did not fade, so in December 1948 the Congress formed the JVP Committee, named after Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya. It too advised caution, though it admitted that the sentiment for linguistic states could not be ignored forever and suggested that Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra could be examined at a suitable time.

The turning point

The question was settled in practice by popular agitation. The Telugu-speaking districts of the Madras Presidency had long sought their own state. In 1952 the Gandhian activist Potti Sriramulu began a fast unto death to press the demand and died on 15 December 1952 after nearly two months. The reaction was intense, and within days the Government of India announced the formation of a separate Andhra State. It came into being on 1 October 1953, carved out of Madras State, and became the first state formed on a linguistic basis after Independence. Its creation opened the door to similar demands across the country.

The States Reorganisation Act, 1956

Following the Andhra experience, the Government set up the States Reorganisation Commission in December 1953 under Justice Fazl Ali, with H.N. Kunzru and K.M. Panikkar as the other members. The Commission submitted its report in 1955. While accepting language as an important factor, it also stressed the unity and security of India, the needs of financial and administrative viability and the requirements of national planning. It recommended abolishing the Part A, B, C and D categories and proposed 16 states and 3 centrally administered territories.

After debate, Parliament passed the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, together with the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act of the same year. The Act came into effect on 1 November 1956 and created 14 states and 6 union territories. Some key outcomes were:

• The old classification of Part A, B, C and D states was removed, leaving just two categories: states and union territories.
• Hyderabad’s Telugu-speaking areas were merged with Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh, while its Kannada- and Marathi-speaking areas went to Mysore and Bombay respectively.
• Kerala was formed by joining the Malayalam-speaking Travancore-Cochin with the Malabar district of Madras.
• Mysore State was enlarged to include Kannada-speaking regions from neighbouring areas, and was later renamed Karnataka.
• Madhya Pradesh was reorganised by merging several smaller units.

The principle was never applied rigidly. Bombay State remained a bilingual unit of Marathi and Gujarati speakers, and Punjab remained a combination of Punjabi and Hindi speakers, which led to later divisions. Still, the 1956 Act gave India a template of states built around major languages and regional cultures.

Later Reorganisations: A Timeline

The 1956 map was only the beginning. Over the following decades, popular movements, security concerns and administrative arguments led to new states being carved out or upgraded from union territories. The table below lists the most significant milestones.

Two themes behind the changes

Looking at the table, two patterns stand out. In the Northeast, ethnic diversity, hill and plains differences and security concerns led to a series of smaller states, with Assam being divided several times. In central and northern India, the 2000 trio of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand was created largely on grounds of regional development and the distinct identity of tribal and hill communities rather than on language. Telangana’s formation in 2014 combined the memory of a distinct regional history with a long-standing political movement, even though the people of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana speak Telugu.

Linguistic States, Identity and the Idea of India

Linguistic reorganisation was a bold experiment. Critics in the 1950s feared it would fuel separatism, but the Indian experience has generally shown the opposite: giving major language communities their own political home allowed regional pride to coexist with national belonging. A Tamil, a Bengali or a Malayali can feel strongly about their language and also feel fully Indian, and the Constitution encourages this layered identity through the Eighth Schedule, which recognises 22 languages, alongside Hindi and English as official languages of the Union.

Sub-national identity in everyday life

• State governments conduct administration and school education largely in the regional language, with English and Hindi alongside.
• State festivals, cuisines, dance forms, music traditions and literature often follow linguistic lines, from Bihu in Assam to Onam in Kerala and Pongal in Tamil Nadu.
• State-level political parties and movements frequently reflect regional concerns, which is part of the federal character of Indian politics.

The map reflects India’s physical diversity as well. Rajasthan is the largest state by area, Goa the smallest, and Uttar Pradesh the most populous state. Among union territories, Delhi is the most populous and Lakshadweep the smallest by area. The country stretches from the Himalayas in the north to the peninsular coastline in the south, and from the deserts of the west to the evergreen hills of the east, and this geographic spread is one reason why a single central administration alone could not manage the whole country effectively.

Capitals and Special Provisions for Some States

Every state has a capital where the legislature, the Governor’s residence and the secretariat are located. Most states have a single capital, though a few follow different arrangements. Chandigarh serves as the capital of both Punjab and Haryana while being a union territory in its own right. Maharashtra and some other states hold legislative sessions in a second city in addition to the main capital. After Telangana was formed in 2014, Hyderabad was made a shared capital for a limited period, and Andhra Pradesh later moved towards developing a new capital of its own. New Delhi is the capital of the country and lies within the National Capital Territory.

Article 371 and its series

Because the states differ in history and circumstances, the Constitution contains special provisions for several of them through Articles 371, 371A to 371J. These are different from the earlier special arrangement for Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, which was rendered inoperative by a Presidential Order in August 2019. In brief, the Article 371 series includes:

• Article 371 – special responsibilities for the Governors of Maharashtra and Gujarat, such as development boards for specific regions.
• Article 371A – Nagaland, protecting customary law and religious and social practices of the Naga people in matters such as land ownership.
• Articles 371B and 371C – Assam and Manipur, with committees for tribal and hill areas.
• Article 371D – provisions on public employment and education in the Telugu-speaking states.
• Articles 371F, 371G, 371H and 371I – Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa respectively.
• Article 371J – the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, with measures for its balanced development.

In addition, the Fifth and Sixth Schedules provide for the administration of Scheduled Areas and tribal areas, with autonomous councils in parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

Conclusion

The story of the states and union territories of India is the story of the republic itself: a patient process of negotiation, adjustment and, when needed, bold reorganisation. The Constitution describes India as a Union of States, gives Parliament the power to redraw boundaries, and balances regional aspirations against national unity. From the integration of princely states under Sardar Patel and V.P. Menon to the 1956 linguistic reorganisation, from the northeastern states to the creation of Telangana, each chapter has shown that the map of India is not a fixed picture but a living arrangement. For readers, the useful takeaway is simple: states govern themselves within a shared Union, while union territories are administered more directly by the Centre, and the line between the two has moved many times in the past seven decades.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many states and union territories does India have?

India currently has 28 states and 8 union territories. The number of union territories came down from nine to eight in January 2020, when Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were merged into a single territory. Earlier totals appear in older books because the map has changed over time.

What is the main difference between a state and a union territory?

A state has its own elected government, headed by a Chief Minister, and shares powers with the Centre under the Constitution. A union territory is administered by the Centre through a Lieutenant Governor or Administrator appointed by the President. Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir are exceptions that have their own legislatures, though their powers are more limited than those of states.

Who has the power to create a new state in India?

Parliament does, under Article 3 of the Constitution. A bill must be introduced on the President’s recommendation, and the President refers it to the affected state legislature for its views. Those views are not binding, and the bill can be passed by a simple majority in Parliament.

Why were states reorganised on linguistic lines in 1956?

Linguistic reorganisation reflected a long-standing demand that people be governed in their own language, strengthened by the agitation for Andhra and the death of Potti Sriramulu in 1952. The States Reorganisation Commission accepted language as an important basis while also stressing national unity and administrative viability. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 created 14 states and 6 union territories.

Which are the most recently created states and union territories?

Telangana, formed on 2 June 2014, is the most recently created state. In 2019, the former state of Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. In 2020, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were merged into one union territory.

What is Article 371 and which states does it cover?

Article 371 and the provisions numbered 371A to 371J give special arrangements to certain states in view of their particular history, tribal populations or regional needs. They cover states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Karnataka. They are distinct from the former special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370.

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