1876–1919 The
British Raj was a very complex political entity consisting of various imperial divisions and states and territories of varying autonomy. At the time of its legal establishment in 1876, it was made up of 584
constituent states and the
directly ruled territories of the Crown. The entire empire was divided into provinces and agencies. A
province consisted of territory under the direct rule of the
Emperor of India (who was also the
King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions) and a few minor states, ruled by Indian princes under the suzerainty of the Emperor. A
Governor or
Lieutenant-Governor acted as representative of the Emperor in that province and as
head of government of the directly ruled territories in the province. The governor or lieutenant-governor also served as the Emperor's representative to the
constituent states of the province. The first three of the lieutenant-governorships were territories annexed to India from other powers and temporarily governed by the erstwhile Bengal Presidency, before being made into their own separate provinces.
Agra and
Bengal were still considered
de jure parts of the defunct Bengal Presidency for judicial and legal purposes. Agra was separated in 1878 and merged with
Oudh. The
Bengal Presidency was re-established in 1912 as a governorship. All these provinces had their own legislatures established by the Indian Councils Acts, and high courts established by Indian High Courts Acts. Laws passed by these legislatures needed the dual assent of the governor or lieutenant-governor of the province and the
governor-general of India, who functioned as the representative of the
Emperor. • There were three governor's provinces in 1912, styled "Presidencies" as a historical memento that they had been once governed by presidents. These were: •
Bombay •
Madras (officially Presidency of Fort St. George) •
Bengal (from 1912) • There were six lieutenant-governor's provinces in 1905. These were: •
Burma •
Punjab •
Central Provinces •
Bengal (till 1912) •
Eastern Bengal and Assam (1905–1912) •
Agra and Oudh •
North-Western Provinces and Oudh (1878–1902) •
United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (1902–1935) There were territories ruled directly by the Government of India through nominated chief commissioners. These were former independent states annexed to India and since ruled directly by the Supreme Government. • There were the three chief commissioner's provinces. These did not have a legislature or a high court. These were: •
Ajmer-Merwara •
Coorg •
Oudh (till 1878) •
Delhi (from 1911, capital of India) The vast majority of the Indian states in the late nineteenth century were, in terms of imperial divisions, organised within the provinces. A good number of states were organised into imperial structures called agencies, or residencies. An Agent to the Governor-General (AGG) functioned as the Emperor's representative to all the states in the agency. • At the time of establishment of the empire, there were only two agencies: •
Rajputana •
Central India • Several kingdoms were neither part of a province nor an agency; they each had direct relations with the Emperor: •
Kashmir and Jammu •
Nizamate of Hyderabad •
Kingdom of Mysore 1919–1935 In 1919, the fourth
Government of India was enacted by the Crown. This saw many major changes. The legislatures of the provinces were made elected ones rather than nominated ones. Some provinces were given
bicameral legislatures. All provinces were elevated to governorships and all lieutenant governors were made governors. Burma was given a special status and made an autonomous province. • There were ten governor's provinces now. These were: •
Bombay •
Madras •
Bengal •
Burma •
Punjab •
Central Provinces and Berar •
United Provinces •
North-West Frontier Province •
Assam •
Bihar and Orissa • There were four chief commissioner's provinces. Their status mostly remained unchanged. These were: •
Ajmer-Merwara •
Coorg •
Balochistan •
Delhi The
Chamber of Princes was established by
Emperor George V in 1920. One of the major consequences of this was the creation of many more agencies from the states of the provinces, granting them direct relations with the Emperor instead of with the Governors. • There were now 8 imperial agencies and residencies. These were: •
Punjab States (formerly part of Punjab Province) •
Madras States (formerly part of Madras Presidency) •
Deccan States Agency and Kolhapur Residency (formerly part of Bombay Presidency) •
Western India and Gujarat States Agency and Baroda Residency (formerly part of Bombay Presidency) •
Eastern States (formerly part of Bengal Presidency, Bihar and Orissa Province and Central Provinces) •
Gwalior Residency (formerly part of
Central India Agency) •
Rajputana •
Central India This saw the separation of all the states from the provinces and addition to before-mentioned agencies. This left all the provinces with only territories under direct Crown rule. • Several states continued their direct relations with the Emperor through this period, including: •
Kashmir and Jammu •
Nizamate of Hyderabad •
Kingdom of Mysore 1935–1947 The latter years of the
Indian Empire saw the enactment of the last
Government of India Act by the Crown. This act granted full autonomy to Indian provinces. Provincial laws no longer needed the assent of the governor-general. This act created the office of a
Premier in each province, who functioned as the new head of government and was responsible to the provincial legislature. Bengal, Madras and Bombay which had been till now styled Presidencies, were now officially styled as provinces. The provinces of
Orissa and
Sind were created from Bihar and Bombay respectively. The
Province of Burma which had previously functioned as an autonomous province of India was now separated from the Indian Empire, and established as the
Crown Colony of Burma. • The new set of 12 governor's provinces were: •
Bombay •
Sind •
Madras •
Bengal •
Burma •
Punjab •
Central Provinces and Berar •
United Provinces •
North-West Frontier Province •
Assam •
Bihar •
Orissa • There were 4 chief commissioner's provinces: •
Ajmer-Merwara •
Coorg •
Balochistan •
Delhi • There were 8 imperial agencies and residencies: •
Punjab States •
Madras States •
Deccan States Agency and Kolhapur Residency •
Western India and Gujarat States Agency and Baroda Residency •
Eastern States •
Gwalior Residency •
Rajputana •
Central India • Three kingdoms were in direct relations with the Emperor. In 1947, the last Act of the Crown was passed. The act dissolved the Indian Empire, the
Imperial Legislative Council and the
Chamber of Princes. The
Union of India was consequently established from 9 former Indian provinces (
East Punjab,
United Provinces,
Central Provinces,
Madras,
Bombay,
Bihar,
Orissa,
West Bengal and
Assam) and 562 former Indian states.
1947–1950 Between 1947 and 1950, the territories of the princely states were politically integrated into the new
Indian Union. Most were merged into existing provinces. Others were organised into new provinces and
states, such as
Rajasthan,
Himachal Pradesh,
Malwa Union,
Baghelkhand and Bundelkhand States Union, and
Patiala and East Punjab States Union, made up of multiple princely states. A few, including
Mysore,
Hyderabad,
Bhopal, and
Bilaspur, became separate states. • Part A states, which were the former governors' provinces of India, were ruled by an elected governor and state legislature. The nine Part A states were: •
Assam (formerly
Assam Province), •
Bihar (formerly
Bihar Province), •
Bombay (formerly
Bombay Province), •
East Punjab (formerly
Punjab Province), •
Madhya Pradesh (formerly the
Central Provinces and Berar), •
Madras (formerly
Madras Province), •
Orissa (formerly
Orissa Province), •
Uttar Pradesh (formerly the
United Provinces), and •
West Bengal (formerly
Bengal Province). • The eight Part B states were former princely states or groups of princely states, governed by a
rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state, and an elected legislature. The rajpramukh was appointed by the
President of India. The Part B states were: •
Hyderabad (formerly
Hyderabad Princely State), •
Jammu and Kashmir (formerly
Jammu and Kashmir Princely State), •
Madhya Bharat (formerly
Central India Agency), •
Mysore (formerly
Mysore Princely State), •
Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), •
Rajasthan (formerly
Rajputana Agency), •
Saurashtra (formerly
Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States Agency), and •
Travancore–Cochin (formerly
Travancore Princely State and
Cochin Princely State). • The ten Part C states included both the former chief commissioners' provinces and some princely states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The Part C states were: •
Ajmer (formerly
Ajmer-Merwara Province), •
Bhopal (formerly
Bhopal Princely State), •
Bilaspur (formerly
Bilaspur Princely State), •
Coorg State (formerly
Coorg Province), •
Delhi, •
Himachal Pradesh, •
Kutch (formerly
Cutch Princely State), •
Manipur (formerly
Manipur Princely State), •
Tripura (formerly
Tripura Princely State), and •
Vindhya Pradesh (formerly
Central India Agency). • The only Part D state was the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the union government.
States reorganisation (1951–1956) Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 from the
Telugu-speaking northern
districts of
Madras State. The
French enclave of
Chandernagore was transferred to
West Bengal in 1954. In the same year
Pondicherry, comprising the former French enclaves of
Pondichéry,
Karikal,
Yanaon and
Mahé, was transferred to India. This became a union territory in 1962. Also in 1954, pro-India forces liberated the
Portuguese-held enclaves of
Dadrá and
Nagar Aveli, declaring the short-lived
de facto state of
Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In 1961, India annexed it as the Union Territory of
Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The
States Reorganisation Act, 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states. The former Union Territory of
Nagaland achieved statehood on 1 December 1963. The
Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 resulted in the creation of
Haryana on 1 November and the transfer of the northern districts of Punjab to
Himachal Pradesh. The act designated
Chandigarh as a union territory and the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana. Madras State was renamed
Tamil Nadu in 1969. The north-eastern states of
Manipur,
Meghalaya and
Tripura were formed on 21 January 1972. Mysore State was renamed
Karnataka in 1973. On 16 May 1975,
Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union and the
state's monarchy was abolished. In 1987,
Arunachal Pradesh and
Mizoram became states on 20 February, followed by
Goa on 30 May, while erstwhile union territory of
Goa, Daman and Diu's northern
exclaves
Damão and
Diu became a separate union territory as
Daman and Diu. In November 2000, three new states were created, namely: •
Chhattisgarh, from eastern
Madhya Pradesh, (
Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000) • Uttaranchal, from northwest
Uttar Pradesh (renamed
Uttarakhand in 2007), (
Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000), and •
Jharkhand, from southern districts of Bihar (
Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000). Pondicherry was renamed
Puducherry in 2007 and Orissa was renamed
Odisha in 2011.
Telangana was
created on 2 June 2014 from ten former districts of north-western
Andhra Pradesh. In August 2019, the Parliament of India passed the
Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which contains provisions to reorganise the state of
Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories;
Jammu and Kashmir and
Ladakh, effective from 31 October 2019. Later that year in November, the Government of India introduced legislation to merge the union territories of
Daman and Diu and
Dadra and Nagar Haveli into a single union territory to be known as
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, effective from 26 January 2020.
Current proposals == States and Union territories ==