During British period India was divided into administrative units of Provinces (or Presidencies) and Princely states. Provinces were those units which were governed directly by British. princely stated were those units which were conquered/annexed by policy of Subsidiary Alliance and the local king loyal to British was given the autonomy to rule the state. The powers and authority of the local king was very limited and the administration was virtually in the hands of British.
At the time of independence in 1947 there were 11 Provinces and numerous (say 562) Princely states. Few of the main important provinces post independence are – Bombay, Madras, Bengal, Assam and United Province. Some of the princely states were quite big such as – Kashmir, Mysore and Hyderabad while some were very small like Junagadh, Udaipur, Aundh and Cochin.
After independence the British dissolved the treaty relations with the Princely states giving them the right to either accede to India or to Pakistan or remain neutral. Most of the states acceded to India and some to Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir, Hyderabad and Bhutan choose to remain independent. Hyderbad was annexed to India by armed intervention.
After 1947 most of the princely states were integrated into existing provinces while others organised to new provinces. Rajputana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Bharat and Vindhya Pradesh were made by integrating multiple princely states. Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Bilaspur were turned to new Provinces from princely states.
States and Union Territories Reorganization Act, 1956
This act was a major instrument which shaped the boundaries of States and Territories after independence. Some of the important outcomes of this act were
- Andhra Pradesh – Andhra state was merged with telugu speaking area of Hyderbad State (present Telangana) to create Andhra Pradesh.
- Bomaby State – the state was enlarged by adding the area of Surashtra and Kutch, Nagpur division of Madhya Pradesh, Marathwada region of Hederabad.
- Kerala State formed by merger of Travancore state with malabar district of Madras state.
- Madhya Pradesh – was formed by merging Madhya Bharat province, Vindhya Pradesh and Bhopal state.
- Madras State – Malabar district given to Kerala state, Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi islands separated out to form new territory (later renamed as Lakshdweep Islands in 1973)
- Mysore State – enlarged by addition of Coorg state and western Hyderabad state. It was renamed later as Karnataka in 1973.
- Punjab State – enlarged by addition of Patiala and East Punjab States Union
- Rajasthan State – enlarged by adding Ajmer state and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Bombay state.
- Union Territories (6 No) – Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nikobar Islands, Delhi, Laccadive, Minicoy & Amindivi islands, Manipur and Tripura
Present Scenario of States and Union Territories
India is a union consisting of 29 states and 7 territories. The states and territories are further divided into districts which in turn are divided into smaller administrative units like Tehsil, Taluka or Mandals.
Political map of India showing all 29 States and 7 Union Territories.
Date of Formation of Indian States
| State | Created on | Capital | Official Language |
| Andhra Pradesh | Oct 1, 1953 | Hyderabad | Telugu |
| Arunachal Pradesh | Feb 20, 1987 | Itanagar | English |
| Assam | Aug 15, 1947 | Dispur | Assamese |
| Bihar | April 1, 1936 | Patna | Hindi, Urdu |
| Chhattisgarh | Nov 1, 2000 | Raipur | Hindi, Chhatisgarhi |
| Goa | May 30, 1987 | Panjim | Konkani |
| Gujarat | May 1, 1960 | Gandhinagar | Gujarati |
| Haryana | Nov 1, 1966 | Chandigarh | Hindi, Punjabi |
| Himachal Pradesh | Jan 25, 1971 | Shimla | Hindi |
| Jammu and Kashmir | Oct 26, 1947 | Srinagar | Urdu |
| Jharkhand | Nov 15, 2000 | Ranchi | Hindi |
| Karnataka | Nov 1, 1956 | Benguluru | Kannad |
| Kerala | Nov 1, 1956 | Trivendrum | Malyalam |
| Madhya Pradesh | Nov 1, 1956 | Bhopal | Hindi |
| Maharashtra | May 1, 1960 | Mumbai | Marathi |
| Manipur | Jan 21, 1972 | Imphal | Manipuri, English |
| Meghalaya | Jan 21, 1972 | Shilong | English, Garo, Khasi |
| Mizoram | Feb 20, 1987 | Aizawl | Mizo, English |
| Nagaland | Dec 1 , 1963 | Kohima | English |
| Odisha | Apr 1, 1936 | Bhubaneshwar | Odiya |
| Punjab | Aug 15, 1947 | Chandigarh | Punjabi |
| Rajasthan | Nov 1, 1956 | Jaipur | Hindi |
| Sikkim | May 16, 1975 | Gangtok | Nepali, Bhutia, Lepcha |
| Tamilnadu | Jan 26, 1950 | Chennai | Tamil |
| Telangana | June 2, 2014 | Hyderabad | Telugu, Urdu |
| Tripura | Jan 21, 1972 | Agartala | Bengali, Tripuri |
| Uttar Pradesh | Jan 26, 1950 | Lucknow | Hindi |
| Uttarakhand | Nov 9, 2000 | Dehradun | Hindi |
| West Bengal | Nov 1, 1956 | Kolkata | Bengali |