This is a list of proposed states and union territories in India. The constitutional power to create new states and union territories in India is solely reserved with the Parliament of India. It can do so by announcing new states/union territories, separating territory from an existing state or merging two or more states/union territories or parts of them. In addition to the existing 28 states and 8 union territories, several new states and union territories have been proposed.
The Indian constitution (under Part I: The Union and its territory) allows certain provisions for the creation of new states and union territories:
Name and territory of the union. Admission or establishment of new states. Formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of other existing states. Laws made under articles 2 and 3 to provide for the amendment of the First and the Fourth Schedules and supplemental, incidental and consequential matters.
However, at the same time, demanding separate statehood within under the administration of Indian union from an existing state can lead to criminal charges under secession law in India.
Between late 1956 and early 2014, members and leaders of various respected ethnic/linguistic organizations, in various separate statehood movements like - 1) Telangana movement in Andhra Pradesh, 2) Barak, Bodoland and Karbiland movements in Assam, 3) Punjabi Suba movement in East Punjab, 4) Gorkhaland movement in West Bengal, et cetera, have been arrested, detained and "encountered" by police under IPC section 124A by the order of Government of India for demanding and asking for a separate state from the existing one. For instance: During 1953 Separate Andhra movement, It's main leader Shri Potti Sreeramulu, has sacrificed his life by fasting for 56 days for the cause of Separate Andhra state. Many people at that time were killed and thousands were injured by Central Government authorities for asking for a Separate Telugu-speaking state from Madras Presidency. In 1961, during Bengali Language Movement in Barak Valley, 11 ethnic Bengalis were have been killed by Assam Police for protesting against the imposition of Assamese Language, for demanding separate Barak state and recognition of Bengali Language as official in the Valley. During the Gorkhaland movement in the late 1986-88, around 1,200 people were killed/encountered by police and dozens were arrested. Before 1963, Naga people of Undivided Assam's Naga hills were asking for a separate Nagaland state, resulting in clashes between Naga tribe and Indian Army, thus killing hundreds and injuring thousands. In 1966, Indira Gandhi's government bombed Mizoram's capital Aizawl, killing thousands, because they were asking for a separate Mizo state. The Punjabi Suba movement, which sought a separate Punjabi-speaking state, saw as many 200 deaths during 1955 Golden Temple raid and 57,129 arrests by police. During the Bodoland Movement, around 5,000 people have been "encountered" by Assam police and 20,000 jailed since 1967. During separate Karbiland demand in Assam, many people have been "encountered" and jailed for asking for a separate state.
History
Before independence, India was divided into British-administered provinces and nominally autonomous princely states, which were governed by the British administration. After the partition of India, some of these administrative divisions became part of the Dominion of Pakistan, whilst the remaining states and provinces formed the Dominion of India. The colonial system of administration continued until 1956 when the States Reorganisation Act abolished the provinces and princely states in favour of new states which were based on language and ethnicity.
Several new states and union territories have been created out of the existing states since 1956. The Bombay Reorganisation Act split the Bombay State into the present-day states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 on a linguistic basis. The state of Nagaland was created on 1 December 1963. The Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 carved out a new Hindi-speaking state of Haryana from the southern districts of Punjab state, transferred the northern districts to Himachal Pradesh and designated a union territory around Chandigarh, the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana.
Statehood was conferred upon Himachal Pradesh on 25 January 1971, and upon Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura on 21 January 1972. The Kingdom of Sikkim joined the Indian Union as a state on 26 April 1975. In 1987, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became states on 20 February, followed by Goa on 30 May of the same year. Goa's northern exclaves of Daman and Diu became a separate union territory.