BharatNotes Cross-paper relevance
- GS2 — Core: the constitutional basis of India's map, why Parliament can redraw states unilaterally, Article 3 as evidence of the Constitution's unitary bias, and the administration of Union territories
- GS1 — Modern history: the linguistic reorganisation of the 1950s, the integration of Sikkim, and the enclaves settled with Bangladesh in 2015
- Essay — Recurring themes: "Unity in diversity"; "The politics of smaller states"
Part I of the Constitution runs to four articles and settles a question that most federations leave to their component units: who owns the map. In India the answer is Parliament. A state cannot refuse to be divided, cannot insist on its boundaries, and cannot keep its own name against Parliament's wish.
That single fact does more work in a federalism answer than any amount of theory.
Article 1 — the words, and what turns on them
(1) India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States. (2) The States and the territories thereof shall be as specified in the First Schedule. (3) The territory of India shall comprise: (a) the territories of the States; (b) the Union territories specified in the First Schedule; and (c) such other territories as may be acquired.
Two points sit in the wording.
"Union of States", not "federation". Ambedkar's explanation in the Assembly was that the phrase was chosen deliberately: the Union is not the result of an agreement among states, and no state has a right to secede from it. India is a union because it was never a compact between pre-existing sovereign units in the American sense.
"Territory of India" is wider than "the States". Clause (3) has three limbs, and the third, "such other territories as may be acquired", means the Constitution anticipates acquisition and needs no amendment to accommodate it. This is why acquiring territory is an executive act flowing from sovereignty, while ceding territory is not. That asymmetry is the subject of Berubari, below.
Article 2 against Article 3 — the distinction that carries the marks
These two articles are constantly confused, and every element of the difference is testable.
| Article 2 | Article 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Admits into the Union, or establishes, new states | Forms new states out of existing ones, and alters their areas, boundaries or names |
| Which territory | Territory outside the existing Union | Territory already inside the Union |
| Terms | Parliament may admit or establish "on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit" | The five specific powers in clauses (a) to (e) |
| President's prior recommendation | Not required | Required |
| Reference to the state legislature | Not required | Required, where the Bill affects that state's area, boundaries or name |
| Typical example | Sikkim's admission in 1975 | Telangana in 2014 |
Article 3's five powers, in its own words, are to (a) form a new State by separation of territory from any State, by uniting two or more States or parts of States, or by uniting any territory to a part of any State; (b) increase the area of any State; (c) diminish the area of any State; (d) alter the boundaries of any State; and (e) alter the name of any State.
The proviso to Article 3, which is where the trap lives
No Bill for these purposes may be introduced in either House except on the recommendation of the President, and where the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of a state, not unless the President has first referred it to that state's legislature for its views, within a period specified in the reference or any further period the President allows, and that period has expired.
Read it carefully. The state legislature must be given the opportunity to express its views. Nothing says Parliament must accept them, and nothing says the state must actually respond. Once the specified period expires, Parliament may proceed. The consultation is mandatory; the opinion is not binding.
That is why Parliament's power over the map is described as unilateral in substance, even though it is consultative in form.
Article 4 — why redrawing India is not a constitutional amendment
Article 4(1) says that a law under Article 2 or Article 3 shall contain the provisions needed to amend the First Schedule, which lists the states and their territories, and the Fourth Schedule, which allots Rajya Sabha seats, along with any supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions.
Article 4(2) then says the thing everyone must remember:
No such law as aforesaid shall be deemed to be an amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of article 368.
So creating Telangana amended two Schedules of the Constitution and was nonetheless passed by a simple majority, was never counted in the numbered amendment series, and needed no ratification by any state. Article 169, on abolishing or creating a Legislative Council, carries the identical formula in its clause (3). Both are treated in the amendment chapter.
Can India give territory away? The Berubari question
Acquisition is easy: Article 1(3)(c) already contemplates it.
Cession is the hard case, and it was tested early. The 1958 Nehru-Noon agreement proposed transferring part of Berubari Union to what was then East Pakistan. The President referred the question to the Supreme Court under Article 143, and in In Re Berubari Union (1960) the Court held that ceding Indian territory to a foreign state cannot be done by an ordinary law under Article 3. Article 3 operates within the Union; giving territory away alters the territory of India itself and requires a constitutional amendment under Article 368.
Parliament responded with the Constitution (Ninth Amendment) Act, 1960. The Berubari transfer was never carried out, however, because of continuous litigation and the political changes that followed.
The matter was finally settled fifty-five years later. The Constitution (One Hundredth Amendment) Act, 2015, which received the President's assent on 28 May 2015, gave effect to the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement of 16 May 1974 and its protocol of 6 September 2011, exchanging enclaves and territories in adverse possession. It amended the First Schedule in relation to four states: Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura.
Source: The Constitution (One Hundredth Amendment) Act, 2015, long title, definitions and Schedules, read directly.
The rule to carry away is a clean pair:
| Direction | Instrument required |
|---|---|
| Acquiring foreign territory | No amendment needed. Article 1(3)(c) already covers it |
| Ceding Indian territory to a foreign state | A constitutional amendment under Article 368 |
In Re Berubari Union is worth remembering for a second reason as well. It is the case that held the Preamble is not part of the Constitution, a holding the Supreme Court reversed in Kesavananda Bharati (1973). See Landmark Judgments.
Sikkim, and the article that lived for eight weeks
Sikkim is the one genuine Article 2 story, and it left a footprint in the text that most readers never notice.
The Constitution (Thirty-fifth Amendment) Act, 1974 inserted Article 2A, "Sikkim to be associated with the Union", with effect from 1 March 1975, giving Sikkim the status of an associate state. The arrangement did not last. The Constitution (Thirty-sixth Amendment) Act, 1975 made Sikkim a full state and omitted Article 2A with effect from 26 April 1975.
Article 2A therefore existed for under two months. It still appears in the Constitution as an omitted entry between Articles 2 and 3, which is the only trace left of India's brief experiment with associate statehood.
Source: footnotes to Articles 2 and 2A, The Constitution of India, as on 11 November 2025.
How the map was actually redrawn
The reorganisation of the 1950s
| Body | Year | What it concluded |
|---|---|---|
| Dhar Commission (S.K. Dhar) | 1948 | Advised against reorganising states on a linguistic basis, recommending administrative convenience instead |
| JVP Committee (Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Pattabhi Sitaramayya) | 1948 to 1949 | Also rejected language as the basis for reorganisation |
| States Reorganisation Commission (Fazal Ali, K.M. Panikkar, H.N. Kunzru) | 1953 to 1955 | Accepted language as a major but not the sole factor |
The trigger between the second and the third was Potti Sriramulu's fast unto death and the creation of Andhra State on 1 October 1953 as the first state formed on a linguistic basis. That decision made a general commission unavoidable.
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956, together with the Seventh Amendment Act, 1956, then rebuilt the map from 1 November 1956, replacing the Part A, B, C and D classification of states with a single category of States plus Union Territories. This chapter's discussion of the political and social story sits in Linguistic States & Reorganisation.
The states created since
| Year | Change | Instrument |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Bombay split into Maharashtra and Gujarat, 1 May | Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960 |
| 1963 | Nagaland, 1 December | State of Nagaland Act, 1962 |
| 1966 | Haryana carved out of Punjab, 1 November | Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 |
| 1971 | Himachal Pradesh raised from UT to state, 25 January | State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970 |
| 1972 | Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya become states, 21 January | North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971 |
| 1975 | Sikkim becomes a full state, 26 April | 36th Amendment Act, 1975 |
| 1987 | Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, both 20 February | 53rd and 55th Amendment Acts, 1986, with the State of Mizoram Act, 1986 and the State of Arunachal Pradesh Act, 1986 |
| 1987 | Goa, 30 May | Goa, Daman and Diu Reorganisation Act, 1987 |
| 2000 | Chhattisgarh (1 November), Uttaranchal, later Uttarakhand (9 November), Jharkhand (15 November) | Three separate reorganisation Acts, 2000 |
| 2014 | Telangana, 2 June | Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 |
| 2019 | Jammu and Kashmir ceases to be a state and becomes two Union territories, 31 October | Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 |
| 2020 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli merged with Daman and Diu into one UT, appointed day 26 January | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Act, 2019 |
Note the exam-relevant pattern in the 1987 and 2000 rows: Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh share a date, 20 February 1987, and were the 23rd and 24th states; Goa followed as the 25th on 30 May. The three states of 2000 came within a fortnight of each other and are easy to mis-order.
Source for the 2020 merger date: Ministry of Home Affairs and PRS Legislative Research on the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019. The appointed day was 26 January 2020.
Union territories
A Union territory is administered by the President acting through an Administrator under Article 239. Article 239A allows Parliament to create a legislature or a council of ministers for a UT by ordinary law. Article 239AA is the special provision for the National Capital Territory of Delhi, inserted by the 69th Amendment Act, 1991, and Article 239AB provides for the suspension of that arrangement.
India currently has 28 states and 8 Union territories.
Of the eight, three have a legislature: Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh, Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have none.
Jammu and Kashmir: the current position
This is the live entry in the table, and it needs a date rather than a summary.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 took effect on 31 October 2019, converting the state into two Union territories, Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without one. That is the only occasion on which a state has been converted into a Union territory, and it happened by an ordinary law under Article 3, which is precisely why Article 3 matters.
In In Re Article 370 of the Constitution, decided 11 December 2023, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chandrachud CJI upheld the abrogation. On statehood the Court did not order restoration on its own terms: it recorded the Solicitor General's statement that statehood would be restored, directed that it be restored as soon as possible, and separately directed the Election Commission to hold Assembly elections by 30 September 2024.
The elections were held, and an elected government took office in October 2024.
Statehood has not been restored. As of September 2026 Jammu and Kashmir remains a Union territory. Petitions seeking restoration are pending before the Supreme Court, which in October 2025 gave the Centre four further weeks to respond, and a parliamentary committee has urged the Ministry of Home Affairs to expedite the process. No Bill restoring statehood has been passed.
This is the distinction to keep in an answer: a direction that statehood "shall be restored at the earliest", a government assurance, and an actual restoration are three different things, and only the first two have happened.
Confusion pairs
| Often confused | The distinction |
|---|---|
| Article 2 vs Article 3 | Article 2 brings in territory from outside the Union. Article 3 rearranges what is already inside it |
| Presidential recommendation | Needed for an Article 3 Bill. Not needed for Article 2 |
| State's views | Must be sought where area, boundaries or name are affected. Never binding, and Parliament may proceed once the period expires |
| Article 4 vs Article 368 | A reorganisation law amends the First and Fourth Schedules but Article 4(2) says it is not an amendment for Article 368 purposes. Simple majority, no numbered amendment |
| Acquiring vs ceding territory | Acquiring needs no amendment. Ceding needs an Article 368 amendment, per In Re Berubari Union |
| 9th Amendment vs 100th Amendment | The 9th (1960) followed Berubari and was never carried out for the East Pakistan territories. The 100th (2015) actually gave effect to the Land Boundary Agreement |
| Dhar vs JVP vs Fazal Ali | Dhar and JVP both rejected language as the basis. The Fazal Ali Commission accepted it as a major factor |
| Article 239A vs 239AA | 239A lets Parliament create a legislature for a UT by ordinary law. 239AA is the constitutional provision made specially for Delhi by the 69th Amendment |
Prelims quick-fire facts
- Article 1(3) has three limbs: territories of the States, the Union territories in the First Schedule, and such other territories as may be acquired.
- Article 2A, inserting Sikkim as an associate state, was in the Constitution only from 1 March 1975 to 26 April 1975.
- Article 4(2): a reorganisation law is not an amendment for Article 368 purposes.
- In Re Berubari Union (1960): ceding territory needs an Article 368 amendment, and the Preamble is not part of the Constitution. The second holding was reversed in Kesavananda Bharati (1973).
- 100th Amendment Act, 2015, assented 28 May 2015, affected Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura.
- Andhra State, 1 October 1953, was the first linguistic state.
- The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and the Seventh Amendment, 1956 ended the Part A, B, C and D classification.
- 28 states and 8 Union territories. Three UTs have a legislature: Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.
- J&K is the only state ever converted into a Union territory, on 31 October 2019.
Exam strategy
For Prelims, drill three things and most questions on Part I fall: the Article 2 against Article 3 table, the proviso's two conditions and the fact that only the first is binding, and Article 4(2).
For Mains, Part I is the sharpest single piece of evidence for the Constitution's unitary bias. In a true federation the constituent units are indestructible; here they exist at Parliament's pleasure, and Ambedkar defended precisely that when he explained "Union of States". An answer on Indian federalism that reaches for Article 3 and the Article 4(2) simple-majority point is arguing from the text rather than from a label. The J&K reorganisation of 2019 is the clearest modern application, and it is also the cleanest illustration of the gap between a judicial direction and an accomplished fact.
Sources
- The Constitution of India, as on 11 November 2025, Legislative Department. Articles 1 to 4, Article 2A and their footnotes, and Articles 239 to 239AB, read directly. legislative.gov.in
- The Constitution (One Hundredth Amendment) Act, 2015, for the Land Boundary Agreement, the assent date and the four states affected. PRS Legislative Research
- The Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019, for the merger and its appointed day. PRS Legislative Research
- In Re Article 370 of the Constitution, decided 11 December 2023, for the directions on elections and statehood.
- In Re Berubari Union, Supreme Court advisory opinion under Article 143, 1960.
