1953: Andhra State created

Potti Sreeramulu had fought hard for a separate State for Telugu speaking people.

Potti Sreeramulu.

Four days after the death of Potti Sreeramulu, Nehru announced the decision to create Andhra. Sreeramulu had fought hard for a separate State for Telugu speaking people. And on October 1, 1953, Nehru inaugurated the Andhra State.

Soon, several movements for linguistic States cropped up. In 1953, the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) was announced to examine the question “objectively and dispassionately”. The final decision for linguistic reorganisation was taken on popular demands despite fears that it could lead to fissiparous tendencies.

The SRC was mindful of the Indian Statutory Commission’s views that “it is neither possible nor desirable to reorganise States on a single test of either language or culture”, and it postulated a balanced approach. It submitted its report in 1955 and the States Reorganisation Act was passed in 1956.

The report categorised the States into three parts. Part A was 216 states constituted as provinces; Part B was 61 States constituted into centrally administered units; Part C was 275 States integrated to form special administrative units named. Hyderabad, Mysore, and Jammu and Kashmir were left out of the process.

In 1956, the seventh Amendment to the Constitution collapsed these various parts into part A (States) and part B (Union Territories), and 14 States and six UTs were formed.