States Reorganization Act

1956, India

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July 14, 2026

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The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was a significant legislative measure in India that fundamentally reshaped its administrative map. This act was instrumental in reorganizing India's states and territories, primarily by consolidating various Part C and Part D states into a new category called "union territories".1

Before this act, India's administrative units were divided into four parts. The States Reorganisation Act merged many of these, leading to the creation of six initial union territories: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Delhi, Manipur, Tripura, and Himachal Pradesh. While some of these, like Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Tripura, later gained statehood, others like Delhi, Lakshadweep, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have retained their union territory status. This reorganization aimed to streamline governance and create more linguistically and administratively coherent units within the Republic of India.1

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Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh since Indian independence
With the States Reorganization Act of 1956, Madhya Pradesh was redistributed along linguistic lines. The act transferred the southern Marathi-speaking districts of Madhya Pradesh to the Bombay state (now in Maharashtra) and merged several Hindi-speaking areas—the states of Bhopal and Vindhya Pradesh, as well as most of…
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With the States Reorganization Act of 1956, Madhya Pradesh was redistributed along linguistic lines. The act transferred the southern Marathi-speaking districts of Madhya Pradesh to the Bombay state (now in Maharashtra) and merged several Hindi-speaking areas—the states of Bhopal and Vindhya Pradesh, as well as most of…
Read More

India
Government and politics
…in southern India, by the States Reorganization Act, passed in 1956. Four years later, in 1960, the enlarged state of Bombay was divided into Marathi-speaking Maharashtra and Gujarati-speaking Gujarat. Despite those changes, the difficult process of reorganization continued and demanded attention in many regions of the subcontinent, whose truly
Read More
…in southern India, by the States Reorganization Act, passed in 1956. Four years later, in 1960, the enlarged state of Bombay was divided into Marathi-speaking Maharashtra and Gujarati-speaking Gujarat. Despite those changes, the difficult process of reorganization continued and demanded attention in many regions of the subcontinent, whose truly
Read More