MPPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 3 of 100

Correct — D, 14 States and 6 Union territories. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956, read with the Seventh Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956, redrew the political map of India on a largely linguistic basis with effect from 1 November 1956. It scrapped the old Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D classification of 1950 and left a single class of 14 states plus 6 centrally administered union territories. Madhya Pradesh in its 1956 shape was one of those 14 states, formed by merging Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh, Bhopal and the Mahakoshal region, with Bhopal as capital.

• (a)11 States and 6 Union territories — The union territory count is right but the state count is not — the Act left 14 states, not 11.
• (b)12 States and 7 Union territories — Both figures are off. The 1956 settlement was 14 states and 6 union territories; a count of 7 belongs to the years afterwards, as Dadra & Nagar Haveli (1961) and then Goa, Daman & Diu and Puducherry (1962) were added and the list was rearranged.
• (c)13 States and 7 Union territories — A near-miss on both counts. The 1956 settlement was 14 and 6; every larger union territory figure comes from later additions.

Reorganisation on language was resisted before it was conceded. The Dhar Commission (1948) and the JVP Committee of Nehru, Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya (1949) both advised against redrawing states purely on language. The death of Potti Sreeramulu after a 58-day fast forced the creation of Andhra State in 1953 — the first linguistic state — and the government then appointed the States Reorganisation Commission under Fazl Ali, with H. N. Kunzru and K. M. Panikkar as members. Its 1955 report accepted language as a major but not sole basis, and Parliament enacted the settlement in 1956.

The number pair is the whole question, so the trap is a figure remembered from a different year. Fix one line: 1 November 1956 — 14 states and 6 union territories. India's present count, 28 states and 8 union territories, is the result of decades of later changes and is what most students accidentally reach for.

• The States Reorganisation Act, 1956, with the Seventh Amendment, created 14 states and 6 union territories, effective 1 November 1956.
• It abolished the Part A / Part B / Part C / Part D classification of states that the Constitution had carried since 1950.
• The 6 union territories of 1956: Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Laccadive-Minicoy-Amindivi Islands, Manipur and Tripura.
• Sequence to remember: Dhar Commission 1948 → JVP Committee 1949 → Andhra State 1953 → Fazl Ali Commission 1953-55 → Act of 1956.
• Madhya Pradesh was reconstituted on 1 November 1956 from Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh, Bhopal and Mahakoshal, while Marathi-speaking Vidarbha went to Bombay State.

• Answering with today's figures instead of the 1956 figures.
• Believing the Fazl Ali Commission endorsed 'one language, one state' — it accepted language as one criterion among several, alongside administrative and financial viability.
• Dating Andhra's creation to 1956 — Andhra State came in 1953; Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1956 when Telangana was added to it.

MPPSC asks the plain count and the date 1 November 1956, often alongside the formation of Madhya Pradesh. UPSC prefers the commission chain, the Article 3 procedure and the constitutional amendment attached to the Act.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The States Reorganisation Commission appointed in 1953 was chaired by:

  • (a)K. M. Panikkar
  • (b)Fazl Ali
  • (c)H. N. Kunzru
  • (d)S. K. Dhar

  Answer(b) Fazl Ali — with K. M. Panikkar and H. N. Kunzru as the other two members.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which constitutional amendment accompanied the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 to give effect to the new scheme of states and union territories?

  • (a)Fifth Amendment
  • (b)Sixth Amendment
  • (c)Seventh Amendment
  • (d)Ninth Amendment

  Answer(c) Seventh Amendment Act, 1956 — it removed the four-fold classification of states and recast the First Schedule.