How many States and Union territories were created according to the States Reorganisation Act, 1956?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

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.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) The union territory count is right but the state count is not — the Act left 14 states, not 11.  (b) 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) A near-miss on both counts. The 1956 settlement was 14 and 6; every larger union territory figure comes from later additions.

Concept: 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.

State PCS 2025 Q3 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q3 — History PYQ with Answer