REDRAWING INDIA'S MAPS

The cunning strategy by the British to sow discord among Indians and divide them on communal and linguistic lines has far-reaching offshoots. True, in all its history, India was never one united country. Paradoxically enough, perhaps the only time when the whole of Bharat was united was during the height of the British Raj, when the current day India, Pakistan, Burma, Aden, Singapore, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh were seen as one entity called BRITISH INDIA.

After Independence and the schism of Pakistan, the princely states and British-governed territories amalgamated into the Indian union. Between 1947 and 1950, due to the untiring efforts of two stalwarts, Sardar Vallabhai Patel and V. P. Menon, the mammoth process of unification of India took place. However, managing the British-era borders proved more than a handful as various factions dissented due to the lack of a common unifying factor within a region. This led to the States Reorganization Act of 1956, which was a major event in classification of India based on linguistic lines. Though many new regions came into Indian governance after 1956, the single largest changing of borders was done on 1st November 1956. The following table gives a chronological order of events leading to shaping up of India's map that is seen today.

TIME	EVENT
1757	Nawab of Bengal loses the battle of Plassey to the British East India company- BEI Company officially starts to control and govern India
1857	Large scale rebellion by the sepoys against the British East India Company; last Indian emperor (Mughal king, Bahadur Shah Zafar captured by the British)
1858	East India company dissolved as a result of the 1857 mutiny, complete power transferred over to the British crown, to the queen
1858	Policy of annexation of princely states formally announced. Several kingdoms were under the suzerainty of British crown; British protected them as allies, each with individual sovereignty to administer
1858	Aden, lower Burma and Singapore comes under British India,
1867	Singapore detached from Indian empire
1884	Somaliland comes under British India
1886	Upper Burma comes into British India
1898	Somaliland separated from India
1905	Bengal partitioned along communal lines into East and West Bengal
1935	Government of India act came into existence; Sindh province separated from Bombay
1937	Aden and Burma separated from India
14-15 August 1947	British India split into India, Pakistan and 568 princely states; British reneged on their support to the princely states, and ask them to join either India or Pakistan, or remain independent
27 October 1947	Kashmir accedes to India, hostilities erupt between India and Pakistan
January 1 1948	Numerous princes sign a merger to join India, into the state of Orissa, Bihar and Central provinces
1948	66 states included Baroda and Kohlapur merge into India, into Bombay. Numerous smaller states merge into Madras, East Punjab, West Bengal, Assam and United provinces. 30 princely states merge into Himachal Pradesh. 35 princely states join India and form Vindhya Pradesh
February 1948	Junagadh acceded to India after being acceded to Pakistan initially
17 September 1948	Hyderabad joins India after a hostile skirmish
28 May 1948	Madhya Bharat created from 25 princely states which acceded to India
15 July 1948	Patiala and East Punjab States Union was formed when 8 princely states join India
12 October 1948	Bilaspur joins India
31 December 1948	Hostilities end between India and Pakistan, 2/5 of Kashmir under Pakistan control, the rest comes under Indian rule. The border became known as “cease-fire line”, and later termed as “line of control”
30 March 1949	Several princely states join India in Rajputana
May 1 1949	Bhopal joins India
July 1 1949	Cochin and Travancore join India and form the state of Travancore-Cochin
9 September 1949	Tripura joins India
October 1949	Manipur joins India
1947-1950	Vast majority of princely states joins India
26 January 1950	India becomes a republic, constitution drafted
2 May 1950	Chandranagore changes hands from France to India
1 November 1954	de facto control of Yanam, Pondicherry, Karaikal and Mahe conceded by France to India
July 1954	Uprising in Dadra and Nagar Haveli throws off Portuguese rule
1 November 1956	Madhya Pradesh formed from the states of Vindhya Pradesh, Bhopal and Madhya Bharat
1 November 1956	Kutch, Vidarbha, Marathwada, Saurashtra joins Bombay state
1 November 1956	State of Mysore created from Coorg, Mysore and the kannada speaking regions of Hyderabad state; renamed Karnataka in 1973
1 November 1956	Telugu speaking areas of Andhra state, and Telengana region of Hyderabad state merges to form Andhra Pradesh
1 November 1956	Ajmer-Merwara joins Rajaputna, renamed into Rajasthan
1 November 1956	Formation of Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar
1 November 1956	Punjab formed by the merger of the Patiala and East Punjab States Union
1 November 1956	Malabar splits from Madras state, and southern Travancore joins Madras state; Madras renamed into Tamil Nadu in 1969
1 November 1956	7 union territories (Manipur, Tripura, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Andaman & Nicobar islands) formed
1 November 1956	Kerala formed from Malabar, and Travancore-Cochin state
1 May 1960	Bombay state partitioned into Maharashtra and Gujarat
19 December 1961	Portuguese surrender to Indian army; Goa, Daman and Diu merge with India
21 November 1962	Sino-Indian war ends, Aksar Chin region of Kashmir comes under Chinese control, with a de facto line of actual control separating Indian and Chinese rule
1 December 1963	Nagaland made into a separate state
1 November 1966	Haryana formed; northern districts of Punjab transferred to Himachal Pradesh
25 January 1971	Statehood conferred upon Himachal Pradesh
21 January 1972	Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura become states of India
16 May 1975	Sikkim merges with India; becomes a separate state
20 February 1987	Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram gains statehood
30 May 1987	Goa becomes a state of India, Daman and Diu become union territories
1 November 2000	16 districts of Madhya Pradesh form a separate state, Chhattisgarh
9 November 2000	Uttaranchal formed out of Uttar Pradesh, renamed Uttarakhand in January 2007
15 November 2000	Jharkhand formed out of Bihar

Following this, new divisions are in the offing. On 9th December 2009, the Indian Home Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram, set the idea of a separate statehood for Telengana in motion. Though Telugu speaking, it is common knowledge that this region is generally backward compared to the other regions in Andhra Pradesh. Even when the states were being reorganized in 1956, a separate statehood for Telengana was proposed- but ultimately rejected. Ever since, the movement has been active, and finally borne some results now.

While politicians and the common man are divided in their views over Telengana, it did create the impetus for other dissenting factions to raise their voices. For instance, several other groups have called for separate statehood. After Telengana's successful struggle, people have been calling for the separate states of Purvanchal (from Uttar Pradesh), Mithilanchal (from Bihar), Gorkhaland (from Assam and West Bengal), Vidarbha (From Maharashtra), and Tulu Nadu (from coastal Karnataka).

Recently, Mr. Chidambaram also had talks with Hurriyat leaders in Kashmir to negotiate with the separatists. If Mr. Chidambaram is following a policy of appeasement to pacify factions to avoid conflicts, he better have a strategy in place for other similar proposed schisms. Not everybody can be entertained, can they?