The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was one of the major reforms of the boundaries and governance of India’s states and territories. It reorganized the boundaries of India's states based on the languages.In December 1953, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who was at the time the Prime Minister of India in lieu of Central Government of India nominated a a three-member States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) under the leadership of Fazal Ali, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
The other two members in the Fazal Ali commission were Pandit Hridayanath Kunzuru and Sardar K.M. Panikar. Govind Ballabh Pant, then Home Minister of India, oversaw the committee's activities.
The Commission after two years of study submitted its report to the government of India on September 30, 1955, recommending to form 14 states and 8 union territories.
The State Reorganization Act was authorized and formed as a law on August 31, after much debate in Parliament. The State Reorganization Act went into effect on November 1, 1956.
But two of the most sensitive area, Bombay and Punjab, were not reorganized on a linguistic basis.
States
- Andhra Pradesh: Andhra was renamed Andhra Pradesh, and enlarged by the addition of the Telangana region of erstwhile Hyderabad State.
- Bombay State: It was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra and Kutch, the Marathi-speaking districts of Nagpur Division of Madhya Pradesh, and the Marathwada region of Hyderabad.
The southernmost districts of Bombay were transferred to Mysore State. (In 1960, the state was split into the modern states of Maharashtra and Gujarat)
- Kerala: formed by the merger of Travancore-Cochin state with the Malabar District of Madras State and adding the southern part of Travancore (Kanyakumari) to Madras state.
The Laccadive Minicoy & Amindivi islands off the Malabar coast were removed and declared Union Territory with the new name "Lakshadweep Islands."
- Madhya Pradesh: Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh, and Bhopal were merged into Madhya Pradesh, and the Marathi-speaking districts of Nagpur Division were transferred to Bombay State.
- Madras State: the state was reduced to its present boundaries by the transfer of Malabar District to the new state of Kerala. The southern part of Travancore (Kanyakumari district) was added to the state. (The state was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969)
- Mysore State: enlarged by the addition of Coorg state and the Kannada speaking districts from southern Bombay state and western Hyderabad state. (The state was renamed Karnataka in 1973)
- Punjab: the Patiala and East Punjab States Union was merged into Punjab.
- Rajasthan: Rajputana was renamed Rajasthan, and enlarged by the addition of Ajmer-Merwara state.
- Jammu and Kashmir: No change of boundary in 1956.
- Uttar Pradesh: No change of boundary in 1956.
- West Bengal: No change of boundary in 1956.
- Assam: No change of boundary in 1956.
- Orissa: No change of boundary in 1956.
- Bihar: No change of boundary in 1956.
Union Territories
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Lakshadweep
- Pondicherry
- Delhi
- Manipur
- Tripura
- Ladakh
- Himachal Pradesh