republic day

The year of 1950 was the time when Indian Republic came into existence. It was on 26th of January, 1950, when the Republic of India gained an official identity. However, the process of forming a Republican nation had been started much before the year of 1950.

Republic Day marks the adoption of India's republican

Definition of Republic

Connoting the basic right of the citizens of the country to vote and elect their representatives, the term Republic has a huge significance in context of India. With a parliament and well-scripted Constitution, the Republic of India had 565 Princely states in 1947. However, all these states had been unified afterwards to be included under the Indian Republic.

Territory of Indian Republic

The territory of India covers 3,287,590 sq km of total area. The coastline of the nation is 7516.5km long while the frontier of the land area is 15,200km long. The positional coordinates of India stretches to 2933 km on the east-west direction. Whereas, the north-south direction of the country is of 3214 km. Situated between the eastern longitude of 68°7' and 97°25', India is placed between 8°4' and 37°6' northern latitude.

Constituent Assembly of Indian Republic

The Constituent Assembly of India initiated the process of forming a full-fledged constitution for the country from 1946. The nation gained freedom on 15th August, 1947. It was on 26th November, 1949 that the Indian Constituent Assembly formed the Constitution of India with 8 schedules and 395 Articles.

States and Territories of Republic of India

The present infrastructure of the Republic of India constitutes 28 states and 7 Union Territories. The states of the country are Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Assam, Sikkim, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The 7 Union Territories of India are National Capital Territory of Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Puducherry.

Detailed information on the states of Indian Republic and the year, and when they were formed, are given below:

• Bihar is the third most populated state of India. This state was established as a province along with Orissa in 1912 and afterwards became an individual administrative unit controlled by the British Empire.
• Andhra Pradesh, formed in the year of 1953 is the fourth largest state of the country. It is also the fifth most populated Indian state.
• Chhattisgarh, a state in the central India, was created as a separate state in 2000.
• Gujarat, the seventh largest state of India, was established as a state in the year of 1960.
• Assam with a total of 23 districts has been an Indian state since 1947, the year of independence.
• Goa is the smallest state of the country with an area of only 3,702 square kilometer. This state was formed as a state in 1987.
• Arunachal Pradesh came into being on 20th February, 1987
• Mizoram was formed in 1987 in the form of a state. Before that, it was an union territory since 1972.
• Haryana was created in the year of 1966 as a result of the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966, when it was separated from Punjab.
• Manipur gained statehood in the year 1972
• West Bengal is the fourth most populated Indian state with the highest population density, which emerged as a separate state after India got independence in 1947
• Punjab was established just after India became an independent nation in 1947
• Kerala came into existence as state in 1956 following the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
• Meghalaya was created with the Garo Hills and the United Khasi and Jaintia Hills, two districts of Assam. After gaining the semi-autonomous status in 1970, Meghalaya was given the status of an Indian state in the year 1972.
• An independent Tripuri Kingdom, Tripura was merged with the independent India in 1949 following the Tripura Merge Agreement. Tripura was given the status of an Indian state in 1972.
• Orissa was declared as a separate province in 1936 and in 1949 all the princely states surrounding Orissa were included in the state.
• Uttarakhand emerged as a state in the year of 2000, when it was separated from Uttar Pradesh.
• Karnataka was declared as a state in 1973. The state, initially known as the State of Mysore, was created after the States Reorganisation Act was passed in 1956.
• Sikkim, the second smallest state with the area of 7,096 square kilometer, was formed in the year 1975.
• Jammu and Kashmir was formed through the Treaty of Amritsar in the year 1847. It has been given status of a state of India in 1947 following the independence of the country.
• Uttar Pradesh, the fifth largest Indian state with the area of 238,566 square kilometer, was created in 2000 after Uttarakhand was separated from the state.
• Rajasthan, the largest Indian state with an area of 342,236 square kilometer, was declared a state in the year 1949.
• Tamil Nadu comprising a total of 30 districts was a part of the Madras state formed in 1947. However, in 1968, the Madras State was renamed as Tamil Nadu.
• Maharashtra, the second most populated state of the country was formed in the year 1960. The state was made from the Bombay Presidency and Central Provinces.
• Nagaland, initially a part of the Assam Province, was made a Union territory in 1957. The region was announced as a state in 1963 following the Naga People's Convention.
• Madhya Pradesh was created in 1950 and given the status of an Indian state in 1956. Madhya Pradesh along with Chhattisgarh was the largest Indian state till 2000, when Chhattisgarh was separated from the state following the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
• Jharkhand, the 28th state of India was created in the year of 2000, when the Bihar Reorganisation Bill was passed.
• Himachal Pradesh was declared as a Union territory in 1956. After the State of Himachal Pradesh Act was passed in 1970, it was established as the eighteenth Indian state in 1971.

The 7 Union Territories of Indian Republic include:

• Delhi, which constitutes 9 districts, was declared as a Union territory in 1958.
• Puducherry including 4 districts was made a Union territory in 1963.
• Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which comprises only one district was given the status of an Indian Union territory in 1961.
• Andaman & Nicobar, which is divided into 2 districts, became an Indian Union territory in 1950.
• Lakshadweep which acquired its present name in 1973 and formed as an Union Territory in 1956
• Chandigarh which achieved the status of a Union Territory after 1947
• Daman & Diuwere which was declared as Union Territory in 1987

The date of January 26 was chosen as the Republic Day since on this very date the Indian National Congress unanimously voted to do away with the Dominion Status of the nation.