Union territory

A union territory is an administrative division within the Republic of India. These divisions are separate from India’s states, which, much like American states, have their own internal governmental structures. Union territories, by comparison, are directly governed by India’s federal government, which is formally known as the Central Government of India. As of mid-2020, there were a total of eight union territories: Delhi; Jammu and Kashmir; Puducherry; Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli; and Daman and Diu; Lakshadweep; and Ladakh. Not all union territories are created equal, however. Rather than being entirely controlled by the central government, some union territories, such as Delhi and Puducherry, are granted a special status giving them partial statehood and allowing them to have some of their own elected officials who handle many administrative and legislative duties. In any event, union territories are a key part of India’s overall governmental structure.

Background

To properly understand the nature of union territories, it is first necessary to examine the structural framework of India’s government. Broadly speaking, India is a federal republic that as of 2020 consisted of twenty-eight states and eight union territories. The Republic of India is primarily controlled by a federal governmental body called the Central Government of India. Like the United States’ federal government, India’s central government is composed of separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

The executive branch is led by the president, who serves as the ceremonial head of state and commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The president exercises all constitutional powers directly or through subordinate officers. The most important of these officers is the prime minister, who functions as chief advisor to the president and head of the Union Council of Ministers, a body that exercises executive authority throughout India. Overall, the executive branch is responsible for overseeing the administration of the state bureaucracy.

The legislative branch of India’s central government is a bicameral federal parliament consisting of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha, or the council of states, is the legislature’s upper house. It includes 245 members, most of whom are indirectly elected by state and union territory assemblies for six years at a time. The remaining members are appointed by the president. The Lok Sabha, or the council of the people, includes 545 elected members who represent various states and union territories. Some seats in the Lok Sabha are also specifically reserved for scheduled castes and tribes. Both houses work together to create and pass legislation.

The judicial branch of India’s central government is responsible for interpreting and applying the law. Because it was created when India was under British rule, the independent Indian judiciary adheres to concepts and procedures similar to those typically associated with Anglo-Saxon nations. In practice, the Indian judiciary is tasked with protecting the rights of the people and balancing the exercise of power between the central government and those of the states and union territories. The judicial is led by the Supreme Court of India, which consists of a chief justice and thirty associated judges appointed by the president.

Overview

At its core, the Republic of India is a federation of states and union territories. While the Central Government of India holds power over the nation as a whole, each of the states—and some of the union territories—has some degree of sovereignty. The extent of that sovereignty is primarily what separates union territories from states.

Each Indian state boasts an elected assembly and a government responsible for everything from bureaucratic administration to law enforcement, infrastructure construction, management of industry and agriculture, and taxation. States have a federal relationship with the central government, which means that legislative and executive powers are distributed between the two. On the executive side, states are primarily led by two officials: the governor and the chief minister. While the governor serves as the state’s constitutional head, the chief minister is a duly elected administrator. Given all this, it can be said that states enjoy considerable autonomy when it comes to their ability to govern themselves.

In comparison to states, union territories are small administrative units usually governed directly by the central government. Most union territories have a unitary relationship with the central government, which means that the central government holds all legislative and executive powers and cedes little, if any, authority to the union territory itself. Because the central government directly controls union territories, the president of India is considered to be the executive head of each such unit. Beyond that, the day-to-day administration of each individual union territory is left to a special administration appointed by the president. With the high level of central government involvement in their administration, most union territories are left with no political autonomy. However, some exceptions exist. The union territories of Delhi, including the major city of New Delhi, and Puducherry have their own independent legislatures and governments. They also enjoy representation in the Rajya Sabha, a privilege the other union territories are not granted. The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which was established in October 2019, can also be classified as something of an exception because it has more autonomy than normal union territories, but less than that of states.

The history of union territories dates back to a reorganization of India’s states that took place in 1956. During this process, the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) noticed that some territories within India did not conform to the typical model of a state or follow a uniform pattern of governance. Recognizing that these territories were too economically, administratively, and politically unstable to survive on their own without intervention from the central government, the SRC classified them as union territories. Andaman and Nicobar Islands was the first region to be classified as a union territory, receiving that designation along with Delhi and Lakshadweep in November 1956. Puducherry and Chandigarh were recognized in the 1960s. Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh became union territories in 2019, while Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were officially designated in 2020. Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur is counted among several regions formerly regarded as union territories.

Bibliography

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