We, the people of the states of bharat: the making and remaking of India's internal boundaries / Sanjeev Chopra

CONTENTS:
Prologue;
1. Maps and Milestones: The Marking of Internal Boundaries in India;
2. 1947: The First Map of Independent India;
3. Riyasat e Jammu wa Kashmir wa Ladakh wa Tibet ha;
4. The Nizam and His Firmans;
5. India as a Republic!;
6. The First Hindi Map of India;
7. The Andhra State and the SRC;
8. The Linguistic States of the South: Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala;
9. The Roy-Sinha proposals and the Boundaries of West Bengal;
10. Questions of Bilingualism;
11. The End of Foreign Jurisdictions;
12. The Frontiers of the North-east;
13. Island Territories;
14. From Subjects to Citizens - Sikkim Joins India;
15. Delhi, New Delhi, NCT and NCR;
16. Regional Aspirations: Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand;
17. Bande Utkal Tanani;
18. Telangana: The Second State for Telugu Speakers;
Epilogue;
Acknowledgements;
Notes;
Bibliography;
Index;
About the Author.

Given that the nine provinces of British India as well as the 562 princely states that existed in August 1947 are not reflected on the map of India in the seventy-fifth year of its independence speaks volumes about the nation's ability to negotiate its political and administrative boundaries with its citizens. While the process of reimagining India through its constituent units - the states - has, on occasion, been due to administrative requirements, most restructuring in the internal boundaries is marked by the aspirations, assertions and adjustments of linguistic and/or ethnic groups seeking their place in the state and federal polity. For Dr Sanjeev Chopra, what started as research into land measurement instruments for revenue records and land settlements eventually became a narrative on mapping state boundaries and a record of the contemporary political history of India through its geography. The book includes captivating material from the reports of the States Reorganization Commission and Linguistic Reorganization Commission, records from state papers as well the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A fascinating read about the multiple boundary adjustments for every state and union territory in India - from 1947 to the seventy-fifth year of independence - We, the People of the States of Bharat is the quintessential story of how India continues to redefine itself.