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Info Bits Indian National Congress had promised each
major linguistic group its own province in the
The United Nation General Assembly has decided to 1920s. But after independence, the main aim of
declare October 2, the birth anniversary of the leaders was to prevent any further division of
Mahatma Gandhi, as the International Day of Non- the country.
Violence in recognition of his role in promoting the
message of peace around the world on his 125th
birth anniversary (Oct 2, 2007).

The Indian Constitution is based on principles of
democracy and equality. An important feature of
the Constitution was the adoption of universal
adult franchise , i.e. the right to vote. This is given
to all citizens above the age of 18 years
irrespective of gender, class or education. The
Constitution guarantees equality before law, under
this every citizen of country is equal in the eyes of
law. No one is discriminated on the basis of
his/her religion, caste, language or gender. All
enjoy equal rights. Another key feature of the
Constitution is the separation of powers.
According to this, there are three organs of the
state. These are the legislature, the executive and
the judiciary. The legislature refers to our elected
representatives. The executive is a smaller group of
people who are responsible for implementing laws
and running the government. The judiciary, refers India in 1975
to the system of courts in the country. Secularism Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Deputy
had to be practised to keep the people together. Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel were opposed to
the idea of linguistic states and believed that it
Info Bits was imperative for India to be united. This
Info Bits
decision created a great deal of resentment among
The Indian Constitution is the longest written linguistic groups. However the strongest protests
Constitution of any sovereign country in the world. came from the Telugu speaking districts of the
It contains 444 articles in 22 parts, 12 schedules Madras Presidency who wanted an Andhra state.
and 94 amendments. In all, it has over 1.17 lakh In Andhra, a Gandhian named Potti Sriramulu
words in its English language version.
went on a hunger strike demanding the formation
Special privileges were offered to the poorest and of an Andhra state and died on the fifty eighth
the most disadvantaged Indians. The Scheduled day. This led to widespread chaos. The central
Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the Other goverment was forced to make the new state of
Backwards Castes have been provided special Andhra Pradesh on October 1, 1953.
privileges in education and government jobs so Seeing this, other linguistic communities also
that they are on a par with their compatriots and
demanded their own separate states a States
can develop themselves and thus contribute to the Recorganisation Committee was set-up which
development of the nation.
submitted its report in 1956. The committee
recommended the drawing of district and
FORMATION OF STATES
provincial boundaries. This was done to form
This was another problematic area because the compact provincial for Assamese, Bengali, Oriya,
India After Independence
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