India runs eight of its regions straight from New Delhi rather than through states
Most of India governs itself through elected state governments, but eight union territories answer directly to the centre, usually through a lieutenant governor or administrator the president appoints. The category did not exist in the original constitution; it was bolted on in 1956, and the list has been reshuffled repeatedly since.
When the constitution was adopted in 1949, India's map included ten so-called Part C states, such as Ajmer, Bhopal, Coorg and Delhi, each run by a chief commissioner, plus a single Part D state, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 merged those two classes into one new category, and the Seventh Amendment that year wrote union territories into the constitution. Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura had all graduated by the early 1970s to full statehood, Chandigarh had become a territory, and former Portuguese and French enclaves such as Puducherry had joined the list.
Territories exist for reasons of geography, strategy or history, and sometimes to protect indigenous cultures or head off political turmoil. Today there are eight, from the island groups of Lakshadweep and the Andamans to the city of Chandigarh. One carries the unwieldy name Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, the product of a merger of two neighbouring territories proposed in November 2019. The two most recent, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, were created from a single former state on 31 October 2019.
Three stand apart. Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir have elected assemblies, chief ministers and seats in the upper house of Parliament. Delhi was redefined as the National Capital Territory, inside a wider National Capital Region. Even so, Parliament can amend or override the laws these assemblies pass, and central authority keeps key powers such as policing, which is why critics describe India as only semi-federal.
Money flows oddly too. Unlike for states, the constitution sets no formula for sharing tax revenue with territories, so central allocations can look arbitrary, with some receiving more per head than comparable states and others less. After the goods and services tax arrived, territories without assemblies began charging a UT-GST matching state rates, ending their earlier lower taxation.
Source: Union territory
