States Reorganisation Act, 1956

The British dissolved their treaty relations with more than five hundred princely states, who were encouraged to accede to either India or Pakistan, while under no compulsion to do so.

[5] The demand for states to be organized on a linguistic basis was developed even before India achieved independence from British rule.

[6][7] Due to the efforts of Madhusudan Das, the Father of Odia nationalism, the movement eventually achieved its objective in 1936, when Orissa Province became the first Indian state (pre-independence) to be organized on the basis of common languages.

The post-independence period saw the ascent of political movements for the creation of new states developed on linguistic lines.

During the 1950–1956 period, other small changes were made to state boundaries: the small state of Bilaspur was merged with Himachal Pradesh on 1 July 1954; and Chandernagore, a former enclave of French India, was incorporated into West Bengal in 1955.

The new commission was headed by the retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Fazal Ali; its other two members were H. N. Kunzru and K. M. Panikkar.

The efforts of the commission were overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant, who served as the Home Minister from December 1954.

Subsequently, bills were passed to make changes to the constitution and to administer the reorganisation of the states.