“India, also known as Bharat, is a Union of States. It is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government.” – Constitution of India
Source: National Portal of India
Learn more about the Indian Constitution and decisions by India’s Supreme Court >>
States and Union Territories
India, a union of states, is a Sovereign, Secular, Democratic Republic with a Parliamentary system of Government. The President is the constitutional head of Executive of the Union. In the states, the Governor, as the representative of the President, is the head of Executive. The system of government in states closely resembles that of the Union. There are 28 states and 8 Union territories in the country.[*] Union Territories are administered by the President through an Administrator appointed by him/her. From the largest to the smallest, each State/UT of India has a unique demography, history and culture, dress, festivals, language etc. This section introduces you to the various States/UTs in the Country and urges you to explore their magnificent uniqueness…
[*] From 29 states and 7 Union since the publication of “The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019” by the Ministry of Law and Justice, New Delhi, on 9th August 2019. Major changes concern the status of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, henceforth listed among the 8 separate “Union territories” (formerly 7); and as a result of this change, the omission of Jammu and Kashmir (along with Ladakh) from the earlier list of 29 “States”. “Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu” are now grouped together as one, rather than two separate “Union territories”.
Source: States and Union Territories – About India
URL: https://knowindia.india.gov.in/states-uts/
Date visited: 4 September 2021
More information about possible changes as regards tribal communities are found here | Nutrition >>
A constitution which guarantees: “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen” – The Sovereign Republic of India | Learn more >>
Related posts
President of India
- Droupadi Murmu: Official website
- National development and the development of tribal communities are linked
- Rashtrapati Bhavan, home to the President of the world’s largest democracy, epitomizes India’s strength, its democratic traditions and secular character
- Up-to-date coverage in the Indian press
Basics
- Adivasi (Adibasi)
- Background guide for education (free eBook)
- Books on tribal culture and related resources | Publishers
- Colonial policies | Denotified Tribe vs. “criminal tribe“
- Ecology and environment
- Economy and development
- Education and literacy
- Fact checking | Factchecker.in | Safe search examples with keywords:
“factchecker.in rural india“| “factchecker.in adivasi tribe“ - Forest dwellers in early India – myths and ecology in historical perspective
- Health and nutrition
- History
- Indian magazines and web portals – news coverage and analysis
- Indigenous knowledge: biodiversity, ecology, health, nutrition, nature, wildlife
- Interactive maps
- Misconceptions | “Casteism” and its effect on tribal communities
- Modernity
- Names of tribal communities
- News update in Indian periodicals: Tribal Affairs
- Success stories
- Tribal groups | Tribal identity
Government of India, national & international organizations
- Endangered languages: Peoples’ Linguistic Survey of India
- Environment minister’s call for a change in the colonial outlook: “Forests, tribal forest dwellers and life forms living in forests complement one another and are not rivals”
- Gandhian social movement
- Govt. of India, NGOs, Indian universities and international organisations
- India’s Constitutional obligation to respect their cultural traditions
- National Commission for Scheduled Tribes | Related posts
- Organizations
- Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG)
- Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Survival International
- Tagore and rural culture
- Women | Safe search | President Droupadi Murmu on women’s empowerment
Legal provisions
- Accountability
- Child rights & Right to education handbook
- Constitution and Supreme Court
- Denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic (“hidden”) tribes: Classifications in different states
- Forest Rights Act (FRA) | Legal rights | What is the Forest Rights Act about?
- Scheduled Tribes (ST) | Who are Scheduled Tribes?
- “Tribal rights in land and forest should be respected”: Jawaharlal Nehru on five principles for the policy to be pursued vis-a-vis the tribals
- Who is a forest dweller under this law, and who gets rights?
Learn more
Find up-to-date information provided by, for and about Indian authors, researchers, officials, and educators | More search options >>
Search tips: in the search field seen below, combine the name of any particular state, language or region with that of any tribal (Adivasi) community; add keywords of special interest (health, nutrition endangered language, illegal mining, sacred grove); learn about the rights of Scheduled Tribes such as the Forest Rights Act (FRA); and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, women’s rights, and children’s right to education; specify any other issue or news item you want to learn more about (biodiversity, climate change, ecology, economic development, ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, global warming, effective measures to prevent rural poverty, bonded labour, and human trafficking).
For a list of websites included in a single search, click here. To search Indian periodicals, magazines, web portals and other sources safely, click here. To find publishing details for Shodhganga’s PhD search results, click here >>
Research the above issues with the help of Shodhganga: A reservoir of theses from universities all over India, made available under Open Access >>
Tips for using interactive maps
- toggle to normal view (from reader view) should the interactive map not be displayed by your tablet, smartphone or pc browser
- for details and hyperlinks click on the rectangular button (left on the map’s header)
- scroll and click on one of the markers for information of special interest
- explore India’s tribal cultural heritage with the help of another interactive map >>