Integration of the princely states

The first principle

When the British left, their paramountcy over the princely states lapsed, so in law more than 560 rulers became free to choose their future. India could not survive as a state with hundreds of autonomous enclaves inside it, cutting across its railways, rivers and markets. Integration was therefore done in two steps: first a limited accession that settled sovereignty quickly, and then mergers that settled administration, with persuasion, generous terms for the princes and, in a few cases, force.

The core

Two stage integration

• The princely states covered about two fifths of the territory of undivided India and about a quarter of its population, and they ranged from Hyderabad, as large as a European country, to estates of a few villages.
• The States Department was set up in July 1947 under Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, with V P Menon as its secretary. Patel appealed to the princes' patriotism and warned them of popular unrest, while Mountbatten used his personal influence on them.
• Instrument of Accession. Rulers ceded only three subjects, defence, external affairs and communications, and kept everything else. Standstill Agreements kept existing arrangements such as customs and posts running. By 15 August 1947 almost every state had acceded, except Junagadh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir.
• Merger Agreements, 1948 to 1949. Small states such as those of Orissa and Chhattisgarh were merged into neighbouring provinces; others were grouped into unions such as Saurashtra, Madhya Bharat, the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), Rajasthan and Travancore Cochin, each headed by a Rajpramukh drawn from the princes; and some, such as Himachal Pradesh and Tripura, became centrally administered.
• In return the princes received tax free privy purses, guaranteed by the Constitution, and kept their titles and private property.

The difficult cases

• Junagadh. Its Nawab acceded to Pakistan although most of his people were Hindu and the state had no land link with Pakistan. Popular protest and an Indian blockade followed, the Nawab fled, and a plebiscite in February 1948 voted overwhelmingly for India.
• Hyderabad. The Nizam wanted independence and signed a Standstill Agreement in November 1947, while the Razakars, a militia led by Qasim Razvi, attacked people and the communists led an armed peasant movement in Telangana. In September 1948 the Indian army's Operation Polo ended resistance within about five days.
• Jammu and Kashmir. Maharaja Hari Singh delayed his decision. When tribal raiders from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province invaded in October 1947, he signed the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947 and Indian troops were flown in the next day. India took the matter to the United Nations, and a ceasefire took effect on 1 January 1949.
• Others. Travancore's Dewan C P Ramaswami Aiyar announced independence but the state acceded in July 1947; the rulers of Jodhpur and Bhopal held talks with Pakistan or delayed before joining India; Manipur's ruler signed a merger agreement in 1949.

Dimensions

• Political. Integration gave India a single sovereign territory and made democracy possible for people who had lived under personal rule.
• Economic. It created one market, opened up mineral and forest wealth and removed internal customs barriers.
• Administrative. It brought very different legal, revenue and service systems under one Constitution.
• Social. The end of princely rule undermined feudal relations, and land reform later abolished jagirdari in many former states.
• International. Junagadh, Hyderabad and above all Kashmir became disputes with Pakistan and, in Kashmir's case, an issue at the United Nations.

In practice

Problems of integration

• Administrative issues. India had to merge separate land revenue systems, laws, courts, police and even currencies; absorb state armies and civil servants, whose pay and seniority had to be matched with those in the provinces; settle what was the ruler's private property and what belonged to the state; and decide how tiny states could be made into viable units. The result in 1950 was an uneven pattern of Part A, B, C and D States, with Part B States under Rajpramukhs and some Union oversight.
• Socio cultural problems. Feudal landlords resisted reform; princes feared loss of status and some sought independence; communal tension rose, as in Hyderabad; unions such as Madhya Bharat cut across language areas; and tribal and frontier states such as Manipur had distinct identities. The All India States Peoples' Conference and local praja mandals helped, because their demand for responsible government put pressure on rulers to join India.

Completing the map

Integration of territory did not end in 1949. Chandernagore joined India after a plebiscite in 1949; Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam were transferred de facto in 1954 and de jure in 1962. Volunteers freed Dadra and Nagar Haveli from Portugal in 1954, and Goa, Daman and Diu were taken in Operation Vijay in December 1961. Sikkim, an Indian protectorate from 1950, became the 22nd State through the 36th Amendment in 1975 after a referendum.

Privy purses

In 1970 a bill to end privy purses failed in the Rajya Sabha, and a presidential order derecognising the princes was struck down in Madhav Rao Scindia v Union of India (1970). The 26th Amendment, 1971 then abolished privy purses and princely privileges.

Issues and way forward

• Persuasion or coercion? Historians agree that most states joined through negotiation and generous terms, but that a credible threat of force and popular pressure lay behind the talks, and that force was used in Hyderabad.
• Cost of generosity. Privy purses kept the princes loyal but sat uneasily with equality, which is why they were abolished in 1971.
• The Kashmir legacy. Article 370 gave Jammu and Kashmir a special status until it was made inoperative and the State was reorganised in 2019, while parts of the former state remain under Pakistan's and China's control, which India regards as illegal occupation.
• Lessons today. Integration shows the value of flexible, stage by stage federal bargains, which India has since used with Sikkim, Nagaland and Mizoram.

Common confusions

• Accession and merger. Accession ceded three subjects and kept the state alive; merger ended the state as a separate unit.
• Rajpramukh and Governor. A Rajpramukh was a prince heading a Part B State union; the office ended in 1956 when Governors took over.
• Junagadh and Hyderabad. Junagadh's ruler joined Pakistan and a plebiscite reversed it; Hyderabad's ruler sought independence and military action ended it.
• Pondicherry and Goa. French territories were transferred by negotiation; Portuguese territories were taken by military action in 1961.

For the exam

• Keyword bank: paramountcy, States Department, Instrument of Accession, Standstill Agreement, Merger Agreement, Rajpramukh, Part B States, privy purse, States Peoples' Conference, Operation Polo, Operation Vijay, 26th Amendment.
• Previous year questions: Practise the previous year questions on this topic →
• Use in an answer:
  • Introduction (data): The princely states covered about two fifths of undivided India's territory, and over 560 of them had to be fitted into one republic within about two years.
  • Introduction (judgement, quote or report): V P Menon's account shows that integration was done in two moves, accession on three subjects and then merger, so that sovereignty was secured before administration was settled.
  • Conclusion: Integration turned a patchwork of princely domains into a single democratic territory, the foundation on which the later reorganisation of States was built.
  • Conclusion: Its method of patient negotiation backed by firmness remains a model for managing India's diversity within one federal Union.