Evolving rationales of boundary making in India: beyond states

ABSTRACT Academic scholarship on boundary making in India is disproportionately concentrated on state boundaries. Isolated attention given to other areas fails to adopt a holistic framework. The present paper traces the evolving rationales of delimiting district boundary, scheduled area boundary, and parliamentary constituency boundary. It further attempts to find a common thread to organize the boundary making principles in different arenas. Since its inception, India has embarked on a path of steady decentralization. Initially, the State reorganization commission and several constituency delimitation commissions tried to implement a pan-Indian objective. Ethnic diversity was gradually recognized in boundary making from 1970 onward, most notably in the Northeast. A drive toward ever smaller states and districts is observed under the “small is better” paradigm since 1990s. Overall, boundary making in India is intricately intertwined with political agenda and is increasingly being used for electoral expedience over achieving cardinal visions.