Union Territories Of India

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In the last article, we saw the States of Independent India. Now let’s see about the union territories of India.

Before we look at the union territories of India let’s know what exactly union territory is?

Article 1-4 of the constitution deals with the Union and its territory. A Union Territory is a type of administrative division in the Republic of India, Which is administrated by the President through an administrator or, union territories are federal territories governed, in part or whole, by the Central Government of India.

To be much more simple, let’s say Union Territories are constituent units which are controlled and administered by the Central Government.

There are 8 Union territories in India. The list for same is given below:

  1. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  2. Chandigarh
  3. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
  4. NCT of Delhi
  5. Jammu and Kashmir
  6. Ladakh
  7. Lakshadweep
  8. Puducherry

The Union Territories are administered by the President through an administrator, who is appointed by him with a suitable designation.

 The designation appointed by the President is called either Lieutenant Governor or Chief Commissioner or Administrator.

Union Territories like Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Puducherry and Delhi, administrator appointed by the President is called as Lt. Governor,

while in Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, and Lakshadweep he or she is called as Administrator.

The President may appoint a Governor of an adjoining state as administrator of a Union territory. In such case the Governor works independently with regard to the administration of the Union Territory.

Here President will be the Executive Head and all the powers are in the hands of union.

The government of India dissolved Article 370 of Indian Constitution on 5th August 2019.

Bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir state into two union territories Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh by passing Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019.

On 26th January 2020, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu are merged into one union territory as Dadra Nagar and Haveli and Daman & Diu.

Here is a table of Union Territories of India

Sl. NoUnion TerritoriesCapitalEstablished OnPrinciple Language
1Andaman and Nicobar Islands
(Calcutta High Court)		Port Blair1st November 1956Hindi, Nicobarese, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu
2ChandigarhChandigarh1st November 1966Hindi, Punjabi, English
3Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu
(Mumbai High court)		Daman26th January 2020Gujarati, Hindi    
4NCT of DelhiDelhi9th May 1905Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English
5Jammu and KashmirSrinagar (Summer) Jammu (Winter)31st October 2019Urdu, Dogri, Kashmiri, Pahari, Ladakhi, Balti, Gojri and Dari
6LadakhLeh31st October 2019 Ladakhi
7Lakshadweep
(The Kerala High Court caters to Lakshadweep		Kavaratti1st November 1956Malayalam, Jeseri (Dweep Bhasha) and Mahal
8Puducherry
(under Madras High court)		Puducherry1st November 1954Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, English and French

Let’s see some information of these 8 union territories.

  • Among 8 union territories, Lakshadweep is the smallest union territory in an area with only 32 sq. km
  • Jammu and Kashmir is the largest union territory with an area of 1,25,535 sq. km
  • The smallest union territory of India in terms of population is Lakshadweep with 61,473, whereas Delhi is the largest union territory of India in terms of population with 16,787,941
  • Daman and Diu have the lowest sex ratio of 618.
  • While Puducherry has the highest sex ratio of 1037.
  • Among the union territories, Lakshadweep has the highest literacy rate of 92.28%,
  • Dadar and Nagar Haveli have the least literacy rate of 77.24%.
  • Union Territory with the highest population density is Delhi with 9,340 persons per sq. km
  • Union Territory with the lowest population density is Andaman and Nicobar Island with 43 persons per sq. km

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