History of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli
The area of Dadra & Nagar Haveli spread over 491.00 sq.kms.It's a landlocked Union Territory between south Maharashtra and North Gujarat. It got freedom from Portuguese Rulers on 2nd August 1954.
Initially, the Administration of Dadra & Nagar Haveli was free from Indian influence but later on, this Union Territory was merged into the Union of India in the year 1961.
The total population of Dadra and Nagar Haveli was 343,709 in 2011. Around 94% population of this UT belongs to Hinduism. The Official languages of this UT are Hindi and Gujarati.
History of the Daman and Diu;
Daman and Diu was under the control of Portuguese Rulers for more than four centuries. It got liberated from Portuguese control on 19th December 1961. Initially, it was part of the U.T. of Goa but when the Goa attained statehood, the Union Territory of Daman and Diu came into existence on 30th May 1987.
The capital of Daman and Diu is Daman. The total area of the UT is around 112 km2 and the total population is around 242,911 (2011 census). There are 90% of people belong to Hinduism and 8% belong to Islam.
The mother tongue of most of the territory's population is Gujarati. Around 50% of people speak Gujarati and 36% speak Hindi.
The Union Territory of Daman and Diu had two districts namely; Daman and Diu. The area of Diu is 40 km2 and Daman has an area of 70 KM2.
But now the Union Territory of Daman and Diu has been merged with the Union Territory, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and the new UT will be called Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu with effect from 26 January 2020. So now onwards the UTs of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu are just single UT.
The merger of these two UTs takes place by the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019. This bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on November 27, 2019, and by Rajya Sabha on December 03, 2019.
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019 key Provisions are;
Amendment of the Constitution
The First Schedule of the Indian Constitution specifies the territories that come under various states and UTs.
The merger Bill, 2019 amends the First Schedule of the Constitution to merge the two territories: (1) Daman and Diu (2)Dadra and Nagar Haveli. So now the single UT would be called the UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
The Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019 amended Article 240(1) of the Constitution to merge these two UTs into one.
Representation of new UT in Lok Sabha:
The Representation of the People Act, 1950 provides one Lok Sabha seat in each UTs but after the merger, the merged UT will have 2 Lok Sabha seats.
Jurisdiction of High Court: There is no change in this regard and the jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court will continue to extend to the merged UT.
So this was the brief and concise details about the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019. This topic is very important for IAS and other competitive exams.