Answer:

♤ Just after independence, the Vishalandhra Movement had demanded a separate state for Telgu speaking people from Madras Province.

♤ Potti Sriramulu took fast unto death for Andha Cause. His death after 56 days of fast had resulted in violent outburst which compelled the government of India to declare Andhra Pradesh as a separate state in December 1952.

♤ This inspired other leaders of different states to demand linguistic state of their own. Government formed states reorganisation commission in 1953 to look into the demands of linguistic states. The commission accepted the linguistic principles for state formation which resulted in creation of 14 states and 6 Union Territories in 1956.

♤ In North-East Region, various tribes demanded their own state on the basis of their culture, which was fulfilled by Union Governments. Nagaland state was created in 1960, Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura in 1972 while Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became separate states in 1986. In this way, this region had undergone considerable political reorganisation.

♤ In contemporary times the separate statehood demand has changed its hue drastically. In late 1990's NDA coalition accepted the prolonged demands of Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Uttaranchal [later Uttarakhand] which has different motivations such as tribal state (Jharkhand), administrative inconvenience (Uttarakhand) etc.

♤ But, there are still long pending demands for state formation on the different basis viz ethnicity, lack of development, administrative inconvenience etc. These separate statehood demands are Gorkhaland (WB), Kamatpur state for Koch Rajbangsi (Assam), Bodoland (Assam), Vidharbha (Maharashtra), Saurashtra (Gujarat), fourfold division of Uttar Pradesh in the form of Harit Pradesh, Awadh Pradesh, Purvanchal and Bundelkhand (UP+MP).

♤ Demands of separate statehood on various grounds show that language is not the sole bond that can bind people together. Now, some regions are aspiring for preservation of their ethnic culture in the form of separate state and on the other hand some regions are aspiring for better development after prolonged apathy and backwardness.