India
India is a federal union comprising 29 states and 7 union territories. All states, as well in addition to the union territories of Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments following on the Westminster system of governance. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the centre through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis. Since then, their structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or union territory is further divided into administrative districts. The districts are further divided into tehsils and ultimately into villages.
Central Provinces and Berar
After Indian Independence in 1947, the Central Provinces and Berar became part of India as Madhya Pradesh. On 1 November 1956, Madhya Bharat, together with the states of Vindhya Pradesh and Bhopal State, was merged into Madhya Pradesh. In 1956, under pressure from Marathi Irredentists, the Berar and Nagpur divisions were transferred to Bombay state. In 1960, the Bombay State was partitioned into Maharashtra & Gujarat. In 2000, the eastern portion of Madhya Pradesh was split off to become the new state of Chhattisgarh.