From Principalities to Municipalities…The accession story of 565 Princely states to form united INDIA

Republic day has come and gone, but I am still thinking about ‘India’ and her past. It’s so strange, when I had to learn about India in my Social studies class, it seemed to be the biggest ‘hathoda’ (booooriiiing) and I absolutely mean no disrespect to my teacher, but now I skip my lunch and do research on India’s past!

I was wondering how the world must have viewed India’s freedom struggle. Knowing what to look for makes your ‘Google’ search so easy, right! I came across a very interesting article in Time magazine. It had a cover story on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in its January 27th, 1947 issue. There were some really great facts, that I am sure we never read in our school’s History books. Here is my take…

           Interestingly, it was assumed by many that freedom of India will not affect the princely states and there 93 million (25% of India’s population) residents. These were mostly, though not all, ruled by egoistic group of princes who had, on an average, 11 titles, 5.8 wives, 12.6 children and 3.4 Rolls-Royces. To bring under control this vast interplay of seemingly irresistible forces and immovable bodies would take more than the fanaticism of Muslim Leaguer Mohamed Ali Jinnah, more than Jawaharlal Nehru's eloquent idealism, even more than Gandhiji's mysticism and his faith in ‘one secular India’. India needed an organizer. She had one…Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Rest of the world saw chaos in India, but Vallabhbhai Patel saw it as a puzzle to be fitted together with thought and patience.

             Patel brought together 565 independent states, some by diplomacy and some by intimidation, and formed a nation. Kings and Princes turned over their 587,888 square miles and 88 million subjects to the Indian administration. That was not all; principalities also surrendered at least 700 million rupees' worth of securities, palaces and lands to the Indian government. The price that India paid for getting together all this principalities was 56 million rupees ($1.5M) a year in "purses" paid out to 283 princes.

Wait, there is more to come.

               New Delhi also promised the princes "the continuances of their rights, dignities and privileges." These include ceremonial salutes (9 to 21 guns, depending on rank and custom), the use of red automobile license plates, and the right to be called Your Highness. Each prince was allowed one palace for everyday living and a second palace at a seashore or hill resort. The fattest purse went to the Nizam of Hyderabad, who as also fabled as the richest man in the world, who got 5,000,000 rupees a year. The least, 192 rupees, went to the Talukdar of Kadodia, a tiny village in the Saurastra, Gujarat.
If you would like to read the original article (and to see how much I copy…pasted, please go to the following link)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,778889,00.html#ixzz1CAZ8zZ1Z