Can India acquire foreign territory?
Q. Which of the following sentences is/are true?
1) Article 3 allows admission or establishment of new states that are not part of the Union of India.
2) India has not acquired foreign territories since independence.- Published on 17 Feb 17a. Only 1
b. Only 2
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2
ANSWER: Only 1
- Notably, the ‘Territory of India’ is a wider expression than the ‘Union of India’ because Union includes only states while Territory includes not only the states but also union territories and territories that may be acquired by the Government of India in future.
- The states share powers with the Centre.
- The union territories and the acquired territories are directly administered by the Central Government.
- Being a sovereign state, India can acquire foreign territories as per the modes recognized by international law, i.e., cession (following treaty, purchase, gift, lease or plebiscite), occupation(hitherto unoccupied by a recognized ruler), conquest or subjugation.
- For example, India acquired several foreign territories such as Dadra and Nagar Haveli; Goa, Daman and Diu; Puducherry; and Sikkim since the commencement of the Constitution.
- Article 2 empowers the Parliament to ‘admit into the Union of India, or establish, new states on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit’.
Article 2 grants two powers to the Parliament :
1. the power to admit into the Union of India new states; and
2. the power to establish new states.
- The first refers to the admission of states which are already in existence while the second refers to the establishment of states which were not in existence before.
- Article 2 relates to the admission or establishment of new states that are not part of the Union of India.
