New Delhi: What Dalhousie failed to achieve and what the Political Department did not feel strong enough to do in spite of the recommendations of the Attlee Committee of the Simon Commission, Sardar Patel has achieved during his two-day visit to Cuttack and Nagpur. The Rulers of Orissa and Chhattisgarh States have voluntarily handed over to the Indian Dominion the administration of their 56,000 sq. miles of territory rich in minerals with a population of eight million and a gross revenue of about Rs.
2 crores. This arrangement materially changes the administrative map of India by doubling the size of Orissa Province and substantially increasing that of the C.P.
and Berar. The Princes have yielded not to compulsion by the Government of India but to the compulsion of circumstances. Their territories and revenues are not large enough for modern administration and Nilgiri’s example was an eye-opener for them.
They could delay the “integration and democratisation” of the States at the peril of their rule; but they have chosen the better alternative offered by the Union Government. The people of the States will now get an opportunity to line up with the rest of India and schemes like the Mahanadi Project which require common administration will now get under way, enriching the entire area. It is likely that the example of merger set by these Rulers will be followed in those parts of the country where identical conditions prevail.
Explaining the India Government’s policy und.
