Article 1 of the Indian Constitution is Name And Territory Of The Union:-
1. India, i.e. Bharat,
shall be a Union of States.
2. The States and the territories thereof shall be as specified in the First Schedule.
3. The territories of India shall comprise a. the territories of the States b. the Union specified in the First Schedule; and 3. such other territories as may be acquitted.
The first part signifies two things:- First, name of the country, Second, type of polity. India that is Bharat shall be a Union of States. It would not be a federation of States but a union of States. Why the word Union of States is adopted and not the federation of States? Although the Indian Constitution is federal in structure, Article 1 of the Indian Constitution describes India as a Union of States and not the federation of states because the India federation is not an agreement among the states.
As per Dr. BR Ambedkar, the states have no right to secede from the Union. The federation is Union because it is indestructible. India is a diverse country; people in different states speak various dialects, follow different cultures, but the country is one integral unit. The country is divided into States only for ease of administration. It is said that India is an indestructible Union of destructible states.
The Second part simply tells that:- The States and the territories are specified in the first schedule of the Constitution.
The third part tells us:- What India consists of The States, the Union Territories, and the territories that India may acquire.
Notably, the phrase ‘Union of India’ and ‘Territory of India’ carry separate meanings. The term Union of India includes only the States that enjoy being members of the federal system. Compared to, the expression- ‘Territory of India’ includes not only the States but also the Union Territories and such territories that India may acquire in the future. In short, ‘the Territory of India’ carries a broader expression than the Union of India.
