Name and territory of the Union
included in editionWhat does this mean?
India, also called Bharat, is a Union of States. Its territory includes the States, Union territories and any territory it may acquire; the First Schedule identifies the States and Union territories.
The country's territorial framework: what India consists of and how States can be admitted, created or reorganised.
Use this with the First Schedule when checking whether a place is a State or a Union territory.
Why is this provision here?
It supplies a common legal identity for the country and a reference point for its territorial units.
This Article number belongs to the original constitutional framework, but its present wording may include later amendments or substitutions. A provision-specific original Assembly debate has not been verified here. The explanation of function above is editorial inference from the text, not an attributed single motive of the framers. The original draft-making archive is a research resource, not proof of a particular historical reason. The later amendment records linked below document changes affecting this Article; their Bill statements explain those proposals, not necessarily every original clause or the complete present legal outcome.
The explanation of purpose is an editorial reading of the provision. A drafting motive is attributed only where a linked historical source supports it.
Limits, exceptions & reading carefully
Educational summary of the linked source text. Exceptions, provisos, implementing laws and applicable judgments must be read before applying it to a real case.
Read the official constitutional text
Source-page notes · may concern neighbouring Articles
1. Subs. by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, s. 2, for cl. (2) (w.e.f. 1-11-1956).
2. Subs. by s. 2 ibid. for sub-clause (b) (w.e.f. 1-11-1956).
Extracted from the Legislative Department’s May 2026 edition. Page footnotes may refer to neighbouring provisions; check their markers in the PDF. Inclusion in this edition does not by itself establish commencement or judicial effect.