# States Department

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/States_Department
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/States_Department.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_Department
> Source revision: 1232971449
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Department of the government of India}}
{{single source|date= February 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
The '''States Department''', later '''States Ministry''', was a department of the [Government of India](/source/Government_of_India) headed by the Minister of States.  Its responsibility was to deal with the [princely states](/source/princely_states) and manage their relationship with independent [India](/source/India).

The department was formed in June 1947 to replace the [Political Department](/source/Indian_Political_Department) of the British Government, which had administered relations between the British Crown and British India on the one side and the princely states on the other.  The Political Department had exercised its power on the basis of [paramountcy](/source/paramountcy).  [Lord Mountbatten of Burma](/source/Louis_Mountbatten%2C_1st_Earl_Mountbatten_of_Burma), the last Viceroy of India, proposed that a department that would replace the Political Department avoid that name, and instead call itself the States Department.{{sfn|Menon|1956|p=62}}  [Vallabhbhai Patel](/source/Vallabhbhai_Patel), who was to be the first home minister of India, was also made Minister of States.  [V.P. Menon](/source/V.P._Menon) was appointed the administrative head of the department.

The States Department had principal responsibility for bringing about the [political integration of India](/source/political_integration_of_India) by securing the accession of the princely states to India.  Subsequently, it supervised the conduct of their affairs, their democratisation, and their administrative integration into India.

References{{reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{citation |last=Hodson |first=H. V. |title=The Great Divide: Britain, India, Pakistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MC2UoAEACAAJ |year=1969 |publisher=Hutchinson |location=London}}
* {{citation |first=V. P. |last=Menon |authorlink=V. P. Menon |title=The Story of Integration of the Indian States |publisher=Orient Longman |year=1956 |url=https://hidf1.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/the-story-of-the-integration-of-the-indian-states-by-v-p-menon.pdf}}

Category:Constitutional history of India

{{india-gov-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [States Department](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_Department) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_Department?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.