ABSTRACT

Academic scholarship on boundary making in India is disproportionately concentrated on state boundaries. Isolated attention given to other areas fails to adopt a holistic framework. The present paper traces the evolving rationales of delimiting district boundary, scheduled area boundary, and parliamentary constituency boundary. It further attempts to find a common thread to organize the boundary making principles in different arenas. Since its inception, India has embarked on a path of steady decentralization. Initially, the State reorganization commission and several constituency delimitation commissions tried to implement a pan-Indian objective. Ethnic diversity was gradually recognized in boundary making from 1970 onward, most notably in the Northeast. A drive toward ever smaller states and districts is observed under the “small is better” paradigm since 1990s. Overall, boundary making in India is intricately intertwined with political agenda and is increasingly being used for electoral expedience over achieving cardinal visions.

摘要

印度关于边界制定的学术奖学金不成比例地集中在国家边界上。对其他领域的孤立关注未能采用整体框架。本文追溯了划定地区边界、计划区域边界和议会选区边界的演变原理。它还试图找到一条共同的线索来组织不同领域的边界制定原则。自成立以来，印度走上了稳步分权的道路。最初，国家重组委员会和几个选区划定委员会试图实现泛印度的目标。从 1970 年开始，种族多样性在边界制定中逐渐得到认可，尤其是在东北地区。自 1990 年代以来，在“越小越好”的范式下，观察到州和地区越来越小的趋势。总的来说，印度的边界制定与政治议程错综复杂地交织在一起，并且越来越多地被用于选举权宜之计，而不是实现基本愿景。