Dadra and Nagar Haveli And Daman And Diu (Merger Of Union Territories) Bill, 2019 - Merger Of Union Territories Bill introduced in Lok Sabha to merge Daman-Diu and Dadra-Nagar Haveli UTs.
About two Union Territories
- The two Union Territories are located in the western region, and were under Portuguese rule for long. They were liberated in December 1961.
- From 1961 to 1987, Daman and Diu were part of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu.
- When Goa got Statehood, Daman and Diu were made a separate Union Territory.
- The Union Territories share a lot in terms of the administrative set- up, history, language and culture.
The Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill,2019
It seeks to provide:
- Better delivery of services: as having two separate constitutional and administrative entities in both Union Territories leads to lot of duplicacy, inefficiency and wasteful expenditure.
- Minimum Government, Maximum Governance: considering the small population and limited geographical area of both Union Territories, and to use the services of officers efficiently, it has been decided to merge the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu into a single Union Territory.
Conclusion:
The move comes three months after the State of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. India now has nine Union Territories, with the merger of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the number will come down to eight
