How did the 7 sisters become part of the Indian Union Territory?

The 7 Sister States also known as "Paradise Unexplored" is a name given to the neighbouring states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura in northeastern India.

Sikkim belongs to the group of northeastern states but it doesn’t belong to the group of seven sisters of India. Sikkim is called as the only brother of seven sisters.

These states cover an area of about 250,000 km2 or about seven (7) per cent of India's total area. They had a population of 38.6 million in 2000, about 3.8 per cent of India's total.

Although there is great ethnic and religious diversity within the seven states, they also have similarities in political, social and economic contexts.

 

 

 

North-East History

When India became self-governing from the United Kingdom in 1947, only three states covered the area. Manipur and Tripura were princely states, while a much bigger Assam Province was under direct British rule. Its capital was Shillong (current day Meghalaya's capital). Four new states were carved out of the original territory of Assam in the decades following independence, in line with the strategy of the Indian government of reorganizing the states along ethnic and linguistic lines. Therefore, Nagaland became a separate state in 1963, followed by Meghalaya in 1972. Mizoram became a Union Territory in 1972 and achieved statehood - along with Arunachal Pradesh - in 1987.

 

 

The sobriquet (the Land of the Seven Sisters), had been originally coined to coincide with the inauguration of the new states in January 1972, by Jyoti Prasad Saikia, a civil servant from Assam in the course of a radio talk show. He later compiled a book on the interdependence and commonness of the Seven Sister States and named it the Land of Seven Sisters. 

It has been primarily because of this publication that the nickname has caught on. 

While factually, one can say that this theory holds true, the reason for supporting this is the similarity between the states, in terms of geographical features, and interdependence between them. All the seven states are isolated from India and the only way to reach there is via Siliguri Corridor (also called Chicken’s Neck) in Assam.

Tripura is like an enclave surrounded by Bangladesh and depends on Assam for transportation. All of the rivers that flood the plains in Assam originate in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Mizoram and Manipur are connected to the rest of India through Barak Valley in Assam. And it is due to this interdependence, they were given the sobriquet.

 

The History of Seven Sisters

 

 

Northeast states throughout the history remained forbidden land for Muslim invaders especially Mughals. Despite their hard efforts, Mughals were never successful in gaining control of the northeast region of India. Originally, it was Assam in this region and most of the seven sisters states were carved out from it.

Arunachal Pradesh which was earlier known as NEFA was carved out from Assam in 1948. Arunachal Pradesh was declared Union Territory in 1972 and it became a state in 1987. Nagaland was carved out from Assam as a separate state in 1963. Meghalaya and Mizoram were also carved out as separate states in 1972. Due to these separated states, original Assam has reduced to one-third of its original area. 

Tripura was a princely state British India and was known as Tippera district and an independent part Hill Tippera. During partition, Tippera district became part of East Pakistan while Hill Tippera came in India and later became Union Territory in 1956. Hill Tippera is the present day Tripura which became a full-fledged state in 1972.