STATES AND CAPITALS

STATES AND CAPITALS

With the inclusion of Telangana, India now has 29 States and 7 Union Territories. Do check out the complete list of states and capitals.

Andhra Pradesh – Hyderabad ( newly proposed Amaravati )
Arunachal Pradesh – Itanagar
Assam – Dispur
Bihar – Patna
Chhattisgarh – Raipur
Goa – Panaji
Gujarat – Gandhinagar
Haryana – Chandigarh
Himachal Pradesh – Shimla
Jammu & Kashmir – Jammu (Winter Capital) & Srinagar (Summer Capital)
Jharkhand – Ranchi
Karnataka – Bengaluru
Kerala – Thiruvananthapuram
Madhya Pradesh – Bhopal
Maharashtra – Mumbai
Manipur – Imphal
Meghalaya – Shillong
Mizoram – Aizawl
Nagaland – Kohima
Orissa – Bhubaneshwar
Punjab – Chandigarh
Rajasthan – Jaipur
Sikkim – Gangtok
Tamil Nadu – Chennai
Telangana – Hyderabad
Tripura – Agartala
Uttar Pradesh – Lucknow
Uttarakhand – Dehradun
West Bengal – Kolkata

UNION TERRITORIES AND CAPITALS

Union Territories are those regions that fall directly under the control of the Union Government. Each UT has its own Lieutenant-Governor and Administrator. Only two UTs have Chief Ministers though as they have been granted partial statehood.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands – Port Blair
Dadra and Nagar Haveli – Silvassa
Daman and Diu – Daman
Lakshadweep – Kavaratti
Puducherry – Puducherry/ Pondicherry
Delhi (National Capital Territory) – New Delhi
Chandigarh – Chandigarh

TRIVIA ABOUT JAMMU & KASHMIR

Multiple capitals is not new thing and it is practiced all around the world. South Africa has three capitals. The state of Jammu and Kashmir has two capitals – Jammu as Winter Capital and Srinagar as summer capital. The reasons for J&K having two capitals are:

• As far as the strategic location is concerned, Srinagar is the most suitable place to control the political, territorial and functional working as it is located nearly in the middle of the populated area of Jammu and Kashmir.
• As far as possible it is tried to keep Srinagar the active working area which is possible in summers.
• But in winters it becomes a geographically challenging place due to its climate with mercury falling down below zero degree.
• Moreover, in winter the active financial area is mostly the southern part of J&K. While the northern part is sometimes also not accessible due to blockage of National Highway 10 as the result of landslide or  other geographical activities.
• So it becomes a compulsion both economically, functionally and geographically to move the capital from Srinagar to Jammu in winter.