India is presently divided into 28 States and 7 Union Territories. Three of the states have been created most recently in the year 2000, they are Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. Coming to the Union Territories, only Puducherry and Delhi have elected governments like the States while the remaining five Union Territories are under President’s rule with a centrally appointed administrator.
Below are the various States and Union Territories with some of their basic information: (Last Updated on August 5, 2011)
List of States in alphabetical order:
1. Andhra Pradesh
Location: Southern India
Capital: Hyderabad
No. of districts: 23
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy
Governor: E S L Narasimhan
Official Language: Telugu
2. Arunachal Pradesh
Location: North Eastern India
Capital: Itanagar
No. of districts: 16
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Jarbom Gamlin
Governor: General (Retd.) Joginder Jaswant Singh
Official Language: English
3. Assam
Location: North Eastern India
Capital: Dispur
No. of districts: 27
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Tarun Gogoi
Governor: Janaki Ballav Patnaik
Official Language: Assamese
4. Bihar
Location: Eastern India
Capital: Patna
No. of districts: 38
Ruling Party: National Democratic Alliance (led by Janata Dal (United))
Chief Minister: Nitish Kumar
Governor: Debananda Konwar
Official Language: Hindi
5. Chhattisgarh
Location: Central India
Capital: Raipur
No. of districts: 16
Ruling Party: Bharatiya Janata Party
Chief Minister: Raman Singh
Governor: Shekhar Dutt
Official Language: Hindi
6. Goa
Location: Western India
Capital: Panaji
No. of districts: 2
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Digambar Kamat
Governor: Shivinder Singh Sidhu
Official Language: Konkani
7. Gujarat
Location: Western India
Capital: Gandhinagar
No. of districts: 26
Ruling Party: Bharatiya Janata Party
Chief Minister: Narendra Modi
Governor: Dr. Kamla Beniwal
Official Language: Gujarati
8. Haryana
Location: Northern India
Capital: Chandigarh
No. of districts: 21
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Bhupinder Singh Hooda
Governor: Shob G
Official Language: Hindi
9. Himachal Pradesh
Location: Northern India
Capital: Shimla
No. of districts: 12
Ruling Party: Bharatiya Janata Party
Chief Minister: Prem Kumar Dhumal
Governor: Urmila Singh
Official Language: Hindi
10. Jammu and Kashmir
Location: Northern India
Capital: Jammu (winter), Srinagar (summer)
No. of districts: 22
Ruling Party: Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
Chief Minister: Omar Abdullah
Governor: Narinder Nath Vohra
Official Language: Urdu
11. Jharkhand
Location: Eastern India
Capital: Ranchi
No. of districts: 24
Ruling Party: Bharatiya Janata Party
Chief Minister: Arjun Munda
Governor: M O Hasan Farook Maricar
Official Language: Hindi
12. Karnataka
Location: Southern India
Capital: Bengaluru (commonly known as Bangalore)
No. of districts: 30
Ruling Party: Bharatiya Janata Party
Chief Minister: DV Sadananda Gowda
Governor: Hansraj Bhardwaj
Official Language: Kannada
13. Kerala
Location: Southern India
Capital: Thiruvananthapuram (commonly known as known as Trivandrum)
No. of districts: 14
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Oommen Chandy
Governor: R.S. Gavai
Official Language: Malayalam
14. Madhya Pradesh
Location: Central India
Capital: Bhopal
No. of districts: 50
Ruling Party: Bharatiya Janata Party
Chief Minister: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Governor: Rameshwar Thakur
Official Language: Hindi
15. Maharashtra
Location: Western India
Capital: Mumbai
No. of districts: 35
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Prithviraj Chavan
Governor: K Sankaranarayanan
Official Language: Marathi
16. Manipur
Location: North Eastern India
Capital: Imphal
No. of districts: 9
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Okram Ibobi Singh
Governor: Gurbachan Jagat
Official Language: Meiteilon
17. Meghalaya
Location: North Eastern India
Capital: Shillong
No. of districts: 7
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Mukul Sangma
Governor: Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary
Official Language: English
18. Mizoram
Location: North Eastern India
Capital: Aizawl
No. of districts: 8
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Pu Lalthanhawla
Governor: M M Lakhera
Official Language: Mizo
19. Nagaland
Location: North Eastern India
Capital: Kohima
No. of districts: 11
Ruling Party: Nagaland Peoples’ Front
Chief Minister: Shri Neiphiu Rio
Governor: Nikhil Kumar
Official Language: English
20. Orissa
Location: Eastern India
Capital: Bhubaneswar
No. of districts: 30
Ruling Party: Biju Janata Dal
Chief Minister: Naveen Patnaik
Governor: Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare
Official Language: Oriya
21. Punjab
Location: Northern India
Capital: Chandigarh
No. of districts: 20
Ruling Party: Shiromani Akali Dal (along with an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party)
Chief Minister: Parkash Singh Badal
Governor: Shivraj Patil
Official Language: Punjabi
22. Rajasthan
Location: North Western India
Capital: Jaipur
No. of districts: 33
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Ashok Gehlot
Governor: Dr. Shivraj Patil
Official Language: Hindi
23. Sikkim
Location: North Eastern India
Capital: Gangtok
No. of districts: 4
Ruling Party: Sikkim Democratic Front
Chief Minister: Pawan Chamling
Governor: Balmiki Prasad Singh
Official Language: English
24. Tamil Nadu
Location: Southern India
Capital: Chennai
No. of districts: 32
Ruling Party: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
Chief Minister: J Jayalalitha
Governor: Surjit Singh Barnala
Official Language: Tamil
25. Tripura
Location: North Eastern India
Capital: Agartala
No. of districts: 4
Ruling Party: Left Front
Chief Minister: Manik Sarkar
Governor: D. Y. Patil
Official Language: English, Bengali, Kokborok
26. Uttar Pradesh
Location: Northern India
Capital: Lucknow
No. of districts: 72
Ruling Party: Bahujan Samaj Party
Chief Minister: Kumari Mayawati
Governor: Banwari Lal Joshi
Official Language: Hindi
27. Uttarakhand
Location: Northern India
Capital: Dehradun
No. of districts: 13
Ruling Party: Bharatiya Janata Party
Chief Minister: Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal
Governor: Margaret Alva
Official Language: Hindi
28. West Bengal
Location: Eastern India
Capital: Kolkata
No. of districts: 19
Ruling Party: Left Front
Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee
Governor: M K Narayanan
Official Language: Bengali
List of Union Territories in alphabetical order:
1. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Location: Indian Ocean
Capital: Port Blair
No. of districts: 3
Lieutenant Governor: Lieutenant General (Retd) Bhopinder Singh
Official Language: English
2. Chandigarh
Location: Northern India
Capital: Chandigarh
No. of districts: 1
Mayor: Ravinder Pal Singh
Official Language: Hindi
3. Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Location: Western India
Capital: Silvassa
No. of districts: 1
Administrator: Shri Narendra Kumar (IAS)
Official Language: Marathi, Gujarati
4. Daman and Diu
Location: Western India
Capital: Daman
No. of districts: 2
Administrator: Shri Satya Gopal, IAS
Official Language: Gujarati, Marathi
5. Delhi
Location: Northern India
Capital: New Delhi
No. of districts: 9
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: Sheila Dikshit
Lieutenant Governor: Tejendra Khanna
Official Language: Hindi
6. Lakshadweep
Location: Arabian Sea
Capital: Kavaratti
No. of districts: 1
Administrator: J K Dadoo
Official Language: Malayalam
7. Puducherry
Location: Northern India
Capital: Pondicherry
No. of districts: 4
Ruling Party: Indian National Congress
Chief Minister: N Rangaswamy
Lieutenant Governor: Iqbal Singh
Official Language: French, Tamil, English, Malayalam