Page:White Paper on Indian States (1950).pdf/72

 pleted and the States concerned will now be enabled to send their representatives to the Provincial Legislatures in the same manner as other territories forming part of Provinces. In the Centrally administered areas, apart from their democratisation in the form of responsibility of the administration to the Central Legislature, the Chief Commissioners are to be assisted by Advisory Councils. Such Councils with a majority of popular representatives have already been established in two of the newly created Centrally administered units, namely, Himachal Pradesh and Kutch. The question of setting up similar Councils in the other units is under consideration. The people of these States will also be represented in the Central Legislature.

155. As regards the Unions of States, wherever practicable popular interim Ministries were set up to conduct their administration. Three of these Unions namely, Saurashtra, Travancore-Cochin and Madhya Bharat have Legislatures functioning in them and their Ministries are responsible to their respective Legislatures. Even in the States so far unaffected by any scheme of merger or integration, the movement for full responsible government has rapidly developed. There are now only three States continuing as separate units, viz. Hyderabad, Mysore and the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Popular Governments have been established in two of them, the only exception being Hyderabad where a popular Government will be set up as soon as the first Legislature of the State under the new Constitution is summoned. The Constitution of India assigns to the Rajpramukh, the Council of Ministers and the Legislature the same functions as are exercisable by their counterparts in the Provinces. This completes, in all respects, the process of transforming the autocratic set-up in States into a full-fledged democratic order.