The Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019

 

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered: About the bill

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News Flash

The government introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to merge the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

The Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019, seeks to provide “better delivery of services to the citizens of both Union Territories by improving efficiency and reducing paperwork.”

 

Key highlights

• The Bill proposes to merge the Union Territory of Daman and Diu, which presently has two districts with the UT of Dadar and Nagar Haveli, which has only one district. The merged UT will be named as the “Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu”.
• Considering the small population and geographical area of both the Union Territories and to use the services of officers efficiently, it has been decided to merge both the Union Territories.
• The Bill has been moved in furtherance of the “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance” policy.
• Having two separate constitutional and administrative entities in both Union Territories leads to a lot of duplicacy, inefficiency and wasteful expenditure.

 

Bill aims to

• Provide better delivery of services to the citizens of both the UTs by improving efficiency and reducing paperwork
• Reduce administrative expenditure
• Bring uniformity in policies
• Monitor schemes and projects
• Manage the cadres of various employees

If and when the Bill comes into force, the assets and liabilities of both the UTs will stand merged and will belong to the new territory.

Further, it will be allocated two seats in the Lok Sabha. Furthermore, the jurisdiction of the High Court of Bombay will continue to extend to the proposed UT.

 

Background

• The two UTs 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.

 

Source: The Hindu

 

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