Pune: FLAME University’s Centre for Legislative Education and Research (CLER) commemorated National Unity Day (Rashtriya Ekta Diwas) with the unveiling of The India State Story – a landmark digital archive documenting India’s political integration and state reorganization.
The initiative aims to make critical knowledge resources on India’s constitutional evolution freely accessible to the public.
Observed annually on October 31, Rashtriya Ekta Diwas honors Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Iron Man of India, who played a defining role in unifying over 500 princely states post-Independence.
To celebrate his legacy, CLER at FLAME University launched two comprehensive digital resources – Compendium of Independence and Integration and Integration of India – now available on The India State Story platform.
Complementing the archives, a multilingual podcast series titled Drawn and Redrawn: The Making of India’s Internal Boundaries has also been launched in English, Hindi, Marathi, and Kannada on Spotify and YouTube.
The India State Story Marks a Milestone in Documenting India’s Integration
Prof Shivakumar Jolad, Chair of CLER at FLAME University, highlighted the initiative’s significance, stating, “The digital archives and podcasts created by our team at India State Story chronicle how India’s territorial, political, administrative, and cultural unity were achieved and continually reimagined since Independence.”
He added that these publicly accessible resources aim to empower citizens by deepening their understanding of India’s post-1947 political journey and federal evolution.
Experts Discuss the Idea of Unity and Regional Identity
The event featured two distinguished lectures alongside the official archive launch.
Prof Asha Sarangi (Centre for Political Studies, JNU) delivered a lecture titled Integration to Reorganization: State Formation in India Since Independence, tracing India’s historical journey from consolidation to federal restructuring.
Dr Suhas Palshikar, Chief Editor of Studies in Indian Politics, presented Unity in Separate Identity? The Paradoxes of Regionalism, exploring how linguistic and regional aspirations have both strengthened and tested India’s idea of unity.
FLAME University Reinforces Dialogue on Democracy and Identity
Reflecting on the occasion, Prof M A Venkataramanan, Pro-Vice Chancellor of FLAME University, noted, “As societies worldwide grapple with identity politics, revisiting India’s own experiments with integration offers profound lessons. Through initiatives like The India State Story, FLAME reaffirms its commitment to academic inquiry into democracy, identity, and governance.”
The event concluded with the official release of CLER’s digital archives, making research on India’s political integration and linguistic reorganization widely accessible to scholars, policymakers, and citizens.
