Background
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is a union territory created by joining two smaller ones into one. The bill was moved in the Lok Sabha by Amit Shah as the Minister of Home Affairs, and it was passed by the Rajya Sabha a few days later. The territories of every state and union territory are listed in the First Schedule to the Constitution, so that Schedule itself had to be amended. The merged territory was to form a single union territory, and it was to take effect only from a day that the central government notified. Each of the two older territories had earlier held one Lok Sabha seat. That one seat came to each of them from the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The merger law instead allotted two seats in the Lok Sabha to the single new union territory. A merger of this kind redraws the map without creating a new state.
Merged into:
one union territory, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
Constitutional change:
amendment of the First Schedule
Lok Sabha seats:
two for the merged union territory
Ministry behind the bill:
moved by the Minister of Home Affairs
Why it matters for exams: The First Schedule of the Constitution and the number of Lok Sabha seats a union territory holds are both standard polity questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
First Schedule First Schedule to the Constitution of India — The list of the states and union territories of India and the territories each of them holds.
Background
The Constitution gives the President power to make regulations for some union territories, and that power sits in Article 240. The Article named Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu as two separate union territories. When the two were merged into one, the Article could no longer stand as it was written. The merger law therefore amended the Article to put the single merged union territory in place of the two older names. The power itself stayed, and what changed was the name of the union territory written into it. This is the pattern whenever a union territory is reorganised: the Article and the Schedule that name it have to be amended too. A regulation under this power is made for a union territory and not for a state. The Article is read with the First Schedule, because both had to be changed by the same merger law.
Article:
240 of the Constitution
Power it carries:
regulations made by the President
Change made by the merger law:
amendment replacing two union territories with one
Territories named earlier:
two, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
Why it matters for exams: Article 240 and the union territories it names are a frequent polity question, and the merger changed that list.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Article 240 Article 240 of the Constitution of India — The provision under which the President may make regulations for certain union territories.
Background
A union territory does not get a High Court of its own merely because it is created by a merger. When the two union territories were joined, the law kept the existing court arrangement in place. The jurisdiction of the High Court of Bombay continues to extend to the merged union territory. Dadra and Nagar Haveli had a single district before the merger, while Daman and Diu already had two districts. Those districts were carried into the one merged union territory. A stated reason for the merger was the policy of Minimum Government, Maximum Governance, under which two separate secretariats were treated as wasteful. The number of union territories in the country was to come down to eight. A court's jurisdiction is a standing fact about a territory, and a merger does not reset it.
Court with jurisdiction:
jurisdiction of the High Court of Bombay continues
Districts from Daman and Diu:
two districts
Districts from Dadra and Nagar Haveli:
a single district
Union territories after the merger:
eight in the country
Why it matters for exams: The High Court that covers a union territory is asked often, and here the merger did not change the answer.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
jurisdiction territorial jurisdiction of a court — The area over which a court may hear and decide cases.
Background
A merger of two union territories leaves every government employee on the rolls of a territory that no longer exists. The law met this by making each such person serve the merged union territory provisionally at first. The central government then decides whether a person is finally allotted for service in the merged territory. The merged union territory, on its part, has to take steps to bring the staff into the services it controls. The central government may set up Advisory Committees so that everyone affected is treated fairly and any representation is considered. A representation against such an order has to be sent within three months of the order being published or notified, whichever is earlier. These service provisions do not apply to members of the All India Services or to persons on delegation from any state. That group includes the administrative, the police and the forest services.
Service at first:
provisional service in the merged union territory
Final allotment decided by:
central government
Body that may be set up:
one or more Advisory Committees
Time to send a representation:
three months, whichever date is earlier
Officers left out:
members of the All India Services and persons on delegation
Why it matters for exams: Service protection on a reorganisation, with the bodies and the time limit attached to it, is a standard governance question.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
All India Services All India Services — The services recruited by the Union and serving both the Union and the states, such as the administrative, police and forest services.
Background
The Marathas and the Portuguese stood on the same side against the Mughals for a while, and in 1779 they signed a treaty. The agreement came from the Maratha side, where the Peshwa gave his word. Under that treaty the Portuguese were allowed to collect the revenue of this territory. The land was then 72 villages, which were called parganas at the time. The revenue was given in return for a warship named Santana, which had been taken and never handed back. Before all this the area had been held by the Koli chiefs. The Hindu kings of Jawhar and Ramnagar defeated them, and the Marathas later took these territories and annexed them to their own kingdom. A reader should note that the treaty did not hand over the land as property, but let the Portuguese take its revenue.
Treaty year:
1779
Villages involved:
72 villages, then called parganas
Reason given:
compensation for a warship named Santana
Earlier holders:
held by the Koli chiefs
Kingdoms that defeated them:
kings of Jawhar and Ramnagar
Why it matters for exams: The treaty of 1779 and the 72 parganas are the standard answer to how the Portuguese came to hold this territory.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
pargana pargana — An old revenue unit made up of a group of villages.
Background
The district of Dadra and Nagar Haveli is one of three districts in the union territory named after it. The area of the district is 491.00 sq.kms, and it has no coast of its own. Gujarat lies to its north and Maharashtra to its south, so the district is landlocked. The territory was freed from Portuguese rule by the people themselves in 1954. Green forests, winding rivers and distant mountain ranges are how the official description of the district begins. The union territory it belongs to was formed when two older union territories were merged in 2020. Daman and Diu came in as the other two districts of that new union territory. A landlocked district beside two large states is a useful geography fact to hold on to.
Area:
491.00 sq.kms
State to the north:
north of the district lies Gujarat
State to the south:
south of the district lies Maharashtra
Freed from Portuguese rule:
freed in 1954 by the people themselves
Districts in the union territory:
three, including Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Why it matters for exams: The area of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the states around it and the year it was freed are all asked in geography and polity papers.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
landlocked landlocked — Surrounded by land on all sides, with no sea coast.
Background
The Fort of Diu stands on the coast of the island, and it holds a prominent position among the sights of the district. Its official description calls it an expansive and imposing structure. The fort commands a wide view of the sea in front of it. The work was carried out between 1535 and 1541 as the official account dates it. The fort followed a defence alliance that the Bahadurshah, Sultan of Gujarat, concluded with the Portuguese when Humayun, the Mughal Emperor, attacked him. The district website lists the fort among its places of tourist interest. The fort is in Diu, on the island side of the union territory. A monument of this age is standard material for a culture and history question.
Built between:
1535 and 1541
Where it stands:
coast of the island at Diu
What came first:
a defence alliance of the Bahadurshah with the Portuguese
Listed as:
a place of tourist interest in the district
Why it matters for exams: The Fort of Diu and the years 1535 to 1541 are the kind of monument fact an art and culture paper asks for.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Fort of Diu Fort of Diu — The fort on the coast of the Diu island, listed among the places of tourist interest of that district.
Background
The UT Administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is headed by Administrator Praful Patel, whose office is named as Administrator on the Union Territory's own website and on the Diu district website. He took charge as Administrator of Daman and Diu on 29 August 2016 and was appointed Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli on 30 December 2016, and the two Union Territories were merged into one on 26 January 2020. Earlier he was a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Himmatnagar in Gujarat from 2007 to 2012 and Minister of State for Home Affairs in Gujarat from 2010, holding Police Housing, Border Security, Civil Defence, Home Guards, Gram Rakshak Dal, Jail and Prohibition and Excise. The administration's own list of former Administrators of the territory runs from K. S. Baidwan in 1992 to Vikram Dev Dutt in 2016.
Administrator:
Praful Patel
Merger of the two UTs:
26 January 2020
Why it matters for exams: A Union Territory without a legislature is run by an Administrator appointed by the President under Article 239, and this UT's Administrator is named on its own website.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Administrator Administrator of a Union Territory — The President's appointee who heads a Union Territory under Article 239.
Background
Vehicles of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, whose Transport Department at Daman continues to issue notifications in October 2026, carry the registration mark DD. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways assigned the new mark by notification S.O. 295(E) dated 22 January 2020, with effect from 26 January 2020, the day the two Union Territories became one. Registration marks for vehicles are assigned under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.
Registration mark:
DD
Notification:
S.O. 295(E)
Ministry:
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
Why it matters for exams: The registration mark DD and the ministry that assigns such marks, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, are both direct general awareness facts.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
Background
The union territory administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is issuing orders and notices through its departments this month, and the senior officer who advises its Administrator is Ankur Garg, IAS. The administration's own page records him as Advisor to the Hon'ble Administrator from 05/01/2026 onwards. The post of Advisor sits at the top of the civil service in this union territory, below the Administrator, who is appointed by the President. The same page records his predecessors in the office: S. S. Yadav, IAS, A. K. Singh, IAS, Vikas Anand, IAS and Amit Singla, IAS.
In office from:
05/01/2026
Why it matters for exams: It fixes an office and its holder: Ankur Garg, IAS is Advisor to the Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, a post that ranks below the Administrator.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
IAS Indian Administrative Service — The central civil service from which senior administrators of States and union territories are drawn.
Background
The union territory administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is issuing orders through its departments this month, and it publishes the official roster of its Dadra and Nagar Haveli district office. Priyank Kishore, IAS is the Collector of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Sachin Yadav, IPS is the Superintendent of Police. Dinesh Kumar Muhal, IAS is Chief Executive Officer at Silvassa and Resident Deputy Collector cum Sub Divisional Magistrate at Khanvel, while Amit Kumar of the DANICS cadre is Resident Deputy Collector at Khanvel. Revenue work at the taluk level is done by Mamlatdars, the designation this territory uses for the taluk revenue officer: Sagar S. Thakkar at Silvassa and Bhavesh K. Patel at Khanvel.
Collector, DNH:
Priyank Kishore, IAS
Superintendent of Police, DNH:
Sachin Yadav, IPS
Why it matters for exams: It fixes offices and their holders in a union territory district: Collector Priyank Kishore, IAS and Superintendent of Police Sachin Yadav, IPS, and the DANICS cadre and the Mamlatdar designation used there.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
DANICS Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service — The civil service cadre that staffs administrative posts in Delhi and the union territories.
Mamlatdar Taluk level revenue officer — The revenue officer in charge of a taluk in Gujarat and in this union territory, the counterpart of a Tahsildar elsewhere.
Background
The administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is working through its school and coastal notifications this month, and its best known stretch of coast is at Ghoghla. The official Diu district page describes Ghoghla as the largest beach in Diu, with golden sand, gentle waves and a wide flat tidal area, and the water as clean and clear. The beach is run as a Safe Swim Heaven, with trained lifeguards and security guards on duty. Its facilities include bio toilets, changing rooms with showers, drinking water, an open gym, a children's park and gardens. The page records Ghoghla as an aspirant for the International Blue Flag Certificate, the award given to beaches that meet set standards of water quality, safety and services.
Standing:
Largest beach in Diu
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is the place and its standing: Ghoghla is the largest beach in Diu, run as a Safe Swim Heaven and put forward for the International Blue Flag Certificate.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Blue Flag International Blue Flag Certificate — An international award for beaches that meet standards of water quality, safety, services and environmental management.