Dadra And Nagar Haveli And Daman And Diu (Merger Of Union Territories) Act, 2019

The Home Ministry announced on 19th December, 2019 that from 26^th January, 2020, the the UTs of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli will become a single union territory.
The Parliament passed the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019 on 3rd December, 2019 and it was earlier passed by Lok Sabha on November 27, 2019.
The move comes after the landmark decision of bifurcating the State of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

To provide better delivery of services to the citizens of both the UTs by improving efficiency and reducing paper work

It proposes to merge the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which presently has only one district with the UT of Daman and Diu, which has two districts. The merged UT will be named as the- Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Vidhan Sabha will be established in the new UT, similar to the one in Pudducherry.
The Bill has been moved in furtherance of the "Minimum Government, Maximum Governance" policy.

As per the Statement of Objects and Reasons annexed to the Bill, the two UTs share a lot in terms of administrative set up, history, language and culture.
The Administrator, Secretaries, and Heads of certain departments functions in both the Union territories on alternate days affecting their availability to people and monitoring functioning of subordinate staff.
Maintaining two separate secretariats and parallel departments not only burdened the State exchequer, but also leadsto lot of duplicacy, inefficiency and wasteful expenditure as well as manpower, impacting the overall development of both the UTs.

It is the motto of the central government to achieve a citizen-friendly and accountable administration.
It aims to bring Government closer to citizens so that they become active participants in the governance process and reduce their time and efforts.
The idea of minimum government, maximum governance implies that smaller bureaucracy with more skilled people will be more efficient at delivering public services than a larger one.
A citizen friendly and accountable administration is the focus of the government. A series of steps to achieve this goal have been initiated. These include simplification of procedures, identification and repeal of obsolete/archaic laws/rules, identification and shortening of various forms, leveraging technology to bring in transparency in public interface and a robust public grievance redress system.
Simplification of procedures and processes in the Government in order to make the entire system transparent and faster is an important step for Good Governance.

On being merged, the newly formed UT will be allocated two seats in the Lok Sabha. Furthermore, jurisdiction of the High Court of Bombay will continue to extend to the proposed UT.
Being one UT will help in better management of cadres of various government employees.
Further, it will help to reduce administrative expenditure, uniformity in policies and effective monitoring of schemes and better implementation of developmental projects.

Capital: Silvassa

The U.T. of Dadra & Nagar Haveli is located on the western side of the foot hills of western Ghat, surrounded by Gujarat and Maharashtra. It consists of two pockets namely, Dadra and Nagar Haveli
The major river Daman ganga criss-cross the U.T. and drain into Arabian sea at
Between 1954 to 1961, Dadra and Nagar Haveli was administered by a citizen’s council called the Varishta Panchayat of Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In 1961, it became a Union Territory.
However, the territory was merged with the Indian Union on 11 August, 1961, and since then, is being administered by the Government of India as a Union Territory.
The main tribes are Dhodia, Kokna and Varli with small groups of Koli, Kathodi, Naika and dubla scattered over the territory.

Capital: Daman

U.T. of Daman and Diu comprises two districts namely Daman and Diu. Both Districts are situated on western coast of India at a distance of about 700 kms, geographically separated by the Gulf of Khambhat.
Diu is island situated slightly off the coast of Kathiawad near the Port of Veraval in Gujarat while Daman is on main land near southern portion of Gujarat State.
After Liberation on 19th December, 1961 from Portuguese Rule of more than four centuries, Daman and Diu became a part of the T. of Goa, Daman and Diu under Government of India.
After delinking of Goa, which attained statehood, U.T. of Daman and Diu came into existence on 30th May, 1987.