page_title: Proposed states and union territories of India
section_title: Gorkhaland
hierarchical_section_title: Proposed states and union territories of India / West Bengal / Gorkhaland
caption_attribution_description: English: This map shows proposed Gorkhaland state of India
context_page_description: The constitutional power to create new states and union territories in India is solely reserved to the Parliament of India. Parliament can do so by announcing new states / union territories, separating territory from an existing state or by merging two or more states / union territories or parts thereof. In addition to the existing twenty eight states and eight union territories some new states and union territories of India have been proposed to be established over time.
context_section_description: Gorkhaland is a proposed state covering areas inhabited by the ethnic Gorkha (Nepali) people, namely Darjeeling hills and Dooars in the northern part of West Bengal. The movement for Gorkhaland has gained momentum in the line of ethno-linguistic-cultural sentiment of the people who desire to identify themselves as Gorkha.
  The demand for a separate administrative region has existed since 1907, when the Hillmen's Association of Darjeeling submitted a memorandum to the Morley-Minto reforms committee. After Indian independence, the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) was the first political party from the region to demand greater identity for the Gorkha ethnic group and economic freedom for the community. In 1980, the Pranta Parishad of Darjeeling wrote to the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, with the need to form a state for the Gorkhas.
  The movement for a separate state of Gorkhaland gained serious momentum during the 1980s, when a violent agitation was carried out by Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) led by Subhash Ghising. The agitation ultimately led to the establishment of a semiautonomous body in 1988 called the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) to govern certain areas of Darjeeling district. However, in 2008, a new party called the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) raised the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland once again. In 2011, GJM signed an agreement with the state and central governments for the formation of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, a semiautonomous body that replaced the DGHC in the Darjeeling hills.
caption: Proposed Gorkhaland state
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