The Union Government on December 19, 2019 announced that two Union Territories–Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli–will merge into one unit from January 26, 2020. Earlier, the Parliament on December 3, 2019 passed the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019. Lok Sabha had passed this Bill on November 27, 2019.

The merged Union Territory will be named ‘Dadra, agar Haveli, Daman and Diu’. Dadra and Nagar Haveli has just one district while Daman and Diu has two. All the four areas were part of Portuguese India and came under Indian administration in the mid 20th century.

The merger, done in the spirit of Union Government’s stated objective of ‘minimum government, maximum governance,’ will help in strengthening administrative efficiency of services, fast track development of the two Union Territories and help in cutting down the administrative costs. With the merger of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the number of UTs in India will come down to eight.