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States had been considered by a Sub-committee appointed by the Simon Commission. This Sub-committee, which was presided over by Mr. C. R. Attlee, had expressed the view that the Orissa feudatory States should be brought into relationship with any administrative set-up for Orissa. Subsequent committees of inquiry relating to the setting up of Orissa as a separate Province were all of the opinion that the problem of Orissa States could not be divorced from that of the rest of the Province. Nothing, however, was done to implement the recommendations for integrating the Orissa States with the Orissa Province. The problem of the Chhattisgarh States, which were geographically and linguistically linked with the Central Provinces, was similar to that of the Orissa States.

96. It was against this background that in the second week of December, 1947, the Hon'ble Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel visited Cuttack and Nagpur. The interests of the people no less than those of the Rulers of these States as also the wider interests of the country, demanded a direct recourse to the obvious solution of the problem, which had been delayed so long under the old regime. Sardar Patel had long discussions with the Rulers of these States and it was eventually decided to integrate these small States with the adjoining provinces. This important decision, the implementation of which was facilitated by the helpful attitude of the Rulers, securely laid the foundation of the policy of the integration of the small States.

On 16th December, 1947, the Hon'ble Minister for States issued a statement (Appendix X) explaining the background of the Agreement reached with the Rulers of the Orissa and Chhattisgarh States, in the course of which he stressed the following important points:—

(a) Democratisation of the administration, which had long been the keynote of the Congress policy towards the States, had become a pressing problem since 15th August.

(b) Democracy and democratic institutions could function efficiently only where the unit to which these were applied could subsist in a fairly autonomous existence. Where on account of smallness of its size, isolation of its situation and inadequacy of its resources, a State was unable to afford a modern system of Government both democratisation and integration were clearly and unmistakably indicated.

97. The Orissa and Chhatisgarh States numbering 39 covered an area of about 50,000 square miles with a revenue of rupees 20 millions and a