Which of the following is the first State in India formed on the basis of languages?

The answer is C. The Andhra State came into being on 1 October 1953, carved out of the Madras Presidency for Telugu-speaking areas after Potti Sriramulu's fast and the agitation that followed. It is the first linguistic state of independent India. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 later merged it with the Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad State to form the Andhra Pradesh of 1956.

• Kerala (A): formed on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act, so it came after Andhra.
• Madhya Pradesh (B): also formed on 1 November 1956, by merging Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh and Bhopal with the Central Provinces and Berar. It was a territorial merger, not a language-based first.
• Uttar Pradesh (D): the former United Provinces, renamed in 1950. It was not created on a linguistic basis.

Core concept: linguistic reorganisation, which followed the Dhar Commission, the JVP Committee and the Fazl Ali Commission (1953-55). This is a standard Polity and Federalism theme for Mains GS-II. Note that Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated in 2014 to create Telangana, so the present-day state is smaller. The exam-year answer remains C.

Trap: Aspirants pick Andhra Pradesh only because of the 1956 date, or mix up the 1953 Andhra State with the 1956 Andhra Pradesh. The question asks for the first one, which is 1953.