State / UT
Rajasthan
Rajasthan is the largest Indian state by area and a border state of the Republic, assembled in seven stages between 1948 and 1956 out of the princely states of the Rajputana Agency and given its present boundaries by the States Reorganisation Act on 1 November 1956. It governs 68.5 million people (2011 Census) across 342,239 sq km through a unicameral 200-seat Legislative Assembly at Jaipur, and sends 25 members to the Lok Sabha. Its economy is projected at roughly ₹19.89 lakh crore of GSDP for 2025-26, split about evenly between agriculture and manufacturing at 27% each with services at 46%. What makes it structurally distinctive is the combination of an international border with Pakistan, an arid resource base that has made it India's largest solar generator, and a chronic water deficit that keeps inter-state river allocation at the centre of its politics.
Updated
- Capital
- Jaipur
- Formed
- 30 March 1949 as Greater Rajasthan; present boundaries 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act
- Legislature
- Unicameral — Rajasthan Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha), 200 seats, at Vidhan Bhavan, Jaipur
- Lok Sabha seats
- 25
- Rajya Sabha seats
- 10
- Population (2011 Census)
- 68,548,437 — 7th most populous state
- Area
- 342,239 sq km — largest state by area
- Districts
- 41 in 7 divisions (as of 30 December 2024)
- GSDP (2025-26 budget estimate)
- ₹19,89,000 crore at current prices
- Installed solar capacity
- 28,761 MW as of 31 March 2025 — highest of any state
Role
Rajasthan is the Republic’s largest state by area and one of its two land frontiers with Pakistan, governed through a unicameral 200-seat Legislative Assembly seated at Vidhan Bhavan in Jaipur and a Council of Ministers answerable to it, with a Governor appointed by the Union as the constitutional head. It sends 25 members to the Lok Sabha and 10 to the Rajya Sabha, which places it in the second rank of states by parliamentary weight — substantial, but well behind the Gangetic heavyweights despite covering a tenth of India’s land area. That gap between territorial size and demographic weight is the state’s basic federal arithmetic: it administers vast, thinly populated arid districts whose costs of service delivery are high and whose claim on Finance Commission transfers rests more on area and backwardness than on headcount. Administratively it runs 41 districts across 7 revenue divisions, a number that itself became contested — a 2023 expansion of the district map was substantially reversed by the successor government on 30 December 2024, an unusually visible instance of administrative geography turning over with the government.
Structurally, three things define Rajasthan’s position in the Union. First, water: the state is chronically deficit and its Chambal-basin claims run through Madhya Pradesh, which makes inter-state river allocation and the Union’s role in mediating it a permanent feature of its politics rather than an episodic dispute — the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project, renamed the Ramjal Setu Link Project in January 2025, covers 17 eastern districts and is the largest expression of that. Second, the resource base: the same aridity that constrains agriculture has made the state India’s largest solar generator, at 28,761 MW installed as of 31 March 2025, ahead of Gujarat by a wide margin, which gives Rajasthan a specific interest in national transmission planning and renewable purchase obligations. Third, its fiscal profile: with a projected GSDP of about ₹19.89 lakh crore for 2025-26, a budgeted fiscal deficit of 4.3% of GSDP and an economy split 27% agriculture, 27% manufacturing and 46% services, Rajasthan carries a heavier agricultural share than the national pattern and correspondingly greater exposure to monsoon variance. Its political character is marked by near-mechanical alternation — the governing party has changed at successive general elections for three decades — which has tended to make each incoming administration a partial undoing of the last, as the district reorganisation and the renaming of the canal project both illustrate.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Matsya Union formed from four eastern princely states
Bharatpur, Dholpur, Alwar and Karauli were put together as the United States of Matsya, one of the intermediate unions in the integration of the Rajputana Agency.
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Greater Rajasthan constituted
Princely states of the Rajputana Agency merged into the Indian Union to form Greater Rajasthan — the date the state observes as its formation.
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Matsya Union merged into the United State of Rajasthan
The eastern union was folded into Greater Rajasthan, consolidating the territory under a single administration and closing one of the seven integration stages.
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First Legislative Assembly inaugurated with 160 members
The Vidhan Sabha began as a 160-member house following the first general election under the Constitution.
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States Reorganisation Act gives Rajasthan its present boundaries
The final stage of integration; Ajmer state was merged into Rajasthan and the Assembly expanded from 160 to 176 seats. This is the date the modern state dates from.
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Assembly strength fixed at 200 seats
Membership had risen to 184 by 1967 and settled at 200 from 1977, where it has remained through every subsequent delimitation.
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Bhadla Solar Park becomes fully operational
The 2,245 MW park in the Thar Desert, built in four phases from 2015, is India's largest solar installation and anchors the state's position as the country's leading solar generator.
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Sixteenth Assembly returned; government alternates again
Polling on 25 November 2023 covered 199 of 200 seats at 75.33% turnout, with Karanpur deferred to 5 January 2024. The BJP won 115 seats to the Congress's 70, continuing the state's established pattern of alternating governments at each general election. The house was constituted on 15 December 2023.
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District reorganisation reversed; state settles at 41 districts
The successor government dissolved nine districts created by its predecessor and revoked notifications for three others — among them Dudu, Jaipur Rural, Jodhpur Rural, Kekri, Sanchore, Anupgarh, Gangapur City, Neem ka Thana and Shahpura — leaving 41 districts in 7 divisions.
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Rajasthan holds India's largest installed solar capacity
28,761 MW installed, ahead of Gujarat's 19,422 MW — a function of high irradiance, vacant land and transmission build-out in the western districts.
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Chambal aqueduct construction begins on the renamed ERCP
The Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project, renamed the Ramjal Setu Link Project on 22 January 2025, began work on a 2,280-metre three-storey aqueduct across the Chambal between Kota and Bundi, targeted for June 2028. The scheme covers 17 eastern districts said to hold 40% of the state's population.
Frequently asked
- What is Rajasthan?
- Rajasthan is the largest Indian state by area and a border state of the Republic, assembled in seven stages between 1948 and 1956 out of the princely states of the Rajputana Agency and given its present boundaries by the States Reorganisation Act on 1 November 1956. It governs 68.5 million people (2011 Census) across 342,239 sq km through a unicameral 200-seat Legislative Assembly at Jaipur, and sends 25 members to the Lok Sabha. Its economy is projected at roughly ₹19.89 lakh crore of GSDP for 2025-26, split about evenly between agriculture and manufacturing at 27% each with services at 46%. What makes it structurally distinctive is the combination of an international border with Pakistan, an arid resource base that has made it India's largest solar generator, and a chronic water deficit that keeps inter-state river allocation at the centre of its politics.
- When was Rajasthan established?
- Rajasthan was established 1949-03-30 (Greater Rajasthan); present boundaries 1956-11-01.
- What does Rajasthan do?
- Its remit covers State List functions: law and order and the state police, land and land revenue, agriculture and irrigation, public health, school and higher education, local government and panchayati raj, Administration of 41 districts across 7 revenue divisions (Ajmer, Bharatpur, Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Udaipur), State water resources and Rajasthan's case in inter-state river disputes over the Chambal basin, Renewable energy siting and transmission: the state carries India's largest installed solar capacity, Border-district administration alongside Union forces along the frontier with Pakistan.
- What is the latest on Rajasthan?
- As of 2026-07-17: Chambal aqueduct construction begins on the renamed ERCP. The Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project, renamed the Ramjal Setu Link Project on 22 January 2025, began work on a 2,280-metre three-storey aqueduct across the Chambal between Kota and Bundi, targeted for June 2028. The scheme covers 17 eastern districts said to hold 40% of the state's population.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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Department directory, district pages and citizen services.
rajasthan.gov.in/
- Rajasthan Legislative Assembly legislation
Vidhan Sabha proceedings, members and bills. Did not resolve from the ingest environment on 2026-07-17.
rajassembly.nic.in/
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Electoral rolls and assembly/parliamentary constituency data. Did not resolve from the ingest environment on 2026-07-17.
ceorajasthan.nic.in/
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GSDP, deficits and sectoral shares.
prsindia.org/budgets/states/rajasthan-budget-analysis-2025-2
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Statutory results for Rajasthan assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
www.eci.gov.in/