a Chief Minister (CM), a Governor, and a Capital city. SSC CGL regularly tests all three. You must know current holders and basic constitutional rules. --- KEY RULES / PROPERTIES --- 1. GOVERNOR — Appointed by the President of India.
Not elected. Acts as the constitutional head of the state. Tenure is 5 years but can be removed earlier by the President. 2. CHIEF MINISTER — Elected indirectly.
Leader of the majority party in the State Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha). CM is the real executive head of the state. 3. UNION TERRITORIES — UTs are governed by a Lieutenant Governor (LG) or Administrator appointed by the President. Delhi and Puducherry have their own elected governments and CMs. 4.
ONE GOVERNOR, TWO STATES — One Governor can hold charge of more than one state at the same time. This is called 'additional charge'. 5. CAPITAL TYPES — Some states have more than one capital
Himachal Pradesh has Shimla (summer capital) and Dharamshala (winter capital). Jammu & Kashmir (UT) has Srinagar (summer) and Jammu (winter). ---
(HOW QUESTIONS ARE ASKED) --- SSC CGL asks questions in four main ways: • Direct fact: 'Who is the Governor of Maharashtra?' • Reverse fact: 'Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar is the Governor of which state?' • Capital-based: 'What is the capital of Telangana?' — Answer: Hyderabad • Constitutional rule: 'Who appoints the Governor of a state?' About 60% of questions are direct, 40% are reverse or tricky. So always study both ways — know the person AND the state they belong to. ---
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No mathematical formula applies here. But use this memory framework:
Learn each state as a chain of four facts.
Shortcut Formula for remembering appointment:
--- SHORTCUT / TRICKS ---
TRICK 1 — GROUP BY REGION:
Cluster states by region. North India: UP, Uttarakhand, Himachal, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan. Learn these 6 together. Then move to South, East, West, Northeast. This reduces memory load by 60%.
TRICK 2 — DUAL CAPITAL STATES (HIGH PRIORITY LIST):
short list: Maharashtra (Mumbai + Nagpur for winter session), Himachal Pradesh (Shimla + Dharamshala), J&K UT (Srinagar + Jammu), Andhra Pradesh (Amaravati — ongoing development). These are favourite
TRICK 3 — NEW STATES SHORTCUT: Telangana (formed 2014) — Capital: Hyderabad. It is the NEWEST state of India. This is asked in almost every exam.
Remember: Telangana = 29th state at time of formation, now 28 states exist after J&K was made a UT in 2019. ---
Delhi is a Union Territory, not a state.
UTs are governed by LGs or Administrators.
The President of India appoints the LG. Answer: President of India. --- WORKED EXAMPLE 2 --- Question: Which is the capital of Uttarakhand?
Uttarakhand was formed in 2000 from Uttar Pradesh.
Many students confuse Dehradun with Nainital.
Dehradun is the interim/functional capital. Gairsain is the summer capital (declared in 2020). Answer: Dehradun (interim capital); Gairsain (summer/declared capital). Exam usually accepts Dehradun. --- COMMON MISTAKE (THE #1 TRAP) --- Students confuse Governor with CM. Remember: Governor is APPOINTED by the President and is the constitutional head. CM is ELECTED (indirectly) and is the real/executive head. Exam asks this distinction directly. Also, students often mark the OLD Governor or CM. Always revise the CURRENT holders one week before the exam from a reliable source like the official state government website.
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