VizChitra 2025

{Describe your talk/session in 2-3 paragraphs}
<h1>Talk Description</h1>

One of the major challenges in working with Indian subnational data—particularly for historical or longitudinal research—is the lack of spatial stability in India’s internal boundaries. Indian states have undergone multiple reorganizations since Independence, and none of the current states existed in their present form 75 years ago. District-level boundaries are even more volatile: India had 640 districts in 2011, and the number has since grown to over 785. These shifting boundaries pose serious problems for researchers attempting to integrate spatial data over time, and for administrators seeking to manage governance and service delivery across newly formed territories.

To address this, our team at India State Story has been working over the past two and a half years to build a comprehensive visual and data-driven history of India’s internal political geography. We have digitized historical maps, traced boundary transitions, designed posters and interactive visualizations, published Twitter (X) explainers, and created an open-access online repository: IndiaStateStory.in. Hosted at FLAME University, this digital archive provides a unique resource that enables researchers, policymakers, and the public to access detailed information on the formation and reorganization of states and districts across time—from 1872 to the present. By visually narrating the political, administrative, and socio-economic drivers of these boundary changes, we offer new ways to understand governance, equity, and development in India.

{Mention 1-2 takeaways from your session}
<h1>Key Takeaways </h1>
Learn how to visualize spatial and temporal changes in India’s political-administrative map across 150 years.

Discover methods to catalog and integrate historical and longitudinal data at the state and district level.

Gain insight into spatial storytelling, digitized cartography, and the creation of a digital archive for researchers and policymakers.

Understand the political and administrative reasons and socio-political consequences of boundary transitions in India.

{Who is the audience for your talk/session?}
<h1>Target audience </h1>

This session is designed for researchers and academicians in history, political science, economics, public policy, geography, demography, and urban planning, as well as students, data scientists, digital humanists, and government administrators working with historical or spatial data from colonial times to the present.

{Add your bio, including work place name and your job role}
<h1>Bio </h1>

Dr. Shivakumar Jolad is Associate Professor of Public Policy at FLAME University, Pune, India. His work focuses on demography, education policy, and social development, with special interest in historical and spatial transitions in India’s administrative structures. He has published research on the Indian schooling system, language diversity and medium of instruction, decentralization of education, and the impact of COVID-19 on food security and unorganized sector workers. He leads the India State Story project, which documents and visualizes 150 years of boundary transitions in Indian states and districts. Dr. Jolad holds a PhD in Physics and a minor in Demography from Pennsylvania State University. Prior to joining FLAME, he taught at IIT Gandhinagar.