Federal Territories of Vishwamitra

Federal Territories

संघीय क्षेत्र
Federal Territories संघीय क्षेत्र
	Flag Seal
Federal territories	List Rajagriha; Chandrabans; New Alamo; Roanoke; New Indischeland; Rabat-Mġarr; Navrajya; Swarnarajya;
Designated	4 November 2023
Consolidated under the Ministry	12 May 2024
Government
• Sovereign	Varuna Sriraya
• Minister of Federal Affairs	Suryadeva Kapei
Administered by the	Ministry of Federal Territories

The Federal Territories (FT), (Hindi: संघीय क्षेत्र‎) in Vishwamitra comprise eight territories – Rajagriha, Chandrabans, New Alamo, Roanoke, New Indischeland, Rabat-Mġarr, Navrajya, and Swarnarajya. Rajagriha is the national capital of Vishwamitra, Chandrabans, Navrajya, and Swarnarajya are former crown dependencies which are located within Indian subcontinent, and the remaining territories are former overseas territories.

Administrations

The territories fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Federal Territories. Before the formal inception of the federal territories, the crown dependencies came under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the overseas territories came under the Ministry of External Affairs. The affairs of the territories were transferred to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Administration following the establishment of the ministry in 2022.

The Ministry of Federal Territories came into existence in May 2024 and all the affairs pertaining to the territories were transferred to the ministry.

History

The concept of federal territories could be traced back to the annexation of Chandrabans as a crown dependency on 20 December 2020. Since the territory was located quite far from the National Territorial Region^[a], the new territory was annexed as a crown dependency and its administration was placed under the federal government and represented by a crown representative appointed by the federal government.

This was followed by the annexation of New Holland from the United Kingdom as an overseas territory on 10 February 2021. Akin to the crown dependencies, the administration of the overseas territories was also placed under the federal government and representative by a nominee appointed by the Crown and the federal government. The only difference between the two was their location – the crown dependencies were territories annexed from within India or the subcontinent, while the overseas territories were located in far lands. Following New Holland, the territory of New Alamo was annexed on 11 February 2021, Cangun Llus on 14 February 2021, Sankewitahasuwakon on 14 May 2021, Roanoke on 10 September 2021, Gullfelt on 19 September 2021, Swevalis on 23 September 2021, New Indischeland on 18 August 2022, and Rabat-Mġarr on 17 October 2022, were annexed and designated as overseas territories. Meanwhile, Navrajya was annexed as a crown dependency on 23 April 2023, while Swarnarajya was annexed on 28 April 2023.

Most of the overseas territories were permitted to create its own honours system similar to the states and grant upon individuals for their contributions. The Order of New Holland was the first overseas territorial honour to be constituted, followed by the other states. However, with time it was realised that allowing each territory to create their own honours system will add to a huge number of individual honours. Thus, on 26 May 2023, the Order of the Territorial Crown was created by Rashtradhyaksh Varuna Sriraya in his capacity as sovereign of the territories as a common honour for the overseas territories and the crown dependencies. The senior-most administrator was appointed as its principal grand companion, the said role now being replaced by the Minister of Federal Territories. The Federal Council was also constituted as a common legislature for the territories.

In August 2023, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Lacey-Scott-FitzLacia tabled the Federal Territories Act, 2023 which aimed at creating the federal territories as administrative units along with the states. All the existing crown dependencies and overseas territories, along with the national capital territory of Rajagriha were designated as federal territories and came under the direct control of the federal government and the Crown. The Crown and the government were responsible to make laws affecting the federal territories and the parliament was responsible for annexing new federal territories. The bill was passed by the parliament and received royal assent accordingly. On 4 November, all serving heads of the former crown dependencies and the overseas territories, and the Mayor of Rajagriha were formally re-designated as "Chief Commissioners" and the representative of the crown to the respective federal territories.

The first federal territory to be annexed after the commencement of the act was Bhalam which was annexed on 25 January 2024, and later expelled on 22 July 2024.

On 24 October 2024, the flag of the federal territory was adopted as a common symbolism for the federal territories.