Out of the following which state is not based on linguistic aspect?

The correct answer is Option (3) → Uttaranchal

Note 1: The given answer is as per the official NTA Answer Key. However, there seems to be an ambiguity in the question: Delhi is not a state at all but the National Capital Territory, and its status has nothing to do with language, so one can argue that it too is ‘not based on linguistic aspect’. Going by NCERT, which names Uttaranchal as a state where language did not play a prominent role, Option (3) is the answer, as explained below.

Option (1) Delhi — Incorrect as per the NTA answer key. Delhi is the National Capital Territory, not a state formed by the reorganisation of states, so language never came into its making.

Option (2) Punjab — Incorrect. Punjab is a state of the Punjabi-speaking people; language decided its boundaries.

Option (3) Uttaranchal — Correct. Language and regional identity have been the most powerful basis of statehood in India, but not every state was made on that basis. In the creation of three new states in 2000 — Chhatisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand — language did not play a prominent role. A combination of ethnicity based on tribal identity, language, regional deprivation and ecology provided the basis instead.

Option (4) Rajasthan — Incorrect. Rajasthan is not one of the three new states of 2000; its boundaries were settled in the reorganisation of 1956, which put the final seal on the principle of linguistic states.

Note 2: NCERT (2025-26) does not discuss Punjab, Rajasthan or Delhi here. Punjab was reorganised in 1966 as a Punjabi-speaking state, and Rajasthan’s boundaries were redrawn by the States Reorganisation Act of 1956.