Statehood Day in 2025

When is Arunachal Pradesh Statehood Day?

Statehood Day is a Gazetted Holiday in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh on February 20th each year.

This Public Holiday in the northeastern state commemorates the day in 1987 when Arunachal Pradesh became a fully-fledged Indian state.

History of Arunachal Pradesh Statehood Day

If there was a contest for the Indian state with the best name, Arunachal Pradesh would be a strong contender as its name means "land of the dawn-lit mountains", which evocatively tells us that it is located in the east of the country on the edge of the Himalayas.

In August 1947 when India became an independent nation, the region was known as the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) and was administrated through Assam state.

In January 1972, the NEFA became a Union Territory and was named Arunachal Pradesh. On February 20th 1987, Statehood was conferred on Arunachal Pradesh and it became the 25th State of the Union of India.

The state shares international borders with Bhutan, Myanmar and China. The Chinese refer to the region as South Tibet and lay a territorial claim to the land. In fact, in 1962, these claims spilt over into the Sino-Indian War.

In another northeastern state, Mizoram, the driving factor for statehood came from the people of the state. Arguably the need to demonstrate to the world that Arunachal Pradesh is unequivocally an integral part of India helped determine its statehood status.

Arunachal Pradesh has the lowest population density of any state in India. Most of the populace is concentrated in the low-lying valleys and there are no cities and few towns. Itanagar, in the southwest of Arunachal Pradesh, is the state’s capital and largest town.