in 1949 that they were fully merged with India to form new states. Thus, Travancore, and Cochin merged into India and formed the new state of Thiru-Kochi. Although the royal families had been allowed to retain large sums of money as their privy purse in 1947; in 1949, with the states and its revenues being entirely taken over by the Government of India, it was the Indian Government that provided the rulers and their families with privy purses that were determined by several factors such as the state's revenue, whether the state had been ranked as a salute state under the British Raj or not, antiquity of the dynasty, and so on. Dewan Jarmani Dass of Kapurthala says: As defined from 1949 under Article 291 of the Indian Constitution, a privy purse would be a fixed, tax-free sum guaranteed to the former princely rulers and their successors. The sum was intended to cover all expenses of the former ruling families, including those incurred for religious and other ceremonies, and would be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India. With India remaining a member of the sterling area post-independence, and with the Indian rupee remaining pegged to the British pound sterling, the privy-purse payments constituted a significant outlay of government funds. Recipients and amounts The privy purses were determined by several factors. Minor feudatories of the erstwhile princely states received whatever little allowances the princely governments had been providing them. For the 565 princely states, privy purses ranged from 5,000 per annum to amounts in millions. About 102 privy purses were of more than a 1 lakh with an upper ceiling of 2 lakh for all except 11 states. Only six of the most important princely states in India were provided with privy purses above 10 lakh (worth 8,898 oz of gold): Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore, Baroda, Jaipur and Patiala. For certain other states, while certain amounts were guaranteed for the time being, it was liable to be reduced soon after due to deflation crisis in 1960s. Thus, Hyderabad, which received initially a privy purse of 42,85,714, was, a few years later, guaranteed 20,00,000 purse. The Government of India also, generally, reduced the allowances with every succession in the family. Abolition A motion to abolish the privy purses, and the official recognition of the titles, was originally brought before the Parliament in 1970 and passed in the Lok Sabha, but failed by