The demands raised by states in their quest for greater autonomy are:

1. Demands for division of powers between state and centre and more powers and important powers be assigned to the States. Example: Many States (Tamil Nadu, Punjab, West Bengal) and many parties (DMK, Akali Dal, CPI-M) have made demands of autonomy from time to time.

2. Financial Autonomy: Demand for independent sources of revenue and greater control over the resources.

3. Administrative Autonomy: States have demanded that centre should not have control over the administrative machinery of state.

4. Cultural and Linguistic Autonomy:Some states have demanded for autonomy on the basis of culture and language. Some States also feel that there is a domination of the Hindi-speaking areas over the others. Example during the decade of 1960s, there were agitations in some States against the imposition of the Hindi language