Bombay State

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Bombay Province (1947 - 1950)
Bombay State (1950 - 1960)
State of India
1947–1960
 

Location of Bombay State
1909 map of the Bombay Presidency, southern portion
History
 •  Abolition of the Bombay Presidency, Deccan States Agency and Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States Agency (partial) 1947
 •  Merged Kutch State 1956
 •  Merged Saurashtra State 1956
 •  Divided into Maharashtra and Gujarat states 1960
Area
 •  1956 494,358 km2 (190,873 sq mi)
Population
 •  1956 48,264,622 
Density 97.6 /km2  (252.9 /sq mi)
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Bombay Presidency
Deccan States Agency
Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States Agency
Saurashtra State
Kutch State
Maharashtra
Gujarat
States of India since 1947
Bombay Presidency in 1909, northern portion

Bombay State was a large state of India created at the Independence of India with the merger of the British territories of the Bombay Presidency with the princely states of the Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States and Deccan States political agencies.

On 1 November 1956, Bombay State was re-organized under the States Reorganisation Act, absorbing various territories including the Saurashtra and Kutch States, which ceased to exist. Bombay State was split along linguistic lines in 1960, and some princely states which had formerly belonged to this agency became part of Gujarat and others of Maharashtra.[1]

History

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

During British rule, portions of the western coast of India under direct British rule were part of the Bombay Presidency. In 1937, the Bombay Presidency became a province of British India.[2][3]

After India gained independence in 1947, Bombay Presidency became part of India, and Sind province became part of Pakistan. The territory retained by India was restructured into Bombay State. It included princely states such as Kolhapur in Deccan, and Baroda and the Dangs in Gujarat, which had been under the political influence of the former Bombay Presidency.[4]

Expansion of the state

As a result of the States Reorganisation Act on 1 November 1956, the Kannada-speaking districts of Belgaum (except Chandgad taluk), Bijapur, Dharwar, and North Canara were transferred from Bombay State to Mysore State.[5] but the State of Bombay was significantly enlarged, expanding eastward to incorporate the Marathi-speaking Marathwada region of Hyderabad State, the Marathi-speaking Vidarbha region of southern Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarati-speaking Saurashtra and Kutch states. The Bombay state was being referred to by the local inhabitants as "Maha Dwibhashi Rajya", meaning, "the great bilingual state".[3]

In 1956, the States Reorganisation Committee, against the will of Jawaharlal Nehru, recommended a bilingual state for Maharashtra-Gujarat with Bombay as its capital. Thus in Lok Sabha discussions in 1955, the Congress party demanded that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state.[6] In the 1957 elections, the Samyukta Maharashtra movement opposed these proposals, and insisted that Bombay be declared the capital of Maharashtra.[7]

Dissolution of Bombay state

Bombay State was finally dissolved with the formation of Maharashtra and Gujarat states on 1 May 1960.[8]

Following protests of Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, in which 105 people were killed by police, Bombay State was reorganised on linguistic lines.[9] Gujarati-speaking areas of Bombay State were partitioned into the state of Gujarat.[10] Maharashtra State with Bombay as its capital was formed with the merger of Marathi-speaking areas of Bombay State, eight districts from Central Provinces and Berar, five districts from Hyderabad State, and numerous princely states enclosed between them.[11]

Chief ministers

Bombay State had three chief ministers after the independence of India:

Governors

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

In 1960, the designation of the "Governor of Bombay" was transmuted as the Governor of Maharashtra.[12]

# Name Assumed office Left office Years in Office
1 Raja Sir Maharaj Singh 6 January 1948 30 May 1952 4
2 Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai 30 May 1952 5 December 1954 2
3 Harekrushna Mahatab 2 March 1955 14 October 1956 1
4 Sri Prakasa[f] 10 December 1956 16 April 1962 6

Sources: Raj Bhavan (Maharashtra)[12] and Greater Bombay District Gazetteer[13]

Graphical

See also

References

  1. Ramachandra Guha, India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. HarperCollins, 2007
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Retrieved on 12 November 2008.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.