| Central Provinces and Berar | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province of British India | |||||||||||||
| 1903–1950 | |||||||||||||
 Flag  Coat of arms | |||||||||||||
 Central Provinces and Berar in 1909, showing the districts, divisions, and princely states under the authority of the province, as well as the 1905 changes to the eastern boundary | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Nagpur | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
• 1941 | 16,813,584 | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Merger of theCentral Provinces andBerar Province | 1903 | ||||||||||||
• Creation ofMadhya Bharat State | 1950 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
TheCentral Provinces and Berar was aprovince ofBritish India and later theDominion of India which existed from 1903 to 1950. It was formed by the merger of theCentral Provinces with the province ofBerar, which was territory leased by the British from theHyderabad State. Through an agreement signed on 5 November 1902, 6thNizamMahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI leased Berar permanently to the British for an annual payment of 25 lakhs rupees.Lord Curzon decided to merge Berar with the Central Provinces, and this was proclaimed on 17 September 1903.[1]
TheCentral Provinces was formed in 1861 by the merger of theSaugor and Nerbudda Territories andNagpur Province. Administration of theBerar region of theHyderabadprincely state was assigned to the Chief Commissioner of theCentral Provinces in 1903, and for administrative purposes, Berar was merged with the Central Provinces to form the Central Provinces and Berar on 24 October 1936.[2] After Indian Independence in 1947, a number ofprincely states were merged into the Central Provinces and Berar, which, when theConstitution of India went into effect in 1950, became the new Indian state ofMadhya Bharat, merged withMadhya Pradesh in 1956, also meaningCentral Province.
As its name suggests, the province was situated in the center of the Indian peninsula. It comprised large portions of the broad belt of hill and plateau which interposes between the plains of the Ganges and the Deccan Plateau. The Central Provinces and Berar were bounded on the north and northeast by theCentral India Agency, including theBundelkhand andBagelkhand agencies, and along the northern edge ofSaugor District by theUnited Provinces; on the west by the princely states ofBhopal, Gwalior &Indore and by theKhandesh District ofBombay Presidency; on the south byHyderabad State, and on the east byOrissa (till 1936, a part ofBihar and Orissa Province) and theEastern States Agency.
The Central Provinces comprised 19th-century British conquests from theMughals andMarathas in central India, and covered much of present-dayChhattisgarh with portions ofMadhya Pradesh, andMaharashtra states. Its capital wasNagpur.[3]
After the defeat of theMarathas in theThird Anglo-Maratha War, the territories north of theSatpura Range ceded in 1817 by the MarathaPeshwa (parts of Saugor and Damoh) and in 1818 byAppa Sahib, were in 1820, formed into theSaugor and Nerbudda Territories under an agent to thegovernor-general. In 1835 the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories were included in the newly formedNorth-Western Provinces (which later became the United Provinces of Agra & Oudh). In 1842, in consequence of an uprising, they were again placed under the jurisdiction of an agent to the governor-general. They were restored to the North-Western Province in 1853.[4]
In 1818, the MarathaBhonsle Maharajas ofNagpur submitted to British sovereignty. In 1853, on the death of Raghoji III without heirs, Nagpur was annexed by the British under thedoctrine of lapse. Until the formation of the Central Provinces in 1861,Nagpur Province, which consisted of the Nagpur Division,Chhindwara and Chhattisgarh, was administered by a commissioner under the central colonial government.
The Saugor and Nerbudda Territories were joined with the Nagpur province to constitute the new Central Provinces in 1861. on 1 October 1903 Berar was placed under the administration of the commissioner of the Central Provinces. In October 1905, most ofSambalpur and the princely states ofBamra,Rairakhol,Sonpur,Patna, andKalahandi were transferred from the Central Provinces and Berar toBengal, while the Hindi-speakingChota Nagpur States ofChang Bhakar,British Korea,Surguja, Udaipur, andJashpur were transferred from Bengal to the Central Provinces & Berar.[4]
In 1903, the Marathi-speakingBerar region of theHyderabadprincely state was placed under the administration of the Governor of the Central Provinces, although it officially remained part of Hyderabad, leased in perpetuity by the Government of India. In 1905, most ofSambalpur district and theprincely states ofBamra, Rairakhol,Sonpur,Patna, andKalahandi were transferred toBengal Province and the princely states ofChangbhakar,Korea,Surguja,Udaipur, andJashpur were transferred from Bengal to the Central Provinces.[5]
TheGovernment of India Act 1912 permitted the creation of legislative councils for provinces under a chief commissioner, and on 8 November 1913, the Central Provinces Legislative Council was formed.[6] TheGovernment of India Act 1919 changed the administrator of the province from a chief commissioner to a governor, and enlarged the legislative council and expanded the voting franchise.
The first elections for the Legislative Council under the 1919Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms were in November and December 1920. The Council consisted of 71 members - 53 elected members, 2 ex-officio members (members of Executive Council), and 16 official and non-official nominated members (Zamindar owners declared as backward, Depressed Classes, Europeans and Anglo-Indians). Out of the 53 elected members, 40 came from general constituencies (30 rural and 10 urban), 7 communal constituencies and 6 special constituencies (Central Provinces & Berar Mining Association, Central Provinces & Berar Commerce & Industry Association, Berar Commerce & Industry, and Central Provinces & Berar Landholders). The Indian National Congress had decided at its Calcutta Conference to boycott the elections as part of theNon-cooperation Movement, and many prominent nationalist leaders, includingRavishankar Shukla, E. Raghavendra Rao,B. S. Moonje, Daulat Singh,Makhan Lal Chaturvedi, and Vishnudutta Shukla, either decided not to run, or withdrew their candidacies. The legislative seats went mostly toLiberals and Loyalists.Gangadhar Rao Chitnavis was nominated as the President of the Council.[7]
The Montagu-Chelmsford reforms also introduced the principle ofdyarchy, whereby certain responsibilities such as agriculture, health, education, and local government, were transferred to elected ministers but some responsibilities such as home, finance and revenue were reserved with the Members of the Executive Council of the Governor. Some of the Indians who served as members of the Governor's Executive Council wereMoropant Vishvanath Joshi (Home) and E. Raghavendra Rao.
By 1923, the nationalists had decided to participate in the legislative elections, and in the November and December 1923 election, and theSwaraj Party, which advocated Indian independence, won 41 of the 54 elected seats. 4 seats went to independents who generally allied with the Swarajists, four to the Liberals, and five to independents allied with the Liberals. The Swarajists were led by B. S. Moonje from Vidarbha, E. Raghavendra Rao from Mahakoshal, andS. B. Tambe andB. G. Khaparde of Berar. S. M. Chitnavis was leader of the Liberals. Despite winning a majority of seats, the Swarajists, consistent with the party's policy of obstruction and non-acceptance of office, refused to form a government, and GovernorFrank Sly selected Chitnavis and Syed Hifazat Ali, a Muslim independent, as ministers.[7]
In the 1926 election, the Swarajists split, with one faction continuing with the policies of obstruction and non-acceptance of office, while theResponsive Cooperation Party which chose to participate in government. After the election B. S. Moonje formed a ministry by uniting Responsive Cooperation, Independent Congress, Liberal, and independent legislators into a National Party, with 33 members.[7]
The ministry collapsed in 1933 due to infighting among the ministers and a new ministry was formed under Raghavendra Rao with Muhammad Yusuf Shareef and V. B. Choubal as ministers. This ministry collapsed in 1934 and a new ministry was formed withB. G. Khaparde as Chief Minister and K. S. Naidu as the other minister. This ministry remained in office till 1937.[7]
In 1933, the princely states in Chhattisgarh Division were transferred to theEastern States Agency, and Makrai to theCentral India Agency. On 24 October 1936, the Central Provinces became the Central Provinces and Berar when it was fully merged withBerar Division, although it remained under the nominal sovereignty of Hyderabad.[8]
In 1935, theGovernment of India Act was passed by the British Parliament. This act provided for the election of a provincial assembly, with an electorate made up of men with a minimum of financial resources, and excluding women and the poor. Supervisory powers over the enclaved and attached Princely States were reserved to the Governor and removed from the authority of the popular provincial governments. Elections were held in 1937, and theIndian National Congress took a majority of the seats but declined to form the government. A minority provisional government was formed under E. Raghavendra Rao.[9]
| Minister | Portfolio |
|---|---|
| E. Raghavendra Rao | Gaol, Police, Political, Military, Judicial, and Legal |
| Balkrishna Ganesh Khaparde | Revenue, Land Records, Survey, Settlement, Forest, Excise, Stamp, and Education |
| Syed Wakil Ahmed Rizvi | Finance, Local Self-Government, Medical, Public Health, and Public Works |
| Dharamrao Bhujangrao | Agriculture, Commerce, Industry, and Registration |
The Congress reversed its decision and resolved to accept office in July 1937. Therefore, the Governor invitedN. B. Khare to form the government in August 1937.[10][11][12]
| Minister | Portfolio |
|---|---|
| N. B. Khare | Premier, Home |
| Yusuf Shareef | Law and Justice |
| P. B. Gole | Revenue |
| Ramrao Deshmukh | Public Works |
| Ravi Shankar Shukla | Education |
| Dwarka Prasad Mishra | Local Self-government |
| D. K. Mehta | Finance |
Khare resigned in 1938, andRavi Shankar Shukla next became Premier. In 1939, along with Congress leaders from other provinces, Shukla resigned in protest of the Governor-General's declaration of war on Germany without consulting with Indian leaders, and the Central Provinces & Berar came underGovernor's Rule. Another round of elections were held in 1946, yielding another Congress majority, and Shukla again became Premier.[8]
India became independent on 15 August and the Central Provinces & Berar became a province of theDominion of India. The princely states, which were under the Central Provinces before 1936, were merged into the province, and organized into new districts. When theConstitution of India went into effect in 1950, the Central Provinces & Berar was reorganized with territorial changes as the state ofMadhya Pradesh, which name also meansCentral Province.
On 1 November 1956, Madhya Bharat, together with the states ofVindhya Pradesh andBhopal State, was merged into Madhya Pradesh. In 1956, strong demand due to linguistic similarity fromMarathiIrredentists, theBerar and Nagpur divisions were transferred toBombay State. In 1960, the Bombay State was partitioned intoMaharashtra &Gujarat. In 2000, the eastern portion of Madhya Pradesh was split off to become the new state ofChhattisgarh.[13]
The 1911 census counted a population of 16,033,310 for the Central Provinces and Berar. Droughts in 1917 and 1920 caused famine in several districts, and the Central Provinces were affected by bubonic plague in 1911, 1912, 1915, 1917, and 1918, and by the1918 influenza pandemic. In the 1921 census, the population declined by 0.3% from 1911 to 15,970,660.[14]
The 1931 census found a total population of 17,990,937 for the Central Provinces and Berar - 12,065,885 for the British districts, 3,441,838 for Berar, and 2,483,214 in the princely states.[15]
The 1941 Census of India counted 16,813,584 persons in the province, of which 2,093,767 were urban and 14,719,817 were rural.[16]
The Central provinces and Berar was made up of 22 districts, grouped into five divisions :
The Central provinces and Berar included also 15princely states, whose native rulers enjoyedindirect rule underBritish protection.
Salute states, in order of precendence :
Non-salute states, alphabetically :
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Central Provinces and Berar".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 681–683. This contains a more-detailed account of the geography and history of the provinces up to the 19th century.
