Vindhya Pradesh was a

former A former is an object, such as a template, gauge or cutting die, which is used to form something such as a boat's hull. Typically, a former gives shape to a structure that may have complex curvature. A former may become an integral part of the ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It occupied an area of 23,603 sq. miles. It was created in 1948 as Union of Baghelkhand and Bundelkhand States, shortly after

n independence, from the territories of the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

s in the eastern portion of the former Central India Agency. It was named as Vindhya Pradesh on 25 January 1950 after the

Vindhya Range The Vindhya Range (also known as Vindhyachal) () is a complex, discontinuous chain of mountain ridges, hill ranges, highlands and plateau escarpments in west-central India. Technically, the Vindhyas do not form a single mountain range in the ...

, which runs through the centre of the province. The capital of the state was firstly Singrauli till 1953, secondly Rewa from 1953 onwards. It lays between

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

to the north and

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second ...

to the south, and the enclave of

Datia Datia is the district headquarter of the Datia District in north central Madhya Pradesh,a state of Central India. It is an ancient city, ancient town, mentioned in the Mahabharata ruled by King Dantavakra. The city is 78 km from Gwalio ...

, which lay a short distance to the west, was surrounded by the state of Madhya Bharat. Vindhya Pradesh was merged into

in 1956, following the

States Reorganisation Act The States Reorganisation act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines. Although additional changes to India's state boundaries have been made since 1956, the States ...

History

Vindhya Pradesh state was formed on 12 March 1948 and the newly formed state was inaugurated on 4 April 1948. Following its formation 36

s were merged to form Vindhya Pradesh state: # Rewa # Panna #

# Orchha # Ajaigarh # Baoni #

Baraundha Baraundha (also known as Pathar Kachhar) was a princely state of colonial India, located in modern Satna district of Madhya Pradesh. Although historically far larger, at the time of Indian independence in 1950, it was a saluted state of 9 guns. ...

Bijawar Bijawar is a city the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bijawar Taluk, and was formerly the capital of a princely state of British India of the same name. The people of Bijawar are demanding the distric ...

Chhatarpur Chhatarpur is a city and a municipality in Chhatarpur district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Chhatarpur District. Chhatarpur is a city and a municipality in Chhatarpur district in the state of ...

# Charkhari #

Maihar Maihar is a tehsil in Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India. Maihar is known for the temple of the revered mother goddess Sharda situated on Trikuta hill. Origin of the name It is said that when lord Shiva was carrying the body of the dead mother go ...

# Nagod # Samthar #

Alipura Alipura is a town in Nowgong tehsil, Chhatarpur district, Sagar division of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located near Harpalpur at an altitude of above sea level. The language of the local population is Hindi. History Formerly this town was ...

# Tiroha # Banka-Pahari # Beri #

Bhaisunda Bhaisunda, also spelt 'Bhaisaunda', was a princely state in India during the British Raj. History Bhaisaunda state was founded in 1812 by the Kalinjar family. It was one of the Chaube Jagirs, which were part of the Bagelkhand Agency of British I ...

(

Chaube Jagir The Chaube Jagirs, also known as 'Kalinjar Chaubes', jagir states were a group of five feudatory states of Central India during the period of the British Raj. They were a British protectorate from 1823 to 1947 and belonged to the Bagelkhand Ag ...

) # Bihat # Bijna # Dhurwai # Garrauli # Gaurihar # Jaso # Jigni # Khaniadhana # Kamta Rajaula (Chaube Jagir) # Kothi # Kirur (Kubje Jagir) # Lugasi # Naigawan Rebai # Pahra (Chaube Jagir) #

Paldeo Paldeo, also spelt 'Paldev', was a princely estate (Jagir) in India during the British Raj. It was under the Bundelkhand Agency of the Central India Agency until 1896 when it was transferred to the Baghelkhand Agency. In 1931 it was transferred ...

(Chaube Jagir) # Sarila # Sohawal # Tori-Fatehpur (

Hasht-Bhaiya The Hasht-Bhaiya ( hi, आठभैया meaning 'Eight Brothers') (e)states were a group of jagirs (small feudatory estates, formally ranking below a proper princely state) of Central India during the period of the British Raj. They belonged ...

Jagir) On 25 January 1950, 11 erstwhile princely states, namely, Bihat, Banka Paharee, Baoni, Beri, Bijna, Charkhari, Jigni, Samthar, Sarila, Tori-Fatehpur and parts of Kirur Kubje were transferred to

and Madhya Bharat. Vindhya Pradesh, together with the states of Madhya Bharat and

Bhopal State Bhopal State (pronounced ) was an Islamic principality founded in the beginning of 18th-century India by the Afghan Mughal noble Dost Muhammad Khan. It was a tributary state during 18th century, a princely salute state with 19-gun salute ...

, was merged into Madhya Pradesh on 1 November 1956.

Divisions

After formation, the state was divided into two divisions, which were further divided into 8 districts. Bundelkhand Division with its headquarters at Nowgaon comprised the following 4 districts: # Panna district # Chhatarpur district # Tikamgarh district # Datia district Baghelkhand Division with its headquarters at Singrauli and then Rewa comprised the following 4 districts: #

Rewa district Rewa district is a district of the Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The city of Rewa is the district headquarters. Rewa is known for world famous beetle nut toys. Rewa is also known as the 'Land of White Tigers' as the first White Tiger ...

# Satna district # Sidhi district #

Shahdol district Shahdol District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in east central India. It old name was Matsya raj or Virat kingdom in the name of great king Maharaja Virata. With a total area of and a population of 10,66,063. Shahdol is an important d ...

Singrauli District Singrauli district is one of the districts in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. History It was previously ruled by the Maharajas of Singrauli State till 1971, after which the monarchy was abolished. Singrauli district has its headquarters at ...

, the largest district in the Baghelkhand Division

Politics

The nominal heads of the state were the

Rajpramukh Rajpramukh was an administrative title in India which existed from India's independence in 1947 until 1956. Rajpramukhs were the appointed governors of certain Indian provinces and states. Background The British Indian Empire, which inclu ...

from 1948–49, the Chief Commissioner from March 1949–1952 and the Lieutenant Governor from March 1952–October 1956. The state had a

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

comprising 60 members elected from 48 constituencies (36 single-member and 12 double-member). There were 4

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

constituencies in the state (2 single-member and 2 double-member). Following the formation of the state in 1948, Rameshwar Prasad Singh, the last ruler of Singrauli became the

but he shortly died after so Martand Singh, the last ruler of the princely state of Rewa became the

and

Yadvendra Singh Yadvendra Singh is an Indian politician and a member of the BSP party. Career Political career He became an MLA in 2013. Political views He supports Congress Party's Ideology. Personal life He is married to Prabha Singh. See also *Madh ...

, the last ruler of the princely state of Panna became the Uparajpramukh. Initially Awadhesh Pratap Singh became the Chief Minister of the Vindhya Pradesh. After he resigned on 14 April 1949, N.B. Bonerji, took over on 15 April 1949 as Chief Commissioner. He was succeeded by

S. N. Mehta S. N. Mehta was a noted Indian politician and Indian independence activist. He was a member of the Indian National Congress party in Madhya Pradesh. He was a member of the Indian Constituent Assembly, the Provisional Parliament and the Rajya Sa ...

. In the first general election in 1951, the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

won 40 seats and the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...

won 11 seats. S.N.Shukla of

became the Chief Minister of the state on 13 March 1952,

Shivanand Shivanand (3 January 1922 – 31 October 2006 ) was an Indian politician and a freedom fighter from Satna district of Madhya Pradesh. He was President of Rewa Rajya Praja Mandal from December 1946 to January 1948 and was jailed five times dur ...

became the Speaker and

Ram Kishore Shukla Pandit Ram Kishore Shukla (Pronounced ; Rām Kiśōr Śukla) (4 September 1923 – 11 December 2003) was an Indian politician and an activist for Indian independence. He represented Socialist Party and the Indian National Congress as an M.L ...

the leader of the opposition of the house. The house dissolved on 31 October 1956. Nowadays the voices of separation of Vindhya Pradesh from Madhya Pradesh, are stoked by

MLA Narayan Tripathi and social worker, Kuldeep Agnihotri, who is associated with the Agni Shakti Education Foundation, in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh.

References

{{Coord, 24.53, N, 81.3, E, display=title Regions of India Historical Indian regions History of Madhya Pradesh (1947–present) Proposed states and union territories of India 1948 establishments in India 1956 disestablishments in India Former states and territories of India