United Provinces (1937–1950)

"United Province" redirects here. For other uses, see United Provinces (disambiguation).

United Provinces
Province of British India (1937–1947) Dominion of India (1947–1950)
1937–1950
Flag Coat of arms
Map of the United Provinces
Capital	Lucknow
History
• Established	1937
• Disestablished	1950
Preceded by Succeeded by United Provinces of Agra and Oudh Rampur State Benares State Garhwal Kingdom Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand
Today part of	India

The United Provinces (UP) was a province of British India and, subsequently, independent India.

History

It came into existence on 1 April 1937 as a result of the shortening of the name of the "United Provinces of British India". It corresponded approximately to the combined regions of the present-day Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. ^[1]

Provincial autonomy

The Government of India Act 1935 enlarged the elected provincial legislature and expanded provincial autonomy vis-a-vis the central government.

In the elections held in 1937, the Indian National Congress won the majority seats, but declined to form a government. Therefore, on 1 April 1937, and the Nawab of Chhatari, the leader of the National Agriculturist Parties, was invited to form a minority provisional government. ^[2]

Minister	Portfolio
Nawab of Chhatari	Home Affairs
Sir Muhammad Yusuf	Local Self-Government and Health
Jwala Prasad Srivastava	Finance
Raja Syed Ahmad Alvi of Salempur	Education
Raja Maheshwar Dayal Seth	Home and Agricultural
Maharajkumar of Vizianagram	Justice
Raja Durga Narayan Singh of Tirwa	Industries and Communications

The Congress reversed its decision and resolved to accept office in July 1937. Therefore, the Governor Sir Harry Graham Haig invited Govind Ballabh Pant to form the government. ^{[3] [4]}

Minister	Portfolio
Govind Ballabh Pant	Premier, Home and Finance
Rafi Ahmed Kidwai	Revenue and Jails
Kailash Nath Katju	Justice, Development, Agriculture and Veterinary
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit	Local Self-government and Health
Muhammad Ibrahim	Communication and Irrigation
P. L. Sharma

In 1939, all of the Congress ministries in British Indian provinces resigned and the United Provinces were placed under the Governor's rule. In 1945, the British Labour government ordered new elections to the Provincial legislatures. The Congress won a majority in the 1946 elections in the United Provinces and Pant was again the Premier, continuing even after India's independence in 1947.

Post-independence

Following independence in 1947, the princely states of Rampur, Banares and Tehri-Garwal were merged into the United Provinces. On 25 January 1950, this unit was renamed as Uttar Pradesh. In 2000, the separate state of Uttaranchal, now known as Uttarakhand, was carved out of Uttar Pradesh.

See also

• Presidencies and provinces of British India

References

1. "Provinces of British India". www.worldstatesmen.org.
2. "PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS (MINISTERS). (Hansard, 19 April 1937)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 19 April 1937.
3. AFTERMATH OF THE ELECTIONS (PDF). Shodganga.
4. Indian Information Series, Volumes 4-5. 1939.

External links

• The interesting story on how United Province became Uttar Pradesh at Business Standard

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "United Provinces of Agra and Oudh". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

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