Present Madhya Pradesh came into existence on 1st November, 2000, after its South-Eastern part was carried out to create a new state of Chhattisgarh.
During British Rule, Madhya Pradesh was created as Central Province on 2nd November, 1861. It was regarded as Judicial Commissioner’s territory and was administered by Judicial Commissioner. It was converted into a Governor’s Province in 1921. In 1933, Berar, a part of Nijam’s State of Hyderabad was transferred to Central Province because of which the state came to be known as Central Province and Berar.
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Polity & Constitution of Madhya Pradesh
After Independence the area of Madhya Pradesh was divided into three different parts. These are as follows:
i. Part A: This part was formed in 1947. It includes Central Province and Berar which are present Chhattisgarh, Vidharba area of Maharashtra and Mahakaushal of Madhya Pradesh. The Chief Minister of this part was Pt. Ravishankar Shukla and the Governor was E Raghvendra Rao.
ii. Part B: It included Madhya Bharat (mid-India), in which 25 Princely States of Gwalior (Scindia dynasty) and Indore (Holkar dynasty) are included. The Chief Minister of this part was Shree Liladhar Joshi. Its capital was Gwalior for 6 months and for other 6 months it was Indore.
iii. Part C This part was formed in 1948. It included Vindhya Pradesh which is present in Baghelkhand and Bundelkhand, and Bhopal state. The Chief Minister of this part was Pt. Shambhunath Shukla. Its capital was Rewa.
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Status of Indian States before Independence Prior to Independence India was divided into four categories of state including the Union Territories. These are:
(i) Part A: These were the states of former Governor of provinces of British India.
These nine states were Assam, Bombay, Madras, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
(ii) Part B: These were former eight Princely States, viz., Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Travancore Cochin, East Punjab States Union.
(iii) Part C: These were ten states which included both the former Chief Commissioners province and some Princely States like Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura and Vindhya Pradesh.
(iv) Part D: It had a single Union Territory i.e. the Andaman and Nicobar islands which was to be administered by Lieutenant Governor.
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Formation of Madhya Pradesh
After Independence of India in 1947, the new state of Madhya Pradesh and Vindhya Pradesh were created out of the old Central India Agency. On June, 1949 Bhopal was declared a ‘Part-C’ state by the Union Government of India. In 1950, undivided Madhya Pradesh was created including the Central Province Baghelkhand in Berar and the Princely States of Makrai and Chhattisgarh. It had its capital as Nagpur.
Constitution of States Reorganisation Commission
In December, 1953, the States Reorganisation Commission was set up under the chairmanship of Fazal Ali. The other two members of the commission were HN Kunzru and Dr KM Panikkar. This Fazal Ali Commission was set up for the creation of new states on linguistic basis. Based on the report of this newly appointed commission four divisions of states were dissolved. Then 14 new states and 6 Union Territories were created. On 1st November, 1956 Madhya Pradesh was constituted on the recommendation of States Reorganisation Commission. Every year, the formation day of Madhya Pradesh is celebrated as Madhya Parva on 1st November.
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Reorganisation of Madhya Pradesh
In 1956, Madhya Pradesh was constituted having total 43 districts and 9 divisions. The new name Madhya Pradesh was given by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Bhopal became the new capital of Madhya Pradesh. After this period, the present Madhya Pradesh is the result of reorganisation of many regions which are as follows:
- In January 1972, 2 new districts were created, Bhopal from Sehore and Rajanandgaon from Durg. Bhopal was formed as a new district in 1972.
- In 1980, 2 new divisions of Chambal and Bastar were formed.
In May 1998, 10 new districts were recommended by VR Dubey committee. But, due to some regional dispute one more committee was set up i.e. Singh Dev Committee. By the recommendation of this committee 6 more districts were formed. The number of districts increased to 61.
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Under the Madhya Pradesh, Reorganisation Act, 2000, on 1st November, 2000, Chhattisgarh was created as 26th state of the India taking away 16 districts of Madhya Pradesh.
- The bifurcated Madhya Pradesh had 45 districts and 9 divisions on 1st November, 2000.
- On 15th August, 2003, 3 new districts were created i.e. Ashoknagar, Burhanpur and Anuppur.
- In May 2008, 2 more districts have been created as Alirajpur and Singrauli.
- Hoshangabad division was renamed Narmadapuram division on 15th February, 2006. This change came into force on 28th August, 2008.
- On 15th August, 2013, a new district was created by the name of Agar Malwa.
- On 1st October, 2018, a new district, Niwari has been created from Tikamgarh. At present, Madhya Pradesh has 10 divisions and 57 districts.
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Administrative Divisions in Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh has officially announced to make Maihar the 57th district of the state. There was a demand for making Maihar a district for a long time. Earlier in August, Mauganj was made a new district by dividing it from Rewa. Mauganj has come into existence as the 53rd district of the state. After Mauganj, CM Shivraj has also announced to make Pandhurna (Chhindwara), Nagda (Ujjain) and Pichhore (Shivpuri) as new districts.
New districts of Madhya Pradesh (Proposed)
- Chachaura district
- Maihar district
- Nagda district
- Mauganj
- Pandhurna district
At present Madhya Pradesh is administratively divided into 10 divisions and 57 districts which are as follows:
Bhopal division (5): Bhopal, Sehore, Raisen, Rajgarh, Vidisha
Chambal division (3): Shivpur, Morena and Bhind
Gwalior division (6): Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Ashoknagar, Datia and Pichhore
Indore division (8): Indore, Dhar, Jhabua, Alirajpur, Khargone, Barwani, Khandwa and Burhanpur
Jabalpur division (9): Jabalpur, Katni, Narsinghpur, Chhindwara, Seoni, Mandla, Balaghat, Dindori and Pandhurna
Narmadapuram division: (3) Hoshangabad, Harda and Betul
Rewa division (6): Rewa, Satna, Sidhi, Singrauli, Maihar and Mauganj
Sagar division (6): Sagar, Damoh, Panna, Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Niwari
Shahdol division (3): Shahdol, Umaria and Anuppur
Ujjain division (8): Dewas, Ratlam, Shajapur, Mandsaur, Neemuch, Ujjain, Agar Malwa and Nagda