Bihar's story began on March 22, 1912, when the British established the Bihar and Orissa Provinces. This marked an important change in how the region was governed and set the stage for Bihar to develop its identity.
After India gained independence in 1947, Bihar became a state on its own. It integrated several princely states and worked to preserve its cultural heritage, becoming known for its contributions to art, literature, and education. However Bihar faced various challenges in the years to follow, including economic difficulties and social issues that slowed its development.
In the late 20th century, there was a growing demand for a separate state for the tribal communities in southern Bihar. This led to the creation of Jharkhand in 2000, which aimed to address the needs and rights of these populations. The formation of Jharkhand was an important step towards empowering local communities and ensuring more equitable development.
On 22 March 1912, British India created possibly the earliest state of modern India—Bihar and Orissa Province. In 1936, the state of Orissa was separated into its province, leaving Bihar with a structure that resembles its present-day boundaries.
After India’s Independence on 15 August 1947, the Bihar Province became the state of Bihar. It had the same boundaries as before, except for the inclusion of the princely states of Kharsawan and Sereikela (Orissa Tributary States) in 1948, as they were largely non-Oriya speaking.
Additionally, twelve non-salute states affiliated with the Bihar States Agency—Mohrampur, Darbhanga, Ramgarh, Ranka, Jagdishpur, Dumraon, Dinghwara, Tajpur, Banaili, Kahra, Bhour, and Chanour—were also integrated into Bihar. (Note: Most of these princely states occupied a very small area, and therefore didn’t alter the state boundary significantly).
In 1953, Bihar and its neighboring states presented several claims to the States Reorganization Commission regarding the separation of Bihar into the state of Jharkhand and some conflicts concerning the border districts with West Bengal.
The SRC dismissed all claims but one—the transfer of the Purulia district from Bihar to West Bengal. This decision was made for linguistic and developmental reasons, as Purulia had the largest concentration of Bengali-speaking people outside West Bengal.
The forthcoming decades saw multiple political parties advocating for the separation of Jharkhand. Initially, the Jharkhand Party (formerly Adivasi Mahasabha) led the campaign. In the 1970s and 80s, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) spearheaded the movement for statehood. In the late 80s, the BJP also supported the call for Jharkhand’s statehood but proposed the name Vananchal, derived from the term for ‘forests’ and their dwellers in the region.
Alongside the movement for Jharkhand's statehood, Bihar districts underwent reorganization in 1972, resulting in the renaming of a few districts. Check out the new districts created in the state of Bihar between 1951-2021 (as per modern-day boundaries).
Finally, with the rise of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to power, supported by the Indian National Congress (INC) and JMM, the Bihar Reorganization Bill was signed in April 2000. The bill contained an amendment that would name the new state Jharkhand instead of Vananchal.
On 15 November 2000, the state of Jharkhand was born, comprising eighteen districts from the southern region of the erstwhile Bihar State.
Sources: Administrative Atlas of India (2011); Origin Story of India’s States - Venkataraghavan Subha Srinivasan (2020); We the People of the States of Bharat - Sanjeev Chopra (2022); Bihar Government-District Website/s.
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