Madhya Bharat

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Madhya Bharat (Hindi: मध्य भारत), also known as Malwa Union ^[1] was a former state in west-central India. Madhya Bharat was created on 28 May, 1948^[2] from 25 former princely states, which were formerly part of the British Raj's Central India Agency and Jivaji Rao Scindia became its Rajpramukh. It was bordered by the states of Bombay (presently Gujarat and Maharashtra) to the southwest, Rajasthan to the northeast, Uttar Pradesh to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Vindhya Pradesh to the east, and Bhopal and Madhya Pradesh to the southeast. The state was mostly Hindu and Hindi-speaking. It had an area of 120,176 km² (46,400 mi²). Gwalior was the winter capital and Indore was the summer capital.

On November 1, 1956, Madhya Bharat, together with the states of Vindhya Pradesh and Bhopal, was merged into Madhya Pradesh.

Districts

Madhya Bharat state comprised sixteen districts and these districts were initially divided into three Commissioners' Divisions, which were later reduced to two. The districts were:

1. Bhind district
2. Gird district
3. Morena district
4. Guna district
5. Shivpuri district
6. Rajgarh district
7. Bhilsa district
8. Shajapur district
9. Ujjain district
10. Indore district
11. Dewas district
12. Ratlam district
13. Dhar district
14. Jhabua district
15. Nimar district
16. Mandsaur district

Politics

The nominal head of Madhya Bharat state was Rajpramukh. It had also the post of an Uparajrpamukh. The state had a Vidhan Sabha of 99 members, who were elected from 79 constituencies (59 single member and 20 double member).^[3] There were 9 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state (7 single member and 2 double member).^[4]

Jivaji Rao Scindia was Rajpramukh of the state from 28 May, 1948 to 31 October, 1956 and Liladhar Joshi was the first Chief Minister. He was succeeded by Gopal Krishna Vijayvargiya in May 1949. On 18 October, 1950 Takhatmal Jain became the third Chief Minister of Madhya Bharat.

In the first general election in 1951, the Indian National Congress won 75 seats and the Hindu Mahasabha won 11 seats.^[3] Mishrilal Gangwal of Congress became the Chief Minister on 3 March, 1952. After his resignation, Takhatmal Jain again became the Chief Minister on 16 April, 1955.^[5] He was the Chief Minister of the state till 31 October, 1956.

Geography

Madhya Bharat Plateau

Madhya Bharat state was situated in the Madhya Bharat plateau (presently lying under most of northwestern Madhya Pradesh state and Central Rajasthan). This plateau is bounded by the Indo-Gangetic plain to the north, the Bundelkhand upland to the east, the Malwa Plateau to the south, and the East Rajasthan Uplands on the west.

References

v • d • e States of India on January 26, 1950 Part A States Assam · Bihar · Bombay · Madhya Pradesh · Madras · Orissa · Punjab · Uttar Pradesh · West Bengal Part B States Hyderabad · Jammu and Kashmir · Madhya Bharat · Mysore · Patiala and East Punjab States Union · Rajasthan · Saurashtra · Travancore-Cochin Part C States Ajmer · Coorg · Bhopal · Bilaspur · Himachal Pradesh · Delhi · Kutch · Manipur · Tripura · Vindhya Pradesh