Creation of Orissa Provinces

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Creation of Orissa Provinces

Orrisa Province


Regional Kingdoms assumed political prominence since 1568. The Bhois of Khurda, the Bhanjas of Ghumsur and Mayurbhanj, and the Chauhans of Sambalpur assumed independent powers. The Mughals and the Marathas tried but failed to bring political unity of disintegrated Orissa.

The British East India Company conquered Orissa phase by phase. In the first instance, they conquered the southern part, then they invaded the coastal region and finally they added Sambalpur region in their administration. The political dismemberment of Orissa became an accomplishment which agitated the minds of enlightened Oriyas. They tried their best for the amalgamation of Oriya speaking tracts into one administrative unit and then the formation of a separate province.

In 1875 Raja Baikuntha Nath De of Balasore and Bichitrananda Patnaik of Cuttack submitted a lengthy memorial for the unification of the scattered Oriya speaking tracts under single administration. In November 1888, Sir S.C. Bayley, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, visited Orissa and at that time he was presented with a memorial by the Utkal Sabha of Cuttack in this connection.

But the Lieutenant Governor rejected the idea outright. The memorials of the Oriya speaking people and their leaders, the agitation in the Oriya press and the suggestions of high English officials failed to get any results in this regard. The crisis came to a breaking point when the Chief Commissioner of Central Provinces decided to substitute Hindi language in place of Oriya for official use in the district of Sambalpur in 1895 as per the resolution No. 237 of 15th January 1895.

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