Bilaspur (state)

Bilaspur - बिलासपुर

status	former state
Capital	Bilaspur
founding	October 12, 1948 ( Bilaspur Province ) January 26, 1950 (state)
Dissolution / merger	July 1, 1954 (incorporated into Himachal Pradesh )
surface	1068.48 km²
Residents	126,099 (1951)
Population density	118 inhabitants / km²
languages	Hindi
Location of Bilaspur in India (1951)

Bilaspur ( Hindi बिलासपुर ) was a federal state in India that existed from 1948/1950 to 1954.

history

The forerunner of the state of Bilaspur was the princely state of Bilaspur . After India and Pakistan gained independence in 1947, the ruling Raja Anand Chand decided to annex his country to India. The instrument of accession came into effect on October 12, 1948, Bilaspur was first converted into a province and, after the constitution of the Republic of India came into force, on January 26, 1950, into a “Class C” federal state and the previous government of the Rajas was replaced by one of Chief Commissioner appointed by the Government of India . The Raja had successfully fought against an annexation of his principality to the neighboring Himachal Pradesh or to the Punjab . Both neighboring states claimed bilaspur. Bilaspur was by far the smallest of the 27 states at the time.

Development of the states in northwest India 1951–1966

The planned Bhakra dam probably played a major role in the fact that Bilaspur remained as a separate, centrally administered state . Since at least the 1930s there had been concrete plans to build a large dam in Bilaspur to dam the Satluj and thus generate electrical energy and a water reservoir for the irrigation of the surrounding areas. Construction work on the Bhakra Dam in Bilaspur had begun in 1948 and was one of the largest construction projects in India for years. The project made large-scale resettlements necessary and larger parts of the state of Bilaspur, including the capital of the same name, disappeared in a huge reservoir. At a conference of the participating states of Rajasthan , Punjab, PEPSU and Himachal Pradesh on August 28, 1952, the resolution was finally passed to dissolve the state of Bilaspur and annex it to Himachal Pradesh.

On July 1, 1954, the state of Bilaspur was officially annexed to the state of Himachal Pradesh with the entry into force of the Himachal Pradesh And Bilaspur (New State) Act, 1954 . In the Rajya Sabha , the "House of States", Himachal Pradesh received one vote (before Bilaspur and Himachal Pradesh had one vote together) and the one additional constituency that Bilaspur had previously had (so a total of 3 instead of 2) for the Lok Sabha , the directly elected “People's House” of the Indian Parliament.

In the all-India election in 1951/52 - the only one in which Bilaspur took part as a federal state - the former ruling Raja Anand Chand was elected to the Lok Sabha as an unopposed independent candidate.

Web links

• Bilaspur - Past Present and Future , description of the events from 1946 to 1954 from the perspective of the last Rajas of Bilaspur, Anand Chand (PDF, English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Post-Independence. Bilaspur district official website, accessed September 26, 2015 . 
2. ^ ^{A b} Virendra Verma: The Emergence of Himachal Pradesh: A Survey of Constitutional Developments. Indus Publishing Company (March 1998), ISBN 81-7387-035-7 , pp. 240 ff.
3. ↑ Virendra Verma p. 123 ff.
4. ↑ The Himachal Pradesh And Bilaspur (New State) Act, 1954. May 28, 1954, accessed September 26, 2015 . 
5. ^ Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed on February 14, 2017 (English, election results of all Indian elections to the Lok Sabha and the parliaments of the states since independence).