The United Provinces (UP) was a province of British India and, subsequently, independent India.
History The United Provinces came into existence on 1 April 1937 as a result of the shortening of the name of the "United Provinces of Agra and Oudh". It corresponded approximately to the combined regions of the present-day Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Provincial autonomy The Government of India Act 1935 enlarged the elected provincial legislature and expanded provincial autonomy vis-a-vis the central government.
In the elections held in 1937, the Indian National Congress won the majority seats, but declined to form a government. Therefore, on 1 April 1937, the Nawab of Chhatari, the leader of the National Agriculturist Parties, was invited to form a minority provisional government. Only 35 members were present in the Assembly, as others kept away in protest against the new constitution. On 2 April, Chhatari formed the ministry.
Minister PortfolioNawab of ChhatariHome AffairsSir Muhammad YusufLocal Self-Government and HealthJwala Prasad SrivastavaFinanceRaja Syed Ahmad Alvi of SalempurEducationRaja Maheshwar Dayal SethHome and AgriculturalMaharajkumar of VizianagramJusticeRaja Durga Narayan Singh of TirwaIndustries and Communications
Apart from the cabinet ministers, there were ten parliamentary secretaries attached to them, who included Venkatesh Narayan Tivary, Ajit Prasad Jain, Atmaram Govind Kher, and Acharya Jugal Kishore.
The Congress reversed its decision and resolved to accept office in July 1937. Therefore, the Governor Sir Harry Graham Haig invited Govind Ballabh Pant to form the government. The Pant ministry was sworn in on 17 July, 1937.
Minister PortfolioGovind Ballabh PantPremier, Home, Finance, General Administration and ForestsRafi Ahmed KidwaiRevenue and JailsKailash Nath KatjuJustice, Development, Agriculture and Veterinary, and IndustriesVijaya Lakshmi PanditLocal Self-government, Medical and Public HealthMuhammad IbrahimCommunications (PWD and Irrigation)Pyarelal Sharma (1937-1938)EducationSampurnanand (1938-1939)Education
On 1 August 1937, Purushottam Das Tandon was elected as the Speaker of the Legislative Council.
In 1939, all of the Congress ministries in British Indian provinces resigned and the United Provinces were placed under the Governor's rule. In 1945, the British Labour government ordered new elections to the Provincial legislatures. The Congress won a majority in the 1946 elections in the United Provinces and Pant was again the Premier, continuing even after India's independence in 1947.
Post-independence Following independence in 1947, the princely states of Rampur, Baiswada, Banares, Samthar, Dhurwai, Charkhari, Beri and Tehri-Garwal were merged into the United Provinces. On 24 January 1950, this unit was renamed as Uttar Pradesh. In 2000, the separate state of Uttaranchal, now known as Uttarakhand, was carved out of Uttar Pradesh.
See also Presidencies and provinces of British India
References
External links The interesting story on how United Province became Uttar Pradesh at Business Standard