Why Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab All Celebrate Formation Day on November 1, and What It Meant for Maharashtra

Every year on 1 November, social media fills up with greetings for several states at once: Kannada Rajyotsava in Karnataka, Kerala Piravi in Kerala, Chhattisgarh Rajyotsava, Madhya Pradesh Sthapana Divas, and the formation days of Haryana and Punjab. It is not a coincidence. Three separate laws, passed decades apart, all chose 1 November as their “appointed day”.

The 1956 reorganisation

After Independence, state boundaries still largely followed British provinces and princely states. There was strong public pressure, especially from Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Marathi speakers, to redraw them along language lines. The Fazl Ali Commission, set up in 1953, recommended reorganising states mainly on linguistic grounds, and Parliament passed the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. It came into force on 1 November 1956.

That day created or reshaped:

• Kerala, by joining Travancore-Cochin with the Malabar district of Madras State
• Mysore State, now Karnataka, bringing together Kannada-speaking areas from Bombay, Hyderabad and Madras states. It was renamed Karnataka in 1973.
• Andhra Pradesh, by merging Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking Telangana region of Hyderabad State
• Madhya Pradesh, in a reorganised form that brought in Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh and Bhopal
• Several Union Territories, including Delhi, Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Tamil Nadu, then Madras State, also took its present shape that day, though the state now celebrates Tamil Nadu Day on 18 July. Andhra Pradesh’s own formation day observance has changed since the state was divided in 2014.

1966: Haryana and Punjab

Ten years later, the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, split the old Punjab on language lines. Haryana was carved out as a new Hindi-speaking state, the hill areas went to Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh became a Union Territory and shared capital. The appointed day was again 1 November, so Haryana and Punjab both mark the date.

2000: Chhattisgarh

The Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, created Chhattisgarh from the eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh, with effect from 1 November 2000. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh therefore share the date too. Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, created the same year, came into being on 9 November and 15 November respectively.

What 1 November 1956 meant for Maharashtra

Maharashtra itself was not formed on this date. The 1956 Act instead created a large bilingual Bombay State that combined Marathi and Gujarati areas, adding Marathwada from Hyderabad State and Vidarbha from the old Madhya Pradesh. Pune was part of this enlarged Bombay State.

The decision to keep Bombay bilingual sparked the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, in which 106 people lost their lives in police firing. The pressure worked. Under the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960, Maharashtra and Gujarat were created on 1 May 1960, which is why Maharashtra Din and Gujarat Day fall on the same day.

The 1956 boundaries also left a dispute that continues today. Belagavi (Belgaum) and some neighbouring Marathi-speaking areas went to Mysore State. Maharashtra has challenged this in the Supreme Court, and 1 November is observed as a “black day” by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti in Belagavi even as Karnataka celebrates Rajyotsava.

Read our report on Karnataka Rajyotsava’s 70 years. For more explainers, see our explainers section.

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