Formation of Jharkhand: Download PDF Here

FORMATION OF JHARKHAND

Movement since the beginning of the 19th century for a separate state ended with the formation of Jharkhand on 15th November 2000. Various group efforts in this direction were as follows:

Dacca Students Union

It was established in 1910 by J Bartholomew and some Anglican missionaries to deal with the problems faced by poor tribal students. This union was re-organised later and named the Chhota Nagpur Improvement Society and later renamed as Chhota Nagpur Unnati Samaj in 1928. The founders of this society were Joel Lakra, Anand Masih Topno, Theble Oraon, Paul Dayal, Alfons Kujur and Bandi Oraon.

In 1928, a member of this society met the Simon Commission and presented the first demand for the creation of a separate province in the Jharkhand area. The Christian students organisation ‘Chhota Nagpur Improvement Society’ was later renamed as Chhota Nagpur Unnati Society in 1928. Chhota Nagpur Unnati Samaj published a magazine named Adivasi in English, Mundari, Hindi and Kurukh languages.

Kisan Sabha

It was formed in 1931 by Theble Oraon and Paul Dayal. This Sabha differed from Chhota Nagpur Unnati Samaj on the basis of the improvement of the problems faced by the tribal population. It believed in radical action, mobilisation of the peasantry to force the government to act.

Chhota Nagpur Catholic Sabha

It was created by Baniface Lakra and Ignes Beck with the support of the archbishop of Chhota Nagpur. It aimed at the promotion of socio-religious and economic advance. This Sabha contested 1937 elections and both Ignes Beck and Baniface Lakra were elected. The grant of political economy and creation of the Province of Odisha under the Government of India Act, 1935 strengthened the resolve to struggle for a separate province of Jharkhand.

Adivasi Mahasabha

It was formed in 1938, in 1939, Jaipal Singh was the President of Adivasi Mahasabha. He demanded a separate state, including parts of Chhota Nagpur and Santhal Pargana. In 1940, at Ramgarh Session of Congress, he discussed with Subhash Chandra Bose for the need to form a separate state, Jharkhand.

The Jharkhand Party (JKP)

The Jharkhand Parti (JKP) was founded by Justin Richard in 1949. Later, Jaipal Singh Munda joined and merged his Adivasi Mahashava in it. It became a full-fledged political party in 1950. Jaipal Singh was elected president of JKP. Jaipal Singh suggested the creation of a Province in Jharkhand and thought that it was the only solution to uplift the lifestyle of tribal people.
The famous slogan at that time was Jharkhand abua, daku diku senoa that means Jharkhand is our and all robbers (daku) and aliens (diku) will have to leave. JKP participated in the first election in the post-independence era. The Jharkhand Party’s candidates won 32 Assembly seats and established this party as the dominant political element in the region.
In 1955, a memorandum was submitted to the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC), which stressed socio-political, economic and cultural grounds for demanding the creation of a new state. They emphasised that the tribes were separate from the non-tribal people by linguistically, ethnically and culturally, thus, geographical adjacency and administrative separateness were required.
They failed to convince the SRC and were rejected on the ground that the multiplicity of tribal language is not the criterion of the creation of a new state in the Jharkhand region. In the meantime, there were other national parties that became active in the region, such as the Indian National Congress (INC), the Communist Party of India (CPI), Swatantra Party and Jan Sangh.
On 20th June, 1963, the JHP was merged with Congress. Former Chief Minister of Bihar, Binodananda Jha, played a key role in the Congress-JHP merger. The advantage of the merger was that the people of Jharkhand got their first exposure to the actual governmental office and day-to-day administration.
The Christian tribal section opposed the merger as a threat to their influence. Many groups like Sahdeo group, Paul Dayal group, Lakra group emerged.

Three Factions

Further, three separate factions emerged between 1963 and 1968. These were Birsa Sewa Dal, Krantikari Morcha and Chhota Nagpur Parishad.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)

The failure of JHP and other political parties of Jharkhand led to another movement. Vinod Bihari Mahato emerged as an important leader in Dhanbad and Hazaribagh area and established Shivaji Samaj. An alliance was made with the Santhal population of the area. Then Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Party (JMM) was organised in 1973 under the dual leadership of Vinod Bihari Mahto and Shibu Soren.

Vinod Bihari Mahto became the President and Shibu Soren elected as the Secretary-General of the JMM.

Birsa Sewa Dal

Birsa Seva Dal (BSD) was founded by Lalit Kuzur in 1967. Moses Guria was the general secretary of BSD. •

The activities of Birsa Sewa Dal can be divided into two phases:

First Phase (1967-69) - In this phase, violent means were advocated.
Second Phase (1970) - It began when its extremist stance failed and the influence of the leftist parties decreased.

Jharkhand Coordination Committee

It was created in 1987 by sixty-two cultural and political organisations, such as the JMM (Soren), the JMM (Marandi) and some smaller organisations. • It aimed at realising the dream of a separate Province of Jharkhand.

All Jharkhand States Union (AJSU)

It was founded on 22nd June, 1986 by Nirmal Mahato. It organised general strikes and a campaign to boycott Lok Sabha elections in 1989.

The Union Home Ministry constituted a Committee on Jharkhand Matters (CoJM) in 1990. AJSU is mostly activated in Santhal Pargana region.

Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council

It came into existence in August 1995 by Bihar Government, then Laloo Prasad Yadav was the chief minister. The election to JAAC was never held and the powers allocated to it were not transferred.
The JMM and other parties of Jharkhand had a vision of a separate Jharkhand state comprising 25 districts from four states.
In 1991, BJP proposed the creation of a state called Vananchal from the 16 districts of South Bihar. The attitude of Congress towards the creation of autonomy or statehood was over cautious and restrictive in the INC manifesto for 1996 general elections.
On 22nd July, 1997, Bihar Legislature passed the resolution of Jharkhand as a separate state and sent it to the Central Government.
In 1998, the BJP proposed the creation of a state called Vananchal from the 16 districts of South Bihar only. But on 21st September, 1998, Bihar Legislature rejected the Bihar State Reorganisation Bill, 1998. Rabri Devi was the Chief Minister of Bihar state that time.
Later in 1999, in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came into power at the centre, as the BJP got secured 11 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats of Jharkhand. One seat went to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and two seats went to the Indian National Congress (INC).
Consequently, the promise of a separate state was fulfilled by the NDA bypassing the Bihar State Reorganisation Bill, 2000 from Lok Sabha on 2nd August, 2000 and from Rajya Sabha on 11th August, 2000.
On 25th August, 2000, the then President KR Narayan had signed on the State Reorganisation Bill, 2000. Jharkhand emerged as the 28th state of India on 15th November, 2000.

The first Chief Minister of Jharkhand was Babu Lal Marandi and Prabhat Kumar was appointed the first Governor of Jharkhand. On January 2002, Jharkhand Public Service Commission established in the state and Phatik Chandra Hembram became the first Chairman of the JPSC.