State Formation Day in Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka and Kerala Date in the current year: November 1, 2024

By the early 19th century, the territories of present-day Karnataka, Ketala, Haryana and Chhattisgarh had been incorporated into British India (a British colony on the Indian subcontinent). The region was administered first by the British East India Company and then, starting in 1858, directly by the British Crown.

Most of the territory of present-day Karnataka was occupied by the princely state of Mysore, the territory of Kerala was divided between the Madras Presidency, the Kingdom of Cochin and the Kingdom of Travancore, Haryana was incorporated into Punjab following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and Chhattisgarh was a division of the Central Provinces.

Since the proclamation of Indian independence in 1947, the country’s administrative structure has changed several times. Immediately after India gained independence, princely states that chose to join the Indian Union were incorporated in the already existing provinces, but a mere three years later, the government began to plan a major reform of the states and territories.

The States Reorganization Commission developed a plan that stipulated the creation of 14 states and 6 territories with boundaries between them organized along the linguistic lines. The states of Karnataka (originally named Mysore) and Kerala were created as a result of the States Reorganization Act that came into effect on November 1, 1956.

Mysore State was formed by adding the Kannada-speaking districts of Bombay, Hyderabad and Madras, as well as the entirety of the Kannada-speaking Coorg State, to the princely state of Mysore. Kerala was created by merging the Malayalam-speaking districts of Madras State with the State of Travancore-Cochin.

The formation of Haryana resulted from the Hindi and Punjabi language movements in Punjab that started in 1957. People in the Hindi-speaking areas wanted to split from Punjab, while people supporting the Punjabi language movement wanted to impose Punjabi as the official state language. Despite the movement, it took the Indian government almost ten years to reorganize Punjab and officially create the Hindi-speaking state of Haryana on November 1, 1966.

Finally, Chhattisgarh was formed on November 1, 2000 after a successful region-wide campaign supported by local political parties. It split from the state of Madhya Pradesh. The dominant language in Chhattisgarh is Chhattisgarhi, while Madhya Pradesh is a mostly Hindi-speaking state.

Karnataka, Kerala, Haryana and Chhattisgarh celebrate their respective formation days with festive processions, various ceremonies involving local politicians, folk performances and other cultural events. In each of the states, its foundation anniversary is an official holiday and a non-working day for most residents, although some businesses choose to remain open.