!United Maharashtra"

A CASE FOR THE FORMATION OF A NEW PROVINCE !UNITED MAHARASHTRA". AMY.UKTA MAHARASHTRA PUBLICATION A CASE FOR THE FORMATION OF A NEW PROVlNCE · "UNITED MAHARASHTRA !'; SAMYUKTA MAHARASHTRA PUBLICATION Rs. 41· l'rilll4 ., I. G. DluwAU, It ~ PriDtinc Prne, IOJ, Sion (1M), ...., 22. ,..,.... ., Slui ShaDbrnll Dlo, Prnidftlt ..,_ Malaanllatn Plriablll, 219, · Shivaji Nagar, Poooa 5. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGES J<:OREWORD 1-3 .. , I. INTRODUCTORY ... 5-33 II.. AREA AND POPULATION .. 35-50 Ill. REVENUE OF UNITED MAHARASHTRA .. 51-80 IV. AGRICULTURE AND CROP OF UNITED MAHARASHTRA , • 81-104 V. INDUSTRIES IN UNITED MAHARASHTRA •• 105-122 - VI. WEATHER OF UNITED :MAHARASHTRA I I 123-124 FOREWORD' The principal demand of the Samyukta Maharashtra Parishad purports to be that a new province to . be called Samyukta M:aharashtra, consisting of contiguous Marathi· speaking areas, as a Constituent Unit. of the Indian Union be created. The Parishad has been making efforts with a view to getting distinct recognition for this province by educating public opinion in these areas and getting it realised in the shortest period of time. It is quite necessary that the Marathi speaking people should know what their province is going to be like, in respect of its geographical boundaries, population, economic condition and possibilities. The present work is an attempt in the direction of visualising as clear a picture as possible of this contemplated province. There are no two opinions that. provinces hereafter should be formed on the linguistic basis. All are agreed in regard to its thooretical aspect. All the same, they have not before their mind's eye how such a province will figure out in practical affairs. In the absence of such a clear vision this · demand of lingUistic provinces amounts to a mere belief, unsupported by cogent reasoning. It is not enough for anyone to believe in the rightness of a thing. It is necessary to back it up by ~seless action for its realisation. It is only a consci ous knowledge of all the aspects of our demand that will impel us to such action. The Samyukta Maharashtra Parishad has published some tracts, leaflets and pamphlets, in support of this demand. Various writers have also usefully contributed to its discussion in the press. Yet the need has always been felt for a com prehensive, if brief, work giving all the relevant information regarding the proposal of a United Maharashtra. ·If this work · fulfils that need, it will surely create a new enthusiasm amongst the protagonists of this demand. It was by no means easy to collect information as regards the possible revenues of the United Maharashtra that we have 2 lJNITED MAHARASHTRA in mind. In the present posture of things, the Marathi-speaking areas have been distributed in two distinct provinces of the Indian Union, a number of Indian States and a foreign terri· tory like Goa under the Portuguese domination. Therefore, the possibly correct figure of the revenues of the United Maha· :i'ashtra, could be worke<l out only by adding together the 'revenues of all the Marathi-speaking districts in these terri· tories. 1"he Governments of Bombay and C. P. made this information available and therefore we are in a position to !late as correctly in figures, as possible the revenues of the •Government of the future United Maharashtra. Other relevant ·information in regard to population, land under the plough, industries etc., has been collected also on the basis of various Government blue-books and publications. Mr. Y. K. Sovani, one of the organisers of the Parishad put through the work of coordinating and collecting all this information in the form of this book. From the beginning, 'be was illided in his work by such an eminent economist and public man as Principal D. R. Gadgil of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Poona. Mr. Sovani has freely.drawn on the pamphlets previously written by Principal Gadgil for the Samyukta Maharashtra Parishad. The Parishad is deeply indebted to Principal Gadgil for his very· valuable help and to Mahamahopadhyaya D. V. Potdar for having read the book in its manuscript form and made a number of useful sugges tions. The original work of Mr. Sovani was in Marathi and the same is now being rendered into English with some suitable alterations by Mr. T. V. Pdrwate, a wellknown Bombay journalist, who canied out this translation work with surprising speed am to whom cordial thanks of the Parishad are due. Tbe introductory part of this book contains a little of ancient and medieval history of Maharashtra. That a common historical ~ cultural background makes for national homo geneity to a considerable extent is the only object in making a bief reference to this history. We hasten to add here, as dearly as we may, that we do oot base our demand for a United Maharashtra on such an appeal to the past The only pinciple that n regard as fundamental and conclusive while FOREWOIID 3 making this demand is, that with a view to creating a power ful oovereign state like the Indian Union, its constituents must be cultw-ally and spiritually homogenous. One of the main determining factors of such homogeneity of a given population, is undoubtedly a common language. SHANKARRAO DEO, President, SAMYUKTA MAHARASHTRA PARISHAD. INTRODUCTORY When we speak of India or the Indian Union as a federal state, we understand that its constituent units are autonomous within their political boundaries and that they are coming to gether and creating a federal state for certain geographicalt cultural, historical and economic considerations, by their own free will. The implication is obvious that they are delegating certain powers to the federal state in their own interests. Like the Indian Union, the United States ol America is also a federal state. But the main distinction between the Indian Union and the American federation, is, that whereas distinctly sepa rate political states carne together and formed a Union theret those in India were merely provinces under the domination of the British Unitary power, brought into being for sheer administrative convenience. They were given provincial auto nomy and they, in theory, decided to come together as federal units of the Indian Union. So long as the provinces were not autonomous, and the central British power was paramount, there was no particular need for these provinces to be homo geneous Units. In any case that did not come in the way of day-to-day administration. The British went on subjugating territory after territory in India and the provinces were form· ed without any plan or design. There was no particular prin· ciple involved in the creation of these provinces. Political reformers in India have always been alive to the fact that this unprincipled formation of provinces was a political anomaly and led to a number of difficulties. The demand, therefore, in favour of homogeneous linguistic provinces was being made from time to time on the platform of the Indian National Congress and elsewhere. Provinces in British India were made completely 'autonomous under the Govern ment of India act of 1935. Since then the demand for lingui stic provinces became more vocal and more emphatic. It assumed the form of a strong movement in about 1937 when Provincial Autonomy became a political fact. The Indian National Congress had always stood for the formation of pro vinces on a linguistic basis and it translated its conviction into· 6 trNITED MAHARASHTRA practice by providing for linguistic provinces in its own consti· tution, which was adopted in 1921. Yet curiously enough, Maharashtra was di\ided into four different provinces in the Congress Constitution itself. Some of the British administrators had also recognised that Indian Provinces were artificially formed. Lord Curzon dis· tinctly held this view and insisted on redistribution. and was of the opinion that linguistic provinces promoted administra· tive convenience. In 1911, Lord Hardinge expressed himself as follows:- .. We are satisfied that it is in the highest degree desirable to give the Hindi-speaking people now included within the Province of Bengal a separate administra· tion. These people have hitherto been unequally yoked with the Bengalis and have never therefore had a fair opportunity for development. " In another place he said : .. No greater facilities can be given to the people of India than fostering of local patriotism by the construe· tion of a new map on the ethnological and linguistic basis and the consequent friendly interracial competition for civilised progress and ultimate autonomy." Lord Hardinge had in mind the question of that Hindi· speaking population which was incorporated in the Province of Bengal as it then was. Yet the fact remains that as far back as 1911, even the British rulers recognised the necessity of reconsidering the unnatural and artificial formation of pro vinces in India. The Montagu-Chelmsford Report on consti tutional,reforms published in 1919 was even more explicit on this point. The Report said:- .. We are impressed with the artificial and often incon· ''ellient character of existing administrative units. We have seen how historical reasons brought them about. We cannot doubt that the business of Government would be simplified if administrative units were both smaller and in favour of linguistic or racial units of Government. But we are bound to indicate our own clear opinion that when ever such redistributions are necessary and can be effected by a process of consent, the attempt to do so should be INTRODUCTORY 1 made and therefore we desire that it should be recognised as one of the earliest duties incumbent upon all the refonned Provincial Governments to test the Provincial · opinion upon schemes directed to that end. " The Joint Parlimentary Board which considered the Montford Reforms Bill also observed :- " A measure of responsible Government has been introduced in the nine Governor's :provinces.

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