Odisha State Formation
The modern boundaries of Odisha were demarcated by the British Indian government when Orissa Province was established on 1 April 1936, consisting of the Odia-speaking districts of Bihar and Orissa Province. The first of April is celebrated as Utkala Dibasa/Odisha Day.
In 1903, the Utkal Sammilani organisation was founded to demand the unification of Odia-speaking regions into one state.On 1 April 1912, the Bihar and Orissa Province was formed. On 1 April 1936, Bihar and Orissa were split into separate provinces. The new province of Orissa came into existence on a linguistic basis during the British rule in India, with Sir John Austen Hubback as the first governor .
Krushna Chandra Gajapati KCIE (26 April 1892 – 25 May 1974), also known as Captain Maharaja Sri Sri Sri Krushna Chandra Gajapati Narayana Deba KCIE, was a key personality and regarded as the architect, founding father of an Independent Odia Language speaking state Odisha. He was a scion of the Paralakhemundi Estate (then Ganjam district of Odisha and Srikakulam taluk of Andhrapradesh )and the owner of the Delana estate of the Puri district of Odisha. His family belonged to the great Eastern Ganga Dynasty. He was the first Prime Minister of Orissa.
Source: Orissa in the Making by Majumdar
The main revolution in this separate state continued for three decades from the very day of the formation of Utkal Sammilani which led to the foundation of a separate Odisha Province. The movement turned more intense under the leadership of Utkala Gouraba Madhusudan Das, Utkala mani Gopabandhu Das, Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanj Deo, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati, Pandita Nilakantha Das, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Gangadhar Meher, Basudeba Sudhaladeba, Radhanath Ray, Bhubanananda Das, A. P. Patro, and many others with the support of the public. The newly formed Odisha consisted of six districts namely Cuttack, Puri, Baleswar, Sambalpur, Koraput, and Ganjam with its capital at Cuttack. John Austin Hubback took the oath of office and became the first Governor of Odisha Province.
Odisha Day, also Utkala Dibasa is celebrated on 1 April in the Indian state of Odisha in memory of the formation of the state as a separate state out of Bihar and Orissa Province with the addition of Koraput and Ganjam from the Madras Presidency on 1 April 1936. After losing its political identity completely in 1568 following the defeat and demise of the last king Mukunda Dev, efforts resulted in the formation of a politically separate state under British rule on a linguistic basis on 1 April 1936.
