Assam Province

North-East Frontier (1874–1905) Assam Province (1912–1947)
Province of British India
1874-1947
Flag Coat of arms
Assam Province in 1936
Capital	Shillong
Area
• 1901	121,908[2][3] km^2 (47,069 sq mi)
• 1914	202,270[1] km^2 (78,100 sq mi)
History
• Bifurcation of Eastern Bengal and Assam	1912
• Simla Convention	1914
• Independence of India	15 August 1947
Preceded by Succeeded by Bengal Presidency Eastern Bengal and Assam Undivided Assam Sylhet division

Assam Province was a province of British India, created in 1912 by the partition of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Province. Its capital was in Shillong.

The Assam territory was first separated from Bengal in 1874 as the 'North-East Frontier' non-regulation province. It was incorporated into the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905 and re-established as a province in 1912.

History

Main article: Colonial Assam

In 1824, Assam was occupied by British forces following the First Anglo-Burmese War and on 24 February 1826 it was ceded to Britain by Burma under the Yandaboo Treaty of 1826.^[4] Between 1826 and 1832, Assam was made part of Bengal under the Bengal Presidency. From 1832 to October 1838, the Assam princely state was restored in Upper Assam while the British ruled in Lower Assam. Purandar Singha was allowed to rule as king of Upper Assam in 1833, but after that brief period Assam was annexed to Bengal by the British. In 1873, British political control was imposed on western Naga communities. On 6 February 1874, Assam, including Sylhet, was severed from Bengal to form the Assam Chief-Commissionership, also known as the 'North-East Frontier'. Shillong was chosen as the capital of the Non-Regulation Province of Assam in September 1874. The Lushai Hills were transferred to Assam in 1897. The new Commissionership included the five districts of Assam proper (Kamrup, Nagaon, Darrang, Sibsagar and Lakhimpur), Khasi-Jaintia Hills, Garo Hills, Naga Hills, Goalpara and Sylhet-Cachar comprising about 54,100 sq miles. Cooch Behar, a historical part of Assam, was left out.^[5]

From 16 October 1905, Assam became part of the province of East Bengal and Assam. The province was annulled in 1911 following a sustained mass protest campaign and on 1 April 1912 the two parts of Bengal were reunited and a new partition based on language followed, Oriya and Assamese areas were separated to form new administrative units: Bihar and Orissa Province was created to the west, and Assam Province to the east.

British India's Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms enacted through the Government of India Act 1919 expanded the Assam Legislative Council and introduced the principle of dyarchy, whereby certain responsibilities such as agriculture, health, education, and local government, were transferred to elected ministers. Some of the Indian ministers under the dyarchy scheme were Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla (education and agriculture 1924–1934) and Rai Bahadur Promode Chandra Dutta (local self-government).^[6]

The Government of India Act 1935 provided provincial autonomy and further enlarged the elected provincial legislature to 108 elected members.^[7] In 1937, elections were held for the newly created Assam Legislative Assembly established in Shillong. The Indian National Congress had the largest number of seats, with 38 members, but declined to form a government. Therefore, the Assam Valley Party with Muslim League's support Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla was invited to form a ministry. Saadulla's government resigned in September 1938, after the Congress changed its decision, and the Governor, Sir Robert Neil Reid, then invited Gopinath Bordoloi. Bordoloi's cabinet included the future President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. During the Japanese invasion of India in 1944, some areas of Assam Province, including the Naga Hills district and part of the Manipur princely state, were occupied by Japanese forces between mid March and July.

When fresh elections to the provincial legislatures were called in 1946, the Congress won a majority in Assam, and Bordoloi was again the chief minister. Prior to the Independence of India, on 1 April 1946, Assam Province was granted self-rule and on 15 August 1947 it became part of the Dominion of India.^[8] Bordoloi continued as the chief minister even after India's independence in 1947.

Chief commissioners

• 1889 – 1891 James Wallace Quinton (b. 1834 – d. 1891)
• 1912 – 1918 Archdale Earle (b. 1861 – d. 1934)
• 1918 – 3 January 1921 Sir Nicholas Dodd Beatson Bell (b. 1867 – d. 1936)

Governors

See also: List of Governors of Assam

• 3 January 1921 – 2 April 1921 Sir Nicholas Dodd Beatson Bell (s.a.)
• 3 April 1921 – 10 October 1922 Sir William Sinclair Marris (b. 1873 – d. 1945)
• 10 Oct 1922 – 28 June 1927 Sir John Henry Kerr (b. 1871 – d. 1934)
• 28 Jun 1927 – 11 May 1932 Sir Egbert Laurie Lucas Hammond (b. 1873 – d. 1939)
• 11 May 1932 – 4 March 1937 Sir Michael Keane (b. 1874 – d. 1937)
• 4 March 1937 – 4 May 1942 Robert Neil Reid (b. 1883 – d. 1964)
• 4 May 1942 – 4 May 1947 Sir Andrew Gourlay Clow (b. 1890 – d. 1957)
• 15 Mar 1944 – Jul 1944 Mutaguchi Renya (b. 1888 – d. 1966) Mil (Japanese military commander)
• 16 Mar 1944 – Jul 1944 A. C. Chatterjee IIL (for the provisional government of Free India)
• 4 May 1947 – 15 August 1947 Sir Saleh Hydari (b. 1894 – d. 1948)

Chief ministers

Main article: Prime Minister of Assam

• 1 April 1937 – 19 September 1938 Maulavi Saiyid Sir Muhammad Saadulla (b. 1885 – d. 1955) ML (1st time)
• 19 Sep 1938 – 17 November 1939 Gopinath Bordoloi (1st time) (b. 1890 – d. 1950) INC
• 17 Nov 1939 – 24 December 1941 Maulavi Saiyid Sir Muhammad Saadulla (s.a.) ML (2nd time)
• 24 Dec 1941 – 24 August 1942 Governor's Rule
• 25 Aug 1942 – 11 February 1946 Maulavi Saiyid Sir Muhammad Saadulla (s.a.) ML (3rd time)
• 11 Feb 1946 – 15 August 1947 Gopinath Bordoloi (2nd time) (s.a.) INC

Deputy commissioners of the Naga Hills District

See also: Naga Hills District, British India

• 1912–1913 J. K. Webster
• 1913–1917 H. C. Berners
• 1917–1935 John Henry Hutton (b. 1885 – d. 1968)
• 1935–1937 James Philip Mills (b. 1890 – d. 1960)
• 1937–1947 Charles Ridley Pawsey (b. 1894 – d. 1972)

Demographics

Religion in Assam Province (1941)^{[citation needed]}

  Hinduism (44.50%)

  Islam (33.73%)

  Christianity (0.65%)

  Others (21.22%)

See also

• Bengal Presidency
• Colonial Assam
• Northeast Frontier Railway zone
• Partition of Bengal

Notes

1. Province area after Simla Convention and accession of South Tibet excluding dependent states.
2. Province area. Total area including dependent states (Manipur - 8456 sq mi and Khasi Hills - 6157 sq mi) is 61,682 sq mi (159755 км2)
3. The Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908) Vol. IV. p.14.
4. Aitchison, C. U., ed. (1931), The Treaty of Yandaboo, (A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads: Relating to India and Neighbouring Countries. Vol. XII.), Calcutta: Projectsouthasia.sdstate.edu, pp. 230–233, archived from the original on 2 December 2008
5. "The Assam Legislative Assembly". Times of Assam. 11 May 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
6. Sharma, Suresh (2006). Documents on North-East India: Assam (1664–1935). Mittal Publication. ISBN 81-8324-089-5.
7. "Assam Legislative Assembly – MLA 1937–46". assamassembly.gov.in. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
8. "Provinces of British India". www.worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 26 December 2019.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Assam". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

References

• The Imperial Gazetteer of India (26 vol, 1908–31), highly detailed description of all of India in 1901. online edition

External links

• Integration of the North East: the State Formation Process (archived 19 February 2014)

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