The Bihari community in the city is organizing a grand function on Sunday to celebrate 100 years of Bihar as a separate state. The Maa Janaki Sewa Samiti, an organization of the community in the city, will hold 'Bihar Shatabdi Mahotsav' on Sunday (July 29) at Tagore Hall, with performance of cultural shows and folk dances. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will be the chief guest at the event.
The Sewa Samiti has invited artists from Bihar and other parts of India for the folk performances at the function. Dr Mahadev Jha, chairman of the reception committee, said that they have invited artists such as Suresh-Pankaj, folk singer Swati, Bhojpuri artist Bacchu Shukla and some TV artists to perform at the event.
“We are expecting a large number of eminent personalities, including senior officials, businessmen, entrepreneurs, professionals, educationists and social representatives, to attend the event," he said.
Further, achievers who have made a difference in their respective field will be facilitated at the event and a booklet, 'Bihar Shatabdi Mahotsav-2012', will also be released to mark the occasion.
Convener of the function, Raj Kishore Jha, said that the aim of the program is to enhance awareness about culture of Bihar and encourage the community to be part of the development of both Bihar and Gujarat.
“Gujarat has given us prosperity and happiness. Moreover, many Bihari IAS and IPS officers are serving in Gujarat. They, too, have contributed to the growth of Gujarat," he said.
The function will begin from 2:30 pm at Tagore Hall on Sunday. More than 1,500 people are expected to attend the celebrations.
Birth and after
The Province of Bihar and Orissa with its capital at Patna was carved out of the erstwhile Bengal Presidency on March 22, 2012. Eminent Biharis of the time such as Dr Sachchidanand Sinha had prayed and petitioned to the British government in Delhi for the creation of a separate state of Bihar but there was no popular movement for such a state.
The old Bengal Presidency which included Bihar and Orissa was too large to be governed efficiently from Calcutta. Hence, when the British government created the new province, it did so mainly for administrative efficiency. As Patna was the capital of the new province, the British immediately set about laying the infrastructure required in an administrative headquarters. The Raj Bhawan, the Old Secretariat building, General Post Office (GPO) and Patna High Court were some of the majestic buildings built by the British in this period. The Patna HC was founded in 1913. Most of these buildings were in use or ready for occupation by 1917.
The credit for designing these imposing buildings of the Raj era in Patna goes to the architect, I.F. Munnings. In 1935, the province of Orissa was carved out of Bihar. Bihar continued to function as a separate state with its headquarters in Patna but it was partitioned again in 2000 when a separate state of Jharkhand was carved out with its capital at Ranchi.
