Uttar Pradesh Divas

The state has witnessed various changes over the years and reached its present geographical size after the hill state of Uttarakhand was carved out of the undivided UP on November 9, 2000.

The former Governor of Uttar Pradesh Shri Ram Naik had proposed to celebrate the foundation day of state as Uttar Pradesh Divas, during his tenure. Considering his proposal, the Uttar Pradesh Government celebrated 'UP Divas', the state's foundation day, in year 2018, for the first time. From then onwards, every year on 24th January, foundation day of state is celebrated as 'Uttar Pradesh Divas'.

Various stalls and exhibitions are also set up by various Government Departments to bring the projects and achievements of State Government to the notice of the masses.

The vision of UP Divas is to let the people in state and across the country know about the history, culture and development of the state and to invite investment on the huge untapped potential in various fields.

According to records, the state was under Bengal Presidency till 1834. There were three Presidencies Bengal, Bombay and Madras and the need to constitute a fourth presidency was felt which resulted in the formation of fourth presidency known as the Agra Presidency that was headed by the Governor.

In January 1858, Lord Canning moved to Allahabad (now Prayagraj) and formed the North Western Province. The seat of power was thus shifted to Allahabad from Agra. Consequently, the High Court got transferred from Agra to Allahabad in 1868.

In 1856, Awadh was placed under the Chief Commissioner. The districts were later merged with the North Western Province and began to be known as ‘North Western Provinces and Oudh’ in 1877. The entire province came to be known as the ‘United Provinces of Agra and Oudh’ in 1902.

After the first election of the Legislative Council in 1920, the council was constituted in Lucknow in 1921. Since the Governor, Ministers and Secretaries to Governor had to be in Lucknow, the then Governor, Sir Harcourt Butler changed his headquarters from Allahabad to Lucknow. By 1935, the entire office was shifted to Lucknow.

Now, Lucknow became the capital of the province, the name of which was further changed to United Provinces in April 1937 and then to Uttar Pradesh in
January 1950 under the Constitution of India.