East Punjab was a province of the Dominion of India from 1947 until 1950. It consist of parts of the Punjab Province of British India that remained in India following the partition of the state between the new dominions of Pakistan and India by the Radcliffe Commission in 1947. The mostly Muslim western parts of the old Punjab became Pakistan's West Punjab, later, renamed as Punjab Province, while the mostly Hindu and Sikh eastern parts remained with India.
History
Partition of India
With the partition of India, the Punjab province was to be divided in two as per the Indian Independence Act 1947, passed by the parliament of the United Kingdom. The province was to cease to exist, and two new provinces were to be constituted, to be known respectively as West Punjab & East Punjab. All the princely states of the Punjab States Agency, except Bahawalpur, which acceded to the Dominion of Pakistan, acceded to the new Union of India and were combined into the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU). The northeast Hill States of the Punjab Province banded together and were declared a union territory in 1950 as Himachal Pradesh.
Renaming of the state
The Constitution of India, which came into effect in 1950, renamed the province of "East Punjab" as the state of "Punjab".
Reorganisation of Indian States
In 1956, the PEPSU was merged into an expanded Punjab state.
Punjabi Suba movement
With effect from 1 November 1966, there was yet another Reorganisation, this time on linguistic lines, when the state of Punjab as constituted in 1956 was divided into three: the mostly Hindi-speaking part became the present-day Indian state of Haryana and the mostly Punjabi-speaking part became the present-day Punjab,S. Gajrani, History, Religion and Culture of India (2004), p. 217 while a new union territory (Chandigarh) was also created, to serve as a capital to both states. At the same time, some parts of the former territory of Patiala and East Punjab States Union, including Solan and Nalagarh, were transferred to Himachal Pradesh.
Demography
1941 census
Prior to partition, the eastern portion of Punjab that was ultimately awarded to India following the demarcation of the Radcliffe Line was made into a new province – East Punjab. The area includes the contemporary states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Below is the religious demographics of this region broken down by district and princely state with an overall total as per the 1941 Indian census.
+ Religion in the Districts & Princely States of East Punjab, India region (1941)District/Princely stateHinduism Islam Sikhism Christianity Jainism OthersTotal Patiala State 597,488 436,539 896,021 1,592 3,101 1,518 1,936,259 Firozpur district 287,733 641,448 479,486 12,607 1,674 128 1,423,076 Amritsar district 217,431 657,695 510,845 25,973 1,911 21 1,413,876 Hoshiarpur district 584,080 380,759 198,194 6,165 1,125 0 1,170,323 Jalandhar district 311,010 509,804 298,741 6,233 1,395 7 1,127,190 Hisar district 652,842 285,208 60,731 1,292 6,126 510 1,006,709 Karnal district 666,301 304,346 19,887 1,249 2,789 3 994,575 Rohtak district 780,474 166,569 1,466 1,043 6,847 0 956,399 Kangra district 846,531 43,249 4,809 788 101 3,899 899,377 Gurdaspur district 174,221 440,323 200,688 46,743 25 6 862,006 Gurgaon district 560,537 285,992 637 1,673 2,613 6 851,458 Ambala district 412,658 268,999 156,543 6,065 3,065 415 847,745 Ludhiana district 171,715 302,482 341,175 1,913 1,279 51 818,615 Kapurthala State 61,546 213,754 88,350 1,667 380 12,683 378,380 Jind State 268,355 50,972 40,981 161 1,294 49 361,812 Simla Hill States 345,716 10,812 2,693 161 126 12 359,520 Nabha State 146,518 70,373 122,451 221 480 1 344,044 Mandi State 227,463 4,328 583 11 0 208 232,593 Faridkot State 21,814 61,352 115,070 247 800 0 199,283 Chamba State 155,910 12,318 107 190 0 383 168,908 Sirmoor State 146,199 7,374 2,334 38 81 0 156,026 Bilaspur State 108,375 1,498 453 7 3 0 110,336 Malerkotla State 23,482 33,881 30,320 116 310 0 88,109 Suket State 69,974 884 234 0 0 0 71,092 Kalsia State 29,866 25,049 12,235 55 188 0 67,393 Simla District 29,466 7,022 1,032 934 114 8 38,576 Dujana State 23,727 6,939 0 0 0 0 30,666 Loharu State 23,923 3,960 7 2 0 0 27,892 Pataudi State 17,728 3,655 0 9 128 0 21,520 Total7,963,0835,237,5843,586,073117,15535,95519,90816,959,758
1951 census
After Partition, East Punjab underwent significant restructuring, particularly in its Punjab States Agency. Several princely states in the region were merged in 1948 to form the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), while a number of hill states in the north were integrated to form Himachal Pradesh. Bilaspur Princely state remained a separate entity as Bilaspur State. In the 1951 census, these regions — Punjab, PEPSU, Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur, and Delhi — were grouped together in a single volume titled Census of India, 1951: Punjab, Pepsu, Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur & Delhi. Although Delhi was included in this volume, it had become a separate province in 1911 and is not considered part of East Punjab for statistical purposes. Below is the religious demographics of this region broken down by district with an overall total as per the 1951 census of India.
In the following tables, 268,602 people from the Jullundur Division were not classified by religion due to missing records caused by a fire in the Jullundur Census Tabulation Office. As a result, their religious affiliation could not be included at the district level. These unclassified populations were distributed across Amritsar district (96,720 persons), Gurdaspur district (89,512 persons), Jullundur district (46,834 persons), Ferozepur district (18,283 persons), Kangra district (9,565 persons), Hoshiarpur district (6,362 persons), and Ludhiana district (1,326 persons).1951: Punjab, Pepsu, Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur & Delhi II-A Census Book Page no. 271 - Census of India, 1951: Punjab, Pepsu, Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur & Delhi II-A Jstor.com or Internet Archive or Census India Gov While their district level religious details were omitted, the number was included on the overall provincial tabulation. According to consolidated data, out of the 268,602 individuals, 117,186 persons were Hindus and others, 149,758 persons were Sikhs, and 1,658 persons were Muslims.1951: Punjab, Pepsu, Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur & Delhi Census book In Last Page no. (XLii) - Census of India, 1951: Punjab, Pepsu, Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur & Delhi I-A Jstor.com or Census India gov. Therefore, the actual total population of the province/state was not 16,975,754 as shown in the tables below, but 17,244,356 after including these 268,602 individuals.
+ Religion in the Districts of East Punjab, India region (1951)DistrictHinduism Sikhism Islam Christianity Jainism OthersTotal responsesTotal population Firozpur district 505,937 780,024 4,805 11,976 5,475 20 1,308,237 1,326,520 Amritsar district 351,710 897,309 4,237 14,753 2,115 196 1,270,320 1,367,040 Rohtak district 1,105,046 7,907 2,562 153 5,878 500 1,122,046 1,122,046 Hoshiarpur district 794,688 283,720 1,353 4,027 1,823 13 1,085,624 1,091,986 Karnal district 974,959 96,458 3,658 490 3,813 1 1,079,379 1,079,379 Hissar district 954,714 80,394 3,312 609 6,609 7 1,045,645 1,045,645 Jalandhar district 429,747 569,487 2,569 5,969 985 9 1,008,766 1,055,600 Gurgaon district 794,019 6,310 163,663 769 2,722 181 967,664 967,664 Ambala district 681,477 232,456 23,106 3,690 2,983 22 943,734 943,734 Kangra district 898,564 18,401 6,426 604 1,199 1,283 926,477 936,042 Ludhiana district 301,398 497,419 3,360 1,200 3,397 5 806,779 808,105 Gurdaspur district 346,884 354,681 9,370 50,457 388 2 761,782 851,294 Bhatinda district 144,305 521,045 416 450 574 19 666,809 666,809 Sangrur district 420,218 215,023 3,741 341 3,610 1 642,934 642,934 Barnala district 112,635 380,811 41,673 113 1,484 12 536,728 536,728 Patiala district 273,087 246,953 2,893 499 689 148 524,269 524,269 Mohinder Garh district 438,347 2,615 1,450 5 657 0 443,074 443,074 Mahasu district 327,998 730 1,795 85 4 2 330,614 330,614 Mandi district 308,302 1,056 1,268 0 0 0 310,626 310,626 Kapurthala district 104,679 187,568 854 1,547 269 154 295,071 295,071 Fatehgarh Sahib district 80,141 154,714 2,269 267 6 0 237,397 237,397 Chamba district 170,333 300 5,208 208 1 0 176,050 176,050 Sirmoor district 157,815 2,626 5,588 19 29 0 166,077 166,077 Kohistan district 130,937 13,206 2,617 343 289 11 147,403 147,403 Bilaspur district 124,393 307 1,394 5 0 0 126,099 126,099 Simla district 37,287 7,417 659 596 131 60 46,150 46,150 Total responses 10,969,620 5,558,937 300,246 99,175 45,130 2,646 16,975,754 Total population 17,244,356
1961 census
The 1961 Census data reflects the post-reorganization administrative boundaries. By this time, the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) had been fully merged into Punjab on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act. Additionally, the former princely state of Bilaspur, a Part-C state, was merged into Himachal Pradesh in 1954. Therefore, the 1961 census tables include populations from the territories of both Punjab (including the former PEPSU regions) and Himachal Pradesh (including Bilaspur), as per their reorganized state boundaries.
The religious demography of the East Punjab region including the contemporary subdivisions of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh is broken down below by district with an overall total as per the 1961 census of India.
+ Religion in the Districts of East Punjab, India region (1961)DistrictHinduism Sikhism Islam Christianity Jainism OthersTotal Firozpur district 657,712 936,953 3,369 19,234 1,746 102 1,619,116 Hissar district 1,374,258 152,719 6,203 1,022 6,021 285 1,540,508 Amritsar district 506,170 990,344 2,401 33,739 1,987 275 1,534,916 Karnal district 1,293,354 177,602 14,159 2,094 3,207 14 1,490,430 Sangrur district 738,816 622,227 55,738 577 7,328 2 1,424,688 Rohtak district 1,400,347 6,439 7,349 355 5,471 430 1,420,391 Ambala district 981,288 340,968 40,351 4,877 5,318 675 1,373,477 Gurgaon district 1,011,862 8,362 216,767 730 2,930 55 1,240,706 Hoshiarpur district 835,436 381,965 7,050 7,207 1,794 41 1,233,493 Jalandhar district 662,631 550,232 3,184 8,733 2,278 309 1,227,367 Kangra district 1,043,387 8,854 6,701 1,251 127 2,198 1,062,518 Bhatinda district 285,967 762,677 3,340 956 2,209 28 1,055,177 Patiala district 480,086 553,438 11,714 1,565 1,944 31 1,048,778 Ludhiana district 365,429 644,266 4,686 2,638 5,110 390 1,022,519 Gurdaspur district 494,635 424,190 5,566 62,231 69 1,303 987,994 Mahendragarh district 543,480 2,222 1,456 29 663 0 547,850 Mandi district 380,453 1,759 1,868 28 10 141 384,259 Mahasu district 354,247 793 2,958 203 9 759 358,969 Kapurthala district 140,828 200,117 856 1,535 416 26 343,778 Chamba district 197,821 398 10,512 105 10 1,733 210,579 Sirmur district 185,020 3,867 8,203 221 64 176 197,551 Bilaspur district 155,094 1,593 2,078 35 2 4 158,806 Simla district 104,784 5,392 1,214 1,059 135 69 112,653 Kinnaur district 37,384 27 0 0 0 3,569 40,980 Lahaul and Spiti district 9,575 162 1,210 2 1 9,503 20,453 Total 14,240,064 6,777,566 418,933 150,426 48,849 22,118 21,657,956
1971 census
By the time of the 1971 Census, the administrative boundaries of the region had changed significantly following the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966, which came into effect on 1 November 1966. Under this Act, the state of Haryana was created out of the southeastern portion of Punjab, and several hilly regions were transferred to Himachal Pradesh. Additionally, an area comprising the city of Chandigarh Capital Project, Manimajra and 36 villages from Kharar Tehsil was separated from Punjab to form the Union Territory of Chandigarh. The 1971 Census was conducted according to the same administrative boundaries that exist today for Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh Union Territory.