Bihar Province Bihar Province Bihar Province was a province of British India, created in 1936 by the partition of the Bihar and Orissa Province. In 1756 Bihar was part of Bengal. On 14 October 1803 Orissa was occupied by the British Raj. On 1 April 1912 both Bihar and Orissa were separated from Bengal as Bihar and Orissa Province. On 1 April 1936 Bihar and Orissa became separate provinces. The Government of India Act provided for the election of a provincial legislative assembly and a responsible government. Elections were held in 1937, and the Indian National Congress took a majority of the
Bihar his ability. After listening to bandishes from Kumar Sahib, Pandit Jasraj was moved to tears and lamented that, alas!, he did not have such ability himself." [free translation of Hindi text]. During the 19th century, when the condition of Bihar worsened under the British misrule, many Biharis had to emigrate as indentured labourers to the West Indies, Fiji, and Mauritius. During this time many sad plays and songs called "birha" became popular, in the Bhojpur region, thus "Bhojpuri Birha". Dramas incorporating this theme continue to be popular in the theatres of Patna. Bihar has a robust Bhojpuri-language film industry. There