The British authorities had formed the Central Provinces and Berar in 1861 by uniting the former State of Nagpur with the Territory of Saugor-Nerbudda. In so doing they brought together the Hindi and Marathi speaking people of the former and the Hindi speaking people of the latter. The two linguistic regions which comprised the province had distinctive societies, and developed in course of time differing economies. The annexation of the Marathi territory of Berar to the Central Provinces in 1902 added to these complexities. Berar was an area of surplus revenues, and the utilisation of these revenues in the Central Provinces after 1902 aroused strong opposition from the politicians of Berar.