Utkal Diwas or Odisha Day is celebrated every year on 1st April all over Odisha. In the year 1936, on 1st April, Utkal Province was formed as the first language-based state in the country. Whose name in English was Orisha (Odisha). Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das, Utkalamani Gopabandhu Das, Maharaj Krishna Chandra Gajapati, Bhakt poet Madhusudan Rao, Pandit Neelkanth Das, Vyasa poet Fakir Mohan Senapati, Gangadhar Meher and poet Radhanath Rai played an incomparable role in creating an independent Utkal province.

Reports say that Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das had formed the Utkal Sammelani in the year 1903 with the aim of protecting the Odia language and political, social, cultural development. After which the members of the conference started to awaken to the Odia language and the demand for the formation of Utkal province on the basis of the language has been intensified. In which people's support is seen from all over the province. In 1920, a proposal to make Odia a language-based state was also presented in the Congress session on behalf of the Utkal Sammelani. This proposal was approved on 1 April 1936 and Odisha has been declared an independent language based state. Before this Odisha was part of Bengal and Bihar. Odisha got the status of a language-based independent state in 1936, whereas after India's independence in 1950, Odisha became an independent state of the country. Orisha has been changed to Odisha on 4th November 2011.

Specialities of Utkal Province: Since the formation of Utkal Province, Orisha (Odisha) has been able to make a different identity in the whole world today in other areas including its rich language, literature, art and culture and special food dishes and drinks. Utkal Pradesh has been successful in keeping its special place in terms of temple, artwork, art like Odissi dance, music culture. Whether it is one of the four Dhams, Shri Jagannath Dham, whether it is the historical heritage of Mahaprabhu Sri Lingaraja Temple, Dhauli Stupa, Khandagiri Udayagiri cave present in the capital Bhubaneswar, Odisha is today recognized as a major centre of tourism not only in India but in the whole world.

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