Refugee Bengal.pdf

Refugee Crisis in Eastern India During the Early Decadesin the Post-Partition South Asia Om Prakash* The partition of India in 1947 resu.Ited displacementof .rpproxtnlately 1g ,in

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en.v.r.lot:mentposed a challenge to their etistence o i- runur". ::y: What wcrs ,:^"-::::\r*!" toreards the government policies of relief and rehabilitation? government polic! to resettle The th

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uiiiriiR e t i e fr t n d Rehabititqtion oJ Government "t';;;r"", Department ;:i;; "f,,y^, of Rehobilitation, :9:;1t ?;;'':i":: Goverrrment of India, and.theLok Sabho Orirrir-ona West Bengal AssembryD2bates,Reportof tn" lnioniol"ning co^mr"ion li:r" along -!:t_:r"l.y" etc-, with other sources.

Intro du cti on According to a French academician Jean Luc Nancy, .,the gravest

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tnatpossrury in'o,,*.u","* *"*;',:::,.;T,; rEsumonresto which ;;::tT:::_.t:T"J'1:::-l:no:.*.,ne this epoch must answer is the testimo,,. ;; ;;'--;,::^:.:l-""'€r confl,d.ri^-

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iasouse'eatial; ;,".;.:"#:il;::: ;#:il":l,'::ffx:".i jl"^:t-".""av historicar *'t o'.";.' rightly pointed out that ilffiT,*':'::lj',1P:(memory begins l" where history ends..3l, n""ffi ilHil;::

The division of India was done according to the Mou,ltbaften plan (3d June plan). on July 18' l94z the British parliament p.""r"a ,h" tltt*'""o*ce Act for transfer of power. The border between India and pakistan w." d."turmirrea by a British

,*,i, us.rauyreferred ;[THH::I::1":_": lawyel cyril Radcliffe,whowroteit. pakistan * *"io,u" i_*d aftertrte London *-" ,r. *", *iii"i1lnil::::

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Nancy Jean Luc (lgglr,The lnoDel.otive Corn^unity, p. l, Minneopolis, Minnesota. N:ndy Ashis (2003). ..Srate,History ar -^!! !, JUqur aran pouucs: Politics: Modernity Modernity and or Clandesrine oJ and the Lrandestine and the Landscape Landscape and In"omrnunl"aUie_i-_ Incornmunicabte lt"1":11t,T:,::*.T-tn_

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(Ed.),

Ashis me Romon."ol the state, eiri ^^ ::'1":::ti ;l;_'i, ;j';;ffi ;;. lf,l"'.i#*"if ,['J;:fi,: f :T:^"i::::,'.,h.,f"pi* 'Memory K*umar.(I997), Begins where Hisrory rre rare or Dissentin th. rr'^i..

3:;: .:.t-"oto ReJlections ReJlections on partitii" Partitionofihe ii" e*t, Eost-.'*. .r,u-- New Delhi. p.'es,vikas, "S O 2ol0 IUp All RighB Reserved.

Ends,,. in satnrnadar R?nabir (Ed.),

enclaves,East Pakistan(today Bangladesh)and West Pakistan,separatedgeographicallyby 1,ooo miles. India was formed out of the majority Hindu regionsof the colony,and Pakistan ftom the majority Muslim areas. For Punjab and Bengal, the Boundary commission comprised of two Muslim and two non-Muslim judSes headed by Cyril Radcliffe, who had no previous experience of India and its territory. The mission of the Punjab commission was to demarcate the boundaries of the two parts of Punjab, on the basis of ascertaining the contiSuous majority areas of Muslims and non-Muslims. In doing so, it was to take into account other factors' Each side (the Muslims and the Congress/Sikhs) presented its claim through counsel' Thejudges were divided on all major issubs which enabled clril Radcliffe to make the actual decisions' The 2,736 km long boundary line passes through Jessore, Nadia, Malda, Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri districts of Bengal and sylhet district of neiShboring Assam' The demarcation of the line was arbitrary since it cut across water channels, Pilgrimage centers, location of industries and other vital strategic locations J N sarkar, the famous historian, had observed, "The Hindus and Muslims of Bengali origin have lived together side by side in peace for so many centuries that it is now impossible to draw a clear-cut geoSr:aphicalline dividing the Hindus from the Muslim"'' The partition of Bengal in 1947 rendered millions uprooted and killed thousands. For BenSal,the refugee exodus continued for years after partition' lt has been observedthat' while ,,the partition of Punjab was a one,time event with mayhem and forced mi8ration restrictedprimarily to the first three years (1947-50),the partition of Bengalhas turned out to be a continuing process".sNearly one million died in the communal violence between Hindus and sikhs Onthe one side and Muslims on the other. An estimated18 million people were displacedwith close to two million killed. The population movement itself is one of thelalSestinrecordedhumanhistoryandthetraumaofthepartitionremainedembossed At the on the psycheof thlee nation-statesof South Asia: India, Pakistan,and Bangladesh'u time of partition, Hindus constituted around 31oloof East Pakistan' By 1951' only 24% remained there due to large-scalemigration. The then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru signi'icantly remarked on the pliSht of refugees in Eastern India: "West Bengal has suffered more from partition and its after effectsthan .rnyprovinceor any part of the country.Punjabalso suffered,but it suffered more in the sense of mass killins of the people' while economicall)!wcst Bengal had suffereclrnore".' Ihe evacuecproperty left by the Muslims migratedto west Pakistrn,hclped the displacedHindus and Sikhs laom the west Pakistanto settle down in Punjab and the a d j a c e n ta r e a s .A l a r g en u l n b e ro f d i s p l a c c dp e o P l er v e r ea b s o r b c di n t h c g o v e r n m e nJt o D s s a r k i r J N ( 1 9 1 7 ) . ' 1 n u r r B u : r r r P . r r r i f t ( r, u l \ I l B:rSchi.JasodhaIiandDasgupr.subhor.njnn(I]d5')(200:]).Tfie,fldltl](rdnl1t/le7)'iu'Vr/l:Gc11.J(f d n d i l r r / i r i r ) , ri r I i r f l r . n l n d i d . P P . 2 l . I i o i k r r i the UrnBil S c h e n d e l$ i l l i r n r V . r n ( 2 0 O 3 ) \ \ ' o r k i n g l h r o u : l h I h r t i r i o n s : N l r k i n g n l i \ i n g i n ( t , r t l s o . i ( r i c / r r I ' r . q ei n A s i u ] Bordertancls . in Das Ar-,,indN .nd linden Nlnrcel virn der ([.d.). tv,)fk tsr(ll'i in Itorrorrr (,/ J(rn ar.l]r.,). pP. 52 5'1. lUlnohar. Ne\! I)clhi. c o p a l S ( 1 9 9 2 ) . s e i . ' . f e d } 1 / o r k ro l J d r t ( r n d r l d l N € h I u . \ ' o l . X I V P a r t 1 . p 6 N t ' w D e l h i ' parrilion Sotrrh \siir Refuaee Crisis in anstern lndia During the Elirlv Decades in rhe Post

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a n d i n t h e a r m e d f o r c e s .T h e ( i o v e r n n t e n l o f l n d i a ( c o l ) s e r i o u s l yt n c k l c d t h e c o m p e n s a t i o n cr:jjnls for imnlovable propcrties of th(: (jisplijced alriviDS fronr rvesL pakrslan. frolvevcr the situalioll was uncven and 'cr),difl"rent in thc cil\e of l l c n g . , l . I I i n c l L t sl . l l i g r a t i n gf r o n L a s t lj;rkistiln(now Bingladcsh) settled;!cross Llrstern Indiil and N()nhcrslern Indir, nlany s e l t l i n g i n c l o s e b ) s t a t e ss u c h r s w c l t l l e r l i i r l ,A 5 - . s a n r , i ] n d - f r i p u r i r . s ( ) n r r r r i g r i r ) t s r \ r e r rs e n t to thc Andilnran as well. ( r r i t i c sa t c S e t r r a t t s r i t i s hh a s t e

t o I e a ' c r n c r i ar c d r o r h e c r u e r r i e so l r h c p a r r i r i o n .B c c a u s e i n d e p e n d c n c er v a s d e c l a r t ' d p r i o r t o t h e a c t u . l l p a r t i l i o n , no rilrge popuration nlovenlents h,ere contcmplated. Ilowever. somc argue rhat thc llrilish tverc forced to cxpedite the partition by the development of events. Lalv and ordcr had broken dorvn many times before partition, with rnuch bloodshed on both sides. A massive ci'il rvar uras expecreclby the rime Mountbatten became viceroy. After the world rvir II, Britain was devasrated and had limited resourcesJ perhaps insufficicnr to the task of keeping order. A hasry exlr was en!,rsaged as less bloody than the slow disintegration of the emDire. It would be important to obscrve that holv thesc people strugglcd and what was their attitude towards the government poiicies of relief ancl rehabilltatlon? .fhe paper also attempts to critically look into the various phases of the government poltcy to resettle these miSrants and also what legacy this aspect of. partition of India left on the memory and geopolitics of Indian subcontinenr.

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The historiography of partition has gone rhrough vivid change with more additions of literature during the recent years. The so years of lndia's lndependence led some scholars to look back on the other side of Independence, i.e., partirion from varying and differenr perspective. The traditional partition historiography, with very few exceptrons, had largely explored the causes of India's partition and the inherent politics, responsibilities, etc., behind it. In contrast, the new partition historiography highlighted the experience of the common people and human dimension. Ritu Menon and Urvashi Butalia tried interview method to add new dimensions in the pariition narratives; however, they focus on a gender approach. Partition is not merely about riots or violence, but it is also about becomrng a mlnority and related trials and tribulations. Kanti Pakr:asi's sociological study on the refugees of West Bengal is an important work in the field. His approach was to highlight that partition shoulJnever merely rnean the territorial division of the subcontinent, but it cuts across the ,corporate living, of thousands of people. Pakrasi evaluared the impact of partition on Bengal from a sociological point of view; trying to understand the process and pattern of ritLigration, atso the impact of miSration on family structure, caste and occupation. It was one of the earliest systematic attempts to understand the impact of partirion on Wesr Bengal. prafulla Chakrabarti opined that the refugees were initially drawn towards the Indian National Congress, the party in power' when they got disitusioned about congress initiarive in refugee rehabiliration, they actively joined the opposition. The Left parries m.rde inroads amoDg the refugees and thus built their organizational base. Tai yong Tan and cyanesh Kudaisya provided a comprehensive account of the aftermath of partition and its continuing legacy in the 48

The IUP Journal of Hisrory and Cutrure.Vol. IV No. 3, 20lO

landscape and psyche of various communities in South Asia. Its focus is on the dislocations and disruptions caused by partition and t}re manner in which these were addressed, and some of the long-term effects of partition on state and society in south Asia.

The c:eat Exodus in Eastern India In the begi rinS of 794a49, calcuna and other districts ofwest Bengal were flooded with reftrgees. fhe Government of west Bengal as well as the GoI was confronted with rhe problem of refugees, They urgently needed statistical data. Under this situation, the Indian statistical Institute rnade immediate arrangem€nts to collect data on the disPlaced farnilies in the state. The survetprovides a plethora of usefr.rl information on the miSrants. The major differences in the migtation between Eastern and western India are that the exodus from East Pakistan continued during the 1950s, l96os and even after the creation of Bangladesh in 1971; and the influx from East Pakistan to India had not been balanced by a corresponding influx from India into Pakistan.r The displaced persons fTom west Pakistan were absorbed much more rapidly because to some extent, a vacuum had .been created by tie departure of Muslims. In the eastern region, the government had been faced with a monumental task of absorbing these disPlaced persons into an area which was

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almost saturated, both from the point of view of demography and employment.

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The partition had left 12 million non-Muslim PoPulation of the undivided Bengal in East Pakistan and over the next two decades,a sizeable part of this minority was displaced and forced to seek refuge in eastem India. Their displacement proved to be

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a long-drawn affair, making the refu8ee rehabilitation in west Bengal highly complex and problematic. In 1981, the Sovernment of West Bengal's Refu8ee Rehabilitation Committee estimated that no less than eight million, i.e., about one-sixth of this state consists of

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displaced persons from East Bengal.e The exodus from East Bengal started even before the actual partition. The first batch of refugees arrived after the riot in Noakhali and Tippera in 1946 in the wake of direct action stirred by the Muslim LeaSle of M A Jinnah. Among the first to leave East Bengal were the Hindu upper middle classpeople,as most had contactsin calcutta it would have been easy for them to pick up professionsand trade in ne$'surtoundings.toThey left due to fear of violent riots and a general sense of persecution and insecurity. Nilanjana Chatterjee suggestedthat while a majority of the later refugeesfled from violence,many of the earlier bhodrolok refugees left because of a combined fear of physical harm, a downturn in economicopportunities,and a perceivedloss of social standing and porver" Although the 'lhe L l p r o o t e d , A S o c i o l o g i c o l S l u d y o / t h e R e / uS e e so f w e s t B e n g Q l , p p . 2 3 ' 2 5 ' P ak r a s i K a n t i B ( 1 9 7 1 ) , Temple Prcss, Calcutra. 'Reiugee Rehabiliration Committees Report". CalcullnGovernment of west Bengal (1981), Broomfi€ld John tt968), trlile Conli.l of caliiornia Press. Berkeley.

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rr Chatteriee Nilanjana (1990), "East Bengal Refugees: A Lesson in Survival". in Chaudhuri sukanta. ( E d . ) , ? h e t i v i n S C i t - v ,O x f o r d U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , C a l c u t t a . Refugee crisis in Eastern India During the Early Decades in the Post'Partition south Asia

49

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p o l i c y o f t h e I n d i a n g o v e r n r n e n ti n B e n s a l a i m e d n o t a t e v a c l l a i i n gt h e m i n o r i t i e s f r o m I r a s t pakistan. as has been done eflectively in Puniab, but ln lregotiating with Pakistani But authorities for creating conditions of security so that mass exodus could bc prevenled r h e s e n l c a s u r e s .i n c l u d i n s N e h r u l , i a q u a l P a c t , P r o v e d t o b e f u r i l e a r l d b ) 1 q 5 0 r n e s L t n l : t e J 1,575,000 peoplc Ieft'cast Rcngalfor Indi:r'ir Neither of thesc people \v'r\ interc\ted to 80 . v e n t h o s c w h o b e l o n g e d t o t h e m i d d l e c l a s s a t r d c " n l P : l r a r t v e l Yr r o r s e t o t h e r e l i e f c a l m D sE off families, and did not possessmuch resources, did not want to seltle in the relugee camps' Against this backdrop,the squatters'colonies dolted Calcutta. The next major influx took place following the massacre in several districts of Last Bengal, particularly in the subdivision of IOtulna district on December 20' 1949 and then Rajshahi, Faridpur and Barisal in February 1950. During this Pcriod, the refugees who arrived to west Bcngal were very poor and most of them belong to agricultural labofers. Between 1946 and 1970, about 5.28 million people moved from East Pakistan to west B engal. "' 'displaced persons' from East Table 1 reveals that the 1951 census identified 21,04,241 Pakistan in west Bengal. In the next census of 1961, the number escalated to 30,68,750 and in 1971, the Refu8ee Rehabilitation Directorate, Government of West Bengal registered 4 2 , 9 3 , 0 0 0 E a s t P a k i s t a n R c f u g e e si n w c s t B e n g a l .

Table 1:

Share of Refugee Population in Total of West Bengal, 1951-71 Refugees From East Pakistan

l.

Percentage to Total

of Refugees Population

Year

Tot al P op u l a t i o n

1951

2,62,99,94O

2t,o4,241

8.00

1961

3,49,26,279

30,68,7S0

a.7a

7971

4,43,12,Ot7

42,93,000.

9.68

Source: Censur of India ond R€frgee Rehabilitdtion i

Population

Directorate',

Govemment

of West Bengal'

when the'passport qatem'was introduced for travel from Pakistan to lndia on october 15, 1952, more people started to arrive. It was a "now or never kind of situation", which scared many people during this phase." Almost all the Hindu Sovernment servants serving in East Bengal opted for India. In the 1950s, millions of displaced Peasantsand agricultural laborers arrived who possessedalmost nothinS'ts Most of them belong to the lower caste ? spate o H K (f956), I^ilis o.nd Pakiston, A Generc] dnd Regionol GeogroPhy' P' 120, Methuen' London. Pakrasi Kanti B ('1971), The lJprooteil: A sociologicdl Study of the Refugeesof west BenSdl, TemPle Press. calcutta. Dasgupta Abhijit (2001), "The Politics of Agitation and Confession: Displaced Bengalis in West ond flumon Rishtrj sociol ar.d Political Dtmamicsof Refugee Bengai", in Ray sanj"r K (Ed.), Re.nrSees Problem in Eastenl dnd Norlh-Easfem fndia, pp. 98_100, Rawat, Jaipur. 6 For details please refer Guha B s (1959). studi€s in sociol Teruions Among ReJu*es Il'om Eost Pakiston.Governmentof India Press.Calcutta. The IUP Journal of History and Cultute,Vol. IV No. 3, 2OlO

Namasudra and Mahisya communities. tiaditionally, Namsudras were involved in the professionssuch as paddy cultrvation,boating, fishing and carpet makinS. Initially, they were reluctant to leave East Bengal leaving behind their traditional cultivable land. But once migrated, they contributed a lot to the proSress and prosperity of their new adopted lanq.

The refugee situation in the Eas: remained grave throughout the l95os. As a result of the Nehru-Liaquat Pact of 1950, a large number of Muslims who had left west Bengal before March 31, 1951, came back to west Bengal, and reclaimed tieir land already occupied by the Bengali Hindu refugees from East Pakistan-while the Muslim evacueesretumed to West Bengal, there was hardly any reverse population flow of the Hindus fTom west Bengal to East Pakistan. Refugees who lived near the border districts moved across the border into both the eastern and northern parts of west Ben8al; however, the vast majoriry approximately 700,6moved to Kolkata.'6 Largely, the refugees from the western parts of East Pakistan miSrated to the adjacent districts of west Bengal, whereas the displaced from the central and eastem parts of East Bengal decided to seftle in 24 Parganas, and in and around Calcutta, According to the government sources, the first phase of the refu8ee inflows during the period 1946-1952 in west Bengal was 2.52 million. The years between 1953 and 1956 were also regarded as crucial. Gradually, by December 1957, the refugee influx reached the hiShest point in the east. The number of the refugeescrossingthe international border went up to 3,16,000.r?

Initial Phase of Settlement and Government Policy During the initial phase, the GOI was primarily concernedabout the resettlementof the refugeesfrom West Pakistan, and the national leadership was ambivalent regarding its responsibilitiestowards the Bengali Hihdu refugeesffom East Pakistan.Pandit Nehru's letter to Bidhan chandra Roy,the then chief Minister of west Bengalreflectsthis approach. Nehru had his opinion that "large scalemiSrationfrom East Bengal to the West should not be encouraged,as it puts pressureon the concernedstate and, to some extent,on the Indian union as well. I lowcvcr,if the refuqeescome over to WestBengal,they need to look after".'* Against the in-migration of refugeesin west Bengal,the out-miSrationto East Bengal was merely 0.70 million from west Bengaland Bihar.The central governmentinsistedthat rhc vast tracts of wasteland in Assam should be utilized for production, as the available surplus rvas more than sufficient to nccommodateboth refugeesand indigenouslandless DeoDle

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c h a t t c r j c e S P ( 1 9 , 1 7 ) ,? / r e P a r t i t i o n o l t s e n g e l : A G e o ! ' . r e p h i c e lS t u d y l t i r h M { r p s o n d D i d . q r d r r j , E K A - R c l i e l a n ( l R e h a b i l i t a t i o n o f D i s p l a c c dP e r s o n si n l v r s t B e n 8 a 1 . S t a t e n r e n t i s s u e d b / t h e ( i o ! e r n m c n t o i W e s r B e n g a l .p . l . I ) . c e m b e r I l . 1 9 5 7 . C a l c u t t a . C h a k r a b o r t y S a r o j ( 1 9 8 2 1 . I t i l h A C R o ) ' d n d O l h f r ( l h r e l r r l i n i s l e r s ,R n l a t C h a h r a b o r t l rC l l c u t t r . 'fhe Problcnl o/ /1,qricullurol De|el{rpmcnr (Assam Government Pr€ss. 1946. l:ble VI. p. 8) :Ind l n d u s t r i a l P l a n n i n g a n d D e v e l o p m e n to f A s s a r r ( C o v c r D m e n t o f A s s a o r . 1 9 4 8 ) . Refugee Crisis in Eastern Ind;a During the Eaily Decades in the PosGPartition Sou

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I n o r d e r t o p r o v i d e r e l i e f a n d r e h a b i l i t a t i o n t o t h e w a v e s o f r e l u g e e o n a w a r s c a l e ,r n e ( ; o l s e t u p a M i n i s t r v o f R e l i e f l ' d R e h a b i l i r a r i o ni n e a r l y s e p r e r n b c r 1 9 4 7 . I s o l a t e c lp o c k e r s of refugees lrere organized into canrps and ivere gi'en rations irrld military protection l l J . r i n s t h a r z r s s n r e n tu. n l i k e t h e d i s p l a c e d p c r s o n s o f l v c s t l t , ] k i s t a n ,t h e r e f u g c e s c ( ) m i n g l r o n r l l a s t l ) a k i s t a nl v e r c r e l u c r . n t t o n l o v e t o o t h e r s t a t e s e \ c c l ) t w e s t B c n g a l , l r i p u r a r n d A s s a m . l h e r c h a b i l i t a t i o n s c h e o t e s\ v e r e b r o a d l ) ,d i v i c l e di n t o t w o s c c t i o n s .r u r a l a n d u r b a n . I r o r t h e i l g r i c u l t u r i s t ,t h c s c h c m e l v a s o r ' a l l o t m e n t o l r g r i c u l t u r a i l l a n d o r r l n a n c i a l h e l p f o r t h c p u r c h a s e o f t o o l s , e t c . a n d t h e a l l o r n l e D to l i t h o u s c h o l d p l o r o r a l o i t n f o r t h c p u r c h a s e of such plot. Ihen loans !{ere raised lirr building a house lbllowed by monerary aid ti)r bu)ing farming inrplenents such as bullocks an
outside the camps.z, Those who were classified as refugees were given identity cards and placed in one of the two tjrpes of housing_refugee colonies or refugee camps. Those in the former received some level of resettlement and rehabilitation assistance, while those in th€ latter were less privileged.,3 The Government used to grant loans for the rehabilitation of refugees in the rural and urban areas depending upon the occupational background of the displaced. Immediately after the partition, when the mass movement of the uprooted was going on in the eastern part of India, the GOI defined the term ,displaced' in the following words: 'r\ displaced person is one who had entered India (who left or who was compelled to leave his home in East pakistan on or after October 15, 1947 for disturbances or Ral. Manas (2002), "crowing Up Refugee: On Memory and Locality,,, History Workshop Jorrrnot" vol. s3, pp. 149 r79. waber Rachel (2003)' 'Recreating the Home: women's Rore in the Deveropmentof R€fugeecolonies in South Calcutta", in Bagchi Jasodhara and Dasgupta Subhoranjan (Eds.), ffte .Irouma and the Triumph: cender ond Porririon in fairem ,ndio. Xolkata. Repcrt on Reliefand Rehabilitatio!:-f Displacedpersonsin west Bengal,DecemberI l, 1957. Sen Sarbani (2000), "Tbe Legal Regime for Refuge€Retief and Rehabilitarionin Wesr Bengal, l9'16- 1958", in BosePradip Kumar (Ed.), Ret.,geesin west Ben[.",t,rruti.urionor procrice o narcontested Idcntities, pp. 49-64, Calcutta ResearchcrouD. Calcutta_ The IUP Journal of Hisrory and Culrure,Vol. IV No. 3, 2O1O

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fear of such disturbancesor on accountof setting up of the tlvo dominions of lndia and Pakistan."rl Regardingrehabilitation measuresin West Bengaluntil 1950, the governmentaimed at providing the incoming refugees relief on a temporary basis, rather than creating conditions for their long-termrehabilitation.lts main responseconsistedof setting up of relief camps in key areas where shelter and other basic amenities essential for survival were provided,,s Most pre-1950 refugees came fTom the middle classesand relied on their own resources to begin life afresh, Less than loo/o depended on government assistance and sought accommodation in the government-run refugee camps. However, after 1950, the problem of refugee rehabilitation acquired a somewhat different character. Most of those now crossing the border belonged to the agricultural classes.They come with few possessions,capital or skills and naturally craved for land upon which they could resettle. The peak of the refugee inflow occurred in 1956 when Pakistanadopted an Islamic constitution.'6 Accordingto the report on the Reliefand Rehabilitationof the DisplacedPersonsin West Bengal,in 1953,the number of camp admissionsof the refugeeswas 10,474,in 1954,it was 46,904, and in 1955, the number increasedto 1,09,834.,7When the refugee camps got overcrowdedJthey accommodatedthe families on pavementsin Calcutta.'?s There was hardly any district in West Bengal in which the refugeesfTom East Pakistan did not settle, Howevet the maximum number of refugeessettied in the following eight districts viz.,24 Parganas,Calcutta,Nadia, Cooch Behar,Jalpaiguri, West Dinajput Burdwan and Hooghly (Table2). Accordingto the 1951 Census,out of a total displacedpersonsllom East Pakistan,49olomigrated to the rural areas of West Bengal and the rest of the 51oloto the urban The l96l Censusrevealeda similar tendency.Out of 30,68,750refugeesfrom East areas.?'r Pakistan, s0-B8qomigrated to thc urbitn areas of West Beng.rl.]oSome of them were rchabilitatcdin covirnmcnt camps and colonies,but the overwhelmingmajoritf settled in squattercoloniesalong the e:rsternfiingcs of the city.In the 1960s,they got settledon the lvest bank of the llooghly as rvell.As a res!rlt,a rurai hinterlandof KolkataWastransforrnedwithin tlvo decadesinto an urban sprawl intcgrally linked to the core of the city. It was only alter 1955 that the GOt decidedto look at the problenrof tlte E.isl Pakistani r e f u g e e so n r m ( ) r el ) r l g n r n t i cb a s i s .A c c o r d i n gt o a n e s t i m a t e t, h e l a r g e rp a r t o f t h e t a s k p r r s o n s\ ! a s a c c o r l p l i s h e db c f o r et h e r : n do f t t r e o f r e i r i l h i l i t a t i nw g e s t l ) l l k i s t i l ndi i s l ) l a c e d !

A D n L r aR l c p o r t o f t h e D e p a r t n e n t o f R e h a b i l i t a l i o n .1 9 6 5 6 6 . p . 1 0 7 . D e p a r t r l e n t o f R e h a b i l i l a t i o n . co\enrment of Indi.. Nerv Delhi. S t f u . t c . l l y ( r r l s o / J d n ? n d r i u l N f l r f r i . \ ' i ) 1 .5 . p p . l b I 6 3 . \ n n L r a l l { r p o r t s . 1 9 . 1 8 . 5 Sp. p 1 9 - 1 95 0 . \ ' l i r r s t r \ o l R e h n l ) i l i r a t i o nc. o v c r n n r c n t o t l n d i a . \ c r ! l ) c l h i . I t r l i e l u n d R e h n b i l i L r t i o ror 1 D i s p l i l c . d l ) c r \ o r r \i l l \ \ i . \ r B f n r r l . I l o n r c ( l r L r b )D c p a r t n r c t . ( i o \ r r n n r r n t ( ) i l \ c s t B c r ! n l . ( l l c u t l a . . \ L r r L r \ tI 7 . 1 9 5 6 . C h r t t c r ' e c \ ( l ( ) 9 0 ) . I h c I . l . s r I l c n g : r 1l l c l L r ! r r 5 , \ l . e s 5 o n i n S r r r \ i \ n l . i | l L l r n u d l r L r r i S ( t d . ) ( l , r / . r 1 l d . I / r f L o r r r . :C i t _ r l A . l ' l r \ f r ) r d r r r iI i r l u t 1 . \ b l I l . O r f o r d t l n i \ c f s i ( ) ' l J r c s . ( l i t l ( u | l . r . a L l l r r l Jr , / l n L l t d , 1 ( ) 5 1 . ( . r n r r t J , ) /J n d i d . 1 9 6 1 .

R e i u g c e C r i s i si n L n s r c r n 1 n . l i aD u r i n g t h e l . r l !

D c c a d c si n r h e P o s r p . r r i r i o n s o u r h ' 1 \ i n

53

Table 2: Districts

East Pakistan Refugees in of West Bengal Total

Different

Rural

Districts Urban

24-[,rrt.rn3s

7 , 8 6 , 6 b1

Calcutta

s,28,205

Nadia

5 .,0022.,664455

Cooch Bchar

2,52,753

J a lp ai g u r i

2,18,341

West Dinajpur

1,72,237

Burdrva n

1,44,704

BI , B 4 1

62,863

130,951

38,663

92,288

30,68,750

i

2.97.164

4,89,497 .

3 .,8B1 I ,009

l

1 , 21 , 6 : t 8 25,125

1 , 25 , 15 5

15,O7,220

15,61,530

First Five-YearPlan.3'Despirethat, the SecondFive-yearplan provided Rs. 187 mn for the rehabilitation of the refugees coming to India from West pakistan and Rs. 66g mn was assiSnedfor the refugeescoming from East pakistai.3:Funds were mad! availablefor the completionof the housing projects,and for mitigating unemploymentin the townshipsand coloniesof displacedpersonsthrough schemesfor setting up industries.The training and education schemes for rhe displaced people got crucial attenrion in the policy of the govemment.33 Although the Second Five-year plan provided monetary support for the rehabilitation schemesof the displacedpersons in the eastem states,the cOI decided to review the financialprovisionin the third year of the secondplan, and it was said. if needed. provisions for the additional fund would be made.tra

covernment Policy of Rehabilitation and Seftlement Since 1959 On March 31, 1958, the covernment of West Bengal decided to close the work of relief and rehabilitation in the transit camps in West Bengal and not to recognize any .immigrant, as I

First Five-YearPlan, 1951-56, Governm€nt of India, planning Commission, yojana Bhavan, New Delhi. Second Five-YearPlan, 1956-61, covemment of India, planning Commission, yojana Bhawn, New Delhi' According to the report,'There has been a continuous influx ofdisplaced persons from East Pakisian into west Bengal and neighboring states. out of 3.83 million fcrions who have migrated, abcut 388,ooo families have been settled on land and other ancillary occupations. while bulk ofthis settlehent has been in West Bengal, a fafuly large number has bcen settled in Tiipura, Bihar, orissa, uttar Pradesh and Assam. About 3so,ooo residentia! units have been constructed in rural and urban areas mainly by the displaced persons with loans from the Covemment. About 22,OOO displaced persons were given vocational and technical tlaining and 8,OOOare now under training. Business loans have been advanc€d to about 88,ooo families. The continuing influx of displaced persons has made the problem of rehabiliration in rhe eastern srat€s particnlarly diffic;lt. Ar present, it is estimated that about l70,OO0 families reouire to be rehabilirated." Ibid. /bid. The IUP Journal of History and Culrure,Vol. IV No. 3. 2Ot0

a 'displaced' in need of relief and rehabilitation beyond that date. There was strong opposition to the official class for the aftempt to send the refugees away from West Bengal, It was claimed that no proper cateogorizations were made before sending them to different states and by that way the refugees would not be able to preserve their language and culture.3s ln 1958, Dandakaranya Development Authoriry (DDA) was established. Tte DDA scheme was meani to develop the 78,OOOsq miles of area situated in Koraput and Kalahandi district of Orissa and Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh. The topography of the area is hilly and tribals are the indigenourpppulation. The external and internal accessibility to this area is quite poor. Having a hot humid climate, uneven rainfall, the seasonal nature of the streams, lack of groundwater, porous soil and soil with little plant nutrient made the irigation work extremely difficult-36 It is still a mystery that despite such unfavorable conditions why this region was chosen for rehabilitation of the refugees. When some of the refugees moved to this region, each family was provided with seven acres of land, Loans were provided for house construction, purchase of agricultural tools and equipment, etc. A maintenance grant for 12 months was also provided. By 1965, o|Jer2.75 lakh acres of forest had been cleared for refugee settlement, over I2,OOOfamilies were moved into the region and were seftled in 184 villages that were built by that year. But soon a backlash began due to the sense of alienation, unfamiliar tribal population, fear of wild animals and no hope for paddy cultivation without irrigation- By 1973, approfmately 25,000 families moved there and out of that only 17,000 stayed there, and the rest of them retumed back. By 1978, a large number of refugees sold off their properry land and belongings to retum to West Bengal. They moved to the Sunderbans delta, parts of Ttipura and the Assam valley where without,any govemment aid or planning they cleared forests, colonized agricultural tracts and created their own settlement.3T In 1981, the government of West Bengal acknowledgedthat out of the ofncial figure of eight million registered displacedpersons,over 7oo/oor 5.6 million still lived below the poverty line.33 The peasantsof Bengal,who had been settledand comfortablein the rich deltaicregion sinceages,were reluctant to move in a territory which was not only ecologicallycontrasted but also culturally unfamiliar.:r'ltonald S Zagoriamaintains that the severalmillion Ilindu refugees,who constitutealmost one,fourthof West Bengalpopulation,becamethe strength Nlukherjec R K (1964) in Chaudhury M (Ed.). Partitron on.J the Curse of Rehdbili.drion. pp. t6-t7, Bengal Rehabilitation organization. Calcurta. Special Correspondenr, "Danadakaranya Can be Developed for Benefits of Displaced People,,.The S t , r l e s m . r nN, e w D e l h i . A u g u s t 1 5 . 1 9 5 7 . l v € i n e r i \ t l r o n ( 1 9 7 8 ) . S o n s o f t h e S o i l , M i g r o t i o D a r r c |E t h n i c C o n | l i c t Press. Princeton.

1 Indie. princeton Llniversitv

Refugee R€habilitarion Committee s R€port. p. 50. Co\'ernmcnr of West Bengal. N ' l u k h e r j iA B ( t 9 8 5 ) . A C u l t u r a l E c o l o g i c a tA p p r a i s a l o f R e f u g e e R e s e t t l e m e n ri n I n d e p e n d e n t India', in Kosinski L and Maudood Elahi X (Eds.). Population Redirlnbuti.rn ond D€velopm€nr in Soulh Asiu.p. | 10, New Delhi. Refuge€ Crisis in Eastern lndia During the Early Decades in the Pos.Partition South Asii

55

r ) l t h c C o n t n l u o i s t s .I h e v v o t c d a n e . t r e t n i s t p a r t y based on the model dc!cloped by the P r ( ) p ( ) u n d e r s( ) l t h c c o n c e p t o l - n 1 a s ss o c i e t \ : t r 1 r s l r t ( r . . s r i n gr r e r e1 . ' n o l c t h c s l a t c n r c n to J S r r c h e t ax r i p . l a n i , a M c n l b ( : ro t p a r r i a m e n t , o n l J r cr . . r r , r ( : cs i t u i l t i ( ) ni n w e s t t s e n g a r s. r r c s x i ( r : r I ! ! a s . o t o n ! \ t s t r t e n l r i r r .ds c c r s r o nl h i r t t h i s . o u n t r v t ! r s p i l r t i ! i o n e ( l _- l h t \ . , , L t r r \ r r l r r p a r t r L i o D t d bv ii (lrcision of lndiil... 'Iherclbre, ir is:r nalioniil problrm and all thc srates should pu rhcir weight in r e h a b i l i t a t i n gt h c m ' , . 0 '1l h i s w a s r h c s p i r i t t h i l t \ r a s p c r h a p s r e s p o n s i b l e lbr the Govcrnment,s d e c i s i o n t o s e n d t h e e x c c s sr c f u g e e so u t s i d e W e s t B e n g a l to placessuch as Dandilkaranya o f M a d h y a P r a d e s ha n d t h e A n d . i m a n a n d N i c o b a r I s l a n d s . { s s a m s h o w c d t t s r e l u c l a n c et o settle Bengali refirt"". ]T

l":

largely due ro cultural and ethnic f:rcrors (see.I.able 3).

Table 3: Share of Urban Refugee Population to the Total Urban Population of West B e n g a l , 1 9 5 1 -1 9 7 1

i

Year

Total Urban Population

Urban Refugee Population

Percent of Urban Refugee Population to Total Urban Population

1951

62,Ar,642

10,52,121

16.74

196r

85,40,842

15,61,s30

1,09,67,033

27,24,936

,..

1971

Source: Cens6 o/India, 1gSj, 1961, arld 1921

Dandakaranya scheme was formulated as a lonp-term sorution for the reseftlement of the East Bengal refugees..3Howevet the Dandakaranya project for rehabilitation ofthe East Bengal refugees and the .civilization, of a local tribal group through enforced contact with the newcomers was an abject failure, with conflicts arising between tribal and refugeesand the inability of many of rhese Bengalis from agricultural backgtounds to adjust to cultivation in a very different environment and resource base.{ Dandakaranya area, although rich in mineral resources, was poor for settled cultivation.., Zagoria D S (1969), .'The Social Bases of Indian Communalism,,, in Lowenthal R (Ed.), Iriues in rie Future of Asia: Commur.ist and Non_Communx,t Alternatives, pp. SZ_LZ+, ia|rl Mall press, Irndon.

For a detailed discussion on Dandakarany-a,refer cupta Saibal Kuhar (1999),..Dandakaranya: A Survey of Rehabilitation,', in chosh_Alok Xumar Cupto S",Oof Kumar roperc, Bibhasa, 1E'd.;, calqrtta;.chosh Alok Kumar, ..Bengali._Refu,gee, O.rrauLrurry a ffug"& of n"h"Uilitarion., in "t (r0oo), Retugeei in WesrB;ngoli /'sriturionaf i-.t a.ol,?,," Coniesr€d identitier, ""."-T:_dt!^*113. p.p. 106'129, calcutta Research Group, calcuna, and for the rerrauititaiJn in rhe Andaman and Nicobar lslands, seeChaudhury SabyasachiBasu Ray (2OOO),.Exif.J to tt Arra"_".r., ffr" n"f.,g."" tiom EasrPakisran",in Bose.op. cil.. pp. t3l-t39. " "Neh-ruto copinath Bardoloi, Chief Minister of Assarn,,,May 29, 19,+8, in SelectedWork ofJawaharlal Nenru.Vol.6, p. 118. fhe Stotesmon, AugusrlS, 1957. Ghosh Alok, "Bengali Refugees at Dandakaranya: A Tfagedy of Rehabilitatlon,,, in Bose, op. cit., pp. 106-129. 6 Ben Farmer(1972), Asriculrurat Cotonisahonin tndia, DD.37-42. 56

The IUP Journal of Hisrory and Culrure, Vol. tV No. 3. 2OlO

Against the Government Policy Criticism and Protest Movement

that they of West Bengal issued a press note stating In 1948, the provincial government because Bengalis cominS to the state as refugees' would discontinue registering East ..whatevelmighthavebeenthecauseoftheexodusinthepast,similarconditionsdonot the ':3 is hardly any communal disturbance in Eastern Pakistan"' Therefore' now prevail. Th presentexodusisduetoeconomiccauses,,.ooHowever,thisassumptionwaschallengedby that welfare committee in calcutta by stating the president of the East Bengal Minority basis"'47 consequence of partition on a communal these economic cruses were the direct registration down shut rnade pubtic its decision to In December 1948, when government who were justified the decision arguinS- that refugees offices by January 15, 19.49, it that itself time to register''s If he did not' then genuinely interested had been gu-"" "tpl" sufFciently refugee status could not have been was the proof tiat the person claiming-gou"rn-"nt problem at a stroke cut down a huge desperate to require relief' ln this *"y' to a size it felt it could handle' to rePresent barest rations' government was able Thus, while the refuSeessurvived on the tt1:lt^T: 'charrty" and attemPted to make them realize thi: its relief to the retugees as to Saln and the Sovernment made all the attempts a mafter of ri8ht. so, the official class of the segment which was an imPortant popularity out of these charity measures' rehabilitation PolicY'

rule policy by government for adopting the divide and The refu8ee leaders blamed the et'tered 'haves' ano 'havJnots" obviousl)I these Marxist terminologies dividing them into with challenged were Such government attemPts due to the influence of the communists' 'haves' the with along West Bengal' But carrying the a series of strikes in camPs all over refugee leaders found 'have-nots'in a unilled campalgn had its inner contradictions'The two one' against the Sovemment for creating themselves waging a *nt ot' *o frontsl what brothers who took ahd the other against their own aid-receiving ..**"". "*r"r'.i they could and looked the other way' the rehabilitation measureswas to divide one of the objectivesof the government's handicapped' the viz ' able-bodied males' widows' refugees into several categories' to offer each cateSory a medical practitioners' lawyers' etc ' and servants, *-o-uJanrn"n, forced the rnachiavelian poricy of the government different rehabilitation package.This lefugeeactiviststoseekthesinilarrightseqLrallybyallthelelugees. colonrcs of about 500 tefugeesfrom differcnt rcfugec On August 15, 1950, a procession nreetinEs tvvo etc convergedat DeshapriyaPark wherc such as Jadalpur, Tollygunj,Garia' Bloc ]larxist Forward the auspicesof the trvo factiolrsof rvere held in successionunder the lndependence Congress(iovcrnment for getting fake and non-Marxist to condelnn the to celebrlte r e f u g e ep r o c e s s i oenn d e du p a t I l : l z r aP a r k a c h i e v e do. n t h e s a m ed a \ ' .a n o t h e r . 1 ' r d n ( l . r8 . r : . r t J r o r r i k d J u n e 2 ' ) t 9 ' 1 t i

'

"

il;i",

""a

Rehabilitation l)eParrrnent

(;o\crnmelrt ol wcsr Bens.l

Duttng-t}t" ln'ly Refu{ee crisis in Eastern lndia

Nlemo December 20

Asi:r Decades iD the Post-Partilion south

1e'+8

57

' A n t i - l n d e p e n d e n cDea y " . " O n e ( ) l t h e d e n r a n d sn l a d eb v l h e r c t u t { e eo r g : l n l z a t l o n!s\ ' a st n c r i c h r r o d e t e r m i n eh o r v ,r v h c na n d w h e r et h c y t t e r c t o b e r c h i l b i l i t r t (d l l l e y d c m a D d c dt h a t f : r n r i l i c sb e g i v e n a d e q u i l t en o l i c e b t [ o r c t h e ] w e r e n 1 c ] v c tdo r e i l : l l ) l l l t . 1 t l (crul 1l o n r t s ,l l n L l ' t h : r t r e f u g { : essh o u l dn o t i ) c s e n t l h c r e a g r i n s tt h c i r w i l l . l , i r t c ro t h i s d e m i i o ds o l i d i l i e d i n t h e l o r m t h a t i l l r t l i r R e e sn r u s l i ) c r e h a b i l i t i l t e dw i t h i n W c s l I l c r l ! a i u v c r vn r e e l i n ga n c lp r o c e s s i o nvso i c e dt h e d e m a n dI o r c e r t r i n b r s i c e c ( ) n o r ] i cr i g h t s :t h e p r o v i s i o no f r e l i e f t o a l l r e f u g e e sf,u l l r e h a b i l i t a t i o na, n d c n t i t l c n l c r l lto r c l l e i 8 r ' i n l s u n t i l full rehabilitationhad been achieved.In rhcir vieW reliels flot onl! nleiln( doles for all, but also free education fbr rcllSee children, free mcdical care, clothing, and clean canps' Rehabilitationmeant a brick-built house for each refugee household and regular, paid 'l emptoyment. his p.lrticular demand lvent diantctricallyagainstthe go'!ernmentpollcy on rehabilitation,since its central purposewas to encouragerefugeesto tind sell employment The refugeemovementassertedthat thesewere not specificallyrefugeeriShts but the rights of all members of society. Similarly, thc demand for free rations for refugees was increasinglylinked to a more Seneralcritique of the government'sfood policy and its lailure to guaranteesecurity of rations for the public. The refugeemovementgraduallycame under the influenceof left'wing political parties' The trend depictsthat the refu8eemovementwas.capturedby the Leftparties.'' The internal d''namics and logic of the refugeemovement stressedthe notion of'riShts'which itself is based on the assertion that all men are equal. The refugee movement soon took to the egalitarian path. Many of the 'riShts' claimed were related to basic needs such as food, clothes, medicine, housing, educationand jobs. It would have been difficult to justify the 'rights' whereas other and argument that refugees had an entitlement to these economic e q u a l l yd e s t i t u t el n d i a n s .d i d n o t The government showed its inability to provide enough uninhabited land to accommodate rnillions of refugees. More land for redistribution to the dispossessedwould have possible only as the result of land reforms. That is why refugeescalled for radical land reforms, for the abolition of the zamindaris and for more equitable laws. From the late 1949, when camps were to be closed, refugees started to occuPy vacant plots in the suburbs of Calcutta and put up makeshift shelters, In many instances, they were offered fair prices for the land, but they refused to move. To evict them from these unused plots would have been embarrassing for a Sovernment, which had proclaimed that there was no land available for redistributionIn March 1951, the media sources and the people came acrosiabout the secretly drafted clauses of the Eviction Bill. The chief Minister had to admit that it was essential to deal with squatter colonies, which violated the right to private Property enshrined in the lndiar constitution. But the sustained campaign against the Eviction Bill forced the Government August16, 1950. TheT€le8roph, rbid. chakrabarty Prafulta K (1999), The Margir.al West BenSol, p. 4o7. Naya Udyog, Calcutta. 'ahe

Men: The Refugees and the Lefl Politi.ol

Syndrom€ in

IUP Journal of Historv and Culture, Vol. IV No. 3, 2010

a "displaced of West Benqalto withdraw it The Bill was redrafted to include a pledge that the Government person" in unauthorizedoccupationof land would not be disturbed "until providesfor him other land or house...inan area which"'enablesthe Personto carry on such order"'5'? occupation as he may be engaged in for earning his livelihood at the time of the since it This development was hailed as a majot victory for the refu8ee movement' provide to acknowledged the refuSeesright to shelter, and underlined the Sovernment's duty property could be it. tt also emphasized the circumstances in which the riSht to private Left-wing Bengal's non-enforceable. It was equally a thumping victory for the west the gain out opposition. The Left Parties made a cautious and compelling strategy to 8et shelter and food' to of refugee issue. They sdught to press the case for the refugee's riShts parties employment. Atrd once the Sovernment coerced to accept these rights, the Left-wing role of the demanded the same rights for everybody' Thus, the refugee movement and the party base among Left-wing parties had been seen as a "Ttojan Horse" tactics to build up the to note that the important is aiso It paid dividend' huge the masseswhich in the due course merely as the refugee movement and the response of the Left parties should not be seen their power politics agenda but the unconditional support they gave to the refugees against fight for survival. GOI took the The refuSees'protests in camPsreached the pinnacle in 1958 when the the continuing decision to wind up the camps in the eastern region by July 1959' In view of for the difficult be would it that exodus from East Pakistan, the Gol gradually realized border' of the cash-starvedwest Bengal to give shelter to all the incoming from the other side could not be Therefore, it would be wise to select some of the displaced persons who pans of the country'5] rehabilitatedin the economyin west Bengal,and send them to other the Central Gradually,the resentment of the camp-dwellers in west Bengal against raise their voice' covernment'sdecis{onto send them ouiside the state encouragedthem to in May movement The camp-dwellersof Bettiah in Bihar launched a peacefulsoryogroho conditions in 1958 for the fulfillment of their demands of improved living and economic in the camps living refugees the camp to rehabilitatethem. This showed a way out to the these refugees of west Bengal.when the Governmentforced them to 80 to Dandakarallya way and Gandhian in the revolted.They launched a massivecivil disobediencemolement ' m o r e r h r n 3 u , o o 0c a m p r e f u g e e sw c r e a r r e s l c d they chose As rnany of the camp'dwellersrvere lrf lolver caste Namasudra community' JoSenNlondal, their leadersfronl antongthemselves,and consequentlYthe leaderssuch as Apart lroDr FlemantaBiswas,Apurbalal Mazumder and P R lhakur crne to the forelront' lcd utgantzatt'rn t h e c o r n m u n i s rP a r r - vo f l n d i a ( c P I ) t h e P r o j a s c l c i 3 l i s iP : l r t y ( P S P ) and the S a r a B l n q l i B a s t u h a r aS a m m e l a n ( S B I I S ) ,( A l l B e n g a l l t e f i r g e eC o n f e r e n c c ) \\tstBelr!jll\ciX\Io|1951.'l.hcltehsbililllrioJloil]i\p13ce(lPtrsonsan.]I.]!icii()notI)er\ons'lr t r f ; r u r h o ' i z c ( lo c c u p r t i o n o f L a n d r \ c t l t : ; 1 . i o k S , 1 b h dD r l ) , r r r ' rJ. u l v t 5 . 1 9 5 7 . p : l : 1 7 6 C:hrkr.lb rl\r r)l, .rl . P t86 ('urh r\\1a R € f u S e eC r i s i s i n F a s t c r n l n { i i a D u r i n g t h e F - a r l vD c c a d e s i n i h e P o s t - P a r r i r i o n

59

o r g a n i z a t i o nc a l l c ( l B a s r u h a r aX o l ) , a np a r i s h o d( t { e f i t g e cW e l l i l r e

C o u u c i l ) ,I e d b ! t h e I { c v o l u t i o n a nc, o m n r u n i s rp i t r t v o f I n d i : r ( R C p l ) , s t a r t e d p l a t i n g dominanrrole in the c a n t p s .t h c R C l ) lw a s m o r e a f f i v c i n t h c c a r n p s( , 1N a ( l i a .S i n c e t 9 S 8 . t h e L J n i t c dC e n t r a l R c i u S e c( ' o u n c i r( r I a r . c ) s t i r r l c ( tl o b r i n g t o g e t h e r h c c . m p r c r ' r ! c c s , . . r t hI r ) eh e r p( ) f p s p o n i p r o l r r a n ra c c c p t a b r e t o a l r . s o o n r a l l i e sa n ( l d e n r o n s t r a t i o nfso o w c d t h c p c a c e f u r s o l ' v o g f o / ruos t h e f o r m o l p r o t e s ta n d m o b i i i z l t i o na g a i n s t l l e s o v e f n I n e n 1l n. c l u cc o u r s e o t t i m c , r h e r e f u g c em o v e m e nltl o t p o l i t i c i z e da n d g i o u p e da s u n i o n s r l h i c hf u r t h c ri n s p i r e d t h c s e u p r o o t c dt o b e c o m ea p a r t o l t h e l a r g e r m o v c n t e n ta g a i n s t the Union and State c o v c r n n l e n t sa, n d t h e s r r u g g l co f r h e r e f u g t e s t, h r o u g ht h e p o l i t i c s o f a g i r i r t i o nc o n t j n u e d t o c o u n t c rt h e p o i i c i e so f r c h a b i l i t a t i o ns i n c ct h c n . T h e r eh a sb e e nc o m p l a i n t sa g a j n s t h e g o v e r n n e n tt h a t t h e l . t r e a t c d t h e r e l u : j e e sb a d l ' ; meager ratlons were provided and no efforts ilere made ro creatc employment opportunitics.All kinds of pressuresivere used to drive then to Dandakaranya.S K Gupta, who was the chairmanof DDA in 1964 for a short turn, shareshis distressand experience, "lluman distresson a large scaleis much too seriousa matter to be passectover ln silence either to feed official complacencyor to save reputations.,,;. Despite the }lerculean effons by the seftlers,.the DDA project was a failure. I.he ill-conceivedpolicies of the planners have to blame for it. They need to set up small irrigation proiectswhich could have been finished soon, but instead they resoried to big hydroelectric projects. This proved to be a failure for rhe system, because the big projects require a large gestation period and other hurdles such as project delays, etc., are the common faqtors. So, poor policy implementation had its toll on agriculture production and under such circumstanceseven subsistenceagriculture was not possible. The uncanny remarks of the Government and DDA officials put the blame for the failure of the schemeon lazinessand sluggishnessof the refugees and their sicknesswith the paddy cultivation. A very pertinent question needs to be raised here that why planner,s sole emphasis was on agriculture. Virtually, no efforts were made to raise cottage and small scale industries or other semi-urban emplojment. Refugees were not given the title deed to the land allotted to them. The shortage of drinking watet lack of adequate health facilities, lack of facilities for fish culture and

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tribal further made the region inhabitable. According to an observation, ,,The organized encroachment on the forest land interfered with the normal tribal way of life, considering the fact that the tribal mode of life and economy were intrinsically_tinked with the forest, tire nc,. conflict engenderedby this systematicintervention was both economicallyand "

60

,,Dandakaranya: S-I.( A Story of Rehabilitationt_The Srareof ASriculrure,,, ::p.,1 Economic Weekly.Vol.19j:1, 17. No. t, January2. The IUP Journal of History and Culrure,Vol. IV No. 3. 20lO

30o/odecline in the psychologicallyunllt."lo Due to DDA project, there rvas an estimated p o p u l a t i o no r t r l b a l si n t h e D a n d a k a r a n y rae g i o n ' : to West Bengal has been This reversemigration of the population fTom Dandakaranya rags have a lack of infinite sadness reported as follows, "Men, women and chiltlren in torn is alive as their hope about on their face. ...They say that their love for West Bengal because of the humiliating Dandakarnya is dead....Refu8ees say they are deserting conditions in which they lived".s3 at the hards of the state The treatment that many refugees from East Pakistan received was questionable' They were and central governmentc in India during the L950s and l96os and their settlements were denied the accessfor adequate aid, resources, and oPportunities refuSees were transported to outlawed. Not only this but latge numbers of East Bengali Islands' Bettiah in Bihar' and the distant regions of India such as Andaman and Nicobar decided that largely the reFigees Dandakaranya district of Madhya Pradesh'se It was Poundra Kshatriyas' who belonging to the lower castes such as Namasudras' Ichatriyas' the Government' had to 8o to took shelter in the refugee camps and received aid from of the Indo-Gangetic plains were Dandakaranya. However, these original inhabitants reluctant to move.

Legacy of Culture and Territory its longlasting effects of refugees, and the human dimension it created had Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on the cultute, mind and territory of Indian subcontinent' Iegarding the striking difference in per communicared ro the chief Minister of west Bengal East by arguing that while "there was capita expenditure on rellgees in the West and where Practically all Hindus and something elemental about the situation in West Pakistan' it was more Sradual, and many Hindus had sikhs have been driven out, wnereas in the East,

The dislocation

been able to renain"."" 'lhe traditional middle class Bengali families had been conservative and reluctant to jobs even if they were in distress l he refugee womcn allow their $'omen folk to tal(e up in the job market influenced the other sectors brokc the tradition and thelr Srowing presence urban working women' a new class ln BengJli of the Bengali sociery'1lrus emerged the womcn Economic independellcc societv comPrised both refugee as well as non-refugcc to hSht against patriarchal societY rnd made them sclf-conscloris ano confident enouSh lndcpendeni India' u l t i n a t e l y l l a v e w a y t o t h e i l t - ' m p o w e r m e n ti n t h e in mid-lndiaLn . . n h n l e ( t A . . . R e g i o n a tD e v c l o p r n e t p r o c e s sa n d R e d i s t r i b u t i o no f T r i b a l P o p u l a r i o n In Soutfi Ari'r' p 74 . r n ( l I ) e v ' l ( ) P n r " n ' R e ' J i s t r i b u t i o n ( l l ( i ! . ) . P ' ; l u l i r l r r ) n l;lahi nnd Xosirrskv . Sr'uldr DrDrdcrd'j"\'o1 l l No S I'ril l97S - E t i l c ( t t o t h e i r r d : t n r a n s :l h e R e i L I s e c sl r o n r h r s r C h o ! \ ( l l r L r t s\ r l ) \ r s n c l r r l l n s L r ' l { o \ ' ( r 0 0 0 ) I ) r l ( i s L r n. i n I l o s r :o p , i t l ) l l : J 0 l 1 l Dr B (l Ro): (. 1 9 ' 1 9 P 1 ' 1 3 c i t c d i n ( ' h a k r a b a r r iS r r o i t ! i i h J ( r ! ' { 1 l d r l o l, \ f l r u r o B i l ( ' r . l ) ' c c m b c r 2 ' ' l . l \ o ( 1 L rr r\ t ) r r rl ) . r ( l r k . i r r r \ \ .

'

--"rug""

in thc Posr Partiiion south Asia c;ri.i. in Las(ern ln(tia During rhe F-arl) Decacles

6l

n n u m b e r o l n e w t o w n s e m e r g e d i n d i f T e r c n tp a r t s o f w e s t I l e n g a l . I l l e 1 9 6 1 C c t r s u s i d c n r i l l c d 6 9 n c w t o w n s i n w e s t l i c n S a l l v h i c h t o t a l e d t h c n u n l b e r o f 1 o l v n st o 1 8 4 . S i m i l a r l y t h e 1 q 7 1 C ( r n s u si d c n t i f i e d 4 : l n e ! ! t o l v t r s . n r a k i n g t h c t o l a l n u m b e r o i t o w n s t o 2 2 3 ( lirblr .1).

Table

Year

4:

Growth

No.

of

of

Towns

Towns

and

Urban

Urban

Population.

Population

1941-1971

Percentage of Urban Population to Total Populatio n

1941

102

47,40,222

20.41

1951

Il5

6 2 , 8| , 6 4 2

2 3.8{J

1961

184

85,40,842

223

1,09,67,033 sourcei L'cnrur of Indio. 1'r71

'24.45 21.75

_

Caicutta emerged as one of the most congestedmega cities with high level of urban conccntration.6r West Rengalemergedas a food deficit region.u'Undoubtedly,the massive and continued influx of refugeeswas a tremendous drain on social servicesand had a considerableimpact on the political and economic structure of West Bengal. However, despite Kolkata'sreputation as a disorderedand chaotic metropolis, it is still maintaining itself and managing the other affairs without difficulties. while the upper class people from East Pakistan could reconstruct their lives in west Bengal quite easily, for the middle class and lower middle class people, it was not easy. Several of them spend years in refugee camps in the hope of a befter life. Large number of the uprooted could never return to their traditional family occupations and, thus felt a sense of alienation. The Bengali diaspora throughout the country can be observed today where Bengalis form various small pockets in various parts of nonhern lndia, There is no doubt that the partition of Bengal had a long-term impact on the economy and culture of the region. william van schendel notes that the partition is best understood not only in terms of nationalist and anti-colonial politics and antagonisms, but also "as a cultural and personal disaster, the fissure of two major regional cultures (Punjab and Bengal) which were divided between the successorstates, and the personal suffering and trauriatic memories of millions of uprooted refugees.a Besides,it has been acknowledged that the experience of partition d sen A and Ban€rjee A (1983), "Migrants in the calcutta MeEopolitan District, 1951-71", csss, OccassionalPaDer No. 62, Calcutta. of Divided Indio: A study of the Economy of lndia ar.d vakil c N (1950), Economic Consequences Fdi;..rn, vora anC Co., Bombay. Schendel Williatn Van (2003), "Working Through Partition: Making A Living in the BenSal Borderlands", in Das Ar-vind N and Linden Marcel van der (Eds.), work ond sociol Chongein Asia: Essaysin Honour of Jon Bremen, p. 54, Manohar, New Delhi. The IUP Journal of History and Cullure. Vol. IV llo. 3. 2010

i

was not rhe same for all people in Indja and as SabyasachiBhattacharyarightly pointed out: "Bengal and punjab underwent partition, while the rest of India cxperienced it vicariously'.6a By l97Os, the terms ,refugee,and,displaced, had been replacedin official r"nguage 'migrants'. by Indeed, the Government of West Bengal today draws a clear <listinction between 'new'and 'old'migrants by stating that those who migiated between october 1946 and March 31, 1958 are known as ord ,migrants,; and those who came between January l, 1964 and March 25, l97l are known as ,new migrants,.* Chimanlal Setalv-ad, the noted lawyer of the time, wrote: ,,partition had laid the foundations of interminable quarrels ard would bririg untold suffering to generations yet unborn,,.6 E Rekrence # S2J-2O|O-07_O4_01

'' sinsh^r'rrit([d.1 12060,,ru"

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' t \ r a n u Q r o l R e i 1 3 e € R e i i € t d n d ""*.-, R e h . ' b i r i t . t i a r , 2 0 0 l . p . r ., coo-.,,_il"-,-"* o v e r n m e n t o f . ' e so"rU. trensar.carcurra. '

The tines af rndie. Jun€ ls, 1947.

R€fuseecrisis in Easrernindia During the t"m