Refugee Crisis in Eastern IndiaDuring the Early Decades in the

Post-Partition South AsiaOm Prakash*

The partit ion of India in 1947 resu.Ited ,in displacement of .rpproxtnlately 1g

I ;::: i::I::.' :.: :::0, 7: ! .: " :y " :.:i i i,;;; ;; ;;;# # r. o r B e n s ar,,h erefugee exodus continued fo, v"oi, ;;:;";:;;,;:-" ,:'11i"_111'. ror bensa\ the

*niie tr,e ,",,,,i,"''.,li,ii";"ff,"!:;:::::,'":"li;,ilo:[#:,r".":i:;",::;T!,I,.lji^l;\ty"1er resticted primonry to lr,r-1i*- i"..ii,' rn"i"nu_^ of Bensarnas turnecl out to be q continuitno* ,a"," p"opii;;;;;;::'yl",iii,ii:,i;,'i{.ilii"!!:Xo'i:fn:,y,i::,:X:;::y:

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

lIlp::":"i'bi"a.iiii"""i'iii",T.:':X::":i;';&:il'":::,,*:;:;::;':;":tne government sources, especiouy of the u i i i r i i - " t ' ; ; ; r " " , Ret ie f r tndRehabititqtion oJ Government

"f,,y^, :9:;1t ?;;'':i":: ;:i;; Department ofRehobilitation, Goverrrment of India, and.the Lok Sabho Orirrir-ona West Bengalli:r" -!:t_:r"l.y"

Assembry D2bates, Report of tn" lnion- iol"ning co^mr"ionetc-, along with other sources.

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

;;::tT:::_.t:T"J'1:::-l:no:.*.,ne tnat possrury in'o,,*.u","* *"*;',:::,.;T,;this epoch must answer is the testimo,,. ;; ;;'--;,::^:.:l-""'€r rEsumonres to which

confl,d.ri^- ^r^^ , - -.testimony of trle dissolution, the dislocation or the

;#:il":l,'::ffx:".i *ll: ".""av ias ouse'eatial; ;,".;.:" #:il;:::ilffiT,*':'::lj',1- P: jl"^:t- l" historicar *'t o'.";.' l, n"" ffi ilHil;::rightly pointed out that (memory

begins where history ends..3

lawyel cyril Radcliffe, who wrote it. pakistan *-" ,r. *", *iii"i1lnil::::' f.1tlff'"ffi',iT3:.T,,Ti i&".*Tr -r "onffi

I Nancy Jean Luc (lgglr,The lnoDel- .otive Corn ̂ unity, p. l, Minneopolis, Minnesota.N:ndy Ashis (2003). ..Srate, History aror Lrandestine and Incornmunicabte lt"1":11t,T:,::*.T-tn_

Politics: Modernity and the LandscapeoJ Clandesrine and In"omrnunl"aUie_i-_ -^!! !, JUqur aran pouucs: Modernity and the Landscape

rre rare or Dissent in th. rr'^i.. ^^ ::'1":::ti *.""1y Ashis (Ed.), me Romon." ol the state, eirif :T:^"i::::,'.,h.,f"pi* ;;. ;l;_'i, ;j';;ffi lf,l"'.i#*"if ,['J;:fi ,:

3:;: .:.t-"oto K*umar.( I997), 'Memory Begins where Hisrory Ends,,. in satReJlections on Part i t ion of ihe Eost-. '*. .r ,u-- nrnadar R?nabir (Ed.),ReJlections on partitii"

"S ii" e*t, p.'es,vikas, New Delhi.

most painful

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" tlt- t*'""o*ce Act for transferof power. The border between India and pakistan w." d."turmirrea by a British

;[THH::I::1":_": ,*,i, us.rauy referred * *"io,u" i_*d after trte London

O 2ol0 IUp All RighB Reserved.

enclaves, East Pakistan (today Bangladesh) and West Pakistan, separated geographically by

1,ooo miles. India was formed out of the majority Hindu regions of 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:aphical line dividing the Hindus from the Muslim"''

The partit ion of Bengal in 1947 rendered mill ions uprooted and kil led thousands. For

BenSal, the refugee exodus continued for years after partit ion' lt has been observed that'

while ,,the partition of Punjab was a one,time event with mayhem and forced mi8ration

restricted primarily to the first three years (1947-50), the partit ion of Bengal has turned out

to be a continuing process".s Nearly one mill ion died in the communal violence between

Hindus and sikhs On the one side and Muslims on the other. An estimated 18 mill ion people

were displaced with close to two mill ion kil led. The population movement itself is one of

the la lSes t in recordedhumanh is to ryandthe t raumaof thepar t i t ionremainedembossed

on the psyche of thlee nation-states of South Asia: India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh'u At the

time of partit ion, Hindus constituted around 31olo of East Pakistan' By 1951' only 24%

remained there due to large-scale migration.

The then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru signi' icantly remarked on the pliSht

of refugees in Eastern India: "West Bengal has suffered more from partit ion and its

after effects than .rny province or any part of the country. Punjab also suffered, but it suffered

more in the sense of mass kil l ins of the people' while economicall)! wcst Bengal had

sufferecl rnore".' Ihe evacuec property left by the Muslims migrated to west Pakistrn, hclped

the displaced Hindus and Sikhs laom the west Pakistan to settle down in Punjab and the

ad jacent a reas . A la rge nu lnber o f d isp laccd peoPle rvere absorbcd in thc government JoDs

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 : r S c h i . J a s o d h a I i a n d D a s g u p r . s u b h o r . n j n n ( I ] d 5 ' ) ( 2 0 0 : ] ) . T f i e , f l d l t l ] ( r d n l 1 t / l e 7 ) ' i u ' V r / l : G c 1 1 . J ( fd n d i l r r / i r i r ) , r i 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

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 h e U r n B i l

Bordertancls . in Das Ar- , , ind N .nd l inden Nlnrcel v i rn der ( [ .d. ) . tv , ) fk ( t , r t l so. i ( r i c / r r I ' r .qe in Asiu]

tsr( l l ' i in I torrorrr ( , / J(rn ar . l ] r . , ) . pP. 52 5 '1. lUlnohar. Ne\! I )c lh i .

copal S ( 1992). sei . ' . fed }1/orkr o l Jdr t ( rndr ld l N€hIu. \ 'o l . XIV Part 1. p 6 Nt 'w Delhi '

Refuaee Cr is is in anstern lndia Dur ing the El i r lv Decades in rhe Post parr i l ion Sotrrh \s i i r 1 7

I

and i n t he a rmed fo r ces . The ( i ove rnn ten l o f l nd ia ( co l ) se r i ous l y t nck l cd t he compensa t i oncr: j jnls for imnlovable propcrt ies of th(: ( j ispl i jced alr iviDS fronr rvesL pakrslan. frolvevcr thes i t ua l i o l l was uncven and ' c r ) , d i f l " r en t i n t hc c i l \ e o f l l cng . , l . I I i nc l L t s l . l l i g ra t i ng f r on Las tl j ; r k i s t i l n ( now B ing ladcsh ) se t t l ed ; ! c ross L l r s te rn I nd i i l and N ( )nhc rs l e rn I nd i r , n l anyse l t l i ng i n c l ose b ) s ta tes such r s wc l t l l e r l i i r l , A5 - . san r , i ] nd - f r i pu r i r . s ( )n r r r r i g r i r ) t s r \ r e r r sen tt o t hc And i l n ran as we l l .

( r r i t i c s a t cSe t r r a t t s r i t i sh has te t o I ea ' c r nc r i a r cd ro rhe c rue r r i es o l r hc pa r r i r i on . Bccauseindependcnce r vas dec la r t ' d p r i o r t o t he ac tu . l l pa r t i l i on , no r i l r ge popu ra t i on n loven len t sh,ere contcmplated. I lowever. somc argue rhat thc l l r i l ish tverc forced to cxpedite thepart i t ion by the development of events. Lalv and ordcr had broken dorvn many t imes beforepart i t ion, with rnuch bloodshed on both sides. A massive ci ' i l rvar uras expecrecl by the r imeMountbatten became viceroy. After the world rvir I I , Bri tain was devasrated and had l imitedresourcesJ perhaps insuff icicnr to the task of keeping order. A hasry exlr was en!,rsaged asless bloody than the slow disintegration of the emDire.

It would be important to obscrve that holv thesc people strugglcd and what was theiratt i tude towards the government poi icies of rel ief ancl rehabil l tat lon? .fhe

paper alsoattempts to cri t ical ly look into the various phases of the government poltcy to resett le thesemiSrants and also what legacy this aspect of. part i t ion of India left on the memory andgeopoli t ics of Indian subcontinenr.

The historiography of part i t ion has gone rhrough vivid change with more addit ions ofl i terature during the recent years. The so years of lndia's lndependence led some scholarsto look back on the other side of Independence, i .e., part ir ion from varying and dif ferenrperspective. The traditional partition historiography, with very few exceptrons, had largelyexplored the causes of India's part i t ion and the inherent pol i t ics, responsibi l i t ies, etc., behindit. In contrast, the new part i t ion historiography highl ighted the experience of the commonpeople and human dimension. Ritu Menon and Urvashi Butal ia tr ied interview method toadd new dimensions in the pari i t ion narrat ives; however, they focus on a gender approach.Part i t ion is not merely about r iots or violence, but i t is also about becomrng a mlnority andrelated tr ials and tr ibulat ions.

Kanti Pakr:asi's sociological study on the refugees of West Bengal is an important workin the field. His approach was to highlight that partition shoulJnever merely rnean theterritorial division of the subcontinent, but it cuts across the ,corporate living, of thousandsof people. Pakrasi evaluared the impact of partition on Bengal from a sociological pointof view; trying to understand the process and pattern of ritLigration, atso the impact ofmiSration on family structure, caste and occupation. It was one of the earliest systematicattempts to understand the impact of partirion on Wesr Bengal. prafulla Chakrabarti opinedthat the refugees were initially drawn towards the Indian National Congress, the party inpower' when they got disi tusioned about congress init iar ive in refugee rehabil i rat ion, theyactively joined the opposition. The Left parries m.rde inroads amoDg the refugees and thusbuil t their organizational base. Tai yong Tan and cyanesh Kudaisya provided acomprehensive account of the aftermath of part i t ion and i ts continuing legacy in the

II

4 8 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 IndiaIn 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 .beencreated 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

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

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

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 mill ion, i.e., about one-sixth of this state consists of

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 class people, as most had contacts in calcutta it would have been easy

for them to pick up professions and trade in ne$'surtoundings.to They left due to fear of

violent riots and a general sense of persecution and insecurity. Nilanjana Chatterjee

suggested that while a majority of the later refugees fled from violence, many of the earlier

bhodrolok refugees left because of a combined fear of physical harm, a downturn in

economic opportunities, and a perceived loss of social standing and porver" Although the

Pa krasi Kant i B (1971), ' lhe Llprooted, A Sociologicol Sludy o/ the Re/u Sees of west BengQl, pp. 23'25'

Temple Prcss, Calcutra.

Government of west Bengal (1981), 'Reiugee Rehabi l i rat ion Commit tees Report" . Calcul ln-

Broomfi€ ld John t t968), t r l i le Conl i . l in d Plr l ro l Societyr Ttvent i ( , th Century 8en8{r l . p. S ' Univers i ry

of cal i iorn ia Press. Berkeley.

rr Chatter iee Ni lanjana (1990), "East Bengal Refugees: A Lesson in Survival" . in Chaudhur i sukanta.

(Ed.) , ?he t iv inS Ci t -v, Oxford Univers i ty Press, Calcut ta.

lil$

{'itkil

[,tl$i{atr

l l l

Refugee cr is is in Eastern India Dur ing the Ear ly Decades in the Post 'Part i t ion south Asia 49

i

l .

po l i cy o f t he I nd ian gove rn rnen t i n Bensa l a imed no t a t evac l l a i i ng t he m ino r i t i es f r om I ras t

pak i s tan . as has been done e f l ec t i ve l y i n Pun iab , bu t l n l r ego t i a t i ng w i t h Pak i s tan i

authorit ies for creating condit ions of security so that mass exodus could bc prevenled But

rhese n l casu res . i nc l ud ins Neh ru l , i aqua l Pac t , P roved t o be f u r i l e a r l d b ) 1q50 rn esL tn l : t eJ

1 ,575 ,000 peop l c I e f t ' cas t Rcnga l f o r I nd i : r ' i r Ne i t he r o f t hesc peop le \ v ' r \ i n t e r c \ t ed t o 80

to t he re l i e f ca lmDs . Even thosc who be longed to t he m idd le c l ass a t rd c "n lP : l r a r t ve lY r ro r se

off famil ies, and did not possess much resources, did not want to selt le in the relugee camps'

Aga ins t t h i s backd rop , t he squa t t e r s ' co lon ies do l t ed Ca l cu t t a .

The next major inf lux took place fol lowing the massacre in several distr icts of Last

Bengal, part icularly in the subdivision of IOtulna distr ict 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 mil l ion people moved from East Pakistan to west

B engal. " '

Table 1 reveals that the 1951 census identi f ied 21,04,241 'displaced persons' from East

Pakistan in west Bengal. In the next census of 1961, the number escalated to 30,68,750 and

in 1971, the Refu8ee Rehabil i tat ion Directorate, Government of West Bengal registered

42 ,93 ,000 Eas t Pak i s tan Rc fugees i n wcs t Benga l .

PopulationTable 1: Share of Refugee Population in Totalof West Bengal, 1951-71

Year Tot alPo p u l a t ion

Refugees FromEast Pakistan

Percentage of Refugeesto Total Population

1 9 5 1 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 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 Peasants and agricultural

laborers arrived who possessed almost 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 Refugees of west BenSdl, TemPle

Press. calcutta.

Dasgupta Abhijit (2001), "The Politics of Agitation and Confession: Displaced Bengalis in West

Bengai", in Ray sanj"r K (Ed.), Re.nrSees ond flumon Rishtrj sociol ar.d Political Dtmamics of Refugee

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. Government of India Press. Calcutta.

The IUP Journal of History and Cultute, Vol. IV No. 3, 2OlO

Namasudra and Mahisya communities. t iaditionally, Namsudras were involved in the

professions such as paddy cultrvation, boating, f ishing and carpet makinS. Init ially, 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 evacuees retumed 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 700,6 moved 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 mill ion. 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 refugees crossing the international border went up to 3,16,000.r?

Initial Phase of Settlement and Government PolicyDuring the init ial phase, the GOI was primarily concerned about the resettlement of the

refugees from West Pakistan, and the national leadership was ambivalent regarding its

responsibil i t ies towards the Bengali Hihdu refugees ffom East Pakistan. Pandit Nehru's

letter to Bidhan chandra Roy, the then chief Minister of west Bengal reflects this approach.

Nehru had his opinion that "large scale miSration from East Bengal to the West should not

be encouraged, as it puts pressure on the concerned state and, to some extent, on the Indian

union as well. I lowcvcr, if the refuqees come over to West Bengal, they need to look after". '*

Against the in-migration of refugees in west Bengal, the out-miSration to East Bengal

was merely 0.70 mill ion from west Bengal and Bihar. The central government insisted that

rhc vast tracts of wasteland in Assam should be uti l ized for production, as the available

surplus rvas more than sufficient to nccommodate both refugees and indigenous landless

D e o D l e r q

chat tcr jce S P ( 19,17), ?/re Part i t ion ol tsengel : A Geo! ' . rephicel Study l t i rh M{rps ond Did.qrdrr j , EKA

- 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 d P e r s o n s i 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 to 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 r C l l c u t t r .' fhe Problcnl o/ /1,qr icul lurol De|el { rpmcnr (Assam Government Pr€ss. 1946. l :b le 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 t o 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 Cr is is in Eastern Ind;a Dur ing the Eai ly Decades in the PosGPart i t ion Sou Asi . 5 l

I n o rde r t o p rov ide re l i e f and rehab i l i t a t i on t o t he waves o f r e l ugee on a wa r sca le , r ne( ;o l se t up a M in i s t r v o f Re l i e f l ' d Rehab i l i r a r i on i n ea r l y sep re rnbc r 1947 . I so la tec l pocke rsof refugees lrere organized into canrps and ivere gi 'en rat ions irr ld mil i tary protectionl l J . r i ns t ha rz r ssn ren t . un l i ke t he d i sp laced pc rsons o f l v cs t l t , ] k i s t an , t he re fugces c ( )m ingl ron r l l as t l ) ak i s tan l ve rc re l uc r . n t t o n l ove t o o the r s ta tes e \ cc l ) t wes t Bcnga l , l r i pu ra rndAssam. l he r chab i l i t a t i on scheo tes \ ve re b road l ) , d i v i c l ed i n to two scc t i ons . r u ra l and u rban .I r o r t he i l g r i cu l t u r i s t , t hc schcme l vas o r ' a l l o tmen t o l r g r i cu l t u ra i l l and o r r l nanc ia l he lp f o rt hc pu rchase o f t oo l s , e t c . and t he a l l o rn leD t o l i t houscho ld p l o r o r a l o i t n f o r t hc pu rchaseo f such p lo t . I hen l oans ! { e re ra i sed l i r r bu i l d i ng a house l b l l owed by mone ra ry a i d t i ) rbu)ing farming inrplenents such as bul locks an<I other equipmenrs. A marnrenance granrfo r n i ne mon ths up t o t he ha rves t i l as sanc t i oned . Non -ag r i cu l t u r i s r s we re g l ven n t oan t os ta r t t hc i r bus incss o r f o r pu rchas ing hones tead p lo t and house -bu i l d i ng a long l v i t h a g ran tfor three months.

As early as 1949, there were refugee activists who had mobil ized their communit ies inorder to provide shelter and l ivel ihoods for themselves, rather than relying on aid l iomvarious levels of government.?r) By 1950, there were close to 15O refugee colonies,concentrated mainly around the southeastern port ion of Kolkata. These locations gaveresidents in the refugee colonies access to a. range of possible , l ivel ihoods includingaquaculture, farming, and work in the industr ial sector., l

Some of the camps in west Bengal were converted jnto townships, so that the transit ionfiom relief to rehabilitation was accomplished with little disturbance to the lives of therefugees. In 1956, more than four lakh famil ies sri l l l ived in camps, while a very largenumber awaited rehabilitation outside the camps.z, Those who were classified as refugeeswere given identity cards and placed in one of the two tjrpes of housing_refugee coloniesor refugee camps. Those in the former received some level of resettlement and rehabilitationassistance, while those in th€ latter were less privileged.,3 The Government used to grantloans for the rehabilitation of refugees in the rural and urban areas depending upon theoccupational background of the displaced.

Immediately after the partition, when the mass movement of the uprooted was going onin 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 compelledto 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 Deveropment of R€fugee coloniesin South Calcutta", in Bagchi Jasodhara and Dasgupta Subhoranjan (Eds.), ffte .Irouma and theTriumph: cender ond Porririon in fairem ,ndio. Xolkata.Repcrt on Relief and Rehabil i tat io!: - f Displaced persons in west Bengal, December I l , 1957.Sen Sarbani (2000), "Tbe Legal Regime for Refuge€ Retief and Rehabil i tar ion in Wesr Bengal,l9'16- 1958", in Bose Pradip Kumar (Ed.), Ret., gees in west Ben[.",t, rruti.urionor procrice o nar contestedIdcntities, pp. 49-64, Calcutta Research crouD. Calcutta_

The IUP Journal of Hisrory and Culrure, Vol. IV No. 3, 2O1O

.-.,-

fear of such disturbances or on account of setting up of the tlvo dominions of lndia

and Pak is tan . " r l

Regarding rehabil itation measures in West Bengal unti l 1950, the government aimed atproviding the incoming refugees relief on a temporary basis, rather than creating conditions

for their long-term rehabil itation. lts main response consisted of 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 classes and 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 Pakistan adopted an Islamic constitution.'6

According to the report on the Relief and Rehabil itation of the Displaced Persons in West

Bengal, in 1953, the number of camp admissions of the refugees was 10,474, in 1954, it was

46,904, and in 1955, the number increased to 1,09,834.,7 When the refugee camps got

overcrowdedJ they accommodated the families on pavements in Calcutta.'?s

There was hardly any district in West Bengal in which the refugees fTom East Pakistan did

not settle, Howevet the maximum number of refugees settied in the following eight districts

viz.,24 Parganas, Calcutta, Nadia, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, West Dinajput Burdwan and

Hooghly (Table 2). According to the 1951 Census, out of a total displaced persons l lom East

Pakistan, 49olo migrated to the rural areas of West Bengal and the rest of the 51olo to the urban

areas.?'r The l96l Census revealed a similar tendency. Out of 30,68,750 refugees from East

Pakistan, s0-B8qo migrated to thc urbitn areas of West Beng.rl.]o Some of them were

rchabil itatcd in covirnmcnt camps and colonies, but the overwhelming majoritf settled in

squatter colonies along the e:rstern fi ingcs of the city. In the 1960s, they got settled on the lvest

bank of the l looghly as rvell. As a res!rlt, a rurai hinterland of Kolkata Was transforrned within

tlvo decades into an urban sprawl intcgrally l inked to the core of the city.

It was only alter 1955 that the GOt decided to look at the problenr of t lte E.isl Pakistani

re fugees on r m( ) re l ) r lgnrn t ic bas is . Accord ing to an es t imate , the la rger par t o f the task

o f re i r i lh i l i ta t ing west l ) l l k i s t i ln i d is l ) laced pr rsons \ !as accor lp l i shed bc fore the r :nd o f t t re

! A D n L r a l R 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 .c o \ e n r m e n t o f I n d i . . N e r v D e l h i .

St fu. tc. l ly(r r ls o/ Jdn?ndr iu l Nf l r f r i . \ ' i )1. 5. pp. lb I 63.

\ n n L r a l l { r p o r t s . 1 9 . 1 8 . 5 S . p p 1 9 - 1 9 5 0 . \ ' l i r r s t r \ o l R e h n l ) i l i r a t i o n . c 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 r r o 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 \ t I 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 1 l 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 i I 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 J r , / 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 s i n L n s r c r n 1 n . l i a D u r i n g t h e l . r l ! D c c a d c s i n r h e P o s r p . r r i r i o n s o u r h ' 1 \ i n 5 3

Districts

Table 2: East Pakistan Refugees in Different Districtsof West Bengal

T o t a l R u r a l

7 ,86 ,6b 124 - [ , r r t . r n3si 2 .97 .164

Ca lcu t t a s ,28 ,205

N a d i a 5 .02 .645 3 .8 I5,02 ,645 3,B 1 ,009

. l

1 ,2 1 ,6 : t8

Cooch Bchar 2,52,753 2 5 , 1 2 5

Ja l pa i g u r i

West Dinajpur

Burdrva n

2,18 ,341

1,72 ,237 1 , 2 5 , 1 5 5

1,44 ,704 B I ,B41 62 ,863

130,951 38 ,663 92,288

30,68 ,750 15,O7,220 15,61 ,530

rehabilitation of the refugees coming to India from West pakistan and Rs. 66g mn wasassiSned for the refugees coming from East pakistai.3: Funds were mad! available for thecompletion of the housing projects, and for mitigating unemployment in the townships andcolonies of displaced persons through schemes for setting up industries. The training andeducation schemes for rhe displaced people got crucial attenrion in the policy of thegovemment.33 Although the Second Five-year plan provided monetary support for therehabil itation schemes of the displaced persons in the eastem states, the cOI decided toreview the financial provision in the third year of the second plan, and it was said. if needed.provisions for the additional fund would be made.tra

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

I First Five-Year Plan, 1951-56, Governm€nt of India, planning Commission, yojana Bhavan, NewDelhi.

Second Five-Year Plan, 1956-61, covemment of India, planning Commission, yojana Bhawn, NewDelhi' According to the report,'There has been a continuous influx ofdisplaced persons from EastPakisian 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 ofthissettlehent 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 ruraland urban areas mainly by the displaced persons with loans from the Covemment. About 22,OOOdisplaced persons were given vocational and technical tlaining and 8,OOO are now under training.Business loans have been advanc€d to about 88,ooo families. The continuing influx of displacedpersons has made the problem of rehabil i rat ion in rhe eastern srat€s part icnlarly dif f ic; l t . Arpresent, 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

U r b a n

4,89 ,497

First Five-Year Plan.3' Despire that, the Second Five-year plan provided Rs. 187 mn for the

a 'displaced' in need of relief and rehabil itation 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,OOO sq 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 isquite 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|Jer 2.75

lakh acres of forest had been cleared for refugee settlement, over I2,OOO families 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

acknowledged that out of the ofncial figure of eight million registered displaced persons, over

7oo/o or 5.6 million still lived below the poverty line.33

The peasants of Bengal, who had been settled and comfortable in the rich deltaic region

since ages, were reluctant to move in a territory which was not only ecologically contrasted

but also culturally unfamiliar.:r ' l tonald S Zagoria maintains that the several mil l ion Il indu

refugees, who constitute almost one,fourth of West Bengal population, became the strength

Nlukher jec R K (1964) in Chaudhury M (Ed.) . Part i t ron on.J the Curse of Rehdbi l i .dr ion. pp. t6- t7,Bengal Rehabi l i tat ion organizat ion. Calcurta.

Special Correspondenr, "Danadakaranya Can be Developed for Benef i ts of Displaced People, , . TheS t , r l e s m . r n , N e w D e l h i . A u g u s t 1 5 . 1 9 5 7 .

lv€iner i \ t l ron (1978). Sons of the Soi l , Migrot ioD arrc| Ethnic Con| l ic t 1 Indie. pr inceton Lln ivers i tvPress. Pr inceton.

Refugee R€habi l i tar ion Commit tee s R€port . p. 50. Co\ 'ernmcnr of West Bengal .

N ' l u k h e r j i A B ( t 9 8 5 ) . A C u l t u r a l E c o l o g i c a t A 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 r i n I n d e p e n d e n tIndia ' , in Kosinski L and Maudood Elahi X (Eds.) . Populat ion Redir lnbut i . rn ond D€velopm€nr inS o u l h A s i u . p . | 1 0 , N e w D e l h i .

Refuge€ Cr is is in Eastern lndia Dur ing the Ear ly Decades in the Pos.Part i t ion South Asi i 5 5

r ) l t hc Con tn luo i s t s . I hev vo t cd an e . t r e tn i s t

P r ( )p ( )unde rs ( ) l t hc concep t o l - n1ass soc ie t \ : t

Table 3: Share of Urban RefugeePopulation of West

pa r t y based on t he mode l dc ! c l oped by t he

r1 r s l r t ( r . . s r i ng r re re 1 . ' no l c t hc s l a t cn rcn t oJ S r r che ta x r i p . l an i , a Mcn lb ( : r o t pa r r i amen t ,on l J r c r . . r r , r ( : c s i t u i l t i ( ) n i n wes t t senga r . s r r c sx i ( r : r I ! ! as .o t on ! \ t s t r t en l r i r r . s dcc rs ron l h i r tt h i s . oun t r v t ! r s p i l r t i ! i one ( l _ - l h t \

. , , L t r r \ r r l r r pa r t r L i oD td bv i i ( l r c i s i on o f l nd i i l . . .' I he rc l b re , i r i s : r na l i on i i l p rob l rm and a l l t hc s ra tes shou ld pu rhc i r we igh t i n

rehab i l i t a t i ng t hcm ' , . 01 ' l h i s was rhc sp i r i t t h i l t \ r as pc rhaps respons ib l e l b r t he Govc rnmen t , s

dec i s i on t o send t he exccss r c fugees ou t s i de Wes t Benga l t o p l aces such as Dand i l ka ranyao f Madhya P radesh and t he And . iman and N i coba r I s l ands . { ssam showcd t t s r e l uc lance t osett le Bengali ref ir t"".

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

Population to theBengal , 1951- 1971

Total Urban

Year

1 9 5 1 62,Ar,642 10,52,121 16.7485,40 ,842 15,61 ,s30

1971 1,09,67,033 27,24,936

Source: Cens6 o/ India, 1gSj , 1961, ar ld 1921

Dandakaranya scheme was formulated as a lonp-term sorution for the reseftlement ofthe East Bengal refugees..3 Howevet the Dandakaranya project for rehabilitation ofthe EastBengal refugees and the .civilization, of a local tribal group through enforced contact withthe newcomers was an abject failure, with conflicts arising between tribal and refugees andthe inability of many of rhese Bengalis from agricultural backgtounds to adjust tocultivation in a very different environment and resource base.{ Dandakaranya area,although rich in mineral resources, was poor for settled cultivation..,

T o t a lUrban

Popu la t ion

U r b a nRefugee

P o p u l a t i o n

Percent of Urban RefugeePopulation to Total

Urban Population

1 9 6 ri , . .

Zagoria D S (1969), .'The Social Bases of Indian Communalism,,, in Lowenthal R (Ed.), Iriues in rieFuture 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 1E'd.;, Cupto S",Oof Kumar roperc, Bibhasa,calqrtta;.chosh Alok Kumar, ..Bengali._Refu,gee,

"t O.rrauLrurry a ffug"& of n"h"Uilitarion., in

""."-T:_dt!^*113. (r0oo), Retugeei in Wesr B;ngoli /'sriturionaf i-.t a.ol,?,," Coniesr€d identitier,p.p. 106'129, calcutta Research Group, calcuna, and for the rerrauititaiJn in rhe Andaman andNicobar lslands, see Chaudhury Sabyasachi Basu Ray (2OOO), .Exif.J to tt

" Arra"_".r., ffr" n"f.,g.""t iom Easr Pakisran", in Bose. op. ci l . . pp. t3l-t39.

"Neh-ru to copinath Bardoloi, Chief Minister of Assarn,,, May 29, 19,+8, in Selected Work ofJawaharlalNenru. Vol. 6, p. 118.fhe Stotesmon, Augusr lS, 1957.Ghosh Alok, "Bengali Refugees at Dandakaranya: A Tfagedy of Rehabilitatlon,,, in Bose, op. cit.,pp. 106-129.

6 Ben Farmer (1972), Asriculrurat Cotonisahon in tndia, DD.37-42.

5 6 The IUP Journal of Hisrory and Culrure, Vol. tV No. 3. 2OlO

Criticism and Protest Movement Against the Government Policy

In 1948, the provincial government of West Bengal issued a press note stating that they

would discontinue registering East Bengalis cominS to the state as refugees' because

. .whateve lmigh thavebeenthecauseof theexodus in thepast ,s im i la rcond i t ionsdonot

now prevail. Th ':3 is hardly any communal disturbance in Eastern Pakistan"' Therefore' the

presentexodusisduetoeconomiccauses,,.ooHowever,thisassumptionwaschallengedby

the president of the East Bengal Minority welfare committee in calcutta by stating that

these economic cruses were the direct consequence of partition on a communal basis"'47

In December 1948, when government rnade pubtic its decision to shut down registration

offices by January 15, 19.49, it justified the decision arguinS- that refugees who were

genuinely interested had been gu-"" "tpl"

time to register''s If he did not' then that itself

was the proof tiat the person claiming refugee status could not have been sufFciently

desperate to require relief' ln this *"y' -gou"rn-"nt

at a stroke cut down a huge problem

to a size it felt i t could handle'

Thus, while the refuSees survived on the barest rations' government was able to rePresent

its relief to the retugees as 'charrty" and attemPted to make them realize thi: tt1:lt^T:

a mafter of ri8ht. so, the official class and the Sovernment made all the attempts to Saln

popularity out of these charity measures' which was an imPortant segment of the

rehabilitation PolicY'

The refu8ee leaders blamed the government for adopting the divide and rule policy by

dividing them into 'haves' ano 'havJnots" obviousl)I these Marxist terminologies et'tered

due to the influence of the communists' Such government attemPts were challenged with

a series of strikes in camPs all over West Bengal' But carrying the 'haves' along with the

'have-nots'in a unil led campalgn had its inner contradictions' The refugee leaders found

themselves waging a *nt ot' *o frontsl one' against the Sovemment for creating two

"*r"r'. i ..**"". ahd the other against their own aid-receiving brothers who took what

they could and looked the other way'

one of the objectives of the government's rehabil itation measures was to divide the

refugees into several categories' viz ' able-bodied males' widows' the handicapped'

*-o-uJanrn"n, servants, medical practit ioners' lawyers' etc ' and to offer each cateSory a

different rehabil itation package. This rnachiavelian poricy of the government forced the

l e f u g e e a c t i v i s t s t o s e e k t h e s i n i l a r r i g h t s e q L r a l l y b y a l l t h e l e l u g e e s .

On August 15, 1950, a procession of about 500 tefugees from differcnt rcfugec colonrcs

such as Jadalpur, Tollygunj, Garia' etc converged at Deshapriya Park wherc tvvo nreetinEs

rvere held in succession under the auspices of the trvo factiolrs of the Forward Bloc ]larxist

and non-Marxist to condelnn the Congress (iovcrnment for getting fake lndependence

ach ieved. on the same da\ ' . ano ther re fugee process ion ended up a t I l : l z ra Park to ce lebr l te

' .1 ' rdn( l . r 8. r : . r t Jrorr ikd June 2 ' ) t9 '1t i

" i l ; i " , " "a

Rehabi l i tat ion l )eParrrnent ( ;o\crnmelr t o l wcsr Bens. l Nlemo December 20 1e'+8

Refu{ee cr is is in Eastern lndia Duttng-t } t " ln ' ly Decades iD the Post-Part i l ion south Asi : r 5 7

'An t i - lndependence Day" . " One ( ) l the denrands n lade bv lhe rc tu t {ee org : ln lza t lons ! \ 'as tnc

r ichr ro de termine horv , rvhcn and where thcy t te rc to be rch i lb i l i t r t ( d l l l ey dcmaDdcd tha t

f : rn r i l i cs be g iven adequ i l te no l i ce b t [o rc the ] were n1c ]vcd to re i l : l l ) l l l t .1 t l ( r l1 cu lonr ts , l lnL l

th : r t re fug{ :es shou ld no t i )c sent lhc re agr ins t thc i r w i l l . ' l , i r t c r o th is demi iod so l id i l ied

in the lo rm tha t i l l r t l i rRees nrus l i )c rehab i l i t i l ted w i th in Wcs l I l c r l !a i -

uvcrv n ree l ing anc l p rocess ions vo iced the demand Io r cer t r in b rs ic ec( )nor ] i c r igh ts : the

prov is ion o f re l ie f to a l l re fugees , fu l l rehab i l i ta t ion , and cn t i t l cn lc r l t lo rc l le i 8 r ' in ls un t i l

full rehabil itation had been achieved. In rhcir vieW reliels f lot onl! nleiln( doles for all, but

also free education fbr rcllSee children, free mcdical care, clothing, and clean canps'

Rehabil itation meant a brick-built house for each refugee household and regular, paid

emptoyment. ' l his p.lrt icular demand lvent diantctrically against the go'!ernment pollcy on

rehabil itation, since its central purpose was to encourage refugees to tind sell employment

The refugee movement asserted that these were not specifically refugee riShts but the rights

of all members of society. Similarly, thc demand for free rations for refugees was

increasingly l inked to a more Seneral crit ique of the government's food policy and its lailure

to guarantee security of rations for the public.

The refugee movement gradually came under the influence of left 'wing polit ical parties'

The trend depicts that the refu8ee movement was.captured by the Leftparties.' ' The internal

d' 'namics and logic of the refugee movement stressed the notion of'r iShts'which itself is

based on the assertion that all men are equal. The refugee movement soon took to the

egalitarian path. Many of the 'r iShts' claimed were related to basic needs such as food,

clothes, medicine, housing, education and jobs. It would have been diff icult to justify the

argument that refugees had an entitlement to these economic 'rights' whereas other and

equa l ly des t i tu te lnd ians . d id no t

The government showed its inability to provide enough uninhabited land to

accommodate rnillions of refugees. More land for redistribution to the dispossessed would

have possible only as the result of land reforms. That is why refugees called 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 redistribution-

In 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

The T€le8roph, August 16, 1950.rbid.chakrabarty Prafulta K (1999), The Margir.al Men: The Refugees and the Lefl Politi.ol Syndrom€ in

West BenSol, p. 4o7. Naya Udyog, Calcutta.

'ahe IUP Journal of Historv and Cul ture, Vol . IV No. 3, 2010

of West Benqal to withdraw it The Bil l was redrafted to include a pledge that a "displaced

person" in unauthorized occupation of land would not be disturbed "unti l the Government

provides for him other land or house... in an area which"'enables the Person to carry on such

occupation as he may be engaged in for earning his livelihood at the time of the order"'5'?

This development was hailed as a majot victory for the refu8ee movement' since it

acknowledged the refuSees right to shelter, and underlined the Sovernment's duty to provide

it. tt also emphasized the circumstances in which the riSht to private property could be

non-enforceable. It was equally a thumping victory for the west Bengal's Left-wing

opposition. The Left Parties made a cautious and compelling strategy to 8et the gain out

of refugee issue. They sdught to press the case for the refugee's riShts to food' shelter and

employment. Atrd once the Sovernment coerced to accept these rights, the Left-wing parties

demanded the same rights for everybody' Thus, the refugee movement and the role of the

Left-wing parties had been seen as a "Ttojan Horse" tactics to build up the party base among

the masses which in the due course paid huge dividend' It is aiso important to note that the

refugee movement and the response of the Left parties should not be seen merely as the

power politics agenda but the unconditional support they gave to the refugees against their

fight for survival.

The refuSees' protests in camPs reached the pinnacle in 1958 when the GOI took the

decision to wind up the camps in the eastern region by July 1959' In view of the continuing

exodus from East Pakistan, the Gol gradually realized that it would be difficult for the

cash-starved west Bengal to give shelter to all the incoming from the other side of the border'

Therefore, it would be wise to select some of the displaced persons who could not be

rehabil itated in the economy in west Bengal, and send them to other pans of the country'5]

Gradually, the resentment of the camp-dwellers in west Bengal against the Central

covernment's decis{on to send them ouiside the state encouraged them to raise their voice'

The camp-dwellers of Bettiah in Bihar launched a peaceful soryogroho movement in May

1958 for the fulf i l lment of their demands of improved living and economic conditions in

the camp to rehabil itate them. This showed a way out to the refugees l iving in the camps

of west Bengal. when the Government forced them to 80 to Dandakarallya these refugees

revolted. They launched a massive civil disobedience molement in the Gandhian way and

more rh rn 3u ,oo0 camp re fugees wcre ar res lcd '

As rnany of the camp'dwellers rvere lrf lolver caste Namasudra community' they chose

their leaders fronl antong themselves, and consequentlY the leaders such as JoSen Nlondal,

Flemanta Biswas, Apurbalal Mazumder and P R lhakur crne to the forelront' Apart lroDr

the cornmunis r Par r -v o f lnd ia (cPI ) the Pro ja sc lc i3 l i s i P : l r t y (PSP) lcd u tgantza t t ' rn

Sara B lnq l i Bas tuhara Sammelan (SBI IS) , (A l l Benga l l te f i rgee Conferencc) and the

\ \ t s t B e l r ! j l l \ c i X \ I o | 1 9 5 1 . ' l . h c l t e h s b i l i l l l r i o J l o i l ] i \ p 1 3 c e ( l P t r s o n s a n . ] I . ] ! i c i i ( ) n o t I ) e r \ o n s ' l rt r f ; r u r h o ' i z c ( l o 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 d D r l ) , r r r ' r . J u l v t 5 . 1 9 5 7 . p : l : 1 7 6

C:hrkr . lb r l \ r r ) l , . r l . P t86

R € f u S e e C 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 v D c c a d e s i n i h e P o s t - P a r r i r i o n ( ' u r h r \ \ 1 a 5 9

organ iza t ion ca l l c ( l Basruhara Xo l ) ,an par ishod ( t {e f i tgec Wel l i l re Couuc i l ) , Ied b ! theI {cvo lu t ionan, comnrun is r p i t r t v o f Ind i : r (RCpl ) , s ta r ted p la t ing dominanr ro le in thecantps . thc RCl ) l was more a f f i vc in thc carnps ( ,1 Na( l ia . S ince t9S8. the LJn i tcd Cent ra lRc iuSec ( 'ounc i r ( r Ia r .c ) s t i r r l c ( l to b r ing together rhc c .mp rc r ' r ! ccs , . . r th I r )e herp ( ) f pspon i p ro l r ranr acccptabre to a l r . soon ra l l ies an( l denrons t ra t ions fo owcd thc pcacefurso l ' vog fo / ro us the fo rm o l p ro tes t and mob i i i z l t ion aga ins t t l l e sovefn Inen1. ln c luc courseot t imc, rhe re fugce movement l lo t po l i t i c i zed and g iouped as un ions r lh ich fu r thcr insp i redthcse uprootcd to become a par t o l the la rger movcnten t aga ins t the Un ion and Sta tecovcrnn len ts , and the s r rugg lc o f rhe re fug tes , th rough the po l i t i cs o f ag i r i r t ion cont jnuedto countc r the po i i c ies o f rchab i l i ta t ion s incc thcn .

There has been compla in ts aga jns t the governnent tha t the l . t rea tcd the re lu : jees bad l ' ;meager ratlons were provided and no efforts i lere made ro creatc employmentopportunitics. All kinds of pressures ivere used to drive then to Dandakaranya. S K Gupta,who was the chairman of DDA in 1964 for a short turn, shares his distress and experience,"l luman distress on a large scale is much too serious a matter to be passect over ln silenceeither to feed official complacency or to save reputations.,,;.

Despite the }lerculean effons by the seftlers,.the DDA project was a failure. I.heil l-conceived policies of the planners have to blame for it. They need to set up smallirrigation proiects which could have been finished soon, but instead they resoried to bighydroelectric projects. This proved to be a failure for rhe system, because the big projectsrequire a large gestation period and other hurdles such as project delays, etc., are thecommon faqtors. So, poor policy implementation had its toll on agriculture production andunder such circumstances even subsistence agriculture was not possible.

The uncanny remarks of the Government and DDA officials put the blame for the failureof the scheme on laziness and sluggishness of the refugees and their sickness with the paddycultivation. A very pertinent question needs to be raised here that why planner,s soleemphasis was on agriculture. Virtually, no efforts were made to raise cottage and smallscale industries or other semi-urban emplojment.

Refugees were not given the title deed to the land allotted to them. The shortage ofdrinking watet lack of adequate health facilities, lack of facilities for fish culture and

;:::'Ji:,l:ilil:ffiil:ffi i'"T,ffi'5::"ff :l::T::::i::::_:::""1";tribal further made the region inhabitable. According to an observation, ,,The organizedencroachment on the forest land interfered with the normal tribal way of life, consideringthe fact that the tribal mode of life and economy were intrinsically_tinked with the forest,t ire nc,. confl ict engendered by this systematic intervention was both economically and

" : :p.,1 S-I.(

19j:1, , ,Dandakaranya: A Story of Rehabil i tat ion t_The Srare of ASriculrure,,, EconomicWeekly. Vol. 17. No. t , January 2.

6 0 The IUP Journal of History and Culrure, Vol. IV No. 3. 20lO

psychologically unllt."lo Due to DDA project, there rvas an estimated 30o/o decline in the

popu la t ion or t r lba ls in the Dandakaranya reg ion ' : -

This reverse migration of the population fTom Dandakaranya to West Bengal has been

reported as follows, "Men, women and chilt lren in torn rags have a lack of infinite sadness

on their face. ...They say that their love for West Bengal is alive as their hope about

Dandakarnya is dead....Refu8ees say they are deserting because of the humiliating

conditions in which they lived".s3

The treatment that many refugees from East Pakistan received at the hards of the state

and central governmentc in India during the L950s and l96os was questionable' They were

denied the access for adequate aid, resources, and oPportunities and their settlements were

outlawed. Not only this but latge numbers of East Bengali refuSees were transported to

distant regions of India such as Andaman and Nicobar Islands' Bettiah in Bihar' and the

Dandakaranya district of Madhya Pradesh'se It was decided that largely the reFigees

belonging to the lower castes such as Namasudras' Ichatriyas' Poundra Kshatriyas' who

took shelter in the refugee camps and received aid from the Government' had to 8o to

Dandakaranya. However, these original inhabitants of the Indo-Gangetic plains were

reluctant to move.

Legacy of Culture and Territory

The dislocation of refugees, and the human dimension it created had its longlasting effects

on the cultute, mind and terr i tory of Indian subcontinent ' Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

communicared ro the chief Minister of west Bengal Iegarding the striking difference in per

capita expenditure on rel lgees in the West and East by arguing that while "there was

something elemental about the situation in West Pakistan' where Practical ly al l Hindus and

sikhs have been driven out, wnereas in the East, i t was more Sradual, and many Hindus had

been able to renain".""

' lhe tradit ional middle class Bengali famil ies had been conservative and reluctant to

al low their $'omen folk to tal(e up jobs even i f they were in distress l he refugee womcn

brokc the tradit ion and thelr Srowing presence in the job market inf luenced the other sectors

o f t he Benga l i soc ie r y ' 1 l r us emerged the u rban wo rk ing women ' a new c lass l n BengJ l i

societv comPrised both refugee as well as non-refugcc womcn Economic independellcc

made them sclf-conscloris ano confident enouSh to hSht against patr iarchal societY rnd

u l t i na te l y l l ave way t o t he i l t - 'mpowermen t i n t he l ndcpenden i I nd ia '

. . n h n l e ( t A . . . R e g i o n a t D e v c l o p r n e t p r o c e s s a n d R e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f T r i b a l P o p u l a r i o n i n m i d - l n d i a L n

l ; lahi nnd Xosir rskv ( l l ( i ! . ) . P ' ; lu l i r l r r )n Re'J ist r ibut ion . rn( l I )ev ' l ( )Pnr"n ' In Soutf i Ar i ' r ' p 74

' ' l . l \ o ( 1 L r \ r r t ) r r r l ) . r ( l r k . i r r r \ \ . . S r ' u l d r D r D r d c r d ' j " \ ' o 1 l l N o S I ' r i l l 9 7 S

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 ) - 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 s l r o n r h r s r

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

' 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 1 9 ' 1 9 P 1 ' 1 3 c i t c d i n ( ' h a k r a b a r r i S r r o i t ! i i h D r B ( l R o ) :

- -" rug"" c; r i . i . in Las(ern ln( t ia Dur ing rhe F-ar l ) Decacles in thc Posr Part i i ion south Asia 6 l

n number o l new towns emerged i n d i fTe rcn t pa r t s o f wes t I l enga l . I l l e 1961 Cc t r sus

idcn r i l l cd 69 ncw towns i n wes t l i cnSa l l vh i ch t o ta l ed t hc nun lbe r o f 1o l vns t o 184 . S im i l a r l y

t he 1q71 C ( rnsus i dcn t i f i ed 4 : l ne ! ! t o l v t r s . n rak ing t hc t o l a l number o i t owns t o 223

( l i r b l r . 1 ) .

Table 4: Growth of Towns and Urban Population. 1941-1971

Percentage o fUrban Popu la t ion

sourcei L 'cnrur of Indio. 1 ' r71 _ iCaicutta emerged as one of the most congested mega cit ies with high level of urban

conccntration.6r West Rengal emerged as a food deficit region.u' Undoubtedly, the massive

and continued influx of refugees was a tremendous drain on social services and had a

considerable impact on the polit ical and economic structure of West Bengal. However,

despite Kolkata's reputation as a disordered and chaotic metropolis, it is sti l l 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 successor states, 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,Occassional PaDer No. 62, Calcutta.

vakil c N (1950), Economic Consequences of Divided Indio: A study of the Economy of lndia ar.dFdi;..rn, vora anC Co., Bombay.

Schendel Wil l iatn Van (2003), "Working Through Part i t ion: Making A Living in the BenSalBorderlands", in Das Ar-vind N and Linden Marcel van der (Eds.), work ond sociol Chonge in Asia:Essays in Honour of Jon Bremen, p. 54, Manohar, New Delhi.

onY e a r

1 9 4 1

No. of Towns Urban Popu la t ion

102 47,40 ,222

to Total Populati

20.41

2 3.8{J1 9 5 1 I l 5 6 2 , 8 | , 6 4 2

1 9 6 1 1 8 4

223

85,40 ,842

1,09 ,67 ,033

'24.45

21.75

The IUP Journal of History and Cul lure. Vol . IV l lo. 3. 2010

was not rhe same for all people in Indja and as Sabyasachi Bhattacharya rightly pointedout: "Bengal and punjab underwent partit ion, while the rest of India cxperienced itvicariously'.6a

By l97Os, the terms ,refugee,and ,displaced, had been replaced in official r"nguage by'migrants'. 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 andMarch 31, 1958 are known as ord ,migrants,; and those who came betweenJanuary 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 interminablequarrels 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" ""*.-,

^*.*r,*.l,1 , oo-.,,_il"-,-"* o"rU.' 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 . c o v e r n m e n t o f . ' e s t r e n s a r . c a r c u r r a .

' The t ines af rndie. Jun€ ls , 1947.

R€fusee crisis in Easrern india During the t"m