Bangladeshi and Inter-state Migrants: Differential Adaptation and Acceptance by the Locals in West Bengal, India (original) (raw)
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REVISITING THE LIFE STRUGGLE OF MARGINAL HINDU BENGALI REFUGEES IN WEST BENGAL IN POST-INDEPENDENT INDIA, 2021
It was the most painful chapter in the life of Bengalis and Sikhs during the partition. Most researchers agree that religion was the main catalyst for the partition. Partition divided Greater India into two new countries, India and Pakistan, based on religious identity. Behind the partition, there were sorrows, pains, feelings, memories, and many untold stories. Particularly, marginal Bengali Hindus and Sikhs were more adversely affected by the Partition than upper-caste Hindus. The question is that while the Sikhs got the opportunity of property exchange and citizenship, the Bengalis did not. Despite all these challenges the Bangladeshi Bengali marginalized lower caste Hindu Refugees are still living in Bengal,
Migration and Diaspora: A Case Study of the Bangladeshi Immigrants in Assam and North-East
Migration as defined by the Oxford dictionary is the movement of people to a new area or country in order to find work or better living conditions. It mainly takes place in search of better prospects in life which will ensure secured living conditions or to avoid persecution in their country of domicile. The importance of migration has increased manifold in the light of globalization. The ease of access due to the effects of globalization led to the rise of movement of people across borders. Migration does not always affect the people who are emigrating. It indirectly affects the native population too, as the immigrants bring their own culture along with them. The natives because of the immigrants have to compete with them in all aspects such as employment, preservation of their own culture and other areas. Migrants when they move to a new country want to be treated as one along with the citizens from the host country and assimilate into their culture. This research paper will look into the particular case study of the immigrants from Bangladesh in Assam and the impact they have in the overall society of Eastern India. Given the fact that India and Bangladesh were one country and the borders were artificially created due to historical and political reasons, the borders are porous in several areas of Assam which paves an easy way for the immigrants to cross borders. This kind of migration has become a threat to the multicultural society of the North East, especially in the state of Assam. This research paper will try to look broadly into the influx of Bangladeshi migrants and the problems it has created for the population of Assam and the North-East. Keywords: Migration, Bangladesh, India, Borders, countries.
FORCED MIGRATION: PLIGHT OF THE HINDU MINORITY IN BANGLADESH AND PRESENT CRISIS IN ASSAM
GRFDT Research Monograph Series GRFDT, 2017
The present study falls on the conflict induced forced migration. In this situation people are forced to leave their ancestral home for fear of life and property. Such people usually flee across the international borders in search of refuge or seek asylum under international law. Various reports mention that the minoritiesespecially the Hindus of Bangladesh are not safe in their country and forced them to leave Bangladesh due to continuous persecution of different forms. They generally entered into India and denied to go back again. To ameliorate the suffering of the minority groups like the Hindus, the Buddhist, Sikhs, etc. residing in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the National Democratic Alliance government of India introduce a bill in the Parliament in 2014 and again in July 2016 to grant them Indian citizenship status by brining amendment into the Citizenship Act, 1955. The proposed bill has been creating a great repercussion in the whole state of Assam. Because large number of Bengali Hindu immigrants are residing in Assam in clandestine manner. If amendment of Citizenship Act comes into force, it would enable over 1.5 lakhs undocumented Hindu illegal migrants to get Indian citizenship status. Therefore as many as 26 ethnic organizations and students bodies protested against it and claims that Assam wouldn’t take the responsibility of post 25th March 1971 foreigners and the Central Government should accommodate such people in another state. So this paper is an attempt to highlight the problem of forced migration in India with primary focus on how the Central Government’s decision creating a conflict like situation in Assam.
REVISITING THE LIFE STRUGGLE OF MARGINAL HINDU BENGALI REFUGEES IN
SOUTH INDIA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES ISSN: 0972 – 8945, 2021
The partition of Greater India into India and Pakistan marked a painful chapter for Bengalis and Sikhs, driven primarily by religious identity. While the Sikhs had the opportunity to exchange property and citizenship, the marginalised Bengali Hindus faced greater odds. Many low-caste Hindu refugees still live in Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and the Andaman Islands, struggling with issues of citizenship, employment, food and shelter. Seventy-five years after independence, many Bengali refugees, especially around Sealdah station, live in unhygienic conditions. Although some educated middle-class refugees have established themselves, many others still lack basic necessities such as food, housing, education, and health care. This article focuses on the socio-economic struggles of marginalized Hindu Bengali refugees in West Burdwan, Bankura and Birbhum districts.
A Theoretical Analysis of Stranded Biharis in Bangladesh: Seeking for nationality since four decades
International Journal of Advanced Research, 2013
Many people become refugee during communal riot of 1947 in India who ultimately took shelter in East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh. Those "Urdu Speaking‟ refugees came from Bihar, Uttor Pradesh, Mahyndra Pradesh and Rajstan of India. They have known as Bihari as most of them came from Bihar province of India. The West Pakistani ruler welcomed them in East Pakistan due to their having similarity of religion, language and culture. They received citizenship of Pakistan and patrons in profession by government. They engaged themselves in Language movement (1952), liberation war (1971) in favor of Pakistan and against the interest of East Pakistan. After victory in 1971, Bangladesh did not recognize them as citizen of the state. And since then those people became stateless refugee. There is a huge controversy of their refugee status and they are stranded form their old country; Pakistan, and became alien in Bangladesh. In this paper, a theoretical analysis has been done to give a deep insight about the real status of Biharis in Bangladesh.
Migration to the Desired Homeland: A Case Study of the Chhitmahals, Cooch Behar, West Bengal
Chitmahal or enclaves are geographically area separated from the main land but paying revenue to it. Enclaves in India and in Bangladesh were created for a variety of historical, political and geographical reasons. Its inhabitants did not have any constitutional right and basic amenities for their livelihood for as long as 67 years even after independence. The historical land boundary agreement between India and Bangladesh came into effect only on 31 July, 2015. As the enclave residents were allowed to choose the nationality of their own, more than 200 families residing in erstwhile enclaves in India applied for Indian citizenship and about 922 persons have settled in the Camps at Mekhliganj, Haldibari and Dinhata of Cooch Behar district, West Bengal. The present paper focusses on their socio-economic conditions in the light of the availability and quality of Government services. Local administration provides food and helping to complete the necessary paper work for national identification, employment card and other social services. Apart from these, no other rehabilitation programmes has been undertaken. They are now facing serious problems of unemployment and permanent citizenship. Even, many of them could not sell their land while coming back to India from the Chhitmahals in Bangladesh. Now they are completely 'landless' and 'jobless' and confused about their decision to migrate to Indian main land.
BANGLADESHI IMMIGRANTS IN ASSAM: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A FORCED ‘OTHER’
GRFDT Research Monograph Series, 2016
The politics of immigration manipulation in Assam has witnessed a gradual transformation from its economic roots, an aspect that has been often neglected in the quest for forming a historical trajectory of immigration instead. Further, the change in the debate from economy to polity as seen from the vantage point of a top-down approach also necessitates a deeper exploration in the context of ‘othering’ only a subset of the total immigrants to the state. The Hindu-Muslim divide has come under renewed focus with the question of citizenship rights to the Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, a direct result of the changing ideology of the power holders. In such a context, the debate on open versus closed borders have been relegated to the backdrop, and the idea of returning to one’s homeland that characterizes one of the crucial constitutive factors of a diaspora have not borne fruit.
Status and identity crisis of the Bihari diaspora in Bangladesh
2020
Urdu-speaking Bihari community was displaced from various regions of India initially after the partition and once again after the independence of Bangladesh. As they are considered Pakistani in a primordial sense, lots of attempts were made to send them back to Pakistan, their ideological home. But due to diplomatic failure and several other reasons, only a few people could repatriate, left majority behind. But they could never assimilate here. As a result, their identity crisis began. The government of Bangladesh, considering their despondent condition, declared them as citizens of Bangladesh. But still there remain difficulties in achieving full functioning citizenship status since they have not fully integrated into the society as a whole. This study aims to reveal the current condition of the Bihari identity crisis and the degree of assimilation to the Bengali society and culture. By adopting a qualitative approach, it took stratified sampling method to collect data. Data were c...