Partition of Bengal (1947) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Partition of Bengal in 1947, part of the Partition of India

Partition of India

The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

, was a religiously based partition

Partition (politics)

In politics, a partition is a change of political borders cutting through at least one territory considered a homeland by some community. That change is done primarily by diplomatic means, and use of military force is negligible....

that divided the British Indian

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

province of Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

between India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

and Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. Predominantly Hindu West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

became a province of India, and predominantly Muslim East Bengal

East Bengal

East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal....

became a province of Pakistan.

The partition, with the power transferred to Pakistan and India on August 14–15, 1947, was done according to what has come to be known as the "3 June Plan" or "Mountbatten Plan". India’s freedom on August 15, 1947 ended over 150 years of British influence in the Indian subcontinent.

East Bengal, which became a province of Pakistan according to the provisions set forth the Mountbatten Plan, later became the independent country of Bangladesh after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War

Bangladesh Liberation War

The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....

Background

In 1905, the first partition in Bengal was implemented as an administrative preference, making governing the two provinces, West and East Bengal, easier. While the partition split the province between West, in which the majority was Hindu, and the East, where the majority was Muslim, the 1905 partition

Partition of Bengal (1905)

The decision of the Partition of Bengal was announced on 19 July 1905 by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The partition took effect on 16 October 1905...

left considerable minorities of Hindus in East Bengal and Muslims in the West Bengal. While the Muslims were in favour of this partition, due to their obtainment of their own province, Hindus were not. This controversy led to increased violence and protest and, in 1911, the two provinces were once again united.

However, the disagreements between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal which had sparked the Partition of Bengal in 1905 still remained and laws, including the Partition of Bengal in 1947, were implemented in order to fulfill the political needs of the parties involved.

The partition

As per the plan, on 20 June 1947, the members of the Bengal Legislative Assembly cast three separate votes on the proposal to partition Bengal:

In the joint session of the house, composed of all the members of the Assembly, the division of the joint session of the House stood at 126 votes against and 90 votes for joining the existing Constituent Assembly (i.e., India)
Then the members of the Muslim-majority areas of Bengal in a separate session passed a motion by 106-35 votes against partitioning Bengal and instead joining a new Constituent Assembly (i.e., Pakistan) as a whole.
This was followed by the separate meeting of the members of the non-Muslim-majority areas of Bengal who by a division of 58-21 voted for partition of the province.

Under the Mountbatten Plan, a single majority vote in favour of partition by either notionally divided half of the Assembly would have decided the division of the province, and hence the house proceedings on 20 June resulted in the decision to partition Bengal. This set the stage for the creation of West Bengal as a province of the Union of India and East Bengal as a province of the Dominion of Pakistan

Dominion of Pakistan

The Dominion of Pakistan was an independent federal Commonwealth realm in South Asia that was established in 1947 on the partition of British India into two sovereign dominions . The Dominion of Pakistan, which included modern-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, was intended to be a homeland for the...

.

Also in accordance with the Mountbatten Plan, in a referendum held on 7 July, the electorate of Sylhet voted to join East Bengal. Further, the Boundary Commission headed by Sir Cyril Radcliffe decided on the territorial demarcation between the two newly created provinces. The power was transferred to Pakistan and India on 14 and 15 August, respectively, under the Indian Independence Act 1947

Indian Independence Act 1947

The Indian Independence Act 1947 was as an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan...

Aftermath

The second partition of Bengal left behind a legacy of violence which continues to this day. As Bashabi Fraser put it, “There is the reality of the continuous flow of ‘economic migrants’ / ‘refugees’ / ‘infiltrators’ / ‘illegal immigrants’ who cross over the border and pan out across the sub-continent, looking for work and a new home, setting in metropolitan centres as far off as Delhi and Mumbai, keeping the question of the Partition alive today. “

West Bengal

Radcliffe's line

Radcliffe Line

The Radcliffe Line was announced on 17 August 1947 as a boundary demarcation line between India and Pakistan upon the Partition of India. The Radcliffe Line was named after its architect, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, who as chair of the Border Commissions was tasked with equitably dividing of territory...

split Bengal into two halves which, historically

History of Bengal

The history of Bengal includes modern day Bangladesh and West Bengal, dates back four millennia. To some extent, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers separated it from the mainland of India, though at times, Bengal has played an important role in the history of India.- Etymology :The exact origin...

was always a single economic zone

Bengal

. The two halves was intricately connected with each other. The fertile East

Ganges Delta

The Ganges Delta is a river delta in the South Asia region of Bengal, consisting of Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal, India. It is the world's largest delta, and empties into the Bay of Bengal...

produced food and raw materials which the West consumed and the industrialized West

West Bengal

produced manufactured goods which were consumed by the East

East Bengal

. This mutually beneficial trade and exchange was severely disrupted by the partition. Rail, road and water communication routes were severed between the two. After partition West Bengal suffered from a substantial food shortage as the fertile rice producing districts of Bengal went to the eastern half. The shortage continued throughout fifties and sixties. By 1959 West Bengal faced an annual food shortage of 950000 tones. Hunger marches became a common site in Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

Jute

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae....

was the largest industry

Jute mill

Originally, a jute mill was a factory for processing jute. The first jute mill was established in Dundee, Scotland. The world's largest jute mill was the Adamjee Jute Mills at Narayanganj in Bangladesh. It closed all operations during 2002....

in Bengal at the time of partition. Radcliffe's line left every single jute mill

Jute mill

in West Bengal but four fifth of the jute producing land in East Bengal. The best quality fiber yielding breeds of jute were cultivated

Jute cultivation

Jute is one of the most important natural fibers after cotton in terms of cultivation and usage. Cultivation is dependent on the climate, season, and soil. Almost 85% of the world's jute cultivation is concentrated in the Ganges delta....

mostly in East Bengal. India

India

and Pakistan

Pakistan

initially went into a trade agreement to import raw jute from East Bengal for West Bengal's mills. However Pakistan had plans to set up its own mills and put restrictions on raw jute export to India. West Bengal's mills faced acute shortage. The industry faced a crisis. On the other hand jute farmers in East Bengal was now without a market to sell their produce. Jute export to West Bengal suddenly became an anti-national act for Pakistan. Smuggling of raw jute shot up across the border. However West Bengal rapidly increased jute production and by mid to late fifties became largely self sufficient in jute. West Bengal's mills became less dependent on East Bengal for raw material. Pakistan also set up new factories

Adamjee Jute Mills

Adamjee Jute Mill was established in Narayanganj, Bangladesh, in 1951, by Adamjee Group, immediately after Bawa Jute Mills...

to process its local produce instead of exporting to India. The following table shows jute production details in two countries in 1961.

Year 1961	Area Harvested (Ha Hectare The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2... )	Yield (Hg/Ha)	Production (tonnes)
Bangladesh	834000	15761	1314540
India	917000	12479	1144400

West Bengal's paper

Paper mill

A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...

and leather industry faced similar problems. The paper mills used East Bengal's Bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

and the tanneries consumed leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

, also mainly produced in East Bengal. Like jute, lack of raw material pushed these two industries into decline.

Despite center

Government of India

The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

and state governments'

Government of West Bengal

The Government of West Bengal also known as the State Government of West Bengal, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of West Bengal and its 19 districts...

best efforts, the pressure of millions of refugees, food shortages and industrial decline put post-independence West Bengal in a severe crisis. Dr. B. C. Roy

Bidhan Chandra Roy

Bidhan Chandra Roy, M.R.C.P., F.R.C.S. was the second Chief Minister of West Bengal in India. He remained in his post for 14 years as a Indian National Congress candidate, from 1948 until his death in 1962. He was a highly respected physician and a renowned freedom fighter...

's government tried to cope up with the situation by initiating several projects. The government built irrigation networks

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

like DVC

Damodar Valley Corporation

The Damodar Valley Corporation, popularly known as DVC, is the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India. The corporation came into being on July 7, 1948 by an Act of the Constituent Assembly of India . It is modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority of the USA. Jawaharlal...

and Mayurakshi

Mayurakshi River

Mayurakshi River is a major river in West Bengal, India, with a long history of devastating floods.It has its source on Trikut hill, about 16 km from Deoghar in Jharkhand state. It flows through Jharkhand and then through the districts of Birbhum and Murshidabad in West Bengal before flowing...

project, the Durgapur industrial zone

Durgapur Steel Plant

Durgapur Steel Plant is one of the integrated steel plants of Steel Authority of India Limited, located in Durgapur, in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. It has played a historically important part in the industrial development of India. Although not a separate company, it is the largest...

and the Salt Lake City. But these failed to arrest West Bengal's decline. Poverty rose. West Bengal lost its top place and lagged well behind other Indian states in industrial development. Massive political unrest, strikes and violence crippled the state throughout the next three decade after partition.

North East India

Rail and road links connecting North East India to the rest of the country passed through East Bengal territory. The lines connecting Siliguri

Siliguri

Siliguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck - a very narrow strip of land linking mainland India to its north-eastern states. It is also the transit point for air, road and rail traffic to the neighbouring countries of Nepal,...

in North Bengal

North Bengal

North Bengal is a term used for the northern parts of Bangladesh and West Bengal. The Bangladesh part denotes the Rajshahi Division. Generally it is the area lying west of Jamuna River and north of Padma River, and includes the Barind Tract. The West Bengal part denotes Cooch Behar, Darjeeling,...

to Kolkata and Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

to Chittagong

Chittagong

Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...

were severed. The whole Assam Railway

Bengal Assam Railway

The origin of the Bengal Assam Railway, a railway system operated in India between 1942-47, lies in the Assam Bengal Railway, which was conceived in the late eighties of the nineteenth century, when railways had come to expand in different parts of the subcontinent, with the objective of developing...

was cut off from the rest of the Indian system

Indian Railways

Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....

. These lines carried almost all freight traffic from these regions. The most important commodities were tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

and timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

. The tea industry in Assam

Assam tea

Assam is a black tea named after the region of its production, Assam, in India. Assam tea is manufactured specifically from the plant Camellia sinensis var. assamica . This tea, most of which is grown at or near sea level, is known for its body, briskness, malty flavor, and strong, bright color...

depended on the Chittagong port to export its produce and import raw materials for the industry such as coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

which was used as the fuel to dry

Tea processing

Tea processing is the method in which the leaves from the tea plant Camellia sinensis are transformed into the dried leaves for brewing tea. The categories of tea are distinguished by the processing they undergo. In its most general form, tea processing involves different manners and degree of...

the tea leaves. The industry was severely hit as Chittagong port went to Pakistan. Initially India and Pakistan reached an agreement to allow cross border transit

Transit

-Transportation:* Ford Transit, a van made by the Ford Motor Company* Mass transit, public transport systems in which passengers are carried in large numbers* Navigational transit, when a navigator observes two fixed reference points in line...

traffic but now India had to pay a tariff

Tariff

A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....

. By 1950 India reconnected Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

to the rest of the country's rail network by building a 229 km meter gauge rail link through the Siliguri corridor. But now the Tea chests from Assam's gardens

Tea garden

Tea garden may refer to:* Roji, gardens surrounding Japanese tea houses and which form part of the architecture associated with Japanese tea ceremony* Tea plantations, where tea bushes are cultivated...

would have to be carried over a much longer distance to reach the Kolkata port. Exporting tea via the nearby Chittagong port was still an option but after 1965's war

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. This conflict became known as the Second Kashmir War fought by India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947...

all transit traffic was switched off by Pakistan.

East Pakistan became independent Bangladesh in 1971

Bangladesh Liberation War

but cross border railway traffic didn't resume until 2003. By nineties India upgraded the Assam rail link to broad gauge

Indian gauge

Indian gauge is a track gauge commonly used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Chile. It is also the gauge that is used on BART , in northern California.- Scotland :...

right up to Dibrugarh

Dibrugarh

Dibrugarh is the headquarters of Dibrugarh district, Assam, India, and is the second largest city in Assam after Guwahati. It is situated on the banks of the Brahmaputra River, about north-east of Guwahati. It is the gateway to the three tea-producing districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, and Sibsagar...

thereby easing the traffic problem in Brahmaputra valley region. But the southern section of this area which comprises Tripura

Tripura

Tripura is a state in North-East India, with an area of . It is the third smallest state of India, according to area. Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the north, south, and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to the east. The capital is Agartala and the main languages spoken are...

, Mizoram

Mizoram

Mizoram is one of the Seven Sister States in North Eastern India, sharing borders with the states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur and with the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Burma. Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on 20 February 1987. Its capital is Aizawl. Mizoram is located in the...

, Manipur

Manipur

Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of...

and Barak valley

Barak Valley

Barak Valley is situated in the southern part of the Indian state of Assam.It's another name is East Bengal or Northeast Bengal The main city of the valley is Silchar. The place is named after the Barak river. Barak valley mainly consists of three districts namely Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi...

of Assam still faces serious connectivity

Transport

Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...

problem. Talks between the two countries are currently underway to allow transit traffic between this area and mainland India through Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

East Bengal

At the time of partition East Bengal

East Bengal

had no large industry. There were few mineral resources in this region. Its economy was completely agrarian. The main produce was food grains and other crops, jute, bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

, leather and fish

Fishery

Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...

. These raw materials were consumed by factories in and around Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

. Kolkata was the center of Bengal's economic and social development for both Hindus and Muslims. All large industries, Military bases, Government offices and most of the institutions of higher education were situated in Kolkata. Without Kolkata Muslim East Bengal was decapitated. It lost its traditional market for agricultural products. It also lost the Kolkata port, the premium port of the whole country at that time. East Bengal had to begin from nothing. Dhaka

Dhaka

Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...

at that time was only a district headquarter. The Government offices had to be placed inside makeshift buildings. Dhaka also faced a severe human resource crisis. The majority of high ranking officers in British Indian administration were Hindu and they migrated to West Bengal. Often these posts had to be filled up by West Pakistani officers. Desperately poor, East Bengal soon became politically dominated by West Pakistan. Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

was imposed upon the whole country. Economic disparities and subjugation of Bengalis by the Punjabi

Punjabi people

The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...

elite eventually led to struggle for separation

Bangladesh Liberation War

Background

The partition

Aftermath

West Bengal

North East India

East Bengal

See also