Bengali Report - Bengalee Association Bihar

CONTENTS 

ii 

Page No. 

List of Tables i 

Section I : Introduction 1-4 

Approach of the Survey 3 

Structure of the Report 4 

Section II : Socio-Economic Conditions of Bengali Population 5-26 

Structure of Sample 5 

Demographic Profile 6 

Literacy Status 9 

Employment Patterns 12 

Economic Status 15 

Housing Conditions 21 

Section III : Bengali Refugees from East Pakistan (Bangladesh) 27-33 

Domicile Status 27 

Displacement and Rehabilitation 28 

Caste Status 30 

A.K. Biswas Report 33 

Section IV : Conclusions 36-39 

Appendix A : Questionnaire for Survey 40-41 

Appendix B : A List of Scheduled Castes in Bihar and West Bengal 42 

Appendix C : Report of A.K. Biswas 43-49 

Appendix D : Office Order of Deputy Commissioner, East Champaran 50-51

Table 1 : Sample Size of Survey 

LIST OF TABLES 

Table 2 : Demographic Profile of Bengali Population 

Table 3 : Percentage Distribution of Persons (Above 6 Years) by Education Status 

Table 4 : Percentage Distribution of Households by the Highest Level of Literacy of 

Members 

Table 5 : Knowledge of Bengali among Bengali Population (About 6 Years) 

Table 6 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Population (15 Years or above) by Occupation 

(Male) 


(Female) 

Table 8 : Percentage Distribution of Households by Their Landholding 

Table 9 : Leasing Out and Mortgaging of Land by Landowning Households 

Table 10 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by the Monthly Income 

Table 11 : Percentage of Bengali Households by Type of Their Ration Cards 

Table 12 : Percentage of Bengali Households Benefited by Selected Government Welfare 

Programmes 

Table 13 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Type of Ownership of Their 

House 

Table 14 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Type of Roof and Floor of Their 

Dwellings 

Table 15 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Source of Drinking Water 

Table 16 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Toilet Facilities at Their House 

Table 17 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Availability of Electricity at Their 

Houses 

Table 18 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Their Domicile Status 

Table 19 : Percentage Distribution of Refugee Bengali Households by Their Year of 

Displacement 


Rehabilitation 

Table 21 : Percentage Distribution of Refugee Bengali Households by Land Allocated to 

Them 

Table 22 : Percentage Distribution of Refugee Bengali Households by Their Caste Category 

According to the Bihar Caste List 

Table 23 : Information on Mismatch between Caste Classification of Bengali Households 

iii i

SECTION I 

INTRODUCTION 

The history of Bengali population in Bihar is very long. Because of their long stay in 

Bihar, a majority of them are indeed as Bihari as any other, except for the distinction 

that their mother tongue is Bengali, not Hindi. Broadly speaking, the Bengali 

population in Bihar can be divided into a few broad categories. The first of these 

covers those who have been original residents of Bihar in the districts adjacent to 

West Bengal, particularly in the Purnea division in north-eastern region of the state. 

In the second category, one may include those who have migrated to Bihar, once 

the colonial administration had started spreading its wings from Bengal, its initial 

seal. This stream of migration from Bengal had started sometime in the nineteenth 

century and continued till the beginning of the next century; thereafter, the state's 

own education system was able to produce enough number of qualified persons to 

fill the posts in colonial administration, arresting the trend of migration of Bengalis 

from Bengal to Bihar. The third category of Bengali population in Bihar includes 

those who have migrated to the state on their own, either before or after 

independence, mainly for employment opportunities. Finally, there is a large size of 

Bengali population in Bihar who had come here as refugees from East Pakistan 

(now Bangladesh), right after the partition of the country. As a part of the national 

policy of rehabilitation for refugees from East Pakistan, these Bengalis were actually 

brought to Bihar through state initiative, and they were gradually rehabilitated 

mostly in the districts of West Champaran and East Champaran, but some families 

were also rehabilitated in Purnea, Katihar and Bhagalpur. In view of this historical 

trend, it is obvious that, an overwhelming proportion of Bengali population in Bihar 

are permanent residents of the state, those residing here temporarily for reasons of 

employment being a rather small fraction. Contrary to general impression, it should 

be noted that a substantial section of the Bengali population in Bihar lives in rural 

areas. These rural Bengali population includes those who are original residents of 

1

the state and the substantial number of refugee population settled in West 

Champaran and East Champaran. 

According to 2001 census, the size of the Bengali population in Bihar was 4.43 lakh, 

which is estimated to reach the figure of about 5.30 lakh in 2011. It is quite likely 

that this is an underestimate of the size of the Bengali population in Bihar, since the 

mother tongue of a large number of them might have been recorded as Hindi, 

because of certain deficiencies in census operations. An alternative estimate by 

knowledgeable sources puts the present size of Bengali population to be close to 

12 lakhs. This is indeed a believable figure, since the official records show that the 

number of refugee Bengalis settled in Bihar in the late fifties was close to 3.5 lakh. 

By now, this part of the Bengali population itself must be accounting for about 7 lakh 

Bengalis. Outside West Bengal and Tripura, the two states where Bengali is the 

principal language, the size of the Bengali population in Bihar is the third highest, 

only after Assam and Jharkhand. Unlike the Bengali population in some other states 

of India where they are found mostly in the urban areas, those residing in Bihar are 

found both in the rural and urban areas, as mentioned before. 

Since about 12 lakh Bengalis constitute only a small fraction of the total population 

of Bihar at 103.8 million, they are considered as a linguistic minority in the state. 

Presently, only one out of every 100 Biharis is a Bengali-speaking person. As is the 

case with minority population anywhere, the Bengali population in Bihar also suffers 

from certain social and economic disadvantages. One obvious disadvantage arises 

from the fact that they do not enjoy the opportunity of being educated in their 

mother tongue, and this also often translates into cultural disadvantages for the 

Bengalis. Next, the overall socio-economic status of the Bengali population is also 

inferior to that of the general population and this has been substantiated by the 

results of the present survey. Finally, those refugee Bengalis who had settled in 

Bihar also face certain problems regarding their caste-status. This problem is rather 

serious since, to avail the benefits of various state government welfare 

2

programmes, it is now often necessary to produce a duly issued caste-certificate. In 

the past, the refugee Bengali population also had to face the problem of citizenship 

which, however, has since been solved. 

In the past, the Bihar Bengali Association had repeatedly approached the 

concerned officials of Government of Bihar to redress various difficulties faced by 

the Bengali population, and the state government has already taken some positive 

steps in that direction. However, to identify a comprehensive policy towards the 

Bengali population, particularly the refugee population, the Honourable Chief 

Minister had requested the Bihar Bengali Association to prepare a comprehensive 

document on their socio-economic status and the specific problems that refugee 

Bengali population is facing here. The Bihar Bengali Association, after agreeing to 

the request, had requested the Bihar State Minorities Commission for necessary 

help on this regard, since Bengalis form a linguistic minority in the state. The 

Commission, in turn, had approached the Centre for Economic Policy and Public 

Finance (CEPPF) at the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), Patna for 

the survey, since the organisation had done a similar survey for the Muslim 

population in Bihar. The purpose of the present survey is just the same, viz., 

creation of an information base on Bengali population in Bihar, based on some 

primary data, collected from across the state. 

Approach of the Survey 

Taking into account the availability of resources, it was first decided that the sample 

size for the present survey will be 10,000 households. One possible approach to 

select the sample households was to divide it among those district where there 

resides a sizeable Bengali population and distribute the total sample size among 

those districts proportionally. One could prepare a list of such districts from the 

2001 census data. But such an approach would have implied rather small sample 

from many of the districts. It was, therefore, decided to restrict the number of 

districts to only 5, each of which has a very large Bengali population. Two of these 

3

districts are Purnea and Katihar where the Bengali population are largely original 

inhabitants. The next two districts were West Champaran and East Champaran 

where the refugees from East Pakistan (presently Bangladesh) were rehabilitated 

after independence, because of partition of Bengal. As mentioned before, knowing 

about the socio-economic conditions of this refuge population is one of the specific 

objectives of the survey. In all these 4 districts, the sample households were from 

the rural areas. Finally, it was decided to include Bhagalpur as one of the sample 

districts where the sample households were from Bhagalpur town, providing an 

information base for urban Bengali population. It should be noted here that the 

Bengali population in Bhagalpur town are generally old settlers. 

The questionnaire for the household survey (Appendix A) had included a number of 

enquiries, some on the individuals and others on the household. For the individuals, 

the survey had collected data on their sex, age, marital status, educational 

achievements, occupation, knowledge about their mother tongue Bengali, and 

whether the adults among them were listed as voters. For the household level 

information, the survey had tried to find out their economic status, living conditions, 

problems encountered in caste-classification and, finally, how complete has been 

the rehabilitation for the refugee households. 

Structure of the Report 

After this introductory section, Section 2 of the report presents an analysis of the 

socio-economic conditions of the Bengali population along the characteristics that 

were included in the survey questionnaire. Since the refugee Bengali population 

faces a number of special problems regarding their rehabilitation process, Section 3 

tries to identify these issues, and the extent of severity of these problems. Finally, 

Section 4 summarises the main findings of the survey, and also records some 

suggestions for the state government to ameliorate the conditions of the Bengali 

population. 

4

SECTION II 

SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF BENGALI POPULATION 

For historical reasons, the Bengalis in Bihar constitute a rather heterogeneous 

population in terms of their socio-economic status. The differences are observed 

not only between the rural and urban areas, but among the various regions or 

districts as well. At one end, the households vary first in terms of their domicile 

status (whether original residents or came to Bihar as immigrants), and secondly, 

with respect to the economic opportunities that are available to them in their 

respective regions. This section is focused on the socio-economic status of the 

overall Bengali population, as well as some differences that are observed across 

different districts. Wherever possible, the socio-economic conditions of the Bengali 

population has been compared with that the general population in Bihar. 

Structure of Sample 

The sample for the present survey, as mentioned before, was selected from 5 

districts of Bihar — Purnea, Katihar, West Champaran, East Champaran and 

Bhagalpur. Two of these 5 districts (Purnea and Katihar) were choosen to obtain 

information largely on the Bengalis who are original residents of the state; data from 

the next two districts (West Champaran and East Champaran) was expected to 

provide knowledge about the refugee Bengali population in Bihar; and finally, 

Bhagalpur was choosen to obtain required information on the urban Bengalis, most 

of whom have settled in Bihar long ago. 

In place of 10,000 households that was originally planned as the sample size for the 

survey, the Field Investigators had finally collected data from 10,536 household, the 

distribution of which among the 5 districts in presented in Table 1. It would have 

been better if the overall sample size was even more spread out among 

the 4 districts (Purnea, Katihar, East Champaran and Bhagalpur), at the cost of 

5

Districts 

Table 1 : Sample Size of Survey 

Households Persons 

Number Percentage Number Percentage 

Purnea 2192 20.8 10979 21.9 

Katihar 1383 13.1 5569 11.1 

West Champaran 4994 47.4 24517 48.8 

East Champaran 1642 15.6 7502 14.9 

Bhagalpur 325 3.1 1671 3.3 

All Districts 10536 100.0 50238 100.0 

West Champaran where the sample size was very large. But this limitation of the 

survey would not really affect its results, since absolute size of the sample in each 

district is fairly large. 

Demographic Profile 

To begin with, it is first noted from Table 2 that the average household size for the 

Bengali population in 4.8 persons, compared to 5.5 persons for general population 

in Bihar, as per the 2001 census. There could be two reasons for this demographic 

difference — first, the proportion of nuclear households is higher among the Bengali 

population than among the general population and, second, the fertility rate for the 

Bengali population is lower compared to the general population. One should also 

note here that the average size of the household varies considerably among the 

districts, from only 4.0 persons in Katihar to 5.1 persons in Bhagalpur. That the 

average size of household is the highest in Bhagalpur is, of course, somewhat 

surprising in view of the fact that they represent the urban Bengalis. 

6

Districts 

Table 2 : Demographic Profile of Bengali Population 

Average 

Househo 

ld Size 

All Ages 

Sex Ratio Percentage 

of 

0-6 

Years 

7 

population 

above 60 

years 

Literacy Rate 

Male Female Person 

Purnea 5.0 920 951 6.3 78.1 68.3 73.5 

Katihar 4.0 932 940 5.9 91.3 76.8 79.5 

West Champaran 4.9 918 947 5.4 65.2 47.6 56.9 

East Champaran 4.6 949 945 5.4 65.7 44.4 55.9 

Bhagalpur 5.1 971 975 9.2 93.9 93.7 93.8 

All Districts 4.8 938 948 5.8 78.8 66.2 71.9 

Bihar 5.5 916 933 6.8 73.4 53.3 63.8 

The demographic profile of the Bengali population in Bihar also appears to be better 

than that of its general population in terms of yet another characteristics — sex ratio 

(Table 2). In contrast to a sex ratio of 916 females per 1000 males (for all ages) for 

the general population, it is a little higher at 938 females for the Bengali population. 

One also observes considerable inter-district variations here, Purnea recording the 

lowest sex ratio of 920 and Bhagalpur recording the highest sex ratio at 971. When 

one moves to the sex-ratio for the children in the age-group 0-6 years, it registers 

an improvement, both for the Bengali population (938 to 948) and the general 

population (916 to 933). This obviously indicates that the unfortunate 

social practice of gender discrimination is diminishing in Bihar, across all sections of 

the society. 

In the absence of any detailed information on the health status of the population, 

the present survey has found out the 'percentage of population above 60 years' as 

a broad indicator of its health condition (Table 2). A higher percentage figure 

obviously indicates higher longevity of the population and, thereby, implies relatively 

better health conditions for them.

According to the present survey, only 5.8 percent of the total Bengali population 

were above 60 years of age, the comparable figure for the general population being 

slightly higher at 6.8 percent, as per the 2001 census. In other words, the average 

8

health status of the Bengali population is probably inferior to that of the general 

population. It is quite possible that the urban population enjoys a relatively better 

health status vis-à-vis their rural counterparts, both for the Bengali and general 

population. At least among the Bengali urban population in Bhagalpur, the 

percentage of population above 66 years was substantially higher at 9.2 percent. 

Literacy Status 

In spite of the fact that a major portion of the sample households in the present 

survey is from rural areas where the literacy rates are usually lower, it is interesting 

to note that the recorded literacy rate for the surveyed Bengali population was 71.9 

percent, a clear 8.1 percentage point more than the literacy rate for the general 

population in Bihar (63.8 percent), as per 2011 census (Table 2). There were only 

two districts where the literacy rate of the Bengali population was found to be low — 

West Champaran (56.9 percent) and East Champaran (55.9 percent). As 

mentioned before, Bengali population residing in these two districts are generally 

refugees and they are indeed socially disadvantaged in many respects. It is also 

interesting to know that the literacy rate for the urban Bengalis is very high (93.8 

percent), as observed for the sample households in Bhagalpur. 

Apart from recording a higher literacy rate, the gender disparity in literacy rate is 

also noticeably lower among the Bengali population than among the general 

population in Bihar (Table 2). Among the Bengalis, the female literacy rate (66.2 

percent) is 84 percent of the male literacy rate (78.8 percent); however, among the 

general population, the female literacy rate (53.3 percent) is only 73 percent of the 

male literacy rate (73.4 percent). This lower gender disparity with respect to literacy 

rate is observed in all the districts, particularly in Bhagalpur where the two gender- 

specific literacy rates are nearly equal (93.7 and 93.9 percent, for females and 

males respectively). 

Since a person is generally defined to be literate using a very liberal criterion in 

most socio-economic surveys in India (including the present survey), the literacy 

9

ate of a population is often an insufficient indicator of its educational status. For a 

comprehensive idea of about the educational status of a population, one should 

really consider the distribution of the population in various categories of educational 

levels and Table 3 presents such a distribution for the Bengali population of Bihar. It 

is immediately observed there that a large percentage of the literate Bengalis have 

only marginal educational achievements, i.e., below matriculation. One cannot 

expect such people to derive much advantage of education through either skill 

formation, or wider income opportunities, or higher levels of awareness on social 

issues. Among the Bengali population, only 16.2 percent of the persons are seen to 

have passed matriculation or any other higher examinations. This is indeed a low 

figure, pointing to the educational disadvantaged of the Bengalis, in spite of bare 

literacy skills that many of them posess. As before, the educational status is the 

worst for the Bengali population in West Champaran and East Champaran, followed 

by the two north-eastern districts of Purnea and Katihar; the educational status is, of 

course, the best in Bhagalpur since it represents the urban Bengali population. 

Table 3 : Percentage Distribution of Persons (Above 6 Years) by Education Status 

Districts 

Illiterate 

Just 

Literate 

Percentage of Persons 

Literate, 

but below 

Matric 

10 

Matric, but 

below 

Graduation 

Graduate 

and 

above 

Total 

Purnea 18.5 43.4 18.3 14.4 5.5 100.0 

Katihar 15.3 46.6 15.6 17.6 5.0 100.0 

West Champaran 35.3 31.0 23.8 8.7 1.1 100.0 

East Champaran 36.8 28.4 23.6 9.5 1.6 100.0 

Bhagalpur 3.3 12.4 8.2 31.6 44.4 100.0 

All Districts 28.1 34.2 21.0 12.0 4.2 100.0 

As a supplementary information on the educational status of Bengali population in 

Bihar, Table 4 presents the percentage distribution of households by the highest

level of education of any of its members. The rationale for this information lies in the 

fact that it gives an estimate of 'first generation learners' in a population which, as 

has been underlined by many researchers, is an important challenge for the spread 

of literacy and education. Assuming that it is necessary for at least one member of 

the household to have primary education so that next generation learners can have 

at-home learning inputs, it is observed that only about half the Bengali households 

(50.2 percent) have this advantage. If one considers matriculation as the minimum 

level of education required to provide at-home learning inputs to young children, the 

proportion of households with at least one matriculate person is found to be only 

33.0 percent among the Bengali households. It is quite likely that, for the general 

population in Bihar, this advantage is even narrower, implying a larger proportion of 

first generation learners. 

Table 4 : Percentage Distribution of Households by the Highest Level of Literacy of 

Members 

Districts 

Illiterate 

Percentage of Households with highest level of literacy at 

Below 

Primary 

Above 

Primary, 

Below 

Matric 

11 

Above 

Matric, 

Below 

Graduate 

Graduate 

and 

Above 

Total 

Purnea 5.2 42.5 11.6 13.1 27.6 100.0 

Katihar 6.7 41.9 10.9 15.4 25.1 100.0 

West 

Champaran 

12.1 39.5 23.4 14.4 10.6 100.0 


Bhagalpur 0.3 5.2 1.2 6.2 87.1 100.0 

All Districts 9.3 40.5 17.2 14.7 18.3 100.0 

By virtue of residing in Bihar, either as an original resident or as an immigrant, one 

special problem for the Bengali population in Bihar is an insufficient knowledge of 

Bengali language, their mother tongue. It is quite common to come across Bengalis 

who are literate, but their knowledge of Bengali language is very limited. This

happens because they do not have the opportunity of receiving their elementary 

education in Bengali; they attend schools imparting education either in Hindi, the 

local language, or in a limited number of cases, in English. The present survey had, 

therefore, tried to find out the percentage of Bengalis who can read and write 

Bengali language. It is obviously assumed that they all can at least speak Bengali 

and it is a reasonable assumption. The pitiable condition of the Bengali population 

in this regard is presented in Table 5. As regards reading abilities, only one-third of 

the Bengalis are reported to be able to read the Bengali script, either with difficulty 

or easily. A similar situation is also observed with respect to their abilities for writing 

Bengali script. Among the 5 districts, the situation is the worst in West Champaran 

and East Champaran, it is slightly better in Purnea and Katihar, and rather 

satisfactory is Bhagalpur. Residing as they do in a Hind-speaking state, such 

absence of knowledge about their mother tongue may not be an economic 

disadvantage for the Bengali population, but it certainly implies a cultural 

deprivation for them. 

Table 5 : Knowledge of Bengali among Bengali Population (Above 6 Years) 

Districts 

Can't 

Read 

Reading Writing 

Percentage of persons who Percentage of persons who 

Read 

with 

difficulty 

Read 

easily 

12 

All 

Can't 

write 

Write 

with 

difficulty 

Write 

easily 

Purnea 44.8 9.2 46.0 100.0 45.2 9.0 45.8 100.0 

Katihar 27.2 31.6 41.2 100.0 28.4 31.4 40.1 100.0 

West Champaran 81.5 8.8 9.6 100.0 81.8 8.0 9.4 100.0 

East Champaran 83.3 6.6 10.1 100.0 83.2 6.6 10.1 100.0 

Bhagalpur 11.0 6.4 82.6 100.0 15.1 10.5 74.5 100.0 

All Districts 64.7 11.2 24.1 100.0 65.1 11.3 23.6 100.0 

Employment Patterns 

Towards knowing the employment patterns of the Bengali population of Bihar, the 

present survey had collected two pieces of information — work participation ratio for 

All

the adult population, and occupational distribution of those who are employed. Two 

tables present this information, separately for males (Table 6) and females 

(Table 7). 

Table 6 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Population (15 Years or above) 

by Occupation (Male) 

Districts 

Work 

Participation 

Ratio 

Selfemployment 

(Agr.) 

Percentage of Population having the occupation of 


(Non- 

Agr.) 

13 

Wage 

Labour 

(Irregular) 

Service 

(Informal 

Sector) 

Service 

(Formal 

Sector) 

Service 

(Formal 

Government 

Sector) 

Total 

Purnea 54.1 25.0 30.2 35.1 4.0 3.5 2.1 100.0 

Katihar 55.1 15.0 30.4 38.6 2.9 5.3 7.8 100.0 



Bhagalpur 62.1 0.4 49.0 1.3 6.1 23.6 32.4 100.0 

All Districts 49.9 28.6 19.4 43.7 2.3 2.7 3.3 100.0 


(Female) 

Districts 

Work 

Participation 

Ratio 

Selfemploy 

ment 

(Agr.) 

Percentage of Population having the occupation of 


(Non- 

Agr.) 

Wage 

Labour 

(Irregula 

r) 

Service 

(Informal 

Sector) 

Service 

(Formal 

Sector) 

Service 

(Formal 

Government 

Sector) 

Total 

Purnea 10.0 49.3 13.9 27.1 1.4 1.8 6.7 100.0 

Katihar 10.9 6.0 25.2 29.5 5.0 11.1 23.2 100.0 



Bhagalpur 12.8 1.0 35.3 3.8 9.5 19.0 32.4 100.0 

All Districts 7.7 26.3 20.0 35.9 2.8 4.0 10.9 100.0

The overall work participation rate for the male Bengali population is found to be 

49.9 percent, which is slightly lower than the rate for the general population in Bihar 

(47.4 percent), as per the 2001 census (Table 6). The work participation rates, 

however, display wide variation across the districts, ranging from only 45.6 percent 

in West Champaran to 62.1 percent in Bhagalpur. These differences in the work 

participation rates are largely attributable to the educational achievements of the 

adult members of the population. However, the poor economic conditions of the 

Bengali population is indeed reflected by the next piece of information, viz., the 

distribution of workers by their occupational categories. Among the 6 categories 

presented in the table, the most disadvantageous category is the 'irregular wage 

labour' and this accounts for nearly half (43.7 percent) of the male workers. From 

the survey, it also emerges that the second most important occupational category is 

self-employment in agriculture (28.6 percent). However, in view of the limited 

endowment of land for the Bengali households (as discussed later), even this 

category of occupation is not an advantageous one. In other words, only a small 

portion of the male Bengali workers are engaged in occupations that ensures 

reasonable levels of income. It is, however, interesting to note that only 3.3 percent 

of the male Bengali workers are employed in the government sector, by far the most 

advantageous occupation category. 

In contrast to the pattern for men, the work participation ratio of adult women 

Bengali population (7.7 percent) is much lower than that for the general population 

(18.8 percent) (Table 7). Unlike for males, the female work participation rate in 

regions like Bihar is dependent on several factors including land endowment, 

educational standards, and caste background of the individuals. In case of Bengali 

women, their educational standards were a little higher compared to that of general 

women population, but their land endowment was less, and they also belonged to 

such castes whose women folk do not generally join workforce. As such, it is not 

surprising that their work participation rate is lower than that of general women 

population of Bihar. Among the 5 districts, the work participation rate for women 

14

Bengalis was found to be the highest in Bhagalpur, where they were all from the 

urban areas. It was the lowest in West Champaran (5.2 percent). 

It is also interesting to note from Table 7 that, although the work participation rate 

was rather low for Bengali women, those who did join the workforce are spread 

across several sectors, including irregular wage labour which accounted for about 

one-third (35.9 percent) of the Bengali women workers. Secondly, one may also 

note from the table that no less than 10.9 percent of the Bengali women workers 

are employed in formal government sector. This, as mentioned before, is a 

preferred occupation category. These women workers in formal government sector 

are concentrated in the two districts of Katihar (23.2 percent) and Bhagalpur (32.4 

percent). This is a rather high share and it appears that they are employed mostly 

as teachers, or ASHA (Accredited Social Health Associates) workers or Anganwadi 

Sevikas. This is likely in view of the relatively higher literacy rates among the 

Bengali women. 

Economic Status 

It is true that a substantial number of Bengalis in Bihar live in urban areas and they 

are generally well educated and are engaged in activities that bring them decent 

income. But, this economic image of the Bengali population is rather misleading, as 

a large section of the Bengalis in Bihar reside in rural areas and many of them are 

economically disadvantaged. 

Since land is the most important source of livelihood in the rural areas, it is of 

interest to know the land endowment of the Bengali households (Table 8). For the 

overall sample, it is found that nearly half of the Bengali households (49.4 percent) 

are landless. This landlessness is a much wider phenomenon is Purnea (85.1 

percent) and Katihar (72.9 percent), although a majority of the Bengali population 

there are original residents of Bihar; one would have expected most of these 

households to posess some amount of land. In case of Bengali households in West 

15

Champaran and East Champaran, they are relatively better off in terms of land 

endowment since, as a part of the rehabilitation policy of the state government, 

most of the refugee households were provided with some land for their livelihood. 

However, over the years, there must have been fragmentation of the initial holdings 

and, as such, the proportion of households presently having at least 2 acres of land 

does not exceed 10 percent in either of the districts. In other words, even among 

the Bengali agricultural households with some land, the majority of them are either 

marginal or small farmers. In any case, it is obvious that the land endowment 

pattern of the Bengali households are quite different in two eastern districts of 

Purnea and Katihar at one hand, and two western districts of West Champaran and 

East Champaran on the other. 

Districts 

Table 8 : Percentage Distribution of Households by Their Landholding 

Landless 0.1-1.0 

acre 

Percentage of Households having land 

1.1-2.0 

acre 

16 

2.1-4.0 

acre 

4.1-6.0 

acre 

More 

than 6.0 

acre 

Purnea 85.1 8.6 3.6 1.6 0.2 0.9 100.0 

Katihar 72.9 15.9 2.8 5.8 0.8 1.8 100.0 

West Champaran 31.0 41.9 17.4 5.5 2.9 1.3 100.0 

East Champaran 27.6 49.7 16.1 3.8 2.6 0.1 100.0 

All Districts 49.4 31.5 11.9 4.3 1.9 1.1 100.0 

Note : Bhagalpur is excluded from the table, since it had all urban households 

The difference between the two regions, however, is not just restricted to land 

endowment; one can also observe certain difference between the two regions with 

respect to management of land as well by the households (Table 9). In Purnea and 

Katihar, because of limited land availability and long domicile status of the Bengali 

households, the practice of leasing out land by the landowners is very limited (less 

All

than 3 percent) and so is their tendency to mortgage land for obtaining loans (less 

than 4 percent). In contrast, the practice of leasing out land is much wider in both 

West Champaran (19.4 percent) and East Champaran (38.0 percent). It was also 

found out during the field work that these leasing practices are generally within the 

Bengali population. It appears that Bengali households in these two districts with 

relatively more amount of land lease out part of their holdings to other Bengali 

households which are either landless or have very limited amount of land for self- 

cultivation. It is not the usual type of tenancy where households with large account 

of land lease out part of their holdings to small or medium farmers. It also appears 

that, for various reasons, the income from agriculture for the Bengali households is 

rather limited and, consequently, they often have to mortgage their land for 

obtaining loans. The proportion of households mortgaging land was as high as 23.5 

percent in West Champaran; in East Champaran it was lower at 9.6 percent. 

Table 9 : Leasing Out and Mortgaging of Land by Landowning Households 

Districts 

Percentage of 

Landowning Households 

Leasing 

out land 

17 

Mortgaging 

land 

Purnea 1.2 3.7 

Katihar 2.7 0.1 

West Champaran 19.4 23.5 

East Champaran 38.0 9.6 

All Districts 21.8 17.5 

Note : Bhagalpur is excluded from the table, since it had all urban households 

Taking into account all the sources of income, either agricultural or non-agricultural, 

the overall economic status of the Bengali households seems to be rather low 

(Table 10). More than half (56.6 percent) of the Bengali households had reported

their monthly income to be Rs. 3000 or less, which undoubtedly puts them into the 

category of below poverty level (BPL) households. Unfortunately, the rehabilitated 

refugee Bengali population in West Champaran and East Champaran are worst off 

in terms of income levels, in spite of their relatively better land endowments. It 

appears that, because of their social disadvantages in terms of literacy or caste 

status, they are yet to acquire enough knowledge and skill, enabling them to 

undertake high income occupations outside the rural economy. In analysing these 

income figures for Bengali households, it is pertinent to remember that the poor 

households usually understate their income; as such, the actual economic 

conditions of many of these households may be a little better. But even after making 

some premium for the understated income figures, it will still be rational to maintain 

that the overall economic status of the Bengali population in Bihar is rather low. 

However, as mentioned before, this economic disadvantage is limited to those 

Bengali households who reside in rural areas. For those Bengalis living in urban 

areas, the income levels are often decent, as indicated by the income figures for the 

sample households in Bhagalpur. 

Table 10 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Monthly Income 

Districts 

Less 

than 

3000 

Percentage of Households with monthly income of (Rs.) 

3001 to 

5000 

18 

5000 to 

10000 

10000 to 

10000 

More 

than 

15000 

Total 

Purnea 48.9 31.1 16.6 2.7 0.8 100.0 

Katihar 50.6 26.7 18.0 3.2 1.5 100.0 



Bhagalpur 2.2 39.7 24.0 16.3 17.8 100.0 

All Districts 56.6 26.0 14.3 1.9 1.1 100.0

The most substantive welfare programme of the state government for helping the 

economically disadvantaged population is the Public Distribution System (PDS) for 

foodgrains and a few other essential items of consumption. Although it is a 

universal programme, the real beneficiaries are those who hold a ration card which 

is either red (BPL household), or white (annapurna programme) or yellow (antodaya 

programme). The households living above poverty line (APL) are given a blue card. 

The distribution of ration cards of various types by the administration is beset with a 

number of problems in Bihar, and the situation is no different for Bengali 

households. In spite of wide prevalence of poverty, the proportion of Bengali 

households holding a red, yellow or white card is less than 40 percent (Table 11). 

Since the poverty level among the Bengali population is relatively higher in West 

Champaran and East Champaran, one also finds relatively more red/white/yellow 

cards in those districts. Yet another problem for the Bengali households vis-à-vis 

public distribution system is that 30.4 percent of them do not have any ration card. It 

is quite possible that some of these excluded households probably did not care to 

19

obtain a ration card, as they are high income (above poverty line or APL) 

households, but it is almost certain that a majority of these excluded households 

could not obtain a ration card of proper kind due to administrative lapses. Leaving 

aside Bhagalpur where BPL households are very limited, the above administrative 

lapse was more prominent in West Champaran and East Champaran, the two 

districts where poverty levels are relatively higher. 

Table 11 : Percentage of Bengali Households by Type of Their Ration Cards 

Districts 

APL 

Card 

(Blue) 

BPL 

Card 

(Red) 

Percentage of Households with 

Annapurna 

Card 

(White) 

20 

Antodaya 

Card 

(Yellow) 

No Card Total 

Purnea 56.8 27.8 0.3 2.5 12.6 100.0 

Katihar 40.8 25.4 0.6 4.1 29.1 100.0 



Bhagalpur 46.2 0.6 0.0 0.1 52.9 100.0 

All Districts 31.8 33.0 0.2 4.7 30.4 100.0 

The state government runs a number of other welfare programmes for the poor 

households, besides the public distribution system for foodgrains. Four of these 

additional welfare programmes are — Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Subsidy for Toilet, 

Old Age Pension, and Widow Pension. Unfortunately, the reach of all these welfare 

programmes among the Bengali households is very limited, as revealed by the 

figures in Table 12. Only under the IAY programme, a small proportion of Bengali 

households (6.4 percent) has been benefited; for the remaining three welfare 

programmes, their reach among the Bengali population is abysmally low. And this 

phenomenon of exclusion is observed in all the districts.

Table 12 : Percentage of Bengali Households Benefited by Selected Government Welfare 

Programmes 

Districts 

Indira 

Awas 

Yojana 

Percentage of Households Benefited from 

Subsidy 

for Toilet 

21 

Old Age 

Pension 

Widow 

Pension 

Kisan 

Credit 

Card 

Purnea 6.2 0.6 1.3 0.1 32.6 

Katihar 9.9 0.1 0.0 0.5 0.0 

West Champaran 3.0 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.0 

East Champaran 15.4 0.1 0.3 0.0 0.0 

All Districts 6.4 0.2 0.3 0.1 6.8 

Since agriculture happens to be the livelihood of many Bengali households in rural 

areas, the availability of institutional credit for farm operations is very important for 

them. This is not a welfare programme of the kind mentioned above, but the welfare 

implication of institutional credit for agricultural households is obvious. The Kisan 

Credit Card (KCC) is meant for such institutional credit for agriculture. 

Unfortunately, the coverage of KCC is extremely limited for the Bengali agricultural 

households. It may, however, be noted here that such limited coverage of KCC is a 

general phenomenon in most districts of Bihar, and it may not be related to any 

social background of the agricultural households. The only exception to this overall 

trend is the district of Purnea where no less than 32.6 percent of the households 

had the benefit of institutional credit through KCC. 

Housing Conditions 

From the information on landholding, monthly income, and a few other related 

characteristics of the Bengali population in Bihar, as discussed before, it is quite 

apparent that their overall economic conditions is far from comfortable. This

conclusion gets further reiterated when one looks at the housing conditions of the 

Bengali households. It is true that most Bengali households (94.4 percent) own their 

own house across all the 5 districts (Table 13), but the condition of those houses 

are indeed poor in terms of type of roof material, type of floor material, sources of 

drinking water, toilet facilities, and availability of electricity. 

Table 13 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Type of Ownership of Their 

House 

Districts 

Own House 

Percentage of Households Living in 

Rented 

House 

22 

Government 

Quarters 

Other 

Types 

Total 

Purnea 94.9 4.2 0.3 0.6 100.0 

Katihar 75.2 13.8 8.0 3.0 100.0 



Bhagalpur 83.4 15.1 1.2 0.3 100.0 

All Districts 94.4 3.8 1.2 0.7 100.0 

Bihar 96.8 2.1 neg. 1.1 100.0

As regards type of roof material, about half the Bengali households (46.1 percent) 

live in houses with thatched roofs, a cemented roof being available for only 15.2 

percent of the households (Table 14). In contrast, as per the 2001 census data, for 

the general population of Bihar, the proportion of households living in houses with 

thatched roof is only one-third (32.2 percent), and those with cemented roofs 

account for no less than 38.1 percent of the households. This clearly indicates that 

the economic condition of the Bengali population is inferior to that a general 

population of Bihar. Among the Bengali households, the housing pattern varies 

considerably among the 5 districts. The pattern in Bhagalpur is different because it 

represents an urban area and, as such, housing conditions are better there. For the 

remaining 4 districts, the housing conditions are much worse in the districts of West 

Champaran and East Champaran, compared to that in Purnea and Katihar. In terms 

of material for the floor, the proportion of Bengali households living in houses with 

Katcha floor is 81.5 percent, nearly the same for the general population in Bihar 

(81.5 percent). 

Table 14 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Type of Roof and Floor of 

Their Dwellings 

Districts 

Percentage of Households Having Roof 

Thatched 

Tiles/ 

Iron 

Sheets 

23 

Percentage of Households 

Having Floor 

Cemented Total Katcha Pucca Total 

Purnea 31.6 55.3 13.1 100.0 71.8 28.2 100.0 

Katihar 24.4 46.6 29.0 100.0 54.9 45.1 100.0 



Bhagalpur 2.2 14.2 83.7 100.0 11.4 88.6 100.0 

All Districts 46.1 38.7 15.2 100.0 81.5 18.5 100.0 

Bihar 32.2 29.7 38.1 100.0 80.5 19.5 100.0

As regards the source of drinking water for the households, the pattern varies 

considerably across the districts; this is very expected due to the varying 

hydrological conditions prevailing in different districts. In the absence of supply of 

piped water (available generally in urban areas), the most preferred source of 

drinking water in rural areas is ‘own hand pump’ and this facility is available to 67.4 

percent of the Bengali households (Table 15). For the other three sources of 

drinking water, the coverages are — common hand pump (23.2 percent), well (6.7 

percent), and piped water (2.7 percent). For the general population of Bihar, the 

sources of drinking water display a similar pattern. It may be noted here that, 

compared to many other regions in India, the availability of safe drinking water is 

relatively wider in Bihar, because the state is part of the Gangetic plane where 

ground water is abundant and its level is also rather high. 

Table 15 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Source of Drinking Water 

Districts 

Percentage of Households getting drinking water from 

Well 

Common 

Hand 

Pump 

24 

Own 

Hand 

Pump 

Piped 

Water 

Total 

Purnea 2.7 11.9 83.9 1.5 100.0 

Katihar 11.3 35.9 48.1 4.7 100.0 



Bhagalpur 25.8 8.9 30.2 35.1 100.0 

All Districts 6.7 23.2 67.4 2.7 100.0 

Bihar 6.0 21.6 68.0 4.4 100.0 

The toilet facilities available to the members of a household is another important 

indicator of living conditions and, as is well known, this facility is largely lacking in

most areas of Bihar, including some of the urban areas. According to 2001 census, 

no less than 75.8 percent of the households in Bihar used open space for toilet 

purposes, a private toilet being available to only 22.6 percent of the households. For 

the Bengali households in Bihar, the situation is seen to be better, but only slightly 

so (Table 16). The proportion of Bengali households using open space for toilet 

purposes is 61.1 percent, a high figure by any standard; similarly, the proportion of 

Bengali households who are fortunate to have a private toilet is only 30.2 percent, 

again a low figure by any standard. Thus, one may conclude that, although the 

availability of private toilets among the Bengali households is a little higher 

compared to the general population in Bihar, the proportion of Bengali households 

without a private toilet is still very high, indicating their poor living conditions. 

Table 16 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Toilet Facilities at Their 

House 

Districts 

Open 

Space 

Common 

Toilet 

(Dry) 

Percentage of Households using 

25 

Common 

Toilet 

(Flush) 

Own 

Toilet 

(Dry) 

Own 

Toilet 

(Flush) 

Purnea 47.2 3.6 2.8 26.9 19.5 100.0 

Katihar 27.9 13.4 9.9 13.3 35.5 100.0 



Bhagalpur 3.4 6.8 4.6 19.4 64.3 100.0 

All Districts 61.1 5.0 2.7 16.9 13.3 100.0 

Bihar 75.8 1.1 0.5 2.5 20.1 100.0 

Finally, it also emerges from the present survey that only 28.7 percent of the 

Bengali households in Bihar are fortunate to have electric connection in their 

All

houses (Table 17). Among the remaining households, there are some who reside in 

areas where electricity has not reached at all (30.6 percent), and the rest reside is 

areas where electricity has reached, but distribution lines (poles) are not there to 

connect the households to the power supply (40.7 percent). According to 2001 

census, the proportion of households having electric connection was only 16.4 

percent for the general population in Bihar and it may, thus, appear that the Bengali 

households are probably better off in terms availability of electricity at home; but it is 

quite possible that the present penetration of power distribution lines in Bihar is 

much deeper than what it was more than a decade ago. One can thus only 

conclude that the availability of electricity to the households is rather limited in Bihar 

and it affects equally both the general and the Bengali population. 

Table 17 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Availability of Electricity at 

Their Houses 

Districts 

No electricity 

(No pole 

nearby) 

Percentage of households with 

No electricity 

(other 

reasons) 

26 

Electric 

connection 

Purnea 14.4 17.9 67.7 100.0 

Katihar 46.3 13.7 40.1 100.0 

West Champaran 48.8 43.1 8.1 100.0 

East Champaran 53.3 29.3 17.4 100.0 

Bhagalpur 4.9 4.0 91.1 100.0 

All Districts 40.7 30.6 28.7 100.0 

Bihar 83.6 16.4 100.0 

All

SECTION III 

BENGALI REFUGEES FROM EAST PAKISTAN (BANGLADESH) 

At the time of independence in 1947, India was divided into two countries, Pakistan 

being carved out of it. In the process, two provinces, Punjab and Bengal, were also 

divided, Hindu-dominated areas falling in India, and those dominated by Muslims 

forming part of Pakistan. The process was particularly painful, since it implied 

displacement of a large number of families in both Punjab and Bengal. For those 

Hindu Bengalis who had to leave East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), the government 

had to undertake a massive rehabilitation programme. Since not all of them could 

be accommodated in West Bengal, they were moved to areas like Bihar, Madhya 

Pradesh, Andaman-Nicobar Islands, etc. In Bihar, they were settled mostly in old 

Champaran district (now dividend into two districts), but some of them were also 

settled in north-eastern districts of Purnea and Katihar. Unaware as they were of 

local conditions and local language, the process of rehabilitation was a long one for 

many of them, and even now these refugee Bengali population face some serious 

problems. This section is focused on this refugee Bengali population settled in 

Bihar. 

Domicile Status 

Earlier, it was mentioned that the Bengali population in Bihar is largely a 

heterogeneous category, comprising several sub-categories, based largely on their 

mode and time of arrival in Bihar. Broadly speaking, these sub-categories are— (a) 

original domicile of Bihar, (b) those who came as refugees and were rehabilitated 

by the government, (c) those who came as refugees, but were not rehabilitated, and 

(d) those who migrated to Bihgar on their own, either before or after independence. 

The distribution of the sample households among these four important groups is 

presented in Table 18. Since the survey had a large sample from West Champaran, 

no less then two-thirds (67.7 percent) of the households are refugee Bengali 

27

households, rehabilitated in Bihar. Indeed, in West Champaran and East 

Champaran, nearly the entire sample consists of such households. The next 

important sub-category of households comprise those who had migrated on their 

own (17.2 percent) and they are to be found mostly in Purnea and Katihar. The 

remaining two sub-categories — original domicile of Bihar and unrehabilitated 

refugee households — are of relatively smaller in size in the sample, but they are 

not altogether absent in Bihar. It is also noted from Table 18 that original resident 

Bengali households in Bihar are concentrated in Purnea, Katihar and Bhagalpur. 

The remaining tables in this section is restricted to only the refugee Bengali 

households, whether rehabilitated or not. 

Table 18 : Percentage Distribution of Bengali Households by Their Domicile Status 

Districts 

Original 

Domicile 

of Bihar 


Came as 

Refugee, 

and 

Rehabilitated 

Came as 

Refugee, 

but not 

Rehabilitated 

28 

Migrated 

to Bihar 

on Their 

Own 

All 

Households 

Percenta 

ge of 

persons 

(18+ 

years) 

Listed as 

Voters 

Purnea 3.7 16.8 20.8 58.7 100.0 86.4 

Katihar 36.2 24.0 10.0 29.9 100.0 72.5 



Bhagalpur 95.7 0.6 0.0 3.7 100.0 90.5 

All Districts 8.6 67.7 6.4 17.2 100.0 81.8 

Displacement and Rehabilitation 

To begin with, Table 19 presents the distribution of refugee Bengali households by 

their year of displacement. It is observed from the table that the process of 

displacement was most intense during the years 1956-60, when no less than 69.6 

percent of the households were displaced. But it also emerges from the table that 

the process had started earlier, right after the partition in 1947, and had also

continued for some years after 1960. Among the districts, the refugee Bengali 

households in West Champaran and East Champaran had largely arrived in late 

fifties; for similar households in Purnea and Katihar, however, their year of 

displacement had ranged from late forties to early sixties. Thanks to the sensitive 

response of the state government, these refugee Bengali households were 

rehabilied rather quickly. The official records indicate that about 3.5 lakh Bengalis 

from East Pakistan were rehabilitated in Bihar and, as shown by figures in Table 20, 

this huge task was completed within a period of barely 2-3 years. 


Displacement 

Districts 

Year of Displacement 

Upto 1950 1951-1955 1956-1960 After 1960 Total 

Purnea 72.2 15.2 4.0 8.7 100.0 

Katihar 25.6 0.0 7.9 66.7 100.0 



Bhagalpur 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 

All Districts 15.6 4.1 69.6 10.8 100.0 


Rehabilitation 

Districts 

Year of Rehabilitation 

Upto 1950 1951-1955 1956-1960 After 1960 Total 

Purnea 70.8 16.1 4.4 8.7 100.0 

Katihar 25.1 0.0 0.2 74.7 100.0 



Bhagalpur 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 

All Districts 14.1 1.9 69.3 14.7 100.0 

29

The process of rehabilitation of the refugee Bengali households had displayed two 

different patterns (Table 21). In West Champaran and East Champaran, nearly all 

the refugee households were provided with at least 3 acres of land, which is 

generally considered to be adequate for efficient agricultural operations. In Purnea 

and Katihar, however, only some refugee Bengali households had received land 

from the state government, and the average amount of allocated land was much 

smaller than in West Champaran and East Champaran. Unfortunately, due to 

several social disadvantages, the refugee Bengali population in West Champaran 

and East Champaran has not been able to make best use of their land endowments 

and their present socio-economic status, as discussed in the previous section, is 

rather poor. 

Table 21 : Percentage Distribution of Refugee Bengali Households by Land Allocated to 

Them 

Districts 

No 

Land 

Upto 

1.00 

Land Allocated (acres) 

1.01 – 

2.00 

30 

2.01 – 

3.00 

3.00 – 

5.00 

Above 

5.00 

Total 

Purnea 80.9 2.8 3.8 1.8 4.0 6.7 100.0 

Katihar 63.0 20.4 6.4 3.6 6.6 0.0 100.0 



Bhagalpur 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 

All Districts 19.3 5.7 2.8 1.0 64.1 7.2 100.0 

Caste Status 

One of the social disadvantage of the refugee Bengali population is that they are 

generally from among the lower caste categories, some of them belonging to 

scheduled castes. Table 22 presents the distribution of refugee Bengali households 

by their caste category, according to the caste list of the Bihar government. For the

overall sample, it is observed that most of them (64.8 percent) belong to the 

category of 'extremely backward castes'. If one adds to that other socially 

disadvantaged categories like backward castes (12.6 percent) and scheduled 

castes (4.4 percent), then one can hardly find households which are generally 

considered to be forward castes among the refugee Bengali households. The 

preponderance of extremely backward or scheduled caste households is even more 

in the two districts of West Champaran and East Champaran. It is only in Bhagalpur 

where the sample comprises only urban households that one notices wide presence 

of forward caste households. 

Table 22 : Percentage Distribution of Refugee Bengali Households by Their Caste 

Category According to the Bihar Caste List 

Caste Category 

Purnea Katihar 

31 


West 

Champaran 

East 

Champaran Bhagalpur 

All 

Districts 

General Castes 15.1 36.9 7.5 6.2 97.7 16.7 

Backward Castes 48.0 17.6 4.4 2.0 1.7 12.8 

Extremely Back. Castes 34.0 44.0 82.2 86.6 0.3 66.0 

Scheduled Castes 2.9 1.5 5.9 5.2 0.3 4.5 

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 

The distribution of the refugee Bengali population by their caste categories, as 

presented in Table 22, is according to the caste list of the Bihar government. 

Unfortunately, although there are a number castes whose names appear in the list 

of both Bihar government and West Bengal government, the two lists are not 

identical. This is evident from the official list of scheduled castes in Bihar and West 

Bengal (Appendix B). At one hand, there are castes in West Bengal which are not 

to be found in Bihar; similarly, there are also castes which are categorised as 

scheduled caste in West Bengal, but not in Bihar, and vice versa. In this 

background, it is not surprising that the caste classification of the refugee Bengali

households as per the Bihar government list is not accepted by them. From the 

survey, it was found that, only for 63.8 percent of the refugee Bengali households, 

their caste names appear in the Bihar government list (Table 23). This obviously 

meant that 36.2 percent of the households belonged to castes which are present in 

West Bengal, but not in Bihar. This problem of missing caste names was of serious 

proportion in 4 districts, Bhagalpur being the sole exception. 

Table 23 : Information on Mismatch between Caste Classification of Bengali Households 

Information on 

Mismatch 

Percentage of Bengali 

Households whose 

caste name appears in 

the caste list of 

Government of Bihar 

Percentage of Bengali 

Households who do 

not agree to their caste 

classification by the 

officials 

Percentage share of 

scheduled caste 

households among 

those who do not 

agree to their caste 

classification by the 

officials 

Purnea Katihar 

West 

Champaran 

32 

East 

Champaran Bhagalpur 

All 

Districts 

52.6 72.1 64.1 65.5 89.2 63.8 

22.1 0.3 38.4 49.1 12.9 34.7 

99.4 25.0 100.0 93.8 0.0 97.1 

Due to the problems relating to varying caste lists in Bihar and West Bengal, it is 

very expected that many refugee Bengali households in Bihar will not be satisfied 

with their caste classification by the state government officials. From the survey, it 

emerged that the proportion of such unsatisfied household was 34.7 percent (Table 

23). The problem of was rather limited in Katihar and Bhagalpur, but elsewhere it 

was rather serious — Purnea (22.1 percent), West Champaran (38.4 percent) and 

East Champaran (49.1 percent).

Finally, the present survey had tried to find out the caste background of those 

households who were not agreeable to their caste classification by he caste list of 

the Bihar Government. As expected, it turned out that the majority of these 

unsatisfied households (97.1 percent) were from among the scheduled castes. It is 

thus almost certain that a large number of Bengali refugees who belong to 

scheduled castes as per the West Bengal government list are actually recorded as 

extremely backward castes as per the Bihar government list. In the resulting 

scenario, these households are not able to obtain a caste certificate from the local 

officials which designate them as scheduled castes. This is indeed a serious 

disadvantage for those refugee Bengali households. 

A.K. Biswas Report 

On June 24, 1993, Shree Lalu Prasad, the then Chief Minister of Bihar, had gone to 

visit Areraj in East Champaran district. On behalf of the East Bengal Refugee 

Association of the district, a delegation had met the Chief Minister and appraised 

him about their serious problems. In response, the Chief Minister had requested 

Shree A K Biswas, the then Commissioner of Tirhut Division, to prepare a report on 

the refugee Bengali population of the area. This report (Appendix C) is a valuable 

document on the issue. While a copy of the Report is appended to this present 

survey report, the main observations of the Report are noted below with respect to 

the specific problems that the Bengali refugees had brought to the notice of the 

Chief Minister : 

(a) Nearly 90 percent of the refugee Bengali population in Bihar belong to the 

scheduled castes. Broadly speaking, about 60 percent of them were 

‘Namashudra’ and 25 percent ‘Kaibarta’. The remaining households 

belonged to other scheduled castes — Jalia, Mam Idu, Suri, Dabgar, 

Bhumali, Sutradhar, Pod, Mochi (Chamar) and a few others. None of these 

scheduled caste people are given proper caste certificate, since these 

scheduled caste names do not appear in the list of scheduled castes of the 

33

Bihar government. In contrast to the practice in Bihar, the scheduled caste 

Bengali refugees settled in other Indian states (Odisha, Assam, Meghalay, 

Mizoram or Tripura) have been awarded the proper caste certificate, taking 

into account the scheduled caste list in West Bengal. 

(b) Most of the refugee Bengali population were provided with land for their 

livelihood. But in spite of specific government order, many of these 

households have not been given the ‘parcha’ for their land. Consequently, in 

many villages, some of the local strongmen have illegally captured the land 

of the refugee Bengalis. 

(c) In spite of the fact that there is a large Bengali-speaking population in East 

Champaran, the schools in the district do not have Bengali teachers. The 

number of sanctioned pots for Bengali teachers is itself very inadequate and, 

secondly, even those sanctioned posts remain vacant. 

(d) The refugee Bengali population in Champaran, engaged in cultivation also 

face wide discrimination when it comes to receiving several state government 

benefits for fertilizer, seed, credit and irrigation. Such discrimination is indeed 

practiced by the local administration. 

(e) In case of other state government benefits like Old Age Pension, Social 

Security Benefits, assistance for flood-affected households, etc., the refugee 

Bengali population again faces wide discrimination. In some case, these 

households have not received any compensations (either land or cash) for 

the land acquired from them for Gandak canal or roads. Many of the colonies 

of the refugee Bengali population are in remote areas where the police 

presence is rather limited, resulting in wide prevalence of theft and dacoity. 

The reach of electricity is also very limited in the areas. 

34

This official report, at one hand, confirms the findings of the present survey 

regarding the problem of appropriate caste categorisation of the scheduled 

caste refugee Bengali population and, secondly, it also indicates that this 

problem has been brought to the notice of the state administration long ago 

and possibly repeatedly. In as early as 1991, the then Deputy Commissioner 

of East Champaran, had issued an office order directing the local officials 

(District Welfare Officer, Sub-Divisional Officer, Block Development Officers 

and Circle Officers) to provide ‘parcha’ to the refugee Bengali households 

and also issue them caste certificates, taking into consideration the official list 

of scheduled castes of the Government of West Bengal (Appendix D). The 

said order, however, has not been followed by the local administration). It 

appears that without an intervention from the highest echelons of the state 

government, it may not be possible for the local administration to redress this 

genuine grievance of the refugee Bengali population in Bihar. 

35

SECTION IV 

CONCLUSIONS 

The size of the Bengali population in Bihar, according to 2001 census, was 4.43 

lakhs, which is estimated to reach the figure of 5.30 lakhs in 2011. It is quite likely 

that this is an underestimate of the size of the Bengali population in Bihar, and 

some knowledgeable sources put the figure to be around 12 lakhs. The history of 

Bengali population in Bihar is very long and, because of their long stay in the state, 

a majority of them are as much a Bihari as any other, except that their mother 

tongue is Bengali, not Hindi. Contrary to the general impression, a substantial 

portion of the Bengali population lives in rural areas of the state. These rural 

Bengali population includes those who are original residents of the state, as well as 

a substantial number of refugee or Bengali population, settled mostly in West 

Champaran and East Champaran. 

The Bengali population in Bihar constitutes a linguistic minority in the state and face 

a number of social and economic problems. In the past, the Bihar Bengali 

Association had repeatedly approached the state government to redress various 

difficulties faced by them, and the state government have already taken some 

positive steps in that direction. However, to identify a comprehensive policy towards 

the Bengali population, particularly the refugee population, the Hon’ble Chief 

Minister had requested the Bihar Bengali Association to prepare a comprehensive 

document on their socio-economic status and the specific problems faced by them. 

The Bihar Bengali Association had then requested the Bihar State Minorities 

Commission to undertake the task. The Commission, in turn, had requested the 

Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance (CEPPF) at the Asian Development 

Research Institute (ADRI) to prepare the required document, in view of their past 

experience for similar assignments. The purpose of the present study is just the 

36

same, viz., creation of an information base on Bengali population in Bihar, based on 

some primary data, collected from across the state. 

In this background, a sample survey was conducted in 5 districts of the state — 

Purnea, Katihar, West Champaran, East Champaran and Bhagalpur. In all, 10,536 

households were surveyed in those districts, using a questionnaire that included 

information on both households and individuals. 

From a comparison of the demographic profile of Bengali population and general 

population in Bihar, it emerges that the former enjoys certain advantages like 

smaller household size, better sex ratio and also higher literacy rates for both males 

and females. The literacy advantage of the Bengali population is, however, very 

marginal. If, instead of basic literacy, one takes into account a decent level of 

literacy achievement (say, matriculation or above) to be the criterion for literacy, 

only about one-third of the Bengali population is found to reach that level. Further, 

one should also note that the knowledge of their mother tongue Bengali (reading 

and writing) is rather limited for the Bengalis in Bihar. This is a serious cultural 

disadvantage for them. 

In spite of certain demographic advantages, the economic condition of the Bengali 

population in Bihar is rather poor. Only a very small proportion of the male Bengali 

workers is engaged in occupations that ensure reasonable levels of income. If one 

considers a monthly households income of Rs. 3000 to be the poverty line (this will 

be close to the Planning Commission definition), the percentage of Bengali 

households living below the poverty line is found to be 57 percent. This is indeed a 

high figure. For the refugee Bengali population in West Champaran district, the 

poverty estimate stands at an even higher level of 67 percent. In view of such 

widespread poverty, it is not surprising that the overall health condition of the 

Bengali population in Bihar is inferior to that of the general population. It is also 

disturbing to find that, in spite o f a poverty estimate of about 57 percent, only about 

37

40 percent of the Bengali households in Bihar have a BPL or Annapurna or 

Antodaya card. As regards the housing conditions, the Bengali households were 

found to have inferior dwellings in terms of both roof and floor material; however, for 

other facilities like source of drinking water, type of toilet and availability of 

electricity, the conditions were nearly the same for the Bengali and general 

population in Bihar. 

A substantial portion of the Bengali population in Bihar are refugees from East 

Pakistan (now Bangladesh) who were rehabilitated here, thanks to a policy of the 

Indian government. They were rehabilitated mostly in the districts of East 

Champaran and West Champaran, during the late fifties. In addition, there were 

some households who were also refugees, but they were not officially rehabilitated 

and they had managed to rehabilitate themselves. Taking both these categories 

together, such households constituted about 70 percent of the respondents in the 

present survey. 

A large part of the refugee Bengali households were given about 3 acres of land as 

part of the rehabilitation package. This land endowment was reasonable, but due to 

several social and economic constraints, their present economic condition is very 

poor. A report by the then Commissioner of Tirhut Division had detailed some of 

these constraints which include non-receipt of ‘parcha’ for their land, discrimination 

by local level officials regarding government benefits, non-receipt of compensation 

amount for land acquired by the state government for canal/road construction, 

absence of Bengali teachers in schools, and problem related to caste certificates. 

The present survey had indeed substantiated most of the findings of that report 

through primary data. In particular, the present survey has established that, due to 

varying lists of Scheduled Castes in Bihar and West Bengal, many refugee Bengali 

households in Bihar are not able to obtain a proper caste certificate for them. About 

two-thirds of the Bengali households do not agree to the caste classification, made 

38

y the local officials. More than 90 percent of such households belong to the 

Scheduled Caste group, as per the list of West Bengal. 

Towards identifying a proper policy for the Bengali population in general and the 

refugee Bengali population in particular 

(a) the state government should prepare a revised list of scheduled castes in Bihar 

which includes the names of scheduled castes found in the adjacent state of 

West Bengal, so that the local officials can issue proper certificates to those 

refugee Bengali households. This will enable this socially unprivileged group to 

enjoy the facilities given by the government for the scheduled castes and Dalit 

of this state; 

(b) secondly, in view of the substantial number of Bengali population in many 

blocks/towns, the state government should ensure the facility of teaching of 

Bengali by appointing Bengali teachers, failing which this linguistic minority will 

loose their contact with their mother tongue, loose their culture, and ultimately 

loose their social identity; 

(c) finally, the local administration should be sensitised not to practice any 

discrimination against the Bengali population in implementation of various 

welfare programmes of the state government so that equal opportunities are 

available to every citizen of Bihar. 

39

Bengali Report - Bengalee Association Bihar

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