Bengali Report - Bengalee Association Bihar

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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 East Champaran 10.5 46.7 14.0 18.6 10.2 100.0 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
Page 2 and 3: CONTENTS ii Page No. List of Tables
Page 4 and 5: SECTION I INTRODUCTION The history
Page 6 and 7: programmes, it is now often necessa
Page 8 and 9: SECTION II SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITION
Page 10 and 11: Districts Table 2 : Demographic Pro
Page 12 and 13: health status of the Bengali popula
Page 16 and 17: the adult population, and occupatio
Page 18 and 19: Bengalis was found to be the highes
Page 20 and 21: than 3 percent) and so is their ten
Page 22 and 23: The most substantive welfare progra
Page 24 and 25: Table 12 : Percentage of Bengali Ho
Page 26 and 27: As regards type of roof material, a
Page 28 and 29: most areas of Bihar, including some
Page 30 and 31: SECTION III BENGALI REFUGEES FROM E
Page 32 and 33: continued for some years after 1960
Page 34 and 35: overall sample, it is observed that
Page 36 and 37: Finally, the present survey had tri
Page 38 and 39: This official report, at one hand,
Page 40 and 41: same, viz., creation of an informat
Page 42: y the local officials. More than 90

Bengali Report - Bengalee Association Bihar

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