Bengali Report - Bengalee Association Bihar

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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
Page 2 and 3: CONTENTS ii Page No. List of Tables
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 14 and 15: level of education of any of its me
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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