THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY March 24, 1956 West Bengal—Bihar Merger Hallahal follows Amrit!

( Contributed ) APART from yielding an ideolo- not be forgotten. In addition there The above recital shows the gical dividend in reversing the is the problem of inter-State inescapability of some sort of safe­ trend towards linguistic destruc­ migration. Apart from those in guards. The mere creation of tion of the nation, the proposal for the predominantly Bengali speak­ two Regional Councils of" Bengal the merger of Bengal and Bihar hail­ ing border areas, there are and Bihar within the Union with ed so recently as constituting a thousands of Bengalis who have their own Budgets and Adminis­ new dawn of hope does not seem gone to Bihar in professions or trations will be fruitless, as it at first sight to have any parti­ services, while there are nearly a might merely create two conflict­ cularly attractive features, and million Biharis in West Bengal ing groups with no union worth has been so assessed by the general working in the mills and factories. the name. It would, in my opinion, public at least in Bengal. The At present there is admittedly little be preferable to divide them into widespread, if partial, acceptance tendency to discriminate against 5 or 6 regions, some of which at of this idea e.g. by Punjab, Andhra these migrants in either State, but least would include areas from etc, seems however to indicate that if bitterness is allowed to grow both States so that facing common the above appraisal is somewhat unchecked till it ends in physical and similar local problems a sense unfair. The multi-purpose develop­ conflict, economic life could be of purpose and joint endeavour ment of any region often requires paralysed, and much misery brought could arise. Thus the North Bihar one to transcend political frontiers, to thousands of innocent people. The and North Bengal areas have very and when the regions are con­ Border difficulties, with inextri­ similar terrain and similar diffi­ stituted like' West Bengal and Bihar cably mixed peoples and enclaves culties, while even the. Maithili this necessity becomes the more of linguistic groups, also impose dialect of North Bihar is similar to compulsive. As the slope of the union rather than separation. that of Bengali. Union should country is from West to East, the certainly confer unity on this area. rivers flow in that direction, so Political Difficulties Central Bihar and Jharkhand that while development projects Naturally merger will not be would have to be separate and in­ can be sited only in Bihar much easy. A Purva Pradesh including dividual States. In the same way of the benefits e.g. those arising these States as well as Orissa and we could have two Bengali States from flood control or irrigation Assam if formed might have been Of say Calcutta and West Bengal, can accrue only to West Bengal; more attractive, as no particular while a sixth comprising the in­ even the demand for electricity at group could be predominant, but dustrial area from Jamshedpur to present arises largely in the latter in its absence, two serious diffi­ Durgapur could be a joint Bengali- area. Each State if separate can culties from the point of view of Bihari one, like the first. "beggar'' its neighbour but only the Bengalis emerge: In this way there would be four at the cost of beggaring itself. sub-States which would be purely Joint projects, e.g. the D V C. (a) The fear of being swamped mono-linguistic and two which function inefficiently due to the by the Hindi speaking strains and stresses of compromise major+ity of Bihar. would be bilingual. The popula­ working, and individual works e.g. (b) The fact that the Revenue tion of Bihar is certainly of the The Mayurakshi Project, which de­ per capita in West Bengal order of 40 millions and that, of pended on the good-will of one is double that of Bihar, so Bengal only 26, but as lias been party, left the other in the position Union presupposes a sub­ shown in a recent pamphlet, with of a suit for with its attendant bitter­ vention to the latter. the expected influx of Hindus from ness and frustration, while Bihar East Pakistan, and allowing for The average Bihari I think in this instance felt it was the Bengali population now living tends to fear that he will be being imposed upon in providing in Bihar, it is probable that the swamped in the services and pro­ sites for schemes which were not disparity will be greatly reduced. of the slightest interest to her. fessions by the more educated If these sub-States are so formed Bengali, in spite of Dr Sri Krishna as to have approximately equal In the particular problem of Sinha's assurance that he was pre­ population (of say 10 to 15 mil­ West Bengal-Bihar there are two pared to hand over the four crores lions) one could have a Union or three other features which im­ of Biharis into the great and able Legislature with equal numbers of pose union as the only solution. hands of Dr B. C, Roy without any representatives from each which Thus the vast Gondwana mineral safeguard. In addition, the main It might be hoped would tend to tract extends through the hearts problem of Bihar being casteism, lessen the Bengali-Rihari ditii- of both States, and communica­ free influx of Bengalis might mere­ culties. If this is not wholly tions, labour administration, tax­ ly result in the establishment of agreed to, the States should have ation policies, industrial operations, yet one more clamouring group a Bicameral Legislature, in the etc. have to be integrated for accentuating rather than reducing Upper House of which at least, the maximum efficiency. It will be re­ the problem. The apprehension number should be equalized. Any called that some time ago there of a subordinate alliance as in the proposals which affect Bengalis or was a proposal for a centrally ad­ pre-1911 days must have been dis­ Biharis as a whole should be de­ ministered State for this area and pelled by the fact of the Bihar! bated by the Upper House only: a the arguments in its favour should majority. procedure for demarcating such

357 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY March 24, 1956

358 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY March 24, 1956 problems would also have to be The subjects to be assigned, and in all matters in which regional agreed upon. the revenues to be controlled at languages are now used. In com­ petitions for State services a Regarding the financial problem each level will require detailed con­ certain minimum quota from each one can Imagine that apart from sideration, but clearly items like State could also be laid down, Calcutta City, the revenue arising Local Administration, Health, Edu­ though of course a fair proportion in the rest of West Bengal must cation, Police etc. must be with should be filled by open com­ be more or less at the Bihar level. the new sub-States. The Union petition. If so one could easily have a finan­ should be chiefly concerned with cial arrangement by which a sub­ development programmes, refugee With these safeguards one can vention from State revenues would rehabilitation, communications, etc. well imagine that the Bengali cul­ be given by Calcutta State to those and will largely have to depend ture will be enriched with the inter­ carved out of the former West upon grants from the Centre and action of Hindi far from being Bengal areas only, while Central subventions from the sub-States, impoverished- The latter which finances could be similarly distri­ though certain heads of revenue has borrowed much of Bengali buted on the basis of the actual e.g. Land Revenue, Forests, Stamps even in the past should gain im­ expenditure in different areas at and Registration etc., in which by measurably with its universalisa- present. While this will certainly themselves the revenues arising in tton. West Bengal and Bihar are appro­ require analysis and study of A more important difficulty is ximately equal, might be assigned facts the difficulties are by no the economic one. Agricultural to it as well. means insuperable. wages are considerably lower in Economic and Cultural Conditions Bihar, Orissa and U. P. than in The Biharl's fear of being It has been urged that with the West Bengal, so the mills and swamped in the services can be Bengalis constituting a minority factories of Calcutta are manned stilled by having a certain quota there is a danger of Bengali from these areas only, and the of local recruitment, and Certain culture dying out. This merely pressure is sufficient to lower the local services. As a quid pro quo industrial wage level there. The for the immense numbers of wage- shows a lack of vitality and self-confidence; Polish literature differential between local agri­ earners in West Bengal some con­ cultural and industrial wage rates cessions might be necessary from and culture survived centuries of partition and foreign rule. More­ is too small to persuade the Bihar, but with the spread of Bengali agriculturist to leave his education there it is doubtful over safeguards can be provided for this as well. Thus we can at­ fields for the factory, as will be whether their fears really have seen from the table below. (Taken any justification. tempt to teach both languages in our schools; all children whose from "The Ministry of Labour Certain statutory standing bodies, mother tongue was Bengali to Agricultural Labour Enquiry Re­ e.g. a Development Corporation learn as a second language, either port on Intensive Survey of Agri­ for the Union as a whole, will Maithili or Hindi, at their prefe­ cultural Labour"). have to be established. Thus it rence, and vice versa, for say at The Bengali agriculturist is not has been said that the allocations least the first six years in school. really more prosperous; prices are for the Second Five-Year Plan, as Education should be imparted in sufficiently high to equalize the already made, will stand- This the language prevalent in the loca­ level of real incomes, so unless some seems short-sighted; not only lity though of course denomina­ way of reserving occupations is might the merger impose its own tional schools would be permitted found, industrialisation will bring planning, but the third and the but only under well recognised no prosperity to West Bengal. As fourth Plans are yet unborn and conditions. Three court languages the forman or supervisory class is linguistic patriotism must be viz., Hindi, Maithili and Bengali drawn ultimately from unskilled guarded against even in those would also have to be recognised, labour, middle class unemployment stages. If a Committee composed and the local languages permitted also will remain unaffected. of say one representative of each State is formed, such difficulties will be probably minimized. A three-tier State with numerous petty administrations might be considered both cumbrous and un­ economic, but actually constitutes the simplest and most practical solution of our difficulties. Thus as the disputed areas will be main­ ly within the Joint sub-States of Mitnila or Industralia, a decision on these can be avoided. The financial problem is also solved as Indicated earlier. Smaller groups e.g. the Tribes of Jharkhand can get an opportunity of ordering their own lives, while the splitting of Bengal and Bihar will Inhibit any over-shadowing cultural con­ flicts. 359 March 24, 1956 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

The possibilities of restrictions on non-Bengali labour must how­ ever be discounted. There are none today and any attempt to impose these in future would be retrograde, leading to great dissensions rather than unity. We may at best attempt to reserve a proportion of the supervisory posts in all industries for local inhabit­ ants but this will have to be done cautiously. Obviously then, the merger will not by itself affect un­ employment, but with the vast spread of development projects and consequent industrialisation that will become possible, one hopes there will be a gradual amelio­ ration. One of the basic conditions for the success of the scheme is the removal of any sense of anta­ gonism among the peoples con­ cerned. Apart from teaching the language of both groups to all, it is necessary to have a unified population as well, to some degree. It is therefore suggested that co­ education should be introduced in all the schools as far as practicable and some sort of incentive to inter- marriages between Bengalis and Biharis given. This need not necessarily take the form of cash prizes but encouragement can be given in other ways e.g. by easier entry into Government service for such persons. While details will have to be worked out the prin­ ciple itself is not a matter of de­ tail. Above ail it must be realised that there is no alternative, the scheme must succeed. Unlike in other nations, with our communal and linguistic and caste separatism, there is no tie of common blood amongst us, the unity imposed by a shared tradition and a common history is wearing thin, and as Bombay has just demonstrated, any moment this India that is Bharat might break up into a thousand fragments. An English poet wrote of the Soviet Union in 1922: "Of the dark Past A child is born. With Joy & Fear My heart is torn. Still in his cradle The Living lies. May Love and Mercy, Unclose his eyes Shall we fail for want of a little Idealism ? 360