The Indo-Pak Border: Its Geopolitical Implications in the Adjacent Districts of Rajasthan

Home , Barmer district, Jaisalmer, Khajuwala, Khokhrapar, Munabao, Radcliffe Line

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 1, Issue:2, (December Issue), 2015 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

Radcliff Line - the Indo-Pak Border: its Geopolitical Implications in the Adjacent Districts of Rajasthan

Dr. Monika Kannan Head, Dept. of Geography, Sophia Girls‟ College, Ajmer ,Rajasthan ______ABSTRACT : The Indo-Pak border lying north west of India, shared by two very important nations of the South Asia: India and Pakistan. It was formulated in the process of partition between the two nations on 17th August, 1947 determined by a British Government Commission Report usually referred to as The Radcliffe Line named after Sir Cyril Radcliffe. Being one of the most heavily militarized international borders of the world, it makes this entire region very contentious, sensitive and susceptible to infiltrations and illegal smuggling. Its a long boundary running along Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Barmer districts of our state Rajasthan. Investigations expose that the urban growth rate as a whole slackened after the emergence of Indo-Pak border in 1947. The most damaging effect was noticed in the Punjab sector, which was the most developed as well as the most populous. The main objective of the study is to highlight the present development scenario of the border districts of Rajasthan.The paper also studied the impact of Radcliff line on human life in the western border districts of Rajasthan.To elucidate the Land Use Land Cover (LULC) of the region showing the different uses of land in this region. Keywords:Boundary line Economic development , India, Pakistan. Radcliffe.

I. Introduction: The International borders have a mixed, region specific and town selective impact on the process of urbanization in the western part of Rajasthan. International border making is a politico-bureaucratic and a securitized exercise. This research paper is an attempt to discuss and analyze the geopolitical impact of the Radcliff line. The Indo-Pak border lying north west of India, shared by two very important nations of the South Asia: India and Pakistan. It was formulated in the process of partition between the two nations on 17th August, 1947 determined by a British Government Commission Report usually referred to as The Radcliffe Line named after Sir Cyril Radcliffe. Being one of the most heavily militarized international borders of the world, it makes this entire region very contentious, sensitive and susceptible to infiltrations and illegal smuggling. Its a long boundary running along Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Barmer districts of our state Rajasthan. Investigations expose that the urban growth rate as a whole slackened after the emergence of Indo-Pak border in 1947. The most damaging effect was noticed in the Punjab sector, which was the most developed as well as the most populous. Ironically, border was instrumental in stimulating urbanization in the under developed but strategically important sectors of Jammu and Kashmir. Research states, the impact of border is critical up to 40 kms, moderate between 40-100 kilometers and negligible beyond this distance usually.

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II.Objectives of the Study: The basic hypothesis states that towns are likely to suffer in their growth under a border situation, especially when the two neighboring countries are not in cordial terms with each other. Losch (1954) suggested that new border areas become depressive and this tendency is more peculiar to populous regions. House (1959) observed decay in the economy leading to depopulation of communes on both sides of France-Italian boundary. The Border Area Development Program (BADP) was started in 1987,attempts to meet the developmental needs of people living in remote and inaccessible areas of this region.

1. The main objective of the study is to highlight the present development scenario of the border districts of Rajasthan. 2. To discuss the impact of Radcliff line on human life in the western border districts of Rajasthan. 3. To elucidate the Land Use Land Cover (LULC) of the region showing the different uses of land in this region.

III.Study Area: Rajasthan located in the north western part of the country has a total boundary of the state is 5920 kms. International boundary is 1070 kms long. The main districts adjacent to the boundary are Ganganagar

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(210 kms), Bikaner (168kms), Jaisalmer (464 kms) and Badmer (228kms) (Map 1). This border area commences from Hindumalkot to Kutch (Gujrat). Three districts from the Sindh Province of Pakistan; Bahawalpur, Kherpur and Meerpur namely are on the other end of the boundary.

Climatic Limitations The climatic is extreme in this region ranging from nearly 0° C in winter to approaching 49° C in summer. Lack of rainfall and intense heat has converted this region into an arid sandunes covered barren section of the state. This region is basically a desertic one, rich and worthy in terms of its fossil fuels (Map 2).

Map 2: Land Use and Land cover Map of Rajasthan

*Source : National Natural Resource Management System, ISRO The land use and cover of the state is clear in the map below, which highlights that the western border districts majorly come under the sandy, scrub, salt affected, Rann region where the level of urbanization is very low (Map 3). The Ganganagar district is fertile and has water availability thus is covered under agriculture mainly.

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Map 3: Wasteland Map of Rajasthan

*Source : National Natural Resource Management System, ISRO

IV. Methodology: This study is based on data obtained from National Remote Sensing Agency Dehradun. Urban Frame survey and Gate way to India observation have been the chief tools of investigation. The data from Government of Rajasthan official reports and documentations. Central Statistics Organisation, Government of India Bhuvan, NRSA have been the basis of examination. Field survey, case studies, personal interviews and observation technique have been used for geopolitical analysis. During the study focus was on government documentations related to the declaration of Radcliffe Commission and the repercussions of the partition on the urban growth and demographic scenario have been taken under consideration.

Security Implications: Along the entire length of this border, this region has a tall wall of barbed-wire fencing stands erect. It has high voltage electric flood-lights illuminate it at night. The alert jawans (soldiers) patrol the border using vehicles and camels, day in and day out. The high observation posts are manned by armed Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers watching in all directions. The study reveals that while Rajasthan as a whole ranks quite low on the development scale, in the border districts of Barmer, Jaisalmer and Bikaner the situation is even worse. Lack of growth centers, markets, industries, colleges, hospitals, dispensaries, recreational areas, mother and child welfare centers, rural primary health centers is the concern there, one can only imagine the skewed distribution of these resources from the main city to the far off border districts. The impact of Radcliff line on the border districts of Rajasthan is also analyzed depending upon the relationship between both the countries on each side. www.ijirssc.in Page 228

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Implication of Radcliff Line (Massive Population exchanges) Ramachandra Guha [1] has rightly noted that generally works on history end on the precise date of 15th August 1947. The domain of „History‟ ends with India attaining Independence, and where history ends political science, civics and economics begins. Guha argues that this is a wrong assumption—history persists, and hence there should be more works on post Independence India.[2]Taking this argument further, Sekhar Bandopadyay writes: „We may perhaps further add that while the Historians finished their inquiries on 15thAugust 1947, the political scientist and sociologists did not quite begin until the 1950‟s—that is not until the new institutions had taken proper shape in India and started functioning effectively.[3]

Hartshorne [4] pointed out that new boundary lines are disruptive to local associations through their nature as a tariff wall. After partition, the Radcliff region became a zone of transition where about 14.5 million people crossed the borders to what they hoped was the relative safety of religious majority. Census 1951 states that around 7.2 million Muslims went to Pakistan from India while approximately the same number of Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan immediately after partition. The following figure Indicates State wise population of Hindus in Pakistan.

Economy Development The lack of industries here is due to a number of factors, lack of raw material like water, electricity, markets, lack of basic education and health facilities, insufficient irrigation and drinking water facilities, poor road connectivity, lack of skilled manpower etc. Large livestock offers opportunities for development of livestock based agro processing industries, like sheep wool carpet making, using animal waste products like hides, skins, bones etc. Rajasthan state support in the form of investment remains limited, moreover, the state has not invested in systematic schemes for livestock rearing. However, livestock is largely migrating for want of drinking water and fodder. While the desert state of Rajasthan as a whole ranks quite low on the development scale, in the border districts of Barmer, Jaisalmer and Bikaner the situation is even worse. Lack of hospitals, dispensaries, mother and child welfare centers, rural primary health centers is the concern there, one can only imagine the skewed distribution of these resources from the main city to the far off border districts. The Resource Development

www.ijirssc.in Page 229 * Source: http://wikimapia.org/14330807/Sri-Ganganagar http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/indiaatglance.html Ganganagar International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 1, Issue:2, (December Issue), 2015 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

The Indira Gandhi Canal Project in this area has contributed in increasing the humidity of this region to around 40%, which is like a boon to the agricultural sector of the state. Still investment on the Western side of Radcliff remains typically low.

*Source: http://www.statistics.rajasthan.gov.in/socio_Bikaner.aspx http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/indiaatglance.html

Bikaner

The Bikaner region has ample number of cottage and small sacle industries.Specially the

brick making, leather making ,handicraft industries are very popular here. It also important lignite coal reserve belt.

*Source: http://www.travelsrajasthan.com/download/barmer_road_map.htm

http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/indiaatglance.html

Barmer

To the east of NH15 (Map 4), British oil major Cairn Energy has made one of its most significant oil finds in the Mangala fields of Barmer in 2004, marking the beginning of a major shift in the economy. This was followed by the 1,080 MW power plant by the Barmer Lignite

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Mining Company Limited (BLMCL) a joint venture of the Rajasthan Government and Jindal Energy which was set up in February 2009. Overnight, the town of Barmer saw something of a facelift, land on the Eastern side of NH 15 was now being sold for millions of rupees. But while the discovery of oil has meant immense prosperity for some, it has had no trickle down effects to other areas, especially those on the Western side

*Source: http://www.jaisalmertourism.com/jaisalmer-map.html http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/indiaatglance.html

Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer: Tanot, Ramgarh Sadhewala popular for natural gas reserves have nearly changed the scenario of this region to some extent. National Highway 15, connecting Samakhiali in Gujarat with Pathankot in Punjab, acts as a sort of border within the border region of Barmer, creating a division between the more developed Eastern part and its poorer Western counterpart. The Atomic tests in Pokhran (Jaisalmer) has given it a strategically important place in the world platform. Though the western side of NH15 remains undeveloped still. The Western front still remains largely rural with a complete lack of even basic facilities.

V. Result and Discussion:

The study of border areas and the impact of the Radcliffe‟s Line cutting through it is one area which has gathered immense significance. Willem van Schendel and Ranabir Sammadar have presented pioneering works in this direction pertaining to the Bengal Frontier.20 The borderland experience of Partition was immediate and acute and therefore differed from the experience of Partition in other parts of South Asia.‟[5]

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Geo-Political Scenario : This hastily drawn up border remains as an open wound, even if dressed in the colorful bandage of Wagah‟s daily flag-lowering ceremony. Under the Foreigner (Protected Areas) Act, foreigners are required to obtain a Protected Area Permit (PAP) to visit these areas, along with acquiring an Indian visa. As per the notification of the Ministry of Home Affairs, certain border areas of Barmer (Gadra Road, Ramsar, Binjrad, Sedwa, Bakhusar, Girab, Chohtan), Jaisalmer (Nachna, Mohangarh, Ramgarh, Shahgarh, Jhinjhinyali, Nokh, Khusi, Sum), Bikaner (Bajju, Pugal, Chattargarh, Khajuwala) and Jellore (Sanchore, Chitalwana, Sarwana) are declared to be notified areas where access was prohibited unless a special permission. As a result of the restrictions, investment in these border areas has remained quite low. Even Indian citizens who are not residents of these specified areas require an Inner Line Permit (ILP) to enter these places, thereby restricting mobility. There are a number of military ranges in Rajasthan in Khetolai, Pokhran and Ramgarh, causing dispossession, displacement and loss of control of the indigenous population over their lands. Alongside, more than 8 lakh land mines were laid along the 1,040 km stretch of the India- Pakistan border in Rajasthan. The minefields extended as far as six to eight kilometers from the border and were planted in cultivated and uncultivated land, on farming and grazing land, around infrastructure and around villages in defensive positions. Surveillance in battlefield is one the essential components of battlefield management. Satellite imagery plays a vital role in surveillance and visualization of the battlefield. Geographical Information System (GIS) integrated with high resolution satellite imagery provides vital inputs in decision making process.

Smuggling and illegal infiltrations

There have been serious concerns of illegal movements and smuggling in this region. The following table 1 highlights the same.

Table 1: Showing the of villages inhabited by refugees in the border areas of Rajasthan

Districts Name of Blocks /Places where refugees Number of villages have been rehabilated inhabited by refugees Barmer Shiv 80 Chotan 86 Ramsar 53 Bikaner Kolayat 20 Pugal 27 Jaisalmer Rural area 28 Urban area 3 Jodhpur Outskirts 6 *Source: ‘’Border Dialogues Bani Gill, Peace print: A South Asian Journal of Peacebuilding

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Though fencing has succeeded in curtailing smuggling and other „illegal‟ activities rampant on the border to some extent. The UNCHR report on world‟s state of refugees put this figure of involuntary migration at around 12-17 millions who have migrated to neighboring Indian states. The Thar Express link is also a remarkable component of the Radcliff region. Restored in 2006 it connects Karachi to Jodhpur in India; Munabao and Khokhrapar being the last two railway stations on the India-Pakistan border. While the physical distance may only be that of a couple of hours, due to security reasons and under the guise of the protected areas act, people are forced to go all the way to Jodhpur, spend long hours. The priority zone for the BADP is about 0-40 kilometers from the fence. While this works in regions like Barmer and Bikaner, which have village districts located very close to the border, in areas like Jaisalmer where villages are located slightly farther away, this categorization of the priority zone becomes a problem.

Tensile Conditions in the Region Spate (1947) gave a stimulating account of the delineation of Indo-Pak border and described the general situation created by the partition in 1947. A chilling addition to the ever- looming risk of war occurred in May 1998, when first India, then Pakistan conducted successful test explosions of atomic bombs, raising the specter of fratricide by nuclear war. The Indo-Pak partition,1965 war, Kashmir issue (war in 1971), Kargil war (1999) and bombarding and firing in Oct, 2014 gives a sad impression about the border conditions. Sixty- five years after the acrimonious divorce between India and Pakistan, the border remains a throbbing wound of separation, yet a wound elemental to both nations‟ psyche. A brief country comparison gives a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the two nations. Analysis state that it is quite evident that India stands far ahead in most of the matters with respect to economic, military or political strength. What is required is initiation for peace and harmony by the two competiting States. Pertaining to the safety of the region around Radcliff, GeoInt. has been used to safeguard the core data here. Even the satellites would not be able to reveal the regional statistics as it is secured by GeoInt. Live data related to human resource, animal resource, geographical scenario including climate, soil, water resources of the area are all concealed for security reasons constrained by public use.

VI. Conclusion: Krishan (1968) noticed the declining growth rate of population, both rural and urban in the border districts of Indo-Pak border. This research emphasizes that it is important for the state to be visible in border areas which while territorially being at the edge of a country, assume central importance when it comes to policy centered around the concerns of state security. On the contrary, these border areas seem to be the forgotten lands of the Indian nation, only remembered in times of war. The Partition was a highly controversial arrangement, and remains a cause of much tension on the subcontinent even today. Some www.ijirssc.in Page 233

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 1, Issue:2, (December Issue), 2015 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC critics allege that British haste led to the cruelties of the Partition. Because independence was declared prior to the actual Partition, it was up to the new governments of India and Pakistan to keep public order. It was a task at which both states failed. There was a complete breakdown of law and order; many died in riots, massacre, or just from the hardships of their flight to safety. What ensued was one of the largest population movements in recorded history. What has resulted is sad enough. Lack of basic facilities and access to resources such as water, education, health care are issues that affect large parts of the country. But these issues take on a different dimension along the Rajasthan border. Access to education and other basic facilities remains severely restricted in border areas. The Indian state must be attendant to these concerns, and invest in the socio-economic growth of the region. At the same time, these facilities should be made accessible to even the most marginalized of social groups, particularly women, as nearly 75,000 women faced with some sort of violence during partition.

Programs for construction of school buildings, hospitals and medical facilities to create rural infrastructure that will better the livelihoods of people. It is thus imperative to have a national level detailed survey of all border villages of Rajasthan to get extensive qualitative and quantitative data on the issues affecting these areas as a whole, and for future planning of funds and resources. The benefits of the oil discovery have not percolated to those most in need. It thus stands to reason that at least a certain percentage of the profits reaped as a result of the oil discovery be used for the benefit of the district as a whole. Rajasthan is a state rich in minerals, the benefits of which seldom accrue to local populations. The state needs to step in to ensure that local resources are used optimally for employment and income generation. However, the imperatives of militarization and national security are severely at odds with human security, and are a constant threat to the stability of the region and, by extension, that of the nation state. Over ten million people both Hindus and Muslims were trekking from east to west, in the opposite directions. Many of them never made it to their destinations. The violent nature of the partition created an atmosphere of mutual hostility and suspicion between India and Pakistan that plagues their relationship till this day. Let us be optimistic over the future relations between the two countries, India and Pakistan, as the subcontinent has always lived with difference but it has also known how to negotiate these differences and transcend them. Today our world is facing a myriad of challenges across multiple scientific and cultural disciplines to include natural resources, public safety, and national security.

References : [1] Ramachandra Guha, India After Gandhi: The History of theWorld‟s largest Democracy, London: Macmillan (2007).

[2] ekhar Bandopadhyay, Decolonization in South Asia: Meanings of Freedom in post- Independence West Bengal, 1947-52, London: Routledge (2009), p. 1

[3] Sekhar Bandopadhyay, Decolonization in South Asia: Meanings of Freedom in post Independence West Bengal, 1947-52, London: Routledge (2009), p. 1 www.ijirssc.in Page 234

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[4] Hartshorne, Richard. 1939. The Nature of Geography. Lancaster, Penn.: Association of American Geographers. © 1939 Association of American Geographers. Reprinted with permission. [5] Willem van Schendel, The Bengal Borderland:Beyond State and Nation in South Asia, London: Anthem Press (2005) p. 25 [6] Bhattacharya, Manoshi. 2008. The Royal Rajputs: Strange Tales and Stranger Truths. Rupa & Co, New Delhi. [7] Bridges, Donna M. (2010). A Structured Geospatial Analytic Method and Pedagogy for the Intelligence Community. International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts (IALEIA) Journal. 19 (1). [8] Gahlot, Sukhvirsingh. 1992. RAJASTHAN: Historical & Cultural. J. S. Gahlot Research Institute, Jodhpur. [9] Ghosh, Sahana. “Cross-Border Activities in Everyday Life: The Bengal Borderland.” In Contemporary South Asia. India: Routledge, 2011. Government of Rajasthan and Planning Commission of India. Barmer District Human Development Report, 2009.