Volume : 4 | Issue : 11 | November 2015 ISSN - 2250-1991 Research Paper History Socio-Economic and Demographic Profile of Bengali Community in the Dehing Patkai Region (A case study of Margherita Town) Asst. Professor, Dept. of History, Mrgherita College, Margherita, Dr. Sanjay Sen Assam This article presents a case study of Margherita town, a historical and first industrial town in Tinsukia District, Assam, India. The article clearly reflects the shadows of Migration and how advent of industrialization promotes and recognizes this place of historical importance with the rest of the world. The article also depicts the socio-economic and demographic profile of Bengali community in the Dehing Patkai Region. ABSTRACT KEYWORDS Migration, industrialization, socio-economic, demographic etc. Introduction: Bengali Culture- Not Uniform: The long 600 years reign of Ahom ended up in 1826 with Though Bengalis are spread all over the world, their concen- signing of the famous Yandaboo Treaty and Assam passed trations are largely to be found in the state of West Bengal into the hands of British. Following the treaty, the Burmese and Tripura in India and Bangladesh. Another sizeable pro- (Maan) invaders who destabilized the Ahom kingdom were portion of Bengali community is also to be found in the Bar- chased out by the British and brought peace in Assam. ak Valley district of Assam; where both Hindus and Mus- lims live together with their respective cultural practices. In The days of the Treaty of Yandaboo (1826), when Assam Brahmaputra Valley, Bengalis are unevenly distributed; while witnessed the devastations caused due to this merciless kill- in some pocket areas they are found in mass. So far as the ings in thousands by the Burmese (Maan) practically there was cultural practices of Bengali Community are concerned, some acute labour shortage of working in Tea gardens. On the oth- distinctive features are noticed. For example, the Bengalis of er side after the great earthquake of 1834 Bihar’s Chhotan- West Bengal are mostly Hindus and have their own cultural agpur, Santhal Pargana, Orissa’s Sambalpur region and some practices as distinct from those of Bangladesh. Similarly, the regions of the then Madhya Pradesh were very badly hit by cultural practices of the Hindus Bengalis living in Brahmapu- famine, which led the poor cultivators in thousands to migrate tra and Barak Valley districts of Assam (who are mostly dis- into Assam as tea garden labour. These labourers are classified placed from East Bengal) have some uniformity with those of in to Tribes and Non-Tribes. The Mundas, the Santhals, the West Bengal-though not akin. Still some distinctions between Oraons , the Gonds, the Koyas, the Kalanandis, the Bhumijs the cultural practices of the Hindu Bengalis of Barak and Brah- belong to Tribes and the rest like the Kurmi, the Tantis, the maputra valleys of Assam do not go unnoticed. In fact, the Koiris, the Shahus, the Panikas, the Keots etc. are non-tribes. Bengalis of Brahmaputra Valley are greatly influenced by the local culture – the tendency to which has become more pro- Soon the British discovered commercial opportunities in As- nounced during the recent years and following an increasing sam (the present entire N.E. Region). The tea, timber, coal trend with the passage of time. There are most of Bengali and later oil made Assam a lucrative place for them. To families sending their children to Assamese Medium Schools, work in these industries, they needed man power, which there are many Bengali families who want their children teach they brought from outside as locals were too lazy to work ‘Bihu Dance’, “Satriya Dance”. Still there are others who in those grueling conditions. So came Carias, Mundas and use Assamese “gamucha”, wear Assamese ‘Mekhela’ and the Oraons of the Adivasi stock to work in Tea gardens and even greet each other saying “Happy Bihu”. Further more, became Tea- Tribes. Bengalis came to work in the clerical felicitation in meetings with Assamese gamucha has become grade. Marowaris came to do business and the Biharis to a common phenomenon in most of the meetings even in Ben- do manual work. Those were the days when Assam was gali prone areas of Assam. Thus, a cultural transition among synonymous with the dreaded diseases of Malaria. Many the Bengalis of Brahmaputra Valley of Assam is in offing. died and many fled while many more persisted dogged- ly. Initially, Bengalis were very reluctant to come to Assam Dehing Patkai: A Brief Introduction: because of Malaria. Many would flee within a few days The ‘Dehing Patkai’ encompasses a large area covering the of arriving Assam. But slowly they began to stay put and district of Tinsukia and Dibrigarh in Assam and part of Arun- the British made Bengali the state language. They gruelled achal Pradesh (the district of Tirap, Changlang and Lower De- in those unfavouring conditions. They slogged in the oil hang Valley). The whole tract of land covering the two bamks fields of Digboi and in Dibrugarh; they did pioneering work of fiver Buridehing is the Dehing Patkai region. On being bi- in Berry White Medical School which later became Assam furcated, one branch of river Diyung viz. “Noa Dehing”; dips Medical College. Many had settled in Assam even before down into the great Brahmaputra; thereby creating a vast land partition. It was hard for any one not to be charmed by mass- the river island yet to be traced officially. Though the Assam, in spite of all these drawbacks. Even before 1947, whole belt of the Dehing Patkai has great significance from Bengali neighbourhoods had sprung up in major towns of various counts, its discovery is of recent origin. The history of the state. Further with partition of the country in 1947, Assam and that of World War II are very closely related to this many Hindu Bengalis from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) area. were displaced more particularly due to communal riot and came to settle down in parts of Assam. The upper Assam In the area of Dehing Patkai, live a large number of ethnic being the most prominent industrial belt, a large chunk of tribal socio-culturally and physically akin to South East Asia displaced people settled down in these areas along with besides non-tribal from different parts of the country. Among other parts of the state, forming a part of the colourful cul- the tribals, the important ones are the Singphos, Tangsas, Ne- tural ethos of the region. otes, Wanchos, Khamtis, Tai-Phakes, Duanias, Kacharis, other 131 | PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH Volume : 4 | Issue : 11 | November 2015 ISSN - 2250-1991 Bodos, Sema, Nagas, Deoris and non- tribals such as Ahoms, century, some medium and small scale industrial units also Mattaks, Morans, extra garden labourers, Nepalis and so on. started coming up opening further opportunities of employ- ment and earning and in turn inducting another wave of im- The Dehing Patkai area comes under the country’s richest migration. “North East Bio-geographic Zone” and “Brahmaputra Val- ley Biotic province.” It is a part of the World’s bio-diversity Margherita is a small industrial town with population of hotspot. The whole region is the homeland of several hundred about 40,000 as on 31st 2004. At present the town has 5076 species of plants, animals, birds and orchids; which include households (2009) covered by a land area of 16,200 square several rare and unique varieties too. The Govt. of Assam by kilometers. It is the Sub-divisional headquarters of Margherita a notification dated 19th June, 2004 declared creation of DE- and is inhabited by diverse groups of population from various HING PATKAI WILD LIFE SANCTUARY covering a part of the communities and religions including indigenous tribes. The greater Dehing Patkai region falling within the territory of township is beset by various large and medium industrial un- Assam under the Digboi and Dibrugarh forest divisions. The dertakings of Coal, Tea, and Plywood in addition to a good whole area of Dehing Patkai is fabricated with a large number number of micro and small enterprises. The historic Stillwell of ethnic tribes. They mostly belong to Mongolian blood and road which connects India’s North East through Myanmar via are socio-culturally related to the South East Asian countries China and starts from Ledo (Lekhapani) in Assam is about 20 like Thailand and Cambodia including Myanmar. In addition to km from here. these ethnic tribes of Mongolian origin, tea tribes and various non-tribal communities live in this vast area from time imme- For the purpose of the study, all Bengali households under morial with their respective socio-cultural practices. each of the four wards of the town are identified from the electoral roll of 2009. On being identified, 10% of the Bengali Scope and Methodology: households under each of the wards are randomly taken for The present study is conducted by taking the Bengali inhab- investigation. Thus, there emerged 146 households for investi- itants of Margherita Town under the District of Tinsukia in gation. This is shown in Table 1. Assam as its universe. Margherita, the Head Quarter of North Eastern Coalfields, is situated in Dibrugarh (now Tinsukia) dis- Table 1 trict of Assam at a distance of 1350kms North-east of Calcut- Ward wise breakup of the total households, total Bengali ta and it is sub-divided into four wards i.e. Ward no. I, Ward households in the Margherita Town and number of sam- no. II, Ward no. III, Ward no. IV. ple Bengali Households. TOTAL TOTAL BENGALI SAMPLE With a population of 3, 17,622 according to 2001 census, WARD HOUSEHOLD HOUSEHOLDS HOUSEHOLD Margherita is small but vibrant town.