Chapter – V

Conclusion
The partition of India was neither the result of the allegedly
inevitable clash between Hindus and Muslims ways of life nor was it
due to any inherent inability of Islam to co-exist with other religions.
It was largely due to the policy of British imperialism encouraging,
sometimes openly and often with a consummate sanctimonious
mask of impartiality and conflict of interests between the
economically powerful and politically ambitious classes of both
communities. At the root of partition lay distinct antagonism between
the two principal communities of the sub-continent.
The division of humans into mutually exclusive group
identities of tribe, nation, caste, religion and class seems to serve two
important psychological functions. The first is to increase the feeling
of well being in the narcisstic realm by locating one’s own group at
the centre of the universe, superior to others, and second the shared
grandiose itself, maintained by legends, myths and rituals, seems to
demand a conviction that other groups are inferior. Ethnic groups
that use ethnicity to make demands in the political arena for
alteration in their status, in their economic well being, in their civil
rights, or in their educational opportunities are engaged in a form of
group politics. They demand a major say for the group in the political
system as a whole or control over a piece of territory within the
country, or they demand a country of their own with full sovereignty.
A nation, therefore, may be seen as a particular type of ethnic
community or, rather as an ethnic community politicized, with
recognized group rights in the political system. Nation-states are the
subjects and creators of a global network or ethnic minorities as
political actors. In modern times, especially 20th century ethnicity
has become important in politics and ethno-nationalism has been
the distinguishing characteristic of nationalism. Nationalism is both
an ideology and a form of behaviour. The ideology of nationalism

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build on peoples awareness of a nation or national self-
consciousness to give a set of attitudes and a programme of action.
These may be cultural, economic or political. So nation (as a group of
people who feel to be a community bound together by common,
history, religion, common descent and citizenship) can be defined in
ethnic, social or official sense. Nationalism can also take these forms
also. The use of word ethno-nationalism suggests that there is a
distinction between an ethnic group and a nation.
It may be pointed out that in plural societies, prevalence of a
dominant group, politically and economically, regulates other smaller
ethnic groups into a secondary position. It results in discontent in
the society in a large or small number because policies of the state
become beneficial to few and harmful to others. The process of
modernization unfolding social change inserts ethnic consciousness
and group solidarity among the desperate ethnic groups. This indeed
give rise to a conflictual nationalism. The principle dangers of violent
conflict arise when all routes to power in an existing system seem
closed to an organized force and when the possibility of changing the
political arena is a real one. The existence of one of these conditions
is often sufficient to be conductive to ethnic conflict. The existence of
both is particularly dangerous. One or both of these conditions have
existed in such far-flung places of India in 1947, in Nazi Germany
and recently in Yugoslavia and the Hutu-Tutsi killings in Rwanda.
Some historians, both Indian and Pakistani, suggest that the
Hindus and Muslims in colonial India constituted two separate
nations can be projected back into medieval history. They emphasise
that the events of 1947 were intimately connected to the long history
of Hindu Muslim conflict throughout medieval and modern times.
Communal identities were consolidated by a host of other
developments in the early twentieth century. During the 1920s and
early 1930s tension grew around a number of issues. Muslims were
angered by music before mosque, cow protection movement, and by

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the efforts of the Arya Samaj to bring back to the Hindu fold
(Shuddhi) those who had recently converted to Islam. As middle class
publicists and communal activists sought to build greater solidarity
within their communities, mobilising people against the other
community, riots spread in different parts of the country. Every
communal riot deepened differences between communities and
create violence.
The prospects of League in Punjab was always in doldrums
because of the Unionist Party. The League’s prospects further
narrowed down after the collapse of Jinnah-Sikander Hayat Khan
Pact in 1944. In Punjab, during 1945-46, communal politics burst
into villages and their passions were aroused and inspired by the
message of Pakistan; the cries of Allah-o-Akbar, Pakistan ban ke
rahega were raised in political meetings in Punjab. The proposals of
Cripps and Cabinet Mission Plan ultimately brought ‘Direct-Action
Day’ and riot started in big way in the country. Pakistan was won,
but people on both sides of the fence were tormented by killings, loss
of families and by the scale and magnitude of this tragedy.
Communal riots occur because there is a development of
communal ideology in society. Communalism refers to a politics that
seeks to unify one community around a religious identity in hostile
opposition to another community. In order to unify the community,
communalism suppresses distinctions within the community and
emphasis the essential unity of the community against other
communities. Communalism nurtures a politics of hatred for an
identified “other Hindus” in the case of Muslim Communalism and
“Muslims” in the case of Hindu Communalism. This hatred feeds a
politics of violence. As an ideology, communalism refers to the belief
that people belonging to one religion also share common socio-
economic, political and cultural interests. The South Asian societies
are threatened by the lack of cultural homogeneity and the lack of a
strong state or (a biased state government like British government in

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India) fails to ensure order in society. In such situations, the
religious bigotry leads to communal frenzy and results in riots.
During the course of Indian independence movement, the Muslims
always had a fear of majority Hindus, who could dictate them.
Occasionally the fear of minority led them to rioting.
In such deteriorating situation, on June 3, 1947, Mountbatten
announced the division of the country into India and Pakistan on the
basis of religion. Sixteen districts comprising of 55 percent of
population and 62 percent of the area were allotted to the West
Punjab. In comparison to it, the East Punjab obtained 13 districts, 5
princely states, 45 percent of the population, 33 percent of the area
and 31 percent of the income of the united former provinces. When
the rest of India was celebrating independence on August 15, 1947,
the unhappy land of the five rivers was undergoing the sufferings of
migration.
Under the religious garb, anti-social elements came on the
surface and paralysed humanitarian efforts. On the one hand
administrative machinery collapsed and on the other hand civic
organisations failed to fill vacuum. Moreover, the failure of the
Radcliff Boundary Commission to submit its final report on August
12, created entire central Punjab as a red zone. Flags appeared on
the villages indicating the positions in an uncertain situation. People
stayed out and started indulging in murder and arson. When the
report was submitted on August 17, much damage had already been
done. The terror stricken people took to roads, railways and whatever
means of transport were available for life. But every passage was
infested by bands of murderers and hooligans out to loot and kill.
It was impossible to make an accurate estimate of the total
loss of life or the extant of damage to property caused by riots. The
census return of 1941 were not accurate even at the time they were
compiled. It became hopelessly wrong at the end of six years when a
general increase in population and local movements made it

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impossible to determine with any degree of accuracy how many non-
Muslims were living in the West Punjab, nor was it impossible to
know the total number of Hindu and Sikh refugees prepared.
The magnitude of the problem of such a huge transfer of
population came to be realized when people in large numbers started
migrating in trains, motor vehicles, bullock carts and even on foot as
caravans. While the trains carried out the speedy transfer of refugees
on both the sides, it was the organization of foot convoys which
proved to be the most effective form of evacuation for the tough
peasants of the Punjab. Twenty-four foot convoys varying in strength
from 40 to 60 thousand were organized.
To prevent the situation from deteriorating further and on
account of the failure of the leadership to check exodus, both the
dominions realized the need to set up machinery for the evacuation
of the displaced persons. Inter-Dominion Conferences were held
between the two countries to sort out the sensitive questions and
issues related to the partition. High level organizations of both the
dominions were entrusted with the arduous task of deciding the
policy with regard to evacuation. While matters of broad policy were
tackled by the Partition Council, the Joint Defence Council was given
the back breaking responsibility of supplying military services and
defining their functions and jurisdiction in the evacuation work.
Evacuation movement plan was chalked out well with joint
rehabilitation board lying down policies with regard to the reception
and rehabilitation of the refugees. East Punjab Liaison Agency
comprising of Chief Liaison Officer was especially set up for ensuring
the safe migration of people across the border. Yet, bloodshed,
communal carnage and extreme hardships marked the process of
migration.
As early as the end of August 1947, the Government of India
also facilitated the transportation of refugees by air from certain

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inaccessible points in Pakistan by mobilizing ten aircrafts and
carrying out six or seven flights daily to convoy refugees.
Torn from their families environment and occupations these
people were bewildered at the catastrophe, which had overtaken
them. They had lost their bearings and many of them did not know
what to do. The Government of India and Punjab proved equal to the
occasion and set up camps at a number of places where these
unfortunate people were given rest and shelter.
Although the harshest of words were often used by the
displaced masses to describe the state of affairs in the refugee
camps, yet it was these camps that were also the symbol of
stupendous efforts that was put in by the cash-starved governments
of both sides, to give some solace, comfort and security.
The Government of India set up a women organization under
Miss Mridula Sarabhai to recover the abducted women. Lady social
workers were deputed to all the districts of the West Punjab to assist
in the recovery of abducted women. The District Liaison Officers were
to supply information regarding abducted persons to be recovered. In
spite of the elaborate arrangements, liberal expenditure and efforts
many were left behind. East Punjab Liaison Agency recovered 11,129
women and children, whereas West Punjab recovered only 5,616. It
was however, claimed by the East Punjab Government that they took
up recovery work more honestly in this province than their
counterparts in Pakistan.
Another problem caused by the partition of the country was
the exchange of prisoners and mental patients. The East Punjab
Government built a new mental hospital at Amritsar in 1948. The
most important event in the working of this hospital for the year
1950 was the transfer of 450 Indian mental patients from mental
hospitals in West Pakistan. And in the case of prisoners, with the
determined efforts of Indian Government, 4088 non-Muslim

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prisoners repatriated from Pakistan. Indian Government repatriated
3761 Muslim prisoners to Pakistan.
It has been estimated that over 12½ million people have been
uprooted from their settled homes and were cut off from their
moorings. Upto June 15, 1948 about 55 lakhs non-Muslims were
estimated to have been brought over to India from West Punjab and
other provinces of Western Pakistan and during the same period
about 58 lakhs Muslims had moved into Pakistan from East Punjab,
Delhi, U.P., Ajmer, Marwara, Alwar, Bharatpur, Gwalior and Indore.
During the same period about one and a quarter million non-
Muslims crossed the borders from Eastern Pakistan into West
Bengal.
Since the influx of evacuees appeared to be an unending
stream as an aftermath of the partition of the country, steps were
taken to settle the rural population on evacuee lands where Kharif
crops were ripe for harvesting. Sending the evacuees to villages was
placed on the top of the priority list of the Government. To
rehabilitate displaced farmers, land was allotted to them on
temporary basis for sustenance in groups. A rough and ready
scheme of distribution of land for the first harvest was drawn. In the
absence of agricultural statistics and decisive agreement with
Pakistan on evacuee property, permanent settlement could not be
worked out immediately. To ensure quick distribution of land the
agriculturist evacuees were asked to proceed to the tehsils and
acquire lands in the villages. Quasi-permanent settlement replaced
the temporary allotment scheme. The announcement of the new
scheme in this regard was made on February 7, 1948. According to
it, the holdings of the evacuees in West Punjab was to be taken into
account for the allotment of land. In order to standardize the
claimant right, the tenure of land in different kinds of soil and in
different tracts were classified and evaluated. The area of every
claimed was then converted into the newly evolved term ‘standard

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acre’. Formula of ‘graded cuts’ was applied while allotting the land to
evacuees farmers in a bid to rehabilitate them. The final account
showed that displaced persons due for settlement in East Punjab
could receive in quasi-permanent allotment 2,448,830 standard
acres against 3,935,131 standard acres abandoned in West Pakistan.
The scheme of model villages was started. Factors like the area
and shape of the village site, the situation of large trees and standing
pucca buildings were certain common features in all these villages.
About 5,00,000 displaced families of land holders were settled
in villages. Besides these families, landless persons, harijans,
tenants, village kamins and shopkeepers were provided with shelter.
There were about 3,18,000 evacuee houses in living conditions in
rural areas. 2,25,000 houses were no longer fit for repairs and
1,25,000 evacuee houses needed repairs. Many kacha houses
collapsed due to heavy rains and floods. Houses belonging to evacuee
land holders were given to the allottees of land. Houses of evacuee
kamins were given to displaced kamins. Evacuee shops were given to
displaced shopkeepers. Houses were reserved for common purposes
such as panchayat ghars, schools and dispensaries.
Urban rehabilitation in the Punjab, broadly speaking was the
problem of providing about 11 lakh displaced persons of urban
characteristics with houses and urban land claimed to have been
abandoned in urban areas of West Pakistan was 22,972 standard
acres while the urban area available in East Punjab and PEPSU was
19,273 standard acres. Out of which 13,444 standard acres were in
East Punjab and 5,729 in PEPSU.
An urban allotment section was started under a tehsildar with
56 clerks. The first and immediate need of evacuees was house
where he could shelter himself and his family. While the number of
urban houses left on this side was much smaller than those left in

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Pakistan, they were also poorer in quality and capacity as compared
to non-Muslim houses in Pakistan.
For the lower middle class the government evolved the scheme
of cheap housing colonies. It was decided to set up houses of small
specification on 8 marla sites. In these colonies sites had been
provided for religious buildings and schools. Rather more serious
was the problem of the lower class displaced persons who were so
poor that they could not afford to spend anything for roofed shelter.
For them mud hut colonies were set up. Sites were also provided for
services industries to make them self-sufficient to the maximum
possible extent. The earliest effort in this direction was the
construction of 12 townships called model towns. All the houses in
model towns were of uniform designs.
Another scheme to provide shelter was the construction of
4,200 houses at the laying out of 9800 building in new township
colonies built at various places in the Punjab. In PEPSU, 10,000
Bahawalpurias were earmarked for Patiala. Of these some were to be
housed in the town itself either by repairing the kholas or in new
barracks which was constructed for displaced persons. The bulk of
the population was to be housed in a new township in close precincts
of the town at Tripuri where 1800 new houses were planned for
construction. Nearly 8,000 Bahawalpuria evacuees were planned to
settle in Jind. 400 houses were planned to build in Phagwara. The
PEPSU Government planned six model townships near Patiala,
Phagwara, Basti Nau, Bhatinda, Kotakpura and Barnala. A cheap
house scheme was prepared for the working classes and the low
income groups. This scheme aimed at providing building sites at
various places in the Union.
To provide displaced shopkeepers a ready means of
earning their living, it was decided to allot evacuee shops and
factories only to displaced persons. There were nearly 17,000

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evacuee shops. All of these were allotted to displaced businessmen
from West Pakistan. The total number of evacuee factories and
industrial establishments in the province was 1,392 of these 1,114
had been leased through auction.
To provide financial aid to the poor and middle class evacuees
for rehabilitation in business, the government sanctioned a scheme
of loans and grants. In the beginning all loans to urban evacuees
were granted individually. Later on it was decided that loans, should
as a rule be given only to co-operative societies or groups of
displaced persons. The Punjab government had by the end of
November 1949, sanctioned Rs. 1,25,00,000 as loans and 18,00,000
as grants to displaced persons.
Displaced students from West Pakistan were given financial
assistance by the government in the form of loans and grants. Relief
was granted to college as well as loans and to school students from
5th to 10th class. They were given other concessions also, like fee,
books and etc. Exception was however, made in case of those
students who had secured admission to engineering, medical,
veterinary or agricultural colleges, recognized by the East Punjab
University in which case assistance was to continue till the
completion of the full course. The Punjab government disbursed to
displaced students Rs. 15,22,000 as loans and Rs. 19,48,000 as
grants in the year 1948-49.
The Industry Department of the Punjab Government had also
started 32 training centres in which both boys and girls trainees
received instruction in various trades and crafts. These centres were
located at different towns in the province. To help rehabilitation of
the displaced industrialists and to provide gainful employment to
other displaced persons new industrial areas were developed in
important cities. To restrict the shifting of factories under Factory
Act, East Punjab Act, March 1948 ‘Control of Dismantling Act’ was
passed by the East Punjab Government. To make up for the loss of

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capital and skilled labour, the Government of India set up a
Rehabilitation Finance Administration for meeting the financial
requirements of small and medium level migrant businessman on
medium and long term basis.
The industrial development in the East Punjab was based on
an economic system under which private enterprise controlled
almost the entire industrial field. However, the Punjab government
rendered the maximum possible assistance to private enterprise to
encourage the growth of industries. The future plans of the state
government for the industrial development were in the different
directions. These efforts were expected to change the face of Punjab
state and to achieve a healthy, happy and prosperous future of
urban East Punjab.
The evacuee gardens were reserved for allotment to displaced
garden owners. Horticultural facilities were provided by the
Government through introduction of a garden colony scheme.
Earmarking of certain compact areas in every district was an
important step taken by the Government in this direction. Educated
persons with gardening experience who were ready to undertake the
planting of gardens in conformity with official regulations were
allotted units. These units were of the size between 10 to 20 acres of
land.
After the partition, the East Punjab was a deficit state in food
grains and cotton. The East Punjab government started development
schemes like supply of better seeds, agricultural implements, fruit
nursery production, compost schemes, tubewell scheme, mechanical
cultivation and land reclamation schemes, etc. on a ‘no profit no loss’
basis. The agricultural education and research work was carried on
first in Khalsa College, Amritsar and subsequently, since August
1949, at Ludhiana.
The Punjab’s economy received a fillip with the inception of
first Five Year Plan, 1950-51. The programme of agricultural

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development was given the highest priority. These included
programmes for increasing agricultural production, developing
animal husbandry, dairying, forests, fisheries and cooperation.
During the plan, irrigation was made available for about 6.3 million
acre of land but the area actually cultivated was a little over 4 million
acres. The bulk of the central assistance was devoted to minor
irrigation programmes. Under the Indo-US Technical Cooperation
Programme, three projects for the construction of 2650 tubewells
and for drilling of 350 exploratory tubewells had been undertaken at
the cost of rupees twenty-five crores. Forty-five tubewells and five
borings out of 350 exploratory tubewells were to be located in the
Punjab and PEPSU respectively.
The greater attention was paid to the developmental work. The
consolidation of holdings and prevention of their fragmentation,
improvement of cattle wealth, use of pure seeds of improved
varieties, maintaining the fertility of soil, eradication of weeds and
control of insects, pests and diseases, provision of irrigation facilities,
supply of improved agricultural implements at reasonable costs,
reclamation of cultivable waste lands and mechanical cultivation and
general improvement in the methods of agricultural were the main
area of concentration. With partition, Punjab inherited a legacy of
increasing economic pressure in form of reduced holdings and poorer
lands, fall in number of actual workers on the soil, insufficient
irrigation facilities, slender capital resources and the rise of tenant
interests. However, it had a healthy outcome in the form of migration
of the rich farmers of West Punjab into the Indian territory. These
enterprising farmers had shifted to the irrigated tracts of the West
Punjab from the interiors of the Punjab a few decades back where
they engineered the agricultural transformation. The partition
marked the return of these displaced Sikh and Hindu farmers of
Pakistan. Being mobile in character and well versed with the
mechanics of agrarian experiment, they were conscientious

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innovative and more receptive to new and novel ideas. They were the
ones who spearheaded the Green Revolution in the province.
The scheme of sinking wells continued to run on subsidized
basis. Taccavi loans for 4,150 wells were advanced upto June 1950.
Since the partition upto December 31, 1950 about 23 lakh
implements had been supplied to farmers. Panchayat Raj gave an
opportunity to the masses to manage their own affairs. After
independence, the Punjab government started the experiment of
Panchayati Raj. The introduction of the Punjab Bill in the state
legislature was the first step towards the establishment of the Raj.
As the result of the partition, there was a sharp decline in the
morals of the people. The serious economic crisis created by the
forced migration brought immorality in large number. The prevailing
lawlessness common in the East and West Punjabs removed all
social restraints and scruples. About fifty thousand women were
abducted in both the Punjabs. The violent communal riots, murders
and heinous crimes brought the people’s morale to the lowest ebb.
The partition gave a severe blow to the common village
traditions. Persons belonging to the same biradari were scattered
over different villages and towns in the same and even different
districts, with the result that social restraint exercised by the
biradari got relaxed. People were invariably strangers to their
neighbours, because belonging as they did to different places, they
had settled at one place. There was so much antipathy among the
refugee settlers in the same village that it sometimes resulted in
thefts and abduction of women in East Punjab.
People from both the Punjabs intermingled and it led to many
new social developments. A large number of the Sikhs and Hindus
from Rawalpindi and Multan division who were engaged in trade
resettled in the backward towns and villages of East Punjab. This
quickened the pulse of social life. The free and easy culture of the

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West Punjab had a liberalizing influence on the women of East
Punjab, who emulating the example of their counterparts from West
Punjab began to discard the purdah and were becoming co-
sharerness of their husband’s business.
Due to partition of Punjab, the Pakistani Punjabi began to
develop on different lines with large number of Persian words and
Punjabi in India began to absorb Hindi words.
The partition caused an upheaval in the social structure. The
refugees found themselves aliens in their new surroundings. The
very places, the physical and geographical environment and people
among whom they were required to spend their lives and develop new
relationships were unfamiliar. In the West Punjab, this led to the evil
practices of beggary, prostitution, delinquency and crime.
‘Refugees’ everywhere in the world have generally found at first
a warm response from those among they are placed, but with the
lapse of time they develop a feeling that they are not really getting
what they had counted upon, their sufferings have not been properly
appreciated, and that they are generally misunderstood. In the case
of evacuees from West Pakistan a similar complex had developed.
The sudden uprooting from their homes due to political reasons led
the refugees to believe that the Republic of India was the direct
outcome of the immense sacrifices made by them. Hence they
legitimately expected more consideration from the local population.
This led to the development of more aggressive attitude among them.
It is beyond doubt that partition dealt a severe blow to the
economy of Punjab. It adversely affected the condition of both
agriculture and industry. The entire economy of the nation including
that Punjab could be seen in a shattered and disintegrated state.
Independence brought with it a change in the dynamics of political
power game. It signified the transfer of power from the hands of the
colonial masters to the national elite. In the Punjab, rural elites came
to wield power in the political set up. The political and economic

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compulsions led the state to divert its energy in the rehabilitation of
the province. A series of challenges were posed before the newly
formed state. Rehabilitation process could be accomplished largely
owing to the patience, perseverance, will power and mobility
displayed by the Punjabis in their character.
The collaborative efforts of the state and overwhelming
response of its people cumulatively, resulted in gradual recovery of
the agricultural, industrial and economy of the province from the
hard hitting blow of partition.

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