• Name – Shivangi Paliwal

• Subject – History III

• Semester – IV
• Roll No.- 1823
• Mid-term Examinations

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Q2.

Ans.
Siachen Glacier begins at NJ9842, after this point is inhabitable and inaccessible terrain,
Siachen is the geo political legacy of partition. India claims the area based on the Jammu
and Kashmir Instrument of Accession (1947) and the Karachi Agreement of 1949, which
define the ceasefire line beyond NJ9842 as “running Northwards to the glaciers”.
This region is permanently frost, average height of the glacier ranges to 6000m. In winter
season temperature drops to -40c. The existence of this glacier was discovered by
Moorcroft, in 1821. During the British period, no. of trekkers used to trek this region.
In modern times, after 1962 Indo china war, east of glacier is restricted as disputed area.
Around 1983-84 India got a report that Pakistan occupied peak in this region, then the
operation "meghdoot" was launched., as a result of this operation Indian army captured the
Jinnah Post. In 1986 Indian army officer banwar was able to capture this post since than it
is known as Banwar post, as a result of this operation India captured most of the heights in
this region. Following the operation Indian Army is at higher altitude and Pakistan is at
lower altitude, 1/3rd area is under Pakistan and 2/3 rd. is under India.
Presently, there are 15000 troops are at the glacier as India have large land and 7 battalions
are governing this.

This is a disputed area due to the ongoing conflict and it is known as the Highest and
Costliest battlefield of the world because, in order to maintain troops, every day India
spend 40-50 million rupees, and in a year 15-20 billion, since Indian Prescence of troops is
bigger. The biggest killer here is weather and not the army, and on average every 2nd day
India is losing a soldier here, due to blizzards etc, the troops that are deployed here 18-25
years of age, a person cannot stay for more than 3 months, Gangrene is also the problem
here and they have to go to base camps in order for frequent health check-up, the cost of
sending the goods is very high in fact 1 litre of kerosene costs of 20-25 litre but sending it
their it is 700 /litre. Due to the inaccessible terrain soldiers and most of the general
amenities are to be airlifted, which adds the extra cost. These conditions make it the
costliest battlefield in world.
The ongoing battle also poses serious environmental risks because this Glacier is
tributary to river Indus , and it is getting polluted due to the presence of troops and tons of
garbage is created on daily basis , in order to supply energy pipelines are there , but
sometimes these lines gets broken , oil spills to glacier causing ecological problems , when
the ice starts melting then garbage goes everywhere, average temperature of this region has
risen and these glaciers are melting , this is melting very fast and it is serious cause of
concern. WWF have also argued if these troops are not removed. The problem of water
security can be a threat as the other nearby 4 glaciers are stated melting - Gangotri,
yamnotri etc.
In order to resolve this problem of Siachen, many rounds have occurred but the problem is
trust deficit, none of the side is willing to withdraw from this region. Pakistan believes if it
will step back, India will capture the territory and vice versa. In 2007, India planned civil
expedition despite these efforts, conditions are still same,
In 2003 a workshop was organised in Dhaka by world conversation organisation and they
state that India and Pakistan should create a conventional green peace park not only to
protect landscape, but also to diffuse the conflict. Even UNESCO has plan to convert this
into heritage site as this was an ancient silk route, Manmohan Singh was the first Prime
Minister to visit this site and he wanted to convert this mountain as “mountain of peace”.

The situation of the glacier is not resolved yet and it has put serious affects on national
treasure of both India and Pakistan, as both the nations have to maintain the troops in this
inaccessible and harsh region which causes the expenditure of billions and due to the
ongoing conflict, environment of this region is deteriorating with the added global
warming, temperature of glacier is rising and it is melting at an alarming rate. This has to
be resolved in the near future otherwise it will have far-reaching effects not only on the
concerned nations but the whole humanity.
Q3.
Ans.
After the partition of Bengal, which was the part of Independence of India in 1947, east
Bengali refugees left the east Bengal and came to the Indian side. The partition of Bengal
resulted in millions of people fleeting their territory and it killed thousands.
Bagchi jasodhara and Dasgupta Subhoranjan has observed that “the Partition of Bengal
turned out to be a continuing process” Jawahar lal Nehru, the then Prime minister of India
also stated that west Bengal has suffered more form partition.
Following the partition west Bengal saw a great influx of refugees who migrated in search
of safety and better life conditions, they were rendered homeless by the Radcliff award. In
the immediate aftermath of partition, commonly attributed figures suggest around 3 million
East Bengalis migrating to India and 864,000 migrants from India to East Pakistan,
however this migration continued during three decades that is from 1950-70s.
During the initial phase, the GOI was primarily concerned about the resettlement of the
refugees from West Pakistan, and the national leadership was ambivalent regarding its
responsibilities towards the Bengali Hindu refugees from East Pakistan. A ministry of
Relief and Rehabilitation was set up by government of India in order to deal with the
refugee crisis. The refugee from east Pakistan was reluctant to move to any other state and
they wanted to go to only west Bengal, Tripura or assam.
Regarding rehabilitation measures in West Bengal until 1950, the government aimed at
providing the incoming refugees relief on a temporary basis, rather than creating conditions
for their long-term rehabilitation. lts main response consisted of setting up of relief camps
in key areas where shelter and other basic amenities essential for survival were provided.
After 1955, government took a more pragmatic approach to this situation and in 1958 it
established the Dandakaranya development authority (DDA), as per this scheme of
settlement, an area of 78,000 sq miles was to be given to the refugees, the region of
Koraput and Kalahandi district of Orissa and Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh was chosen
for this purpose. The ‘Dandakaranya Project’ was seen as a solution to an almost
intractable human problem – of rehabilitating a large number of displaced families who
were uprooted from their homeland in East Pakistan and were now living in different
camps in West Bengal. It was the central government’s response to Dr. B. C. Roy’s
demand that West Bengal’s refugee problem be solved on a national scale. The resolution
of West Bengal’s refugee problem initially consisted of tighter border controls and denial
of official relief and rehabilitation within the state. The Dandakaranya Project was the final
element in such a resolution and it was conceived as the sole path to rebuilding lives for the
majority of East Bengali refugees languishing in the state’s camps. The Congress
government in West Bengal saw Dandakaranya as a ready site for the disposal of unwanted
refugees as well as for undesirable future refugees. In Dandakaranya, each refugee family
was forced to carve out an existence from a plot of 6.5 hectares and loans for purchasing
bullocks and building houses. Small traders were offered a business loan of a Rs. 1000 and
a maximum of three months’ dole. The refugees who were accustomed to a riverine land
and wet climate in East Bengal found it difficult to earn their livelihood in the rugged
terrain and soil unretentive of moisture in Dandakaranya. It must be remembered that the
resettlement of East Bengali refugees in Dandakaranya went hand in hand with the
complete dispossession and marginalization of the area’s tribal inhabitants. The forests
which had been cleared by the forced labour of refugees had been the traditional habitat
and source of livelihood for the Gonds of the region. When the project was conceived, little
attention was paid to the indigenous people who were already residing in the region and the
DDA’s policies have often been blamed for destroying the tribal social and economic
structures without any sustainable alternative in view. It is obvious that the government
plan did not take into account the ground realities and the consequent clash between the
refugees and the local populace was a classic case of peasant—tribal confrontation over
land.
Thus, due to the failure of this refugee plan in 1965, refugee families deserted the
Dandakaranya settlements and by 1978 between January and June, 120,000 refugees sold
off their belongings in the hopes of returning to West Bengal