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Abstract

This article scrutinises the ramifications of population movements between India and Pakistan in and after 1947 in one particular border district in West Bengal. Information from census reports of pre-independent and independent India and Pakistan allows detailed examination of micro-level cross-border migrations, showing how the relocation of populations completely recast the religious and demographic contours of this border district. Within just four years, the Muslim-majority district of Nadia turned into an overwhelmingly Hindu-majority district through this two-way population movement. Contrary to popular perceptions, which stress the unidirectional pattern of migration on the eastern side of India, this article brings to the fore a hitherto unknown facet of partition migration.

Keywords

Bangladesh demography East Bengal India migration partition population movements West Bengal

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