Prisoners Of The Past

Four years after the exchange of enclave between Bangladesh India, the new citizen India are still waiting for basic rights.

- Romita Datta

AT THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT ON JULY 31, 2015, 51 enclaves in Bangladesh were celebrating becoming a part of India. After decades of stateless existence, their inhabitants finally had a homeland. The landmark Land Boundary Agreement signed in 1974 had finally come into force, and 162 pockets of land that existed as enclaves in Indian and Bangladeshi territories were merged with the countries that surrounded them. To mark the day, they sang the national anthem, distributed sweets, the festivities lasting for days. Voter ID cards, Aadhaar cards and some ration cards were promptly distributed since the state assembly election was around the corner. The new Indian citizens looked forward to a future filled with hope and possibilities.

Almost four years later, they are still fighting for proper documentation, land allotment, infrastructure and access to sanitation and benefits from various government schemes, such as the Kanyashree Prakalpa, incentivising a child’s higher secondary education, or Yuvashree, to provide financial assistance to young job seekers. For a while, government funds were available to build pucca structures like Integrated Child Development Services centres, community development centres, solar irrigation pumps and greenhouses, but most of these are now defunct. Thirty tube wells installed in Batrigachh, a former enclave which is now part of West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, in 2018, have long stopped working, as have half the solar panels meant to power the irrigation pumps.