ABSTRACT
Indian independence came with a high price, that was born out of partition displacing 15 million people. Millions had to leave a part of their lives in search of an alternative, being turned into refugees almost overnight. In West Bengal alone 30 million refugees entered until 1960. In the 1970s the number of people entering from the east was closer to a few million. It is no surprise that partition history has remained a favourite arena of research among scholars and students in India and Bengal, although comparatively the partition of Bengal has been a lesser researched area. The scope of this paper however is beyond that. This chapter will rather attempt to study the political economy of the society in West Bengal during the 50s that was largely shaped by the refugees who crossed over from the then East Pakistan to West Bengal.
