ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the period between August 1947, when freedom arrived, and the early months of 1950, when the new constitution was promulgated, closely followed by the outbreak of communal riots in Calcutta for the first time since the days of Partition. The first and foremost reality of the early days of freedom that hit the average citizens the hardest was the continuing food shortage, accompanied by spiralling general inflation. The food prices in Bengal had gone up since the outbreak of World War II, and the famine of 1943 showed that the British government had no credible food policy. A major feature of the celebrations marking the arrival of freedom on 15 August 1947, was the disappearance of communal tension that had plagued the city of Calcutta, as well as adjacent industrial areas of Howrah, for the last few months, compelling Gandhi to come to Calcutta.
