Showing posts with label British. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Burma–Bengal Crossings: Intercolonial Connections in Pre-Independence India

Devleena Ghosh
University of Technology, SydneyCorrespondence
Devleena.Ghosh@uts.edu.au
Pages 156-172 | Published online: 21 Mar 2016


Abstract
The large-scale movement of people between Burma and Bengal in the early twentieth century has been explored recently by authors such as Sugata Bose and Sunil Amrith who locate Burma within the wider migratory culture of the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. This article argues that the long and historical connections between Bengalis and Burmese were transformed by the British colonisation of the region. Through an analysis of selected literary texts in Bengali, some by well-known and others by obscure writers, this article shows that, for Indians, Burma constituted an elsewhere where the fantastic and superhuman were within reach, and caste and religious constraints could be circumvented and radical possibilities enabled by masquerade and disguise.

Introduction


Burma is a spectre that haunts the story of the east coast of India. Its geographical placement as one of India’s closest neighbours, sharing a thousand kilometres of common borders, is in contradiction to the elusive shadow that it intermittently casts on the emotional cartography of eastern India and, for the purposes of this paper, particularly Bengal. This lacuna in the shared and layered histories of the Eastern Indian Ocean has as much to do with shared colonial pasts as with the tendency of modern nation-states to treat relatively recent borders as sacred and inviolable, thereby denying all of the flows, movements, connections, fluidities and uncertainties that are the very stuff of human history and the imbrication of social, cultural and emotional worlds.

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

British firm Veripos sold technology to Burma military, says UN report

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

British envoy Dickson visits Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar

theindepedent
2 April, 2019 
Independent Online Desk  



British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson recently visited the Rohingya Camps in Cox’s Bazar to witness how the UKAid is helping provide emergency food, safe water and hygiene for the Rohingya refugees, according to a post shared by British High Commission in Dhaka on its official Facebook page on Tuesday.

Monday, April 1, 2019

30 lakh died ‘due to British failure in 1943’

The Tribune
Posted at: Apr 1, 2019
Manas Dasgupta
AHMEDABAD, March 31
Courtesy: REUTERS

IIT team says not caused by drought

A research paper by a team headed by a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, has blamed the “complete policy failure” of the then British government for the deaths of nearly 30 lakh people in India in the 1943 famine, also known as the Bengal Famine, rather than due to the crop failure caused by depleted rainfall. The team, headed by Vimal Mishra, associate professor in the Civil Engineering Department, included Amar Deep Tiwari, Saran Aadhar and Reepal Shah of the same department, Mu Xiao and Dennis Lettenmaier of the Department of Geography in the University of California, and DS Pai at the India Meteorological Department, Pune.

Based on publications and available records, the team studied the direct relation between soil moisture conditions and food shortages during the 12 major periods of famine in various parts of India between 1870 and 2016 and found that of the major occurrences before 1947, only the famine of 1943, when Winston Churchill was the British Prime Minister, could not be concluded to have been caused by monsoon failure. “Famines had occurred earlier than 1943 also, but most of the time the then British government in India had taken some curative steps, for which some of the then rulers were criticised also by the subsequent British officers. But the 1943 famine was not caused by drought; it was the result of the total policy failure and lack of humane concern for the Indian sufferers,” Prof Mishra said.

Based on the “severity-area-duration” analysis to gauge the severity of drought conditions, the team found that the severity of drought was more widespread in the second half of 1941 rather than in 1943. “This 1943 Bengal Famine appears to be the only famine that directly is not linked with soil moisture drought and crop failures but was caused by other factors,” the paper concluded.

Among the “other factors” causing the high mortality rate in 1943, when an estimated 20-30 lakh people perished, Prof Mishra said it was partly related to then ongoing Asian threat of World War II, including malaria, starvation and malnutrition.

In early 1943, military and political events had adversely affected Bengal’s economy, which was exacerbated by the continuous rush of refugees from Burma (now Myanmar). Additionally, wartime grain import restrictions imposed by the then British government also played a major role in large-scale deaths. But the most important factor was that ignoring the food shortage prevailing in the country then, the British government continued to impound a large quantity of grains for soldiers while the Indian civilians died.

In the previous drought conditions, the then British government had imported wheat from Burma to provide sustenance to the famine-hit in different parts of India, but the situation was reverse in 1943, Prof Mishra said.

According to Prof Mishra, a series of famines occurred between 1870 and 1943, killing well over 1 crore people in India but except the 1943 famine, the rest were caused by soil moisture drought due to shortage of rainfall, including three famines driven by Sea Surface Temperature anomalies known as El Nino effect in the tropical Pacific Ocean.

“The factors that helped avoiding famine-like conditions in independent India were absent during the British period,” he said. This included better ground water-based irrigation system, a public food distribution system through the ration shops and food buffer stocks and a better transportation system to carry supplies. The study also expressed concern over the future of India in the light of the fast depleting groundwater level. “Our results showing linkage between drought and famines in India have implications for food and fresh water security in the region,” the researchers said.

Bengal Famine

An estimated 20-30 lakh people perished in 1943
But severity of drought was more widespread in the second half of 1941 than in 1943
Ignoring food shortage, British continued to impound a large quantity of grains for WW-II soldiers while Indian civilians died
In the previous drought conditions, British had imported wheat from Burma to provide sustenance to famine-hit in India

Link :https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/30-lakh-died-due-to-british-failure-in-1943/751300.html

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Rohingya plight must not fall off int'l agenda

The Daily Star
February 20, 2019

Says British minister

British Minister for International Development Penny Mordaunt has stressed the need for voluntary repatriation of Rohingyas to their place of origin in Myanmar, making sure that they are protected after their return.

Rohingyas’ right to return must be high on int’l agenda: UK Minister

theindependent
19 February, 2019

It's time to look beyond short-term live-saving assistance, she says

The United Kingdom has reaffirmed its commitment to help resolve the Rohingya crisis saying that the right of these displaced people's return to their place of origin in Myanmar's Rakhine State must remain high on international agenda.

Penny Mordaunt: the Rohingya crisis must not be forgotten


GOV.UK
 Published 19 February 2019
Press release  
From:
The UK is providing vital humanitarian aid to many of the one million Rohingya refugees and vulnerable local communities in Cox’s Bazar.

The plight of the Rohingya refugees must not be forgotten, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said during her second visit to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.

New strategy worked out to deal with Rohingya issue: Shahriar

theindependent
19 February, 2019
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam speaks to media at State guesthouse Padma on Tuesday, Feb 19, 2019. Photo: Courtesy

State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam on Tuesday said the government has worked out a new strategy after reviewing the overall situation to deal with the Rohingya repatriation issue.

He said implementation of this strategy will be visible very soon.

British Minister discusses Rohingya issue with Shahriar

theindependent
19 February, 2019


British Secretary of State for International Development and Minister for Women and Equalities Penny Mordaunt on Tuesday met State Minister Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam and discussed various issues of mutual interest.