Partition refugees
Also called: Partition displacement · Topic: Challenges of Nation Building: Partition, Princely States and Reorganisation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Challenges of Nation Building"
Meaning
Partition refugees were the people forced to leave their homes and cross the new India-Pakistan border in 1947. About 80 lakh people crossed, and between 5 and 10 lakh were killed. NCERT calls this one of the largest, most sudden, unplanned and tragic population transfers in history. The partition scheme had no plan for moving people. Refugees often lived in camps for months or years. Thousands of women were abducted, and many children were separated from their parents.
Example
Lahore, Amritsar and Kolkata split into separate 'communal zones', meaning areas held by one religious group. To help the refugees, India set up a Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation. It passed the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act 1954 and built new towns such as Faridabad and Nilokheri. In the west, the movement of people was violent but mostly over by 1948. In the east, people kept coming for years.
Don't confuse with
- Planned population exchange: no such exchange was ever agreed in 1947. "The partition scheme planned population transfer" is a FALSE statement.