On the face of it, the villages along the 100km-long Indo-Bangladesh border in the Cooch Behar district of West Bengal appear to be just another rural idyll. Yet they are anything but. Enclosed by the territory of a different country, the Bangladeshi enclaves in India are home to people without citizenship, without identity. A no man’s land marked by the absence of schools, hospitals, even electricity.
In the Indian Territory, there are 51 Bangladeshi enclaves, while there are 111 Indian enclaves across the frontier. A total of 51,500 people live in these enclaves — spread across one to 600 acres — on either side. Unaccounted for in the census, they don’t exist on voters’ lists, or have access to State-run employment schemes. There are no metalled roads in their villages, no police; nor is there any governance. They are on their own, entirely.
With the Indian government set to ratify an international land boundary agreement in the upcoming session in Parliament, there is hope yet for these enclaves, ‘abandoned’ for seven decades. While little might change for those living there now, perhaps the future generations will know the advantages of belonging to a nation and enjoying the benefits that Indian villages, barely a few hundred metres away, take for granted. But will it be too little, too late? Only time will tell.
Photographs by Ashoke Chakrabarty and text by Pratim Ranjan Bose