An Economic Geography of East Pakistan | Nafis Ahmad (Published in 1958) - সংগ্রামের নোটবুক

An Ecoconmic Geography of East Pakistan | NAFIS AHMED

LONDON | OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS | KARACHI NEW YORK 1958

CHAPTER IV

Industries and Crafts

INDUSTRIES IN ANCIENT AND EARLY TIMES

EAST BENGAL’S geography and climate dictated in early times, as they have done ever since, that agriculture should be backbone of the economy of the area. But there is ample evidence to show that handicrafts and industries, based upon the supply of local raw materials and indigenous skill, formed an important aspect of the economic geography of the past. There were both rural as well as uraban undustries. Primarily based upon the facilities of inland water transport, there existed a fairly extensive internal trade, and a number of goods varying both in quantity and quality were exported. The development of foreign commerce was a significant feature of the material progress of the area in the past.

The most important industries in ancient and early medieval times, were textiles, suger, metal work, jewellery, woodwork and boat-and ship-building, apart from a wide variety of cottage industries.

The textile industry derived its raw materials from the lacal cotton, wild and cultured silk and the sembhal tree cotton. Thus linens, cottons and silks were manufactured and their excellence gained a world-wide reputation.

Linen materials were produced both in North Bengal and deltaic East Bengal, while silk goods were the speciality of the former. But the chief industry, as widespread as it was important, was the manufacture of cotton textiles, and East Bengal (Vanga) early acqired a fame for its fabrics. Pliny, in his Natural History, while enumerating the imports from the east, mentions the Bengal muslins, which probably came mostly from the Kapasia₁ area in the northern part of Dacca district. Muslins of the finest sorts are mentioned by the writer of the Periplus₂ (first century A.D.) and earlier by Kautilya, the Indian scholar, in his Arthasastra, 323 B.C. Sulaiman, the Arab merchant who visited China, Malaya and Chittagong (Ruhm) in the tenth century, said that the cotton fabrics made there (Dacca area) were unmatched anywhere else and the material was so fine that a dress made of it could be passed through a signet ring, and that he had personally seen the stuff. Some other Arab writers and geographers, including Ibn Khurdadbih, testify to this fact. Marco Polo spoke both of cotton production and cotton goods.

The Chinese visitor, Mahuan, who came to East Bengal in the fifteenth century (c. 1406), in the reign of Ghias Uddin Azam Shah (1389-1409), saw five or six varieties of textiles including the fine, flowered pattern muslim. The Chinese mentioned materials such as butidar (flowered), sahn (sanes),

1 Taylor : A Sketch of the Topography and Statistics of Dacca, Calcutta, 1840, p. 163.

Schoff : The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, London, 1912, p. 47.

chauter and malmal-i-Shahi (royal muslim). He gives a vivid description of the life, occupations and economy of the area when he says : ‘In their dealings they are open and straightforward. The rich build ships, in which they carry on commerce with foreign nations; many are engaged in trade and a goodly number occupy themselves with agricultural pursuits, while others exercise their crafts and industries.’₁ He also mentions the manufacture of white, glossy paper from the bark of a tree, silken scarves and materials, steel, guns, knives and scissors.₂ Mulberry trees and silk-worm rearing are also noticed.

Suger production and manufacture has also ancient associations. The North Bengal (Paundra) cane was famous and according to Marco Polo₃, suger was exported. The Portugueses, Barbosa, found

this area competing with South India, Ceylon, Arabia and Persia. The manufacture of salt both from sea-water and sub-soil brine was common in order to meet the large domestic needs. The metal work industries included the manufacture and repair of agricultural implements, hardware and weapons. The swords manufactured in Vanga (deltaic East Bengal) were famous. Bronze casting was also carried out for use in images, etc. Among items of jewellery, which particularly catered for the rich and were made in the towns, may be mentioned all kinds of ornaments and setting of pearls and precious stones, as well as gold and silver dishes. Ivory carving and wookwork were widespread. The only industry which needed raw material from outside was stone carving, and it can be reasonably presumed that the black chlorite stone and other varieties were obtained from the Chota Nagpur area and transported down the Ganges.

During early Mughal times, East Bengal retained its industrial fame, and its manufactures were in great demand. Regional and local industrial development, and in general, encouragement to craftsmanship, were considerably augmented by the patronage of Governors and the nobility, due to the prevalent etiquette of making rare and typical presents to the Imperial Court at Delhi. The local consumption by the rulers and the elite also promoted industry. Advance orders were commonly given₄ for a variety of goods. According to the Ain-i-Akbari, in Ghoraghat (north Bogra, south-east Dinajpur and Rangpur) silk was produced, as well as a kind of sackcloth₅ (perhaps from a plant resembling jute). In the Sunargaon area (south-east Dacca, western Tippera and northern Noakhali), the most notable production was that of fine muslin in large quantities. Abul Fazl adds that in the town of Kiara Sundar or Katara, there was a large tank, the waters from which gave a remarkable whiteness to the cloth.

1.Phillips : ‘Mahuan’s Account of the Kingdom of Bengala (Bengal)’, Journ. Roy. As. Soc., New Ser., London, vol. xxvii, 1895, p. 530. Also ibid., Beam’s remarks, p. 899.

Ibid., p. 532.
Cordier : Cathay and the Way thither, London, 1916, vol. ii, p. 115.
Jadunath Sarkar : ‘Industries of Mughal India : Seventeenth Century’, Mod. Rev. Calcutta. vol. xxxi, no. 6, June 1922.
Ain-i-Akbari, vol. ii, pp. 122-3.

The various kinds of cotton fabrics mad were ordinary white, coloured, flowered and printed. The fine muslins continued to be a speciality.

With the establishment of peace and quite under the Great Mughals, an enormous expansion of trade and commerce took place. The import of specie led to a more rapid circulation of currency and gave the area the capacity to purchase imported goods. This expansion of trade and commercial activity was in turn responsible for a great encouragement of industrial production, because, unlike today, the exports were mainly based on industries instead of merely on raw material surplus. True, there were some raw material exports like raw cotton, safflower and indigo, but they were of lesser importance, and at any rate, came far behind the textiles.

The European traders also introduced methods of advancing money (the system of giving cash advances, dadan) and raw materials to skilled workers in return for finished goods. Supervision was exercised by their agents (gumashtas and peons). They also bought considerable amounts of merchandise at local marts through their brokers. The suppliers at these marts were not big manufacturers, but many individual producers and middlemen who had purchased and collected goods from the remote interior areas. Employment was also offered to many skilled people at the factory sites. The extent of industry was such that it can be said that the heart of the East Bengal area became the Lancashire of the seventeenth and eighteenth centrury of Europe and Asia.

Silk

The silk manufactures of North Bengal received particular encouragement from the advent of western traders and the increasing demand for those materials in Europe. The chief production and manufacturing area in East Bengal was the districts of Rajshahi (Nawabganj, Sadar and Natore sub-divisions) and Pabna (Sadar sub-division), secondary areas were south-eastern Dinajpur, south Rangpur and north Bogra. The raw material was home-produced and the extensive cultivation of mulberry trees was a feature of the rural scene and provided occupation for many people, because the peasant who fed his own silkworms gave full employment to his family₁. Within a year of planting, the mulberry gave five crops of leaves in a year and with careful handing continued to bear good leaves for several years. This was the common practice₂ about 1800. Home raw materials, however, were derived from cultured worms as well as wild produce. The wild silks of Sylhet were an important source.

The Bengal silk taffetas were dyed in gum, which does not appear to have been liked by the English customers. They especially objected to shades of green and black. A number of skilled workmen were sent from England to Bengal to improve the silk manufacture, but they were to keep their art secret from the native₃. The art of reeling

Colebrooke : Remarks on the Husbandry and Internal Commerce of Bengal, Calcutta, 1804, p. 152.
Ibid., p. 149.

3.Wilson : The Early Annals of the English in Bengal, London, 1895, vol. i, p. 46.

silk by the Italian₁ system, however, was introduced into Bengal as early as 1767. The silk taffetas, long and short, women’s cloaks of silk, striped stuffs and striped girdles, etc., were procured for the English factory (warehouse) at Kasimbazar. The manufactured articles mostly came from the present East Pakistan area of Malda and Rajshahi. Silk goods were also exported to Agra, which was the biggest consuming centre and mart in northern India.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

By the close of the first quarter of the nineteenth century, there were three major industrial occupations in the East Bengal area, all based on agricultural raw materials of home origin : cotton and silk manufactures and indigo processing. Of these, cotton and silk were older industries, while indigo had become important only in the last twenty-five or thirty years. In 1800, when Colebrooke wrote, it was just beginning to be produced on a large scale. When Bishop Heber₂ passed on his way to Dacca in 1824, through Kushtia and Faridpur areas, he noticed many big indigo factories and remarked on the cultivation of cotton. In spite of much decay in industry, Dacca was said still to contain a population₃ of 300,000. The Bishop did not even once mention jute or its cultivation. By the middle of the nineteenth century the old silk industry of Rajshahi district had almost disappeared. Half a century later, the areas of high density of population, Phutia and Natore, became merely ganja (hemp) growing tracts₄. In Bogra district, the East India Company had silk filatures at Sherpur and Naudapara, established in 1808. A sum of Rs. 500,000 was distributed yearly in the shape of advances to the rearers of cocoons. In Naudapara factory there were 2,000 reelers, spinners, sorters and heads of labour gangs. But in 1871 only 212 men were employed and by 1875, the factory was closed down altogether. There was also considerable manufacture of silk in the rural areas, yet by the turn of the century, the industry was reduced to very small proportions and only cocoons were sent to Rajshahi, Murshidabad and Malda. Most of the workers had drifted to the land and the art of weaving was practically lost.

The Cotton Textile Industry

The cotton textile industry of East Bengal was at that time among the greatest industries in the world, and its materials figured prominently both in internal trade and external commerce.

Skrine : ‘Bengal—The Land and its People’, Journ. Soc. Arts, London, vol. i, Jan. 1902, p. 187.
Heber : Narrative of a of Journey through the Upper Province of India, London, 1828, vol. i, p. 133.
Heber quoted this figure as an estimate of Mr. Master, Judge of Dacca, op. cit., p. 141, while a few years earlier, Walter Hamilton had given a figure of 180,000 for Dacca, Benares (600,000), Delhi (150,000), Calcutta (500,000), Patna (312,000) and Surat (450,000), Int. XXXVIII.
Census Rep. Ind. 1921, part i, p. 63, Also O’Malley : Gazt. Rajshahi Dist., Calcutta, 1916, p. 4.

The most celebrated of the cotton fabrics, prior to the nineteenth century, had been made in the Dacca area. From the early Mughal times, till the first quarter of the last century, they acquired a fame unsurpassed by any similar material in the world. No doubt, the flourishing industry catered on a large scale for the taste and needs of the Mughal Imperial Court, the provincial sataraps, aristocracy and the elite; but it also led to the development of an international commerce in which the various trading nations of Europe found fortunes after the age of Vasco da Gama. The English, though entering the field somewhat late, quickly built up a lucrative trade in Indian commodities, among the most important of which were several East Bengal articles, above all, the cotton fabrics (more particularly the Dacca area muslins). Though it was really an extensive and well spread out cottage industry, it was by no means small, nor was it insignificant in its influence on the productive forces of the country.

The materials were so fine₁ and so noted for their excellence of design and the skill with which they were made, that in the Imperial and provincial courts they came to be styled in figurative and poetic language, ‘webs of woven wind’ (baft-i-Hawa), ‘running water’ (Abi-rawan), ‘morning dew’ (shabnum), ‘royal muslin’ (malmal-i-khas), etc. Abroad, in the court of the Bourbons of France and the Tudors and Stuarts in England, the demand of these matchless materials grew with every decade before the full impact of the Industrial Revolution was felt.

At the opening of the nineteenth century, cotton manufactures and spinning were in a fairly flourishing condition, and provided occupation and employment for a large number of people. Plain muslins, distinguished by various names, accoarding to the fineness and closeness of their texture, as well as flowered, striped or chequered muslins of finest quality, named after their patterns, were manufactured chiefly in the Dacca area, which also produced damask linens. Coarse muslins, turbans and handkerchiefs, etc., were made locally in many parts of the country, in North Bengal, in the delta area and in the south-east, etc. Koses (khasa) were made in North Bengal and Tippera, canvas in Chittagong and coarse cotton cloth (bafta) in Lakhipur and Jagdia and in various places in the rural areas of the Tippera district.

As late as 1840, it was remarked by a discerning Englishman, ‘Notwithstanding the great perfection which the art of weaving has attained in Britain, these fabrics are unrivalled, and in point of transparency, beauty and delicacy of texture are allowed to excel the most finished productions of the loom in any country of the world.’₂ Ure wrote in 1836 :’Yarn continues to be spun, and muslins to be manufactured at Dacca, to which European ingenuity can afford no parallel. Such indeed as has led a competent judge to say it is beyond his conception, how this yarn greatly finer than the highest number made in England can be spun by the distaff and spindle or woven afterwards

There is a rare specimen of Dacca muslin made about 200 years ago, kept in a private museum at Dacca. The material is unbelievably fine and transparent.
Taylor : A Sketch of the Topography and Statistics of Dacca, Calcutta, 1840, p. 164.

by any machinery’. Even as late as the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862, when they had ceased to be produced in any quantity, the Dacca muslin specimens of malmal-i-khas were judged best in appearent fineness, in comparision with similar quality, machine-made material.₁

A fact which puzzles some of the modern sceptical minds, is th quality of the indigenous raw material which went into the making of the finest muslins.

Great care was taken in handling the cotton before spinning. All the thread was spun by women, who worked in all their leisure hours. Superior cottons were spun by spindle. An expert worker could form a thread more than 4 miles in length from one rupee (180 grains) weight₃ of cotton. The best spinners were young women between the ages of eighteen and thirty, after which their eyesight was impaired by the strain. They worked in the morning and afternoons, when the light was less dazzling and there was also more humidity in the atmosphere. In fact, the busiest season of weaving was during the Monsoon rains (July to October) when ideal humid conditions prevailed. During the dry season, they spun and wove over shallow basins of water which made the atmosphere humid, while at the time of excessive rains, a slow fire₄ was kept under the loom to reduce the moisture.

Coming events began to cast their shadows. First of all, the spinning began to be affected from 1824 onward, and by 1828 the decline became more rapid. By that time, most of the cloth began to be manufactured out of imported British twist, ranging from No. 30 to 200; Nos. 60, 70 and 80 were principally used. The price of the imported yarn was from one-third to half of that of the country made yarn. The standardized threat from abroad, produced on a large scale, began to have a serious effect on the indigenous industry. Yet the home industry continued to flourish, though on a smaller scale; the early industrial era in the west was unable to kill it completely.

In 1840 there were about thirty-six different kinds of cloth manufactured in the Dacca district area alone, and of these about two dozen varieties were made out of English yarn. Still the finest muslin (malmal-i-khas), which was now made in smaller

Watson : The Textile Manufactures and the Costumes of the People of India, London, 1866, pp. 59 and 64.
Taylor : A Sketch of the Topography and Statistics of Dacca, Calcutta, 1840, p. 170.
Sinha : ‘The Dacca Muslin Industry’, Mod. Rev., Calcutta, vol. xxxvii, no. 6, June 1925, p. 404.

quantities, was woven out of country-made special yarn only. But both its quality and price had fallen in comparison with the cloth made in the times of Jahangir, Shah Jahan or Aurangzeb. But flowered, striped, chequered (charkona) and double thread (doria) muslins were still made. The jamdani, the flowered ones, still had considerable sale in the royal courts of Lucknow and Delhi. Other plain muslins were made out of imported English yarn and were embroidered in the towns, particularly in Dacca and exported to the Middle East markets.

When the industry finally disappeared, by the middle of the century, the skill of generations was lost; so much so, that by 1900 only two women were said to be living in the village of Dhamrai in the Dacca district, who could spin yarn for fine muslin.

The manufacture was complicated, but it was of indigenous origin and the workers possessed much skill and ingenuity. It is noteworthy that the Hindu workmen specialized in spinning and weaving, while the Muslims were adept in embroidery and darning. Experts at the latter kind of work were called chikandoz, and zardoz and rafugar respectively. An occupation which provided the largest employment was the embroidering of different kinds of muslin with silk and tussore thread, kashidah kari. The material was stamped with designs and distributed to women and housewives along with silk thread by merchants and dealers through a host of middlemen and intermediaries. These materials had a large export to Turkey, Persia and Egypt. The process of manufacture of fine quality materials was essentially slow and it took about two-and-a-half years to produce a piece ten yards by one, in terms of the labour of

one person. Bleaching had also reached a high degree of perfection.

The impact of this industrial activity on occupations and employment was important. A large number of people were employed, engaged in the bleaching, beetling, and folding processes, in addition to spinning and weaving, to say nothing of employment derived from internal commerce and the export of cloth. The manufacture of fabrics was the backbone of the economic prosperity of several parts of East Pakistan.

Other Industries

Another fairly common industry in bigger towns was gold and silver work, and the craftsmen excelled in filigree work. Dacca was the most important centre. The shell conch industry, connected with the making of bracelets, rings, bangles and necklaces, was in a thriving condition at Dacca and some other centres. Other industries of some importance were the making of brass and copper hardware, paper manufacture, soap making and boat building.

THE DECLINE AND DISAPPEARANCE OF INDUSTRY

It is interesting to examine some of the causes which led to the decline and practical disappearance of the world-famous cotton manufactures and several other smaller industries of East Bengal, after the advent of English rule. It is no less interesting to reflect on this process of de-industrialization and consequent change in economy to a completely agrarian pattern.

It appears that the cultivation of cotton, the spinning and bleaching and the weaving of excellent cotton and silk fabrics had been among the chief occupations of the people of Dacca area as well as some other parts of East Pakistan since early times₁. The art of embroidery was specially practised after the advent of the Muslims and the contacts which thereafter opened out with the rest of India. However, the period of the greatest prosperity and fame of Dacca and East Bengal fabrics, was the age of the Great Mughals from the times of Jahangir to those of Aurangzeb and his immediate successors. This was also the time when the finest muslins were manufactured. The court, the nobility and the elite were the biggest customers for excellent fabrics. On the other hand, plain muslins and embroidered and mixed silk and cotton fabrics found ready markets in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia, Spain, Italy, England and France. This vast demand and plentiful trade kept a large number of skilful workers busily employed in the various processes connected with the production of these materials.

The Dacca and East Bengal muslins were introduced into England between 1666 and 1670. By 1675 these finer fabrics had taken a distinct place in fashionable British wear₂. The magnicent court of the Bourbons of France and the French nobility were important customers and provided a lucrative market. For instance, in the bill of lading of five vessels that arrived in France from Bengal in 1742, among a large variety of cotton goods, the following were enumerated, 14,340 pieces of khasa, 12,680 of muslins, 7,199 of tanzeb, 6,080 of terindams (tar andam), 5,280 of doria, 243 of nainsukh and 1,252 pieces of different embroideries of Dacca and 110 jamdani₃. The English, Dutch and French merchants and trading companies carried on an extensive trade in the manufactures of East Bengal. No doubt muslins were also produced in other parts of India, in Malwa, Western United Provinces, and Gujerat, etc., but the East Bengal materials were the finest and had the largest export.

Internal trade had begun to be affected to some extent by the disturbed political conditions and the confusion which followed the rise of Marathas in Central and Northern India towards the middle of

Supra, Chap. I.
Sinha : ‘The Dacca Muslin Industry’, Mod. Rev., Calcutta, vol. xxxvii, no. 6, June 1925, p. 401.
Sinha : Economic Annals of Bengal, London, 1927, op. cit., p. 21.

the eighteenth century. These disturbed conditions had their effect on the export of East Bengal fabrics to various parts of India. A most devastating change came in 1784 with the occurrence of scarcity and famine conditions which continued until 1788. This was due to unusual rainfall conditions upsetting the regular flooding of the rivers. The general scarcity which prevailed drove thousands of skilled workers in textiles to the land. Thus the balance between the agricultural and industrial population, which had so far existed, was upset. The demand for agricultural labour and the lack of markets for manufactured products gave an agrarian twist to the economy, which later, combined with external factors, completely altered the pattern of proiductive forces in East Bengal.

The Seven Years War in Europe (1756-63) had already hit the French market. The American War of Independence (1776) and the involvement of France (1779) had an adverse effect upon the trade of East Bengal. Further restrictions on valuable exports followed the breaking out of the French Revolution in 1789 and the accompanying turmoil in Western Europe.These developments proved exceedingly harmful to East Bengal’s export and industrial interests. Closely following these historical events came a series of inventions, heralding the advent of the Industrial Revolution in England, Hargreaves’s Spinning Jenny (1767), Arkwright’s Water Frame (1768), Crompton’s Mule (1775) and lastly Cartwright’s Power Loom (1784). These inventions, with subsequent improvements, made England the largest and most important cotton-manufacturing country in the world. This adversely affected both industry and employment in East Bengal.

Thus in 1783, no less than 500,000 pieces of muslin were manufactured in England and the first samples were exported to Bengal. The period from 1788 to 1803 is considered the golden age of the cotton trade in Britain. The industry in coarse stuffs was the first to suffer in East Bengal. The export of cotton yarn to Eagland had completely ceased by the close of the century, but surprisingly enough this was not achieved without the imposition of a heavy duty₁. British machine-made yarn began to be exported to East Bengal. It was first imported in 1821, and by 1828 this thread had almost ousted the local yarn.

Side by side with this came the imposition of the unjust and prohibitive duty of about 44 per cent.₂ in 1813 on imports from East Bengal, which dealt a heavy blow to the home industry. Legislation₃ in one form or the other had been passed since 1700 restricting the Dacca muslins in the England home market. Various other questionable and oppressive methods were also adopted by the officials and servants of the East India Company against the weavers. The contract as well as the agency systems, intended to make money advances to the weavers, served to restrict price of materials and opened the door to corruption and oppression by the personnel of the Company, by exercising monopolistic control over the weavers, who were not allowed to work for others until they had furnished an adequate quantity of cloth to the Company.

Colebrooke : Remarks on the Husbandry and Internal Commerce of Bengal, Calcutta, 1804, p. 124.
Sinha : ‘The Dacca Muslin Industry’, Mod. Rev., Calcutta, vol. xxxvii, no. 6, June 1925, p. 405.
For a long time the cotton and woollen manufacturers of Britain had been unable to compete with the East Bengal textiles. Therefore, the manufacturers of that country influenced the passage of Acts of 1700 and 1720 prohibiting the import for home consumption of wrought skills and printed calicoes, which could only be re-exported. But plain muslins continued to find a market in Britain, as their wearing had become part of the fashions of the elite. See Macpherson : The History of European Commerce with India, London, 1812, p. 136 and pp. 160-1.

The stopping of the expert of kashidas (embroidered turbans, etc.) to Egypt and Turkey, owing to the change in army uniforms there, followed a few years later and delivered a final blow to the once famous manufactures.

Spinning and weaving had afforded employment to almost every peasant family, and with the disappearance of this means of livelihood, the land was unable to support the population. The cumulative effect of the factors adversely affecting the industrial and economic life of East Pakistan, can best be understood by looking at some of the statistics of genral trade and commerce, and more particularly at those showing the gradual disappearance of the cotton textile industry and of the export of its goods.

For example, in 1787 the entire trade of Dacca district (Dacca, Faridpur, parts of Bakarganj) was one crore of rupees (about £ 1,250,000), of which between Rs. 300,000 to Rs. 400,000 were spent annually in the purchase of cloth for export to Europe. The total value of goods manufactured for European markets amounted in 1807 to Rs. 861,818, whlie in 1810 it was Rs. 556.996 and in 1813 it had fallen to Rs. 338,114₁. In 1817 the Commercial Residency was abolished and that signified practically the end of large-scale export of fine cloth to Europe. Only the export of embroidered cloth (kashidas) to the Middle East continued for a few more years.

The following table is a comparative statement₂of the value of cotton goods exported from Dacca from 1817 to 1834 :

1817	Rs. 1,524,974	1—8
1821	Rs. 1,216,252	0—5
1825	Rs. 629,183	11—3
1829	Rs. 504,882	12—0
1831	Rs. 360,747	5—0
1834	Rs. 387,122	0—0

The export of muslins to Europe from Dacca varied in these vital years as follows₃ :

1787	Rs. 3,000,000
1807	Rs. 850,000
1813	Rs. 350,000
1817	Rs. nil

A contemporary writer correctly observed, ‘The repeal of the duties on the exportation of grain, the abolition of the Arcot currency and the permanent settlement of Government with the land holders, the rapid decline of manufactures, and the introduction of indigo and safflowers as articles of produce for foreign markets, have all contributed to produce an extension of cultivation, and to the decline of manufactures’₄.

1.Taylor : A Sketch of the Topography and Statistics of Dacca, Calcutta, 1840, pp. 190-1.

Ibid., p. 191 (figures adapted and re-arranged).
Ibid., p. 365.
Ibid., pp. 305-6.

The extinction of manufactures and the decline of commerce not only reduced the population of Dacca and other smaller towns, but increased the general economic backwardness of the whole area. In 1780, according to Colebrooke, Dacca’s population was 200,000, but in 1838, Taylor quoted the figure no higher than 68,038.

According to Forbes Royle₁, writing in 1840, in 1828-29 about 14,565 maunds of raw jute and 1,013,277 pieces of gunny and gunny bags were exported from Bengal. The Second quarter of the

nineteenth century may be considered as the golden age of the jute hand-loom industry. From the position of a minor subsidiary industry, it had succeeded in about half a century in supplanting cotton weaving as the chief domestic manufacture of the populous districts of East Bengal. However, the story of the second half of the ninieteenth century is the story of the decline and fall of the jute hand-loom industry all over Bengal and the rapid progress of the new mill industry in and around Calcutta.

What happened was on the one hand the passing away of the spirit of industrial occupation and with it the disappearance of the skill and craftsmanship of generations, and on the other, the beginning of complete dependence on agrarian economy. At a time when, with the impact of machines, nations were moving forward in methods of production and expanding trade and markets, East Bengal lost both (see Map No. 19).

A little later the increased production of jute let to the end of industrial development in the area. Only ropes, some gunny cloth, twine, a little paper and sails and nets, were made at a few places in the vast rural producing area. Practically all the fibre passed out of the East Pakistan area, to be either utilized in the young jute industry in Calcutta or shipped abroad. This divorce between raw material and any local industrial use was an unhappy development and resulted in the economic and industrial backwardness of the area in our own time.

In a few decades, poverty became widespread and thousands of skilled workers swelled the ranks of the unemployed, and the pressure on land increased. In contrast to its earlier reputation as the ‘Paradise of Nations’, East Bengal came to be known as a land of ignorant and poverty-stricken masses.

Op. cit., Rep. Bengal Jute Eng. Comm., vol. i, 1939, p. 5.

০০০০

CHAPTER V

Trade, Commerce and Transportation

EARLY AND MUGHUL PERIOD

SINCE early times the internal trade of East Bengal has depended primarily on inland water transport and only secondarily on land routes linking up the various towns, market plaecs and collecting centres. Foreign trade developed very early and even Greek geographers made mention of it. According to them, the chief exports were textiles, suger and ivory. Rice was also exported, and exchanged for cowries (cypraea moneta) from the Maldive Islands. In the Periplus, the exports mentioned are spikenard₁, pearls and muslins. In Rome there was a great demand for muslins, and many Roman ladies of the fashionable set were clad in fine muslins from Bengal.

Both the sea and land routes were used for commerce, connecting the East Bengal area with China and Burma via Assam, and with Tonking and Annam via Arakan. Tibet had access for goods and men into North Bengal. Space does not permit the description of these great highways of commerce. Briefly, the area dose not appear to have been as isolated in ancient and early medieval times as it was several centuries later, when the advent of British rule developed Calcutta as the sole gateway of commerce and contact with the outside world.

The further opening up of the whole of Bengal to large parts of Northern India that came with the advent of Muslim rule, has been noted already. In the Mughul times, its fame spread further and wider. In his Ain-i-Akbari₂, Abul Fazl mentioned the great fertility and the thriving commerce of the area, and particularly stressed the richness of the Eastern part of Bengal. Among the imports he listed salt which was in great demand, and pearls and jewels. Rice, betelnuts and textiles were the chief articles of export. The excellent location of the port of Chittagong₃ was mentioned and it was said to be frequented by Christian and other merchants.

The Portuguese first began to visti Bengal towards 1517, and a fortress and factories were built in Chittagong and Satgaon (near the modern town of Hugli in West Bengal) in 1536-37. In a few years, the Portuguese became masters of the Eastern Seas from China to the Cape of Good Hope. Among the vast store of riches carried and imported by them from the East, were many varieties of cotton textiles₄ from East Bengal.

Chittagong became the most important port of Bengal to the Portuguese because of its situation, its navigational facilities close to the mouth of the mighty Meghna

An aromatic substance, employed in ancient times in the preparation of a costly ointment or oil. It was obtained from a plant.
Vol. II, p. 122.
Ibid., p. 125.
Campos : History of the Portuguese in Bengal, London, 1919, pp. 14-15.

estuary, and easy access to the riches of East Bengal. Its fame even inspired the Portuguese to praise it in epic poetry₁. They named it Porto Grande (great port) in contrast to Satgaon which was called Porto Pequeno (small port)₂. A considerable part of the materials for export from East Bengal also found its way in native crafts to Goa, Malacca and to other Portuguese ports in India. The Portuguese had also several minor settlements in Dacca, Bakarganj and Noakhali districts, Firingibazar near Mirkadim on the Dhaleswari, being the biggest.

The Portuguese used to come with their goods before the Monsoon set in, and spent the rainy months in the country, buying and selling goods and transacting other business. When the rains were over in October, they would repair with their ships to Goa and other Indian ports, laden with the merchandise from Bengal. In 1567, Caesar Frederick found more than eight ships anchored in Chittagong and mentions that the traders carried from there, by way of export, much rice, great quantities of cloth of all sorts, sugar, corn, etc. They brought to Bengal various types of brocades, spices (cloves, nutmegs, mace, cinnamon, pepper), camphor, silks, gilt furniture. jewels, pearls, cowries, shells and coffee₃. There was a large trade in salt in Sandwip, and annually as many as 200 ships sailed from there laden with it. In Sandwip, ships were said to be built on order, even from the Sultans of Turkey, as excellent timber was available. The environs of Dacca, in the heart of East Bengal, were the source of much of this trade.

A great deal of the inland trade from East Bengal used to pass into Bihar and the United Provinces areas and thence to Delhi by river transport. For instance, during the Mughul times, Benares₄ appears to have been the principal mart for goods from Bengal, and shortly afterwards Mirzapur rose into much prominence as a clearing house for trade with the East Bengal area.

From the sixteenth century onward, three agencies chiefly promoted industrial production and export of commodities from the area of their origin, the Imperial Court and central and provincial nobility, the foreign European merchants (trading companies), and the Asian and African traders from the Coromandal Coast, Malabar and Gujerat, and the Arabs, Persians and people from Zanzibar. Owing to

bad communications and frequent political changes, it was not profitable to carry bulky, low priced commondities. Therefore, the favourite items of the export trade were high priced articles of small bulk, which could be moved more easily over long distances. In this period two export centres, Sripur (north of Dacca) and Chittagong, occupied favorable geographical locations₅ with respect to land and sea communications respectively.

Camoens : The Lusiado, Trans. Atkinson (Penguin Books, 1952), p. 242.
Campos : History of the Portuguese in Bengal, London, 1919, p. 21.
Ibid., p. 113.
Foster : Early Travels in India (1583-1619), London, 1921, p. 176.
Jadunath Sarkar : ‘Industries of Mughul India : Seventeenth Century’, Mod. Rev., Calcutta, vol. xxxi, no. 6, 1922, p. 675.

The first advance of the English into Bengal was also largely dictated by the attraction of the manufacturing and productive capacity of its eastern part, mainly concerned with textiles. Their scarcity in Masulipatam occasioned the first expedition of the English merchants₁ into the Eastern Bengal area. A new era of determined commercial activity, even supported by force if necessary and the defence of ports, factories and other establishments, started with the new charter of the Company in 1661 after the Restoration of Charles II₂.

A great opportunity of trade with Bengal in general and Eastern Bengal in particular, for the English as well as the other European traders, came when the fleet and forces of Shaista Khan, under the naval command of Ibn Husain, with a fleet of 288 craft and ships, destroyed the Portuguese pirates down the Meghna estuary, cleaned up Sandwip and shattered the Magh-Arakanese armada₃ near Chittagong in 1666. The English had already established the practice of carrying on the main export business from Hooghly and Kasimbazar (both just outside East Bengal, but largely supported by the trade of that area) and treating Dacca only as an outlying factory and East Bengal as a hinterland₄ for the Hooghly ports. By 1677, the sale of Dacca materials had increased considerably and combined with the Rajshahi-Malda silk exports, it broke all previous records. In 1666 the French traveller Bernier expressed amazement at the vast quantity of cotton cloth of all sorts, fine, coloured and white, which the Dutch alone obtained from all parts of Bengal and transported to many places, including Japan and Europe. According to him, the English, Portuguese and Indian merchants carried away similar quantities. This equally applied to silk and silk stuffs of all sorts.

Ever since the later times of the Great Mughuls and extending up to a couple of decades after the Industrial Revolution, East Bengal had a flourishing export trade chiefly based on cotton textiles, silk and silk stuffs and safflower dye. The volume of Bengal’s trade as a whole (East Pakistan area contributing a major part) during the four years 1680-83 necessitated the import of £200,000 worth of silver to pay for it by the English alone. The Dutch investment was nearly as large and amounted to about Rs. 400,000, the rupee then having a purchasing power twenty times that of the present day₅. The total value of the exports of the East India Company from Bengal in 1681 was about crores of rupees.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

By the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, Mirzapur in the east of the United Provinces, became the great raw cotton mart for East Bengal.

1.Wilson : The Early Annals of the English in Bengal, London, vol. i, 1895, p. 1.

Ibid., p. 38.
Jadunath Sarkar : ‘The Conquest of Chatgaon’ (by Shihabuddin Talish), Journ. and Proc. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. III, 1907, pp. 411-15.
Wilson : The Early Annals of the English in Bengal, London, 1895, vol. I, p. 53.
Majumdar : History of Bengal (Muslim Period), vol. II, Dacca, 1948, p. 217.

The imports of good quality cotton came from Berar (Amraoti and Elichpur) and the Central Provinces (Nagpur) to Mirzapur laden on oxen, and after 1830 by carts₁ as well; and thence the material was sent to East Bengal by river transport. The United Provinces cotton came from Bundelkhand (Jalaun and Kalpi) and the Agra and Aligarh areas, where Hathras was a famous collecting centre. For transport to Bengal, the Ganges and the other water routes were commonly in use₂. In the reverse direction, particularly to Northern India, went cotton fabrics, silk and silk stuffs. The internal commerce mostly consisted of rice and other grains, from surplus to deficit areas, salt, tobacco, betelnuts, sugar and some high priced fabrics. Otherwise the area was more or less self-sufficient.

For external commerce, the East India Company collected piece goods of all kinds and silk, opium, sugar, indigo and some raw cotton. Rice was also exported from Bengal to England about 1796, and there continued to be a surplus up to a few decades later. Cotton exports by sea were increased by 1820 and exports of silk fabrics and raw silk to Europe continued. The East India Company’s silk collecting centres in East Bengal were Kumarkhali, Boalia, Radhanagar and Rangpur. In 1820 there was also extensive trade with the Coromandal Coast, and the principal exports from the East Bengal area were sugar, molasses, ginger, long pepper, clarified butter (ghee), oil, silk and muslins. By 1805 America₃ was also importing piece-goods, sugar and indigo in considerable quantities. Other prominent directions of trade were China, South-West Asia and Burma.

No hides and skins were exported up to 1800, but the encouragement of their export was being already advocated. At that time a bull’s hide fetched only As.-/8/- and smaller skins were sold for much less₄. Jute had not yet become a commodity of external commerce.

At this time, East Bengal imported chiefly woollen goods, metals and specie from Europe, and from elsewhere came spices, tin, wax, tea, gold and silver. The East India Company was the chief trading and commercial agency, though there were many other merchant and traders. Calcutta had already developed as the main gateway of East Bengal’s commerce with the rest of the world.

Transport was mainly by river for large amounts of goods. But smaller loads were carried along the beaten tracks as well as along improvised paths, on oxen, buffaloes and ponies. The wheeled cart traffic was scanty, owing to the disrepair into which the old roads had fallen and the large number of unbridged watercourses which interested

Andrew : Indian Railways and their Probable Results, etc., London, 1846, p. 30. (Each ox carried 160 Ib. at the rate of 7 miles a day, and the carts did about 20 miles and river craft about 12 miles per day), Ibid., pp. 31-2.
Colebrooke : Remarks on the Husbandry and Internal Commerce of Bengal, Calcutta, 1804, pp. 140-2.
Macpherson : The History of the European Commerce with India, London, 1812, p. 424 and Appendix No. 11.
Ibid., p. 189.

the countryside. Colebrooke rightly regretted the decay₁ of the fine old roads which exixted during the Muslim times. In his day, reasonably good roads existed only near the European stations. In 1820, it took

a week to travel the 400 miles between Dacca and Calcutta by water₂.

Naranyanganj was an important inland commercial centre, with a population of 15,000 at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and in those days about 160 ships of fair size were employed in trade at this inland river port. But by 1838, its importance had declined, owing to the general disappearance of the former East Bengal trade in piece-goods, etc., and also as a result of the growing importance of Sirajganj. Its population was reduced to 6,000.

The Decline of Trade and commerce

In general, by 1840, trade and commerce on the old pattern had declined remarkably, though cotton fabrics were still being exported in small quantities. Fine muslins were often packed in hollow bamboo tubes, 18 inches long, and 1 inch in diameter, which contained a piece 22 yards by 1.

The exports of textiles, Taylor remarks₃, did not average more than Rs. 450,000 annually. East Bengal had then a considerable exportable surplus of soap, cheese and preserved fruits, which were traded with the Middle East, South-Asia and the Coromandal Coast. Sylhet exported wild silk, aloe woods and grain. The fibres, mesta and hemp, were just then finding small markets abroad.

The main imports included yarn and threads of various counts and twists, woollens, some piece-goods and metals.

The Advent of Jute

The first sample of jute, or pat as it was then called, was despatched to England in 1791 by the Bengal Board of Trade. At this time the East India Company’s officers were keen to discover suitable fibres for the making of strong ropes for their ships, as the era of steam navigation had not yet begun. After the first proper consignment of jute in 1793 the Court of Directors ordered a shipment of 1,000 tons. This was the earliest instance of the export of a considerable quantity of raw jute. In 1796, sixty-five tons of jute fibre were exported to England, forty tons went to Germany and six to the U.S.A. In succeeding years other consignments from Bengal followed. The main use was for the making of ropes, twine and door-mats, etc.

Jute was spun into yarn for the first time in England in 1820 at Abingdon in Oxford-shire.

Macpherson : The History of the European Commerce with India, London, 1812, p. 424 and Appendix No. 11, p. 165.
Walter Hamilton : Geographical, statistical and Historical Description of Hindostan and the Adjacent Countries, London, 1820, vol. 1, p. 186.
Taylor : A Sketch of the Topography and Statistics of Dacca, Calcutta, 1840, p. 184.

The spinning of pure jute yarn by machinery for sale in considerable quantity was started at Dundee in 1835 and from that time on the English demand for jute increased rapidly₁.

Throughout this period hand-woven jute goods were manufactured in various parts of the East Bengal area and were finding export markets in Britain, Germany, France, North and South America, Burma, Java, China, Australia and Africa. Exports of these hand-loom fabrics in 1850 amounted to 9,035,713 pieces, valued at Rs. 2,159,782 from East Bengal districts, and the peak was reached a few years later. But from 1854 onward, the hand-loom jute industry rapidly declined, owing to the machine manufacture of gunny cloths in Scotland.

1.Sinha : The Economic Annals of Bengal, London, 1927, p. 259. Also see Hayat : The Golden Fibre, Govt. Pakistan, Karachi, 1950, p. 2.

East Bengal began exporting larger quantities of raw jute from 1820 onward. The first jute mill in India was established by George Ackland, a Ceylon coffee planter, at Ishra near Hooghly in 1854.

In the days of hand-loom weaving jute fibre was used mainly for cordage and coarese fabric material. The cheap fabrics were used as mattering, bedding and also garments. Some was also used for wrapping agricultural produce. The use of machine-made jute fabrics as bagging and packing material was a revolutionary change in the fortunes of jute cultivation. New and convenient methods were evolved to overcome the ligneous character of the fibre. Then came the manufacture of finer fabrics called ‘hessian’ (‘burlap’ in the U.S.A.), which found a vast market. The bleaching and water-proofing of jute fabrics led to the manufacture of tarpaulins and canvas, and other developments followed in quick succession. The result was that an assured supply of raw material assumed fundamental importance to world demand. Geographical advantages and climate favoured jute cultivation in East Bengal; and in the change in economic conditions, from indigenous industries, now ruined, to a mainly agrarian activity, the cultivator found that the only profitable course was to extend the cultivation of this newly found cash crop.

Imports and Internal Trade

About the middle of the nineteenth century the main imports into the East Bengal area included yarn and threads of various counts and twists, woollens, metals and some piece-goods from Britain. Oil-seeds, mustard oil, timber and silk came from Assam, cotton from Northern India, Central Provinces, Garo Hills, Tippera and Arakan Hill areas. Ivory, spices, silver and wax were brought from Burma. There was also trade with Tibet, South India, the Persian Gulf areas, Arabia, the Philippines and China.

The internal trade was mainly conducted through markets at various places. The cloth merchants collected their materials over a wide area and made their appearance in bigger centres at the commencement of the cold weather (November), disposing of their goods to local and foreign merchants, and buying English yarn. A large number of agents and middlemen obtained textiles from the countryside with money advances, gaining handsome commission for themselves.

Railways and the change in Communication Pattern

The change in the economic conditions is well illustrated by the fact that, by 1862, there were said to be no roads left at all in the interior of East Bengal₁, and one European writer asserted that Bengal was a century behind the Northern Indian provinces in material progress₂.

However, revolutionary changes in transport and communications had already taken place in the West, by the construction of railways, and, soon after, railway development began to be considered in India. The Court of Directors made their first proposals₃ in 1845, and by 1848 the first two projects were contemplated just outside the East Pakistan area, Calcutta to Mirzapur and Calcutta to Rajmahal. Construction did not start until 1855, and little progress was made before 1862. In 1855 a road was proposed between Dacca and Akyab in Burma, but little was done to carry out the proposal, and curiously enough, it remains incomplete to this day₄. The first railway plan for the East Pakistan area, was for lines from Calcutta to Faridpur via Jessore and thence to Dacca, and from Calcutta to Kushtia. Later on, the proposed line to Dacca was given up in view of the geographical difficulties : the line would have to cross fourteen large rivers requiring viaducts (one of them more than two-and-a-half miles long) and innumerable smaller streams, each from 100 to 200 feet wide, and for 50 miles the line would have to run on an embankment₅.

The Calcutta-Kushtia line was started in 1858 and the extension to Gualundo in 1865. By 1868 the East Pakistan area had only 159 miles of railways₆ sanctioned. Up to 1874, however, no railways had started functioning. But by 1882-83 the rapidly increasing demand for jute transport had been instrumental in the completion of the Calcutta-North Bengal line via Kushtia, Natore, Parbatipur and Saidpur. It was then transversely cut by the line from Dinajpur to Kurigram. By this time the section to Gualundo had been completed and the one to Khulna via Jessore was under construction. Dacca had been connected with Narayanganj and Mymensingh by 1894 and Chittagong-Chandpur and Chittagong-Sylhet sections were under construction.

RESUME

The turn of the last century is a convenient point to close this survey of the economic geography of the past. The pattern of productive forces had undergone many changes from ancient to modern times.

1.Lee : Tea Cutilvation in India, London, 1848, p. 6.

Ibid., p. 306.
Bourne : Railways in India, London, 1848, p. 6.
The road is known as the Arakan Road, It was improved during the War years, and carried heavy transport with supplies for the Burma front. But since then the road has deteriorated.
Davidson : The Railways of India, London, 1868, p. 216.
Ibid., p. 368.

In the past, the East Bengal area had always been reckoned as a paradise. But this prosperity did not, as is commonly supposed, merely rest on the capacity of its soil to produce plentiful crops. The economic stability and famed productivity of the area did not depend on its agriculture alone. There had always been a commensurate industrial activity to supplement the primary production. East Bengal’s industries and the skill of its craftsmen acquired world fame and captured markets abroad. Trade and commerce flourished to handle these varied products and distribute them as widely as possible (see Map No. 18). Gold, silver and many other imports flowed into the area in exchange for its valuable and prized exports. No doubt the masses were not the direct beneficiaries of these advantages, but the diversity of employment and adequate food resources made their economic condition more stable and enabled them to absorb the passing shocks of dynastic changes and political upheavals.

But from the first quarter of the last century onwards, there were fundamental changes in the age-old economic system, and a reshaping of economic geography began to take place (see Map No. 19). East Bengal’s industries, severely hit, began to decline, and completely disappeared in the course of fifty years. Modern industry did not develop to replace the old skilled craftsmanship. Hordes of industrial workers were driven to the land.

Agriculture itself underwent a series of adjustments. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, a number of commercial crops, safflower, etc., were encouraged by foreign trading interests to cater for the markets abroad. Later on, jute cultivation, with its growing world demand, started a new phase in agricultural production. The disappearance of industry was followed by an increase in the supply of agricultural raw materials. The vegetable dyes disappeared, faced with western synthetic products, but the demand for the ever-increasing production of jute grew apace and East Bengal’s geographical conditions were favourable to this crop (see Map No. 20). Thus a line of least resistance was found, and in a few decades, East Bengal became a purely agricultural area, a feature which mainly characterizes its contemporary economic geography.

If a desirable change in this backward economy is to come about, East Pakistan will have to recreate some of the features of the balanced economy of the past, by supplementing its agriculture by suitable handicrafts, so that rural labour may find employment throughout the year.

The various aspects of the present-day economic geography form the main theme of the following chapters.

০০০০

PART THREE

THE ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF THE PRESENT

CHAPTER VI

Some Aspects of Agriculture and Trends

AGRICULTURE₁ is of basic importance to East Pakistan, because it not only provides most of the food requirements and gives employment to an overwhelming proportion of its people, but it also furnishes certain raw materials which constitue the backbone of the province’s economy in commerce and industry.

The geographical factors play an important role in the agriculture of the area. Many aspects of this have been referred to already. Indeed, the success or the failure of the two major rice crops of aman (winter rice) and aus (autumn rice) and of jute, is inextricably linked with the climatic and physiographic aspects. The rainfall almost dictates the fortunes of agricuture from year to year. Much depends on its timeliness, adequacy, consistence and regularity. Any deviation from the normal, in these respects, causes lack of balance, and the major crops, especially paddy and jute, are immediately affected. The adverse crop fluctuations are directly reflected in distress among the vast rural population.

For instance, the character of the Nor’westers has a great effect on the harvest. If the rains are too heavy, the rice seed is liable to be washed away; if the amount is too little, the younger shoots wither away. If the rains come too late, the seed cannot be sown in time to allow the young plants to grow high enough to overtop the floods when the come. After the early phase of the Mosoon, once the rivers have overspread the land, it is they who dominate the situation much more than the local rainfall. If the water is too deep, the rice plants are liable to be drowned outright or swept away or to exhaust their vitality in the attempt to grow above the water level. If, on the other hand, the floods drain off too rapidly, the stalk collapses for want of proper support and the ears are injured by falling in water. Similarly, too much rain washes away the young jute plants, while over-inundation makes the fibre coarse and rooty. The cyclones and storms, particularly in the southern districts of Noakhali, Bakerganj, Khulna, Tippera, Faridpur and Chittagong, quite often result in flooding and the destruction of crops.

In fact, from year to year the balance between rainfall and inundation determines the success of the crops, and thus affects prosperity. All other considerations, soils,

Agricultural Statistics in East Pakistan have varying degrees of reliability. The main sources are :

(1) The Forecasts of the Agriculture Department;

(2) The Crop-cutting Experiments;

(3) The Season and Crop Reports;

(4) Old Settlement reports for various disrticts;

(5) The Agricultural Statistics by Plot to Plot Enumeration in Bengal, 1944-45.

The last-named is a comparatively reliable survey. But due to statistical shortcomings and the effects of partition, a number of figures had to be worked out from a combination of sources. These have been duly mentioned.

temperature variation, manuring, ploughing, seed and agricultural methods in general, are of secondary importance. No doubt the human and economic considerations explain many characteristics of East Pakistan’s agriculture. Yet in spite of a certain degree of uniformity, there are considerable variations in the regional pattern of cultivation. The economic and geographic influences display an interesting relatioinship in the agricultural parctices of the area and determine many of the trends that are emerging in it today.

It is proposed, therefore, first to summarize briefly the main aspects of the production of leading crops, examine their relative importance, and analyse the fundamental role of the geographical factors. Secondly, the outstanding aspects of contemporary land use will be reviewed, and finally, attention will be focused on the main trends evolving from crop patterns and economic-geographic considerations.

An examination of the crop pattern of the past has already revealed the continuing, overall importance of rice cultivation. But a changing sequence of cash crops lent variety and considerable balance to the agrarian economy of the area, till jute established its dominating position in the third quarter of the last century. Today a position has been reached in which two crops stand out prominently, by reason both of the area which they cover and of their economic importance. These are rice and jute, of which the former is mainly for home consumption and the latter for sale and export. Other crops are of secondary importance.

GROP DISTRIBUTION AND CLASSIFICATION

East Pakistan may be aptly described as a land of rice growers and rice eaters. The area under rice was 22.0 million acres in 1953-54, while that under other staple food grains, including pulses, was small, only 1.4 million acres, and was distributed as follows₁:

Gram	202,700 acres
Barley	84,500 acres
Wheat	98,300 acres
Pulses	1,034,500 acres
1,419,000 acres

The total area under food crops of all kinds other than rice was only about 9.27 per cent. of the total cropped area. The most important non-food crop, and that of the greatest interest to the cultivators apart from rice, is jute, which, since partition, has accounted on the average for 1,598,846 acres₂.

Agr. and Anim. Res. of Eastern Pakistan, 1955.
Average of 1947-48 to 1953-54. Based on figures in Monthly Summary of Jute Statistics, the Directorate of Jute Prices, East Bengal (various Nos.). See Table VIII.

In 1947-48 the total cropped area1 (excluding fruits and vegetables) in East Pakistan was 25,880,694 acres, of which rice and jute occupied 71.0 and 7.7 per cent. respectively. The position of various important crops by area expressed as percentage of the cropped area was as follows :

PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF CROPPED AREA

(25,880,694 ACRES), 1947-48

Crop	Percentage
Rice	71.0
Jute	7.7
Pulses	5.8
Rape and Mustard	1.6
Gram	1.1
Sugar-cane	0.85
Wheat and Barley	0.89
Tobacco	0.54
Tea	0.30
Other crops	10.22
100.00

The area and yield of important food and non-food crops in the various districts is given in Tables₂ V and VI.

Crop Seasons

From the point of view of harvests and of the main period of the growth of crops in East Pakistan, the crop seasons can be divided into three periods. In this connexion, it is well to remember the relation between Bengali and English months :

Bengali Month	English Months
Baisak	Mid April to mid May
Jaistha	Mid May to mid June
Ashar	Mid June to mid July
Sravan	Mid July to mid August
Bhadra	Mid August to mid September
Aswin	Mid September to mid October

According to Rep. Land Rev. Com. Bengal, 1940, vol. II, p. 88 and p. 105, in Undivided Bengal land use was as follows in millions of acres : Total Cultivated Land (29), Total Area Sown (35) and Area under Rice (26).
Arranged from Agr. and Anim. Res. of Eastern Pakistan, 1948. A great many figures in this publication are based on Agr. Stat. by Plot to Plot Enum. in Bengal, 1944-45.

CROP DISTRIBUTION AND CLASSIFICATION

TABLE V

AREA UNDER LEADING CROPS, BY DISTRICTS, 1953-54

(Acres)

	Rice	Jute	Sugar-cane	Tobacco	Rape and Mustard	Pulses	Wheat and Barley
Dacca	1,287,200	83,125	35,000	11,000	45,000	68,600	19,100
Mymensingh	3,060,000	215,035	35,000	13,000	151,000	131,500	13,000
Faridpur	1,583,000	65,185	11,000	8,000	23,000	42,300	13,700
Bakarganj	1,842,500	11,005	22,000	7,000	1,500	81,500	—
Chittagong	820,000	70	6,500	2,500	600	8,900	2,000
Chittagong Hill Tracts	162,100	585	2,600	1,800	14,500	1,800	100
Noakhali	965,600	9,885	6,000	—	2,800	40,600	100
Tippera	1,674,000	71,480	2,700	2,300	19,000	49,300	600
Sylhet	1,710,000	14,360	2,500	3,500	9,500	9,200	—
Rajshahi	1,597,000	35,235	30,000	3,000	35,400	102,600	37,000
Pabna	797,200	38,320	3,300	2,700	28,000	83,100	23,000
Bogra	823,600	32,630	10,000	1,200	21,000	36,300	2,900
Rangpur	1,759,500	104,060	25,000	62,000	70,000	69,100	36,000
Dinajpur	990,400	31,400	56,000	9,500	40,000	21,100	11,000
Kushtia	549,200	11,170	8,000	500	6,400	150,200	20,000
Jessore	984,800	29,515	5,200	1,700	23,500	110,500	4,200
Khulna	1,404,000	7,185	1,200	1,600	13,000	27,900	100
East Pakistan	22,010,100	760,245	262,000	131,300	504,200	1,034,500	182,800

Kartik	Mid October to mid November
Agrahayan	Mid November to mid December
Pous	Mid December to mid January
Magh	Mid January to mid February
Phalgun	Mid February to mid March
Chaitra	Mid March to mid April

(1) The Aghani or Haimantic, the cold weather (November-December) harvest, mainly consists of aman, though sugar-cane is an important crop to be harvested in many districts in this season. This harvest has a close connexion with the weather. Rainfall is a great influencing factor. The success or otherwise of the late Monsoon rains (September-October) is of vital consequence, as aman rice is the chief sustenance. It occupies about 55 per cent. of the cropped area.

(2) Rabi, crops sown in winter and reaped in early summer (February-March). These crops present a variety of food and other produce, summer rice (boro), gram, pulses, wheat, barley, vegetables, mustard, tobacco, sunn, hemp, etc. Though their contribution to the food supply is small, they include a number of cash crops which fill many domestic needs and at the same time provide the cultivator with a useful profit. The relevance of weather to these crops is small, as the most favourable climate is an unchanging mild temperature and this usually prevails from December to early February.

There is only slight precipitation. These crops are of greater importance in the northern and central parts of East Pakistan.

TABLE VI

AREA AND YIELD OF LEADING CROPS₁, 1953-54

Crops	Area (acres)	Yield (maunds)	Leading producing districts
Aman	14,845,000	156,337,440	Mymensingh, Bakarganj, Sylhet, Khulna, Rangpur, Faridpur, Dinajpur and Noakhali.
Aus	6,324,000	58,545,280	Mymensingh, Rangpur, Jessore, Tippera, Kushtia and Faridpur.
Boro	841,100	9,373,120	Mymensingh, Sylhet, Dacca, Khulna, Faridpur, Tippera and Rajshahi.
Rice	22,010,100	224,255,840
Jute	760,245	2,708,230 (bales) (400 1b. each)	Mymensingh, Rangpur, Dacca, Tippera and Faridpur.
Oilseeds	724,400	3,901,360	Mymensingh, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Dacca and Rajshahi.
Sugar-cane	262,000	107,896,280 (cane)	Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Dacca, Mymensingh, Bakarganj and Faridpur.
Tobacco	131,300	1,340,960	Rangpur, Mymensingh, Dacca, Bakarganj and Rajshahi.
Cocoanut	45,550	1,621,120	Bakarganj, Khulna, Noakhali and Jessore.
Cotton	58,320	17,405 (bales)	Chittagong Hill Tracts and Mymensingh.
Tea	75,000	54,742,000	Sylhel and Chittagong.

(3) The bhadoi or kharif crops belong to the rainy season. They are of great importance to the people, because they include jute and aus, the one vital for food, the other for cash. The connexion of these crops with weather and topography is of great significance. The Nor’westers make or mar the two leading crops from year to year. Extremely low land, an abnormal rainy season and unusual inundation are unsuited to the favourable growth of both aus rice and jute. Aus and jute together account for about 25 per cent. of the cultivated area in East Pakistan.

In many parts of East Pakistan, at the end of the bhadoi harvest, the cultivators sow rabi crops on the same land almost immediately. This doubt cropping is fairly widespread, especially in areas of complete inundation where the fresh deposit of silt enriches the soil every year. Table VII gives areas and yields of the bhadoi and rabi crops (except jute, rice and sugar-cane). It brings out their comparative role in crop production in East Pakistan.

Mainly based on Agr. and Anim. Res. of East Bengal, 1955. The Director of Agriculture, East Pakistan, presiding over the section of Agriculture of the Pakistan Science Conference at Dacca, 10^th January, 1951, gave the average gross area under rice and minor cereals as 19.76 million acres, and the yield as 7.36 million tons. See Dawn, Karachi, 15^th January, 1951.

Classification of Crops

The relative importance of crops as regards area has been noticed already. But crop production can be classified into two categories, food, and cash or commercial crops. There is so little diversity in agricultural production and its associated activities that this classification is a valuable factor in assessing the cultivator’s economic position. The main food crop is rice, though wheat, gram and pulses are useful supplements to the diet. The chief cash crops inclue jute, sugar-cane, oilseeds, tobacco, tea and cotton.

TABLE VI

AREA AND YIELD OF BHADOI AND RABI CROPS, 1949-50

Crop	BHADOI		RABI
Crop	Area (in acres)	Yield (in tons)	(in acres)	(in tons)
Jowar	500	130
Bajra	500	125
Ragi or marua	100	30
Maize	12,400	2,870
Other cereals	8,200	1,835
Pulses	7,700	1,825
Fruits	78,500	140,580	279,000	553,445
Vegetables	78,800	143,290	466,500	951,090
Chillies	3,500	835	163,600	41,470
Other food crops	21,000	17,125	214,000	176,880
Tea	36,800	7,395	37,500	9,960
Mullberry	2,100	2,895
Fodder crops	73,700	281,565	19,100	99,630
Sunn hemp	1,300	1,740 (bales)	18,400	24,290 (bales)
Other fibres	3,400	4,490 (bales)	3,600	4,465 (bales)
Other non-food crops	12,500	10,195	55,000	77,755
Tobacco			128,300	41,570

Based on Directorate of Agriculture, East Bengal, Final Forecasts dated 12^th December, 1949 and 28^th April, 1950.

RICE

East Pakistan has a larger area under rice than the combined acreage of Java and Madura, Thailand and Formosa. But its production of 7,877,855 tons is less than that of Java and Madura. During the course of the year, three rice crops are grown. The aman crop is by far the most important. It consists mostly of lowland rices which are sown in May and June, and are reaped in November and December. The aus crop ranks second in importance. It compries mainly highland types which are sown in April and harvested in August or September. A third rice crop of minor importance is known as boro, or summer rice, and is sown between aman and aus, during November and is ready in February or March. Various districts and sub-divisions have a large number of local varieties of each one of these crops. About ninety-five per cent. of the area under rice needs no irrigation and the success of the crop is closely related to the climatic factors, chiefly the character of rainfall. Rice is extensively cultivated in every district (see Map No. 21).

Of the three varieties, aman is the most important and has generally an acreage three times that of aus, while boro occupies only about an eighth of the area of aus. The relative position of the three varieties is shown below.

AREA AND YIELD OF VARIOUS RICE CROPS₁

Rice	AREA (acres)			YIELD (tons)
Rice	Standard₂	1949-50	5 year average	1949-50	5 year average
Aman (Winter rice)	14,301,100	14,013,100	14,086,580	5,744,800	5,517,780
Aus (Autumn rice)	5,490,500	4,672,900	5,678,260	1,253,600	1,850,360
Boro (Summer rice)	701,700	842,200	812,400	378,680	267,875
Provincial Totals	20,493,300	19,528,200	20,577,240	7,337,080	7,636,015

After it is harvested, paddy has to be husked before it can be consumed. About half of the market supply is husked by manual labour in the villages, while the rest passes through the rice mills. On husking about sixty-two per cent. of the grain emerges as rice and the rest is husk.

Aman or Winter Rice

Aman is the major food crop of East Pakistan. Normally, the area under the crop represents about 55 per cent. of the total cropped area of the province and about 65 per cent. of the total rice acreage of Pakistan. It is sown broadcast as well as transplanted, though the latter method is more usual than the former. But the method depends on local conditions and practices.

Figures based on Final Forecasts of Winter, Summer and Autumn Rice, Direct. Agr. East Bengal, 1949-50.
The Standard acreage or the Normal is the one determined by the Crop Survey of 1944-45 for the whole of Bengal.

Generally, lands lower than those for aus and jute are devoted to the aman crop. Inundation, if it is timely and normal, does no harm to the aman plant.

The area under aman in 1950-51 was 13,946,700 acres and production amounted to 5,272,875 tons₁. The well inundated areas make the best aman lands. The lowlands are favourite areas, but marshes are avoided. The leading producing districts are Mymensingh, Bakarganj, Sylhet, Tippera, Khulna and Rangpur (see Map No. 22).

Normal₂ yields are 12.4 maunds of clean rice per acre. At sowing, about one maund of seed is needed for every acre. The straw makes good fodder and finds a ready market. During the last five years increases in the aman area have been noticed, and it appears that they have taken place at the expense of both jute and aus rice.

Aus or Autumn Rice₃

Aus rice is second in importance to aman and constitutes much of the cultivator’s domestic consumption, as he sells the aman and rabi crops into the market for cash. The straw of aus is of little value and is often burned down or ploughed into the ground.

Ploughing commerces with early Nor’westers and sowing normally starts by the end of March or the beginning of April. Subsequent rain from Nor’westers is essential for the crop. The early Monsoon rain in June should occur with occasional breaks and lighter showers to promote vigorous growth of young plants. The aus lands should not get flooded, as both excessive rain and high inundation damage the crop. The depth of flood waters should not exceed 2 to feet as the plant does not grow beyond 3 to feet. The ingress of saline water is also harmful to aus. Harvesting normally commerces at the end of August.

In 1950-51, the area under aus was 5,259,300 acres and yield was 1,790,000 tons of husked rice. The normal yield per acre according to the East Bengal Department of Agriculture is 10.9 maunds of clean rice. The leading producing districts are Mymensingh, Rangpur, Jessore, Tippera and Kushtia (see Map No. 23). The periods of growth of autumn rice and jute are roughly the same, March to September, and both the crops prefer higher land. Thus competition between the two crops is inevitable.

Most crop figures in this Chapter, after 1948-49, are based on the Final Yearly Forecasts of Direct. Agr., East Bengal.
Normal yield for all crops has been defined as the yield which in the existing circumstances might be expected to be attained in the year, if rainfall and season were of a character for a tract that is neither very favourable nor the reverse of it. The estimates are based on crop cutting experiments, trade statistics and settlement investigations, etc. The yearly yields are taken in terms of annas as compared with 16 annas for the normal yield. See Rep. Roy. Com. Agr., 1928, p. 606.
The names Summer, Autumn and Winter rice are used in the English language. They do not have complete relevance in terms of seasons in the Bengal area. For instance, both boro (summer rice) and aus (autumn rice) are summer season crops. There is no autumn season as such in July to September in East Pakistan. Only aman is a winter season crop.

Boro or Summer Rice

Boro is the smallest crop of rice in East Pakistan, as it occupies only about 3.8 per cent. of the area under all kinds of rice. But with the growing food demand its cultivation has been extended. It thrives well in low and marshy areas and near depressed river courses. It is a hardy crop. In some areas irrigation is practised on a small scale from locally available water lifted by traditional methods. It is sown from November to January and is soon transplanted. The crop is reaped from February to May, depending upon the locality. Though boro does not require much moisture at germination, droughts are bad for the crop. Rain in February and March is beneficial. Generally, the cost of cultivation is less as there is little or no ploughing.

Higher prices of food grains in the years since partition, and propaganda for ‘grow more food’ campaigns, have led to an increase of acreage. The yields are somewhat higher than aman and aus, but the grain is of poor quality. The normal yield is 13.6 maunds of clean rice per acre. The leading producing districts are Mymensingh, Sylhet, Dacca, Tippera and Rajshahi (see Map No. 24). The acreage for 1950-51 was 800,700 and the yield amounted to 280,000 tons.

A few general features of rice production should now be summarized. A quarter of a century ago the proportion between aman and aus acreage in Bengal was 3 : 1. Today it remains the same. The boro area is approximately an eighth of that of aus. But the area of aman cultivation has been increasing.

The climate and soils of East Pakistan are ideal for growing rice and the high inherent fertility of its soils has always been taken as an assurance against famine₁. But these natural advantages are being increasingly overtaxed.

The question of yields is important, as all food resources must be developed to sustain the growing population. Prior to partition, the normal Bengal yields (maunds per acre) of clean rice were calculated as follows2 :

Years	Aman	Aus	Boro	Rice (average)
1928-32	12.6	11.4	15.0	13.0
1932-37	12.5	11.1	14.5	12.7
1938-42	12.4	10.9	13.6	12.3

Declining yields in all three classes of rice are observed. A comparison of yields with other rice producing countries is no less revealing3.

Rep. Land Rev. Com. Bengal, 1940, vol. II, p. 82.
Famine Enq. Com. Rep. on Bengal, 1945, p. 207.
Adjusted from Estimates of Area and Yield of Indian Crops, Delhi, 1940-41, p. 12 and p. 36. The Bengal rice yield of 12.3 maunds per acre accepted by Land Rev. Com. Bengal, 1940, vide Rep., vol. II, p. 105, was considered an over-estimation by the minority view in above Report.

RICE YIELDS

Country or Area	Yields per acre
Country or Area	Maunds	1b.
Spain	67.7	5,542
Italy	57.8	4,743
Egypt	45.3	3,719
Japan	41.0	3,362
Formosa	28.0	2,296
Java and Madura	15.0	1,230
Thailand	13.5	1,107
Indo-Chaina	13.0	1,066
East Pakistan₁	12.3	1,088
India	10.1	828

The production of rice has shown condierable fluctuations in the last tewnty-five years. But only a small increase has been observed in the overall area and output :

1930-31	15.1 million acres
1936-37	16.8 million acres
1944-45	20.3 million acres
1947-48	18.7 million acres

JUTE

Jute₂ is the cheapest of natural fibres, and East Pakistan is by far the world’s largest producer. On an average of the five years ending 1944-45, the area under jute in undivided Bengal represented about 81.6 per cent. of the total area under the crop in the whole of India. Of this area, East Pakistan’s share was 72 per cent. The area under jute in East Pakistan in 1947-48, after the establishment of Pakistan, was about 71 per cent. of the total jute area in the whole of the Ino-Pakistan sub-continnent. In 1949-50 it was 57 per cent.₃ But this was considered a bad season.

Though East Pakistan is the world’s major jute producer, in India, which is the main customer, several

provinces also produce jute, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, the United Provinces, and Bombay. A number of countries outside the Ino-Pakistan area have also started cultivating jute since the turn of the century.

Based on Final Forecasts, of Directorate of Agriculture, East Bengal, since 1947-48.
Jute is an annual herbaceous plant of the natural order tiliaceae. It grows naturally everywhere in East Bengal, except the red earth areas. There are two cultivated species of jute, Corchorus capsularis and Corchorus olitorius. Ordinarily the plant grows 10 to 20 feet tall and develops a thin straight stem about 2 inches in girth. There are no branches. The stem yields the valuable fibre, which, after being pressed by machinery into bales of 400 1b. each, becomes the raw material of commerce.
Preliminary Forecast of the Jute Crop of East Bengal for 1951 season, dated 27^th July, 1951.

Of these, Formosa was the leading producer with 11,167 hectares or about 27,582 acres₁ under it from 1936-45. Nepal, Thailand, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Turkey, West Africa, Java, Paraguay, Brazil and Mexico are the minor producers of jute and fibres which are closely related to it. According to a 1940 estimate by the Indian Central Jute Committee, countries outside India and Pakistan produced about 40,000 tons of jute, making up only about 2.6 per cent. of the world production.

Production and area in East Pakistan has veried during the years since partition (1947), but a fairly high acreage is maintained. The area and yield figures for the province and the districts since the establishment of Pakistan are contained in Tables VIII and IX. Map No. 25 shows the area under jute based on the average of 1947-48 to 1950-51. The average acreage from 1947-48 to 1953-54 was 1.59 million and the yield was 5.10 million bales. In 1955-56 the acreage was 1.7 million, yielding 5.6 million bales.

TABLE VIII

JUTE PRODUCTION

Area in acres

Districts	1947-48	1948-49	1949-50	1950-51	1951-52	1952-53	1953-54
1.Mymensingh	511,695	442,260	378,640	307,235	431,715	476,525	215,035
2. Rangpur	272,925	222,705	251,560	174,425	232,040	239,910	104,060
3. Dacca	205,080	195,105	165,690	130,625	181,310	190,745	83,125
4. Tippera	186,615	167,175	105,590	125,230	164,620	168,160	71,480
5. Faridpur	201,315	189,240	105,900	113,815	145,375	170,390	65,185
6. Pabna	104,110	100,310	74,360	57,310	88,600	93,690	38,320
7. Rajshahi	102,110	108,600	103,065	62,000	105,805	110,490	35,235
8. Dinajpur	97,485	88,550	95,730	63,990	87,810	87,230	31,400
9. Jessore	106,090	91,063	77,385	48,620	83,755	91,400	29,515
10. Bogra	88,305	90,550	59,235	51,125	71,395	78,930	32,630
11. Bakarganj	39,575	40,130	33,720	26,025	43,020	44,800	11,005
12. Sylhet	27,865	28,230	23,000	25,335	37,455	38,765	14,360
13. Kushtia	43,175	45,640	38,510	25,705	39,625	42,610	11,170
14. Noakhali	41,300	35,740	21,400	20,045	35,455	39,795	9,885
15. Khulna	30,565	30,855	26,870	15,975	27,920	30,025	7,185
16. Chittagong H.T.	—	—	—	2,500	2,670	3,175	585
17. Chittagong	460	410	140	105	225	175	70
East Pakistan	2,058,670	1,876,565	1,560,795	1,250,065	1,778,795	1,906,815	760,245

Average 1947-48 to 1953-54 was 1,598,850 acres.

Chen; ‘Land Utilization in Formosa’, The Geog. Rev. New York, vol. xvi, no. 3, 1951, p. 443.

(1 hectare=2.471 acres.)

JUTE

TABLE IX

JUTE PRODUCTION

Yield in bales of 400 1b. each

Districts	1947-48	1948-49	1949-50	1950-51	1951-52	1952-53	1953-54
1.Mymensingh	1,829,310	1,138,820	762,015	1,154,070	1,562,925	1,788,455	684,730
2. Rangpur	927,945	555,870	474,695	612,230	803,785	812,885	308,395
3. Dacca	758,795	636,040	360,210	495,675	633,695	766,210	297,025
4. Tippera	597,170	588,455	233,245	465,415	597,830	617,015	277,550
5. Faridpur	629,110	558,260	243,630	438,180	535,885	659,170	221,060
6. Pabna	364,385	300,930	153,295	195,485	312,255	313,370	126,630
7. Rajshahi	316,540	336,660	253,955	199,895	375,160	338,130	105,870
8. Dinajpur	272,960	230,230	201,610	184,550	299,890	295,810	102,165
9. Jessore	379,270	328,745	204,610	166,860	301,855	303,595	94,935
10. Bogra	230,760	257,160	115,210	155,070	217,320	224,920	100,260
11. Bakarganj	114,965	109,755	79,915	98,250	162,975	171,000	33,470
12. Sylhet	94,740	81,865	57,810	93,740	131,190	116,360	49,010
13. Kushtia	133,845	155,175	103,400	82,255	145,080	131,370	39,410
14. Noakhali	103,250	91,850	27,865	60,515	124,730	116,975	36,140
15. Khulna	88,640	107,745	61,005	42,250	94,745	100,245	24,100
16. Chittagong H.T.	—	—	—	8,625	11,040	12,555	1,965
17. Chittagong	290	1,535	385	390	790	675	150
East Pakistan	6,842,605	5,479,095	3,332,855	4,452,455	6,331,150	6,822,740	2,502,865

Average 1947-48 to 1953-54 was 5,109,109 bales.

Jute plays a fundamental role in the contemporary economy of East Pakistan, as it is the second most important crop and the main cash earner for the cultivator. It accounts for about half the money income of the agricultural community and is the leading export.

The use of jute fabrics as bagging may be regarded as the most important development in the history of the fibre. Growing technical skill at Dundee resulted in the manufacture of a finer jute fabric called ‘hessian’. Then came the manufacture of materials such as tarpaulin and canvas. The technique of mixing jute yarn with cotton, wool, silk, flax and other fibres led to the manufacture of linoleum, curtains, upholsteries, decorative and roofing fabrics, rugs, carpets, buckram, brattice cloth, cable, sewing and domestic twines, cords, strings and dress materials, etc. The latest addition is the making of jute plastics.

The jute trade offers a wide scope for employment in various spheres of activity which extened from the cultivation of the plant to collection of fibre and its movement from the interior to baling and export centres. In addition, much employment connected with jute is found in rowing country-boats,

steam navigation companies, railways, jetties, banks and offices. The governmnet also derives a huge benefit in the shape of revenue from the jute duties. Indeed, a great deal of the prosperity of East Pakistan is linked with the production and trade in jute.

The importance of jute and jute manufactures is not only based upon its usefulness ot international trede, but in these days of war scares and stockpiling, its prices go on soaring, making it an essential raw material both in war and peace, though in recent years the competition from substitutes has become serious and stockpiling₁ of jute itself has led to restricted buying, particularly by one of the major buyers—the United States of America. This has visibly affected both home and external prices, thereby hitting the East Pakistan cultivator hard.

The Geographical factors in Jute Cultivation

How jute is cultivated, the geographical factors which favour or hinder its growth and the way in which human and economic considerations influence production and supply are interesting aspects of economic geography. The principal factors controlling cultivation are fairly high temperatures, abundand rainfall, with even distribution and timely arrival, light, silt-renewed soils and a sufficient supply of clear water for retting. Jute is by no means an aquatic plant, in fact constant submergence under water does the fibre much harm.₂

Climate

The most important factor in the successful cultivation of jute is climate. Rainfall, both by its amount and time of occurrence, largely determines the success or failure of the crop. Jute is a typical rainy season crop. Damp heat is most favourable for its growth. But excessive rain, saturating the soil with moisture, delays sowing as well as after-treatment. The so-called jute growing season extends from late February to September. The early varieties are cut in June and others follow as they are ready. The period of sowing and early growth coincides with the outburst of the Nor’westers, and the mature crop faces the Monsoon. Thus there is a variety of weather to contend with.

Soils

In connexion with the main soil characteristics, reference has been made already to the suitability of pali (river silts for jute). The plant prefers light fertile soils; stiff red clays (khiar or lalmati) are to be avoided; and saline formations are a disadvantage. The Barind tracts in North Bengal, the Madhupur and Lalmai areas and the coastal areas are unsuitable for jute.

In June 1943 U.S.A. placed and order for 700 million yards of hessian on behalf of Defence Supply Corporation. Other huge orders of a similar type were common during World War II. There was a great demand for both hessian and gunny bags. The Korean War similarly led to stockpiling and rise in prices, which lasted till 1951-52 season. Prices were at rock bottom in December 1952.
Finlow : The Extension of Jute Cultivation in India, Bulletin No. 3, Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, 1906, p. 7.

Loamy soils seem to be very suitable. The rain-water quickly sinks into them, while clays generally, and siff clays in particular, neither absorb water nor part with it. These soils produce stunted crops of jute. Thus in the Sylhet marshes, Gopalganj Bils and Chalan Bil areas, jute has a smaller percentage of cropped area.

The greyish-coloured Brahmaputra and Jamuna alluvium, which contains very little carbonate of lime, but large proportions of potash and phosphoric acid, is the best jute soil.

Physiographic Control

The main jute belt (see Map No. 28) generally follows the area of inundation where fresh silt is deposited

every year, but very low and deeply submerged lands are not the best jute lands. In fact, jute grows successfully both on higher lands and low-lying areas which remain free from submersion before the end of June. The so-called ‘high land’ is the area generally above flood level, but occasionally washed by a few inches of water. The ‘Low lands’ are the freshly silt-deposited areas, usually under several feet of water during the rainy season. But once the plants have grown to maturity, the moderate inundation cannot harm them. It is quite often found that, in late July or August, the jute plots are entirely surrounded by inundation water, yet the best crops rise above the water level. Of course, jute above submersion level is always better in quality and the plants rise from 10 to 12 feet on maturity. The deo (tosha) plant in Munshiganj attains a height of over 14 feet.

The geographical factors continue to operate from the manuring and sowing of seed and growth of the crop, to its weeding, cutting, retting, stripping, washing and drying, before the loose bales are made ready for the market.

Manures and Rotation

Th inundated low lands which receive a renewal of silt deposti every season, hardly require any manure. However, on non-renewed silt lands two successive crops of jute cannot be grwon without liberal manuring. Generally, five tons of cow-dung per acre is sufficient. Seven tons to castor cake is equally good. Green manuring with sunn hemp (Crotolaria juncea) is equally effective and is in use in many areas.

The use of saltpetre is only recommended as a top dressing when the plants are about one foot high. In 1930-31, the ammonium sulphate applied to fields in Mymensingh and Pabna, produced 30 maunds of jute per acre instead of the normal 15 to 18 maunds. About the same time the Department of Agriculture also recommended the use of a vegetable compost from waste straw, leaves and other organic refuse, which was considered a useful substitute for farmyard manure₁, Retted water-hyacinth or its ash is also found to be a good manure.

Jute does well if it is followed by such rabi crops as peas and khesari and, in general, rotation with pulses is beneficial.

Chaudhry : Jute and Substitutes. Calcutta, 1933, p. 33.

Common crop rotations with jute are as follows : jute—mustard or pulses or til—rice—rabi—jute. Sometimes, especially in the inundated areas, jute is raised for two successive years and then dropped in favour of other crops. But in the densely populated areas the land is too valuable to be left entrirely fallow.

Preparation of Land

On higher lands, which are preferred for jute, sowing extends from early March to May, but in low-lying lands sowing may be started earlier (February), so that by the time the Monsoon breaks (approximately in the middle of June), the plants liable to submersion are sufficiently near maturity and are able to withstand both heavy showers and consequent flood.

The land is generally prepared for sowing just after the first showers from the Nor’westers, in early or middle March. For early sowing, the land in ploughed at the end of December and six ploughings are given at intervals. The amount of preparation depends on the nature of land. Since a fine seed-bed is the object, heavy land reqirees more preparation than light land.₁

Cutting

The best time to cut the crop in order to obtain heavy yields as well as the best quality, is the stage when the fruits of the plant have just set. Cutting usually takes place from the beginning of July to the end of October. Sometimes the cutting is delayed by the cultivator, for want of sufficient labour or enough water for the steeping and washing of the fibre. Delayed cutting results in fibres of coarse texture and of a dirty, reddish colour. On cutting, leaves are left on the ground to serve as manure.

Retting or Steeping

The nature of retting water is one of the principal factors in determining the colour of the fibre. The jute fibre₂ is the skin over the stem of the plant. It must be softened by fermentation and then removed by washing. The fermentation takes place when the plants are cut, made into bundles and kept under from 10 to 20 days. In many parts of East Pakistan where jute is cut in water, the steeping starts immediately. Deep, clear, standing water is the best for retting, while running water is next best, and muddy and stagnant waters are the worst. Thus the active river areas of East Bengal have an advantage over the moribund areas of the north and the west.

Stripping and Washing

The fibre must be separated from the stem within two or three days after the completion of retting. All available spare labour is harnessed to this. Women particularly, perform this arduous work eight or nine hours a day, stripping about half a maund of fibre.

Finlow : The Extension of Jute Cultivation in India, Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, Bulletin No. 3, 1906, p. 9.
The fibre is about 4.5 per cent. of the green weight. Therefore, 16 maunds of fibre per acre mean a crop with a green weight of about 355.5 maunds, or 29,150 Ib.

Separated fibre is preferably washed in clean, running water if available, as this removes mud and dirt better. Washing is done by taking a handful of fibre and dashing it briskly in water and then squeezing it out. After washing, it is dried in the sun for two or three days over a bamboo frame or bridge railings or simply on ropes flung across a stream on posts. When dry, the fibre is twisted into large skeins (ati or ganth). These are the so-called loose bales or kachcha bales which usually weight 3 maunds.

An important by-product is the jute stalks (patkhori) after the fibre has been peeled off. About 50 maunds per acre of these stalks are obtained. Though they are used as fuel and fencing material, much wastage takes place.

Yields and Output

The yields of jute are dependent on a series of factors, both geographical and those pertaining to land management. They are related to fertility of soils, weather condtions, inundation, seed and varieties sown, time of cutting the crop, care of crop and method of cultivation. Diseases and pests also have their effect. In tems of standard bales of 400 Ib. each, the output per acre is 3.5 bales.

The Jute Tract

After considering these fundamental aspects of production, it is interesting to trace the geographical distribution of the crop over East Pakistan.

Even eighty years ago jute had become the recognized premier commercial crop. Ultimately, the peak of production was reached in 1940-41. Then followed the regulations to restrict the area. In 1953-54, only 16.1 per cent. of the area under jute in 1940 was actually cropped in East Pakistan. This decline in jute acreage is shown in the following table :

JUTE ACREAGE

Percentage of licensed area and area actually cropped in relation to the basic area of 1940

Jute year	Area licensed as percentage of 1940 acreage	Area actually cropped as percentage of 1940 acreage	Area actually cropped as percentage of area licensed
1947-48	46.3	43.5	93.5
1948-49	45.1	39.7	88.1
1949-50	39.3	33.3	84.7
1950-51	28.2	36.2	128.3
1951-52	37.2	43.7	117.4
1952-53	36.3	40.4	111.3
1953-54	17.2	16.1	93.6

The basic acreage of undivided Bengal was adopted as 5,399,000 acres by the Government of Bengal for the purpose of jute regulation of which 4,725,000 acres fell in East Pakistan and 674,000 acres in West Bengal.

The unequal distribution of the jute crop between the districts has been indicated already by Tables VIII and IX and Map No. 25. Diagrams 1 and 2 further emphasize this aspect of distribution, which is primarily due to geographical considerations. The seven leading districts, with percentages of provincial areas in 1949-50 were : Mymensingh (24.25), Rangpur (16.11), Dacca (10.61), Faridpur (6.78), Tippera (6.76), Rajshahi (6.60), Pabna (4.76). The medium producers were Jessore, Dinajpur, Bogra and Kushtia, while a small provincial output is shown by the rest of the districts (see Table X).

Still more interesting is the distribution within the so-called jute districts and the continuity of the heavy production belts, transcending the district boundaries. The inundated areas with silt renewals, and lands free from marsh and saline impregnations, have a heavy crop density, and jute occupies in places above 25 per cent. of the arable land, though the provincial figure does not rise on the average much above 7 per cent. The area of the heaviest crop density and large production may be called the Jute Belt of East Pakistan (see Map No. 28).

TABLE X

PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF JUTE AREA (CULTIVATED) BY DISTRICTS,

1948-49 AND 1949-50

District	Percentage distribution
	1948-49	1949-50
1. Dacca	10.397	10.616
2. Mymensingh	23.566	24.259
3. Faridpur	10.085	6.785
4. Bakerganj	2.139	2.161
5. Chittagong	0.022	0.009
6. Chittagong Hill Tracts	—	—
7. Noakhali	1.905	1.372
8. Tippera	8.908	6.765
9. Sylhet	1.504	1.474
10. Rajshahi	5.787	6.603
11. Dinajpur	4.718	6.133
12. Rangpur	11.867	16.117
13. Bogra	4.825	3.795
14. Pabna	5.346	4.764
15. Kushtia	2.432	2.467
16. Jessore	4.853	4.958
17. Khulna	1.644	1.722
East Pakistan	100.000	100.000

Source : Provincial Statistical Board and Bureau of The Commercial and Industrial Intelligence, March 1951.

The tracts watered by the three mighty rivers, the Brahmaputra-Jamuna, the Meghna and the Ganges-Padma, offer different conditions for jute cultivation. There are differences in soil formation as well as in the nature of the water in these rivers, and both vitally affect jute cultivation. The Padma lands are low and the waters muddy. The Brahmaputra lands are comparatively higher and the waters clearer. In general, the Jamuna-Brahmaputra and Meghna jute is of finer quality—the fibres are long, strong, whitish, glossy with little bark, and they bear greater tension on twisting. The Padma jute is strong, but coarse and the fibres are shorter, yellowish in colour, speckled and less golssy.

The Jute Belt may be divided into the following divisions :

(1) Brahmaputra area (upper and lower Jamuna and Old Brahmputra areas).

(2) Meghna tract (south Dacca and north Tippera).

(3) Ganges-Padma (Kushtia and eastern Faridpur).

(4) North Bengal (along Tista and upper Atrai).

Jute Species and Classification

As has already been remarked, jute has two different cultivated species, capsularis and olitorious. The former plant has a round, ragged, capsular fruit, while the latter grows a long, cylindrical, ribbed fruit. In East Pakistan the capuslaris variety is known as the desi pat and the olitorious as bangi pat and it is also called tosha pat. The desi pat is a white, strong, medium sized fibre, while the bagni pat is more golden coloured, less strong, but has a long fibre. Continuous experiments have been made by the Department of Agriculture to improve the two varieties. Capsularis is more commonly grown in the central, eastern and northern part of East Pakistan, while the olitorious predominates in the west (Jessore, Kushtia, Rajshahi,

Pabna and Khulna). But the major portion of the Jute Belt is sown with capsularis, as most types of land, with few exceptions, suit it. (See Maps Nos. 26 and 27 and Diagrams 1 and 2). It thrives both on ‘high land’ and ‘low land’ and is sown comparatively early. It can stand the vagaries of weather better than can olitorious. Insect attacks take place in the typical Monsoon months, but by that time the capsularis plant is mature, and strong enough to resist them. The crop is ready in June-July and the cultivators transplant aman paddy to the same land after the jute harvest. In certain cases, after an early aman harvest in October, a third crop of mustard or pulses follows. Olitorious is ready later than capsularis and lands sown with it can only take on the rabi crops afterwards. Capsularis withstands about four to five feet of water, but olitorious cannot resist any water-logging.

Classes of Jute

Jute is divided into theree main classes, Jat (mainly from Dacca, Mymensingh and Tippera); ‘District’ (mainly from Pabna, Kushtia, Faridpur, Jessore, Khulna, Bakarganj, Noakhali, Chittagong and Sylhet); ‘Northern’ or Uttarya (Bogra, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Rajshahi). But different districts have some intermingling of varieties also.

Every class has three grades, according to quality, known as ‘tops’, ‘middles’, and ‘bottoms’. Prices of middles are generally higher by Rs. 3/- per maund than bottoms, while tops average about Rs. 2/- more than the middles. Olitorious, or tosha, is a golden coloured, long fibre, a speciality of Dacca district. Its price is Rs. 2/- to 3/- higher than that for white varieties₁. In general, lowland jute is always inferior to highland jute. The dowrah of the depressed area of Madaripur is a low-priced quality.

In the opinion of jute merchants, after long experience in the trade, locality, environment and seasonal conditions have apparently more to do with the quality of the fibre than its seed or variety₂.

OTHER CASH CROPS

The many-sided geographical influences which operate in combination with a series of other factors in relation to the production of the two dominant crops of East Pakistan have been discussed. A brief survey may be made of the remaining crops which bring cash to the cultivator and lend variety to the economic geography of the area.

Sugar-cane

Though a useful cash crop, sugar-cane has only 0.85 per cent. of the cropped area in the province. In 1948-49 the area under sugar-cane in East Pakistan represented about 33.5 per cent. of the total area under the crop in Pakistan.

Taking five years’ average (1947-48 to 1951-52) after partition, the area under the crop hardly exceeds 225,000 acres, as indicated by the figures below :

Year	Area (in acres)	Yield of gur (in tons)
1947-48	224,400	327,000
1948-49	225,300	341,000
1949-50	227,300	310,000
1950-51	225,900	333,000
1951-52	229,000	343,000

The leading producing districts are Dinajpur, Dacca, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Bakarganj, Rangpur and Faridpur (see Maps Nos. 30 and 31). The area under the crop in the leading districts has been as follows₃ :

Monthly Summery of Jute Statistics, East Bengal, No. 39, 1950, pp. 121-13.
Chaudhry : Jute and Substitutes, Calcutta, 1933, p. 19.
Based on Final of Sugar-cane Crop, East Bengal Directorate of Agriculture, for various years 1947-48 to 1950-51. Also see Crop Wealth of Pakistan, Ministry of Food, Karachi, 1952, pp. 111-15.

District	Area in acres
	Standard	1947-48	1948-49	1949-50	1950-51
Dinajpur	25,000	49,500	45,000	45,000	43,000
Dacca	19,000	31,700	32,000	34,200	34,200
Mymensingh	16,400	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,500
Bakarganj	18,200	25,000	20,000	20,000	19,500
Rajshahi	18,500	20,500	30,000	30,000	30,500
Rangpur	22,000	20,300	20,000	20,000	17,800
Faridpur	6,700	9,000	9,100	8,600	10,800

Sugar-cane has been cultivated in East Pakistan since ancient times. Though it has always been an important commercial crop, it never attained a pre-eminent position in the economy of the area. But locally it has been a means of satisfying the domestic demand for sugar and provided valuable profit for the cultivator. In the nineteenth century, the area’s sugar production figured in international commerce. when considerable exports went to England. But later, successive trade restrictions, developing as a result of more bounties and higher import duties, killed the sugar trade of Bengal. During the last fifty years there has been a rapid fall₁ in the area under the crop.

A large part of East Pakistan in perhaps too humid, low-lying and inundated for the successful cultivation of sugar-cane. The North Bengal area, on the other hand, seems to be better suited, climatically as well as from the point of view of agrarian economy. Jute is not such an important crop in this part of Bengal, and there are large single crop areas. These considerations, in combination with the geographical factors of climate and soil, give sugar-cane importance in the non-jute areas of the north and west. But the domestic demand for sugar is so great that in many parts of Dacca, Bakaganj, Mymensingh and Faridpur a large area is devoted to the crop. In the rainy season the crop survives even under two feet of water₂.

The average East Pakistan yields are low and the quality of the cane is poor, though in 1840 an introduction of soft, thick stemmed cane was very successful in North Bengal. But in 1857-58, red-rot killed₃ all the finer varieties. The average yields are about 47 maunds or 3,750-4,250 Ib. of gur per acre₄ or 407 maunds of cane to the acre. The gur-cane ratio is 1:10. The crop has shown small increases in yield in suitable areas of North Bengal. The yield there in 1950-51 was 51.5 maunds to the acre.

The comparative production in different districts in unequal, as might be expected owing to the differing geographical conditions.

Azizul Haq : The Man Behind the Plough, op. cit., p. 81.
The writer has observed these conditions in July and August in the districts of Dacca and Mymensingh.
Dist. Gazt. Dinajpur, 1911, p. 59.
Estimates of Area and Yield of Principal Crops in India, 1931-40, p. 9.

But in the typical jute belt districts (with the exception of Faridpur and Tippera), Rangpur, Mymensingh and Dacca, the area under cultivation is subject to sudden increases and decreases from year to year. Especially since Partition, the four leading producers, Dinajpur, Dacca, Mymensingh and Rajshahi, have

considerably increased teh crop-area, if the Forecasts of the East Bengal Directorate of Agriculture are correct₁. In the more moist and low-lying district of Bakarganj there seems to be a surprisingly high acreage devoted to the crop.

In general, the area under the crop increased by only a small margin in the twentyfive or thirty years₂ preceding 1944-45. The increase was mainly in Dinjpur, Rajshahi and Kushtia, and was caused by effective demand, due to the sugar factories of Darsana, Gopalpur and Setabganj. In the last forty years, the cultivation has rapidly extended into the lowland areas of the more moist southern districts of Bakaganj, Teppera, Noakhali, Sylhet and Chittagong. But the statistics (see Table XI) reveal a decline in acreage in recent yeras.

TABLE XI

AREA UNDER SUGAR-CANE, 1911-12 TO 1950-51

(in acres)

Districts	1911-12	1930-31	1936-37	1944-45	1950-51
1.Dacca	15,900	18,000	43,400	11,750	30,200
2. Mymensingh	21,100	16,300	50,000	12,570	30,500
3. Faridpur	5,300	6,700	8,000	9,700	10,800
4. Bakarganj	11,800	27,000	38,000	13,220	19,500
5. Chittagong	5,000	5,900	6,000	3,250	6,000
6. Chittagong Hill Tracts	1,000	1,100	1,100	—	1,500
7. Noakhali	700	1,700	1,800	1,660	1,000
8. Tippera	4,000	900	2,600	3,120	2,600
9. Sylhet	—	2,800	2,300	2,300	2,000
10. Rajshahi	18,700	8,900	29,100	24,100	30,500
11. Pabna	10,000	3,900	5,000	3,050	4,000
12. Bogra	20,000	4,000	4,000	7,660	7,500
13. Rangpur	13,700	21,600	30,900	9,700	20,300
14. Dinajpur	19,900	21,200	35,700	10,300	45,000
15. Kushtia	3,300	2,900	5,300	6,900	8,000
16. Jessore	3,500	2,200	3,300	1,600	5,400
17. Khulna	1,300	400	1,100	430	1,200
East Pakistan	155,200	151,600	260,600	121,310	226,000

Figures based on Season and Crop Rep., Plot to Plot Enum. 1944-45, and Agr. Dept. Final Forecast 1950-51, 1911-12 to 1944-45. Figures adjusted according to post-Partition area of districts. Sylhet figures are from Agr. Stat. Assam.

1.Notice changes in area from 1944-45 (Plot to Plot Enum. Bengal) to the post-Partition years—Table XI.

Agr. Stats. Plot to Plot Enum. in Bengal, Pt. I, p. 8.

Obviously, the poor quality, low-yield crop in these districts meets a much needed domestic demand for sugar. The figures for area and production in the last five years show, on the whole, increasing acreage but lower yields.₁ The overall position during the last forty years is indicated in Table XI.

The total area under date-palm and other sugar producing plants was estimated at 41,600 acres in 1949-50.

Tobacco

The tobacco crop, though small in proportion to the area occupied, is a useful source of income to those cultivators who devote land to it. The area under the crop is only 0.54 per cent. of the cropped area, and in the years since Partition the acreage for the whole province has not exceeded 150,000. Approximately 77 per cent. of the Pakistan acreage under tobacco is in East Pakistan. The provincial area and yield figures in recent years are given below :

Year	Area in acres	Yield in tons
1947-48	131,300	44,600
1948-49	126,200	45,430
1949-50	128,300	41,570

At Partition, most of the tobacco growing area of undivided Bengal went to East Pakistan. The total area under the crop in Bengal in 1944-45, was 161,263 acres, and of this, in 1947-48, East Pakistan’s share was 131,300 acres. The most important area is in North Bengal, where both the climate and soil conditions are suitable, This area extends from Dinajpur to Rangpur and Mymensingh. The other important areas under the crop are in Dacca, Bakarganj, Faridpur and Khulna. Rangpur is the leading producer, followed by Dinjpur, Mymensingh, Dacca, Bakarganj, Faridpur and Khulna respectively. Their acreaage since 1947-48 is shown in the table at the top of the page opposite (yields in tons are given in parenthesis).

In 1950-51 the total area under tobacco in East Pakistan was 143,900 acres, which represents a moderate increase over the last three year’s figures (see Maps Nos. 29 and 30). The 1954-544 acreage was 131,300.

With the exception of Dacca, Mymensingh, Faridpur and Bakarganj, tobacco cultivation has declined in North Bengal and in the western part of the province. This position is shown in Table XII. This is the result of severe competition from other cash crops and the food crops.The yields have also been diclining.

The northern and central part of the Rangpur district is the chief tobacco area of East Pakistan.

See Final Forecasts of Sugar-cane crop in East Bengal, by the Directorate of Agricultur, from 1947-48 to 1950-51.

TOBACCO ACREAGE AND YIELD IN TONS

1947-48

1948-49

1949-50

1950-51

Rangpur

64,000

(19,770)

60,000

(21,500)

60,000

(18,545)

70,000

Dinajpur

6,000

(1,855)

8,000

(2,780)

9,000

(3,275)

14,000

Mymensingh

12,000

(4,325)

12,000

(4,015)

12,000

(4,300)

11,000

Dacca

12,000

(4,940)

11,000

(3,680)

12,000

(4,300)

9,000

Bakarganj

6,000

(2,315)

6,000

(2,110)

6,000

(2,150)

5,000

Khulna

4,500

(2,205)

4,000

(1,545)

3,600

(1,570)

4,800

Faridpur

5,400

(1,600)

5,000

(1,545)

5,200

(1,600)

4,400

TABLE XII

AREA UNDER TOBACCO, 1911-12 TO 1949-50 (in acres)

Districts	1911-12	1930-31	1936-37	1944-45	1949-50
1.Dacca	12,000	9,000	11,700	7,670	11,000
2. Mymensingh	12,700	15,100	18,300	15,520	12,000
3. Faridpur	2,900	3,900	5,200	6,020	5,000
4. Bakarganj	700	400	4,000	5,200	6,000
5. Chittagong	2,400	2,600	2,600	3,470	2,600
6. Chittagong Hill Tracts	1,000	3,800	3,800	—	1,000
7. Tippera	3,000	2,600	3,500	6,200	4,000
8. Noakhali	—	—	—	120	100
9. Sylhet	—	700	350	3,130	3,200
10. Rajshahi	4,700	5,300	5,400	5,800	3,000
11. Pabna	7,000	4,900	2,900	1,310	3,300
12. Bogra	800	1,500	1,600	2,300	1,800
13. Rangpur	133,500	184,900	205,400	70,300	60,000
14. Dinajpur	7,400	9,300	8,980	5,300	9,000
15. Kushtia	3,100	1,500	1,600	700	400
16. Jessore	12,200	3,200	2,900	1,500	2,000
17. Khulna	3,600	1,400	2,100	5,620	4,000
East Pakistan	205,400	250,100	295,330	139,860	128,300

Figures based on Season and Crop Rep., Plot to Plot Enum., 1944-45, and Final Forecast, 1949-50. Agr. Dept. Figures of divided districts adjusted according to post-Partition area. Sylhet figures based on Agr. Stat. Assam.

The crop is chiefly grown in the neighbourhood of Rangpur town, in the areas north-west and south-east of it and along both banks of the Tista river. Tobacco grows best on sandy loams.₁ The seed is sown in nurseries in August and September, and transplanted into the fields from October to mid-December. The land is heavily manured and is ploughed ten or twelve times and worked to a very fine texture before receiving seedlings. Plants as well as rows are kept two to three feet apart. In February-March the leaves attain maturity, when they become yellowish and brittle. They are then cut off and allowed to wither on the ground. Afterwards they are tied in bundles for curing in the shade.

Two main varieties of tobacco are grown in East Pakistan, jati and motihari; the former occupies twice the area of the latter. The average yields are about maunds (861 Ib.) per acre.₂ In 1948, prices₃ were reported to be about Rs. 75/- per maund, but in 1950 prices as high as Rs. 130/- to Rs. 150/- per maund were common.₄ Jati tobacco grown in North Bengal is suitable for the manufacture of cheroots and before the second World War it was lagely exported to Burma. It was well known in the Calcutta market also. Motihari is used for hookah and for chewing purposes. Small quantities of Sumatra leaf are also grown in Rangpur. Experiments with Virginia tobacco and other foreign varieties, including Sumatra, Havana, Grecian and Turkish, have proved successful,5 but these varieties have not been widely cultivated. Suitable curing barns are needed. There is government experimental farm at Burirhat, north of Rangpur, and the Pakistan Tobacco Co. Ltd. have their farm near Rangpur, where research is conducted.

In Rangpur, tobacco is to a large extent an irrigated crop. Irrigation is carried out both from wells and by raising and lifting water pits and hollows. Cow-dung and oil cake are the chief manures used. Decaying vegetable matter from marshes also serves as manure, and often scrub and stubble is burnt on the fields. In exceptional cases land in left fallow (khil) for two or three years.

Tea

Tea₆ is an important commodity of commerce for Pakistan and earns valuable foreign currency. Pakistan figures as the fourth largest producer and exporter of tea in the world after India, Ceylon, and Indonesia. All of Pakistan’s tea is produced in the typically favourable conditions of East Pakistan.

Agr. Stats., Plot to Plot Enum. Bengal, 1944-45, part 1, p.57.
Agr. and Anum. Res. of Eastern Pakistan, 1948, p. 51.
Ibid.
Monthly Summary of Economic Conditions in East Bengal, Dacca, December 1950, p. 43.
Dist. Gazt. Rangpur, 1910, p. 62.
Current information about production, manufacture, labour and exports, etc., is based on the official publications of the Government of Pakistan and East Pakistan in the last eight years, answers to a questionnaire of the writer by Mr. E. Hodson, Secretary, Pakistan Tea Association, Shamshernagar, East Pakistan, in March 1950, and on Annual Reports of the Pakistan Tea Board.

The past history of tea in the East Pakistan area is facinating. The tea plant had been native to Tippera₁ and Sylhet since very ancient times and the natives of the Tippera used to drink an infusion of the green, undried leaves. The cultivation of tea was started in Sylhet₂ district about 1856 after the discovery of the indigenous plant there. The first tea gardens were started in the vicinity of Sylhet town. In the Chittagong district experiments were made as early as 1840, but cultivation was seriously commenced only in 1862. However, the gardens which were established in Chittagong were regarded merely as a side-line. During the second half of the last century, the cultivation of coffee and sisal was considered much more advantageous and the old plantation records reveal₃ that there were also cocoa plantations. However, in the course of time the tea gardens completely ousted these other plantation crops. In 1882 the tea yields in Sylhet area were 134 Ib. per acre and production was 412,986 Ib., with 3,662 acres under cultivation. The production in Chittagong was 204,112 Ib. on 1,203 acres and yield was 169 Ib. per acre.₄ In 1949, the production per acre varied₅ in different areas, e.g. Sylhet 696 Ib., Chittagong 387 Ib., Chittagong Hill Tracts 245 Ib. and Tippera 150 Ib.

In 1951, 81,604 acres were under tea and the production amounted to 50 million Ib. In 1959-50 about 33.8 million Ib. were exported and the value rose to Rs. 49,277,069. Tea is thus second only to jute in importance to the province as major cash crop. The cultivation and manufacture of tea employed 40,000 persons in East Pakistan in 1951 and 100,000 persons in 1955-56.

After Partition in 1947, the cultivation and processing of tea were adversely affected by the uncertainly which prevailed. The Government of Pakistan called a timely Tea Conference₆ at Sylhet in January 1949, which discussed, among other things means of increasing production and improving the quality of tea, including the supply of good seed, rehabilitation of abandoned tea gardens and other necessary measures to maintain the position of East Pakistan as a producer of this valuable commodity. Pakistan subsequently became a signatory to the International Tea Committee and it standard area was provisionally fixed at 79,768 acres, with an export quota of 35 million Ib. The area is permitted by this agreement to be extended by only 5 per cent. with replacement up to 10 per cent. of permissible acreage. The Pakistan Tea Board was formed by the Government in April 1951 and a Tea Research Station was established in February 1953.

South Sylhet is the most important tea producing area, with 110 tea gardens in 1954, while Chittagong had fifteen and Tippera and the Chittagong Hill Tracts on each respectively.

According to a letter by ‘G.M.J.’ published in the Statement, Calcutta, 10^th January, 1951.
Edgar : Report on Tea Cultivation, Calcutta, 1874, p. 13. Also see Lee : Tea Cultivation in India, London, 1863, p. 31.
Brabant : ‘Romance of Tea’, Dawn, Karachi, 3^rd June, 1951.
Edgar, op. cit., p. 12.
Monthly Survey of Economic Conditions in East Bengal, December 1950, p. 16.
Proceedings of the Tea Conference, held at Sylhet, January 1949, Government of Pakistan, Karachi, 1949.

In all, there are now 127 gardens. At Partition they numbered 155, but since then many of them have gone out of production, while others have been amalgamated with neighbouring estates and some have closed down for financial reasons.₁

The area out of production in Chittagong district was 11,950 acres, and in Sylhet 15,075 acres. It was suggested that derelict gardens must revert to simple agricultural holdings, and areas out of production must be re-allotted, while uneconomic estates should be allowed to close down. In 1953 in terms of ownership by various nationalisties the Europeans, Pakistanis and Indians held 72.1, 17.9 and 10.0 per cent. of acreage respectively. The number of tea gardens was 133. But in 1954 only 110 gardens were in production.

The provincial position with regard to area and yield in the yeras 1947-56 was as follows:₂

Year	Area (acres)	Yield (millions of Ib.)
1947	72,593	41.4
1948	72,461	43.5
1949	72,736	45.9
1950	99,500	52.2
1951	81,604	50.0
1952	82,070	53.1
1953	82,070	54.7
1954	74,362	54.6
1955	74,776	52.5
1956	75,052	54.6

The provincial production by areas in 1949-50 is given below :

Areas	No. of gardens	Area under crop (acres)	Total area plantations	Yield in Ib.
Sylhet	119	67,658	250,499	44,294,510
Chittagong	18	4,796	28,563	1,567,506
Tippera	5	125	1,281	18,688
Chittagong Hill Tracrts	1	157	834	36,953
East Pakistan	143	72,736	281,177	45,937,657

According to the Report, after a detailed survey, by Dr. Alfred Brabant. Special Officer, Tea, appointed by Government of Pakistan in 1950.
Figures based on Monthly Survey of Economic Conditions in East Bengal, December 1950, and An. Repts. Tea Board, 1951-52 to 1955-56. See Appendix, Pakistan Tea Assn. An. Rep. 1956.

In conclusion, a few words may be added about the typical geographical conditions which are favourable to tea production in East Pakistan. Both climate amd soil play an important part, while topographic conditions determine ideal situations. The moderate elevation of Sylhet and Chittagong hills is suitable to the plant, which requires perfect drainage in spite of the fact that a heavy rainfall favours its growth. Sudden and sustained downpours do much damage. The typical tea area has an average annual rainfall ranging from go to 200 inches. However, continued wet weather with no sun will delay flushes and will cause the leaf to become hard and coarse. Wet nights and hot, suuny or steamy days are the most favourable weather conditions for tea. Temperatures rarely touch the three figure mark. Soils should be either virgin soils from which forest has been removed, or rich loams. Red soils and sandy formations are both unfavourable to tea. Chemical fertilizers are now in great demand.

The tea bush is kept to about 4 feet in height by periodic pruning. The plucking begins after the plants are 3 to 4 years old. Up to 10 years the leaves go on improving, though the bush is mature after five years. After 40 to 50 years the bushes become old, and require replacement by fresh planting from nurseries. Shade trees, uaually derris robusta, protect the bushes from excessive sunshine and they are planted in rows. This practice₁ has been followed for a long time. Plucking time is winter, in November and December. When they are about 36 inches from the ground, the upper two leaves and a bud, or three and a half leaves are picked skilfully by trained labour. Pruning takes place as soon as possible after plucking is discontinued, and at several times during the year.

Wheat, Cotton and other Crops

The relative unimportance of other crops has already been explained. The role of the rabi crops in the local economy of certain areas is considerable, but on the whole the areas occupied by them are small. The main rabi crops, mustard, pulses, wheat, tobacco and vegetables. They are winter crops and are ready for reaping in February to March. Sowing takes place in October to November on pali lands which have already borne a crop of aus rice.

Wheat has always been a minor crop, though somewhat more suited to the climate conditions of North Bengal. After the rice shortage of 1943 and consequent famine and the prevalence of rationing and general scarcity during the second World War, the consumption of wheat has increased. Production also increased in North Bengal, Dacca and Mymensingh (see Table XIII). The wheat area in East Pakistan represents only about 1 per cent. of that of Pakistan and the total production in 1949-50 was 22,630 tons. The leading producing districts₂ are Rajshahi, Rangpur, Kushtia, Pabna and Dacca respectively. The normal yield per acre is 9 maunds (see Map No. 31). In 1953-54 the provincial acreage was 98,300.

Baildon : Tea in Assam, Calcutta, 1877, p. 15.
Final Forecast of Wheat Crop, Directorate of Agriculture, East Bengal, 18^th May, 1950.

	Area (acres)	Yield (tons)
1949-50	96,600	22,630
1950-51	93,550	20,100

The area under various oilseeds has been gradually decreasing since the first decade of the century, though rape and mustard are fairly widely cultivated. Mymensingh and the northern districts produce most of the crop. The position of rape and musterd is shown in Table XIV.

TABLE XIII

AREA UNDER WHEAT, 1911-12 TO 1949-50

(in acres)

Districts	1911-12	1930-31	1936-37	1944-45	1949-50
1.Dacca	—	3,300	6,500	6,540	8,100
2. Mymensingh	—	500	500	2,790	3,000
3. Faridpur	2,400	2,800	2,900	3,780	3,900
4. Bakarganj	—	—	—	150	—
5. Chittagong	—	—	—	—	—
6. Chittagong Hill Tracts	—	—	—	—	—
7. Noakhali	—	—	—	—	100
8. Tippera	—	—	—	50	600
9. Sylhet	—	—	—	—	—
10. Rajshahi	10,790	15,760	14,900	34,400	26,000
11. Pabna	16,000	8,000	7,000	8,320	13,000
12. Bogra	—	1,000	1,500	2,380	2,700
13. Rangpur	3,600	4,000	4,000	27,800	19,000
14. Dinajpur	880	1,600	1,700	4,100	2,500
15. Kushtia	8,500	5,700	9,800	11,900	14,900
16. Jessore	890	180	270	2,400	2,500
17. Khulna	—	—	—	20	100
East Pakistan	43,060	42,840	48,070	104,630	96,400

Figures based on Season and Crop Rep., Plot to Plot Enum., 1944-45, and Final Forecast Agr. Dept. 1949-50. Figures of divided districts are adjusted according to post-partition area.

Cotton has lost its importance in the agriculture of the area. The total area sown in 1949-50 was noly 55,255 acres, and the entire yield was 15,268 bales₁, about 100,000 maunds. The province has only 2 per cent. of the area under the crop in Pakistan as a whole. Cotton grown in East Pakistan is mostly of the early, short staple variety. The jhums (areas where shifting hill cultivation is practised by burning down the forest and without the use of the plough) of Chittagong Hill Tracts produce most of it. The only other areas are the fringes of the Garo Hills and some parts of the Madhupur Tract in Mymensingh. But after Partition, cotton cultivation showed some decline. In 1953-54 the acreage was 58,320, with a production of 17,405 bales.

COTTON AREA IN ACRES

	1947-48	1948-49	1949-50
Chittagong Hill Tracts	83,000	55,000	55,000
Mymensingh	300	270	250
East Pakistan	83,300	55,270	55,250

TABLE XIV

AREA UNDER RAPE AND MUSTARD, 1911-12 TO 1947-48

(in acres)

Districts	1911-12	1930-31	1936-37	1944-45	1947-48
1.Dacca	78,800	78,900	82,500	26,550	35,000
2. Mymensingh	470,600	214,800	175,000	140,250	145,000
3. Faridpur	41,600	22,200	23,600	4,740	4,600
4. Bakarganj	2,000	1,800	1,700	630	900
5. Chittagong	1,900	2,000	2,000	550	2,000
6. Chittagong Hill Tracts	6,500	14,300	13,700	—	15,000
7. Noakhali	8,100	1,100	3,500	260	3,400
8. Tippera	30,000	32,400	20,800	15,730	17,500
9. Sylhet	—	15,100	9,100	8,260	9,000
10. Rajshahi	101,800	69,700	57,500	24,850	25,500
11. Pabna	114,500	73,300	68,000	11,400	16,900
12. Bogra	65,000	26,000	30,000	24,700	15,000
13. Rangpur	164,800	72,100	97,800	61,290	50,000
14. Dinajpur	46,400	36,200	49,700	59,030	36,000
15. Kushtia	8,100	4,800	4,900	7,800	12,500
16. Jessore	24,500	14,500	15,900	9,080	10,200
17. Khulna	8,900	10,500	12,000	9,340	16,000
East Pakistan	1,169,500	629,600	667,700	399,460	414,500

Figures based on Season and Crop Rep., Plot to Plot Enum., 1944-45, and Agr. and Anim. Res. of Eastern Pakistan, 1948 and 1955.. Figures of divided districts are adjusted according to post-partition area. Sylhet figures are from Agr. Stats. Assam.

Final Forecast of Wheat Crop, Directorate of Agriculture, East Bengal, 5^th February, 1950.

Lastly, among produce of much local importance, particularly in the southern districts, are betelnuts or areca nuts (Areca catechu) and cocoanuts (Cocos nuafera). Betenut or supari trees are widely cultivated. Acreage under cultivation is as follows : Noakhali, 47,276; Bakarganj, 38,419; Tippera, 28,114; and Khulna, 24,269. The total provincial acreage was 165,620 in 1947. In Tippera there is a heavy concentration in the south and the west, in Chandpur and Sadar sub-divisions. Suitable soils are high, sandy and rich in salt. The trees flower in February or March and the nuts are gathered from September to December. The average number of nuts per tree is 230. The trees yield fruit in the seventh or eighth year and continue to be productive for 25 years. The yields are about 5 to 9 maunds an acre, averaing nearly maunds of shelled nut per acre. Considerable quantities are exported outside East Pakistan. The value of the amount exported by rail alone in 1945 was estimated₁ to be Rs. 6,080. Prices in 1947-48 were about Rs. 40/- per maund. In 1952-53 prices per maund were Rs. 25/- and the total value of exports of West Pakistan, India and Burma was Rs. 9,940,338.

The cocoanut thrives near the sea, and will grow on saline soils. The trees begin to bear fruit from the eighth year. They flower in November and again in April. Nuts ripen every month, but the main plucking season is from May to September. A single tree averages about 35 nuts. The main commercial products are oil and fibre. The economic importance of the crop lies in the fact that, along with cotton seeds and groundnuts, it forms the basis of hydrogenated oil (vanaspati). The area under cocoanuts in

1947-48 in acres was : Bakarganj, 17,506; Khulna, 12,520; Jessore, 4,788; and Noakhali, 4,386. The Provincial area was 42,435 acres and the production w3as 1,485,225 maunds. Nearly 35 mounds of dry cocoanut shells per acre are produced at a price of about Rs. 10/- per maund. Exports in 1947-48 amounted to about Rs. 1,500,000. In 1953-54 the area under cocoanut was 45,550 acres and production in maunds was Rs. 1,621,120.

IRRIAGATION

Irrigation is carried out only locally for rabi crops and boro paddy, by using the familiar and typical devices for raising and lifting water. In the areas with copious rainfall, it is mostly betel leaf (pan) and tobacco lands and occasionally winter rice which are irrigated by raising water locally and diverting it into fields by small channels.

The need for more stable irrigation methods arises in only about one-fifth of the area of the province, in the western part and North Bengal where rainfall is below 65 inches (see Map No. 8). The khiar (red earth) lands of North Bengal, which are single crop…..

Agr. and Anim. Res. of Eastern Pakistan, 1948, p. 56.

CATTLE

A brief account may be added of the cattle population of East Pakistan. Apart from domestic uses, cattle provide a valuable export material in the shape of several million pieces of hides and skins.

There is a singular dearth of natural grasslands, and pastures have been disappearing propressively. Today 16 million cattle are mostly fed on chopped paddy straw and on tiny grass patches where these occur. No folder crops are grown. There are said to be only 197,507 acres of grassland in East Pakistan and this includes the estuarine island of Hatia, southern Bakarganj, Madhupur Tract, the area from North Tippera to South-west Sylhet and South east Mymensingh, and the upper reaches of the Atrai and Tangan rivers in North Bengal.

Cattle are mostly small and of a stunted variety. There is no attempt at systematic breeding. The sires are usually immature, uncastrated males running with the herds. Lack of grazing grounds and poor fodder are the chief problems. Generally insufficient grazing grounds, due to pressure on land, combined with the enervating climate and with overwork, are responsible for the poor quality of breeds, though there is as amazing prodigality of numbers. Hardly any legumes or fodder crops are raised, as all possible land is needed for food or cash crops. In most districts, during the rains, beaten straw is the only provender available. River banks are subject to erosion and silting, and favourite grazing areas are either fields after harvest, roadsides, and ridges separating fields or chars with grass cover.

TABLE XV

DISTRIBUTION OF CATTLE, 1949

District	Cattle
1. Dacca	1,197,958
2. Mymensingh	2,550,482
3.Faridpur	793,736
4. Bakarganj	1,232,815
5. Chittagong	527,007
6. Chittagong Hill Tracts	69,725
7. Noakhali	499,978
8. Tippera	1,054,706
9. Rajshahi	958,702
10. Rangpur	1,768,344
11. Dinajpur	977,413
12. Pabna	686,649
13. Bogra	658,940
14. Jessore	899,011
15. Khulna	866,536
16. Kushtia	396,864
17. Sylhet	1,227,733
East Pakistan	16,386,606

The areas with more favourable conditions for cattle are the Sylhet-Mymensingh haor and bil areas, the Gopalganj and Chalan Bil depressions in winter and the southern grass-covered island of Hatia, etc. The distribution of cattle is shown in Tables XV and XVI.

TABLE XVI

DISTRIBUTION OF GOATS AND SHEEP, 1949

Districts	Goats	Sheep	Total
1.Dacca	217,193	18,980	291,173
2. Mymensingh	625,769	37,713	663,582
3. Faridpur	108,287	1,632	109,919
4. Bakarganj	146,504	1,129	147,633
5. Chittagong	162,338	4,947	167,285
6. Noakhali	92,985	44,631	137,616
7. Tippera	209,780	16,535	226,315
8. Chittagong Hill Tracts	16,375	698	17,073
9. Rajshahi	339,433	23,375	36,808
10. Rangpur	638,820	17,866	656,686
11. Dinajpur	357,260	5,130	362,390
12. Pabna	121,185	17,524	138,709
13. Bogra	273,993	21,172	295,165
14. Jessore	234,646	7,663	242,309
15. Khulna	128,805	596	129,401
16. Kushtia	152,587	11,981	164,568
17. Sylhet	139,200	16,200	155,400
East Pakistan	4,020,160	247,772	4,267,932

Tables XV and XVI based on 1940-41 figures. Districts as if undivided.

The animals have a low milk yield of not more than 3-4 Ib. a day, and the carass has small bulk. The most common use is for ploughing and the supply of hides. Goats are very small and short-legged. They provide both meat and skins. Sheep are few and unimportant. Goats and sheep number about 4 million.

LAND UTILIZATION

An examination of the use which has been made of land in East Pakistan in the last few years will help in the understanding of some of the changes that have recently taken place.

Arable land in East Pakistan in 1947 was estimated to be 19,216,330 acres and the area cropped more than once was 6,566,923 acres, which was 34.3 per cent. of the total cropped land. In 1951 the cultivated area was 21-23 million acres, 61.52 per cent. of the provincial aera. The largest percentage of land still available for cultivation is in the moribound drainage areas of western East Pakistan and in

North Bengal. But there, too, these are only isolated patches of such land, up to 25 per cent. of the whole area. Generally, the percentage of cultivated arable land ranges between 5 and 20. In most of the ‘core land’ of East Pakistan, enclosing the jute tract and the belt of high density of population, not more than 5 per cent. of Agriculture, East Pakistan, in 1951-52, the land classification in millions of acres was as follows :

LAND CLASSIFICATION (in millions of acres)

Total land area	Forest	Not available for cultivation	Other cultivation ex-fallows	Current fallows	Net area sown
34.6	3.1	4.7	4.5	1.6	20.5

Table XVII gives certain important aspects of land utilization in 1930-31. It indicates the percentage of cultivable and uncultivated land and the proportions of land under rice and jute, the two leading crops.

TABLE XVII

PERCENTAGE OF CULTIVABLE AND NET CULTIVATED LAND, AND AREA UNDER JUTE AND RICE, 1930-31

Distict	Percentage of total area		Percentage of cultivable area		Percentage of gross cultivated area
Distict	Cultivable	Net cultivated	Net cultivated as percentage of cultivable	Cropped more than once	Under Rice	Under Jute
1.Dacca	84.9	80.5	95.6	18.6	53.4	22.4
2. Mymensingh	69.4	59.2	84.0	44.8	61.7	20.8
3. Faridpur	86.3	78.1	90.5	10.5	55.2	23.8
4. Bakarganj	89.5	80.2	89.9	7.8	83.7	2.7
5. Chittagong Hill Tracts	48.1	6.3	13.2	nil	48.5	nil
6. Noakhali	82.8	76.3	92.0	57.5	81.0	5.3
7. Tippera	72.3	69.2	93.0	28.2	71.4	20.9
8. Rajshahi	86.6	48.8	72.0	15.1	68.5	8.2
9. Pabna	91.1	79.5	92.0	30.5	61.3	13.0
10. Bogra	86.4	56.1	72.0	18.7	70.2	16.1
11. Rangpur	86.5	72.6	89.0	—	56.7	19.7
12. Dinajpur	80.2	42.1	52.5	—	81.7	6.9
13. Khulna	43.2	27.8	64.4	7.5	89.9	3.7
14. Jessore	64.7	39.1	60.5	16.6	76.8	11.0
15. Kushtia (Nadia)	75.0	27.8	37.0	28.2	74.5	6.4

Source : Bengal Dist. Gazt., B vols., 1933.

The largest percentage of cultivable area to the area of the district was in Pabna (91.1), Bakarganj (89.5), Rajshahi (86.6), and Rangpur (86.5), while the smallest, excetp for Chittagong and Khulna, was in Jessore (64.7), Mymensingh (69.4), Teppera (72.3). The low percentage of Khulna (43.2) and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (48.1) was due to their large forest areas. The highest percentage of cultivated land was reached in Dacca (95.6), Tippera (93.0), Noakhali and Pabna (92.0 each) and Faridpur (90.5) and

Bakarganj (89.9). These are also the districts with the highest densities. of population. Some of these districts named above also had the highest percentages of land cropped more than once, e.g. Noakhali (57.5), Tippera (28.2), Pabna (30.5), Dacca (18.6). The same districts, with adjoining areas in the neighboiuring ones, also possessed the largest percentage of cultivated land under jute, e.g. Faridpur (23.8), Dacca (22.4), Mymensingh (20.8), Tiperra (20.9) and Rangpur (19.7). The proportion of land under rice is also very high in these districts.

Table XVIII shows land utilization in 1951 and is partly based on the earlier, comparatively reliable survey of Plot to Plot Enumeration in 1944-45. It reveals larger proportions of cultivated areas in Bogra, Dacca, Dinajpur, Tippera, Khulna and Rajshahi, while cultivable wastes are at a maximum in Kushtia (11.45), Jessore (11.88), Sylhet (11.21) and Dinajpur (12.28). The least percentage of cultivable waste land….

TABLE XVIII

LAND UTILIZATION (PERCENTAGE, 1951)

District	Total acres of cultivated land	Cultivated area	Cultivable waste	Forests and jungles, etc.	Uncultivable waste
1. Chittagong	371,976	44.50	8.47	44.83	2.20
2. Chittagong Hill Tracts	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
3. Noakhali	764,166	74.72	7.67	.17	17.44
4. Sylhet	2,150,000	68.81	11.21	5.33	14.85
5. Tippera	1,268,241	78.29	3.69	.45	17.59
6. Bakarganj	1,833,179	70.90	5.04	1.10	22.96
7. Dacca	1,383,939	78.89	4.81	4.34	11.96
8. Faridpur	1,160,156	70.15	8.61	1.63	19.61
9. Mymensingh	3,016,362	75.65	8.50	5.13	10.72
10. Bogra	782,413	82.88	3.86	.96	12.30
11. Dinajpur	1,231,696	75,92	12.28	3.62	8.18
12. Jessore	1,224,364	73.50	11.88	1.42	13.20
13. Khulna	1,224,958	39.79	4.27	54.82	1.12
14. Kushtia	631,931	72.02	11.45	1.17	15.36
15. Pabna	803,779	68.78	7.94	.34	22.94
16. Rajshahi	1,743,652	74.87	7.48	1.05	16.60
17. Rangpur	1,726,170	72.92	7.31	1.52	18.25

Source : Census Rep. Pakistan, 1951, vol. 3, p. 14. (Takes Plot to Plot Enum., 1944-45, as basic)

The jute area reached a million acres in Bengal in 1872, with the East Pakistan area as the producer of four-fifths of the crop. In the next twenty years, it attained the 2 million mark and then rose again till in 1907-08, a figure of 3.88 million acres was achieved. After this the acreage began to move up and down irregularly with the uncertain fluctuations in trade demand.₁ In the depression years 1930-31, the cultivation figure fell to 1.5 million acres. The peak of production was attained in 1940-41, with 4.9 million acres (see Table XX). But thereafter restrictions₂ were applied because of apparent over-production (compare Tables XX and XXI). It must be remembered that over-production of jute does not mean that the supply cannot adjust itself to demand at a price which brings normal profit to the cultivator. That view was acceptable to the Jute Enquiry Committee of 1934. The over-production is largely cuased by trade manipulation. World demand at the present rate of production seems to be fairly stable.

In about 1872 jute cultivation was spreading outward from the main inner belt into Sylhet, Bakarganj, Noakhali, Jessore and Faridpur, all of which at the time had an prices, in combination with the factors of geographical suitability, has weighed heavyly in its favour.

During the last quarter of a century the leading position in jute production has come to be occupied by the districts of Mymensingh, Rangpur, Dacca, Tippera and Faridpur with 64.3 per cent. of the East Pakistan jute area. Today they maintain their position, though with a somewhat diminshing area under the crop. But on a provincial basis, there has been a greater concentration of jute area in these districts since 1936 (see Table XXII below). Next in order come the districts of Pabna, Jessore, Rajshahi, Dinajpur and Bogra. These ten districts between them produce 90.3 per cent. of the jute of the province (see Map No. 34). The production of the remaining seven districts is vary small in comparison. In 1947-48, jute occupied 7.7 per cent. of the cropped area of the province.

TABLE XX

BENGAL : JUTE ACREAGE AND YIELD, 1915 TO 1944

(in million acres and millions of bales—400 Ib. each)

Year	Acreage	Yield (bales)	Year	Acreage	Yield (bales)
1915	2.0	6.5	1931	1.5	4.9
1916	2.3	7.4	1932	1.8	6.1
1917	2.3	7.8	1933	2.1	7.0
1918	2.2	6.3	1934	2.3	7.6
1919	2.4	7.5	1935	1.9	6.4
1920	2.1	5.2	1936	2.2	7.9
1921	1.3	3.5	1937	2.1	6.9
1922	1.5	4.7	1938	2.4	5.6
1923	2.4	7.4	1939	2.5	8.2
1924	2.3	7.1	1940	4.9	11.4
1925	2.6	7.9	1941	1.5	4.2
1926	3.3	10.6	1942	2.7	8.0
1927	2.9	8.9	1943	2.1	6.0
1928	2.6	8.5	1944	1.7	5.5
1929	2.9	9.1
1930	3.0	9.8

Compilled from various sources.

Rep. Bengal Jute Enq. Com., 1939, vol. 1, pp. 7-8
According to the Jute Regulation Act 1940, the All-Bengal basic acreage figure adopted by the Government was 5,399,000, of which the approximate East and West Bengal acreages would be 4,703,779 and 695,221 respectively (see Monthly Sum. Jute statis., No. 11, p. 2) But Area and Yield of Principal Crops, India 1940-41, gives the Bengal figure as 4,939,000 acres.

TABLE XXI

AREA UNDER JUTE IN EAST PAKISTAN, 1872-1952 (in acres)

District	1872	1902	1912	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952
1.Dacca	40,000	165,000	188,000	223,300	264,000	393,700	175,610	195,105	181,310
2. Mymensingh	84,000	545,000	756,000	420,000	518,000	819,000	465,137	511,695	431,715
3. Faridpur	16,666	105,000	150,000	133,000	189,000	339,000	186,555	189,240	145,375
4. Bakarganj	11,686	10,000	29,000	21,600	39,000	78,000	28,937	33,720	43,020
5. Chittagong	100	—	300	300	300	300	—	410	225
6. Chittagong Hill Tracts	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
7. Noakhali	3,636	7,000	26,000	32,000,	45,000	90,700	26,042	35,740	35,455
8. Tippera	78,389	292,000	268,000	157,000	225,000	342,500	159,684	167,175	164,620
9. Sylhet	572	Not available	Not available	7,800	11,400	36,200	20,880	28,230	37,455
10. Rajshahi	20,353	159,300	114,900	78,100	124,300	180,900	128,218	108,600	105,805
11. Pabna	122,880	140,500	220,000	57,000	75,000	180,000	100,675	100,310	88,600
12. Bogra	46,599	71,000	130,000	62,000	80,000	158,700	81,021	90,550	71,395
13. Rangpur	103,000	381,900	298,700	195,700	240,000	379,000	272,867	222,705	232,040
14. Dinajpur	79,988	47,600	79,400	29,000	42,800	100,800	63,403	88,550	87,810
15. Kushtia	480	12,000	43,700	12,000	32,500	43,200	30,465	45,640	39,625
16. Jessore	5,682	27,400	146,800	39,200	75,700	97,300	84,800	91,065	83,755
17. Khulna	—	12,000	38,000	20,500	25,000	50,000	24,752	30,855	27,920
East Pakistan	614,031	1,975,700	2,488,800	1,418,500	1,987,000	3,419,300	1,809,046	1,940,590	1,778,795

Compiled from Kerr (1876), Season and Crop Rep., Plot to Plot Enum., 1944-45, Monthly Sum. Jute Stat., East Bengal Agr. Stat., Assam, and adjusted according to post-Partition acres of divided districts.

TABLE XXIII

LEADING JUTE DISTRICTS₁Area under the crop in relation to provincial Acreage

District	Percentage of Jute area in district to Jute area in the province
District	1936-37	1944-45	1949-50
1.Mymensingh	24.0	22.8	24.2
2. Rangpur	11.0	13.0	16.1
3. Dacca	12.0	8.6	10.6
4. Tippera	10.5	7.8	6.7
5. Faridpur	8.8	9.1	6.7
	56.3	61.3	64.3
6. Rajshahi	4.0	4.4	6.6
7. Dinajpur	2.9	4.5	6.1
8. Jessore	3.9	4.6	4.9
9. Pabna	3.4	4.9	4.7
10. Bogra	3.7	3.9	3.7
	84.2	83.6	90.3

An interesting feature is the recent decline of jute acreage in the districts of the heaviest density of population, Dacca, Tippera, and Faridpur, and the more or less constant area in Mymensingh, Bogra and Pabna, which are also districts with heavy density. Here food crops seem to be asserting themselves, owing to the increasing demand on means of sustenance. On the other hand, the provincial acreage as a whole has also been showing a decline since parition. The depression in the world jute market and the internal adjustment of acreage have reuslted in the reduced cultivation figures of 1953-54. Both tendencise obiviously arise from the same cause.

1936-37 figures based on Season and Crop. Rep., Bengal, 1944-45, on Plot to Plot Enum., part 1, and 1949-50 and on a communication from Bureau Indust. Com. Intelligence, East Bengal (March 1951).

Area under Jute

1947-48	2,058,670 acres
1948-49	1,876,565 acres
1949-50	1,560,795 acres
1950-51	1,250,065 acres
1951-52	1,778,795 acres
1952-53	1,906,815 acres
1953-54	7,60,295 acres

Recent years have been marked by food shortages and the import of rice to the extent of about 400,000 tons. The trade and price fiasco₁ of jute in 1952 greatly upset the balance though its long range effects are not yet evident.

Rice

Rice, being the staple food crop, occupies a pivotal position as it has done throughout the centuries. Other crops have from time to time played a secondery role to paddy cultivation. In the past the East Pakistan area was traditionally an excenllent rice area, with surplus production in spite of an enormous domestic consumption. The change in the situation arose with the scarcity of 1943 and there has been a marginal shortage of rice ever since Partition (see Table XXIII and Map No. 36), though the total area under rice has been showing a moderate increase since 1911-12.

East Pakistan Area under Rice

(thousands of acres)

1911-12	1930-31	1936-37	1944-45	1947-48	1953-54
13,905	15,195	16,881	20,390	18,789	22,010

The detailed position is laid out in Table XXIV. Only the districts of Khulna, Jessore, Rajshahi and parts to Dinajpur and Rangpur show either decreasing or unsteady acreage. This is largely connected with the deterioration of environmental conditions, as has been repeatedly stressed.

The growth of population has been rapid and appears to have outstripped the domestic rice supply. Since 1934 (with the exception of 1937) Bengal has lost its self-sufficiency with regard to rice. Since then the East Pakistan rice area has increased by about million acres, but the population has increased by 5 million. Yields per acre have shown a downward trend. This has been stressed both by the Land Revenue Commission (1939) and the Bengal Famine Enquiry Commission (1944). Present imports of food grains average about half a million tons. The surplus and deficit districts in terms of consumption are shown in Map No. 36. An interesting coincidence is the overlapping of the dificit districts with the typical area of the Jute Belt and the region of the closely packed densities of population (see Map No. 37).

The leading rice producing districts had the following percentage of the total provincial area in 1947-48 : Mymensingh (14.3), Bakarganj (9.2), Tippera (8.2), Sylhet (8.1), Faridpur (7.0), Rangpur (6.9), and Khulna (6.8).

The prices of raw jute fell from about Rs. 20-40 in 1951 to Rs. 9-12 in 1952. See Sum. Jute Statistics, various No., 1951-52.

Based on the average of 1947-48 to 1949-50, the large deficit districts were Dacca, Tippera, Noakhali, Mymensingh, Faridpur and Rangpur (see Table XXIII). These are also the areas of the highest densities of population, with over 1,000 persons to the square mile. Strangely enough, the above list includes some large rice producing districts. The districts with a large surplus are Khulna, Sylhet, Dinajpur and Bakarganj.

With the urgent need for increased food production, some jute lands as well as areas under other crops have gone under rice. This tendency is a significant feature in the contemporary agricluture of East Pakistan.

TABLE XXIII

PRODUCTION OF RICE, 1949-50 (in tons)

District	Acreage (In 000)	Held (less see) (In 000)	+Surplus -Deficit (In 000)	Average 1947-48 to 1949-50)
1.Dacca	1,173	398	-326	-307.7
2. Mymensingh	2,705	827	-205	-117
3. Faridpur	1,225	357	-138	-75.7
4. Bakarganj	1,734	750	+141	+93.3
5. Chittagong	754	289	-80	-115
6. Chittagong Hill Tracts	134	49	+7	+1.3
7. Noakhali	751	206	-174	-144.3
8. Tippera	1,414	435	-226	-176.7
9. Sylhet	1,666	627	+141	+52.7
10. Rajshahi	1,330	422	+51	+55
11. Pabna	754	229	-63	-51
12. Bogra	700	222	+35	+59.7
13. Rangpur	1,355	418	-85	-74.7
14. Dinajpur	931	366	+137	+129.7
15. Kushtia	522	164	+6	-12
16. Jessore	949	317	+26	+44.3
17. Khulna	1,289	580	+247	+22.1
East Pakistan	19,386	6,656	-1,298 +791	-379
East Pakistan	19,386	6,656	-507	-379

|Figures supplied by Directorate of Civil Supply, Government of East Bengal, in a Communication to the writer dated 15^th April, 1951.

Sugar-cane

The area under sugar-cane has shown great variation since the begining of the present century. The area increased only by 30.8 per cent. between 1911-12 and 1947-48.

Area under Sugar-cane in acres

1911-12	1930-31	1936-37	1944-45	1950-51	1953-54
155,200	151,600	260,600	121,310	235,400	262,000

The depression of 1930-31 brought down the area considerably, but with the rise of the sugar industry there was an increase in area. With World War II, the famine of 1943 and the general food scarcity, it appears that the area under the crop was again affected,……

CHAPTER VII

The Economic Aspects of Forest Wealth

THE abundance of natural vegetation in East Pakistan is directly related to the physical and climatic conditions. Heavy and well distributed rainfall in combination with sufficient heat and good soil cover is responsible for the blanket of greenery which overspreads the surface of the province. With an area of 54,141 square miles and a population of about 42 million, East Pakistan is among the world’s most densely populated areas. Every available acre of land is, therefore, in great demand for the production of food and other crops. This explains the progressive removal of natural vegetation from practically all the fertile alluvial plain, giving place to endless paddy fields, dotted with thousands of human habitations.

Forests occupy only 8,898 square miles, about 16 per cent. of the area of the province. This is, however, considerably short of the deisrable proportion of 20 to 25 per cent. of land which should be under forests in the Indian sub-continent, considering the general demands of the agricultural and other sectors of population, in order to strike a proper balance between natural vegetation and cultivated areas and land under other uses_.1

But in comparison with other former provinces of Pakistan, the position in East Pakistan is good, as the North-Western Frontier Province, Punjab, Baluchistan and Sind had only 4, 3.2, 3.2 and 2.3 per cent. of their areas respectively, under forests. Forest conservancy in the Bengal area was started in 1864, when the Forest Department came into being.

There are only four forested areas, parts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Chittagong districts, South Khulna, North and South Sylhet, and the Madhupur area in Dacca and Mymensingh districts. This makes the regional distribution of forests rather uneven. Most of them lie either in the extreme south-east, the only exception being the Dacca-Mymensingh forests. The last named are the most centrally situated, but cover the smallest area. Of the total area under forests (8,897.8 square miles), a little less than half, i.e. 4,441.3 square miles, are classed as Government Reserved Forests, 137.2 square miles as Protected Forests and 3,543.9 square miles as Unclassed Forests. About half of the total forest area is, therefore, under the management of the Forest Directorate. The distribution of various classes of forests is given in Table XXVII.₂

Howard : Post-war Forest Policy for India (A Note), Govt. of India Press, New Delhi, 1944, p. 20.
The Conservator of Forests, East Bengal (1954) gave the provincial forest area as 8897.8 square miles, Reserved 4441.2 square miles, Protected 137.2 square miles, and Unclassed 3543.4 square miles. According to the above source, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Rajshahi districts have only small patches of privately owned forests, while Faridpur, Noakhali, Tippera, Bogra, Pabna, Kushtia and Jessore have no forests at all. Some of the vested forests have been acquired by the Government under the State Acquisition Act.

TABLE XXVII

AREA UNDER FORESTS IN DISTRICTS, 1953

(square miles)

Districts	Forest division	Reserved forest	Protected forests	Vested State forests	Unclassed State forests	Lease land	Private forests	Total forest area of the district
Chittagong Hill Tracts	Chittagong Hill Tracts	997.2	—	—	3,430.0	—	—	4,427.2
Chittagong	Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar	450.6 504.4	87.6 49.6	—	—	—	—	1,092.2
Khulna	Sundarbans	2,316.5 24.5	—	—	—	282.0	—	2,623.0
Bakarganj	Sundarbans	2,316.5 24.5	—	—	—	282.0	—	2,623.0
Sylhet	Sylhet	148.0	—	—	1,13.4	—	140.0	401.4
Mymensingh	Mymensingh	—	—	238.4	—	—	—	238.4
Dacca	Dacca	—	—	100.5	—	—	—	100.5
Dinajpur	Central Division	—	—	13.6	—	—	—	13.6
Rangpur	Central Division	—	—	1.5	—	—	—	1.5
East Pakistan		4,441.2	137.2	354.0	3,543.4	282.0	140.0	8,897.8

Source : Statistical Abstracts for Districts in East Bengal, Dacca, 1950 (various pages) and Conservator of Forests, East Bengal (letter, 9^th February. 1954).

Prior to 1931-32 there was only a little departmental extraction in the Kassalong Reserve areas. The rest was done by traders and it resulted in much waste and little exploitation. Between 1934-36 a 30 h.p. tractor was successfully employed. But it was suggested that a combination of mechanical and manual extraction would be suitable, and elephants can be usefully employed.₁ The construction of the paper-mill at Chandraghona and the development of saw-mills are likely to open up fruitful possibilities.

The position with regard to the extraction of timber and bamboos from the various forest areas at the time of partition is shown in Table XXVIII.

Macalpine : ‘A Note on Timber Extraction in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bengal’, The Indian Forests, Dehra Dun, vol. LXII, No. 4, 1936, pp. 214-18.

CHAPTER VIII

Industries and Industrial Development

THE primarily agricultural character of the East Pakistan area since time immemorial needs no emphasis. It was known as a paradise for its fertility and its abundance and variety of crops. Therefore, the early beginnings of industry were based mainly on the resources of the land. According to the dictates of ancient and medieval economy, handicrafts and small industries flourished to supply local needs. But early in its history a variety of industrial products acquired a wide reputation for their excellence, and began to figure in inter-provincial trade as well as in world commerce. Generations of skilled artisans maintained the dictates of demand and supply.

With the advent of Muslim power, the development of better communications and the consequent increase in contact with Northern India, East Bengal’s manufactured products acquired more fame. The Court and the nobility, the urban rich and the foreign traders made ever greater demands on these articles. The story has already been related of the waning of the supremacy of East Bengal’s manufactured products, and their unequal competition with the methods of production of a fast developing industrial age in the west and the unfortunate results of poltical and economic policies.

Thus as the nineteenth century wore on, the East Bengal area lost practically all its former industrial skill and finally sank to the position of a raw material base, supplying the growing needs of Calcutta and the jute fibre demands of the outside world. Cheap machine-made goods took the place of the old manufactures at home and also displaced them abroad.

Modern industry made hardly any progress in a land which, though rich in agricultural resources, lacked contemporary initiative. Whatever industry made its appearance in the last twenty-five years of the nineteenth century did not fully exploit the resources of the area and contained much that was a poor survival from the past. Generally, there was a movement away from handicrafts towards agriculture.

The period towards the turn of the century and up to the eve of World War I, was one of economic and industrial development in many parts of India. All initiative and resources were in the hands of British capital owners, the indigenous capital had neither surplus nor will for enterprise. The flow of public and private British capital to India was at its height in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Therefore, it is widely recognized that industrial investment became dependent on a momentum deriving from the ideas of foreign investors rather than from geographical factors. A recent appraisal admits :₁ ‘Even during the period of maximaum British investment only certain parts of the country had undergone metamorphosis. Vast areas remained as they had always been; sometimes they were areas with conisderable resources which had, however, failed to be included in the railway network. With the cutting down of new capital supplies from abroad (after 1912) all India tended to replapse into the same condition.’ The Indian national income was too small to allow of any adequate capital formation in the absence of foreign capital and enterprise. Moreover, Bengal industry was at a standstill, due to a depressed rural market. Such capiatl as existed began to be used for speculation rather than investment.

1.Guy Wint : What is the Colombo Plan?, London, 1952, p. 17.

By 1902 there had begun an outburst of manufacturing activity, chiefly buttressed by European capital, and the metropolitan₁ districts were becoming a vast industrial tract. Outside Calcutta and its neighbourhood there was little industrial enterprise. The European capital invested in the various branches of the jute industry on the banks of the Hooghly amounted to £12,000,000. Thus Calcutta, the hub of European enterprise, indirectly prevented development elsewhere, particularly in the East Pakistan area.

INDUSTRY SINCE 1900

It is proposed to discuss the industries and industrial development of East Bengal during the last fifty years, in three years, in threes stages : (I) Up to the eve of World War I (1900-14); (II) At the time of Partition, 1947; (III) The contemporary phase.

1900-14

The early part of the twentieth century was of great significance in industriall development elsewhere in India. But in East Bengal a start was not made with any kind of machine-driven industry until a later period.

Handloom weaving : Cotton

Fine traditions of hanloom weaving were on the decline, though they lingered on into the early part of the twentieth century. Some kashida, jamdani, and tanzeb and fine saris were made in Dacca town and in some villages of the Sadar sub-division, e.g. Shanora, Biliswar, Dagar and Dhamrai. The Kishorganj and Tangail sub-divisions in Mymensingh district were making tanzebs, saris and dhotis; muga saris were produced in Tippera around Mynamati and jam saris (coloured) were made in Chaumohani in Noakhali. Other centres were merely producing coarse₂ materials as they still do today. The yarn used for the weaving of these fabrics was all machine-made and was brought from outside East Bengal.

There was hardly any division of labour in the industry and most of it depened on the old type of handloom. The fly-shuttle looms were used only sparingly. The economic condition of the weavers was bad. They received inadequate profits and in fact their earnings were lower than the profits of even the smaller peasant proprietors tilling their own lands.

Cumming : Review of the Industrial Position and Prospects in Bengal in 1908, etc., Calcatta, 1908, pp. 1-3. (The Metropolitan area was constituted by Calcutta, Howrah and parts of 24 Parganas district, east of Hooghly river and north of Calcutta.)
Gupta : The industries and Resources of East Bengal and Assam, Shillong, 1908, p. 13.

The average earnings₁ of the weavers were not more than Rs. 8/- per month, while even the landless agricultural labourer never received less than that amount. The wages of weavers in Dacca were 3 to 4 annas per day and the skilful women doing kashida (embroidery) did not receive more than annas for a whole day’s exacting work. Therefore, weaving as an independent industry had become uneconomic, and about 80 per cent. of the weavers were also engaged in agricultural pursits. This resulted in a rapid lowering of standards of skill and too many weavers. About 1908, 75 per cent. of the weavers were dependent on the mahajans (small, capitalist middlemen advancing loans in return for finished products).

The overall result was that on the one hand the handloom industry was decaying, yet on the other, no modern indigenous industry was taking its place and the bulk of foreign imports was increasing. The weakness in this sort of economic situation was realized by some far-sighted people, but in spite of their advocacy of starting weaving and spinning mills at Dacca and Sirajganj, so that the supply of cheaper yarn could give impetus to both handloom and machine industry, nothing was done.

Silk

This industry was in even greater decline than cotton. Both production of raw silk and exports had dwindled to insignificance. In 1903-04, the exports were valued only at Rs. 800,000. The exports were mainly of waste and raw silk, and very litlle reeled silk was exported. The cocoons were reared on mulberry leaves, but only Rajshahi and Bogra had 800 and 100 acres respectively under these trees. Jute had begun to usurp mulberry lands. The condition of the silk weavers was slightly better than that of the cotton weavers. Their wages ranged between Rs. 10/- and 15/- per month. Dhotis, sheets and cloth for shirts and coats, were made in Bogra and matka cloth in the village of Mirganj in Rajshahi.₂

The Metal Industry

The metal industry covered such items as hardware, implements, musical instruments and ornaments, etc. It was on a small scale, mainly satisfying local needs. It was especially noted at Kalam and Nawabganj (Rajshahi), Palong and Rajbari (Faridpur), Kagmari and Islampur (Mymensingh) and Gomani (Rangpur). Dacca was an important centre and a factory was started there in 1903 with two steam furnaces, manufacturing cast-iron railings, lamp posts, gates, etc. Old, broken iron and pig-iron were used for castings. A suggestion was made about this time, after the Partition of 1905, that an iron and steel factory

should be started in East Bengal on the basis of imported raw material, so that some of the vast needs of machinery for tea factories, railway gear and enamelled ironware for the agriculturists, and corrugated iron sheets for buildings, might be satisfied from home manufactures. Chittagong was suggested as the site₁ for this kind of establishment.

1.Gupta : The Industries and Resources of East Bengal and Assam, shillong, 1908, p. 14.

Ibid., p. 29.

Leather

The leather industry consisted of the curing of hides and skins for export, and some tanning of leather for a boot and shoe industry on a small scale. Already by 1904, hides and skins had become the third most important item of export from East Bengal after jute and tea. The export as of untanned hides. A factory with a research section was suggested for Dacca, as it was the largest centre of the trade in the commodity and also had a fair urban market. Smaller units were suggested for Mymensingh and Pabna.

Jute

At this time there was no modern industry in jute, though the exports had risen to the value of Rs. 2.2 million. At the beginning of the century, all the raw, unbaled jute was passed on to Calcutta. Soon after the creation of the new province in 1905, a suggestion was made that jute mills should be started in East Bengal at Chittagong, Chandpur and Narayanganj. But Civil Service ‘exports’ did not wholly agree with the proposal and pointed out handicaps such as labour, market facilities, absence of coal and lack of engineering establishements.₂

Sugar-cane

After the famine of 1901-02, the sugar industry in the East Bengal area had almost disappeared. In the open, well-cultivated parts of the country, sugar-cane was giving way to jute, owing to economic advantages and the labour-saving involved. On the other hand, sugar-cane was extending into backward areas where jute would not thrive well, e.g. Chittagong coast, Bakarganj and Rangpur Barind areas. The cultivators usually grew cane in patches of one or two bighas out of the rest of their land in order to obtain gur for their own needs. It was felt at the time that factories could be sited at Rangpur, Madaripur and Kalkini (Faridpur) and Chittagong. The manufacture of sugar from date-palm juice, however, was a thriving industry, particularly in Jessore district at Trimohani, Kotchandpur, Jhenida, Tahirpur, Jhingargachha, Keshabpur and Chuagachha. Most of the factories₃ were on the banks of the Chitra, Bhairab and Nabaganga rivers. Yet it was a period of the decline of this industry too.

Gupta : The Industries and Resources of East Bengal and Assam, Shillong, 1908, p. 45.
Ibid., p. 63 : Gupta (1908) quotes this view expressed by Mr. Dawson, I.C.S., but himself effectively answered these weak arguments and believed in initiative and economic momentum as potent forces. His fine geographical sense and foresight is being justified in our own time, but 50 years later!
Dist. Gazt., Jessore, Calcutta, 1912, p. 99.

Rice Milling

There was not, at this time, even a small modern rice-milling industry. The grain was dehusked by the pestle and morter (dhenki and hath masuli) in the worker’s homes. The use of machines was suggested to release the ill-paid labour force for other more remunerative enterprises. The North Bengal wheat also needed conversion into flour by machine, but nothing of the kind existed at that time. There is only one modern flour-mill at Dacca even today.

Tobacco

The chief tobacco areas were the Rajshahi and Dacca divisions. Rangpur had 172,000 acres under it in

1906, though the average was 194,000 acres. The bulk of the leaf was exported to Burma in a crudely cured form. Plans were completed to establish a cigar and snuff factory at Rangpur, but nothing came of them.

Oil-mills

Industry based on fruit was engaging the attention of people fifty years ago, though in the subsequent period no progress was made.

Excellent varieties of pineapple were grown, particularly in the Sylhet district. The Agriculture Department experimented successfully with the canning of the fruit at a cost of five annas per tin, weighing approximately one and a half pounds. The Sylhet and Khasi Hill oranges were a lucrative crop and Chhatak was an important collecting centre, owing to its location and water transport facilities. Preservation of the fruit was attempted, and marmalade was being made which was superior in flavour to that imported from Britain. It was expected that Chhatak would develop as a marmalade manufacturing centre.

In view of the enormous production of fair and good quality bananas, an export trade, the making of banana-flour (‘Bananine’) and a fibre industry were also suggested. Cocoanut was another plentiful and useful product, especially obtained from the districts of Bakarganj, Noakhali, Chittagong and South Tippera. An oil and fibre industry was expected to arise out of it.

Tea

The only manufacture of importance was tea. In 1906 there were over 250 gardens in the present East Pakistan area, of which 25 were in Chittagong, and the rest in Sylhet. The Europeans owned about 25 times the area cultivated by the native population. In London sales, East Bengal teas fetched about d. (4 annas in Calcutta sales) to the Ib. The main countries of export were the United Kingdom, Russia and Australia in that order. The industry was generally on the increase.

Other industries

The cottage industries and crafts connected with industrial arts included gold and silver work, ivory carving, conch bangles, embroidery, horn carving, glass bangles, mother-of-pearl buttons, wood carving and lace work, etc.

The period towards the eve of World War I was marked by some industrial activity in the domain of small industries, chiefly due to the momentum resulting from the Swadeshi (patronize home products) movement, particularly among the educated middle classes, who saw in industrial development a new field of employment. But within five or six years most of these enterprises ceased to exist. Difficulties in obtaining raw material, want of skilled labour and the lack of banking facilities, contributed in some cases to their failure. But the most important causes were insufficient capital and inefficient management.₁

In this period factory industry on the basis of mechanical power also made its appearance in some places. It was based on a variety of agricultural raw materials of local origin, jute, silk, oilseeds and tea, etc. Some raw materials, such as timber, rice, sugar-cane, hides and skins, still remained unused industrially. The most significant development was the use of mechanical power in pressing jute into bales. Convenient collecting centres were chosen for the fibre. These also possessed the advantage of good water transport to either Calcutta or Chittagong. The chief centres of this activity were Narayanganj, Serajganj, Chandpur, Bera ans Sarishabari. The following is a list of such establishments₂ in 1911 :

Narayanganj, 17; Dacca, 12; Chandpur, 12; Akhaura, 2; Mymensingh, 5; Sarishabari. 7;

Jamalpur, 1; Elashin, 1; Sirajganj, 8; Bera, 3; Nakalia, 1; Saidpur, 1; Domer, 1; Madaripur, 1; Kumarkhali, 1; Total, 73. In addition, there were seventeen presses in Mymensingh and two in Tippera district which were not worked by mechanical power.

There were three small silk filatures at Rajshahi, a tobacco factory near Rangpur and five small oil-mills, one each at Dacca, Dinajpur, Parbatipur, Nalchiti and Jhalakati. The only cotton-mill was established in Kushtia and there was a ginning factory at Chittagong. The three railway workshops employed altogether 3,193 persons, and were located at Saidpur, Dacca and Pahartali (Chittagong). Steamer repairing workshops were at Barisal and Goalundo. Lime slaking was actively carried on at Chhatak in Sylhet. A hosiery industry with machines had been started at Pabna and Serajganj. There were three rice-mills, two at Rajshahi and one at Chittagong.

1.Swan : Rep. on Indust. Dev. Bengal, Calcutta, 1915, p.1.

Data is mostly based on : List of Factories and other Large Industries in India, 1911, Calcutta, 1914, but other contemporary sources have also been used.

INDUSTRIES AT PARTITION, 1947-48

About thirty years separate the end of World War I and the establishment of the new Province of East Bengal (East Pakistan). It would be interesting to examine the position of industry in East Pakistan after this lapse of time.

At partition in August 1947, the area inherited a legacy of industrial backwardness, dating from the dawn of the modern industrial era in British Bengal. It has been amply demonstrated how, throughout the past decades, this area served as a hinterland for building up the industries, wealth and prosperity of Calcutta. With all its variety of agricultural resources and vast multitudes, the East Pakistan area made no progress with modern industry. Some of the reasons for this have been explained above.

The Calcutta-Howrah-Hooghly industrial region and other adjoining parts of the 24 Parganas district had about 60 per cent. of the workers employed in industry in Bengal in 1939, only eight years before the establishment of Pakistan.₁ Therefore, in 1947, the Pakistan province of East Bengal inherited only 10 cotton factories out of 400 in India, none of Bengal’s 106 jute-mills, not a single iron and steel plant, paper-mill, chemical works, coal-mine or established hydro-electric project. It was left with about 49 seasonal jute baling presses (only 27 pucca presses), 58 small rice-mills of all descriptions, 3 sugar factories and 1 cement factory₂ (see Table XXIX). No industrial use was so far made of such products as tobacco, wheat, hides and skins.

In the years since Partition, some progress with industrial development has certainly taken place, particularly with the establishment of the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (P.I.D.C.) in 1951. It must be admitted, however, that the years since Partition have been years of generally increasing tension in the sphere of international relations, and the arms race in the western countries coupled with their internal development plans considerably restricted the sources of capital goods and industrial machinery for the under-developed areas.

III. THE CONTEMPORARY POSITION

East Pakistan’s industrial position up to 1954 is summed up in Table XXIX (see Map No. 39). Before a classification of these industries is attempted and their location explanied, the scarcity of minerals and the present lack of sources of power must be described briefly.

Rep. Bengal Industrial Surv. Comm., Calcutta, 1948, p. 193.
Nafis Ahmad : ‘Industrial Development in East Bengal (East Pakistan)’, Econ. Geog. Clark Univ.,

vol. XXVI, no. 3, 1950, pp. 183-4. Also Large Indust. Estab. India, 1946.

TABLE XXIX

INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENTS, 1911, 1947 AND 1954-55

Industrial establishments	Number of establishements			Average number of workers employed daily, 1954
Industrial establishments	1911	1947	1954-55	Average number of workers employed daily, 1954
1.Jute-mills	—	—	7	28,302
2. Jute Presses (Pucca)	—	27	59	15,753
3. Jute Presses (Kachcha) hydraulic	73	75	12	918
4. Cotton-mills (ginning and baling)	1	3	4	96
5. Cotton-mills (weaving and spinning)	1	10	16	16,487
6. Rice-mills	3	58	72	3,235
7. Sugar Factories	—	5	5	3,097
8. Distilleries	—	1	1	—
9. Tobacco Factory	1	—	—	—
10. Silk Factory	3	—	2	56
11. Match Factory	—	3	16	4,700
12. Paper-mill	—	—	1	3,000
13. Oil-mills	5	3	46	1,367
14. Tea Factories	—	100	115	24,629
15. Leather Works	—	2	16	10,250
16. Saw-mills	—	2	5	195
17. Cement Factory	—	1	1	309
18. Glass Works	—	3	7	1,480
19. Aluminium Works	—	—	14	509
20. General Engineering	3	22	56	5,547
21. Railway Workshops	3	7	15	10,423
22. Ship Repairing	2	2	—	—
23. Chemicals	—	1	2	82
24. Hosiery	3	9	13	319
25. Woollen-mill	—	1	—	—
26. Rubber Factory	—	—	4	634
Total	98	335	490	131,388

Source : List of Factories and other Large Industries in India, Delhi, 1937-47; List of Manufacturing establishments in Pakistan, Karachi, 1949; Statistical Digest of Pakistan, 1950; High Commission, Pakistan, Information Dept., London, January 1953; and Department of Industries, Govt. of East Pakistan, 1956.

Oil

Most of East Pakistan is an alluvial Plain; only in the south-east in Chittagong, the Chittagong Hill Tracts and South Sylhet, does the land rise into hills belonging to the late Tertiary Age. Geologically, the occurrence of mineral oil in the sub-continent of India is restricted to the extra-peninsula, where it is found in young Tertiary rocks of ages ranging from Lower Eocene to Middle Miocene. According to Crookshank,₁ the general structure of the ridges is anticlinal and the wid intervening valleys are synclinal.

Crookshank : ‘The Search for Oil in Pakistan’, Fourth World Power Conference, Paper No. 6, London, 1950.

The rocks in South Sylhet are mostly of Miocene Age and consist of fine sandstone and clay deposited by some mighty river which probably preceded the Brahmaputra. It was here that the Burma Oil Company drilled two wells in 1917, one of which produced some oil, while the other proved dry. The Company is also said to have prepared a geological map of the area in the twenties, with a view to further discovery of oil.₁ The scene of these earlier investigations was the Patharia Hill Range, later in dispute for boundary demarcation between India and Pakistan. Fortunately for East Pakistan, about 80 per cent. of the possible oil-bearing area in this region remained within its borders as a result of the Bagge Tribunal Award in 1950.

In March 1951, the Pakistan Petroleum Company Limited (Burmah Oil Company), under a mining lease from the Pakistan Government, started drilling for oil in Patharia Hill in South Sylhet and near Patia, south of Chittagong.₂ Drilling in both places was unproductive and the sites were abandoned during 1952 and 1953 respectively. Recently drilling has been started at Haripur near Sylhet by Standard Vacuum Oil Company and gas explosions have occurred. Further drilling is being carried out. Some indications of oil have been at Khasimara, Prithimpasa and Higimangura in Sylhet district.

These developments are of considerable interest in view of the estimated annual requirements of East Pakistan, which are 350,000 gallons of aviation fuels and 14,000 tons of kerosene oil. Future requirements at a moderate rate of industrial development, and taking into consideration rising consumption during the next five to ten years, are estimated at about three times the present needs.

Natural Gas in Sylhet₃

The Pakistan Petroleum Company started its first drilling operation in January 1955, in the rocks of the Dupi Tila stage at Haripur, about fourteen miles, east of Sylhet town on the Sylhet-Shillong Road. Drilling was smooth. Two very thin lignite beds were struck at 500 feet and 1,100 feet beneath the surface. Farther down, high-pressure gas was encountered. This was 100 per cent. methane (CH₄) and therefore not associated with oil. It was what is called ‘marsh gas’. Everything went well to a depth of 7,800 feet. But then on 29^th May. 1956, a spark from a near-by kitchen set the gas on fire. With violent explosions, the gas broke through the surface in several craters and burnt itself out to exhaustion. The mishap caused great damage, but it did serve to indicate that extensive subterranean reservoirs of gas existed in the area.

Soon after the tragedy of Well No. 1, the Pakistan Petroleum Company set up another camp at Panicharrha, about two miles to the west of the first test well and about twelve miles from Sylhet town. This time they were to drill through the rocks of the Barail series. Drilling was started in June 1956, with a new and very modern drilling outfit. First indications of high-pressure gas were met shortly after penetrating sandstone rocks at 4,380 feet. Drilling progressed without any mishap and by October 1956, the well had reached a depth of 9,245 feet. But the gas at this depth was under such high pressure that the well tended to get out of control. Drilling operations were, therefore, immediately stopped and the well was shut out. The well was eventually abandoned in May 1957, in favour of another well which is being spudded in near by.

Sylhet gas is essentially the same as that found at Sui in West Pakistan. However, being more than 95 per cent. methane, it is only slightly purer than the Sui gas. It would be an ideal fuel and could be used as such, probably wihtout purification, in (a) Thermal plants to replace imported oil or coal, (b) internal combustion engines designed for gas or for ‘dual fuel’ operation and (c) gas combustion turbines. Thus Sylhet gas can profitably be used in thermal power stations (for generation of electricity), cement works, glass factories, brick kilns, fertilizer factories, etc. Perhaps its most obvious use as a raw material would be in the manufacture of synthetic (nitrogenous) fertilizer such as urea and ammonium sulphate. Of these two, urea would require no material other than Sylhet gas. Also it would have double the nitrogen

content of ammonium sulphate. Recognizing these distinct advantages of urea, the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation is contemplating the establishment of a urea manufacturing plant somehwhere along the Sylhet-Dacca gas pipeline.

Data are not yet available to warrent any accurate estimate of proved reserves of Sylhet gas. However, they may well be 17,000 million cubic feet, while the probable reserves may be placed at 300,000 million cubic feet. The Pakistan Petroleum Company is still carrying on a seismic survey of Sylhet structure.

The probable amount of recoverable gas is equivalent to 7 million tons of oil and shoult be sufficient to supply 20 million cubic feet per day for 41 years. This equates with 470 tons of oil per day for the same period. It is estimated that by 1959 actual consumption of gas in Dacca area will be 9 million cubic feet per day. However, this may increase to between 20 and 212 million cubic feet per day, including 5 million cubic feet per day for the proposed fertilizer plant. In addition, the cement works at Chhatak may consume another 1.5 to 3 million cubic feet of gas per day.

At present it is proposed to transmit Sylhet gas to Dacca area only. Insufficient industrial and domestic markets elsewhere do not justify the contruction of additional pipelines. As far as Khulna and other areas west of the Ganges and the Jamuna are concerned, it is very doubtful whether they will ever be served with Sylhet gas because of the formidable difficulties presented to the construction of pipelines by the water barrier.

It is proposed to transmit Sylhet gas to Dacca by a high-pressure transmission pipeline eight inches in diameter and 145 miles long. Its maximum ultimate capacity is planned to be 24 million cubic feet per day without any compressors, ensuring an inlet pressure of 1,200 pounds per square inch gauge.

The Sylhet-Dacca transmission pipeline, according to the original proposal, would run parallel to the main road going southward from Sylhet to the Kusiyara River. From there it would continue southward to Shaistaganj. Between Shaistaganj and Itakhola it would be roughly parallel to the East Bengal Railway line. Then it would veer westward to Ashuganj from where it would again be parallel to the East Bengal Railway line up to Arikhola. From Arikhola it would run southward to a point on the Surma, the Meghna and the Lakhya rivers. It is proposed to have a headquarters station at Sylhet and a terminal station at Dacca with a repeater station at midpoint near Itakhola.

The construction of the pipeline along this proposed route is possible only during the dry season. In the Monsoon period, floods would make construction work impossible. It is necessary therefore that construction of the pipeline should begin about December 1 and be completed before the beginning of the Monsoon in mid-May. The pipe recommended is such that it would have a negative buoyancy in water so that no special weights would be required to keep it from floating up in the many sections of the flooded alignments.

It is estimated that the total cost of the transmission project would be 3,110,000 pounds sterling with an involvement of foreign exchange amount to 1,913,000 pounds sterling. In addition certain supply mains and other ancillaries in Dacca area are estimated to cost 182,000 pounds sterling, of which the foreign exchange component would be 127,000 pounds sterling.

On the basis of the above scheme as also on the assumption that the average well-head price of gas would be eight annas per 1,000 cubic feet, it is calculated that the cost of gas to the initial consumers in Dacca area would be Rs. 2/3/0 per 1,000 cubic feet on the completion of the project in 1959. This would be equivalent to furnace oil at Rs. 93/0/0 per ton, whereas the prevailing price of furnace oil at

Dacca is Rs. 150/0/0 per ton (equivalent to Sylhet gas at Rs. 3/10/6 per 1,000 cubic feet). By 1965, the cost of gas delivered at Dacca terminal would have gone down to Rs. 1/3/6 per 1,000 cubic feet. The cost of gas supplied to consumers in 1965 can not be estimated at present, as this will depend on the extent of distribution facilities as also on whether or not a separate distribution company would be set up. Also, it must be pointed out here, the above costs have been calculated on the assumption that the pipeline would use the existing road and railway bridges for crossing the three largest rivers, the Surma, the Meghna and the Lakhya. If bridges are build for independent crossing, construction coasts would be such as to make the scheme uneconomic. However, Mr. Everett, of the Burmah Oil Company, London, after surveying Dacca-Sylhet area in early 1957 at the request of the Pakistan Petroleum Company, has suggested that if the Central Irrigation Authority in Dacca dredged pipe trenches across the beds of the above-mentioned rivers (which it can with itsw existing equipment) construction costs would probably be less and the route shorter than originally thought.

The importance of Sylhet gas to East Pakistan can scarcely be overestimated. If the scheme is successful, industrial development in the province will be greatly helped and accelerated. More power will be available, agricultural productivity will increase, raw materials will increase and be better uitilzed, unemployment will be greatly reduced and a great deal of money currently being spent in buying foreign exchange will be saved. The standard of living will be considerably improved and increased prosperity will result.

Coal and Lignite

The present coal requirements of East Pakistan are estimated at 1,100,000 tons, which include about 27,000 tons of soft coke. These requirements are likely to increase with industrial expansion. But at present there are no exploitable resources.

Lignite occurs in various stages in the Miocene formations which consist mostly of clays, sandstones and shales exposed in South Sylhet and North-East Tippera. But none of the deposits have so far been found to be of economic value. A reconnaissance survey₁ of many parts of the Sylhet district was made between 1949 and 1951. A number of exposures of lignites was found in different parts of the district, some of which extended into the adjoining parts of Tippera and Mymensingh. The prospecting was done at various places including Sialuri, Dhalgaon, Chak Rajendrapur, Madhabpur, Sonamura and Harashpur. Samples from Madhabpur and Salla were sent to Messrs. Powell Duffryn Technical Services, Ltd., U.K., and the analytical results were encouraging. Lignite deposits have also been located recently in the Faridpur district.

The South Sylhet lignites, both under water and surface deposits, have a sulphur content of up to 1 per cent. The results of the London analysis₂ were follows :

	Percentage
Moisture and volatile matter	59.46
Carbon	24.52
Ash	16.02
Calorific value (B.Th.U.) was 9,600.

The lignite is soft and, when fresh, it is brown and the moisture conten is high. It dries in air to about

per cent. within a fortnight, and thereafter it dries slowly. On exposure to air, it rapidly darkens to almost black. In many places a minimum thickness of two to six feet was found and assuming this to be the average thickness of the bed, Haq speculates that there may well be over 100 million tons of lignite in the area prospected.

Tests have revealed that this lignite can best used in the form of briquettes. It is also considered suitable for use as fuel in thermal plants. It may also yield by-products such as pitch, tar and spirits.

Mohsensul Haq : ‘A Short Note on the Lignites of East Bengal’, Paper read at Section of Geology and Geography, Pakistan Science Conference, Dacca, January 1951.
Khan : ‘A Survey of the Coal Resources of Pakistan’, Fourth World Power Conference, Paper No. 26, London, 1950.

Coal will continue to be imported into East Pakistan, however, from various sources. Among these, Indian, Chinese and Australian coal would be most suited, geographically, to be diverted into this area. The People’s Republic of China sent over 300,000 tons to Pakistan in two years, in 1953 and 1954, and there has been a trial shipment of 10,000 tons from New South Wales.

Power Resources

East Pakistan has no resources of coal and oil its own at present for the development of power. Considerable imports of these are necessary for the production of electricity. The province’s electricity is still small. The installed capacity did not exceed about 15,000 kilowatts in 1951. A certain amount of development has taken place since. At Partition only 18 towns out of 61 with a population of over 5,000 were served with electricity. The total installed capacity in 1953 was about equally divided between diesal and steam plants, while roughly two-thirds of the output is generated from the former.

The demand for power has increased at an annual rate of about 15 per cent. in recent years.₁ But with the new industrial programme coming into its stride, this rate of increase will easily be accelerated from 30 to 50 per cent. A modest estimate of the power required for new industries is over 60,000 kilowatts, while expansion of the present industries would require an additional 30,000 to 40,000 kilowatts. It is realized that planning for power development is of necessity interlinked with planning for industry. To meet this rise of demand, an installation of approximately 100,000 kilowatts capacity, a combination of hydro-clectric and thermal power, might be required.

The positon with regard to the present production of electricity is shown in Table XXX.

This lack of indigenous sources of power, along with other causes mentioned already, has been a major factor in retarding the industrial development of East Pakistan and it explains the urgent need for developing the practicable hydro-electric resources of the province. The schemes for this development centre round the contemplated Karanafuli Project, a brief mention of which is indispensable in discussing any scheme of industrialization.

Sir Henry Howard, who submitted a report in February 1948, on the organization and development of electrical power in Pakistan, assessed the additional load up to 1955 as 40,000 kw. for East Bengal. Also see A Budget of Power Resources, Govt. Pakistan, Karachi, 1949, p. 1.

TABLE XXX

POWER STATION, 1953

	Type of plant	Installed capacity in kw.
1. Barisal	Diesel	610
2. Bhairab	Diesel	10
3. Bogra	Diesel	173
4. Brahmanbaria	Diesel	66
5. Chandpur	Diesel	280
6. Chittagong (Government)	Diesel	925
7. Chittagong (Railway)	Diesel	3,000
8. Comilla	Diesel	490
9. Dacca	Steam	6,000
10. Dinajpur	Diesel	127
11. Faridpur	Diesel	245
12. Jessore	Diesel	170
13. Khulna	Diesel	260
14. Mymensingh	Steam	350
15. Munshiganj	Steam	25
16. Narayanganj	Diesel/Steam	1,442
17. Pabna	Diesel	440
18. Rajbari	Diesel	72
19. Rajshahi	Diesel	465
20. Rangpur	Diesel	475
21. Sirajganj	Diesel	245
22. Sylhet	Diesel	598
23. Sidhirganj	Diesel	2,610
		=19,079
24. Others (Private Installations)	Diesel/Steam	20,379
East Pakistan		=39,459

Proposed sites :

(1) Karnafuli, 120,000 kw. (Hydor-electric).

(2) Chittagong, 10,000 kw. (Diesel).

(3) Goalpara (Khulna), 10,000 kw. (Diesel).

(4) Sidhirganj (Narayanganj), 30,000 kw. (Steam) and 18,000 (Diesel) combined.

Source : Electricity Directorate, East Bengal Govt. Dacca, 1953, and Bureau of Industrial and Commercial Intelligence, Govt. of East Bengal, Dacca, 1953.

The Karnafuli Project

The Karnafuli Multipurpose Scheme1 also known as the Karnafuli or Kaptai Project is one of the major development schemes in East Pakistan. Though the ieda dates back to pre-Partiton times, the scheme was given active consideration only after the establishment of Pakistan.

Johnson and Ahmad : The Karnafuli Project, Oriental Geographer, vol.1. no. 2, 1957, pp. 159-64.

History of Project : Investigations into the generation of hydro-electric power were started on Karnafuli by the Port Commissioners, Chittagong, as far bcak as 1906. In 1922 the Bengal Government took up the matter, considered the problem of finding a suitable site for a hydro-electric power station and calculated

the power available. Four sites where rapids exist : Barkal, Uttan Chatra, bara Harina and Demagiri at river distances of 84 and 114 and 130 miles respectively, were examined and the first one, Barkal, with a rapid of 39 feet in a length of 1.5 miles, was recommended. In 1924 the Government set up an expert committee to examine the recommendations. They decided to abandon the scheme, on the ground that the quantity of power estimated, 6,480 kw., was too small for transmission, and though the cost of work, estimated at Rs. 2.5 million, appeared low, it would not compete in price with a similar quantity of power generated from oil and coal at Chittagong.

In 1946, Mr. Moore, then Superintending Engineer, Eastern Circle, Bengal, working in connexion with the post-war development schemes, re-examined the reports and recommendations of 1922 and found serious errors in estimating the storage capacity of the proposed reservoir. He noticed that the storage capacities of the major tributaries of the Karnafuli above Barkal site, i.e. Bara Harina, Thega Khal, Tulianpuri and Tuichong, were altogether neglected. The water spread of the reservoir was taken as a long narrow channel about half a mile wide with a capacity of 2,000 million cubic feet, or 45,800 acre feet at full supply R.L. of 131.8. Mr. Moore found the storage capacity at R.L. 150 of approximately 4,817,000 acre feet by interpolation of 100 feet and 200 feet contours. This changed the wholw aspect of the scheme.

Physical aspects : The Karnafuli drains the Lushai Hills (now part of the Indian Republic), the Chittagong Hill Tracts District and the northern portion of Chittagong District. The main tributaries are the Kab and Tulianpuri (in the Lushai Hills), Thega Khal, Bara Harina and Kaslong Khal (in the Chittagong Hill Tracts) and Halda in Chittagong district.

The catchment area is 5,026 square miles above Chittagong, 3,382 square miles above Rangamati and 1,568 square miles above Barkal. It consists of ranges of hills running generally in a north-south direction with heights ranging from 2,500 to 3,500 feet in Lushai Hills and 1,200 to 1,800 feet in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The slope of the river bed varies considerably from place to place. The soil is mostly sandy silt.

All these areas are coverd with thick forests of garjan, teak and bamboo. Cultivation is negligible and is found only in a few places in the valleys. The chief products are rice, tobacco, tea and cotton. Before Partition a good deal of the raw material for the paper industries in Calcutta used to be imported from these areas as bamboo is cheap, abundant and suitable for paper, and it can grow withing a year.

Scheme since Partition : Preliminary surveys after 1947 suggested sites at Sublong and later on, in 1951, at Silchari. But eventually the site at Kaptaimukh was chosen. Unfortunately, the Karnafuli Valley is situated in the south-eastern corner of East Pakistan and therefore the distribution of the power generated at Kaptai will have a limited range. It is fortunate that the fast developing port of Chittagong and its urban and industrial regions will benefit directly from this new development. Facilitated by interlinked thermal power stations, Dacca and Narayanganj may also use generated power. Other benefits would include navigation facilities on the Karnafuli down to Chittagong and to the sea and a check on the rapid silting at the port.

Situation : The site is 27 miles (as the crow flies) from Chittagong at Latitude N 22 degrees 29 minutes 30 seconds, Longitude E 92 degrees 13 minutes 45 seconds, near the former small village of Kaptaimukh. Here the Karnafuli River, 200 yards wide and normally about 10 feet abvoe sea-level, has cut an incised meander into a landscape of finely dissected hills which rise generally to 160 feet and more in the vicinity of the rock of the meander. The country rock is predominantly soft sandstone, shale and blue clay, all of which can be excavated with relative ease. The absence of resistant rock is, however, a disadvantage in that concrete aggregate has to be brought from a distance (higher grade aggregate has to be transported

from India via Sylhet by rail and river boats).

River Regime : Estimates suggest a maximum flow of 250,000 to 300,000 cuses during peak flood periods, and a minimum of about 2,000 cusecs.

The Scheme : The area provides a suitable site for constructing an earth dam 700 yards long to a height of 136 feet (P.W.D.), to pond up a lake with a maximum level of 120 feet (P.W.D.) and an area of 254 square miles.

The great variation in flow makes such a reservoir essential to provide a reliable power output all the year round, and the low altitude of the river at the site (it is here still slightly tidal) demands the creation of as great a head of water as possible. Quite apart from technical considerations, a major binding factor on the height of the dam appears to be the undesirability of ponding water back within the Indian border above the normal height of the river.

The power station will have an installed capacity of 80,000 kw. (from two generators) in the first stage, representing the ‘base load’ of which the scheme is capable. A third generator is provided for a later stage, which will provide 40,000 kw. for ‘peak loading’. The intention is to tie the hydro-electric scheme into a power grid incorporating thermal generators at Chittagong and Narayanganj, to which system the ‘peak load’ generator on the Karnafuli would be a valuable and economic addition, being much cheaper to operate for occasional demands for power, than a thermal unit.

In order to provide for excess flow in the rainy season, a spillway is being excavated to carry a maximum flow of 525,000 cusecs through 16 gates (14×20 feet).

Progress : It is hoped to have the first stage completed by 1961. Already 80 per cent. of the excavation has been completed. Most of the catchment area has an annual rainfall of 90-100 inches, concentrated in the period June to September, during which time the excavating and movement of material practically ceases, except where metalled roads exist. This annual interruption to work prolongs the construction. All imported equipment, to a value of approximately 35 million dollars, is provided by the U.S.A. (I.C.A.) and local costs are met by the Government of Pakistan. Untill recently (February 1957) the excavation has been done by Pakistani labour under Pakistani direction, with some technical advice from I.C.A. (via International Engineering Co. Inc.). It is expected that a U.S. construction company (Utah International Inc.) will shortly take over, to organize the later stages in construction, which will involve the handling of concrete on a scale to which the local engineers are unaccustomed. (Pakistani engineers will benefit by remaining on the site as apprentices.) Much mechanical equipment it to be concentrated at the site and surplus labour is already being laid off. So far most of the earth cutting has been performed by hand by Bengali labour; 11,000 were employed in December 1956 on the excavation if the spillway alone, but by February 1957 there were only 4,000 Pakistanis to man the earth-loading, transporting and spreading machinery, many of these trained men having been brought from West Pakistan where they had gained experience on other dam sites.

Associated Problems and Results of the Scheme : Apart from the primary aim, to provide cheap electricity for industrialization and rural development (by pump schemes, etc.), the completion of the dam will have serious repercussions on the life of the Hill Tracts.

Among the subsidiary benefits will be :

(a) An estimated improvement in the minimum depth of water at Chittagong port by two feet, resulting from the increased minimum discharge of 150,000 cusecs. This will also improve the scouring capacity of the river, which together with the reduction in the silt load which the dam will bring about,

should considerably ease the problem of maintaining deep berths in the port.

(b) Flood control in the lower Karanfuli basin will be facilitated by the dam and some relatively small areas will become cultivable through drainage schemes in being drained by sluices incorporated in a road bridge. An area of 2,000-3,000 acres will be affected.

(c) Although no lock system is to be provided to permit boats to pass the dam, a cargo transfer is to be established. The lake above the dam will facilitate the movement of timber and bamboo from forests to the dam. Downstream navigation will be improved by the regulated flow of the river.

(d) A 36-feet wide concrete road is under construction from Chittagong to the dam site, involving a major bridge to span the Halda River. This road is expected to attract industry and tourists to the vicinity of the dam.

(e) The Karanfuli Paper Mill at Chandraghona, 10 miles downstream, was constructed and still operates with the maximum use of river transport for both materials and personnel.

Resettlement Problems : The major problem created by the dam will be the flooding of some 254 square miles of land lying in the Karnafuli catchment area above the dam at an altitude of less than 120 feet. Between this level and 90 feet there are 135 square miles of land, some of which it may be possible to cultivate or to use as grazing land during the low water period. But the fact remains that much of the best plough land in the Chittagong Hill Tracts will be inundated, and a good deal more than the area flooded will be incapable of settlement, being in small islands or steep slopes on the lake-side. The Chakma Chief estimates that some 90,000 people, the majority of them Chakmas and related tribes, will be directly affected. There are 8,000 Muslim immigrants from the lowlands of Bengal (tradesmen and paddy cultivators) and 1,000 Magh hillmen in the area to be flooded.

Where the land is suitable, the Chakmas practice plough-cultivation of permanent fields for rice and mustard oil seed. The traditional jhuming or shifting cultivation is regarded as an ancillary occupation by those who farm on flat plough land, and would not persist but for the lack of such land in the district. Probably 25 per cent. of the Chakmas hold plough land.

From discussion with both Chakmas and Maghs (who occupy the lands west of the Chakma and mostly outside the future lake area) it is abundantly clear that wholesale mixing of these peoples in the same villages, competing for the same plough and jhum lands, will not work, and it is desirable that as far as is possible the tribe’s unity and distinctiveness should be maintained.

A clash of interests is inevitable. The only large blocks of resettled land available in areas adjacent to those at present settled by Chakmas lie in reserved forests, especially in the Kassalong Reserve Forest to the north. The forest department who are planting teak in the area, and the Karnafuli Hydro-electric Project Engineers who are anxious to minimize cultivation (especially jhuming) and its attendant production of silt, will naturally resist a solution in this direction. An alternative plan, being worked out by the engineers, suggests piecement resettlement in areas outside the dam catchment area, but pays little regard to the need for maintaining tribal unity. That the tribes are mainly Buddhist with cultural links with peoples in Bruma and the Lushai Hills (India) and the authorities are Muslims increases the field for misunderstanding. Were the Chakmas to cross the Indian border in any strength, it would be harmful to Pakistan’s prestige.

The current scheme for compensating the population provides no relief for the jhum cultivator, recognizing only permanent fields which pay direct tax to the Government as being entitled to

compensation. The Chakma Chief has further misgivings in that his revenue is drawn on a territorial basis, independent of whether the peoples are Chakma or not. As a large slice of his circle is to be under water, his revenue is bound to suffer significatly, the more so if the people are resettled in other areas. Speedy research into this problem is urgent, both to establish the needs of the people involved and to discover appropriate means of providing for them. There is much forest in the area to be flooded, and this is to be felled in the coming three or four years. In the longer term, the lake transport, and electric power will enable fuller use to be made of the forests, and it is envisaged that sawmills will be located near the dam to process timber and export the dressed wood down the river Chittagong.

Further Development of Power : Eventually, if the demand for electricity warrants it, there is a possibility, that water from the Sangu River, the major river to the south of the Karnafuli, may be transferred by tunnel into the lake, and enable a further 80,000 kw. to be generated. This idea is, however, only in the field of ultimate feasibilities and by no means probable for many years.

CLASSIFICATION OF PRESENT INDURTRIES

The existing large industries1 of East Pakistan (Table XXVII) can be classified into four major groups : Agro-Industries : these are based on all types of agricultural and associated raw materials. (2) Forest-based industries inclue those which use forest produce of some kind. (3) Mineral-and metal-using industries : these depend entirely on imported raw materials. (4) Engineering industries (see classification below).

CLASSIFICATION OF LARGE INDUSTRIES

1.Agro-Industries	(a) Textiles : Cotton ginning, baling, weaving, spinning and hosiery, jute milling and baling. (b) Food processing : Rice milling, flour milling, sugar, tea, vegetable oils. (c) Raw material producing and processing : Hides, skins and leatherworks, wool and silk.
2. Forest-based Industries	(a) Timber : Saw-milling, railway sleepers, boats and furniture (b) Soft wood : Matches and plywood. (c) Bamboo : Paper.
3. Minerals and Metal-using Industries	(a) Cement, paper, glass and chemicals. (b) Aluminium and other metals.
4. Engineering Industries	General engineering, railway workshops, ship repairs, etc.

(1) Agro-Industries : (a) Taxtiles

Jute. Among the agro-industries, the jute industry takes precedence, as it not only handles the most important indigenous raw material, but in its mills presses of various types it employs the largest number of persons. The total number of persons employed in 1952 was 13,141, nearly 20 per cent. of the total number of workers engaged in large industry in the Province.

Large industrial establishments in India and Pakistan, according to official publications of this name, include all factories employing 20 workers or more on an average per day and where manufacturing process is being carried on with the aid of mechanical power.

But till very recently the industry was concerned only with the baling of jute, i.e. preparing it as a raw material of international commerce. There was no jute manufacturing industry as such. At Partition East Pakistan was left with only 27 pucca presses (producing the standand bales of 400 Ib. each) and 75 kachcha presses, but there was no jute-mill. All exported raw material went to feed the Calcutta jute-mills (106 in 1947-48) and to foreign countries.

In the last six years, the position has changed somewhat. Eight jute-mills have now been established, the number of pucca presses had gone up to 90 in 1956 (see Map No. 40), and the steam hydraulic kachcha presses numbered 50. Narayanganj alone had 31 pucca presses in 1956. The industrial establishments were located, as shown in Table XXXI₁, in 1955.

Of the eight jute-mills already in operation in the province, four are in Narayanganj, two are in Chittagong and two in Khulna. Five mills are under construction in Khulna, Dacca and Narayanganj.

TABLE XXXI

JUTE PUCCA PRESSES, 1955

Location	No. of presses	Maximum monthly capacity of production in Pucca bales working 10 hours a day and 25 day a month.
1. Narayanganj	31	368,101
2. Dacca	3	28,750
3. Narsingdi	1	6,250
4. Sarishabari	8	66,600
5. Bausi	2	20,812
6. Nikli	3	22,800
7. Gouripur	1	10,000
8. Saidpur	2	15,000
9. Alamnagar	1	5,000
10. Chandpur	3	20,000
11. Ashuganj	1	8,750
12. Sirajganj	1	7,500
13. Chittagong	3	25,250
14. Ruhea	2	12,500
15. Phulhat	1	15,000
16. Atrai	1	6,250
17. Naogoan	1	9,000
18. Santahar	1	9,375
19. Raninagar	1	7,500
20. Khulna	10	91,010
21. Charmugria	1	12,500
22. Coalundo	1	7,500
23. Jaipurhat	1	7,500
	80	782,948 (bales)

Types of presses : Cyclone (29), Watson (19), Nasmyth (8), Double Screw (16), Lombard (3), Kanzler (5); Total 80.

1.Source : Monthly Sum : Jute Stat., East Bengal, Directorate Jute Prices, Narayanganj, No. 94, 1955. ‘Pucca Bales’ are hydraulically pressed bales of high desnsity measuring cubic feet and weighing 400 pounds each.

In pre-Partition India, the concentration of jute manufacturing industry in Bengal near and around Calcutta was dependent on a unique combination of facilities, the nearness of the largest area of excellent raw material, easy transport, coal suppiles for power and port facilities. The influence of external economics in the shape of finance and initiative was no less pronounced. Whatever pressing facilities were available in East Pakistan were utilized haphazardly, as auxiliaries of the Calcutta inidustry. The natural port facilities of Chittagong in relation to its hinterland were left half-developed in competition with Calcutta.

With Partition a radical change in the situation was brought about. The main industrial establishments, particularly jute-mills, were left in India, while the fine raw material became the monopoli of East Pakistan. If the new province was to march forward industrially, it was necessary not only to increase the baling capacity (its presses had an output of only two million bales annually) for export to foreign markests, but also to establish a jute-milling industry to produce manufactured goods (mainly hessian, gunnies and twines, etc.) which were the subject of keen world demand.

The first step, therefore, was to increase the pucca bailing capacity from two million to three million. Soon after Partition the Government of Pakistan imported five hydraulic jute presses of the Cyclone type from the U.S.A., on its own account, and allotted them to private firms. The second step was to start jute manufacturing. The object is to supply the major proportion of world demand of raw jute in the shape of pucca bales, to step up East Pakistan’s own manufacturing capacity to meet as much home demand as possible and to be able to export hessian, bags and cordage. Jute goods worth about £700,000 a month are being exported. It is proposed to set up about 8,000 looms by 1957, operating on double shift. The number of looms planned by 1960 is 12,000.

The Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (government sponsored) is participating with Messers. Adamji Sons, Ltd., in setting up three mills of 1,000 looms each, located at Sidhirganj, about four miles north of Narayanganj on the right bank of the river Sitlakhya. The first two mills came into production by December 1953 and the third came into operation at the end of 1955. They produce about 32,000 tons of sacking and 16,000 tons of hessian per annum. The number of workers employed is nearly 20,000. Ultimately, two shifts are planned for the three mills when in full production, in order to double the number of workers. The Corporation has also participated in the construction of two jute mills in Chittagong by Messers. M.M. Ispahani, Ltd., and Amin Agencies, Ltd., respectively. These mills have 500 looms each. A large mill with 750 looms has been set up in Khulna. With the development₁ of port and transport facilities, Khulna has, since 1951, grown into a new centre for the jute industry.

It appears that transport and port facilities are tending to concentrate the jute industry in Narayanganj, Chittagong, Khulna and Sarishabari. Perhaps it would be desirable to locate pucca presses at other suitable sites also, in areas of heavy production, such as Bhairab Bazar, Madaripur, Narail and Jessore. New presses have recently been established at Ashuganj, Ruhea, Atrai, Raninagar, Charmugria and Jaipurhat.

Cotton Textiles. The modern cotton industry developed in Bengal after World War I. Though there was a lack of raw material, it was amply offset by a large market, both for cloth and for yarn. Labour was plentiful and cheap, the climate warm and moist. The industry in the East Pakistan area began after 1921. But owing to the lack of raw material and other disadvantages and owing to the cheaper market, the mills concentrate on coarser materials.

In 1947 there were 46 factories, employing 45,394 workers, in undivided Bengal. There were also 113,969 handlooms engaged in cotton weaving. But the unequal development of the industry in the two parts of the province was revealed at Partition. East Pakistan inherited only 10 factories, with 10,000

workers, and possessed only 2,424 looms and 92,024 spindles. The 10 factories engaged in spinning and weaving were located as follows :

Narayanganj 3, Dacca 3, Kushtia 1, Khulna 1, and Chittagong 1. At Partition those at Khulna and Chittagong were not working.

The situation has improved somewhat in the intervening years, as shown below :₂

Year	No. of factories	Looms	Spindles
1947-48	10	2,424	92,024
1949-50	11	2,580	98,558
1950-51	12	2,580	107,558

In 1952 the industry employed about 10,500 workers, approximately 15 per cent. of the total number of workers in all large industries. Of the twelve mills in 1951-52, Narayanganj has four, Dacca three, Kushtia and Khulna two each and Chittagong and Pabna one each. The biggest units are the two Dhakeswari mills at Dacca and Narayanganj, the Chittaranjan cotton-mills, Narayanganj and the Mohini-mills, Kushtia. In 1953 the number of factories rose to fifteen and in registered factories there were 12,218 workers.

The total production is small in comparison with the enormous needs of the Province. For a population of about 42 million with a modest requirement of 15 yards per capita, the total would be nearly 630 million yards or about 320,000 bales of cloth per annum. But the present production is no more than about 12 per cent. of the requirements. Under normal conditions, handlooms produce about 25 per cent. of the needs. Thus there is still a big gap between production and requirement in cotton fabrics.

Information Dept., Pakistan High Commission, London, January 1953, and P.I.D.C. Reports, 1954, 1955 and 1956.
Source : Large Indust. Eastab., India, 1947; Manufacturing Industry in Pakistan, 1949; and Statis. Bull., Pakistan No. 1, 1952, p. 32.

In view of the great demand for yarn in the old-established handloom weaving area around Baburhat on both banks of the Sitlakhya River, the Muslin Cotton Mill at Kaliganj was sited on the right-hand bank of the same river about thirty miles north-east of Dacca. The mill has been installed with the expert guidance of Japanese technicians and with machinery from that country, and started production in 1954. At present the mill has 44,800 spindles, spinning yarn from 20 to 40 counts. The power is supplied by six diesel generators of 254 kw. each, installed in the mill. The daily production is about 27,000 Ib. of yarn of different counts. The mill is on an area of 77 acres and employs about 2,200 workers. The undertaking is a P.I.D.C. enterprise, though the Central Government made an initial grant₁ of Rs. 17,500,000.

The industry shows a marked concentration in the Dacca-Narayanganj area which has already seven mills out of the twelve in the province. Chittagong seems to be the next favoured locality. The cotton industry in the province has several factors in its favour, though it is handicapped by a lack of indigenous power resources and raw material. The climate is suitably moist, fresh water supplies are plentiful, water transport is easy and labour requirements are fulfilled at cheap rates. Above all, there is a vast market for both cloth and yarn which is needed for the extensive handloom-weaving industry. In fact, these factors fit in with the recent market-localizing₂ tendencies shown by the cotton industry. Though local raw material is inadequate and inferior, yet West Pakistani’s high quality cotton is readily available.

There are five cotton ginning and baling establishments, employing 717 persons. Because of the indigenous raw materials being in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, four establishments are in Chittagong and only one at Narayanganj. The hosieries are small units and number only eight with a total of 274 workers.3 Six are in Pabna and one each in Dacca and Nilphamari. The total production is about 75,000 pairs of knitted fabrics annually.

The Economic Observer, Karachi, vol, nos. 5-6, 1952, p. 28.
Location of Industry in India, Govt. India, 1946, p. 74.
Statistical Digest Pakistan, Karachi, 1950, p. 78.

Handloom Cotton Weaving. A brief mention of the main aspects of the handloom weaving is relevant here to the discussion of the markets of modern industry. The history of the earlier visicissitudes of the industry has been related already. But this ancient industry is far from being ousted from rural East Pakistan; it plays a vital role in village economy and keeps a large section of both the urban and rural community clothed. It is also the best customer of the spinning scetion of the modern industry.

Handloom cotton goods range from cheapest gamchhas (towels) to costly saris, which mills cannot produce. The range of products is wider than that of the mill industry, but it presents several special problems. The first is the easy supply of yarn at cheap rates, and the second is that of better marketing of products. It is also felt that the worker and the industry should get out of the grip of the middlemen (mahajans) who are invariably the yarn dealers. There are, in fact, few independent dealers left; most of them are either semi-independent or mere wage earners.

The industry can be improved in various ways, namely, better marketing, formation of well-organized co-operative industrial societies, technical advancement, up-to-date designs, improvement of transport, establishment of more spinning and weaving-mills in districts and well managed publicity and propaganda.

The main weaving districts are Dacca, Pabna, Mymensingh, Noakahli and Bogra. But certain areas within them have special significance :

(1) Baburhat (Madhabdi), south of Narshingdi in Dacca district, is often called the ‘Manchester of East Bengal’s cotton handloom industry’.₁ It is a market around which, within a radius of 8 miles, weaving village cluster in a densely populated area. There are said to be 8,000 weaving families in this area and more than 40,000 weaving workers. The siting of the Kaliganj Muslin Cotton Mill is related to the large demand for yarn in this area. The workers are largely wage earners, usually under the control of the mahajan. Their working hours extend from ten to twelve hours daily. But most of the weavers in this area also practice agriculture as either a subsidiary or a principal occupation. This explains the location of the handloom industry in the rural areas of East Pakistan rather than in the urban centres. The old emphasis on the production of high-priced luxury goods has disappeared. The weaving villages produce fabrics mainly for the cheapest market, saris, lungis, net sheets, wrappers bed sheets, dhotis and towels. Other centres in Dacca district are Nowapara, Tarabo, Rupsi and Abdullapur.

(2) An important centre is in the vicinity of Tangail town in Mymensingh. The rural localities include Bajitpur, Gharinda, Karatia, Dilduar, Fulki, Nagarpur, Porabari and Kabilpara. There are more than 5,000 weavers in the area and over 4,000 fly-shuttle looms. The area produces the famous Tangail saris, which are in great demand both in Calcutta and Dacca.

1.Ghose : Handloom Cotton Weaving Industry in Bengal, Govt. Bengal, Bulletin No. 88, 1941, p. 23.

(3) Another centre is near Chaumohani in Noakhali, which specializes in the production of cheaper materials which find ready markets in Sylhet, Tippera and Chittagong. There are more than 6,000 workers.

Apart from these special areas, there are many detached centres spread over the province. The establishment of fair-sized spining mills in places like Pabna, Bogra, Tangail, Kishorgang and Faridpur will greatly benefit the handloom weaving by facilitating the supply of yarn. Far from competing against each other, the industries will be complementary to each other. The coarse local materials will continue to have an advantage over similar, low-priced imported stuffs.

(b) Food Processing

Rice-milling. Though the industry deals with the grain which is the nation’s most important food, yet it is carried on only in small units. About half of the rice is handpounded by pestle and mortar (dhenki) locally. In 1954 there were 84 rice-milling establishments of which only 72 were in active operation. In these 72 mechanically driven rice-mills, 2,324 persons were employed. North Bengal has the largest number (over 50), chiefly due to its great surplus district of Dinajpur. Other sites are in Bakarganj, Dacca, Chittagong and Khulna. (see Map No. 41). For future expansion based on geographical and economic advantages,₁ the sites should have good transport facilities, cheap and abundant supply of raw material and labour, and fuel should be easily obtainable. Water supply raises no problem in East Pakistan. In 1954, rice-milling factories turned out 1,983,000 maunds of husked rice. A large flour-mill has recently been established at Dacca and a biscuit factory has been started near the town.

Sugar Industry. This industry is of great interest to the province as the East Pakistan area has been traditionally an important producer, manufacturer and consumer of sugar. Sugar-cane continues to be an important cash crop, though its area of cultivation has shrunk, chiefly in competition with jute. Geographically, the area possesses many advantages for the cultivation of cane. The question of supreme importance is that of improvement in the cultivaition of cane, with a view to increasing its yield per acre, bettering its quality and achieving a reduction in the cost of production. Both botanical and chemical research is necessary.₂ At present the area under the crop varies with prices of cane and gur in relation to all alternative crops, as well as with the weather conditions at the time of planting. Sugar-cane is a very scattered crop in East Pakistan. This, combined with the exceptional difficulties of transport in almost every district, renders it difficult for the factory industry to expand, unless redical changes lead to greater concentration of crops and an improvement in transport is brought about.

Mitter : Rice Milling Industry, Bull. No. 33, Calcutta, 1928, P. 1. Also see Census of Manufacturing Industries in East Pakistan for 1954, Rice Milling, Bulletin No. 1 (Bur. Com. Intell.), Dacca, pp. 1-3.
Rep. Indian Sugar Comm., Simla, 1920, p. 111.

At Partition there were only six sugar factories within the East Pakistan area :

SUGAR FACTORIES, 1947

Location	Daily cane-crushing capacity in tons	Average number workers employed daily
1.Gopalpur (Rajshahi)	1,250	1,487
2.Setabganj (Dinajpur)	800	946
3.Darsana (Kushtia)	1,500	489
4.Charsindur (Dacca)	250	352
5.Arikhola (Dacca)	150	not available
6.Kishorganj (Mymensingh)	400	96

But only the first three were working after Partition in 1947-48. In 1956 five factories and refineries were working. The Carew Co. in Darsana has a modern distillery, but since Partition the raw material supplies of this factory have been adversely affected. Would be expected. All these factories have gur-refining plants and work on the sulphitation process. As would be expected, the industry is closely connected with the raw material in the rural areas. The importance of transport is shown by its location near railway stations and also as close as possible to steamer ghats. The locational factor in the case of Darsana factory has been adversely affected by Partition. A new factory has been built near Rangpur at Mahimaganj, and two others are under construction at Thakurgaon and Dewaganj in Dinajpur district. All three of these factories are P.I.D.C. enterprises.

The estimated domestic consumption of sugar is about 150,000 tons, but present production is only one-sixth of this figure. Therefore large imports are necessary. The problems of the industry are many, but it is not possible to discuss them here. The monthly average number of workers employed in the industry in 1956 was 2,039. The production of sugar during 1956 was 26,000 tons.

Tea. This industry is perhaps the most important today, as it undertakes the complete processing of tea and exports the finished product. It also employs the third largest number of workers. The industry has an international status, as East Pakistan is the world’s fifth largest producer and exporter of tea. In 1955-56 production was 52.5 million Ib. The exports during 1954-55 amounted to 26.3 million Ib. valued at Rs. 55 million.

In 1952 there were 108 gardens with factories as follows :

District	Number of factories	Number of workers
Sylhet	95	6,838
Chittagong	12	422
Tippera	1	7
East Pakistan	108	7,226

In 1954 the number of factories was 110 and the number of workers had risen to 12,921.

In Sylhet, 8 gardens employ more than 150 persons each and among them Deanston Tea Estate Factory, Kajuricheera, has 240 workers. In Chittagong the largest number, 104, are employed at Fenoa Factory.

After Partition many factories were in difficulties, due to lack of replacement of machinery and slender finances. The commercial aspect is very important to the industry, as about 70 to 80 per cent. of

manufactured tea is exported. The raw tea leaves do not stand transport and must be processed soon after plucking. Therefore, the manufacturing is an activity associated with the production in the gardens. This necessitates the siting of the factory at the place where the raw material is produced. Transport facilities to consuming centres and to the port are important. Labour should be cheap and permanently available. This difficulty has been largely overcome by labour domiciled in the gardens. Machinery is chiefly imported from the United Kingdom and India. The import of plywood tea chests is an important part of tea packing. Main sources are Finland, U.K., U.S.A., Sweeden, Canada, Japan and Norway.

IMPORTED TEA MACHINERY : VALUE IN RUPEES1

	1948-49	1949-1950
United Kingdom	246,809	209,132
India	36,900	6,910
Other Countries	7,052	—
Total	290,761	216,042

The tea produced is mainly black tea; only the Sylhet area produces some green tea : 1947 (33,251 Ib.), 1948 (87,605 Ib.), 1949 (162,400 Ib.).

TEA MANUFACTURED,₂ 1947-49

(in pounds)

District	1947	1948	1949
Sylhet	39,801,295	41,883,224	44,294,510
Chittagong	1,584,184	1,577,345	1,567,506
Chittagong Hill Tracts	33,985	34,416	36,953
Tippera	18,705	18,465	18,688
East Pakistan	41,438,169	43,513,450	45,917,657

Source : Monthly Survey of Economic Conditions in East Bengal, December 1950 (arranged from Table No. 4(b)), p. 27. Also see Report on Tea Manufacturing Industry in East Pakistan, 1954, Com. and Ind. Bureau, Dacca, 1956.
Ibid., p. 15.

In 1954 the capital invested in the industry stood at Rs. 86,880,000. The tea and tea-dust produced amounted to 54.22 million Ib.

East Pakistan teas have their main market in the United Kingdom. In 1954 U.K. was the main buyer, having purchased 22.9 million Ib., i.e. 61 per cent. of total exports. The teas are noted for their strength. Both superior ‘orange pekoes’ and inferior ‘fannings’ and ‘dust’ are manufactured. The manufacture of green tea has been increasing for the Iran and Afganistan markets.

Oil-mills. The demand for vegetable oils is enormous, as, apart from other uses, they are the most widely-used cooking oils. Oilseed production is also importance, e.g. rape and mustard 2 million maunds, sesamun (til) 919,000 maunds, linseed 325,000 maunds and groundnuts 31,000 maunds. North Bengal is the largest oilseed producing area, while cocoanut growing is a speciality of the southern districts. But the industry is small, employing no more than 205 workers in 1950. There is a total of 32 small mills in the province. These mills are at Sylhet, Dinajpur, Khulna, Rajshahi, Parbotipur, Gaibandha, Bogra, Dacca, Nalchiti and Chittagong.

(c) Raw Material Producing and Processing

Leather and Footware. This is a small industry, with a tannery and shoe factory at Narayanganj and two tanneries at Chittagong. In all, 369 workers were engaged in the industry in 1952. In spite of this lack of development, East Pakistan is among the world’s important sources of raw leather. It exports 3.3 million pieces of hides and 1.8 million pieces of skins. The hides and skins have a large proportion of ‘slaughtered hides’ in comparison with India’s ‘fallen hides’. Before Partition, there was no tanning by modern methods. East Pakistan leather is light in weight and superior in quality and assortment, and is sought after by South Indian as well as foreign markets, where it is known as Daccas.₁

Leather Industries in Pakistan, Bulletin No. 1, Karachi, 1949, p.5.

In the past, neglect of this industry was all the more surprising because the area possessed many geographical advantages—raw material, tanning stuffs, plenty of fresh water, good water transport and cheap labour.

Wool and Silk. There are no large woollen factories. There is one establishment inside Dacca Jail, which employs 141 persons, mostly from among the prisoners, and coarse stuffs are produced. At present no modern mechanized silk industry exists. Efforts are being made to make a start in North Bengal, the traditional silk-rearing area of the province.

(2) Forest-based Industries

Timber. Saw-milling has receently been developed and there are three very samll establishments. Two of these are is Chittagong and one in Sylhet and they employ altogether sixty-four persons. There is no doubt that the industry has a big future. The making of boats and furniture, the cutting of railway sleepers, etc., are likely to become important industries.

Softwood : Match Industry. East Pakistan has eleven small match factories, four at Dacca, one each at Khepupara (Bakarganj), Sylhet, Comilla, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Khulna and Bogra. Only 219 workers were employed in 1951. The industry is well suited to the province, both geographically and economically. There is abundant matchwood of fair quality, simul, gewa, kakam, pitali, chipit, sheora, mayna, keora, passur, etc. Careful investigations₁ have repeatedly pointed out these resources.

The industry can be develoed in various ways, ranging from the home or cottage industry scale, employing small capital, to the huge modern factory with big outlay. Sites for splint and complete factories should be either inside forest areas or very close to the wood-supplying area. But sites should have either rail, road or water transport facilities and labour requirements should be met locally. Some urban centres with markets and power facilities are the next choice, e.g. Dacca, Barisal, Khulna, Comilla, Chittagong. The most suitable suggested sites are : Chandraghona, Kaptai and Rangamati in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Chittagong, Patia and Cox’s Bazar in Chittagong, and Khulna, Bagherhat, Morrelganj and Hasnabad, near Sundarban.

Paper. The first big paper-mill was completed at a cost of Rs. 45 million at Chandraghona, 26 miles from Chittagong up the Karanfuli at the end of 1953. The site is excellent, as about 3 million bamboos are annually extracted from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, of which the mill’s requirement of one million can be floated down the river. In early 1954 the mill employed 1,000 skilled workers and about 3,500 unskilled. Both writing paper and newsprint will be produced, and production at full working capacity will amount to 30,000 tons per annum. Machinery has come from U.K., Canada, Finland, Sweeden and Germany. It is expeceted to meet nearly all the country’s demands. There will be auxilliary plants for the manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda. Till the Karanfuli Project is completed, power will be obtained from a thermal plant producing 13,500 kw. The scheme appears to be a fine example of

much-needed state initiative. It may lead to the development at Chandraghona of such industries as matches, plywood, saw-milling, pencils, bobbins, fibreboard and chemicals, after completion of the Karnafuli Project.

(3) Mineral-and Metal-using Industries

These industries have the weakest basis in the province, because of the lack of inidgenous raw materials. But the cement manufacture at Chhatak, which represents a pre-Partition venture, is an outstanding example of a big enterprise.

The Assam Bengal Cement Company’s factory at Chhatak is located on the banks of the navigable Surma river, west of Sylhet. Its production is about 45,000 tons per annum. Formerly, the most important locational factor was the heavy limestone found to the north in Garo-Khasia-Jaintia Hills (Dwara, Shella, Bogapani, Sohbar, Borpung and Utma quarries) facing the plain to the south, which had water transport facilities. Coal was brought from western Bengal. Gypsum came from Bikaner. At present, all the quarries are in Assam (India). The factory is vital to the needs of the province and the Pakistan government has advanced a loan of Rs. 800,000 for expansion and development. A new railway line has been constructed between Chhatak and Sylhet.

Ghose : Report on the Investigations regarding Match Industry, etc., Govt. Bengal, Bulletin No. 16, Calcutta, 1923, p. 51.

There are only six moderate-size glass works, employing altogether 505 workers : 3 in Dacca, 1 in Narayanganj, 2 in Chittagong. They produce about 600 tons of tumblers and other hollow ware. There is no equipment for making tubes, sheets or heat-proof glass. There are eleven small aluminium factories located in Chittagong, Dacca and Bogra. Both glass₁ and chemical₂ industries can be further developed at Dacca, Narayanganj and Chittagong respectively, according to official surveys. There are three small factories in and around Dacca, producing rubber goods from imported material.

(4) Engineering Industries

This category includes general engineering estasblishments, electrical engineering and railway worshops and a couple of small-size riverside dockyards, These have been listed in Table XXIX (see Map No. 39).

The above description and appraisal of modern industry in East Pakistan reveals several features, namely, paucity of development, time lag and uneven distribution. In fact, there are a whole series of causes and reasons to explain this situation, and many have been brought under discussion in their relevant context. The chief deterrents, apart from geographical weaknesses, have been the absence of initiative, scarcity of indigenous capital, and the comparative lack of interest of foreign enterprise in the area. All this cumulatively resulted in the lack of economic momentum to set the pace of industrialization. Industry has developed in several directions since Partition and new possibilities are being shown by the recent constructional programme of the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation.

Glass Industries in Pakistan, Govt. Pakistan Bull. No. 2, Karachi, 1949.
Chemical Industries in Pakistan, Govt. Pakistan Bull. No. 3. Karachi, 1949.

CHAPTER IX

Development of Communications and Transport and the Pattern of Trade and Commrec

THE main subject of the last three chapters has been an appraisal of resources ranging from primary

products to semi-processing and industry. The movement of goods and men is dependent upon transport and communications. Means of transport are import to a study of economic geography, as moved for internal consumption and for export abroad. The character of transport services influences economic specialization by impeding or facilitating its development. The development of internal transport as well as shipping services is a prerequisite of economic advance. In genral, means of transport influence the distribution of both production and population.

It is proposed, therefore, to discuss, as briefly as possible, the geographic aspects of the condition and nature of available transport, communications, internal trade and foreign commerce, as they reveal many facets of the economic geography of the area.

In ancient times, waterways were the main means of transport. With the advent of the Muslims, though waterways were extensively used, many roads were constructed to link up the various parts of the country and to provide a connexion with Gaur and via that city with Northern India. These roads served both strategic and commercial needs. The road construction was accelerated by Sher Shah and then by the early Mughals, and the latter built a number of trunk roads running through East Bengal. For reasons of military necessity as well as because of physical features, the Brahmaputra valley in Assam was linked with North Bengal. Another important route was from Dacca and Sunargaon through Comilla, in the general direction of Chittagong. As a whole, North Bengal and the south-eastern area received more attention. Ghoraghat, Sibganj and Dacca became the hub of later Mughal roads. Harial, Sherpur, Mirzapur, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, Comilla and Jugdia, etc., became important road centres. Some of these roads and their remnants lasted up to Rennell’s time₁ (the last quater of the eighteenth century). But by the end of the century most of them had disappeared as a result of neglect, disuse and river action, etc., and traffic on them had practically ceased. Most of the transport at this time was by water, be craft of various kinds.

The consolidation of the power of the East India Company and the growing commercial needs required better transport and communication facilities. Moreover, the establishment of Calcutta as a premier port and hub of administration influenced its development out of all proportion to its obvious geographical advantages. Road connexions between Calcutta and East Bengal centres such as Dacca, Boalia, Jessore, Faridpur, etc., were built up and existing water transport facilities were development or improved, to enable the hinterland to direct its goods to the only port and most important commercial and administrative centre.

When railways were built in Bengal, their main object was to supply Calcutta with raw materials for export and to carry the manufactured goods from there to consumers in East Bengal and other areas. Later, with the beginning of the industrial era in British Bengal, as has been remarked already, development was mainly confined to Calcutta and its environs. Thus the chief function of rail, water and road transport was to send goods and materials to the Calcutta-Hooghly region. This explains the pattern of transport facilities directed to Calcutta. The steamer services, together with the railways in conjunction with which they were worked, afforded good means of communication between Calcutta and the entire area now constituting East Pakistan.

When Partition came and the great metropolis no longer belonged to the hinterland of which it had so far been the main outlet, East Pakistan was left with only a small port, as Chittagong possessed very few facilities. Moreover, owing to the starin of war years, all forms of transport in East Pakistan were badly depleted as the area was in the forefront of supply channels for the war operations against the Japanese on the Burma-Assam front.

1.Rennell : A Description of the Roads in Bengal and Bahar, 1779. (See list of various roads)

EXISTING MEANS OF COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORT

Communication within the province is provided by (1) Waterways, (2) Railways, (3) Roads, (4) Air Lines.

Waterways

East Pakistan is a land of rivers, many of which are excellent waterways. These waterways may be divided into three classes : (i) Large, deep rivers which are navigable throughout the year for all types of water-borne traffic, ranging from the largest size river steamers down to small country boats. (ii) Smaller and shallower rivers which are navigable throughout the year for country boats of fair size, but can be negotiated by steamers only when in flood (rainy season). (iii) Smaller streams, channels and khals which are navigable in some cases for the whole year round, and in others only during the rains for country craft of various sizes (see Map No. 42).

In the first class may be placed the rivers Ganges (Padma), Brahmaputra (Jamuna), Meghna, Karanfuli (lower reaches), together with many of the river estuaries in the southern districts of Khulna and Bakarganj. These rivers, along with their offshoots and inter-connexions, provide the routes for long distance water-borne traffic. In the second categrory may be included the majority of the larger streams in the central and eastern portion of the deltaic area. The rest of the streams fall into the third category.

The routes over which regular steamer services ply have a length of about 2,600 milies, of which 2,257 miles are waterways navigable throughtout the year.₁ Non-mechanically propelled country craft carry about 12,500,000 tons of freight annually, while maechanically propelled carft carry 2,500,000 tons of freight and 5 million passengers every year. But it must be remembered that water traffic is necessarily slower than railway or road traffic and that this is made worse by the constant change in the position of the channels to be negotiated as well as by the dense, cold-weather fogs which result in considerable delays.

There are more water transport facilities in the eastern, central and south-eastern part of East Pakistan. In North Bengal, before 1900, most of the centres of trade were situated on rivers. But, with the development of railways, the scenes of such activity moved to railway stations as the rivers were deteriorating. River traffic remained as important as ever along the Ganges-Padma and Jamuna and these waters carried regular steamer routes with calling stations.₂ In Kushtia and Jessore, river deterioration has considerably minimized the value of water transport; only the Madhumati-Garai is open to steamers of some size, though about 1910-12 the lower courses of such rivers as Chitra, Nabaganga, Kabadak and Bhairab, etc., were open to steamer sevices.₃

In the great system of admirable waterways which extend from south Khulna to Bakarganj, southern Faridpur, southern Dacca, western Tippera and western Sylhet and also embrace the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Padma-Meghna systems, certain links are of much importance. For example, the Madaripur Bil Route link between Calcutta and Dacca, via Chalna-Madhumati river-Gopalganj-Madaripur-Narayanganj-Dacca, is very important to the jute trade. The western section of this link is made up of two water routes joining the central Khulna rivers with Calcutta and the twentyfour Parganas, namely : (1) the Circular and Eastern Canals join with the Inner and Outer (for small steamers and larger boats) Boat Routes. This provides a route for jute, oilseeds and various forest produce to the Calcutta area : (2) the main steamer route is through Sundarban via Sibsa river and Diamond Harbour.

1.Information supplied by Pakistan High Commission, London (Inf. Dept.), Januaray 1953. Also see Census of Pakistan, 1951, vol. 3.

Dist. Gazt. Pabna, Calcutta, 1912, p. 75.
Dist. Gazt. Jessore, Calcutta, 1912, p. 109.

The Madaripur Bil Route : The name is given to a channel connecting the Kumar river at Madaripur with the river Madhumati to the West. A large depression known as the Gopalganj Bil lies between these rivers, which is nearly dry for a large part of the year, but in the rains provides a passage between Faridpur and Khulna. The route shortens the journey between Madaripur and Khulna by 89 miles. Its construction was begun in 1900, the channel being deepened and widened, so as to allow steamers and flats drawing six feet of water to pass along it during the rains. Subsequently it was improved to carry traffic throughout the year. The length of the channel is about forty miles. Even in 1925 about one million tons of traffic used it.₁

Khulna has a steamer route to Barisal which was opened as far back as 1884. Steamers have been using the north-south rivers of Bakarganj since 1880, but a few east-west links are also maintained. Jhalakati is the largest centre of inland trade in this area. Madaripur, in south-eastern Faridpur, has connexions with Barisal via Charmugria and Gaurnadi; with Narayanganj via Nandi Bazar; with Khulna via Gopalganj and with Goalundo via Tarpasa.

The movable steamer and railway station of Goalundo commands the water transport through the Padma-Meghna and Jamuna. Narayanganj occupies an excellent situation on the lower Sitlakhya, and, through tha Dhaleswari, is connected with the Meghna. This gives it steamer route connexions with Dacca, Goalundo, Chandpur, Madaripur, Bhairab Bazar, Sylhet and Fenchuganj. Dacca itself is well suited for water communications through the navigable Burhiganga. It is seven to eight hour’s journey from Goalundo and seven hours from Bhairab Bazar. Chandpur, close to the junction of the Meghna and Padma, is an outlet for jute and other products of Tippera district. Serajganj on the Jamuna in Pabna district is an important collecting centre for jute and other rural produce. Other steamer stations on the Jamuna from north to south are Dharlamukh, Rahumari, Chilmari, Fulchhari, Jagannathganj and Elasin.

In Sylhet, during the rains, big steamers come up the Meghna-Surma via Bhairab Bazar and call at Ajmiriganj, Sherpur, Manmukh (for Maulvi Bazar), Balaganj and Fenchuganj. Small steamers run up to Chhatak and Sylhet via Markhali and Sunanmganj. There were practically no roads in Sylhet before the British came, and all main communication was by water. Communication by water also plays an important role along the navigable rivers of Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, e.g. the Karnafuli, Sangu and Matamuhari.

Thus in East Pakistan among all forms of communication and transport, waterways dominate the scene. Owing to lack of relief and to the many distributary channels, it is easy to construct inter-linking canal connexions, but difficult to maintain them. Inland waterways generally follow the main river directions. Canals are few and play a minor role. All major rivers, though liable to shifting of their courses, are full of water and capable of carrying craft of various sizes throughout the year. During the monsoon months (June to September) this capacity is greatly increased. The remotest areas in the plain then become approachable by water routes. In fact, all other means of transport at that time are at a disadvantage. Though it is true that water transport is slow, the sum total of load capacity exceeds that of land transport. Huge barges and flats with load capacities of 250 to 500 tons and an average speed of 6 to 8 miles per hour, can navigate many large rivers. The experiment of barge trains hauled by tugs is worth trying as they can carry more load than the average metre gauge trains, which carry about 600 tons in East Pakistan.

The transport of bulky commodities is the main economic function of water transport. The navigable rivers have been of immense importance in the siting of commercial and collecting centres in the past, and in comparatively recent times have influenced the location of industry. Cheap transport

Dist Gazt. Faridpur, Calcutta, 1925, p. 84.

facilities combined with the resources of the hinterland have been a material factor in the origin and development of several urban centres, e.g. Narayanganj, Sirajganj, Bhairab Bazar, Chandpur, Madaripur, Khulna and Jhalakati. Contemporary industrial development is also being influenced by such site advantages e.g. in Narayanganj, Khulna, Sarishabari, Chandpur, Chittagong.

The attraction of suitable sites on waterways has also been a factor in the development of recent commercial activity. With growing industrialization, many such localities will be in a favourable position to distribute the finished products of the factories.

There is very little coastal shipping. Cargo service between even Chittagong and Chalna is scanty. There is only a bi-weekly steamar service between Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar during the winter, and this, too, thrives because of the lack of land communications between the two places. The sailings through the Meghna estuary are safe only in the three winter months. There is only one monthly steamer service between Chittagong and Karachi.

Dredgers. Realizing the primary role of the inland waterways, the government of East Pakistan has a fleet of dredgers, which have been ordered recently from U.K., Canada, and Holland, The largest of these was launched in Amsterdam on 29^th November, 1952. These dredgers are intended for the maintenance and upkeep of main routes and those connecting the chief trade centres, the rural markets and the ports of Chittagong and Chalna. Some of the existing channels are to be widened and deepened and made capable of taking steamers with a draught up to 10 feet. They will also be used for drainage and reclamation work oin some of the rivers, which will increase cultivable land for food production, and improve fresh water supplies and sanitary conditions.₁

It is necessary to replace the old coal-fired steamers with new diesel-type tugs and barges. Periodical surveys of watercourses should be undertaken. Dredging of channels of selected rivers, mechanical handling at the loading points and provision of storage facilities would greatly enhance the capacity of the inland water transport.

The completion of the shipyard at Khulna in November 1957 was an important step in the development of inland water transport. The Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (P.I.D.C.) have constructed the shipyard at a cost of Rs. 23 million. It has a modern slipway and is capable of repairing all types of inland vessels and constructing river steamers up to 750 D.W. tons. The shipyard is situated on the banks of the Kazi Bacha about three miles from the centre of Khulna town. It has a frontage of 1,800 feet and the midstream depth of the river is 30 feet.

1.Newsletter, Press Inf. Dept., Govt. East Bengal, Dacca, No. 324, 2^nd December, 1952.

Railways

East Pakistan had altogether 1,709.04 miles of railways in 1956, which were distributed between the various gauges as follows :

Broad gauge : single line	477.95 miles
Broad gauge : double line	69.68 miles
Metre gauge : single line	1,119.35 miles
Metre gauge : double line	22.56 miles
Narrow gauge : single line	19.50 miles
All gauge	1,709.04 miles

There is an almost clear-cut demarcation between the areas of the broad and metre gauges, the former covering the northern and western part of the province while the latter spreads over the eastern portion. Only in North Bengal do the two gauges cross each other at a few spots. The narrow gauge is cofined to a twenty mile stretch between Khulna and Bagherhat (see Map No. 43).

Some of the main Darsana in the south to Domar and beyond in the month. This is the main stretch of the broad gauge and provides connexion with Calcutta. It crosses the Ganges by the famous bridge at Sara near Iswardi and then passes through Natore, Naogaon, Parvatipur and Saidpur.

(2) The Goalundo section.

(3) Bangaon-Khulna via Jessore. This is the second link with Calcutta.

(4) Jessore-Darsana link, only recently built.

(5) Iswardi-Sirajganj.

Metre Gauge. (1) Bahadurabad-Dacca, via Mymensingh. (Also Jagannathganj-Mymensingh link.)

(2) Dacca-Chittagong, via Tungi, Bhairab Bazar, Akhaura and Laksam.

(3) Akhaura-Sylhet, via Kulaura and Fenchuganj.

(4) Kurigram-Dinajpur and beyond to Katihar in Bihar, via Lalmanirhat, Rangpur and parvatipur. This section crosses the main north-south broad gauge at right angles at Parvatipur.

(5) Santahar-Kurigram, via Bogra and Gaibandha.

(6) Mymensingh-Bhairab Bazar, etc.

With the very beginning of railway construction in Bengal, which took place in the last quarter of the alignment. The main function of the railways was to collect and carry all goods and commodities to Calcutta, before they were dispatched to the parts of Bengal where they were wanted. Secondly, the capacity of the railways increased as they approached this metropolis and diminshed away from it. Only one section of the metre gauge line served the small port of Chittagong which was primary treated as a tea port.

At Partition, with the award of new international boundaries for East Pakistan, the situation was radically changed. The railway system was found to have been patterned to serve a port and an industrial conurbation which now lay outside the borders of the new State.Thus arose the problem of adjusting the railway system to the requirements of the present,₁ to industrial and commercial development within the province and the outlet of goods and the inflow of imports through the port Chittagong.

A second problem of the railways in East Pakistan has been the enormous wear and tear and depletion of stocks and stores, brought about by the terrific strain on the system during the War years (139-45), from which there had been practically no recovery before Partition took place. Thirdly, with the severance of the coal areas of West Bengal, railways were faced with fuel shortages. Fourthly, due to the same cause, there was a shortage of ballast material and sleepers. To all this was added the shortage of stores, locomotives, wagons and carriages and workshop facilities.

Therefore, the three essential aspects of the many problems of the railway system were : (a) A possible realignment and rearrangement necessary to conform to the changed pattern of transport arising from the geographical boundaries of the new province.

After Partition the following lines were opened to traffic :

(1) Jessore-Darsana (new, broad gauge, 5 ft. 6 in.), 43 miles long, was opened in June 1951.

(2) Shaistaganj-Habiganj (rehabilitated, metre gauge, 3 ft. 8 in.), 10 milies.

(3) Amnura-Nawabganj (rehabilitated, metre gauge), 10 miles.

(4) Sylhet-Chhatak (metre gauge, 3 ft. 8 in.), 21 miles long, was opened for traffic in 1953.

The Sylhet-Chhatak new metre gauge line, 21 miles long, runs along the left bank of the Surma river. The line serves an area of about 250 square miles with a population of about half a million. It not only serves the needs of the Assam Bengal Cement Factory at Chhatak, but also gives impetus to local trade and industry. The area produces large quantities of rice, oranges, potatoes, betel leaves, fish and vegetables, and possesses a large internal market for imported commodities.

A survey is also being undertaken for a new line₂ which has been needed for a long time, the Dacca-Aricha railway. This stretch of 45.43 miles of metre gauge railway will cut the Dacca-Goalundo rail and river journey by half. Railway extensions proposed also inclue Chittagong-Rangamati (48.75 miles) and Kurigram-Chilmari (19.58 miles).

Transport and Industry, Ministry of Industries (pamphlet), Govt. Pakistan, Karachi, 1949, p.2.
Press Inf. Dept. Govt. Pakistan, Karachi, Handout E, No. 3633, 1952. Also Communication, Chief Engineer, Eastern Bengal Railway, Chittagong (27^th July, 1956).

Due to congestion of traffic in the direction of Chittagong, now the main port, it was found necessary to double-track the stretch between Ashuganj and Akhaura and then to extend it to Chittagong. At present diesel locomotives are used on all metre gauge main lines.

A few particular features of the railways in East Pakistan need emphasis. Railways are materially affected by the character and pattern of the rivers. In spite of the low and even ground, ideal for railway construction, the immense number of fair-size water channels and the many large rivers require extensive bridging and make the extension of railwys costly and, over a large area, almost impossible. Several railway lines with their high embankments cut across the natural drainage of the country and have adversely affected the rivers and in many cases quickened their deterioration. The avoidance of this risk explains the familiar north-south direction of the main lines.

Apart from the pattern of convergence on Calcutta, the traffic itself is greatly influenced by economic geography. In turn, the effect of railways on the location of modern industry is apparent. In the last fifty years or more, railways have also influenced the distribution of population by an over-all effect on industry and internal commerce. For example, before the advent of railways, most of the trade passed along the rivers and all prospersous markets were on their banks. But with the coming of railways, new centres developed and deprived many riverside markets of their importance. This has happened particularly in North Bengal.

Roads

Comparatively speaking, road transport comes last in importance. The typical reiverridden surface of the province puts roads at a disadvantage, particularly in the covering of long distances. Ferries are a common feature of road transport and climbing the opposite bank is at times no easy matter. In East Pakistan, therefore, roads remain ancillary to both river tranport and railways. They do not come into competition with ohter modes of transprt as much as they do elsewhere. But it is being realized that even in this area, road facilities will open out many rural areas to contact with neighbouring communities and trade centres because the road lorry, handling a much smaller unit load than the goods train or large boat, can serve remote areas more frequently (especially in the dry winter season). Thus comusmer goods will be better distributed and the transport of rural marketable commodities will be better organized if roads are developed. The new industrial development will also benefit.

In view of these advantages, the East Pakistan government has recently undertaken a five-year road

building programme. According to these plans, ultimately 7,000 miles of roads of all categories will be built, connecting all district headquarter towns with metalled roads at a cost of Rs. 119 million. Work has been started already on the construction of the first 2,000 miles of the projected roads.₁ Funds from the Central Government of Pakistan and American assistance are being used for this purpose.₁

East Pakistan Information, Govt. East Bengal, Dacca, vol. II, no. 9, 27^th July, 1952.
Press Inf. Dept., Govt. Pakistan, Karachi, Handout No. 237, September, 1952.

Existing roads are few and are distributed into various classes as follows (see Map No. 43) :

TABLE XXXII

ROADS AND RAILWAYS, 1953

District	Government, District Baords municipal roads		Union Board and village roads		Railways
District	Metalled	unmetalled	Metalled	unmetalled	Railways
1. Chittagong	51	834	—	1,665	95
2. Chittagong Hill Tracts	2	359	—	—	—
3. Noakhali	14	1,113	—	2,271	51
4. Sylhet	74	649	—	—	127
5. Tippera	92	1,254	—	2,436	145
6. Bakarganj	53	1,305	—	662	—
7. Dacca	51	1,332	11	3,431	91
8. Faridpur	20	1,366	1	1,935	94
9. Mymensingh	98	3,867	—	1,200	237
10. Bogra	50	655	—	1,520	81
11. Dinajpur	73	1,574	—	2,000	100
12. Jessore	177	2,100	—	3,064	162
13. Khulna	62	2,231	6	2,160	34
14. Kushtia	52	895	—	4,700	85
15. Pabna	68	1,063	—	1,333	51
16. Rajshahi	73	1,820	—	916	120
17. Rangpur	23	2,528	—	3,288	213
East Pakistan	990	24,446	18	32,561	1,686

ROADS IN 1950

Superior surface	Metalled	Unmetalled or kachcha	Total mileage
594	1,028	20,172	21,794

Of the first-class, superior surface, metalled roads, the best and longest without a break is the fine Sylhet-Shillong road. Other outstanding examples are the Mymensingh-Tangail road and the Dacca-Narayanganj highway. The rest are merely short stretches of urban roads, running through or skirting the towns. There are considerable stretches of numetalled roads.

A typical feature of the existing roads in East Pakistan is the extent to which they run parallel and close to the railways and are uneconomically aligned with regard to them. This has far-reaching consequences.₁ Firstly, it duplicates means of communication and transport without proportionate benefits to the country. Secondly, it increases the cost of the upkeep of the road system, and thirdly, it encourages unnecessary competition with railways. This feature, as well as other aspects of haphazard

road building of indifferent quality, prompted a competent inquirer in 1983 to declare :₂ “The province of Bengal has no “road system” in the proper sense of the term, although it contains a very large mileage of roads.” Therefore, he opioned that the problem was not of developing and improving the existing roads, but of creating a completely new road system into which the older ones might be incorporated.

Air Lines

Since Partition both internal and external air services have had to be developed, as there were none before 1947. The internal services centre at Dacca. There are daily flights to Chittagong and Jessore and occasinal ones to Shamshernagar, Sylhet and Comilla. The link with West Pakistan is provided by daily flights of the the Pakistan International Airlines (P.I.A.) to Karachi and their bi-weekly service to Lahore by Super Constellations. The most important international air service is run by B.O.A.C., who touch Dacca twice weekly on their London-Karachi-Hong Kong-Tokyo service. There are also several daily services to Calcutta from Dacca and Chittagong and the latter town has connexions with Rangoon as well. Indian Airlines Corporation operates daily services between Calcutta and Dacca, and Calcutta and Chittagong.

The government keeps a fleet of amphibian planes for official use only, and several jute firms have their own aircraft of the same type. Dacca and Chittagong are almost international airports. There are also airtrips of varying size and utility at Feni, Comilla, Shamshenagar, Sylhet, Jessore, Lalmanirhat and Rajshahi. East Pakistan had all its airfields and strips built during the War years (1939-45).

TRADE AND COMMERCE

Internal Trade

The internal trade of the Province has three district aspects which reveal the interrelation between resources, the vast market and the condition and nature of transport facilities. (1) Trading activity embracing the movement and exchange of agricultural raw materials and commodities for internal exchange and consumption. Commodities such as paddy, rice pulses, oilseeds, sugar, and other articles of local origin enter into this acitvity.

(2) The movement of raw materials of agricultural or semi-agricultural origin, primarily meant for export out of the country; in this category are included such outstanding commodities as jute, hides and skins, and tea. Collection is the main aspect of these transactions, while distribution assumes only a minor role.

(3) The third aspect is the handling of mainly imported materials and aritcles meant for internal distribution. These items may be listed as cotton piece-goods, sugar, grains and flour, coal, mineral oils, metals, machinery and other consumer goods of outside origin. This activity is marked by its distributional character.

King : Comprehensive Report Road Development Projects in Bengal, Govt. Bengal, Calcutta, vol. 1, 1938, p. 88.
Ibid., p. 91.

Local Trading Transactions

Paddy and rice, pulses, hand-woven cloth, pottery, spices, fish, jaggery (gur) and cattle, are the main items of local origin which move from one area to another. The hub of this activity is the weekly or bi-weekly hats (markets) held everywhere in the countryside. The melas (fairs) provide an additional opportunity in certain places at appointed times in the year.

Hats and Melas. The great bulk of the rural trade is in agricultural produce. The cultivators and village artisans go to the rural markets called hats where they make their sales and obtain their own requirements. The hats are held at spots easily approachable, e.g. near a river bank (ghat), road point or railway station.

The duration of the hat is limited to a day or less. They are usually held weekly, but in many densely-populated areas, they may be held bi-weekly or even daily. But they vary greatly in size and the attendance ranges from a modest gathering of fifty persons to several hundred or more. On non-market days the place is deserted.

In rural East Pakistan there is little distributing trade. Shopes are practically non-existent and their place is taken by hats. An important hat may have a permanent shop or two. These hats are so widely scattered over the country that a cultivator can invariably walk to one of them every day within five or six miles from his home. He may not go on specific business, but merely to amuse himself, meet his acquaintances and above all, get the news regarding prices of various commodities.

Melas are large periodic gatherings usually taking place annually, although in some cases two or three melas may be held during the year at the sme place. Their duration varies from a single day to a week or more. They are attedded by dealers and shopkeepers from longer distances and the latter display a greater variety of goods in their stalls.

Apart from the hats and melas there are many permanent rural trade centres especially concerned with local collecting activity. Their location is usually determined by geographic advantages, more particularly transport facilities and local productivity. These places are centres of rural activity in buying and selling.

Movement of Export Commodities

In this category the pride of place naturally goes to jute. A great deal has been said about its production and industrial use. Here wre are only concerned with the movement of raw jute from the interior areas to the semi-processing (baling) and exporting centres. East Pakistan leads the world both as regards production and quality of fibre.

JUTE : WORLD PRODUCTION

(thousand tons)

	1948	1949	1950
East Pakistan	978	595	778
India	367	553	588
Brazil	9	13	17
Formosa	14	9	7
Nepal	5	3	6

An overwhelming proportion of this crop is meant for export and about half a million bales suffice for internal consumption. Therefore, the problem of export resolves itself into several aspects of its internal trading activity, connected with marketing and transport and the various stages through which the fibre passes from the grower to the local manufacturers (largely baling) and the shippers. Equally important is the mode of transport which is dictated by geographical conditions.

Movement of Jute from Fields to Presses and Ports. The movement of jute from fields to the presses and factories takes place as a rule in three stages. The first is from the village to the primary assembling markets. In fact three-quarters of the marketable jute is sold by the growers at their own doors, while only one-fifth is sold by them in the primary markets and hats. The second stage is the movement of the fibre from the rural areas to the secondary markets, many of which are baling centres (kachcha or pucca or both). These may also be termed the collecting centres, because material converges on them from many primary markets. But they are usually within reach of primary producers and possess good water transport

or rail facilities or both, and are thus assured of large supplies (see Map No. 44). Therefore, the secondary markets are the most important link between the producers and consumers. The prices of jute at these centres are of great interest to the growers.

Finally, jute is destined for the terminal markets. These are the ones at which most of the produce from different areas is assembled, prior to the final stage to distribution either to local manufacturers or for baling and export. These functions were formerly solely performed by Calcutta. But at present Naryanganj and Chittagong have assumed this role.

Before baling the most important thing is grading. When jute arrives at the presses, in the form of either loose or kachcha bales, it goes to the factory for cutting hackling and grading before it is pressed into pucca bales.

The jute-purchasing mechanism is as follows. The small intermediaries known as farias or beparis purchase jute in the rural area from door to door on their own, but also sometimes oin behalf of merchants or aratdars at the collecting centres. The agents of the firms (both Indian-Pakistan or European) also go out purchasing from the growers in villages by boats. But usually they buy from beparis in the primary markets. Both in the primary and secondary markets, the dalals (brokers) bring the buyers and sellers together. In most cases they act on behalf of buyers on commission. They are shrewd fellows, often earning commission from both parties.

Geographical aspects of jute transport. In the essential stages of the transactions briefly described above, transport plays a vital role and much of it is conditioned by geography.

Every year, at the time of the jute harvest and for several weeks after that (end of June of September), extensive areas of the main jute tract of East Pakistan are flooded (see Maps Nos. 6 and 28), only habitations and rail and main road embankments remaining above the level of water. Thus water transport in the vast jute-producing area is also at its best, as the bils and khals open up channels of communication between villages and markets. The small waterways being in the main narrow, meandering and of varying depth, are unsuitable for the movement of power-driven carft. Consequently country boats of different sizes, adapted to the requierments of local conditions, form the only means of transport in the interior of the low-lying districts. The cultivators generally use small open boats called dinghee in the narrow khals and bils, but they are unsuitable for larger rivers. Moreover their capacity is limited to a few maunds, and the goods carried in them are exposed to the elements. The fibre from villages and hats is usually carried to baling centres in large covered boats, owned or hired by beparis. These are strongly built, wooden craft varying in capacity from 50 to 500 maunds, and carry crews of three or four men in small boats and about ten in larger ones.

In some of the most important secondary markets, e.g. Chandpur, Charmugria, Tarpasa and Narayanganj, the bigger firms of balers employ barges for the collection of fibre from their outstation agencies. Small luanches are used to two them to and from the outstations. The 250-to 500-ton flats usually carry pucca jute bales from Narayanganj to Chittagong. Pack animals and carts are used in the area only when the inundation recedes and the water connexion is lost. It is in view of this that 50 per cent. of jute in the villages is sold by the end of September, 70 per cent. by the end of November, and by December-January only about 20 per cent. of the current crop is left to be sold.

In North Bengal, on the other hand, about 85 per cent. of jute is transported by carts.1 Bullock-driven, two-wheel carts carry from 12 to 14 maunds, while the buffalo-driven ones haul 18-20 maunds at an average speed of about 2 miles per hour. Pack animals are used in both eastern and northern parts of the tract in those areas where even unmetalled roads are lacking. Ponies are commonly employed and

they carry to 3 maunds of fibre.

Report on Marketing and Transport of Jute, Calcutta, 1940, p. 66.

The communications between secondary markets and the consuming centres are more regular and dependable. Steamers,₁ railways and road vehicles are usually employed for the purpose. The railways maintain regular services over most of the jute tract, but they figure more prominently in the carrying of jute in those areas where water transport is either not possible or is uneconomical. Therefore, they play a more active role in jute transport in North Bengal and the western part of the province. Steamers and other water carft carry about 55 per cent. of jute, railways about 40 per cent. and other means the rest of it.₂

Finally, it may be noted that the holding power of the average jute grower is almost nil, not because his commodity is of a perishable nature, but mainly due to his weak and precarious economic position. He is in need of ready cash to pay his debts and buy the immediate necessities of life. Moreover, he has no space for storage of fibre in his small house, as all available accommodation is taken up by paddy. Therefore, early disposal of the fibre is inevitable, and it must be on the move as soon as it is ready. The consumption of jute in the villages is mainly restricted to rope-and string-making. Thus only a negligible quantity of jute is used locally, in the areas of its production.

Hides and Skins

There is a large number of cattle (16,386,606) and goats and sheep (4,267,932). The number of buffaloes (577,000) and sheep (247,772) is smaller, This large animal population₃ is the basis of the production of hides and skins all over the province. The total production in 1949-50 was as follows :₄

PRODUCTION AND VALUE OF HIDES AND SKINS, 1949-50

	Production number of pieces	Value Rs.
Hides	3,313,978	10,516,674
Skins	1,829,610	7,192,016

Cargo space on steamers ranges from 7,000 to 28,000 maunds and on barges from 350 to 3,500 maunds. Ibid., p. 139.
Ibid., p. 138.
Livestock Wealth of Pakistan, Ministry of food and Agriculture, Govt. Pakistan, Karachi, 1949. This publication used the figures of Indian Livestock Census, 1945. No post-partition enumeration has taken place.
Source : Communication from Prov. Bur. Govt. East Bengal, Dacca, 7^th March, 1951.

Table XXXIII gives the production by districts. The raw hides and skins move from all over the countyside to various places which function as collecting cetres, because of their proximity to production areas, combined with their transport and assembling facilities (see Map No. 45). The list of prominent collecting centres is given below :

Chief Collecting Centres of Hides adn Skins

Dacca : Town, Narayanganj, Tungi and Mirpur.

Mymensingh : Town, (Sheora), Sherpur, Muktagacha, Tangail, Bhairab Bazar, Gafargaon.

Chittagong : Town, Bibirhat.

Noakhali : Chaumohani, Feni.

Tippera : Daulatganj Bazar, Comilla Town, Brahmanbaria.

Sylhet : Town, Inathganj, Markhali.

Rangpur : Town, Haragacha, Lalmanirhat.

Dinajpur : Thakurgaon, Parbatipur.

Pabna : Town, Sirajganj.

Bogra : Town, Chaksutrapur.

Kushtia : Meherpur, Kushtia, Chuadanga.

At present, a large proportion of the raw material, partly treated, is transported to Chittagong for export. The rest of it finds its way across the land border to India, whence a considerable amount is exported via Calcutta.

HIDES AND SKINS (PRODUCTION), 1944-45

Districts	Hides	Skins
1. Dacca	296,079	159,280
2. Mymensingh	518,589	303,165
3. Faridpur	194,618	33,532
4. Bakarganj	245,543	65,460
5. Chittagong	185,777	79,635
6. Noakhali	107,942	56,012
7. Tippera	260,523	85,016
8. Sylhet	300,000	150,000
9. Chittagong Hill Tracts	11,121	12,933
10. Rajshahi	190,584	129,006
11. Rangpur	257,660	226,555
12. Dinajpur	106,466	98,317
13. Pabna	132,105	51,783
14. Bogra	101,311	132,366
15. Jessore	177,025	115,954
16. Khulna	150,036	63,183
17. Kushtia	78,599	67,413
East Pakistan	3,313,978	1,829,610

Source : Livestock Census of India, 1945. No census has been conducted in East Pakistan since them.

Tea

The manufactured tea is packed in chests at factories and moves directly from there to the nearest railway station, whence it goes to the godowns at the port of Chittagong which both transacts sales and sends shipments to foreign countries. The direction and amounts of exports of tea are given below :

TABLE XXXIII

DIRECTION OF TEA EXPORTS THROUGH CHITTAGONG, 1948-49 TO 1956-57

(in thousands of pounds)

Years	U.K.	U.S.A.	Chile	Holland	Madagascar	Other countries	Total
1948-49	24,828	613	—	—	—	967	26,408
1949-50	30,995	1,040	—	98	—	2,214	34,347
1950-51	11,850	1,354	—	36	—	2,200	15,440
1951-52	35,110	548	1,278	134	—	1,701	39,071
1952-53	20,551	90	121	—	—	264	21,026
1953-54	23,106	17	87	132	—	56	23,398
1954-55	24,044	—	—	418	4	2	24,468
1955-56	10,290	—	—	—	55	5	10,350
1956-57	23,134	318	—	59	36	197	23,744

Source : Appendix, Pakistan Tea Association Ann. Rep., 1956.

Foreign Trade

East Pakistan has only recently become a separate province, and therefore its foreign trade and commerce has yet to develop its pattern. Moreover, the last eleven years have been packed with many important events and significant happenings, both at home and abroad. The outstanding events affecting foreign trade can be summarized as first of all the fact of Partition itself, cutting across the old paths of India’s trade; then the devaluation of the pound sterling and Indian currency and non-devaluation by Pakistan, followed by the Korean War and the consequent stockpiling, increasing armament drive by Western powers and the trade recession which followed. Eventually, Pakistan currency was also devalued. Therefore, the foreign trade of East Pakistan can be divided into five distinct periods :

(1) Pre-Partition trade position (before August 1947).

(2) Post-Partition : August 1947-October 1949 (devaluation of Indian currency).

(3) October 1949 to outbreak of Korean War, June 1950

(4) Korean War and after.

(5) After devaluation of Pakistan currency in 1955.

(1) The character of the pre-Partition commerce of East Pakistan can be briefly summed up. The whole area was included in the vast hinterland of the port of Calcutta and its economy was linked in a secondary role with that of the Calcutta-Howrah-Hooghly industrial region. Its two major raw materials, jute and hides and skins, were poured into the Calcutta industrial complex. The only port that the area possessed was Chittagong, which mainly served as a tea port, but shared a small portion of the trade of undivided Bengal and Assam. The total annual tonnage passing through it was barely 300,000 tons (see Tables XXXIX and XL). It began to figure in jute export only in 1877-78.

EXPOTT OF JUTE₁

(in maunds)

	1877-78	1894-95
Calcutta	5,319,318	12,222,294
Chittagong	130,775	747,891

All other surplus materials, betetnuts, cocoanuts, rice, timber and firewood fish, poultry, vegetables and fruits, etc., were directed into West Bengal, more particularly into the metropolitan area of Calcutta.

(2) With Partition, a considerable check was applied to the usual flow of commerce. An international boundary with new customs barriers ran across the plains of Bengal and Calcutta, the heart of industrial and Commercial Bengal became a foregign port almost overnight, and a ‘greatness’ was thrust on Chittagong, as it was the only port through which the new province’s trade could find an outlet. Much difficult and confusion followed these changes at first. A scarcity of goods ordinarily needed was felt in East Pakistan and exports of jute, hides and skins and tea were all visibly affected. Fortunately, working normality was quickly restored and the changed circumstances began to be accepted.

In the subsequent currency year, June 1948 to July 1949, the governement’s commercial policy was directed towards opening the door to all the goods required as freely as possible and assuring foreign exchange to pay for them. It resulted in a considerable restocking of consumer goods. The export of jute from Chittagong to countries all over the world went up from about 765,000 bales in 1947-48 to 1,056,000 bales in 1948-49. A port which before Partition annually carried 250,000 tons coped with 600,000 tons in 1948, and in 1949 the tonnage handled leaped to million. It was a significant change.

(3) In October 1949 the development of normal trade with India suffered a severe set-back. That country devalued its currency, along with U.K., but Pakistan did not. India would not accept the consequent value of Pakistan currency. A ‘trade war’ was thus started, the influence of which is felt even today. It inaugurated a system of temporary trade agreements between the two countries. India needed about 4 million bales of excellent East Pakistan jute every year and the latter depended on West Bengal coal. The trade in these two vital commodities was especially badly affected. A virtual breakdown of normal trade with India let to many difficulties for East Pakistan’s surplus of jute, but this eventually resulted in a desirable diversification of its world markets. But India still remains the biggest single customer with an intake of about million bales of jute.

The non-devaluation also brought East Pakistan tea into difficulties due to competition in the world market.

The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 opened new, unexpected horizons for the East Pakistan’s export of jute. Frantic buying and stockpiling, especially in U.S.A., let to a rise in prices and that country became the third best customer for jute.

Bengal Customs Department (returns), Calcutta, 1895.

(4) But the Korean War proved to be a mixed blessing : heavy exports, high prices and a great demand for jute were followed by the consequences of stockpiling. Its effects burst like a delayed-action bomb in the middle of 1952, and a complete crash in jute prices resulted. It was only towards the end of the year that some recovery was reported.

(5) In recent years, particularly since Pakistan devalued its currency is 1955, significant changes in the direction of exports from East Pakistan have taken place. Countries like West Germany and Belgium have increased their imports, while India’s have fallen (see figures below) :

TABLE XXXIV

DIRECTION OF EXPORTS

(in percentage by value)

	1948-49	1954-55
India	43.6	17.08
United Kingdom	21.6	25.26
France	7.1	7.70
U.S.A.	6.0	5.86
Germany	3.7	10.34
Italy	3.0	4.88
Belgium	2.3	8.23
Poland	1.7	1.25
Others	11.0	19.40
	100.0	100.0

The trade agreement₁ signed by India and Pakistan at New Delhi on 20^th March, 1953, opened a new chapter in the trade relations between the two countries and led to a limited exchange of goods under specific agreements. The first agreement was for three years, India was to take annually not less than 1,800,000 bales of jute, and coal was to be supplied to East Pakistan in return. Both countries agreed to remove duties substantially in January 1957 as a result of trade talks in New Delhi,

The Times, London, 21^st March, 1953 (New Delhi message)

TABLE XXXV

YIELD AND EXPORT OF RAW JUTE FROM INDIA AND PAKISTAN, 1947-48 TO 1952-53

(bales of 400 Ib. each)

	Yield in India	Yield in Pakistan	Export overseas from India	Export overseas from Pakistan
1947-48	1,696,000	6,443,000	1,797,000	765,000
1948-49	2,026,000	5,480,000	600,000	1,777,000
1949-50	3,117,000	4,500,000	594,000	1,723,000
1950-51	3,000,000	6,350,000	nil	4,204,000
1951-52	4,677,000	6,331,000	nil	3,203,000
1952-53	4,695,000	6,923,000	nil	3,771,000
1953-54	3,128,000	3,610,000	nil	3,755,000
1954-55	3,153,000	4,662,000	1,000	3,907,000

Source : Monthly Summary Jute Statistics (Narayanganj), No. 100, April 1956, p. 32.

THE STRUCTURE AND DIRECTION OF COMMERCE

The structure and direction of foreign trade for 1949-50 as regards exports is summarized in Tables XXXVII and XXXVIII. By value, jute has by far the largest share (over 80 per cent.), followed by tea (15 per cent.) and hides and skins (about 4 per cent.). In 1948-49 the percentages oif exports by value were : jute (80.8), tea (12.2), raw cotton (1.1), and hides and skins (0.5), minerals and oils (10.8), drugs and medicines (4.5), grams and pulses (4.3), tea chests (2.1). The comparative position of exports and imports in 1948-49 and 1954-55 is given in Table XXXVI.

Under normal conditions India takes the greatest quantity of East Pakistan’s exports, followed by U.K. and U.S.A. In the last few years, because of jute exports, France, Germany and Italy have been figuring prominently among East Pakistan’s customers, and Poland and Czechoslovakia have also come into the picture. The other jute importing countries include Argentine, Brazil, China, Belgium, Holland and the Soviet Union.

Since Partition, Chittagong has been growing in importance and handles the bulk of exports and imports. (See Tables XXXIX and XL.) Among exports, the importance of jute, tea and hides and skins is clearly revealed. The total imports through Chittagong reached 445,378 tons in 1951-52. The imports are headed by foodstuffs, salt, coal and cement, and the mineral oil in bulk handled by the Burmah Oil Company is a significant incoming commodity.

Table XLI a, b and c shows the value of coastal and foreign trade passing through Chittagong.

TABLE XXXVI

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS (by value)

Item	1948-49 percentage of total		1954-55 percentage of total
Item	Exports	Imports	Exports	Imports
Jute	80.8	—	81.95	—
Tea	12.2	—	7.10	—
Cotton	1.1	—	0.51	—
Hides and Skins	0.5	—	1.96	—
Other goods	5.4	—	8.48	—
Cotton Yarn	—	49.8	—	5.95
Mineral Oil	—	10.8	—	8.79
Cotton Piece-goods	—	5.0	—	36.51
Drugs and Medicines	—	4.5	—	3.99
Grams and Pulses	—	4.3	—	0.04
Tea Chests	—	2.1	—	0.93
Other goods	—	23.5	—	43.79

TABLE XXXVII

PERCENTAGE SHARE OF PRINCIPAL COMMODITIES EXPORTED (BY VALUE IN RUPEES) THROUGH CHITTAGONG AND IN TRASIT VIA CALCUTTA, 1949-50

Commodities	Via Chittagong	Total value via Chittagong	Via Calcutta	Total value via Calcutta
Jute (raw)	80.24		82.03
Tea	15.02		—
Hides and Skins	2.44		1.61
Cotton (raw)	1.15		—
Spices	0.32		2.57
Tobacco (unmanufactured)	—		—
Fish	—		5.27
Fruits and Vegetables	—		3.10
Seeds	—		1.10
Wood and Timber	—		0.77
		315,310,000		250,781,000
Others	0.33		3.55
	100.00		100.00

Source : Communication from Prov. Stat. Board and Bur. Comm. and indust. Int., Govt. East Bengal, Dacca, 23^rd March, 1951.

TABLE XXXVIII

PERCENTAGE SHARE OF PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES IN EXPORTS FROM EAST PAKISTAN, 1948-49 AND 1949-50 (Value in Rs.)

Countries	1948-49 Percentage	1949-50 Percentage
United Kingdom	26.85	21.69
United States of America	18.44	6.07
Belgium	11.06	2.30
France	11.06	7.14
Germany	9.08	3.73
Italy	3.58	3.09
Argentina	2.59	0.56
Brazil	2.44	0.26
Portugal	1.92	0.82
Czechoslovakia	1.66	1.07
Ceylon	1.95	0.45
China	1.25	0.16
Poland	0.98	1.78
Netherlands	0.82	1.05
Indian Republic	0.97	43.66
All other countries	5.35	6.17
Total	100.00	100.00

Source : Communication from Prov. Stat. Board and Bur. Comm. and Indust. Int., Govt. East Bengal, Dacca, 23^rd March 1951.

TABLE XXXIX

CHITTAGONG : IMPORTS, 1946-47 TO 1951-52 (tons)

Commodities	1946-47	1947-48	1948-49	1949-50	1950-51	1951-52
Food stuffs	8,775	67,907	130,029	254,717	94,302	127,606
Sugar	—	—	—	—	18,612	41,588
Salt	74,366	93,341	109,653	117,963	102,066	138,946
Coal	—	9	7,617	67,156	499,131	192,323
Cement	—	10,781	3,722	28,804	47,719	128,390
Cotton Piece-goods	—	4,266	2,323	2,228	913	8,604
Oil in bulk (B.O.C.)	—	—	55,869	71,304	190,168	191,153
Cotton	—	—	7,476	15,934	16,048	24,676
Other goods	4,036	21,697	97,142	208,197	298,623	350,491
	87,176	198,001	413,877	786,267	1,268,600	1,203,777

Arranged from Progress Report, Chittagong, supplied to writer by Traffic Manager, Chittagong Port, 3^rd November, 1952.

TABLE XL

CHITTAGONG : EXPORTS, 1946-47 TO 1951-52 (tons)

Commodities	1946-47	1947-48	1948-49	1949-50	1950-51	1951-52
Jute	5,566	67,170	220,469	249,620	371,743	388,823
Tea	30,523	29,196	14,035	24,283	21,887	29,881
Hides and Skins	—	1,639	462	2,844	4,964	3,021
Cotton	330	1,038	1,691	2,670	1,603	2,198
Wax	8,480	16,307	5,960	6,058	1,538	30
Betelnuts	—	—	113	872	1,583	3,119
Tobacco	—	10	182	13	178	80
Bones	—	—	—	344	2,239	2,299
Others	110,908	8,867	9,849	11,372	20,696	14,621
Total	155,907	124,227	252,761	299,094	426,431	445,378

Source : Arranged from Progress Report, Chittagong, supplied to writer by Traffic Manager, Chittagong Port, 3^rd November, 1952.

TABLE XLI (a)

TRADE OF CHITTAGONG : VALUE, MILLIONS OF RUPEES

Year	Exports	Imports	Total
1938-39	69.8	56.3	126.1
1946-47	86.9	97.4	184.3
1947-48	190.3	72.2	262.5
1948-49	308.6	213.1	521.7

TABLE XLI (b)

IMPORTS INTO THE PORT OF CHITTAGONG FROM OTHER PORTS : 1948-49 TO 1951-52 (thousnad rupees)

Period	Pakistan merchandise			Foreign merchandise			Treasure
	From Karachi	From East Bengal ports	Total	From Karachi	From East Bengal ports	Total	From Karachi
1948-49	112,411	1,163	113,574	373	2	375	806,798
1949-50	214,948	688	215,636	6,077	—	6,077	346,573
1950-51	232,654	902	233,556	18,818	—	18,818	25,041
1951-52	120,636	17	120,653	121,334	—	121,334	11,500
	IMPORTS INTO CHALNA FROM OTHER PORTS
1951-52	16,310	—	16,310	181	—	181	—

In 1949 and 1950 there was further increase in the value of exports from Chittagong :₁

1949 (January-December)	Rs. 291,548,000
1950 (January-December)	Rs. 403,286,100

TABLE XLI (c)

COASTAL TRADE : VALUE OF IMPORTS INTO PORTS OF CHITTAGONG AND CHALNA, 1948-49 TO 1951-52 (million rupees)

	Chittagong			Chalna
	Pakistan merchandise	Foreign merchandise	Total	Pakistan merchandise	Foreign merchandise	Total
1948-49	113.6	0.4	114.0	—	—	—
1949-50	215.6	6.1	221.7	—	—	—
1950-51	233.6	18.8	252.4	—	—	—
1951-52	120.7	121.3	242.0	16.3	0.2	16.5

Source for (a) and (b) : Stat. Bull., Govt. Pakistan, Karachi, No. 7, 1952, pp. 509-10.

Jute occupies a preponderant position in both sea-borne and overland trade. Following the devaluation of Indian currency in October 1949, the Government of Pakistan appointed a Jute Board with headquarters at Narayanganj. Minimum prices were fixed internally, and overseas markets were sought for jute. For storage in rural areas, semi-permanent godowns were set up in some plaecs and a scheme of permanent storage facilities for growers was contemplated. In 1950-51, 4.6 million bales were exported to countries other than India. Since April 1950 several short-term agreements have been entered into with India for the export of jute, and the quantity has varied from 1 to 4 million bales. In East Pakistan the tendency to convert the maximum amount of the crop into pucca bales is increasing.

The sea-borne exports of jute were more than twice as high in 1950 as they were in 1949. Factors contributing to this resumption of the intransit trade through Calcutta in May 1950 and the increase in the shipping capacity of Chittagong, as well as the opening of the new Chalna port. Almost two-thirds of the total exports were shipped in the second half of the year. Pakistan regulates its exports of jute to soft currency areas on a quota basis, but those to the United States and other hard currency₂ areas are on the open general licence (O.G.L.)

Source : Prov. Stat. Board and Bur., Comm. Int., East Bengal Govt., Dacca, 20^th April, 1951.
The Hard Currency areas are : U.S.A., Canada, Argentina, Cuba, Japan, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.

The export of jute from East Pakistan using various outlets, Chittagong, Chalna, Calcutta and land frontiers, from 1947-48 to 1951-52 is given below :

RAW JUTE EXPORTS, 1947-48 TO 1951-52

(figures in 000 bales)

Season	India	Via Calcutta in bonds	Total land frontiers	Via Chittagong	Via Chalna	Total
1947-48	5,290	nil	5,290	765	—	6,055
1948-49	3,904	721	4,625	1,056	—	5,681
1949-50	1,659	177	1,836	1,546	—	3,382
1950-51	2,552	1,854	4,406	1,981	375	6,762
1951-52	1,674	71	1,745	1,999	1,140	4,884

In 1949-50 the exports of jute to hard and soft currency areas by value were _:1

Hard Currency Areas	Rs. 86,038,387
U.S.A.	Rs. 40,062,494
Canada	Rs. 1,600,658
Others	Rs. 44,375,235
Soft Currency Areas	Rs. 227,063,948
All Countries	Rs. 313,102,335

But in 1950 the United Kingdom remained the largest market for East Pakistan jute, excluding India, and it took 125,000 tons as compared with 82,000 tons in 1949. This shipment was, however, lower than the 1938-39 figures for export to the country from undivided Bengal. Shipments to other countries were higher than those before the War. U.S.A. has emerged as the third most important buyer, taking 98,000 tons in 1950 against 35,000 tons in 1949 and only 33,000 tons before World War II.

India has remained the largest coustomer of East Pakistan jute in spite of trade difficulties since 1949. This is chiefly due to the superior quality of fibre needed by the Calcutta mills. The Indian jute crop is now estimated at about million bales. But this is about one million bales less than the expected consumption of the Calcutta mills. In 1949-50, according to official announcement, India imported 1,764,881 bales.₂ From July 1952 to January 1953, 3.6 million bales of jute were sold by East Pakistan and of these, India purchased 1,125,000 bales up to the end of December. In the same period, U.K. took 450,000 bales and the U.S.S.R. carried 122,000 bales under a wheat-jute barter agreement.

Trade (Pakistan), Dept. Comm. Int. and Stat., Govt. Pakistan, Karachi, vol. I, no. 4, September 1950, p. 13.
Statement of India’s Commerce Minister in Parliament, New Delhi, 8^th March, 1951.

The other main buyers were Belgium, Italy, West Germany, U.S.A., and France.₁

Exports to many European countries, France, Germany, Italy and Belgium, were in each case greater than 1949-50 and those to France and Italy higher than in 1938-39. Exports to Germany, however, were little more than half their level in 1938-39. A notable rise took place in shipments to Japan, which rose to 35,000 tons compared with 5,000 tons in 1949-50, and 14,000 tons only in 1938-39. Newcomers to the market are the Soviet Union, and the Central and East European countries. Their intake in 1950-51 was greater than in 1949-50. In 1950-51 U.K. obtained 96 per cent. of its imports of jute from East Pakistan. In the first half of 1951-52, East Pakistan shipped 8 per cent. more than in the corresponding period of the previous year. Imports into U.K. from India were generally on the decrease, owing to that country’s own needs. During 1951-52 East Pakistan shipped over 4.8 million bales to foreign buyers, including 1.6 million respectively. Firm demand for good quality East Pakistan jute is further indicated by the fact that the leader of the West German delegation is reported to have declared, after a tour of the province in December 1952, that his country could purchase 3.5 million bales of jute per year.₂

Slumps in prices have shown in the past that East Pakistan’s economy depends to a great extent on jute, and it is obvious that the fortnates of jute depend on the fluctuating world demand, especially for the raw material. But that the world still needs large quantities of jute and ite manufactured products was shown in a dramatic fashion by the urgent British demand for 10 million jute bags to be supplied in a week’s time, to strengthen its sea walls after the tragic coastal floods of January 1953.

The following tables (XLII (a) and (b)) indicate in direction, bulk and value of East Pakistan jute trade.

An International Jute Conference organized by the Pakistan Jute Association was held in Dacca in November 1957 and it provided a suitable forum for exchange of ideas between national and international delegates representing industry, trade, shipping, transport and government. The Conference discussed cost of production, stablity of prices, removal of bottle-necks in trade, transport problems, size of the crop and questions of substitutes for jute, and other relevant matters. At the end of the Conference it was suggested that the East Pakistan jute crop should be of the order of 7 million bales as the estimated world demand was about 6.5 million bales.

In concluding the discussion on foreign trade it is appropriate to consider the conditions, working and prospects of the two ports of East Pakistan, Chittagong and Chalna (see Map No. 46).

Information from Pakistan High Commission, London (Inf. Dept.), March 1953.
Economic Review, Pakistan, Econ. Int. Unit, London, No, 4, January 1953, p.3.

TABLE XLII (a)

JUTE EXPORTS, BY COUNTRIES, 1956-57

Countries	Exports (Bales 400 Ib. each)	Value (Rupees)
1. United Kingdom	740,978	128,193,000
2. India	603,361	77,512,000
3. Belgium	501,460	78,706,000
4. Germany	471,765	75,581,000
5. France	390,539	60,898,000
6. Italy	321,239	51,984,000
7. U.S.A.	309,329	48,153,000
8. Japan	185,116	28,151,000
9. Poland	114,926	17,106,000
10. Argentina	109,932	12,776,000
11. South Africa	96,663	15,853,000
12. Netherlands	86,670	13,564,000
13. China	72,183	7,402,00
14. Spain	60,904	12,619,000
15. U.S.S.R.	50,370	9,676,000
16. Philippines	39,937	6,041,000
17. Eire	38,213	9,936,000
18. Portugal	33,375	7,777,000
19. Sweden	32,160	4,879,000
20. Czechoslovakia	30,803	5,150,000
21. Austria	25,660	3,943,000
22. Australia	23,510	3,125,000
23. Yugoslavia	23,412	3,727,000
24. Burma	19,188	2,051,000
25. East Africa	22,385	4,826,000
26. Egypt	18,287	3,734,000
27. Greece	17,063	3,879,000
28. Southern Rhodesia	13,186	728,000
29. Uruguay	10,428	1,148,000
30. Chile	10,288	1,630,000
31. Madagascar	10,499	1,073,000
32. Denmark	10,065	4,718,000
33. Indonesia	7,905	877,000
34. West Africa	7,317	845,000
35. Indo-China	4,613	844,000
36. Peru	6,778	961,000
37. West Indies	5,592	892,000
38. Canada	4,986	978,000
39. Morocco	4,496	1,231,000
40. Switzerland	4,387	631,000
41. Hungary	3,920	981,000
42. Norway	2,991	544,000
43. Rumania	2,800	657,000
44. East Germany	2,664	496,000
45. Finland	2,054	494,000
46. Turkey	2,044	188,000
47. New Zealand	1,153	181,000
48. Mexico	300	141,000
49. Other Countries	2,500	648,000
TOTAL EXPORTS	4,560,394	716,304,000

TABLE XLII (a)

JUTE EXPORTS, 1950-51 TO 1956-57

Seasons (July to June)	Quantity (Bales 400 Ib. each)	Value (Rupees)
1950-51	6,952,925	1,214,900,000
1951-52	4,835,520	1,061,400,000
1952-53	5,304,172	578,300,000
1953-54	5,207,886	548,300,000
1954-55	5,077,029	598,306,000
1955-56	5,850,779	828,974,000
1956-57	4,560,394	716,304,000

Chittagong

The port of Chittagong is situated on the right bank of the Karnafuli river, eleven miles from the sea. It has rail and water connexions with a large hinterland in East Pakistan. But is geographical position in the extreme south-east of the province is not altogether favourable.

In pre-Partition India, its position as a natural outlet of a large hinterland in East Beagl was not fully utilized. About 90 per cent. of jute exports passed through Calcutta, and Chittagong handled only 10 per cent. The developments on the Hooghly which have been mentioned earlier, and the preference oif authority, gave Calcutta an undue share of the commerce of East Bengal. Before the War two-thirds of Chittagong’s trade was with Burma, while in general it was treated as a tea port for exports to U.K. The jute exports were mainly destined for U.K. and U.S.A.

At Partition, Chittagong had a jetty frontage of about 2,300 feet, consisting of four berths capable of taking only four ships at a time. The handling capacity of the port grew with Parition. It became the main outlet for East Pakistan, and its facilities became vital to the economy of the area. With the industrial and agricultural expansion visualized, it seemed necessary that the increase of facilities at the

port and the improvement of its communications with the hinterland, should be given the highest priority.

The expansion of port facilities has been fairly rapid.₁ In 1947-48 there were five jetties and three moorings and there were also three additional moorings belonging to the Burmuh Oil Company for use by ships belonging to the oil trade only. The total storage capacity was 94,215 feet. During 1949-50, four new moorings were installed for use by cargo ships and one jetty was built for use by salt ships. 67,000 square feet were added to storage capacity. In 1950-51, two more moorings were set in for cargo ships. In 1951-52, out of the above-mentioned six moorings, four were converted to two pontoon jetties and two to light jetties, and 300,000 square feet were added to the storage capacity. Seven new jetties, bonded warehouses, export sheds, tea sheds, import warehouses, and other necessary accommodation have been built. In 1955 the port had 17 jetties and six moorings, including those for oil tankers. The capacity of the port when fully development will range between three and four million tons per annum.

1.The writer is indebted to the Traffic Manager, Chittagong Port, for useful information.

Number of Ships handled at Chittagong, 1947-48 to 1951-52

1947-48	14 ships per month
1948-49	20 ships per month
1949-50	19 ships per month
1950-51	24 ships per month
1951-52	27 ships per month

Cargo handled at Chittagong, 1945-45 to 1954-55

Year	Tons
1945-46	114,331
1946-47	243,083
1947-48	322,228
1948-49	666,638
1949-50	1,085,361
1950-51	1,695,031
1951-52	1,649,155
1952-53	1,703,107
1953-54	1,532,337
1954-55	1,415,815

At present the port can accommodate 17 to 18 ships at a time and the handling capacity has passed the 1.5 million tons mark. The overseas ships touching at the port number more than 300. Of the ships which anchored in 1954, 85 were from West Pakistan. The chief exports of the port are jute, tea, hides and skins, and hill cotton. The main imports included bagged food grains, salt, gold, piece-goods, yarn, sugar, machinery and general cargo.

Chalna or Mungla

As these recent developments took shape, and the trade and commarcial needs of East Pakistan expanded, within a couple of years of Partition it was realized that, apart from the congestion at Chittagong, the port was not conveniently connected with the inland waterways system to the main jute tract. A single metre gauge railway was the sole link, as the Meghna estuary was not safe for navigation except for three months in winter. Thus a large amount of jute, especially from the delta tract (Faridpur, Khulna, Jessore,

Kushtia) had to be exported through Calcutta. This stimulated the search for a new port to serve as an outlet for that rich tract. Morrelganj, south of Bagherhat, was considered first, but ultimately an appropriate choice was made by selecting Chalna, and it was opened to traffic on 11^th December, 1950. Four years later the site was changed to Mungla, twenty miles down the Pussur river.

Chalna was situated on the Pussur river (Lat. 22° 36ʹ N. and Long. 89° 31ʹ 15ʺ E.) about 60 miles from the sea and 18 miles south of Khulna town. Khulna itself is an important transhipment station on East Pakistan’s inland waterways system. The navigation on the Pussur is easy and the anchorage at Mungla is excellent. The Pussur does not suffer from the downward carriage of silt from the northern plain. It is a sea creek, which receives water from the sea by the tides as well as from local drainage. Dredging is not ordinarily required.

In normal conditions, ships of 23 feet draught can enter the port at the reefs. Pilotage has to be provided for both upstream and downstream journeys. The present handling capacity of the port is about 500,000 tons per annum. It is so far technically an anchorage port; loading and unloading is overside into barges and lighters. The cargoes that pass through the port mainly include the loading of raw jute and unloading food grains, coal and salt. Therefore the lighterage system is in operation at present.

Chalna, with its excellent water connexions, and a rich jute hinterland which is densely populated, has a promising future. It is quickly proving its usefulness (see figures below) :

TABLE XLIII (a)

CHITTAGONG AND CHALNA SEA-BORNE TRADE

Period	Chittagong		Chalna
Period	Exports	Imports	Exports	Imports
1948-49	289.5	282.0	—	—
1949-50	343.6	257.8	—	—
1950-51	399.5	322.4	65.1	4.7
1951-52	518.9	545.3	215.9	27.7

Source : Statistical Bulletin, Govt. Pakistan, Karachi, Nos. 8-9, 1952, p. 572.

TABLE XLIII (b)

CHITTAGONG AND CHALNA : CARGO HANDLED, 1950-51 AND 1951-52

(thousand tons)

Period	Chittagong			Chalna			Total of two ports
Period	Foreign	Coastal	Total	Foreign	Coastal	Total	Total of two ports
IMPORTS
1950-51	888	381	1,269	—	1	1	1,270
1951-52	802	402	1,204	28	102	130	1,334
EXPORTS
1950-51	394	22	426	32	—	32	458
1951-52	416	29	445	218	—	218	663

Source : Statistical Bulletin, Govt. Pakistan, Karachi, No. 7, September 1952, p. 542.

100

The above analysis has shown that East Pakistan is far from self-contained; in fact its economy can function properly only if it can export its raw materials (mainly agricultural and associated products) and obtain in exchange a variety of manufactrued goods (both consumer and capital type) and fuels and coal. In addition, it has a food deficit (about half a million tons) and that gap must be filled by imports. Though the major trends are likely to remain as stated above, East Pakistan has to be watchful of adjustments and changes in the economy and manufacturing techinques of industrially advanced countries. Indeed, that is the position of most countries with agricultural or associated raw materials as their major exports.

Finally, the eastern and western provinces of Pakistan must acquire the habit of trading with one another. A two-way traffic in this respect is possible. For example, East Pakistan’s tea, pan leaf, betelnuts, cocoanuts, and some fruits (bananas and pineapples) should find a market in West Pakistan, and in turn this province needs appreciable quantities of cotton, gypsum, salt, food grains and temperate fruits. For this better communications and transport between Chittagong and Karachi are necessary. Recently trade between the provinces has shown a steady increase. Exports to West Pakistan include jute manufactures, tea, paper, paste-board, and spices, and East Pakistan imports cotton piece-goods, cotton twist and yarn, oilseeds, tobacco, grains, pulses and flour.

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