Another Bangladesh emerging from Bay of Bengal.

[Nilgiri]

I am ignoring your comments on former Pakistan and current BD as most of it is inaccurate.

Uh huh. Urdu being forced upon eastern wing did not have any effect on unity of pre-1971 pakistan?

Why would an even larger country like India follow in those footsteps....we know what model is strong and sustainable for us....certainly dont need a country that had 3 million of its people killed tell us about what makes a country and what doesn't.

The US is not exactly the poster-boy for multiculturism with white cops shooting blacks and blacks shooting white cops in retaliation. It's rapidly growing Hispanic population will add another element that will cripple and eventually destroy what made US powerful.

OK seems you just have issues with larger more successful and relevant countries than puny Bangladesh.

Yes we get that you feel anger each time someone scratches their head when you introduce yourself as Bangladeshi (same thing the bangladeshi restaurant owners faced...leading them to use the title Indian restaurant)....but dont expect this jealousy and anger to convert in realpolitik.

Bangladesh ranks much lower than India in democracy index, stability index and fragility index and many others.

Your institutions suck and are totally untrustworthy, you had 3 million of your people killed because of concept of imposed sole identity , your current leader is remote controlled from Delhi prompting countrymen of yours to call Gulshan terror incident as an "enlightened resistance"..... and you still have the audacity to say the US and India will break up.

As for you defending India to the core, you would of course. You were unfortunate to be born into an anomaly that is India and have no real identity in this world. How do you answer the question of what is an Indian? You cannot as it is an artificial construct borne out of hundreds of years of Muslim and then British colonialism. I really pity Indians, I really do.

We really care about what some useless angry and frustrated Bangladeshi thinks about Indian identity and stability?

You have to wake up each day knowing that Bangladesh existence is only there because of India.

Each time you say any day of the week in Bengali, you propitiate to a Hindu god..and you call into question the identity of the country where this came from?

We don't even have pity for you. You are absolutely nothing to us except use and discard as needed.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Do you not find it odd that India does not have a national language? One Indian is not able to talk to another unless they know a common foreign language such as English.

I dont blame you for thinking like this as you were born into a union called India, but it is out of place in this world of nation states.

Do not project your upbringing/cultural persuasions/cognative limitations on people from an entirely different nation/thought process. Instead of differences dividing the nation, they are embraced and seen as a strength. I have heard many Indians brag about being one despite the language/culture changing every 150kms.

The vast majority of Indians take pride in "unity through diversity", many people thought as you did before and just after partition and yet here India is, celebrating its 70th birthday as the fastest growing economy in the world as intact as it was 69 years ago meanwhile all around it have fought civil wars, crumbled (East-West Pakistan split) and struggled with dictatorships.

So perhaps it makes sense to consider India unique and apart from the other examples you may use.

I believe that India's success lays in its democratic core. Whilst almost every other nation in the region has failed to fully implement/embrace democracy, India has not faced a single coup (or even attempted coup) and annually allows for hundreds of millions of voters to engage in the a fully transparent, fair and trusted democratic process. When there is no trust in the establishment and no peaceful outlet (elections) then violence is the only logical resort (as witnessed across S.Asia).

Sure, India is not without its (considerable faults) but it is doing better than many would have ever thought possible.

As for you defending India to the core, you would of course. You were unfortunate to be born into an anomaly that is India and have no real identity in this world. How do you answer the question of what is an Indian? You cannot as it is an artificial construct borne out of hundreds of years of Muslim and then British colonialism. I really pity Indians, I really do.

This is a comprehension issue on your part and you are projecting your ignorance on others, because YOU don't understand what it is to be an Indian doesn't mean Indians don't know what it is to be Indian.

It's funny how few people I see being proud of being Bangledeshi in the UK (some even claim to be Indians- in the case of some businesses) and yet you will never find it hard to locate Indians (of every relgion, region, state etc) proudly celebrating themselves as such.

 

[Joe Shearer]

The Ganga–Brahmaputra rivers contribute nearly 1000 million tons of sediment every year. Now, how many years it will take to fill an area, 20 km x 5 km = 100 sq. km of low land with a 4 meter thick silt? The volume is, (100 sq. km x 1000 m x 1000 m) x 4 m thick = 400,000,000 m3. Unit weight of soil being 1.6 t/m3, the total weight of this volume becomes, (400,000,000m3 x 1.6)= 640 million tons.

Now, how many years it will take to fill the area of 100 km2 with a 4 m thick silt. Divide 640 million tons by 1000 million tons. The result is, (640/1000)= less than 1 year. BD can reclaim 1000 km2 of land and raise it to above 4 m higher than the MSL every ten years.

We thank the generosity of India for sending us 1000 million tons of silt gift to our country every year. In reality, India helped BD accumulate more sediments within the land mass after it built that Farakka. The construction slowed down the velocity of water that caused less sediments into the BoB and more sediments within BD river/land system. So, Farakka has another Bumerang effect on India. BD is rising higher every year when Indians everywhere are praying in earnest for its demise by an assumed submergence of Bangladesh by tidal waves from the BoB.

Viva Bangladesh!!!

Just think through what you have written.

Are you aware of what will happen if the present-day Bangladesh rises another few feet? Are you aware that the Meghna-Padma became the main channel of the Ganges-Brahmaputra combined only as late as Mughal times, and that is what led to the opening up of the Bangladesh interior? Think for a moment about this being gradually reversed.

 

[danger007]

True,at least we got billion tons of river sediment,which we can use to cross dam the sea if situation ever compel us.But west Bengal got nothing.It is as low lying as Bangladesh.So if ever sea level rise threatened coastal areas,it will be West Bengal submerge first including @Rain Man 's home in kolkata. Kolkata is at the same level as Khulna,a southern city in Bangladesh.

but i fpund this article..



http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN0Z022C

 

[kobiraaz]

but i fpund this article..



http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN0Z022C

That is a natural process and We have been living with this for thousand of years. Common Bengali aphorism " One side of the bank erodes away, another side of the bank forms" .

Formation of Lands - erosion of Lands = 16 sq km a year. I hope you get the math.

 

[dray]

I really pity Indians, I really do.

Do you really think that any Indian would care for your pity? There is an expression in internet lingo; 'nobody gives a flying fart'.

India is an ancient civilizational entity, we don't count our unity on the basis of how many languages we speak in common, we don't even believe in petty nationalism based on language and religion. Our 'Unity in diversity' is not just for saying, we strongly believe in it and take pride in it, it's our diversity that makes us more adaptable, broadminded, and successful compared to some of our neighbours. We may follow 10 different religions and 30 different languages, but we think like one, we feel like one, and we all take pride in what we are..Indians.

It will be difficult for you to comprehend, frog of a well can never comprehend the vastness of seas, and I fully empathize with you for that.

 

[extra terrestrial]

Too much govt involvement should not be solicited. The foreign country you are talking about is Netherlands and the process they are trying to reclaim a submerged or underwater area by a method is called 'Polder.' Only the Dutch people possess the expertise in this field, and they are helping our country by directing our people to do how to do the job. We should appreciate they are spending their own money on these projects.

Netherlands is just involved with the land reclamation project which is just one component of the larger Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100. The firms I am talking about are based in US, UK etc. who will be coordinating the entire project of the Delta Plan... This could have several implications. It's a long term project, covering some 30-50 years... Of course, foreign technology is always welcome but when it comes to environment and adaptation, the locals are always the most knowledgeable...

About the money part, I'm not sure if those foreign firms are investing their own money here... The government has formed the Climate Change Fund which is the main source of funding for the project, of course with contributions from the donors...

 

[extra terrestrial]

even if Bengal sinks with Bangladesh; we will still have our country, Bangladesh on the other hand would cease to exist as a country.

people have right to maintain their identity the way they see fit... the federal structure guarantees such aspirations will be respected.
We are a country of countries, it has always been, even a strong man like Modi is a federalist, this is only going to gather pace with more % of money being shared with states.
This is why punjabis dominating bengalis is a laughable idea for most bengalis...
The rich states have always shared more part of their income with poor states, thats how the union works.

Plenty of areas for Bengalis to assimilate in to racially or whatever...beyond Punjabis who are like 1% of the total population of India...if you feel they are more racist or something.

Some of the posts here have instigated an interesting debate here... Human displacement and migration is going to be one of the biggest implications of Climate Change...

Now what we are discussing here is, if West Bengal becomes inhabitable due to Climate Change, people living in the area could always migrate to the other parts of India without any resistance - I don't agree.

Presently, what we see is that, the emigrants from West Bengal mainly settle in the large cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and others. These cities are obviously supposed to be cosmopolitan, just like any other large cities in any part of the world. Hence, the Bengalis from WB don't find it difficult to integrate in such cities which are culturally (in some cases racially) far off from their native place. However, if mass migration happens, these cities will be overwhelmed to accommodate them and eventually the people will start settling in small towns or even villages in those states. That's when the problem will arise because such small towns or villages are not cosmopolitan like those large cities. Likewise, there will be ethnic riots and conflicts because of the migration from West Bengal.

We can also look at the recent history to get a clue. During the British Raj era, the British promoted mass migration of Bengalis into Assam for agricultural purposes which was sparsely populated. Even in this day, these Bengalis find it hard to get assimilated there. Assam has a notorious history of deadly ethnic conflicts targeting these Bengalis. A notable case is Bongal Kheda where hundreds of thousands of Bengalis were victims of ethnic cleansing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bongal_Kheda

This ethnic violence also spilled over to neighboring states, including Tripura where the Mandai massacre took place, killing at least 350 Bengali Hindus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandai_massacre

Note that culturally and racially, Assam and Tripura are the closest to West Bengal among all the states in India. When these two states couldn't tolerate such mass migration of Bengalis, I'm not sure if other states would be comfortable in such an event...

 

[livingdead]

Some of the posts here have instigated an interesting debate here... Human displacement and migration is going to be one of the biggest implications of Climate Change...

Now what we are discussing here is, if West Bengal becomes inhabitable due to Climate Change, people living in the area could always migrate to the other parts of India without any resistance - I don't agree.

Presently, what we see is that, the emigrants from West Bengal mainly settle in the large cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and others. These cities are obviously supposed to be cosmopolitan, just like any other large cities in any part of the world. Hence, the Bengalis from WB don't find it difficult to integrate in such cities which are culturally (in some cases racially) far off from their native place. However, if mass migration happens, these cities will be overwhelmed to accommodate them and eventually the people will start settling in small towns or even villages in those states. That's when the problem will arise because such small towns or villages are not cosmopolitan like those large cities. Likewise, there will be ethnic riots and conflicts because of the migration from West Bengal.

We can also look at the recent history to get a clue. During the British Raj era, the British promoted mass migration of Bengalis into Assam for agricultural purposes which was sparsely populated. Even in this day, these Bengalis find it hard to get assimilated there. Assam has a notorious history of deadly ethnic conflicts targeting these Bengalis. A notable case is Bongal Kheda where hundreds of thousands of Bengalis were victims of ethnic cleansing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bongal_Kheda

This ethnic violence also spilled over to neighboring states, including Tripura where the Mandai massacre took place, killing at least 350 Bengali Hindus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandai_massacre

Note that culturally and racially, Assam and Tripura are the closest to West Bengal among all the states in India. When these two states couldn't tolerate such mass migration of Bengalis, I'm not sure if other states would be comfortable in such an event...

there is already anti outsider feeling by a section of marathi people in mumbai.. but the bengali migration is due to lack of jobs.... marathis dont migrate in hordes to kolkata for example..
you are assuming bengal will always be like this...

 

[extra terrestrial]

there is already anti outsider feeling by a section of marathi people in mumbai.. but the bengali migration is due to lack of jobs.... marathis dont migrate in hordes to kolkata for example..
you are assuming bengal will always be like this...

You didn't get my post... I'm not talking about economic migrants rather environmental migrants. We are discussing a hypothetical scenario when West Bengal becomes completely inhabitable due to Climate Change, triggering mass migration to other parts of India...

 

[UKBengali]

Do you really think that any Indian would care for your pity? There is an expression in internet lingo; 'nobody gives a flying fart'.

India is an ancient civilizational entity, we don't count our unity on the basis of how many languages we speak in common, we don't even believe in petty nationalism based on language and religion. Our 'Unity in diversity' is not just for saying, we strongly believe in it and take pride in it, it's our diversity that makes us more adaptable, broadminded, and successful compared to some of our neighbours. We may follow 10 different religions and 30 different languages, but we think like one, we feel like one, and we all take pride in what we are..Indians.

It will be difficult for you to comprehend, frog of a well can never comprehend the vastness of seas, and I fully empathize with you for that.

"but we think like one, we feel like one"

 

[livingdead]

You didn't get my post... I'm not talking about economic migrants rather environmental migrants. We are discussing a hypothetical scenario when West Bengal becomes completely inhabitable due to Climate Change, triggering mass migration to other parts of India...

well.. in that case they will be internally displaced and people(especially poor) will not like lot of people coming and taking their jobs... and yes riots will be very much possible.

 

[extra terrestrial]

well.. in that case they will be internally displaced and people(especially poor) will not like lot of people coming and taking their jobs... and yes riots will be very much possible.

That's what I'm arguing. According to most of the Climate Change experts, environmental refugees will be the dominating feature of global migration in near future, unlike today where the refugees resulting from war and conflicts feature most prominently...

But since it's inevitable as mass migration or internal displacement will happen in near future, what is the Indian government doing to tackle the issue? Is there any awareness programs so that the people become accommodating to the migrants?

 

[Nilgiri]

Presently, what we see is that, the emigrants from West Bengal mainly settle in the large cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and others. These cities are obviously supposed to be cosmopolitan, just like any other large cities in any part of the world. Hence, the Bengalis from WB don't find it difficult to integrate in such cities which are culturally (in some cases racially) far off from their native place. However, if mass migration happens, these cities will be overwhelmed to accommodate them and eventually the people will start settling in small towns or even villages in those states. That's when the problem will arise because such small towns or villages are not cosmopolitan like those large cities. Likewise, there will be ethnic riots and conflicts because of the migration from West Bengal.

Dude, its not going to be happening in a time frame of years but rather decades. Plenty of time for smart city India to kick in in a big way and city crunch pressure to be mitigated to take in such levels of migration....not to mention the many tier II and tier III cities that will be swelling with development at that point too.

 

[extra terrestrial]

Dude, its not going to be happening in a time frame of years but rather decades. Plenty of time for smart city India to kick in in a big way and city crunch pressure to be mitigated to take in such levels of migration....not to mention the many tier II and tier III cities that will be swelling with development at that point too.

Urbanization and infrastructure development will always be there but they are not the answer. Those smart cities or tier II, III cities won't be as cosmopolitan as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore or other big cities currently existing... The mindset of the people is the main issue here...

Also, since, we are talking about West Bengal here, it's a state of about 100 million people, that's pretty large...