Underdevelopment of the Underdeveloped: Changing Perspective of the Chain Community in West Bengal

Abstract

The Chains are a highly undeveloped and a little-known ethnic community of India. The community may also be found in Bangladesh and Nepal too. In India, they are settled in states such as West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

In West Bengal, the Chain community lives in the districts of Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, North and South Dinajpur, Birbhum, Burdwan and Midnapore. Malda has the largest Chain population not only in West Bengal, but also in the country. Total population of the Chain community in West Bengal is estimated at about 25 lakhs.  The Chains usually live on the bank of the River Ganges or some other rivers as before and naturally far, far away from the urban areas. They might also be found today settled in large number in some rural areas far away from rivers. Most probably, such areas must have been located on or near the riverside at the time of their being settled and their present position is to be attributed to the change in the courses of the rivers. In West Bengal, the Chains, popularly known as Chain-Mandal, belong to the scheduled caste¹ category in four districts and to the category of depressed backward class in the other districts.