The vast area of eastern India comprising West Bengal, Bangladesh, Tripura and Assam has a distinctive climate which is hot and humid. Because of the proximity to the sea, the cold and heat is not extreme, yet there is some difference between the climate of the eastern and western parts. The climate of the western part is comparatively hot and dry, and the temperature reaches 120 degrees Fahrenheit in summer, but in winter it comes down to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. The climate of the eastern part, that is, Tripura and Assam, is comparatively wet and humid. The amount of average rainfall in the Ráŕh area in the western region varies from 50 to 55 inches, whereas the rainfall in the eastern part, in Assam and Meghalaya, is 508 inches. In the north, in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, the amount of rainfall is 120 inches per year. In the Sundarban area in the south, the average rainfall is 100 inches. As the southeastern monsoon moves west it lashes the Himalayas, causing rainfall in Assam, Tripura, Bangladesh, West Bengal, Ráŕh and Bihar, but the more it proceeds westward, the more the moisture in the air decreases.

The geographical environment largely controls and influences the food habits, dress, daily activities and behaviour of the local population. The local climate even controls the moods and sentiments, ethnic characteristics and social habits of the people. People who live in humid climates tend to be less active than the inhabitants of a comparatively dry area. The humidity and heat in the climate together bring down the level of activity of the local inhabitants, and make them somewhat averse to physical labour.

By applying this principle, one will discover that the more one proceeds towards the west of India, and the amount of the humidity decreases, the more the inhabitants become active and proficient. A dry climate increases the working power of the inhabitants, and this is the reason why the people of western India are physically more industrious than the inhabitants of eastern India.

The Punjab is the westernmost state of India, and Assam is the easternmost state. With respect to humidity and dryness, there is a tremendous difference in the climate of these two regions. The climatic differences have brought about differences in the food habits, clothing, social customs and characteristics of the people. The Punjabis of the westernmost part of India live in the driest climate and are physically more active and tire less easily than the people of the other states, whereas the Assamese, living in the humid and wet regions of eastern India, are much less active and more lethargic than the people in the rest of the country. This is why the Punjabis find it easy to settle in any part of India, but the people of eastern India find it difficult to settle down and labour hard in the dry regions of the west. The people of the east cannot adjust and compete physically with the more industrious population of the west.

This is also the reason why the refugees from East Bengal who settled in India after partition could not successfully adjust with the hot and dry climate of Dandyakaranya in Madhya Pradesh. Of course, their inability to adjust also had an economic cause, because they were not provided with an adequate means of livelihood. In comparison, the East Bengal refugees who settled in Assam, Meghalaya and the Andaman Islands easily adjusted with the local environment. The main reason for this was that the refugees in these areas readily adapted to the local climate. The refugees who settled in Dandyakaranya are still regarded as a floating population, whereas those in the eastern states – Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur – are permanently settled. They have cleared the land in certain areas, constructed villages and developed stable means of livelihood.

The East Wet theory of population provides the natural and scientific solution to the refugee problem, because according to this theory the people can take full advantage of the local climatic conditions. The East Bengal refugees who settled in eastern India were able to utilize their working capacity, and they established permanent homes in the eastern regions. They totally identified with the economic interests of the local population who were already settled there. To try and dislodge them would not only be unscientific, but also inhuman.

The Congress leaders, on the eve of the partition of Bengal, repeatedly promised the minority community of East Bengal that they could settle in any part of India. The East Bengal minorities believed these promises and accepted the partition of Bengal. Now an agitation is going on in Assam to try and expel the East Bengal refugees who settled there. The central government should adhere to its original promise and negotiate with the Assamese agitators to ensure the welfare of the refugees who settled in Assam.

Most of the refugees who settled in Nadia and 24 Parganas districts in Bengal have become the permanent residents of these areas. They have had no difficulty whatsoever in utilizing their physical capacities, because they are the members of almost the same physico-socio-economic zone and enjoy the congenial atmosphere of the local climate. However, some of the refugees who settled in 24 Parganas are still a floating population even now, because sufficient means of livelihood has so far not been made available to them.

The psychological defect of a floating population is this – the people fail to accept a new locality as their own home, so they cannot forget the land they left behind. This is the reason why the speed of their socio-economic integration and progress is slower than that of the local people.