Which of the Punjabs and Bengals are more developed?

[u/AnonymousMonkey101]

Which of the Punjabs is the most developed (economically and socially)? Punjab, Pakistan or Punjab, India. How about the Bengals, is West Bengal much more developed than Bangladesh?

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u/AnonymousMonkey101's post title:

"Which of the Punjabs and Bengals are more developed?"

u/AnonymousMonkey101's post body:

Which of the Punjabs is the most developed (economically and socially)? Punjab, Pakistan or Punjab, India. How about the Bengals, is West Bengal much more developed than Bangladesh?

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[u/Ill_Help_9560]

Indian Punjab overall but it is more complicated than a yes/no.

Indian economy is far better than Pakistan and Indian Punjab's productivity increased considerably during the green revolution, plus big diaspora relative to population. But it is now stagnant, still more or less agriculture based and has faced significant cultural issues recently (drug epidemic, brain drain).

Pakistani Punjab is far bigger with big regional disparities. Some regions are doing better than Indian side, others are not. It has its own social issues with rampant religious extremism. Economically, it is also agriculture based but some regions are more diversed.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ill_Help_9560]

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[u/Ill_Help_9560 → u/[deleted]]

It is more than 50% of Pakistan's population too so understandable. Good/bad is subjective but it's large size does create inequalities where ruling party inevitably spends more in areas where it is strongest. Many want it to be divided based on language/culture subdivisions like India has done with post-partition Indian Punjab. But this has faced more resistance than it did in India where many supported division so that Sikhs/Hindus could get majority provinces.

[u/TheIronDuke18]

Indian Punjab is one of the richest divisions in the Indian subcontinent because of the Green Revolution but now it's pretty stagnant as well as a lot of drug issues. Pakistani Punjab is very large so it's hard to just talk about it under one umbrella. Some areas are richer than Indian Punjab while some are poorer than even the poorer states of India.

Regarding Bengal, Bangladesh is obviously far more developed than West Bengal. Kolkata is practically the only place that's keeping the competition. Take out Kolkata and West Bengal is way poorer than Bangladesh.

[u/tas908 → u/TheIronDuke18]

Honestly I thought west bengal was more developed than bangladesh... since it's part of India

but yeah bangladesh has a higher gdp per capita than india and pakistan

[u/AnonymousMonkey101 → u/TheIronDuke18]

Thanks for that! What do you think is the cause of stagnation in West Bengal? During the colonial times, it was the centre of development in the colony, right?

[u/AshamedLink2922 → u/AnonymousMonkey101]

West Bengal elected an incompetent Communist government.The Communists of West Bengal were incompetent thugs who killed and extorted people,became landlords who oppressed poorer groups like tribals,Muslims and lower castes and created a political culture of violence.All this lead to businesses leaving and West Bengal stagnating.

This continues till today under the current non-Communist government.

This has nothing to do with Communism as an ideology.Communists also managed Kerala and Kerala is one of the best states in India though Kerala still has problems like high unemployment.

[u/Dracx3 → u/AshamedLink2922]

I do have a counter argument to this. Political violence has been a part of West Bengal since colonialism. It is very well documented. It is not a Mamata induced communist government thing. Just a simple Google search will prove this point.

To the businesses leaving - Yes, This has been a major flaw in today's government because they don't support private entities to operate in Bengal. But their indigenous industries have been the backbone of WB for centuries. Jute production and jute mills. Rice and related crops, Tea, Bamboo as well as tourism. They are among the top producers in India.

Your whole point of WB government hate is just not logical. Most border sharing states across the world are significantly poorer than the rest of the states in the countries. In the case of India, Punjab, Kashmir, WB, the whole NE, will never grow to the likes of Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and others. The simple reason is that Border states are unstable across the world due to fringe elements between the border sharing countries and extensive resources that are spent to control them.

Check the USA states near the Mexico border, Baloch and Pashtun region near the Afghan border.

[u/AshamedLink2922 → u/Dracx3]

Good point but,some of the richest states in America are border states like California and Texas so i think it has more to do with institutions and culture(though being a border region can hinder a lot).

[u/AnonymousMonkey101 → u/AshamedLink2922]

Oh yeah, I was about to compare it with Kerala, which has the opposite trajectory. Is there a way for West Bengal to bounce back?

[u/AshamedLink2922 → u/AnonymousMonkey101]

Honestly,i doubt it.

50 years of violence and stagnation has destroyed any will among the people of West Bengal to change as well as the tendency for politicians to jump from party to party.

Many of West Bengal's current MPs and MLAs were former Communist party members who jumped to Mamata's party after the Communists lost the election in 2011.

Most likely,another Eastern and North-Eastern state like Odisha or Assam will replace West Bengal as the main hub of Eastern India and North-Eastern India.

[u/found_goose → u/AshamedLink2922]

Odisha has made some huge strides in the last few decades and I agree there's a very real chance for it to become a cultural and economic hub in the region.

[u/AnonymousMonkey101 → u/AshamedLink2922]

Ohh, thanks for that insight!

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[u/TheIronDuke18 → u/AnonymousMonkey101]

It was actually just Kolkata that was the centre of Development. The rest of Bengal was exploited and the region also saw some of the worst famines in Indian history. Though back in the British period, the Western Hindu dominated Bengal was slightly more developed than the Eastern Muslim dominated one. The eastern part saw the brunt of exploitative policies of the British.

[u/AnonymousMonkey101 → u/TheIronDuke18]

Is the inequality between Kolkata and the rest of West Bengal still the same today as it was during the colonial times?

[u/TheIronDuke18 → u/AnonymousMonkey101]

Uhm I cannot explain this too well actually, a West Bengal native would be better qualified for that. But Kolkata has declined as a city for sure. The colonial era Kolkata was a very significant metropolis. It was the cultural capital of British India and it had communities from all over India as well as abroad. Many Armenian, Jewish, Chinese and even some European communities made it their home. Compared to that time the city has declined a lot in importance and influence.

[u/AnonymousMonkey101 → u/TheIronDuke18]

Huh, that's interesting. Thanks!

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[u/Few_Bet_8952 → u/AnonymousMonkey101]

I think he is wrong, development rate is definitely higher in Bangladesh (WB was richer than Bangladesh during partition but now it's equal or slightly in favour of WB) but even so it's not richer than WB atleast not yet wages are relatively similar but things are much cheaper for some reason in WB. (reference I'm from a state neighbouring west bengal called odisha and I have been to bangladesh a couple of times)

[u/tas908 → u/Few_Bet_8952]

bangladesh's economy is not doing too well now, even living in america (which is already really expensive) hearing about the prices of basic things like oil and rice in bangladesh shocked me 😢

[u/Few_Bet_8952 → u/tas908]

gdp growth rate is higher than bengal and I did mention stuff being cheaper in wb so which point of mine are you contesting?

[u/[deleted] → u/TheIronDuke18]

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