ABSTRACT
The whole of Bengal has, however, a common structural history and a very similar way of life based on rice. Juxtaposition to the Bay of Bengal, and the lie of the surrounding highlands, are the proximate determinants of the climate. The agriculture of Bengal is dominated by paddy and jute; in East Pakistan, rice actually exceeds the net sown areas of about 20,000,000 ac. which is 57% of the entire area–but multiple cropping brings the Total Cropped Sown Area to 86%. In Bengal the terai, which is found mainly in Jalpaiguri District, is known as the Western Duars, the 'doors' of Bhutan. On the whole the agriculture is rather more diversified than in the rest of Bengal, except in the overwhelmingly jute/paddy tract around the Tista-Brahmaputra confluence. As the 1972 reprint goes to the press the Bengal delta is once again torn by catastrophe, partly natural, but much more man-made.
