ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the agricultural development in Bengal during the late colonial period and raises the question of whether the development there can be considered sustainable growth or not. While observing a steady population growth at least from the late nineteenth century and the progress of land and agricultural development under the upward trend of agricultural prices during the period, the author notices the continued calamities caused by periodic cyclones, tidal waves, and epidemics in the area. The development was also accompanied by the excessive exploitation of the forests until the colonial government tried to place them under control with the creation of reserved forests. The reclamation processes created a layered structure of the agrarian society at the end. With the development of the market economy facilitated by the rice trade, which connected the area with Calcutta market and beyond, the reclaimed area came to occupy critical importance for the economic growth in Bengal and beyond. Thus said, the author argues that the development process of the studied case cannot be deemed sustainable as it was accompanied by ‘the list of negative sides of development’ with ‘excessive stress on particular human, social and material elements.’
