Evolution Of Rural Settlements In West Bengal 18501985: (A Case Study)

The Alteration Of The Physical Condition Of A Region Through Natural Processes Forces Men To Give Up Their Age-Old Occupations And To Take Up New Ones. This Is Followed By A Corresponding Redistribution Of Population. The Latter Phenomenon Is Also Motivated By A Change In The Economy Of The Region, Through A Change In The Mode Of Production. It Is Needless To Say That Rivers Are Of Vital Importance In A Deltaic Land Of Their Own Creation. The Rivers Of The Bengal Delta Were Responsible For A Particular Form Of Economy Of Her People Who Concentrated Along The Banks Of The Rivers. But Deterioration Of The River Channels Coupled With Human Interference Brought In A Number Of Problems Including Agricultural Decline, Beginning Of Malaria Fever, Periodic Growth And Decay Of Population And Tendency Of Clustering Of Population Away From River Banks To Sites Along Railways And Roads. The Moribund Ganga Delta Was Selected For The Study Due To Its Very Special Settlement Problems. In This Moribund Ganga Delta When The Land-Building Activity Of The Rivers Ceased, There Set In A Period Of Physical Stagnation, A Period Of Transition Witnessed The Worsening Of The Salubrious Climate With Consequent Downward Trend In Population Density And Decline In Agriculture In Comparison To Earlier Periods (Pre-1850S). After The Lapse Of A Century, The Study Area Suddenly Experienced A Cataclysmic Increase Of Population Which Are Not Due To Any Improvement In Ecological Situation, But Owing To Mass Immigration From The Then East Pakistan (Bangladesh), Which Was Followed By A Larger Cropped Area And Other Manifestations Of Economic Development In Post-Independence Period.