Synopsis This book provides a statistical framework for the study of agricultural trends, peasant indebtedness and asset transfer in the predominantly paddy-growing districts of undivided Bengal for the first four decades of the 20 century. The study also shows how demographic pressures and ecological changes had made agriculture nearly unsustainable in the old deltaic regions of the province, and the jotedar-creditor with his stake in grain trade squeezed out whatever surplus the peasant could generate. The primary objective of this discourse is to focus on the conditions of small peasants who were involved in involuntary exchange unleashed by forced commerce.