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Synopsis West Bengal is a state in Eastern India, which occupies only 2.7 percent of the total area of the country. It supports over 7.8 percent Indian population, and is the most densely populated state in India seventy-two percent of the state's population lives in villages. West Bengal has some interesting similarities with Kerala in that the two are the most densely populated states of India having a long tradition of emphasis on education and a long period of rule by leftist-oriented political parties. Both these states can take pride in successfully fostering land reforms and revitalizing the democratic institutions at village levels. West Bengal fails to grab the attention to the demographers as it occupies an ambiguous geographical position in the so-called north-south analytical dichotomy in studies of India and it does not portray the starkly the extreme demographic regimes of Kerala or Bihar. Being mediocre in stature, it always maintains a low profile in demographic studies. Unlike the fertility transition of Bangladesh, which is one of the most intensively studied phenomena in the contemporary world, not many studies have been conducted on West Bengal to document its various demographic facets. This collection of studies entitled, People of Contemporary West Bengal", edited by Dipak Kumar Adak, Aparajita Chattopadhyay and Premananda Bharati at the Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata, Banaras Hindu University, Banaras and Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata attempts to answer some of the questions of the population of contemporary West Bengal. The studies are based on large-scale survey data, relating to tribals and nontribals in the state and also case study and also focus group types of data. This book has incorporated articles with varied themes. Renowned and experienced scholars from different fields have contributed their thought-provoking writings on different aspects of the people of West Bengal. Not only the scholars and academicians but the planners, administrators and the general readers will find this book interesting, important and very useful.