Subject(s): Poor -- Economic policy -- West bengal -- Agriculture and population -- Poverty in India -- Construction of poverty in nineteenth century Britain and 20th century India : Measurement and morality- Charles Both and Joseph Rowntree, solutions to poverty and regulation of poor, poverty measurement in India, contemporary poverty measurement and poverty line language, construction of poor in contemporary political science -- Dimension of human agency : Entitlement and capability theory as an alternative to poverty measurement, people's history and agency, E.P Thompson, Thompson and moral economy theory, understanding poor people's priorities and knowledge, perspective of poor from contemporary south Asia -- West Bengal- case study area : geography, agriculture and population in Bengal and west Bengal, historical and political background to Bengal and west Bengal, agrarian structure in west Bengal, politics and agrarian reform in west Bengal -- Villages and study : Land operation and employment in three villages, economic categorization -- Agricultural development and land reform in study villages : Green revolution in south Asia, cropping pattern and adoption rates in boro crop seasons, benefits to landless and perceptions of poor, social change and green revolution, land reform in Midnapore case study villages -- Surviving against the odds in case study villages- everyday strategies and priorities : Access to natural resources base and common property resources, sharerearing of livestock -- poorest people and politics, exploitation, violence and organization, poorest peoples views of rich and poor and cause of their poverty -- Death in poorest households -- Poverty and rural development, poor people's experience, poverty, ideology and policy making, poverty and public action