The papers in this book show that the state intervenes in the development process according to its own predilections, depending on the interests and views of those who dominate the state. Ruling elites may have different priorities, as is revealed very clearly in the different policies adopted in Bengal under the colonial state, the state of Pakistan, the state of Bangladesh and the Left Front government of West Bengal. These policies had a differential impact on various communities, Hindus and Muslims, higher castes and lower castes, Bengalis and non-Bengalis and often on different sections within each community.