Questioning the idea of development understood today, the articles emphasise issues like development for whom and who gains by the development. Covering the colonial period as well as independent India, they are concerned with the impact of development on tribal people, the environment, women, education and demography from the socio-economic and historical perspectives. Using maps, tables, charts and diagrams, they delve into development-related displacement and movement, impact of colonised policies on environment and the indigenous response, human trafficking, education in district under the Bengali tea planters in the twentieth century and the refugees and population after partition. Analysing the history of laws and policies in India and their impact on tribals, they also take up rights of forest dwellers and role of the governmental employment schemes MGNREGA to empower women in rural places.