West Bengal

West Bengal

Capital • Coordinates	Kolkata • 22.82° N 88.2° E
Largest city	Kolkata
Population (2001) • Density	80,221,171 ( 4th) • 904/km²
Area • Districts	88,752 km² ( 13th) • 18
Time zone	IST ( UTC +5:30)
Establishment • Governor • Chief Minister • Legislature (seats)	1960- 05-01 • Gopal Krishna Gandhi ( list) • Buddhadev Bhattacharya ( list) • Unicameral (295)
Official language(s)	Bengali
Website	www.wbgov.com
Abbreviation (ISO)	IN-WB
Image:WB.png Seal of West Bengal

West Bengal (পশ্চিম বঙ্গ, Pościm Bôngo) is a state in the eastern region of India.The capital of the state is Kolkata. Neighbouring regions are Nepal to the northwest, Sikkim and Bhutan to the north, Assam to the northeast, Bangladesh to the east, the Bay of Bengal to the south, Orissa to the southwest and Jharkhand and Bihar to the west.

History

For more on Bengal's history prior to 1947, see Bengal.

Bengal was ruled by the Buddhist Pala dynasty from 750 to 1161. The Palas were eclipsed by the Hindu Sena dynasty, who ruled Bengal from 1095 to 1260. Bengal came under Islamic rule starting in the 13th century, and developed into a wealthy centre of trade and industry under the Mughal Empire during the 16th century. European traders had arrived in the late 15th century and eventually the British East India Company controlled the region by the late 18th century, from which the British extended their rule over all of India.

When Indian independence was achieved in 1947, Bengal was partitioned into predominantly Hindu West Bengal and predominantly Muslim East Bengal. East Bengal later became known as East Pakistan, and became the independent nation of Bangladesh in 1971. On 2 October 1955, Chandannagar, a former enclave of French India which had passed into Indian control after 1950, was integrated into West Bengal state.

Geography

Landform of West Bengal

1. Darjeeling Himalayan Hill Region 2. Terai Region 3. North Bengal Plains 4. Rarh Region 5. Costal Plain 6. Sunderbans 7. Western Plateau and High Lands 8. Delta of River Ganga

Districts

West Bengal is composed of 19 districts ^[1] :

Often the districts north of the Ganges ie., Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda are together termed as North Bengal.

Bankura
Bardhaman
Birbhum
Cooch Behar
Darjeeling
Hooghly
Howrah
Jalpaiguri
Kolkata
Malda
Midnapore East
Midnapore West
Murshidabad
Nadia
Purulia
North 24 Parganas
South 24 Parganas
North Dinajpur
South Dinajpur

A map of the districts can be seen at the official State of West Bengal website.

Climate

The climate of West Bengal is tropical. The land is mostly plains, except for the northern region, which is a part of Himalayan Mountain Range. Darjeeling, in the north is well known for its high quality teas. At the south of West Bengal the Sundarbans delta on Ganga (aka Ganges Delta) is a part of the world's largest river delta (other portions lie in Bangladesh). This region is famous for the Bengal Tiger.

The climate of this region is controlled by the monsoon. The climate allows the weather to remain dry during the winter and wet during summer. Due to climate and soil condition for Ganges Delta, this region is highly vegetated with tropical plants and considered one of the most fertile lands in the world.

Economy

West Bengal has the third largest economy (2003-2004) in India after Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. In terms of per capita income it ranks twelfth (2003-2004). Jute is the main cash crop of this region. Together with Bangladesh (aka East Bengal), this region satisfy almost 1/3rd of the fiber needs of the world through Jute. Most players of the Jute industry of the world are concentrated in this region.

Demographics

The vast majority of the people in West Bengal are the Bengalis. Minorities of Biharis are scattered throughout the state, and Sherpa and ethnic Tibetans can be found in regions bordering Sikkim. The Nepali-speaking Gorkhas of Darjeeling district campaigned for a separate state, and have now obtained autonomy within West Bengal as the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.

Culture

Bengal is one of the most important cultural hubs of India. There was a saying by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, "What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow". It is the birthplace of India's only Nobel laureate in literature, Rabindranath Tagore. The world famous film director Satyajit Ray was also born here. He along with Bhanu Athaiya is one of only two Oscar winners from India, and won an Oscar for Life Time Achievement. Apart from this, Bengal gave birth to innumerable well known poets and writers who enriched the world literature ceaselessly. Some prominent members include Kazi Nazrul Islam, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay and Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. Also from West Bengal is the famous Indian singer in films, Kishore Kumar (a Bengali by lineage but born in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, India), as well as the world-famous sitarist Ravi Shankar.

One of the unique identifiers of Bengali Culture is Durga Puja.

Famous people

During the independence movement, Bengal took a leading and especially militant role. Subhash Chandra Bose, who was belovedly called "Netaji", is still considered an exemplar of courage for Indian youth. S. N. Bose, FRS 1958, from whom the boson particle and Bose-Einstein theory get their names, was also a Bengali. Rabindranath Tagore also won the Nobel Prize in Literature for " Gitanjali" in 1913. Amartya Sen, who won Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998 is a Bengali. Other scientists of repute from Bengal have been Jagadish Chandra Bose (FRS 1920), M. N. Saha (FRS 1927), P.C. Mahalanobis (FRS, 1945), S. K. Mitra (FRS, 1958) and Ashesh Prosad Mitra (FRS 1988), all Fellows of the Royal Society. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy was a nationalist teacher (Professor of Chemistry and the Founder of Bengal Chemicals). The noted educationist Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was known as the Tiger of Bengal. Pundit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a great reformist of Bengal. Incidentally, Raja Ram Mohan Roy is considered to be the First Modern Man of India.

In politics, Shri Ashoke Kumar Sen was among the first cabinet ministers of India, most remembered for being the Minister of Law and Justice. From independence to 1996, he was a member of parliament, holding the seat for a record number of years which is yet to be broken.

In the religious realm, Bengal gave birth to great Hindu sages and saints like Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (a 15th century major Vaishnava leader), Ramprasad Sen (a famous Kali Bhakta and poet) and Ramakrishna Paramhansa; others include Swami Vivekananda (the most renowned of Shri Ramakrishna's disciples), Śrī Aurobindo Ghosh, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, founder of the socio-spiritual organisation Ananda Marga and A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder- acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness ( ISKCON).

P. C. Sorcar was a famous magician.

Famous athletes from this state include the cricketer and former Indian Cricket Captain, Sourav Ganguly, tennis star Leander Paes, athlete Jyotirmoyee Sikdar. Former Cricketer Pankaj Roy had also been the skipper of the Indian cricket team.

Education

Calcutta has played a pioneering role in the development of the modern education system in India. Western models of education came to India through Calcutta. Many of the first schools and colleges were established by the missionaries and reformists.

Sir William Jones established the Asiatic Society in 1784 for promoting oriental studies. People like Ram Mohan Roy, David Hare, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Sir William Carey played a leading role in the setting up of modern schools and colleges in the city. The Fort William College was established in 1800. The Hindu College was established in 1817. In 1855 the Hindu College was renamed as the Presidency College.

Sir William Carey established the Serampore College, Serampore (20 km from Calcutta) in 1819. It went on to become India's first modern university in 1827 when it was incorporated by a Royal Charter as a Danish University. The Sanskrit College was established in 1828. The La Martiniere School was established in 1836. John Bethune established a school for Indian girls in 1850 at a time when women's education was frowned upon in the society.

The oldest medical school of Asia, the Calcutta Medical College was set up in 1835. In 1857 the University of Calcutta was established. It was modeled on the lines of the University of London. Today it is amongst the largest universities of India and offers one of the widest number of disciplines of study.

In 1856 technical and engineering education came with the establishment of a civil engineering college / department. This setup went through various reorganizations to finally become the Bengal Engineering College in 1921. The city's other prestigious college, the St Xavier's College, was established in 1860. In 1906, the partition of Bengal led to widespread nationalistic and anti British feelings. This led to the setting up of the National Council of Education - Bengal. This later on became the Jadavpur University in 1955. The Bethune College for girls was set up in 1879. The nation's first homeopathy college was established in the city in 1880. In 1883 Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu became the first women graduates from Calcutta University. The Science College was established in 1917. The first blind school came into being in 1925.

After independence, Calcutta continued to be in the forefront of the educational scene. The Government Art College was established in 1951.The Rabindra Bharati University was estabished in 1962. This university offers courses in the fine and performing arts. The Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM) was set up in 1953 as the country's first management institute.

The famous Indian Institute of Technology was set up at Kharagpur about 120 km from Calcutta. This is the oldest IIT among the six national IITs today.

The prestigious Indian Institute of Management was set up in 1961 at Joka. It was the first national institute for post-graduate studies and research in management sciences. It was established with the help of the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management and the Ford Foundation.

Major universities

University of Calcutta (CU)
Main Article: University of Calcutta

Formally established on 24 January 1857, the University of Calcutta (also known as Calcutta University) was the first modern university in the Indian subcontinent. It has its main campuses in College Street, Rajabazar, Alipore and a host of affiliated colleges in greater Calcutta.

Official Website : [2]

Jadavpur University (JU)
Main Article: Jadavpur University

Jadavpur University (JU) is a premier educational and research institution in India.

It is located in Kolkata, West Bengal and comprises two campuses — the main campus at Jadavpur and the new campus at Salt Lake. Four specialized institutes are affiliated to Jadavpur University:

Jadavpur Vidyapith College of Education
Institute of Business Management
Shrimati J. D. Birla Institute
Marine Engineering and Research Institute.

Jadavpur University is also closely affiliated to leading research institutes like the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science and the Central Glass and Ceramics Research Institute.

Rabindra Bharati University

Of the five Universities that the city of Kolkata can boast of till now, Rabindra Bharati University is the third to come into existence. It was founded on May 8, 1962, under the Rabindra Bharati Act of the Government of West Bengal, 1961, to mark the birth centenary of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, in whose ancestral residence it found its first seat and where two of the three faculties of the University, those of Fine Arts and Visual Arts, are still located. With the eventual expansion of the University, the Faculty of Arts was added to its academic base in 1976 and a new campus on 56A, B. T. Road, Kolkata-50 was requisitioned to house it. This new campus has also a Tagore connection. Harakumar Tagore, the poet’s uncle, built a mansion called the Emerald Bower, and this building and its parklands, later acquired by the Government of West Bengal, finally became a complex of academic institutions among which this University has the central and larger share. The main administrative office is also situated at the Emerald Bower Campus.

The University was reconstituted in 1981 by the Rabindra Bharati Act, 1981.

Major cities of West Bengal

Kolkata- Previously known as Calcutta, is the capital of the state and the second largest city in India and among the largest in the world.
Siliguri - Located in North Bengal, one of the most important business hubs in the state and the entire north-eastern region of India.
Asansol - The industrial city is known for its famous iron and steel works and the locomotive works at Chittaranjan.
Durgapur - The commercial capital of the Bengal Ruhr, a large industrial city with very well laid out roads and townships.
Burdwan - The headquarters of Burdwan district and centre of a historical kingdom.
Haldia - The next biggest thing of the state industrially. Home to major petrochemical houses, it is set to become the most important port in the region.
Kharagpur - Home to the first Indian Institute of Technology or IIT as it is known globally. Also has the longest railway platform in the world in its railway station, and a major air force base nearby, Kharagpur is all these and more.
Bishnupur The famous temple-town of West Bengal.

Also see Cities and towns in West Bengal