WEST BENGAL

state of India. It is located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bounded on the north by Bhutan and the state of Sikkim, on the east by Bangladesh, on the northeast by the state of Assam, on the south by the Bay of Bengal, on the southwest by the state of Orissa, on the northwest by Nepal, and on the west by the state of Bihar. Its area is 34,267 square miles (88,752 square kilometres). Although in area West Bengal ranks as one of the smaller states of India, it is one of the largest in population. The capital is Calcutta, India's second largest city. West Bengal has a peculiar configuration; its breadth varies from 200 miles (320 kilometres) at one point to hardly 10 miles at another. It is of particular strategic importance to India's defense. The 1,350-mile-long frontier with Bangladesh, neither natural nor well defined, is a perennial source of tension. constituent state of India, situated in the northeastern part of the country. It is bounded on the north by Bhutan and the state of Sikkim, on the east by Bangladesh and the state of Assam, on the south by the Bay of Bengal, on the southwest by the state of Orissa, and on the west by Nepal and the state of Bihar. Its 1,350-mile- (2,170-kilometre-) long frontier with Bangladesh and its separation from China only by the buffer states of Bhutan and Nepal are perennial sources of tension in West Bengal. Its capital, Calcutta, is one of the largest cities in India. West Bengal's early and intellectually productive contact with the West and with other parts of India is one of the most significant factors affecting the history of the state. The other was its partition into Muslim East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) and the Hindu Indian state of Bengal in 1947. Partition left the new state with ill-defined boundaries and a constant flow of non-Muslim refugees from East Pakistan. In 1950 the princely state of Cooch Behar was integrated with West Bengal, and in 1954 the former French enclave of Chandernagore was transferred to the state. After the reorganization of Indian states on linguistic lines in 1956, West Bengal gained 3,157 square miles (8,200 square km) from Bihar. The new land provided a link between the northern and southern parts of the state, which had been separated. West Bengal has a peculiar configuration; its breadth varies from 200 miles (320 km) at one point to hardly 10 miles (16 km) at another. Physiographically, West Bengal may be broadly divided into two natural regionsthe Gangetic Plain in the south and the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan area in the north. The Gangetic Plain in West Bengal consists of the westernmost part of the great Ganges River delta, most of which lies in Bangladesh. The plain has many marshes and shallow lakes and is underlain entirely by deep alluvial soil that, when adequately drained, forms rich farmland. The plain is the state's largest and most populous region. The elevation of the area slowly increases toward the west. The sub-Himalayan tract (known as the Duars, or Terai) consists of low land. From the Duars, the Himalayan mountain ranges rise abruptly along the northern boundary of the state. Mount Kanchenjunga, with adjacent high peaks in Sikkim, dominates the landscape in northern West Bengal, and on a clear day Mount Everest can be seen in the distance. The climate in the plains is tropical, with high humidity and moderately high temperature. The annual rainfall varies in the sub-Himalayan region between 150 and 210 inches (3,810 and 5,330 mm) and in the plains between 45 and 75 inches (1,140 and 1,900 mm). There are three seasons: hot and dry (March to early June), hot and wet (mid-June to September), and cool (October to February). During the hot and wet season, rain-bearing monsoon winds blow from the southwest. West Bengal contains about 40 recognized communities of tribesthe better known among them being the Santals, Oraons, Mundas, Lepchas, and Bhutiasthat make up less than one-tenth of the total population. Bengali is the language of most of the people, with Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, and English as minority languages. English, however, is the language of administration and a lingua franca for business purposes. Nearly four out of five inhabitants are Hindus and the rest Muslims, with tiny minorities of Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs. Three-quarters of the people live in villages, with the remaining one-quarter living in urban areas. About one-sixth reside in greater Calcutta. There are about a dozen West Bengal cities (including Calcutta) with populations of more than 100,000, and West Bengal has four zones of conurbation developed in association with industrial complexes. Of the working population, more than one-half are engaged in agriculture as either cultivators or labourers. Rice is the most important crop on the plains, where farmers also raise jute, leguminous plants, oilseeds, corn (maize), wheat, barley, sugarcane, vegetables, and some tropical fruits. West Bengal's tea plantations account for much of India's tea production. The state produces a significant amount of India's total value of mineral output, including coal (there are extensive deposits near the Bihar border), dolomite, limestone, and china clay. It has steel plants, an automobile-manufacturing plant, and numerous chemical, machinery-building, and light-engineering industries. The state enjoys better-than-average road, rail, and water transportation systems. Frequent air service connects Baghdogra in the north to Calcutta in the south. Calcutta's international airport accommodates jet aircraft from around the world, and its harbour handles some of India's commerce. The area has always fostered literature, art, music, and drama, and it has produced a Nobel Prizewinning poet, Rabindranath Tagore. The theatre is popular, and both amateur and professional performances are quite sophisticated. Yatras, traditional open-air performances, are popular in the countryside, along with kavi, an impromptu duel in musical verse between village poets. Traditional music takes the form of devotional and cultural songs. The kathakata, a religious recital based on folklore, is another traditional form of rural entertainment. Films offer yet another type of popular diversion, and Bengali productions have earned national and international awards. West Bengal has universities offering degrees in arts and sciences, engineering, and various technological fields; there are also numerous technical institutes. In Calcutta, the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, the Bose Research Institute, and the science laboratories of the University of Calcutta have made notable contributions to scientific knowledge. The Asiatic Society of Bengal, which was the best-known Oriental historical-research body in the 19th century, is located in West Bengal. Visva-Bharati University, founded by Tagore in Santiniketan, is a world-famous centre for the study of Indology and international cultural relations. Area 34,267 square miles (88,752 square km). Pop. (1991) 68,077,965. Additional reading Sachindra Lal Ghosh, West Bengal (1978), provides an overview. S.N. Chatterjee, Poverty, Inequality, & Circulation of Agricultural Labour (1991); and Sachi G. Dastidar and Shefali S. Dastidar, Regional Disparities and Regional Development Planning of West Bengal (1991), examine the important theme of overcoming poverty through industrial and economic development. Morton Klass, From Field to Factory: Community Structure and Industrialization in West Bengal (1978); and Sukla Sen and Jyotirmoy Sen, Evolution of Rural Settlements in West Bengal, 18501985 (1989), are both sociological studies. Robert E. Huke