WEST BENGAL BACKGROUND

 

 

• FROM THE 3RD CENTURY BC THE BROADER REGION OF BENGAL FORMED PART OF ASHOKA’S EMPIRE. IN THE 4TH CENTURY BC IT WAS ABSORBED INTO THE GUPTA EMPIRE. 

• FROM THE 13TH CENTURY IT WAS UNDER MUSLIM RULE UNTIL IT CAME UNDER THE BRITISH IN THE 18TH CENTURY. 

• AT INDIAN INDEPENDENCE IN 1947, BENGAL WAS PARTITIONED, THE EASTERN SECTOR BECOMING EAST PAKISTAN (LATER BANGLADESH) AND THE WESTERN SECTOR BECOMING INDIA’S WEST BENGAL. 

• ALTHOUGH IN AREA WEST BENGAL RANKS AS ONE OF THE SMALLER STATES OF INDIA, IT IS ONE OF THE LARGEST IN POPULATION WITH OVER 91 MILLION PEOPLE.

WEST BENGAL BACKGROUND

 

• WEST BENGAL  IS A STATE IN THE EASTERN REGION OF INDIA AND IS THE NATION'S FOURTH MOST POPULOUS.IT IS ALSO THE SEVENTH MOST POPULOUS SUB-NATIONAL ENTITY IN THE WORLD.

• WEST BENGAL IS THE SIXTH-LARGEST CONTRIBUTOR TO INDIA'S GDP. IT IS BORDERED BY THE COUNTRIES OF NEPAL, BHUTAN, AND BANGLADESH AND THE STATES OF ORISSA, JHARKHAND, BIHAR, SIKKIM, AND ASSAM AND HAS AN AREA OF 34,267 SQ MI (88,752 SQ KM); THE CAPITAL IS KOLKATA (CALCUTTA).

• WEST BENGAL ENCOMPASSES TWO BROAD NATURAL REGIONS, THE GANGETIC PLAIN IN THE SOUTH AND THE SUB-HIMALAYAN AND HIMALAYAN AREA IN THE NORTH.