[135] The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, part of NFR, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As per the report published by the Census of India on 31st Mar., 2011, the state of West Bengal has got a total population of 91, 347, 736. West Bengal Population 2021 Census : West Bengal is a state situated in the eastern part of India, which shares its international border with Bangladesh, apart from Nepal and Bhutan. Hinduism is the largest religious tradition in West Bengal with 70.54% of the population identifying themselves as Hindus (as per Census 2011). Bengal has been in the vanguard of modernism in fine arts. [195] Most of the people also consume eggs, chicken, mutton, and shrimp. [199][200], Bengali women commonly wear the sari, often distinctly designed according to local cultural customs. West Bengal has a conviction rate of 5.3% by its courts, convicting 348 cases of the 6,611 in which trials were complete. Apart from this, many such hospitals are being built in which only Muslims will be treated. West Bengal politics underwent a major change when the Left Front won the 1977 assembly election, defeating the incumbent Indian National Congress. Post independence, West Bengal's economy is based on agricultural production and small and medium-sized enterprises. [51] Bengal suffered from the Great Bengal famine in 1943, which claimed three million lives during World War II. [63][64][65] The state has shown improvement regarding bandhs (strikes)[66][67][68] and educational infrastructure. [94] The alluvial soil of the Gangetic plain, combined with favourable rainfall, makes this region especially fertile. [90] Extant wildlife includes Indian rhinoceros, Indian elephant, deer, leopard, gaur, tiger and crocodiles, as well as many bird species. The state contributes 7.8% of India's population. Auxiliary authorities known as panchayats, for which local body elections are regularly held, govern local affairs. [221], Notable scholars who were born, worked, or studied in the geographic area of the state include physicists: Satyendra Nath Bose, Meghnad Saha,[224] and Jagadish Chandra Bose;[225] chemist Prafulla Chandra Roy;[224] statisticians Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis and Anil Kumar Gain;[224] physician Upendranath Brahmachari;[224] educator Ashutosh Mukherjee;[226] and Nobel laureates Rabindranath Tagore,[227] C. V. Raman,[225] Amartya Sen,[228] and Abhijit Banerjee[229], In 2005 West Bengal had 505 published newspapers,[230] of which 389 were in Bengali. West Bengal is a state in India located along the Bay of Bengal. [11] For many decades the state underwent political violence and economic stagnation. [126][127][128] Steps are being taken to remedy this situation by promoting West Bengal as an investment destination. The railway system is a nationalised service without any private investment. He wrote the facts for his claim that Mamta has recognized more than 10,000 madrassas who have received funds from Saudi Arabia and made their degree eligible for a government job, money comes from Saudi and in those madrassas Wahhabi bigotry Is taught. [209] Buddha Purnima, which marks the birth of Gautama Buddha, is one of the most important Hindu/Buddhist festivals and is celebrated with much gusto in the Darjeeling hills. [110] Other larger cities and towns in West Bengal are: Durgapur, Howrah, Bardhaman, Baharampur, Jalpaiguri, Kharagpur and Chandannagar. In contrast, the service sector has grown at a rate higher than the national rate. West Bengal (/bɛnˈɡɔːl/) is a state in the eastern region of India along the Bay of Bengal. City Size and Population Density. [125], However, over the years due to effective changes in the stance towards industrialisation, ease of doing business has improved in West Bengal. Both Assam and Bengal go to polls during the summer of 2021. [3] West Bengal also has the 28th-highest ranking among Indian states in human development index, with the index value being less than that of India. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP fared exceptionally well in West Bengal’s areas dominated by Hindu migrants from Bangladesh by promising to legalise illegal entries of all Hindus. [121] The state's share of total industrial output in India was 9.8% in 1980–1981, declining to 5% by 1997–1998. another partition of India and that too will be done with the help of sword and Mamata Banerjee starving of Bengal’s vote bank. Native Magahi speakers are found in Malda district. Bengali dance forms draw from folk traditions, especially those of the tribal groups, as well as the broader Indian dance traditions. [245] The stadium hosted the final match of the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Refugee resettlement and related issues continued to play a significant role in the politics and socio-economic condition of the state. Monsoons bring rain to the whole state from June to September. Pollution of the Ganges from indiscriminate waste dumped into the river is a major problem. Hasan Imran has been the co-founder of banned terrorist organization SIMI, Hasan Imran is accused of transferring the money of the Saradha chit fund scam to the Jamaat-e-Islami of Bangladesh to provoke riots in Bangladesh. [196] Common spices found in a Bengali kitchen include cumin, ajmoda (radhuni), bay leaf, mustard, ginger, green chillies and turmeric. The Bengal famine of 1770 claimed millions of lives due to tax policies enacted by the British company. [30], The kingdom of Magadha was formed in the 7th century BCE, consisting of the regions now comprising Bihar and Bengal. [94] The predominant commercial tree species is Shorea robusta, commonly known as the sal tree. According to a senior leader in the Hyderabad-based party, Owaisi has seen in West Bengal a fertile ground for his expansion plans, as Muslims constitute around 30 per cent of the state’s population. Winter (December–January) is mild over the plains with average minimum temperatures of 15 °C (59 °F). The Vidyasagar College was established in 1872 and was the first purely Indian-run private college in India. The University of Calcutta and Jadavpur University are prestigious technical universities. In West Bengal, 7,820,710 children (0-6) live in rural areas. [37], Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty invaded some areas of Bengal between 1021 and 1023. [146] Marwari, Maithili and Bhojpuri speakers are scattered throughout the state; various indigenous ethnic Buddhist communities such as the Sherpas, Bhutias, Lepchas, Tamangs, Yolmos and ethnic Tibetans can be found in the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region. Lost your password? [75][76] In 2006 the state's healthcare system was severely criticised in the aftermath of the West Bengal blood test kit scam. [39] Following the Ghurid conquests led by Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji and the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, it spread across the entire Bengal region. According to the report of the Local Intelligence Unit LIU, Hassan has been involved in many riots and giving shelter to terrorists. [222], In addition, the state is home to Kalyani University, The University of Burdwan, Vidyasagar University, and North Bengal University all well as established and nationally renowned schools to cover education needs at the district level and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata. Major English language newspapers include The Telegraph, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Statesman, The Indian Express and Asian Age. [132], As of 2011, the total railway route length was around 4,481 km (2,784 mi). Bengali Hindus comprise the majority of the population. In 1971, the civil war in the erstwhile East Pakistan, nearly 10 million Bangladeshis — mostly Hindu — came into West Bengal to escape the atrocities like murder, rape and forced conversion to Islam. Christianity in West Bengal, India is a minority religion. [147] Surjapuri, a language considered to be a mix of Maithili and Bengali, is spoken across northern parts of the state. [158] The gender ratio is 947 females per 1,000 males. According to a senior leader in the Hyderabad-based party, Owaisi has seen in West Bengal a fertile ground for his expansion plans, as Muslims constitute around 30 per cent of the state’s population. [210], As of 2016 85% of children within the 6 to 17-year age group attend school (86% do so in urban areas and 84% in rural areas). The situation in at West Bengal in Hindu-majority India, bordering Muslim-majority Bangladesh, illustrates the inherent problems to non-Muslim societies of a growing Muslim population. [105], Each district is governed by a district collector or district magistrate, appointed by either the Indian Administrative Service or the West Bengal Civil Service. [4] As of 2001, in decreasing order of number of speakers, the languages of the state are: Bengali (85.27%), Hindi (7.17%), Santali (2.80%), Urdu (2.06%), and Nepali (1.28%). Also prominent are Dwijendralal, Atulprasad and Rajanikanta's songs, and adhunik or modern music from films and other composers. Blocks consists of panchayats (village councils) and town municipalities. [207], Ganga Sagar Mela coincides with the Makar Sankranti, and hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims converge where the river Ganges meets the sea to bathe en masse during this fervent festival.[206]. [80], The main river in West Bengal is the Ganges, which divides into two branches. On this counts, Assam was ahead of West Bengal with a crime rate of 3.7. It was the gateway to the revolution of European education during the British Raj. [176] Other writers include: Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, best known for his work Pather Panchali; Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, well known for his portrayal of the lower strata of society;[177] Manik Bandopadhyay, a pioneering novelist; and Ashapurna Devi, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Saradindu Bandopadhyay, Buddhadeb Guha, Mahashweta Devi, Samaresh Majumdar, Sanjeev Chattopadhyay, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Buddhadeb Basu,[178] Joy Goswami and Sunil Gangopadhyay. [118]:20 Kolkata is the headquarters of three zones of the Indian Railways—Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway and the Kolkata Metro, which is the newly formed 17th zone of the Indian Railways. universal among the 6 to 14-year age group then drops to 70% with the 15 to 17-year age group. In Bengal, 71% of women aged 15–49 years and 81% of men aged 15–49 years are literate. [121] The state's total financial debt stood at ₹1,918,350 million (US$27 billion) as of 2011. The ‘Bengali And Non-Bengali’ Divide In West Bengal Politics. [95], The distribution of vegetation in northern West Bengal is dictated by elevation and precipitation. The population of West Bengal makes up 7.8% of India’s total population. Notable handloom saris include tant, jamdani, garad, korial, baluchari, tussar and muslin. Both have significantly higher Muslim population in terms of percentages. Hinduism is the largest religious tradition in the Indian state of West Bengal with approximately 70.54% of the population identifying themselves as Hindus (as of 2011). [234], Cricket and association football are popular sports in the state. West Bengal has a long tradition of folk literature, evidenced by the Charyapada, a collection of Buddhist mystic songs dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries; Mangalkavya, a collection of Hindu narrative poetry composed around the 13th century; Shreekrishna Kirtana, a pastoral Vaishnava drama in verse composed by Boru Chandidas; Thakurmar Jhuli, a collection of Bengali folk and fairy tales compiled by Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder; and stories of Gopal Bhar, a court jester in medieval Bengal. Bengalis make distinctive sweetmeats from milk products, including Rôshogolla, Chômchôm, Kalojam and several kinds of sondesh. The Koch dynasty in northern Bengal flourished during the 16th and 17th centuries; it weathered the Mughals and survived until the advent of the British colonial era. [233] Vodafone, Airtel, BSNL, Jio, Reliance Communications, Uninor, Aircel, MTS India, Idea Cellular and Tata DoCoMo are available cellular phone providers. One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is a mention by the Ancient Greeks around 100 BCE of a land named Gangaridai located at the mouths of the Ganges. “Of the 10 parliamentary seats where the non-Bengali population forms 30-40 percent, the TMC lost 6 seats,” says Kolkata-based political analyst and psephologist Biswanath Chakraborty. [243] Before its renovation in 2011, it was the second largest football stadium in the world, having a seating capacity of 120,000. The Farakka barrage over the Ganges feeds the Hooghly branch of the river by a feeder canal. The Bengali film industry is well known for its art films, and has produced acclaimed directors like Satyajit Ray who is widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century,[186] Mrinal Sen whose films were known for their artistic depiction of social reality, Tapan Sinha who was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time,[187] and Ritwik Ghatak. , unlike most other states in northern India, Muslims saw Taslima Nasreen with non bengali population in west bengal to. Peninsula and Sumatra ) it borders Bangladesh in the early 7th century this was by... The word derives from `` Bang '', the mineral-rich western highlands, and the Port... Clusters, which are home to several religious teachers, such as Chaitanya,,! The timeless of Krishna, the rise of Islam and the fourth most populous in. A customs Airport that offers international service to Port Blair on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands or MLAs [. 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