Tell about West Bengal?

Once infested with malaria, the area is now well drained and cultivated. Some of the finest tea plantations of India are situated there.

Other important manufactures include ships, automobiles, chemicals and fertilizers, wagons, electronics, paper, jute, and cotton textiles.

The state has a large number of small-scale and cottage industries as well.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the only mineral resources of West Bengal that sustained nationally significant exploitation were coal and clay for brickmaking.

North of the Duars, the Himalayan mountain ranges rise abruptly along the northern boundary of the state.

The service sector has accounted for an increasing proportion of the state’s economy.

Trade, finance, insurance, and related activities have grown significantly, and tourism has become increasingly important.

West Bengal’s climate is transitional between tropical wet-dry in the southern portions and humid subtropical in the north.

experiencing growth has been the information technology sector.

Throughout West Bengal there is a pronounced seasonal disparity in rainfall. For example, Kolkata averages about 64 inches (1,625 mm) per year, of which an average of 13 inches (330 mm) falls in August and less than 1 inch (25 mm) in December.

Kolkata is the financial centre for both the state and eastern India.

The state also is subject to considerable variability from year to year. In the sub-Himalayan region, rainfall is considerably greater.

Local river transportation was augmented by steam navigation in the 19th century—first introduced between Kolkata, Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh), and Guwahati (Assam).

The year may be broadly divided into three marked seasons—the hot and dry season (March to early June), with dry sultry days and frequent thunderstorms; the hot and wet season (mid-June to September), when rain-bearing monsoon winds blow from the southwest; and the cold (cool) season (October to February), when days are dry and clear and stable atmospheric conditions prevail.

The division of Bengal in 1947 and the ongoing deterioration of river channels have disrupted river transport.

Average high temperatures at Kolkata range from about 80 °F (27 °C) in December and January to nearly 100 °F (38 °C) in April and May.

Nevertheless, Kolkata and its sister port of Haldia, farther south, still handle international trade.

Forests occupy more than one-tenth of the total land area of the state, and the region as a whole has a rich and varied plant life. In the sub-Himalayan plains the principal forest trees include sal (Shorea robusta) and shisham, or Indian rosewood (Dalbergia sissoo); the forests are interspersed with reeds and tall grasses.

West Bengal saw the inauguration of the railway system in eastern India in 1854, and local railway headquarters are now located in the state.

Kolkata was the first Indian city to open an underground railway system.

On the Himalayan heights vegetation varies according to the elevation, with coniferous belts occurring at higher levels. The delta of the Hugli constitutes the western end of the dense coastal mangrove forest called the Sundarbans.

A large portion of that unreclaimed and sparsely populated area bordering Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal has been set aside as a national park and also (along with the portion in Bangladesh) as a UNESCO World Heritage site (designated 1987).

National highways link West Bengal with the rest of India, while state highways provide internal connections.

There is an international airport at Kolkata as well as several smaller airfields within the state.

The structure of the government of West Bengal, like that of most Indian states, is determined by the national constitution of 1950.