West Bengal

State of northeast India; area 87,853 sq km/33,920 sq mi; population (2001 est) 80,221,200. The capital is Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). In spite of its relatively small size, the state is economically very productive. Often with the help of extensive irrigation and through intensive cultivation there are high yields of agricultural products, including rice, jute, tea (in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri), oilseed, sugar, pulses, and tobacco, and there is a substantial fishing industry. Manufacturing industries include jute (particularly at Hooghly industrial complex), iron and steel (at Durgapur, Asansol, based on the Raniganj coalfield), cars, locomotives, aluminium, fertilizers, chemicals, cotton textiles, oil-refining, shipbuilding, and printing.