West Bengal Geography: previous-year questions

Answer: (C) Krishnanagar

The Tropic of Cancer ($23^\circ 26'$ N, roughly $23.5^\circ$ N) crosses West Bengal through Purulia, Bankura, Bardhaman and Nadia, passing just north of Krishnanagar (about $23.4^\circ$ N), which makes it the closest of the four towns. Durgapur (about $23.5^\circ$ N) is also near the line but slightly farther from it, Baharampur lies well to the north (about $24.1^\circ$ N) and Chandannagar well to the south (about $22.9^\circ$ N). The Tropic passes through eight Indian states from west to east: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram; the Mahi is the only Indian river that crosses it twice.

Answer: (A) Alipurduar district

The Totos live almost entirely in Totopara, a village near Madarihat in Alipurduar district, beside the Torsa river and the Bhutan border, on the edge of Jaldapara National Park. Numbering only about 1,600, they are among India's smallest tribes; their Tibeto-Burman language got its own script through Dhaniram Toto (Padma Shri, 2023). West Bengal has three Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups: Toto (Alipurduar), Birhor (Purulia) and Lodha (Jhargram and Paschim Medinipur). Alipurduar became the state's 20th district on 25 June 2014, carved out of Jalpaiguri. The districts in options B, C and D are home to Santhal, Munda, Lodha and Sabar communities but not the Totos.

Answer: (C) Ramsar Site

The East Kolkata Wetlands, about 12,500 hectares of sewage-fed fish ponds (bheris), farms and garbage gardens on the eastern edge of the city, were declared a Ramsar site (Wetland of International Importance) on 19 August 2002. Known as the 'kidneys of Kolkata', they treat much of the city's wastewater naturally while producing fish and vegetables; ecologist Dhrubajyoti Ghosh brought them to notice, and they are protected by the East Kolkata Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Act, 2006. West Bengal's second Ramsar site is the Sundarban Wetland (2019), the largest in India. The Ramsar Convention was signed in Iran in 1971 and India joined in 1982; World Wetlands Day is 2 February. West Bengal's World Heritage Sites (option B) are Sundarbans National Park, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Santiniketan.

Answer: (A) Murshidabad

Murshidabad is the historic home of Bengal's silk industry: mulberry silkworm rearing and reeling around Kasimbazar, Jiaganj and Islampur, which drew the English, Dutch and French trading companies in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Baluchari sari originated at Baluchar in Murshidabad (it is woven today mainly at Bishnupur in Bankura), and Malda is the state's other big producer of mulberry raw silk. The distractors are known for other things: Purulia for lac, tasar and Chhau masks; Nadia (Shantipur, Phulia) for cotton handloom 'tant' saris; and Howrah for engineering and jute. Karnataka is India's leading silk-producing state.

Answer: (B) Frezerganj

West Bengal's wind energy demonstration project was set up at Frazerganj on the Bay of Bengal coast in Namkhana block, South 24 Parganas, by the state renewable energy agency WBREDA; the place is named after Sir Andrew Fraser, a Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. Sagar Island nearby is known for its solar and wind-diesel hybrid systems. Bakkhali (A) is the adjoining beach resort, Digha (C) is the seaside resort of Purba Medinipur and Haldia (D) is the port and petrochemical centre. Nationally, wind power is concentrated in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu (the Muppandal wind farm near Kanyakumari).

Answer: (B) Jalpaiguri

Jalpaiguri town stands on the Teesta, and the smaller Karala (Karola) river flows through the middle of the town before joining the Teesta; it is fondly called the 'Thames of Jalpaiguri'. The other towns: Malda (English Bazar) is on the Mahananda, Baharampur on the Bhagirathi, and Darjeeling on a hill ridge with no river flowing through it. More West Bengal town-river pairs for revision: Siliguri, Mahananda; Cooch Behar, Torsa; Alipurduar, Kaljani; Balurghat, Atrai; Raiganj, Kulik; Krishnanagar, Jalangi; Suri, Mayurakshi; Bankura, Gandheswari and Dwarakeswar; Medinipur, Kangsabati; Durgapur and Asansol, Damodar.

Answer: (C) Only three

PSC's final answer key gives (C), 'Only three'. Two pairs are beyond doubt: sal (Shorea robusta) is the dominant natural tree of the lateritic forests of Bankura, and sundari (Heritiera fomes) is the mangrove that gives the Sundarbans of South 24 Parganas its name. Pine, however, is naturally a tree of the Darjeeling-Kalimpong hills and not of the Cooch Behar plains, and the baobab (Adansonia) is an African species found in India only as an introduced tree, so by standard forest geography only two pairs look correct; the PSC has not said which third pair it accepts. For revision: North Bengal plains, sal, sissoo, khair and simul; hills, oak, pine, rhododendron and magnolia; Sundarbans, sundari, garan, gewa, keora and hental; coastal Purba Medinipur, casuarina (jhau).

Answer: (B) Alipurduar district

Jaldapara National Park, on the flood plain of the Torsa river with its entry point at Madarihat, lies in Alipurduar district, the district carved out of Jalpaiguri on 25 June 2014; older books place it in Jalpaiguri, which is the basis of the distractors. A wildlife sanctuary since 1941 and a national park since 2012, it holds the largest population of the one-horned rhinoceros in West Bengal and the second largest in India after Kaziranga. West Bengal's six national parks: Sundarban (South 24 Parganas), Singalila (Darjeeling), Neora Valley (Kalimpong), Gorumara (Jalpaiguri), Buxa (Alipurduar) and Jaldapara (Alipurduar).

Answer: (C) Chhattisgarh

West Bengal shares its boundary with five states, Sikkim, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, and three countries, Bangladesh (the longest border), Nepal and Bhutan. Chhattisgarh lies further west, separated from West Bengal by Jharkhand and Odisha. District pointers: Darjeeling and Kalimpong touch Sikkim; Alipurduar and Cooch Behar touch Assam; Purulia, Jhargram, Paschim Bardhaman, Birbhum, Murshidabad and Malda touch Jharkhand. Darjeeling district meets Nepal, and Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar meet Bhutan. West Bengal is the only Indian state that stretches from the Himalaya to the sea.

Answer: (A) Ajay river

The Kunur rises in Paschim Bardhaman, flows through Ausgram and joins the Ajay as a right-bank tributary in the Mangalkot area. The Kangsabati, Mayurakshi and Rupnarayan are separate rivers of western and southern Bengal with their own tributaries.

Answer: (B) Darjeeling.

In the 2011 Census, Darjeeling recorded the highest sex ratio among West Bengal's districts, about 970 females per 1,000 males. Hooghly, Murshidabad and Birbhum also had relatively high ratios but stood below Darjeeling.

Answer: (D) NH 35

Answer as of 2023 — this may have changed since.

Under the old national highway numbering, NH 35 ran from Barasat near Kolkata to Bongaon on the Bangladesh border. Old NH 34 ran north from Barasat to Dalkhola, NH 6 ran west from Kolkata towards Mumbai, and NH 31 lay in north Bengal and Bihar. Options use the pre-2010 national highway numbers; the Barasat–Bongaon road is now NH 112.

Answer: (A) Bankura

Bishnupur in Bankura district is famous for the terracotta temples built by the Malla kings, such as the Rasmancha and the Jor Bangla. Birbhum has some terracotta temples too, but Bankura's Bishnupur is the one known for them; Malda and Jalpaiguri are not.

Answer: (A) Birbhum.

The Tilpara barrage on the Mayurakshi near Suri, in Birbhum district, feeds an irrigation canal system as part of the Mayurakshi project. Purulia and Malda have no such work, so ‘None of the above’ does not apply.

Answer: (B) 1984

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd was set up in the mid-1980s as a West Bengal government-backed joint venture to build a naphtha cracker complex at Haldia port; the key dates its establishment to 1984, and the plant began commercial production only in 2000. 1974 is too early, before the project was taken up, while 1988 and 1992 are later stages of the long-delayed project.

Answer: (C) Nadia

The Tropic of Cancer (about 23.5° N) crosses West Bengal through Purulia, Bankura, Bardhaman and Nadia, passing near Krishnanagar. Birbhum, Murshidabad and Malda lie wholly to its north.

Answer: (B) Indian rhinoceros

Jaldapara National Park in Alipurduar district, in the Dooars, is known for the one-horned Indian rhinoceros, with the largest population in the state. Asiatic lions live only in Gir, snow leopards in the high Himalaya, and Bengal's tiger reserves are Sundarbans and Buxa.

Answer: (C) Murshidabad

Murshidabad is known for its silk, especially Murshidabad and Baluchari weaving, and is called the Silk City of West Bengal. Asansol and Durgapur are coal and steel towns, and Siliguri is a trade hub.

Answer: (C) Ramsar Site.

The East Kolkata Wetlands, which treat the city's sewage through fisheries and farming, were declared a Ramsar Site of international importance in 2002. They are not a biosphere reserve, reserve forest or national park.

Answer: (B) Textile Industry.

Serampore, Belgharia and Sodepur in the Hooghly industrial belt grew around cotton and jute textile mills on the banks of the Hooghly. The belt's paper mills are at Titagarh and Naihati, and the state's iron and steel centres are Durgapur and Burnpur.