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Member Council of Sports
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Regd.Under Societies Act.
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Member Bengal Olympic
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Bridge Federation of India |
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West Bengal is a state in eastern India. With Bangladesh, which lies on its eastern border, the state forms the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. To its northeast lie the states of Assam and Sikkim and the country Bhutan, and to its southwest, the state of Orissa. To the west it borders the state of Jharkhand and Bihar, and to the northwest, Nepal.
Remnants of civilisation in the greater Bengal region date back 4,000 years, when the region was inhabited by Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic people. The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown, though it is believed to be derived from the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang that settled in the area around the year 1000 BC After the arrival of Indo-Aryans, the kingdom of Magadha was formed in 7th century BC, consisting of the Bihar and Bengal regions. It was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of Mahavira and the Buddha. One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is the mention of a land named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BCE. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) in reference to an area in Bengal.
At the turn of the nineteenth century Bengal became the birthplace of the Indian Renaissance. From the educative zeal of the father of modern India Raja Rammohun Roy to the tireless reformer ‘ Barno Parichaya’ Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar The birthplace of Noble Laureate Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore remains enriched forever by his plethora of writings – poetry, drama, novels, stories – the list is endless. Bengal has not ceased to produce path-breakers, from producing India’s first ICS in Surendra Nath Banerjee and the Indin National Congress was flooded with Bengalis like Bepin Chandra Pal, Sri Aurobindo, Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das and others. This enlightened outlook became the voice of protest of the aggressive nationalists when Curzon announced the Partition of Bengal. With the announcement of the partition the revolutionary spirit was carried faith by secret societies like the Anushilan Samity and Jugantar party. Armed attempts against the British Raj reached a climax when Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose led the Indian National Army from SE Asia. The province of Bengal was partitioned on communal lines when India gained independence in 1947 into West Bengal which remained in India and East Bengal later renamed East Pakistan and ultimately Bangladesh in 1971.
Bengalis spiritual manifestation was seen in the philisophy of Thakur Ramkrishna Paramhansa, whose teachings were spread by Swami Vivekananda through the Ramkrishna Mission which has a worldwide network today.
The legacy has been carried in modern Bengal by a genius like writer and film maker par excellence Satyajit Ray, who was honoured with an Oscar. By the turn of the century Bengal has shone in the international firmament through the work of the famed economist Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. In the field of art and culture – a new school of art form evolved from the Tagore house hold front runners being Gaganendra Nath and Abanindra Nath. Baba Alauddin Khan created his gharana and where flooded with talented musicians likes of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan. Udaya Shankar presented a new form of dance to the country. The diversity of talent Bengal continues to reveal still makes the age old adage shine bright, ‘what Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow’.
West Bengal's climate varies from tropical savannah in the southern portions to humid subtropical in the north. The main seasons are summer, rainy season, a short autumn, and winter. While the summer in the delta region is noted for excessive humidity, the western highlands experience a dry summer like northern India, with the highest day temperature ranging from 38 °C (100 °F) to 45 °C (113 °F). At nights, a cool southerly breeze carries moisture from the Bay of Bengal. In early summer brief squalls and thunderstorms known as Kalbaisakhi, or Nor'westers, often occur. Monsoons bring rain to the whole state from June to September. West Bengal receives the Bay of Bengal branch of the Indian ocean monsoon that moves in a northwest direction. Winter (December–January) is mild over the plains with average minimum temperatures of 15 °C (59 °F). A cold and dry northern wind blows in the winter, substantially lowering the humidity level. However, the Darjeeling Himalayan Hill region experiences a harsh winter, with occasional snowfall at places.
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