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Uttar Pradesh
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Uttar Pradesh
(UP) is the most populous state in India.
It covers about 7 per cent of the total area of India. In area, it ranks fourth.
Uttar Pradesh is bounded by Uttaranchal and Nepal in north, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in south, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi in west and Bihar and Jharkhand in east.
The main rivers of the state from west to east are the Yamuna, the Ganga, the Ramganga, the Gomati, emerge from the Himalayas.
The Yamuna and the Ganga flow from north-east to south-west in their upper mountainous courses, from north to the south in western parts of the state and thereafter from north-west to south-east, joining at
Allahabad.
U.P. is the largest producer of foodgrains and oilseeds in the country.
It leads all the states in India in the production of wheat, maize, barley, gram, sugarcane and potatoes.
The state (‘India’s Sugar Bowl’) produces about one half of the total sugarcane output in the country.
Agra (World famous Taj Mahal, Sikandara, Agra Fort, Fathepur Sikri) and Allahabad
(pilgrimage center) are important cities. Vindhyachal,
Ayodhya, Chitrakoot, Prayag, Jogeshwar, Naimisharanya,
Vrindhavan, Deva Sharief Pearanklar, Sharvasti, Kuhsinagar, Sankisa, Kampil, Piprahva and Kaushambi are important places of pilgrimage.
Sangam in Allahabad, Hindon (Ghaziabad) and Tanda waterfalls in Faizabad, Kasauni and Dudhwa Sanctuary are places with great scenic beauty.
In January, 8
million pilgrims are estimated to have taken a holy dip at Kumbh
Nagar, Allahabad.
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West
Bengal
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West Bengal covers the bottleneck of India in the east stretching from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south.
It is bounded on the north Sikkim and Bhutan, on the east by Assam and Bangladesh, on the south by Bay of Bengal and on the west by Orissa, Bihar and Nepal. West Bengal has two natural divisions, the Himalayan north comprising the districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar and the alluvial plain that lies south of it. The state produces 15.3 per cent of the country’s total output of rice.
Major industries include engineering, auto mobiles, chemicals pharmaceuticals,
aluminum, ceramics, jute, cotton, bonemeal, bicycle, dairy poultry and timber-processing.
An expert committee has rejected the theory that Kolkata was founded by the English trader Job
Charnock. Calcutta, capital of India upto1912, now commercial capital of the north-eastern states of India and the
center of Industries like jute, tea, hides and skins, coal, lac, etc. Places of
interest: Victoria Memorial (Picture Gallery and Museum), Indian Museum, Zoological Garden, Pareshnath Temple
(Jain Temple), Kalighat Temple
(Architecture: Typical Mediaeval Bengal), Nakhoda Mosque, Dhakshineswar Temple, Nandan, Mahajatti Sadan, Belvedere House (originally the residence of British Viceroys when they visited Calcutta, now turned into National Library), Rajasimha Bhavan (Official residence of State Governor), Marble Palace, Eden Gardens, Binoy Badal-Dinesh Bag (erstwhile Dalhousie Square), Ashutosh Museum of Arts (of the Calcutta University), Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, Birla Planetorirum, Saheed Minar (formerly Ochterlony Monument), Fort William, Jorasanka Thakurbatti (Birth place of Rabindranath Tagore), Rabindra Sarovar (Lake with swimming pool, Japanese Buddhist temple and Toy Train), Nehru Children’s Museum, New Market, Howrah Bridge (renames as Rabindra Setu), etc.
India’s first Science City was inaugurated in Calcutta on July 1, 1997.
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