Unesco world heritage site west bengal

Period: 19th and early 20th century Unesco Data: 944ter; 1999,2005,2008; (i)(iii)(iv) The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, nicknamed the "Toy Train", is a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge railway from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling in West Bengal, run by the Indian Railways. It was built between 1879 and 1881 and is about 86 kilometres (53 mi) long. The elevation level is from about 100 metres (328 ft) at New Jalpaiguri to about 2,200 metres (7,218 ft) at Darjeeling. Four modern diesel locomotives handle most of the scheduled services: however the daily Kurseong-Darjeeling return service and the daily tourist trains from Darjeeling to Ghum (India's highest railway station) are handled by vintage British-built B Class steam locomotives.Since 1999 the train has been a World Heritage Site as listed by UNESCO. In 2005, UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to the original designation. In 2008 the 96-kilometre (60 mi), 2.5-foot (760 mm) gauge Kalka–Shimla Railway, opened in 1903, was also added. Shri Subrato Nath was appointed as first full time Director-cum-Site Manager of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) in 2007. The Headquarters of the DHR was also re-established at Elysia Place, Kurseong. Since then, there is a full time Director to look after the railway as a World Heritage Site. Period: 1939 and 1982 Unesco Data: 452; 1987; (ix) and (x) The Sundarbans National Park, the largest estuarine mangrove forest in the world is a National Park, Tiger Reserve, UNESCO Wor...

Durga Puja joins other Indian cultural practices and expressions, such as Kumbh Mela, Chhau dance from Bengal and Odisha, Sankirtana from Manipur, Yoga, Ramlila, Buddhist chanting in Ladakh and Nawruz on the ICH list. The news was met with euphoria. "A matter of great pride and joy for every Indian! Durga Puja highlights the best of our traditions and ethos. And, Kolkata's Durga Puja is an experience everyone must have," tweeted PM Narendra Modi. CM Mamata Banerjee also tweeted her happiness: "Proud moment for Bengal! To every #Bengali across the world, Durga Puja is much more than a festival, it is an emotion that unites everyone. And now, #DurgaPuja has been added to the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. We are all beaming with joy!" ‘The recognition will draw international tourists to Kolkata, Bengal’ For major Durga Puja organizers, including Forum for Durgotsav, which represents the leading 500 Durga Pujas of Kolkata, it was a long-cherished dream to see the festival find a prominent space on the global map. “The recognition as a world heritage will not only attract more international tourists to Kolkata and Bengal, I believe it will also lead to foreign investment in the festival,” said forum founder Partho Ghosh. Historian Tapati Guha Thakurta, whose research on Durga Puja and the archival material she and her team had collated at the Jadunath Bhavan Museum & Resource Centre, a unit of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences (CSSS), ...

Sunderban is the largest delta and mangrove forest in the world. The Indian Sunderban is bound on the west by river Muriganga and on the east by rivers Harinbhahga and Raimangal. Other major rivers flowing through this eco-system are Saptamukhi, Thakuran, Matla and Goasaba. Sunderban has extremely rich diversity of aquatic and terrestrial flora and fauna. In fact, Sunderban's highly productive ecosystem acts as a natural fish nursery. Although the region is situated south of the Tropic of Cancer, the temperature is equable due to its proximity to the sea. Average annual maximum temperature is around 35oC . Average annual rainfall is 1920 mm. Administrative Authorities Director, Sunderban Biosphere Reserve, Govt. of West Bengal Bikash Bhawan, 3rd floor, North Block Salt Lake, Kolkata - 700091 West Bengal, India Tel.: +91 33-2321 1750/1529 Email: Ecological Characteristics The Biogeography of Sunderban is unique and the region harbours a rich diversity in terms of species content, ecosystem and habitat types. This deltic ecosystem, which is the single largest continuous area in the world for threatened Bengal Tiger and largest contiguous mangrove-patch on globe (along with Bangladesh), is very productive and well known for its greater degree or specialization. Sunderban is the larges mangal diversity of the planet (81 plant and 1586 animal species.) This biosphere reserve is located in the vast Delta of the Ganges, south of Calcutta and bordering Bangladesh in the east. It r...

KOLKATA: A decade-long campaign to get Santiniketan recognised as a “Santiniketan has been nominated as the only living heritage university, where open-air classes are still held under the tree,” said conservation architect Manish Chakraborty, who had joined restoration architect Abha Narain Lambah in shaping the dossier on Santiniketan for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). ASI is the nodal authority for making nominations to Unesco and has sent the dossier on Santiniketan to the UN agency in Paris. On Wednesday, Union cultural minister G Kishan Reddy tweeted the news of the recommendation, adding that a formal announcement was expected at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in September. If Santiniketan’s nomination is accepted, it will become India’s 41st world heritage site and Bengal’s third after Darjeeling Himalayan Railways and Sundarbans National Park. The dossier on Santiniketan’s nomination was first prepared in 2009 by Lambah and Chakraborti. But it was only in 2021 that ASI approached Lambah and asked her to submit the final dossier in 10 days. Speaking to TOI, Lambah said: “Santiniketan is the tangible realisation of an educational and artistic community’s encounter with pan-Asian modernity”.

West Bengal is steeped in history and that’s one of the many things we love about the state. It’s not just about the architecture; there is a beautiful mix of culture, traditional practices, history and architecture, and they come together to form beautiful heritage experiences one can experience in West Bengal. Culturally inclined travellers will love Shantiniketan and Bolpur. Approximately 152 km north of Kolkata, in the Birbhum district, lie the two towns of Shantiniketan and Bolpur, home of the Baul singers. Baul singers are not tied to any conventional religion or type of music; they are the travelling mystics who go from one place to another singing their mystical verses. The songs are mostly inspired from the Sufi and Vaishnavism culture. It is a very unique form of culture, practiced by a very small community of people. And Shantiniketan and Bolpur are the best places to experience then, as here you will get to be a part of many Baul fairs. It is a difficult task to pinpoint one favourite thing about Darjeeling. The scenic tea gardens, the mighty Mt Kanchenjunga, beautiful monasteries, old colonial homes, beautiful quaint streets rich in colonial past, all these experiences that one gets to enjoy as soon as they reach Darjeeling. It’s that vibe. But there’s one aspect of Darjeeling you must experience yourself to achieve that wholesome Darjeeling experience. The UNESCO World Heritage Train, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), popularly known as the Toy Train. G...

Geography of India Climate West Bengal’s climate is transitional between tropical wet-dry in the southern portions and humid subtropical in the north. 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. The state also is subject to considerable variability from year to year. In the sub-Himalayan region, rainfall is considerably greater. The year may be broadly divided into three marked seasons—the hot and dry season (March to early June), with dry 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. On the Himalayan heights vegetation varies according to the elevation, with coniferous belts occurring at higher levels. The delta of the Hugli The forests are inhabited by People