West Bengal government has announced setting up a panel for prevention of child trafficking in the wake of a child smuggling racket being unearthed in the state. Making the announcement in the assembly, The panel will be headed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee and will comprise members from the opposition parties – Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist.

• This racket is spread to far-flung areas and linked to different states. Around 24 people have been arrested in this connection.
• The CID busted the racket in November after raiding a nursing home and polyclinic in Baduria in North 24 Parganas district.

WEST BENGAL

• The state capital is Kolkata (Calcutta), the third-largest city in India.
• The geography of West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in its extreme north, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region and the coastal Sundarbans.
• Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at Dum Dum, Kolkata, is the state’s biggest airport.
• The Ganges is the main river, which divides in West Bengal.
• One branch enters Bangladesh as the Padma or Pôdda, while the other flows through West Bengal as the Bhagirathi River and Hooghly River.
• The Teesta, Torsa, Jaldhaka and Mahananda rivers are in the northern hilly region.
• Damodar, another tributary of the Ganges and once known as the “Sorrow of Bengal” (due to its frequent floods), has several dams under the Damodar Valley Project.
• Part of the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, is located in southern West Bengal.
• West Bengal has 3.26% of its geographical area under protected areas comprising 15 wildlife sanctuaries and 5 national parks,
  • Sundarbans National Park,
  • Buxa Tiger Reserve,
  • Gorumara National Park,
  • Neora Valley National Park and
  • Singalila National Park.