Question

Mention four factors that have contributed to the growth of Hugli Industrial Region.

Answer 1

Factors Contributing to the Growth of the Hugli Industrial Region are:

1. The river Hugli provided the best site for the development of an inland river port, which became the nucleus of the industrial region, facilitating trade and transport.
2. The region’s good connectivity by the Ganga and its tributaries, as well as by roads and railways, linked it with the rich hinterland of the Ganga-Brahmaputra plains and benefited Kolkata port.
3. The discovery of coal and iron ore in the Chotanagpur plateau, tea plantations in Assam and northern West Bengal, and the processing of deltaic Bengal’s jute gave a basis for industrial development.
4. Availability of cheap labor from densely populated neighboring states like Odisha, Bihar, and eastern U.P., and large-scale British investment when Kolkata was the capital of British India, facilitated industrial clustering, starting with the establishment of the first jute mill in 1855.