Khoai in Bengali refers to a geological formation specifically in Birbhum, Bardhaman, and Bankura districts of West Bengal, India and some parts of Jharkhand, India that is made up of laterite soil rich in iron oxide, often in the shapes of tiny hills. This canyon like terrain is caused by wind and water erosion on red laterite soil. [1] Khoai is called part of the India's natural heritage. [2] [3]
The Khoai can only support certain types of plants. It is a very poor soil for most types of agriculture practiced in the areas in which it is found. Yet often, a khoai maybe situated adjacent to a naturally forested area. Although a large area in Birbhum is covered by laterite, the areas where the laterite is exposed is termed as Khoai. In some areas the laterite is covered by a layer of ordinary soil and can support normal vegetation. In these areas, there are rice fields or mango groves or different varieties of plantations. These areas are not termed as khoai. In khoai areas there is no vegetation. Except for certain types of trees like Sonajhuri or Acacia, nothing grows on khoai. The beauty of khoai in and around Bolpur, Santiniketan enthralled Rabindranath Tagore and he immortalized khoai in his numerous writings. Famous painters like Nandalal Bose, Ramkinkar and Binodbehari Mukherjee painted khoai in many of their creations and khoai became a part of cultural heritage of Shantiniketan and Visva-Bharati. [4]
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use." Using this definition, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 found that forests covered 4.06 billion hectares, or approximately 31 percent of the world's land area in 2020.
A buffer zone is a neutral zonal area that lies between two or more bodies of land, usually pertaining to countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them. Common types of buffer zones are demilitarized zones, border zones and certain restrictive easement zones and green belts. Such zones may be comprised by a sovereign state, forming a buffer state.
Shantiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his son, Rabindranath Tagore whose vision became what is now a university town with the creation of Visva-Bharati.
Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras. Rangelands do not include forests lacking grazable understory vegetation, barren desert, farmland, or land covered by solid rock, concrete and/or glaciers.
Matheran is an automobile-free hill station and a municipal council in the Karjat taluka of the Raigad district located in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Matheran is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and one of the smallest hill stations in India. It is located in the Western Ghats, at an elevation of around 800 m above sea level. It is about 90 km from Mumbai, and 120 km from Pune. This proximity to these urban areas makes it a weekend getaway for many. Matheran, which means "forest on the forehead" in Marathi, is an eco-sensitive region, declared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. It is Asia's only automobile-free hill station.
Birbhum district is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the five administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is in Suri. Other important cities are Bolpur, Rampurhat and Sainthia. Jamtara, Dumka and Pakur districts of the state of Jharkhand lie at the western border of this district; the border in other directions is covered by the districts of Bardhaman and Murshidabad of West Bengal.
Bidar district is the northernmost part of the Karnataka state in India. The administrative headquarters of district is Bidar city. Geographically, it resembles the "Crown of the State", occupying its northeastern end. It is bounded by Kamareddy and Sangareddy districts of Telangana state on the eastern side, Latur and Osmanabad districts of Maharashtra state on the western side, Nanded district of Maharashtra state on the northern side and Kalaburagi district on the southern side.
Bardhaman district was a district in West Bengal. On 7 April 2017, the district was bifurcated into two districts: Purba Bardhaman and Paschim Bardhaman district. The headquarters of the district was Bardhaman, and it housed the cities of Asansol and Durgapur. Indian revolutionary Rashbehari Bose was born in village Subaldaha, Bardhaman district. Bengali poet Kumud Ranjan Mullick was born at Kogram and poet Kazi Nazrul Islam was born at Churulia in the same district. Notable persons like Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Akshay Kumar Datta, Jatindranath Sengupta were also born in erstwhile Bardhaman district. It was the seventh most populous district in India at the time of bifurcation.
The Geography of West Bengal, a state in eastern India, is primarily defined by plains and plateaus, with the high peaks of the Himalayas in the north and the Bay of Bengal to the south.
Burdwan Division is one of the 5 administrative division in the Indian state of West Bengal. The headquarters of the Burdwan division is situated at Chinsurah while the largest city in this division is Asansol. This division is known for its huge reserve of coal, mainly in the districts of Paschim Bardhaman and Birbhum.
Bolpur is a city and a municipality in Birbhum district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bolpur subdivision. Bolpur municipal area includes Santiniketan, Sriniketan,Makarampur, Layek Bazar, Surul ,Muluk and Prantik. The city is known as a Cultural and Educational hub of West Bengal. The city is under the Jurisdiction of Bolpur and Santiniketan Police station. Bolpur is the largest and most populous city in Birbhum district and 28th most populous city in West Bengal. Located on the banks of Ajay River and Kopai (Sal) River, Bolpur has been a major Human settlement. It is 150 km north of Kolkata and is famous for Visva Bharati, the University set up by the Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore.
Ilambazar is a census town, with a police station, in Ilambazar CD block in Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Banalakshmi or "Vanalakshmi Unmesh Samiti" is a Krishi Ashram and a small NGO in the Birbhum district of West Bengal. It is located near to the Santiniketan, the education centre set up by Rabindranath Tagore. It is connected by a highway to Ilambazar and Bolpur. The bus stop name is Banabhila. The Choupahari sal forests or commonly known as Ilambazar forests starts from here. Address is Vanalakshmi Unmesh Samiti, Banabhila, P.O. Dwaranda, Birbhum-731236. It is around 13/14 km towards Ilambazar from Shantiniketan. Contact Numbers are +919434233376 and +919434557527.
A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above the river. Defined as long and narrow forest vegetation associated with rivers, gallery forests are structurally and floristically heterogeneous.
The Kopai River is a tributary of the Bakreshwar River. It flows past such towns as Santiniketan, Bolpur, Kankalitala, Kirnahar and Labhpur in Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a small river in dry season but overflows its banks during the monsoon. There is a village name Chhora (ছোড়া) beside this river. Also Nichinta (নিচিন্তা), Rupuspur (রুপুসপুর), Perua, (পেরুয়া) etc depend on this river.
Angadippuram Laterite is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument in Angadippuram town in Malappuram district in the southern Indian state of Kerala, India. The special significance of Angadippuram to laterites is that it was here that Dr. Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, a professional surgeon, gave the first account of this rock type, in his report of 1807, as "indurated clay", ideally suited for building construction. This formation falls outside the general classification of rocks namely, the igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary rocks but is an exclusively "sedimentary residual product". It has generally a pitted and porous appearance. The name laterite was first coined in India, by Buchanan and its etymology is traced to the Latin word "letritis" that means bricks. This exceptional formation is found above parent rock types of various composition namely, charnockite, leptynite, anorthosite and gabbro in Kerala. It is found over basalt in the states of Goa, Maharashtra and in some regions of Karnataka. In Gujarat in western India, impressive formations of laterite are found over granite, shale and sandstone..
Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolonged weathering of the underlying parent rock, usually when there are conditions of high temperatures and heavy rainfall with alternate wet and dry periods. The process of formation is called laterization. Tropical weathering is a prolonged process of chemical weathering which produces a wide variety in the thickness, grade, chemistry and ore mineralogy of the resulting soils. The majority of the land area containing laterites is between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
Bolpur Sriniketan is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
The Indian state, West Bengal has a rich cultural heritage. Due to the reign of many different rulers in the past, arts and crafts in West Bengal underwent many changes giving an artistic diversity today in the forms of traditional handicrafts, terracotta, painting and carving, dances and music.
Shonajhuri Haat or Khoai Mela, also known as Shonibarer haat is a weekly Saturday afternoon bazaar set up by local artisans in Santiniketan, Birbhum district, West Bengal. The Khoai Mela has now become a part of the culture of the Bengali people and has been taking place for over 20 years. It takes place every Saturday on the bank of the Khoai or Kopai River. The Mela is named after this Khoai region and River. This Mela is also called Shanibarer haat due to its opening day.
Media related to Khoai at Wikimedia Commons  | This article about a location in West Bengal is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |