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States and Union Territories in Eastern India:

Map of India showing all the Indian States and Union Territories

The ten Eastern and North Eastern Indian States are shown in the table below. Clicking on any of these Eastern and North Eastern States of India will take you to a short description of that State

West Bengal State stretches all the way from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal and serves as the entry point for the neighboring Kingdom of Bhutan and the Eastern most States of India: Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. Also India’s remote Islands, Andaman and Nicobar, which are Union Territories, are accessed from Kolkata, the Capital of the State. Kolkata was known as Calcutta till a few years back and is often referred to as the City of Joy. Calcutta Airport is the major International Airport for all of Eastern India. Mother Theresa, the saintly Nun and Nobel Prize winner, worked, died and is entombed in Kolkata. Darjeeling, the beautiful mountain resort in the Himalayas, is a favorite tourist spot. The Tea gardens here produce some of the world’s best teas, known as Darjeeling Teas and is a favorite Tea of the Queen of England. An experience of a life time is traveling to Darjeeling on the Himalayan Mountain Railway’s ‘Toy Train’, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Train and one of the few steam engines still in service in the world. A photo of this train against a backdrop of the giant Himalayan mountains is on the left.

Orisa now Odisha State : The capital of Orisa is Bhubaneswar. Cuttack, the former capital of Orissa is 29 km from Bhubaneswar. Pradip is the port city. Rourkela is known for its steel and fertilizer plants. Hirakud Dam in Orissa is one of the longest dams in the world. Puri is the most important tourist destination with the Jagannatha temple near the sea and is famous for its Rath-Yatra or the Car Festival, which gave rise to the English word "juggernaut". The Sun Temple of Konarka, the Lingaraja Temple of Bhubaneswar, and the Barabati Fort of Cuttack are the other tourist destinations.

Now we come to the Southern States of India: Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territories of Puducherry (Pondicherry), Lakhshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Sikkim State is in the foot hills of Himalaya. The only way to enter Sikkim from rest of India is by road since it is a land locked state and not yet connected by a Railway line . Gangtok is the Capital and an Airport near Gangtok is expected to be ready by 2011.

Assam State is a world leader in the production of tea since more than a hundred years and produces about 25 percent of the world's tea. Guwahati is the Capital and is on the banks of the Brahmaputra River and surrounded by hills, forests and large wetlands making it a picturesque city. The Kaziranga National Park in Assam, a World Heritage UNESCO site, has the largest population in the world of the one horned rhinoceros.

Meghalaya State : The capital is Shillong. Megalaya has a small airport at Umori, about 40 km from Shillong. Meghalaya has some of the thickest forests in the country and has 2 National Parks and 3 Wildlife Sanctuaries. Meghalaya has an estimated 500 natural limestone and sandstone caves spread over the entire state including most of the longest and deepest caves in the sub-continent. Cavers or Cave Explorers, also known as ‘spelunking’, come from all parts of the world to explore these caves. Cherrapunjee town in Meghalaya is world famous as having the highest rainfall or the wettest place on earth and is a popular tourist spot.

Arunachal Pradesh State : Itanagar is the capital of the state. Foreigners & Indians from other States require a visitor's permit from the tourism department of India to enter the State. This is may be due to the region being politically sensitive because China disputes the border between India and China along the Arunachal Pradesh Region. There is another version of why the permit is required and that is the permit needed for people to enter Arunachal Pradesh has nothing to do with China, but it was introduced to protect the native local people and its resources from being exploited by outsiders (including people from other states of India).

Nagaland State : The state capital is Kohima and the largest city is Dimapur. The rare bird, The Great Indian Hornbill, is a native of this state. At the time of writing this, all foreign nationals need to get a Restricted Area Permit for entry into Nagaland and this permit can be obtained at the time of applying for Indian Visa. There is an Airport in Dimapur with flights from Kolkata and Guwahati. Dimapur is also well connected by Rail. These are troubled areas and best kept away by foreigners.

Manipur State : The city of Imphal is the capital of the State. all foreign nationals need to get a Restricted Area Permit for entry into manipur.

Tripura State : Agartala is the capital. Tripura is a state in North-East India, and area wise is the third smallest state of India. Tripura is bounded by Bangladesh on three sides, North, South, and West. On the East it is bounded by States of Assam and Mizoram. The main languages are Bengali and Kokborok.
Tripura is landlocked and the terrain is mostly hilly with altitudes from 15 to 940 m above mean sea level. Tripura climate is tropical with plenty of rainfall during the monsoons. Tripura has many rivers including the Manu River which originates here.

Mizoram State : Aizawl city is the capital of Mizoram.. Unlike Neighboring states, Mizoram is the safest State in Northeast India. Mizoram has only one airport, Lengpui Airport, near Aizawl and this Airport can be reached from Kolkata. Mizoram is famous for its Bamboo and about 40% of India's 80 million tonnes of Bamboos which are used for making paper, bamboo charcoal for fuel, making pressed wall panels, etc.

The Central belt of India consists of the States of Gujarat and Maharashtra to the West, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh ah in the centre and Orisa on the East.