East India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and also the union territory Andaman and Nicobar Islands. West Bengal’s capital Kolkata is the largest city of this region. The Kolkata Metropolitan Area is the country’s third largest. Among these states, Bihar is considered to be a part of North India as well. The state of West Bengal share many cultural and linguistic characteristics with Bangladesh. Together with Bangladesh, West Bengal formed the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal before partition in 1947.
Bengali is the dominant language of West Bengal. Hindi along with Urdu, Maithili, Magahi and Bhojpuri is the dominant language of Bihar and Jharkhand. Also, Santhali and Magahi are the dominant language of Jharkhand, however 34% people of Jharkhand are tribals (2001 Census) and speak their own tribal languages. Odia is the dominant language of Odisha.
The region lies in the humid-subtropical zone, and experiences hot summers from March to June, the monsoon from July to October and mild winters from November to February. The interior states have a drier climate and slightly more extreme climate, especially during the winters and summers, but the whole region receives heavy, sustained rainfall during the monsoon months. Snowfall occurs in the extreme northern regions of West Bengal.