Cyclone Aila hit West Bengal on May 25 with a fury unprecedented in recent history.

Prize Catch
* The Eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats are prime hunting grounds for smugglers of rare Indian butterflies and beetles
* They're in demand internationally for private collections, butterfly parks, traditional medicine, and also to be encased into jewellery

The Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA) has mounted efforts to increase the production of organic tea so that the majority of the champagne of teas is organically produced by 2010.

Kalimpong: Six-hundred-and-forty households in and around Kalimpong have appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to save them from landslides, a threat that looms large in the hills during monsoon.

Kurseong, March 23: Some residents of Ambootia Tea Estate, 6km from here, have formed a farmers' club and tied up with Nabard in a bid to solve the unemployment problem that is plaguing the hills.

The Central Zoo Authority of India has adjudged Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park in Darjeeling as the best zoo in the country.

The GNLF-controlled Darjeeling municipality has decided to stop supplying drinking water and clearing garbage in the town from tomorrow. In Calcutta, home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray said the situation in the hills was "worrisome' but tourists were safe. "Those feeling unsafe would be brought down to the plains,' he added. Although a lean season for tourism, there would be several hundred tourists in the Darjeeling hills now. The peak period will begin in March.

KOLKATA, Feb. 13: School-going children in West Bengal are more prone to get addicted to tobacco products. Thanks to the lack of awareness among people in these parts about the dangers of tobacco use. This was revealed by a voluntary organisation, West Bengal Voluntary Health Association (WBVHA) this afternoon who have been engaged by the Union health ministry to spread awareness about the ill-effects of tobacco.

what gives Darjeeling tea its much sought after flavour? A team of scientists is trying to find out just that. Experts at India's Tea Research Association's Tocklai Experimental Station (tes) in