Bengal ranks high in agriculture and health, low in environment and public infra: Report

Kolkata: Bengal presents a starkly divided picture of development, showcasing strides in farming and public health while displaying a collapse in environmental management and infrastructure, a study revealed.The study report titled ‘State of India's Environment 2026: In Figures' , released by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), ranked all 28 states and eight Union Territories (UTs) based on their performance under four "thematic" heads: Environment, Agriculture and Land, Public Health, and Human Development and Public Infrastructure. The study relied solely on govt data to assign scores to the states and UTs in each category."None of India's five most populous states — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Bengal and Madhya Pradesh — is among the top five in any of the four thematic rankings. This shows that a substantial share of India's population is not experiencing strong performances across key development indicators," Sunita Narain, director general of CSE, said during a webinar while launching the report on July 5, observed as World Environment Day.The annual assessment highlights a deep imbalance. Bengal ranked 8th in ‘Agriculture and Land' (scoring 54.11 out of 100) and 9th in ‘Public Health' (61.15). The state's rural network and health outreach placed it in the same league as smaller states, which are usually better performers on these parameters. The achievements in ‘Agriculture' and ‘Public Health' were overshadowed by an ecological mess. In the ‘Environment' category, Bengal ranked 24th with a score of 47.07, placing it alongside worst-performing states such as Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Bihar.CSE researchers cited widespread failure in municipal solid waste management, inadequate sewage treatment capacity and worsening pollution across critical river stretches for Bengal's poor ranking on the ‘Environment' parameter. Urban areas and industrial zones continue to struggle with waste disposal, wiping out the gains in other areas related to the environment, the report states.In the ‘Public Infrastructure and Human Development' index, too, Bengal's performance was equally poor — it ranked 22nd (scoring 50.47). The report notes that 32 of the 36 states and UTs scored less than 50% in this category, revealing a national deficit in roadways, power distribution and housing. For a hyper-populous state like Bengal, this infrastructure lag stands in the way of achieving social equity."Numbers reveal the current state of affairs and offer a clear view into the state of our environment," said Narain.CSE's Richard Mahapatra warned that India's progress towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goals would face setbacks because a large chunk of the population lives in Bengal and other states that lag on some crucial parameters. Bengal's satisfactory performance in health and agriculture will remain under threat if the state administration does not aggressively move towards sustainable urban planning and set up waste management infrastructure.