West India
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West India is a region of India consisting of the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa, along with the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Maharashtra, in particular, is in many respects intermediate between North India and South India; but the region has definite particularities of its own. Much of this area was formerly part of the Bombay Presidency.
The region consists geographically of the predominantly arid to semi arid region of Saurastra, Kutch and Cambay (in Gujarat), western ghats along the west coast in Maharastra and Goa and the deccan plains of the Vidarbha and Marathwada in Central eastern Maharastra. The Aravalli range are the another geographical feature that are a part of northern Gujarat frontier.
This region is the economically most prosperous and developed regions of India with respect to standards of living, infrastructure and education. Gujarat is a major milk producer with an established textile and oil exploration/production industry. While the city of Mumbai naturally dominates the economical figures of Maharastra, the state has a major sugar industry in the Vidarbha region while other agricultural products such as fruits (grapes and oranges) are the grown in Marathwada and the famous Alphonso Mangoes in the Konkan region.
The most widely spoken languages here are Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi,(in Bombay Konkani and Malvani along the Konkan Coast and Goa. Ganesha is a particularly important deity in this region.
Mumbai is the great metropolis of the region; but there are many other important cities, including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Pune. Although Nagpur is an important city of Maharastra, the city is geographically more a part of central India.
See also
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