1.
India
–
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
2.
West Bengal
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West Bengal is an Indian state, located in East India on the Bay of Bengal. It is Indias fourth-most populous state, with over 91 million inhabitants and it has a total area of 34,267 sq mi, making it similar in size to Serbia. A part of the ethno-linguistic Bengal region, it borders Bangladesh in the east and Nepal and it also has borders five Indian states, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the seventh-largest city in India, the geography of West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in its extreme north, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region and the coastal Sundarbans. The main ethnic group are the Bengali people, with Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority, Ancient Bengal was the site of several major janapadas, including Vanga, Radha, Pundra and Suhma. In the 2nd century BC, the region was conquered by the emperor Ashoka, in the 4th century AD, it was absorbed into the Gupta Empire. From the 13th century onward, the region was ruled by sultans, powerful Hindu states and Baro-Bhuyan landlords. The British East India Company cemented their hold on the following the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Between 1977 and 2011, the state was administered by the worlds longest elected Communist government, a major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to Indias net domestic product. It is noted for its activities and the presence of cultural and educational institutions. The states cultural heritage, besides varied folk traditions, ranges from stalwarts in literature including Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore to scores of musicians, film-makers and artists. West Bengal is also distinct from most other Indian states in its appreciation and practice of playing football besides cricket. The origin of the name Bengal is unknown, one theory suggests that the word derives from Bang, a Dravidian tribe that settled the region around 1000 BC. The word might have derived from the ancient kingdom of Vanga. Although some early Sanskrit literature mentions the name, the early history is obscure. At the end of British Rule over the Indian subcontinent, the Bengal region was partitioned in 1947 along religious lines into east and west, the east came to be known as East Bengal and the west came to known as West Bengal, which continued as an Indian state. In 2011, the Government of West Bengal proposed a change in the name of the state to Poschimbongo. This is the name of the state, literally meaning western Bengal in the native Bengali language
3.
Kolkata
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Kolkata /koʊlˈkɑːtɑː/ is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. In 2011, the city had a population of 4.5 million, while the population of the city and its suburbs was 14.1 million, making it the third-most populous metropolitan area in India. Recent estimates of Kolkata Metropolitan Areas economy have ranged from $60 to $150 billion making it third most-productive metropolitan area in India, after Mumbai, in the late 17th century, the three villages that predated Calcutta were ruled by the Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. After the Nawab granted the East India Company a trading licence in 1690, Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah occupied Calcutta in 1756, and the East India Company retook it the following year. In 1793 the East India company was enough to abolish Nizamat. Calcutta was the centre for the Indian independence movement, it remains a hotbed of contemporary state politics, following Indian independence in 1947, Kolkata, which was once the centre of modern Indian education, science, culture, and politics, suffered several decades of economic stagnation. Many people from Kolkata—among them several Nobel laureates—have contributed to the arts, the sciences, Kolkata culture features idiosyncrasies that include distinctively close-knit neighbourhoods and freestyle intellectual exchanges. Though home to major cricketing venues and franchises, Kolkata differs from other Indian cities by giving importance to association football, there are several explanations about the etymology of this name, The term Kolikata is thought to be a variation of Kalikkhetrô, meaning Field of Kali. Similarly, it can be a variation of Kalikshetra, alternatively, the name may have been derived from the Bengali term kilkila, or flat area. The name may have its origin in the words khal meaning canal, followed by kaṭa, according to another theory, the area specialised in the production of quicklime or koli chun and coir or kata, hence, it was called Kolikata. The discovery and archaeological study of Chandraketugarh,35 kilometres north of Kolkata, Kolkatas recorded history began in 1690 with the arrival of the English East India Company, which was consolidating its trade business in Bengal. The area occupied by the city encompassed three villages, Kalikata, Gobindapur, and Sutanuti. Kalikata was a village, Sutanuti was a riverside weavers village. They were part of an estate belonging to the Mughal emperor and these rights were transferred to the East India Company in 1698. In 1712, the British completed the construction of Fort William, facing frequent skirmishes with French forces, the British began to upgrade their fortifications in 1756. The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, condemned the militarisation and his warning went unheeded, and the Nawab attacked, he captured Fort William which led to the killings of several East India company officials in the Black Hole of Calcutta. A force of Company soldiers and British troops led by Robert Clive recaptured the city the following year, declared a presidency city, Calcutta became the headquarters of the East India Company by 1772. In 1793, ruling power of the Nawabs were abolished and East India company took control of the city
4.
Kolkata district
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Kolkata district is an administrative district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It contains the part of the city of Kolkata. As regards civic infrastructure, the area of Kolkata District is under the administration of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. But other parts of the area, and of the citys suburban areas, belong to the districts of North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly. Kolkata District is bordered by Howrah District, North 24 Parganas District, the office of the Kolkata Collector is in B. B. D. Bag, north of the General Post Office, none of the constituencies is reserved for Scheduled Castes candidates. Kolkata Uttar consists Chowringhee, Entally, Beliaghata, Jorasanko, Shyampukur, Maniktala, cossipur, Shyampukur, Jorabagan, Barabazar, Bowbazar and Taltola constituencies formed the Calcutta North West. Entally, Beliaghata, Sealdah, Vidyasagar, Burtola, Manicktola, along with four assembly constituencies from South 24 Parganas district, Chowringhee, Rashbehari Avenue and Ballygunje constituencies formed the Calcutta South. According to the 2011 census Kolkata district has a population of 4,486,679 and this gives it a ranking of 35th in India. The district has a density of 24,252 inhabitants per square kilometre. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was -1. 88%, Kolkata has a sex ratio of 899 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 87. 14%. Kolkata metropolitan area Map of Kolkata district
5.
Line 1, Kolkata Metro
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The Line 1, also known as North–South Metro of the Kolkata Metro is a rapid transit system serving Kolkata, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas in Indian state of West Bengal. It consists of 23 stations from Kavi Subhash to Dum Dum, of which 6 are elevated,2 are at grade, the line connects Dum Dum and New Garia and uses 5 ft 6 in Broad gauge rolling stock. Noapara is opened on 10 July 2013 and it is elevated and is located 2.09 km. north of Dum Dum. So now, Metro runs a total of 27.39 Kilometers from Noapara to Kavi Subhash where there are total 24 nos. of Stations. It was the first underground railway to be built in India, with the first operations commencing in October,1984, on 28 December 2010, it became the 17th zone of the Indian Railways. As a result, it took nearly 23 years to construct around 15 km underground railway from Birpara up to just before of Tollygunj Metro Station. The laying of the stone was done in 1972. Line 1 is 17 km. long with 17 stations, running of the first metro car on the line by 1984 was considered a great engineering challenge. Former railways minister A. B. A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury took a massive effort to perform it. The first section opened between Esplanade & Bhowanipore, first day Metro Railway Kolkata were started by Sri Tapan Kumar Nath and Sri Sanjay Sil. There were no connections of this stretch with the two depots at Dum Dum & Tollygunge, so metro cars had to be put down on the track near Esplanade by crane, by directly digging the road surface. Initially, only four car trains were run until 1986, there were no magnetic gates or escalators at that time and ordinary revolving gates served as exits. The Metro too operated on only a single line, two years later, line 1 extended up to Tollygunge, at the southern end. At the same time, the service was extended to the double line. Magnetic tickets and more entry gates were introduced at that time. The number of compartments in each train was increased to eight, Metro service was also started from Dum Dum, at the northern end, to Belgachhia in parallel with the extension of the line to the south. But this short portion was not popular and the service was closed down to be restarted when the stretch along the north–south corridor was completed. After 1986 many political incidents hampered the construction, and work almost stopped for six years. After restarting work, the Dum Dum to Shyambazar metro service was started in 1994 and this portion was served by four car trains
6.
Municipal corporation
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A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located, often, this event is marked by the award or declaration of a municipal charter. A city charter or town charter is a document establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages and is considered to be a version of a constitution. Traditionally the granting of a charter gave a settlement and its inhabitants the right to town privileges under the feudal system, townspeople who lived in chartered towns were burghers, as opposed to serfs who lived in villages. Towns were often free, in the sense that they were protected by the king or emperor. Today the process for granting charters is determined by the type of government of the state in question, in monarchies, charters are still often a royal charter given by the Crown or the state authorities acting on behalf of the Crown. In federations, the granting of charters may be within the jurisdiction of the level of government such as a state or province. In Brazil, municipal corporations are called municípios and are created by means of legislation at the state level. All municipal corporations must also abide by a municipal law which is passed and amended at the municipal level. In Canada charters are granted by provincial authorities, in Germany, municipal corporations existed since antiquity and through medieval times, until they became out of favour during the absolutism. In order to strengthen the spirit, the city law of Prussia dated 19 November 1808 picked up this concept. It is the basis of municipal law. In India, a Municipal Corporation is a local government body. This standard varies from state to state, according to laws passed by state legislatures, the Corporation of Chennai was the first Municipal Corporation in India. It was established on 29 September 1688 by the British East India Company, the second was Hyderabad Municipal Corporation established in 1869 by the Nizam rulers of Hyderabad State. The third was the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, established in 1876, the Bombay Municipal Corporation was established in 1888 by the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act. The Delhi Municipal Council was established in 1911 during the Delhi Durbar when New Delhi was proclaimed to be the new Capital of India and it was elevated to Municipal Corporation level on 7 April 1958 by an Act of Parliament which established the Municipal Corporation of Delhi
7.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation
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Kolkata Municipal Corporation or KMC is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Kolkata. This civic administrative body administers an area of 200.71 km2 and its motto, Purosree Bibardhan, is inscribed on its emblem in Bengali script. KMC is headed by Sovan Chatterjee the present Mayor of Kolkata, the KMC was established in 1876. Later mayors include Deshapriya Jatindra Mohan Sengupta, Bidhan Chandra Roy, Nalini Ranjan Sarkar, Abul Kasem Fazlul Haque, the city is divided into 144 administrative wards that are grouped into 15 boroughs. Each of these elects a councillor to the KMC. Each borough has a committee consisting of the elected from the respective wards of the boroughs. The Corporation, through the committees, maintains government-aided schools, hospitals and municipal markets and partakes in urban planning. The corporation as the apex body discharges its function through the Mayor-in-Council, consisting of a mayor, assisted by a deputy mayor, the mayor is responsible for the overall functioning of the KMC and has a tenure of five years. At present, the All India Trinamool Congress holds the power in the KMC, recently the KMC has faced a lot of criticism for legalising unauthorized construction largely responsible for a number of deaths because of fire. This was also responsible of the growth in the city. The city also has an apolitical titular post, that of the Sheriff of Kolkata, the Sheriff presides over various city-related functions and conferences. Another ancillary civic body is the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority responsible for the statutory planning, the KMA includes a large suburban hinterland around the urban centres of Kolkata. The jurisdiction of the KMC covers the area covered by the Kolkata Police, according to KMC website, erstwhile Joka-I & Joka-II Gram Panchayats were added to municipal limits, although information on their distribution into wards was not available. This addition increases the area of KMC to 200.71 square kilometres, in 2011, it was announced that Kolkata Police and Kolkata Municipal Corporation area will be coterminous. Kolkata Postal District however extends right up to Barrackpur in the North, Barasat in the East, up to Baruipur in South-East and Joka in South, the Postal code in this entire area starts with 700, indicating Postal Sorting District of Kolkata. Thus Kolkata Postal area is bigger than the area of KMC. In general term, people identify a locality with its Postal address, Postal address of people residing in the delivery jurisdiction of any of the 160 Delivery Post offices of Kolkata will be having PIN Code no. from 700001 to 700160. So for all practical purpose, anyone residing in Kolkata Postal area, the KMC is responsible for administering and providing basic infrastructure to the city
8.
Lok Sabha
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The Lok Sabha is the Lower house of Indias bicameral Parliament, with the Upper house being the Rajya Sabha. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi, under the current laws, the strength of Lok Sabha is 545, including the two seats reserved for members of the Anglo-Indian community. The total elective membership is distributed among the states in proportion to their population, a total of 131 seats are reserved for representatives of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The quorum for the House is 10% of the total membership, term of the House The Lok Sabha, unless sooner dissolved, continues to operate for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and the expiration of the period of five years. An exercise to redraw Lok Sabha constituencies boundaries has been carried out by the Delimitation Commission based on the Indian census of 2001, the 16th Lok Sabha was elected in May 2014 and is the latest to date. The Lok Sabha has its own channel, Lok Sabha TV. A major portion of the Indian subcontinent was under British rule from 1858 to 1947, the Indian Councils Act 1861 provided for a Legislative Council consisting of the members of the Executive Council and non-official members. The Indian Councils Act 1892 established legislatures in each of the provinces of British India, although these Acts increased the representation of Indians in the government, their power still remained limited, and the electorate very small. The Indian Councils Act 1909 and the Government of India Act 1919 further expanded the participation of Indians in the administration, the Constituent Assembly was divided into two for the separate nations, with each new Assembly having sovereign powers transferred to it for the respective dominion. The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950, proclaiming India to be a sovereign, democratic republic. This contained the principles of the law of the land which would govern India in its new form. The Lok Sabha was duly constituted for the first time on 17 April 1952 after the first General Elections held from 25 October 1951 to 21 February 1952 and he / She should not be less than 25 years of age. He / She possesses such other qualifications as may be prescribed in that behalf by or under any law made by Parliament, a seat in the Lok Sabha will become vacant in the following circumstances, When the holder of the seat, by writing to the speaker, resigns. When the holder of the seat is absent from 60 consecutive days of proceedings of the House, when the holder of the seat is subject to any disqualifications mentioned in the Constitution or any law enacted by Parliament. A seat may also be vacated when the holder stands disqualified under the Anti-Defection Law, a member both of Parliament and of a House of the Legislature of a State. System of elections in Lok Sabha Members of the Lok Sabha are directly elected by the people of India, for the purpose of holding direct elections to Lok Sabha, each state is divided into territorial constituencies. This provision does not apply for states having a population of less than 6 million, note, The expression population here refers to the population ascertained at the preceding census of which relevant figure have been published. Lok Sabha has certain powers that make it more powerful than the Rajya Sabha, motions of no confidence against the government can be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha
9.
Vidhan Sabha
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The Vidhan Sabha or the Legislative Assembly is the lower house or the sole house of the state legislature in the different States of India. The same name is used for the lower house of the legislatures for two of the Union Territories, Delhi and Puducherry. The upper house in the seven states with a legislature is called the Legislative Council. Members of a Vidhan Sabha are direct representatives of the people of the state as they are directly elected by an electorate consisting of all citizens above the age of 18 of that state. Its maximum size as outlined in the Constitution of India is not more than 500 members and not less than 60 members. However, the size of the Vidhan Sabha can be less than 59 members through an Act of Parliament, such is the case in the states of Goa, Sikkim, Mizoram and the Union Territory of Puducherry. In some states Governor may appoint 1 member to represent minorities, e. g. the Anglo-Indian community, if he finds that minority inadequately represented in the House. Those elected or nominated to Vidhan Sabha are referred to as Members of Legislative Assembly or MLAsEach Vidhan Sabha assembles for a five-year term, during a State of Emergency, its term may be extended past five years or it may be dissolved. The term of the Legislative Assembly is five years, but it may be dissolved even earlier than five years by the Governor on the request of the Chief Minister. The term of a Legislative Assembly may be extended during an Emergency, a Vidhan Sabha can also be dissolved if a motion of no confidence is passed within it against the majority party or coalition. To become a member of a Vidhan Sabha, a person must be a citizen of India and he or she should be mentally sound and should not be bankrupt. He or she should also state an affidavit that there are no criminal procedures against him or her, Speaker of Vidhan Sabha who is responsible for the conduct of business of the body, and also a Deputy Speaker to preside during the Speakers absence. The Speaker acts as a judge and manages all debates. A motion of no confidence against the government in the state can only be introduced in the Vidhan Sabha, if it is passed by a majority vote, then the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers must collectively resign. A money bill can only be introduced in Vidhan Sabha, in bicameral jurisdictions, after it is passed in the Vidhan Sabha, it is sent to the Vidhan Parishad, where it can be kept for a maximum time of 14 days. Unless by the Finance Minister of the state in the name of the Governor of that state, in matters related to ordinary bills, the will of Legislative Assembly prevails and there is no provision of joint sitting. In such cases, Legislative council can delay the legislation by maximum 4 months
10.
South Kolkata
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Kolkata /koʊlˈkɑːtɑː/ is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. In 2011, the city had a population of 4.5 million, while the population of the city and its suburbs was 14.1 million, making it the third-most populous metropolitan area in India. Recent estimates of Kolkata Metropolitan Areas economy have ranged from $60 to $150 billion making it third most-productive metropolitan area in India, after Mumbai, in the late 17th century, the three villages that predated Calcutta were ruled by the Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. After the Nawab granted the East India Company a trading licence in 1690, Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah occupied Calcutta in 1756, and the East India Company retook it the following year. In 1793 the East India company was enough to abolish Nizamat. Calcutta was the centre for the Indian independence movement, it remains a hotbed of contemporary state politics, following Indian independence in 1947, Kolkata, which was once the centre of modern Indian education, science, culture, and politics, suffered several decades of economic stagnation. Many people from Kolkata—among them several Nobel laureates—have contributed to the arts, the sciences, Kolkata culture features idiosyncrasies that include distinctively close-knit neighbourhoods and freestyle intellectual exchanges. Though home to major cricketing venues and franchises, Kolkata differs from other Indian cities by giving importance to association football, there are several explanations about the etymology of this name, The term Kolikata is thought to be a variation of Kalikkhetrô, meaning Field of Kali. Similarly, it can be a variation of Kalikshetra, alternatively, the name may have been derived from the Bengali term kilkila, or flat area. The name may have its origin in the words khal meaning canal, followed by kaṭa, according to another theory, the area specialised in the production of quicklime or koli chun and coir or kata, hence, it was called Kolikata. The discovery and archaeological study of Chandraketugarh,35 kilometres north of Kolkata, Kolkatas recorded history began in 1690 with the arrival of the English East India Company, which was consolidating its trade business in Bengal. The area occupied by the city encompassed three villages, Kalikata, Gobindapur, and Sutanuti. Kalikata was a village, Sutanuti was a riverside weavers village. They were part of an estate belonging to the Mughal emperor and these rights were transferred to the East India Company in 1698. In 1712, the British completed the construction of Fort William, facing frequent skirmishes with French forces, the British began to upgrade their fortifications in 1756. The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, condemned the militarisation and his warning went unheeded, and the Nawab attacked, he captured Fort William which led to the killings of several East India company officials in the Black Hole of Calcutta. A force of Company soldiers and British troops led by Robert Clive recaptured the city the following year, declared a presidency city, Calcutta became the headquarters of the East India Company by 1772. In 1793, ruling power of the Nawabs were abolished and East India company took control of the city
11.
East India Company
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The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, however, these were all lost at sea. Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8. Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal
12.
Mughal emperors
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The Mughal emperors were a branch of the Timurid dynasty. From the early 16th century to the early 18th they built and ruled the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the countries of Bangladesh, India. Their power rapidly dwindled during the 18th century and the last of the emperors was deposed in 1857, with the establishment of the British Raj. The dynasty was of Asian Turco-Mongol origin from a now part of modern-day Uzbekistan. Timur is generally known in the West as Tamerlane the Great and its population at the time has been estimated as between 110 and 150 million, over a territory of more than 3.2 million square kilometres. Ousted from his domains in Central Asia by Uzbek Khan. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, baburs forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526. The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India, the instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun, who was driven out of India and into Persia by rebels. Humayuns exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal Courts, and led to increasing West Asian cultural influence in the Mughal court, the restoration of Mughal rule began after Humayun’s triumphant return from Persia in 1555, but he died from a fatal accident shortly afterwards. Humayuns son, Akbar, succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, through warfare and diplomacy, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions, and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari river. He created a new class of nobility loyal to him from the aristocracy of Indias social groups, implemented a modern government. At the same time Akbar intensified trade with European trading companies and he left his successors an internally stable state, which was in the midst of its golden age, but before long signs of political weakness would emerge. Akbars son, Jahangir, ruled the empire at its peak, but he was addicted to opium, neglected the affairs of the state, and came under the influence of rival court cliques. During the reign of Jahangirs son, Shah Jahan, the culture, the maintenance of the court, at this time, began to cost more than the revenue. Shah Jahans eldest son, the liberal Dara Shikoh, became regent in 1658, however, a younger son, Aurangzeb, allied with the Islamic orthodoxy against his brother, who championed a syncretistic Hindu-Muslim religion and culture, and ascended to the throne. Aurangzeb defeated Dara in 1659 and had him executed, although Shah Jahan fully recovered from his illness, Aurangzeb declared him incompetent to rule and had him imprisoned. During Aurangzebs reign, the empire gained political strength once more, Aurangzeb expanded the empire to include almost the whole of South Asia, but at his death in 1707, many parts of the empire were in open revolt. Aurangzebs son, Shah Alam, repealed the religious policies of his father, however, after his death in 1712, the Mughal dynasty sank into chaos and violent feuds
13.
Farrukhsiyar
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Abul Muzaffar Muin ud-din Muhammad Shah Farrukh-siyar Alim Akbar Sani Wala Shan Padshah-i-bahr-u-bar was the Mughal emperor between 1713 and 1719, after murdering Jahandar Shah. Noted as a ruler he was easily swayed by his advisers, he lacked the ability, knowledge. He was the son of Azim-ush-Shan—the second son of emperor Bahadur Shah I—and Sahiba Nizwan and his reign witnessed the primacy of the Sayyid Brothers who became the effective powers of the land, behind the façade of Mughal rule. His constant plotting eventually led the Sayyid Brothers to officially depose him, Muhammad Farrukhsiyar was born on 11 September 1683 at the city of Aurangabad in the Deccan region. He was the son of Azim-ush-Shan. In 1696, he accompanied his father in his campaign to Bengal, in 1707, the then Mughal emperor Aurangzeb recalled his son Azim-ush-Shan from Bengal, instructing Farrukhsiyar to take charge of the province. Initially, he spent his years in the city of Dhaka and during the reign of Bahadur Shah I. In 1712, Azim-ush-Shan anticipated Bahadur Shah Is death and a struggle for accession, as he was marching past Azimabad when he heard of the Mughal emperors death. Consequently on 21rst March, Farrukhsiyar proclaimed his fathers accession to the throne, issued coinage in his fathers name, on 6 April, Farrukhsiyar heard of his fathers defeat. The prince becoming distressed contemplated suicide, but was dissuaded by his friends from Bengal, in 1712, Jahandar Shah ascended the throne of the Mughal empire by defeating his father Azim-ush-Shan. However, he wanted to avenge for his fathers death and he was joined by Hussain Ali Khan the subahdar of Bengal. They were also joined by Abdullah Khan, his brother who was the subahdar of Allahabad, as they reached Allahabad from Azimabad, Jahandar Shahs military general Syed Abdul Ghaffar Khan Gardezi with 12,000 troops clashed with Abdullah Khan. Abdullah Khan retreated to the Allahabad Fort, however, with the news of Gardezis death, his army fled. After he came to know of his defeat, Jahandar Shah sent another general Khwaja Ahsan Khan, on reaching Khajwah, they came to know that Farrukhsiyar was accompanied by Hussain Ali Khan and Abdullah Khan. With Abdullah Khan in command of the vanguard, Farrukhsiyar started the attack, after an artillery fight for a whole night, Aazuddin and Khwaja Ahsan Khan fled. The camp consequently fell to Farrukhsiyar, on 10 January 1713, the forces of Farrukhsiyar and Jahandar Shah met at Samugarh. Jahandar Shah was defeated and imprisoned and on the next day, on 12 February, Farrukhsiyar marched to the Mughal capital of Delhi and captured Red Fort and the citadel. The head of Jahandar Shah was put at the end of a bamboo and carried by an executioner on an elephant
14.
Hooghly River
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The Hooghly River or the Bhāgirathi-Hooghly, called Ganga traditionally, is an approximately 260-kilometre-long distributary of the Ganges River in West Bengal, India. It splits from the Ganges as a canal in Murshidabad District at the Farakka Barrage, the town of Hugli-Chinsura, formerly Hooghly, is located on the river, in the Hooghly. The origins of the Hooghly name are uncertain, whether the city or the river was named first, the Farakka Barrage is a dam that diverts water from the Ganges into a canal near the town of Tildanga in Murshidabad district. This supplies the Hooghly with adequate water even in the dry season and it parallels the Ganges, past Dhulian, until just above Jahangirpur where the canal ends and the river takes its own course. Just south of Jahangirpur it leaves the Ganges area and flows south past Jiaganj Azimganj, Murshidabad, the river then flows south past Katwa, Navadwip and Kalna. At Kalna it originally formed the border between Nadia District and Hooghly District, and then further south between Hooghly District and North 24 Parganas District and it flows past Halisahar, Chinsurah, Serampore, and Kamarhati. Then just before entering the cities of Kolkata and Howrah. At Nurpur it enters an old channel of the Ganges and turns south to empty into the Bay of Bengal through the estuary of about 20 mi wide, two of its primary tributaries are Damodar and Rupnarayan. The tide runs rapidly on the Hooghly, and produces an example of the fluvial phenomenon known as a tidal bore. This consists of the head-wave of the tide, hemmed in where the estuary narrows suddenly into the river. It is felt as high up as Kolkata, and frequently destroys small boats, the difference from the lowest point of low-water in the dry season to the highest point of high-water in the rains is reported to be 20 ft 10 in. The greatest mean rise of tide, about 16 ft, takes place in March, April or May - with a declining range during the season to a mean of 10 ft. In its upper reaches the river is known as the Bhāgirathi. In 1974, the Farakka Barrage began diverting water into the Hooghly during the dry season so as to reduce the difficulties at Kolkatas port. Like the rest of the Ganges, the Bhāgirathi-Hooghly is considered sacred to Hindus, the Bhāgirathi-Hooghly river system is an essential lifeline for the people of West Bengal. It was through this river that the East India company sailed into Bengal and established their settlement, Calcutta. People from other such as the French, Dutch, Portuguese. The river provides a supply of water to the plain of West Bengal for irrigation
15.
Siraj ud-Daulah
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Mirza Muhammad Siraj ud-Daulah, more commonly known as Siraj ud-Daulah, was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. The end of his reign marked the start of British East India Company rule over Bengal, Siraj succeeded his maternal grandfather, Alivardi Khan as the Nawab of Bengal in April 1756 at the age of 23. Betrayed by Mir Jafar, then commander of Nawabs army, Siraj lost the Battle of Plassey on 23 June 1757, the forces of the East India Company under Robert Clive invaded and the administration of Bengal fell into the hands of the Company. Siraj was born to Zain ud-Din Ahmed Khan and Amina Begum in 1733, accordingly, he was raised at the Nawabs palace with all necessary education and training suitable for a future Nawab. Young Siraj also accompanied Alivardi on his military ventures against the Marathas in 1746, Siraj was regarded as the fortune child of the family. Since birth Siraj, had special affection from his grandfather, in May 1752, Alivardi Khan declared Siraj as his successor. Alivardi Khans died on 10 April 1756 at the age of eighty, Siraj succeeded Alivardi Khan as the Nawab in April 1756 at the age of 23, under the titles of Mansur-ul-Mulk, Siraj ud and Hybut Jang. Siraj-ud-Daulahs nomination to the Nawabship aroused the jealousy and enmity of his aunt, Ghaseti Begum, Mir Jafar. Ghaseti Begum possessed huge wealth, which was the source of her influence, apprehending serious opposition from her, Siraj ud-Daulah seized her wealth from Motijheel Palace and placed her under confinement. The Nawab also made changes in government positions giving them his own favourites. Mir madan was appointed Bakshi in place of Mir Jafar, mohanlal was elevated to the rank of peshkar of his Dewan Khana and he exercised great influence in the administration. Eventually Siraj suppressed Shaukat Jang, governor of Purnia, who was killed in a clash and he was annoyed at the companys alleged involvement with and instigation of some members of his own court in a conspiracy to oust him. His charges against the company were mainly threefold, hence, when the East India Company started further enhancement of military preparedness at Fort William in Calcutta, Siraj asked them to stop. The Company did not heed his directives, so Siraj-ud Daulah retaliated and captured Kolkata from the British in June 1756. The Nawab gathered his forces together, a British account of the number who died may be overstated. The Nawab was infuriated on learning of the attack on Chandernagar and his former hatred of the British returned, but he now felt the need to strengthen himself by alliances against the British. The Nawab was plagued by fear of attack from the north by the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani, therefore, he could not deploy his entire force against the British for fear of being attacked from the flanks. A deep distrust set in between the British and the Nawab, as a result, Siraj started secret negotiations with Jean Law, chief of the French factory at Cossimbazar, and de Bussy. The Nawab also moved a division of his army under Rai Durlabh to Plassey
16.
Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad
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The Nawabs of Bengal were the rulers of the then provinces of Bengal and Orissa. Between 1717 and 1765, they served as the rulers of the subah of Bengal, however, they were only nominally subordinate to the Mughal Empire. Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal was betrayed in the Battle of Plassey by Mir Jafar and he lost to the British, who took over the charge of Bengal in 1757, installed Mir Jafar on the Masnad and established itself to a political power in Bengal. In 1765 the system of Dual Government was established, in which the Nawabs ruled on behalf of the British and were mere puppets to the British, in 1772 the system was abolished and Bengal was brought under direct control of the British. In 1793, when the Nizamat of the Nawab was also away from them. The last Nawab of Bengal, Mansur Ali Khan abdicated on 1 November 1880 in favour of his eldest son and they had little or no say in the share of the revenue collected and were ceased to use any force. After Indian Independence in 1947 it was declared that the states must accede to either India or Pakistan. Murshidabad became a part of East Pakistan for two days, as it had a Muslim majority and it became a part of India on 17 August 1947, following which the Pakistani flag was brought down from the Hazarduari Palace and the Indian tricolour was hoisted atop it. After merging with India, they had no power as the Government of India took over all the states in India. The house of the Nawabs appeared to have come to end in 1969 with Waris Ali Mirza being the last reigning Nawab and with no clear succession. Although he left three sons and three daughters there was no successor to the title after his death because he disinherited one. During the first partition of Bengal in the early 20th century a new province, in 1911, East Bengal was reunited with Bengal, and the new provinces in the east became, Assam, Bengal Province. The Nawab thus gained rule over Orissa, which were part of Bengal. The majority of modern Bengal is inhabited by Bengali people who speak the Bengali language, the early Sultans of Bengal ruled until 1282 which was followed by the rule of several successive dynasties. Ilyas Shah founder of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty, took charge of the then Bengal. He was one of the independent rulers of Bengal, the Mughal Empire emerged as a powerful Empire in northern India. Babur, who was related to two legendary warriors – Timur and Genghis Khan, invaded north India and defeated Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi dynasty, babur thus became the first Mughal emperor. He was succeeded by his son, Humayun, at the same time, Sher Shah Suri of the Suri dynasty rose to prominence and established himself as the ruler of the present day Bihar by defeating Ghiyasuddin Shah
17.
Mir Jafar
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Mir Jafar Ali Khan Bahadur was the first Nawab of Bengal with support from the British East India Company. He was the son of Sayyid Ahmad Najafi. His rule is considered the start of British imperialism in India and was a key step in the eventual British domination of vast areas of the subcontinent. Thus after helping the British defeat Siraj ud-Daulah he became the new Nawab of Bengal in 1757 with military support from the British East India Company as a reward for his betrayal, however, Jafar failed to satisfy constant British demands for money. In 1758, Robert Clive discovered that through his agent Khoja Wajid, Dutch ships of war were also seen in the River Hooghly. Circumstances led to the Battle of Chinsurah, British company official Henry Vansittart proposed that since Jafar was unable to cope with the difficulties, Mir Qasim, Jafars son-in-law, should act as Deputy Subahdar. In October 1760, the company forced him to abdicate in favor of Qasim. However, Qasims independent spirit and plan to force the East India company out of his led to his overthrow. Mir Qasim however refused to accept this and went to war against the company, Jafar ruled until his death on January 17,1765 and lies buried at the Jafarganj Cemetery in Murshidabad, West Bengal, India. In 1747 the Marathas led by Raghoji I Bhonsle, began to raid, pillage and annex the territories of the Alivardi Khan, the enraged Alivardi Khan then dismissed the shamed Mir Jafar. Mir Jafar pretended loyalty to Alivardi Khans successor Siraj Ud Daulah, after Siraj Ud Daulah’s defeat and subsequent execution, Jafar achieved his long-pursued dream of gaining the throne, and was propped up by the British East India company as puppet Nawab. Jafar paid Rs.17,700,000 as compensation for the attack on Calcutta to the company, in addition, he gave bribes to the officials of the company. However, the British defeated the Dutch at the Battle of Chinsurah in November 1759, however, Qasim proved to be both able and independent, strongly condemned the interference of East India company in the governing of his domain. Mir Qasim formed an alliance to force the British East India company out of East India, the Company soon went to war with him and his allies. With the defeat in Buxar, Mir Qasim was eventually overthrown, Mir Jafar managed to regain the good graces of the British, he was again installed Nawab in 1763 and held the position until his death in 1765. But the conflict involved the assertive British East India Company. The Mughals were led by Prince Ali Gauhar, who was accompanied by Muhammad Quli Khan, Hidayat Ali, Mir Afzal and their forces were reinforced by the forces of Shuja-ud-Daula and Najib-ud-Daula. The Mughals were also joined by Jean Law and 200 Frenchmen, the breakup of the centralized Mughal empire by 1750, led to creation of a large number of independent kingdoms
18.
Maratha Ditch
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The Bargis, however, never came to the city. Later, the proved to be useless when the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, came. The ditch was never completely built and it was mostly filled up in 1799 to build the Circular Road and the balance was filled up in 1892–93. It earned Kolkatans the sobriquet Ditchers, the area bound by the ditch was considered to be the original town of Kolkata. For about ten years the spectre of Bargi invasion and large scale plundering of the countryside dominated the western part of Bengal, Bargi invasions took place almost as an annual event. Bargi is corruption of a Marathi word which meant horsemen who were provided with horses and arms by the Maratha Empire in contrast to the siladars, the Bargi invasions played on the creative impulse of the people. Even to this day, mothers in Bengal sing the song to put their children to sleep - chhele ghumalo, pada judalo bargi elo deshe bulbulite dhan kheyechhe. When the children asleep, silence sets in, the Bargis come to our lands Bulbulis have eaten the grains. Alivardi Khan became Nawab of Bengal in April 1740, after defeating and killing Sarfraz Khan and his rule was challenged by Sarfraj Khan’s brother-in-law Rustam Jung, who was naib nazim of Orissa. Alivardi defeated him in a battle at Falwaei, near Balasore, placed his own nephew as naib nazim of Orissa and left for his capital, Rustam Jung sought the assistance of the Maratha ruler of Nagpur, Raghoji I Bhonsle. He regained control of Orissa with the assistance of Marathas, who in the process discovered how easy it was to plunder the countryside in Bengal. Alivardi returned to Orissa and again defeated Rustam Jung, but before he returned to Murshidabad and they entered through Panchet and started looting the countryside. For about ten years, the Bargis raided and plundered Bengal every year, contemporary chroniclers have left behind vivid descriptions of Bargi terror, their hit-and-run tactics and the helplesness of the Nawab’s army in checking them. Alivardi showed exemplary courage and military skill in every battle that took place. The Nawab’s soldiers could not match the Maratha horsemen in speed, only the Ganges -Bhagirathi river line proved a barrier to their movement. They crossed it only on a few occasions, the Bargi invasions came to an end in May 1751 after the Nawab and the Marathas reached an agreement, including the secession of Orissa. When the Bargis started plundering the Bengal countryside, the Nawab was still powerful, and it was fear of the Maratha attack that made them dig the Maratha Ditch, cutting across the only pathway, north of Kolkata, through which invasions by land were possible. According to H. E. A. Cotton, the country was laid waste from Balasore to Rajmahal, the original plan of the ditch extended for seven miles but in six months three miles of it were finished
19.
Alipore
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Alipore is the headquarters of South 24 Parganas district and a neighbourhood in South Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area is the most posh and costliest locality in Kolkata, the postal code of Alipore is Kolkata 700027. One of the most historical, eventful and elite localities of the city of Kolkata and it was in the middle parts of the 18th century that the British began exploring the areas outside their settlements of Fort William and the Dalhousie Square area beyond the Race Course. The Belvedere Estate was one of the oldest establishments in Alipore, the then Governor General Warren Hastings built it for himself and it became the Governors residence until the Government House came up later. It was about this period of time that Alipore started attracting more and more British settlers who built their mansions and bungalows with gardens. In 1820, William Carey built the Agri Horticultural Gardens behind the Belvedere Estate, also, the Alipore Zoological Gardens was thrown open to the public in 1875. The locality was also witness to the Alipore bomb case and a spectator to the struggle of the Indian revolutionaries. Post independence of India, Alipore became popular among the elite of the city. The Pauls, the Birlas, the Goenkas, the Dalmiyas, the Jalans, the Kotharis, in 1952, the Imperial Library shifted to its present premises on Belvedere Estate. The Alipore Mint was also inaugurated the same year, several consulates like those of Russia, Germany, France, Italy and residences of Hon. Consul General of Canada, Denmark, Greece, Peru, etc. are located in Alipore, by the late eighties and nineties other places like New Alipore and Ballygunge competed with Alipore as the most elite areas of Kolkata. Alipore is located at 22. 53°N88. 33°E /22.53,88.33 and it has an average elevation of 14 metres. Alipore area is bordered by the following roads - AJC Bose Road to the north, D L Khan Road to the East, Diamond Harbour Road to the West, Alipore is connected to all parts of the city by extensive bus services. Alipore is served by the Majherhat and New Alipore railway stations on the Budge Budge section of Kolkata Suburban Railway, the Kalighat metro station of the Kolkata Metro as well as the Jatin Das Park station is close to Alipore. Some of the best healthcare options in the city are located in Alipore Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital, Alipore Road CMRI, Diamond Harbour Road B. M
20.
Bengali renaissance
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This movement questioned existing orthodoxies, particularly with respect to women, marriage, the dowry system, the caste system, and religion. The parallel socio-religious movement, the Brahmo Samaj, developed during time period. Future leaders like Keshub Chunder Sen were as much devotees of Christ, as they were of Brahma and it must also be acknowledged that many of the later Brahmos were also leaders of the freedom movement. The renaissance period after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 saw a magnificent outburst of Bengali literature, while Ram Mohan Roy and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar were the pioneers, others like Bankim Chandra Chatterjee widened it and built upon it. The first significant nationalist detour to the Bengal Renaissance was given by the writings of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, later writers of the period who introduced broad discussion of social problems and more colloquial forms of Bengali into mainstream literature included Saratchandra Chatterjee. The Tagore family, including Rabindranath Tagore, were leaders of this period and had a particular interest in educational reform and their contribution to the Bengal Renaissance was multi-faceted. Indeed, Tagores 1901 Bengali novella, Nastanirh was written as a critique of men who professed to follow the ideals of the Renaissance, in many ways Rabindranath Tagores writings can be seen as imbued with the spirit of the Upanishads. His works repeatedly allude to Upanishadic ideas regarding soul, liberation, transmigration and—perhaps most essentially—about a spirit that all creation not unlike the Upanishadic Brahman. Tagores English translation of a set of poems titled the Gitanjali won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 and he was the first Asian to win this award. That was the example at the time but the contribution of the Tagore family is enormous. A serious comparison was started by the dramatis personae of the Bengal renaissance like Keshub Chunder Sen, Bipin Chandra Pal, for about a century, Bengals conscious awareness and the changing modern world was more developed and ahead of the rest of India. The role played by Bengal in the awakening of India is thus comparable to the position occupied by Italy in the European renaissance. Very much like the Italian Renaissance, it was not a mass movement, there were, nevertheless, examples of Muslim intellectuals such as Syed Ameer Ali, Mosharraf Hussain, Sake Dean Mahomed, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Roquia Sakhawat Hussain. The Freedom of Intellect Movement sought to challenge religious and social dogma in Bengali Muslim society, sir Jagadish Chandra Bose was a polymath, a physicist, biologist, botanist, archaeologist, and writer of science fiction. He pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics, made significant contributions to plant science. He is considered one of the fathers of science, and is also considered the father of Bengali science fiction. He was the first from the Indian subcontinent to get a US patent, anil Kumar Gain and Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis were leading mathematicians and statisticians of their time. Gain went on to found Vidyasagar University, while Mahalanobis laid the foundation of the Indian Statistical Institute, satyendra Nath Bose was a physicist, specializing in mathematical physics
21.
Burrabazar
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Burrabazar is a neighbourhood in central Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. Burrabazar expanded from a yarn and textile market into the nucleus of Kolkata. Burrabazar is a Hindi word meaning big market, in Bengali, it is called Barobazar, the meaning remaining same. The neighbourhood was named after ‘Buro’, the popular name of Shiva. The Hindi-speaking merchants who ousted the local merchants, made it ‘Bara’. Before the British came the most powerful families in the region were Sett and Bysacks, with the arrival of the British these families flourished with renewed vigour. Janardan Sett was an agent of the British. Shobharam Bysack became a millionaire by supplying textiles to British East India Company, one of the earliest names floating around is that of Mukundaram Sett, who lived in the earlier part of sixteenth century and moved from Satgaon to Gobindapur. Sutanuti haat has been traced back to 1738 by Orme, in the siege of 1756, troops of Siraj ud-Daulah set fire to the market and took possession of Jorabagan and Kumortuli, neighbourhoods further north where the merchants lived. In between Sutanuti haat made way for Bazar Kolkata, some time in the 18th century, the market was spread over nearly 500 bighas and the residential area covered another 400 bighas. Apart from the Seths and Basaks, there were the gold merchants Mullicks and their affluence and pomp are legends even in their days. There also were merchants of comparatively lesser affluence, as for example, the area around what is now Kalakar Street was known as Dhakapatty, as it was home to the Sahas, cloth merchants from Dhaka. The Sheths and Basaks had close links with such cloth producing centres as Dhaka, Murshidabad, burrabzar is bounded by Posta and Jorabagan on the north, Jorasanko and Kolutola on the east, B. B. D. Bagh on the south and Hooghly River on the west. Lalbazar and Bowbazar are at the south-west corner of Burrabazar, the neighbourhood is adjacent to Howrah Bridge. One description of its boundaries puts it as follows, from Posta in the north to Canning Street in the south, within this rough boundary it is a world in itself. Cutting right across Burrabazar is Harrison Road, which runs straight from Howrah Bridge to Sealdah railway station and it was constructed between December 1889 and 1892, sweeping away many an overcrowded tenement and festering lane. It is of the breadth of 75 feet and named after Sir Henry Harrison, chairman of the corporation. It has been renamed after Mahatma Gandhi, Burrabazar is served by the Mahatma Gandhi Road station of Kolkata Metro
22.
Subhas Chandra Bose
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Bose had been a leader of the younger, radical, wing of the Indian National Congress in the late 1920s and 1930s, rising to become Congress President in 1938 and 1939. However, he was ousted from Congress leadership positions in 1939 following differences with Mahatma Gandhi and he was subsequently placed under house arrest by the British before escaping from India in 1940. In November 1941, with German funds, a Free India Centre was set up in Berlin, a 3, 000-strong Free India Legion, comprising Indians captured by Erwin Rommels Afrika Korps, was also formed to aid in a possible future German land invasion of India. By spring 1942, in light of Japanese victories in southeast Asia and changing German priorities, a German invasion of India became untenable, adolf Hitler, during his only meeting with Bose in late May 1942, suggested the same, and offered to arrange for a submarine. During this time Bose also became a father, his wife, or companion, Emilie Schenkl, identifying strongly with the Axis powers, and no longer apologetically, Bose boarded a German submarine in February 1943. In Madagascar, he was transferred to a Japanese submarine from which he disembarked in Japanese-held Sumatra in May 1943, with Japanese support, Bose revamped the Indian National Army, then composed of Indian soldiers of the British Indian army who had been captured in the Battle of Singapore. To these, after Boses arrival, were added enlisting Indian civilians in Malaya, the Japanese had come to support a number of puppet and provisional governments in the captured regions, such as those in Burma, the Philippines and Manchukuo. Before long the Provisional Government of Free India, presided by Bose, was formed in the Japanese-occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Bose had great drive and charisma—creating popular Indian slogans, such as Jai Hind, —and the INA under Bose was a model of diversity by region, ethnicity, religion, however, Bose was regarded by the Japanese as being militarily unskilled, and his military effort was short-lived. In late 1944 and early 1945 the British Indian Army first halted, almost half the Japanese forces and fully half the participating INA contingent were killed. The INA was driven down the Malay Peninsula, and surrendered with the recapture of Singapore and he died from third degree burns received when his plane crashed in Taiwan. Some Indians, however, did not believe that the crash had occurred, with many among them, especially in Bengal, Indian National Congress, the main instrument of Indian nationalism, praised Boses patriotism but distanced itself from his tactics and ideology, especially his collaboration with Fascism. Subhas Chandra Bose was born on 23 January 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa Division, Bengal Province, to Prabhavati Devi and Janakinath Bose and he was the ninth in a family of 14 children. He was admitted to the Protestant European School, like his brothers and sisters and he continued his studies at this school which was run by the Baptist Mission up to 1909 and then shifted to the Ravenshaw Collegiate School. The day Subhas was admitted to school, Beni Madhab Das. After securing the position in the matriculation examination in 1913. His nationalistic temperament came to light when he was expelled for assaulting Professor Oaten for the latters anti-India comments and he later joined the Scottish Church College at the University of Calcutta and passed his B. A. in 1918 in philosophy. Bose left India in 1919 for England with a promise to his father that he would appear in the Indian Civil Services examination and he went to study in Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and matriculated on 19 November 1919
23.
Hemanta Mukherjee
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Hemanta Mukherjee, often credited as Hemant Kumar, was an Indian playback singer, music director and film producer, who sang in Bengali, Hindi and other Indian languages. He is also the greatest artiste of Rabindra Sangeet and he won two National awards for the category best male playback singer. He is often credited as one of the greatest Indian singers of all time for his unparalleled manly voice, Hemanta was born in the city of Varanasi, India. His family originated from Baharu village in West Bengal and they migrated to Kolkata in the early 1900s. Hemanta grew up there and attended Nasiruddin School and later Mitra Institution school of Bhawanipore area, there he met his longtime friend Subhas Mukhopadhyay who later became a Bengali poet. During this time, he developed a friendship with the noted writer Santosh Kumar Ghosh, at that time, Hemanta wrote short stories, Santosh Kumar wrote poems and Subhash Mukhopadhyay sang songs. After passing the examinations, Hemanta joined Bengal Technical Institute at Jadavpur to pursue Engineering. However, he quit academics to pursue a career in music and he briefly tried literature and published a short story in a prestigious Bengali magazine called Desh, but by the late-1930s he was committed entirely to music. Under the influence of his friend Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Hemanta recorded his first song for All India Radio in 1935, the first line of the song was Amar Ganete Ele Nabarupi Chirantanii. Hemantas music career was primarily mentored by the Bengali musician, Sailesh Duttagupta, in his early life Hemanta used to follow the famous Bengali singer Pankaj Mullick. For this he was nicknamed as Chhoto Pankaj, in 1937, Hemanta cut his first gramophone disc under the Columbia label. The songs on this disc were Janite Jadi Go Tumi and Balo Go Balo More whose lyrics were by Naresh Bhattacharya, thereafter, every year Hemanta continued to record non-film discs for the Gramophone Company of India till 1984. His first Hindi songs were Kitana Dukh Bhulaya Tumne and O Preet Nibhanewali, Music for these songs were composed by Kamal Dasgupta, lyrics were by Faiyaz Hashmi. Hemantas first film song was in the Bengali film Nimai Sanyas released in 1941, Music was scored by Hariprasanna Das. Hemantas first compositions for himself were the Bengali non-film songs Katha Kayonako Shudhu Shono and his first Hindi film songs were in Irada in 1944 under Pt. Amarnaths music direction. Hemanta is considered a foremost exponent of Rabindra Sangeet and his first recorded Rabindra Sangeet was in the Bengali film Priya Bandhabi. The song was Pather Sesh Kothaye and he recorded his first non-film Rabindra Sangeet disc in 1944 under the Columbia label. The songs were Aamar Aar Habe Na Deri and Keno Pantha E Chanchalata and his first movie as a music director was the Bengali film Abhiyatri in 1947
24.
Uttam Kumar
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Uttam Kumar was an Indian film actor, director, producer, singer and music composer, playback singer who predominantly worked in Indian Cinema. He is widely regarded as the greatest actor of Bengali cinema, through his career he earned commercial as well as critical success, and he remains as an Indian cultural icon. Considered as the most popular star of Bengali cinema, Kumar managed to have a huge fan following. He was a recipient of awards over his lifetime, including National Film Award for Best Actor. A Metro Station in Kolkata was renamed in his honour, Uttam Kumar was born in Kolkata at the home of his maternal uncle at Ahiritola, while his ancestral house is on Girish Mukherjee Road, Bhowanipore. After his schooling in South Suburban School, he went for studies in Goenka College of Commerce and Business Administration. He could not complete his studies and started working at the Kolkata Port trust as a clerk, during this period, he acted in amateur theatre groups. His prodigious joint family had its own group, the Suhrid Samaj. Uttam Kumar was the eldest of three sons of Satkari Chatterjee and Chapala Debi, the youngest, whose screen name was Tarun Kumar, acted in several Bengali films and grew to become an actor of considerable repute, in screen and on stage. Their only son, Gautam died at the age of 53 due to cancer. His grandson, pulak Bandyopadhyay, a noted lyricist, was his uncle. Rajesh Khanna once said about Kumar, He is the ambassador of Indian cinema. No one carries Indian culture in a Kurta and Dhoti as well as he does, uttams first release was Drishtidan directed by Nitin Bose, though he worked in an earlier unreleased film called Mayador. Then he acted in four to five films, all of which were flops. In those films he constantly varied his name, Arun Chatterjee, Arun Kumar, Uttam Chatterjee and he was dubbed as the Flop Master General. When he entered the studio, people would laugh at him and he considered leaving the world of cinema and start working at Calcutta Ports. But his wife, Gouri Chatterjee told him that it would be if he did not to do a job his heart was not in. He later got the contact at M. P Studios for three years, M. The film ran for 65 weeks and established Uttam in the industry. Commercial cinema in the form of films like Uttam Kumar starrer Basu Paribar, on the background of the mass migration from the then East Pakistan to Calcutta, the Uttam-Suchitra pair gave expression to the yearnings of a new, transformed city
25.
Anil Kumar Gain
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He received his Ph. D. from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Henry Ellis Daniels, who was the then President of the Royal Statistical Society. He was honoured as a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, Gain was the president of the statistics section of the Indian Science Congress Association, as well as the head of the Department of Mathematics at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. He later went on to found Vidyasagar University, naming it after the social reformer of the Bengali renaissance. Anil Kumar Gain was born in a poor Bengali family of a village named Lakkhi in Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, to Jibankrishna Gain and his father having died in his childhood, he and his siblings were brought up by his widowed mother under economic hardship. He started his education in a local school and was admitted to a formal school when he was eight. In his schooldays, he showed particular interest in English and mathematics, upon finishing school, he travelled to Kolkata to study mathematics from Surendranath College, followed by a masters degree in applied mathematics from the University of Calcutta. He was declared the University Gold Medalist for the year 1943, after briefly teaching at Presidency College and Bengal College of Engineering & Technology, Gain got married to Krishna Chongdar, the daughter of a famous and wealthy Bengali businessman. He travelled to England in 1947, to pursue his Ph. D. from the University of Cambridge in mathematical statistics – only to complete it in the year 1950. It was there that he met the famous Henry Ellis Daniels and he also befriended Sir Ronald Fisher there, and spent much of his time working with him in the field of applied statistics. During his years at Kharagpur, he began to work on projects such as the National Council for Educational Research. The University was finally established by the University Grants Commission under the Vidyasagar University Act of 1981, due to his efforts to revolutionise education in Bengal, he became a key figure in the latter half of the Bengali renaissance, as well as a renowned scholar and academic. In 2012, Vidyasagar University announced the establishment of the Anil Kumar Gain Memorial Lecture, in honour of his contributions to the university and he died a week after his birthday, on 7 February 1978, of natural causes at his residence in Kolkata, India. His descendants still live in Kolkata, as well as abroad
26.
University of Cambridge
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The University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research university in Cambridge, England, often regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Founded in 1209 and given royal status by King Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. The university grew out of an association of scholars who left the University of Oxford after a dispute with the townspeople, the two ancient universities share many common features and are often referred to jointly as Oxbridge. Cambridge is formed from a variety of institutions which include 31 constituent colleges, Cambridge University Press, a department of the university, is the worlds oldest publishing house and the second-largest university press in the world. The university also operates eight cultural and scientific museums, including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridges libraries hold a total of around 15 million books, eight million of which are in Cambridge University Library, a legal deposit library. In the year ended 31 July 2015, the university had an income of £1.64 billion. The central university and colleges have an endowment of around £5.89 billion. The university is linked with the development of the high-tech business cluster known as Silicon Fen. It is a member of associations and forms part of the golden triangle of leading English universities and Cambridge University Health Partners. As of 2017, Cambridge is ranked the fourth best university by three ranking tables and no other institution in the world ranks in the top 10 for as many subjects. Cambridge is consistently ranked as the top university in the United Kingdom, the university has educated many notable alumni, including eminent mathematicians, scientists, politicians, lawyers, philosophers, writers, actors, and foreign Heads of State. Ninety-five Nobel laureates, fifteen British prime ministers and ten Fields medalists have been affiliated with Cambridge as students, faculty, by the late 12th century, the Cambridge region already had a scholarly and ecclesiastical reputation, due to monks from the nearby bishopric church of Ely. The University of Oxford went into suspension in protest, and most scholars moved to such as Paris, Reading. After the University of Oxford reformed several years later, enough remained in Cambridge to form the nucleus of the new university. A bull in 1233 from Pope Gregory IX gave graduates from Cambridge the right to teach everywhere in Christendom, the colleges at the University of Cambridge were originally an incidental feature of the system. No college is as old as the university itself, the colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called hostels, the hostels were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, but they have left some indicators of their time, such as the name of Garret Hostel Lane. Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse, Cambridges first college, the most recently established college is Robinson, built in the late 1970s
27.
Fellow of the Royal Society
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As of 2016, there are around 1600 living Fellows, Foreign and Honorary Members. Fellowship of the Royal Society has been described by The Guardian newspaper as “the equivalent of a lifetime achievement Oscar” with several institutions celebrating their announcement each year. Up to 60 new Fellows, honorary and foreign members are elected annually usually in May, each candidate is considered on their merits and can be proposed from any sector of the scientific community. Fellows are elected for life on the basis of excellence in science and are entitled to use the post-nominal letters FRS, see Category, Fellows of the Royal Society and Category, Female Fellows of the Royal Society. Every year, Fellows elect up to ten new Foreign Members, like Fellows, Foreign Members are elected for life through peer review on the basis of excellence in science. As of 2016 there are around 165 Foreign Members, who are entitled to use the post-nominal ForMemRS, see Category, Foreign Members of the Royal Society. Honorary Fellows include Bill Bryson, Melvyn Bragg, Robin Saxby, David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville, Honorary Fellows are entitled to use the post nominal letters HonFRS. Others including John Maddox, Patrick Moore and Lisa Jardine were elected as honorary fellows, statute 12 is a legacy mechanism for electing members before official honorary membership existed in 1997. Fellows elected under statute 12 include David Attenborough and John Palmer, prime Ministers of the United Kingdom such as Margaret Thatcher, Neville Chamberlain, H. H. Asquith were elected under statute 12, see Category, Fellows of the Royal Society. The Council of the Royal Society can recommend members of the British Royal Family for election as Royal Fellows of the Royal Society. As of 2016 there are five royal fellows, Charles, Prince of Wales, Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II is not a Royal Fellow, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was elected under statute 12, not as a Royal Fellow. The election of new fellows is announced annually in May, after their nomination, each candidate for Fellowship or Foreign Membership is nominated by two Fellows of the Royal Society, who sign a certificate of proposal. Previously, nominations required at least five fellows to support each nomination by the proposer, the certificate of election includes a statement of the principal grounds on which the proposal is being made. There is no limit on the number of nominations each year. In 2015, there were 654 candidates for election as Fellows and 106 candidates for Foreign Membership. The final list of up to 52 Fellowship candidates and up to 10 Foreign Membership candidates is confirmed by the Council in April, a candidate is elected if he or she secures two-thirds of votes of those Fellows present and voting. A further maximum of six can be ‘Honorary’, ‘General’ or ‘Royal’ Fellows, nominations for Fellowship are peer reviewed by sectional committees, each with fifteen members and a chair
28.
Satyajit Ray
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Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker, widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century. Ray was born in the city of Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts, Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a writer, publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, music composer, graphic designer. He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children, Feluda, the sleuth, and Professor Shonku, the scientist in his science fiction stories, are popular fictional characters created by him. He was awarded a degree by Oxford University. Rays first film, Pather Panchali, won international prizes. This film, along with Aparajito, and Apur Sansar form The Apu Trilogy, Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. The Government of India honored him with the Bharat Ratna, its highest civilian award, Satyajit Rays ancestry can be traced back for at least ten generations. He also set up a press by the name of U. Ray and Sons, which formed a backdrop to Satyajits life. Sukumar Ray, Upendrakishores son and father of Satyajit, was a pioneering Bengali writer of nonsense rhyme and childrens literature, an illustrator, Ray was born to Sukumar and Suprabha Ray in Calcutta. Sukumar Ray died when Satyajit was barely three, and the family survived on Suprabha Rays meager income, in 1940, his mother insisted that he study at the Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan, founded by Rabindranath Tagore. Ray was reluctant due to his love of Calcutta, and the low opinion of the life at Santiniketan His mothers persuasion. In Santiniketan, Ray came to appreciate Oriental art and he later admitted that he learned much from the famous painters Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherjee. Later he produced a film, The Inner Eye, about Mukherjee. His visits to Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta stimulated his admiration for Indian art, in 1943, Ray started work at D. J. Keymer, a British-run advertising agency, as a junior visualiser, although he liked visual design and he was mostly treated well, there was tension between the British and Indian employees of the firm. The British were better paid, and Ray felt that the clients were generally stupid, later, Ray also worked for Signet Press, a new publishing house started by D. K. Gupta
29.
Chittaranjan Das
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Chittaranjan Das pronunciation was an Indian politician and Founder-leader of the Swaraj Party in Bengal under British rule. He belonged to the famous Das family of Telirbagh, in Bikrampur and he was the son of Bhuban Mohan Das, and nephew of the Brahmo social reformer Durga Mohan Das. Some of his cousins were Satish Ranjan Das, Sudhi Ranjan Das, Sarala Roy and his eldest grandson was Siddhartha Shankar Ray and his granddaughter is Justice Manjula Bose. Educated in England, where he became a barrister, his career began in 1909 when he successfully defended Aurobindo Ghosh on charges of involvement in the previous years Alipore bomb case. In his Uttarpara speech, Aurobindo gratefully acknowledged that Chittaranjan Das broke his health to save him, at one time, his clothes were tailored and washed in Paris and he maintained a permanent laundry in Paris to ship his clothes to Calcutta. He sacrificed all this luxury when he attached to the Freedom Movement. He brought out a newspaper called Forward and later changed its name to Liberty to fight the British Raj, when the Calcutta Municipal Corporation was formed, he became its first mayor. He resigned his presidency of the Indian National Congress at the Gaya session after losing a motion on No Council Entry to Gandhis faction. He then founded the Swaraj Party, with veteran Motilal Nehru and young Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, in 1923 and his legacy was carried forward by his disciples, and notably by Subhas Chandra Bose. He is generally referred to by the honorific Desh Bandhu meaning Friend of the nation and he was closely associated with a number of literary societies and wrote poems, apart from numerous articles and essays. He married Basanti Devi and had three children, Aparna Devi, Chiraranjan Das and Kalyani Devi, Basanti Devi also plunged into the freedom movement and was the first woman to court arrest with her sister-in-law Urmila Devi in Non Cooperation movement in 1921. Her warmth and affection for everyone was legendary and she held the position of a matriarch in the freedom fighters fraternity, netaji Subhas Chandra Bose used to regard her as Ma. In 1925, Dass health began to due to overwork and in May he withdrew to Step Aside, a mountain home in Darjeeling. On 16 June 1925 he died with a severe fever, a special arrangement was made to bring his cortege by train to Calcutta. The funeral procession in Calcutta was led by Gandhi, who said, and talked of freedom of India and of nothing else. His heart knew no difference between Hindus and Mussalmans and I should like to tell Englishmen, too, that he bore no ill-will to them, thousands and thousands of people accompanied Deshbandhus funeral cortege to the burning ground at Keoratala Mahasamsan in Calcutta. A few years before his death Das gifted his house and the lands to the nation to be used for the betterment of the lives of women. Today it is a hospital called Chittaranjan Seva Sadan and has gone from being a womens hospital to one where all specialties are present
30.
Tarun Kumar
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Tarun Kumar, better known as Tharun, is an Indian film actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He also acted in few Tamil and Malayalam films, tarun is the elder son of Oriya actor Chakrapani Savvana and Telugu actress Roja Ramani. He is a cricketer and participates in Celebrity Cricket League. He then appeared as child artist in super hits such as Manasu Mamatha, Surya IPS, Aditya 369, Teja, My Dear Muthachan and he has received three state Nandi Awards and the National Film Award for his works. He received the National Film Award for Best Child Artist in 1991, for his work in Mani Ratnams Anjali, which was Indias official entry to the Oscars for that year
31.
Ashutosh Mukherjee
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Perhaps the most emphatic figure of Indian education, he was a man of great personality, high self-respect, courage and towering administrative ability. He became the first student to be awarded a degree from Calcutta University. The Calcutta Mathematical Society was also founded by Mukherjee in 1908 and he was also the president of the inaugural session of the Indian Science Congress in 1914. The Asutosh College was also founded under his stewardship in 1916, Ashutosh Mukherjee was knighted in 1911 for his contributions to education in India. He was often called Banglar Bagh meaning the Tiger of Bengal for his high self-esteem, courage, academic integrity, Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee died in 1924 at Patna, Bihar. His son Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Ashutosh Mukherjee was born on 29 June 1864 at Bowbazar, Kolkata to Jagattarini Devi and Ganga Prasad Mukherjee, a well-known doctor who founded the South Sub Urban School in Calcutta. Brought up in an atmosphere of science and literature at home, young Asutosh went to the Sisu Vidyalaya at Chakraberia, Bhowanipore, when he was young, he met Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar who was a major influence on him. He was a student of Madhusudan Das, in 1879, at the age of fifteen, he passed the entrance exam of the Calcutta University in which he stood third and received a first grade scholarship. In the year 1880, he took admission at the Presidency College in Kolkata where he met P. C, ray and Narendranath Dutta who would later become famous as Swami Vivekananda. In 1883 he topped the BA examination at Calcutta University and was awarded the Premchand-Roychand scholarship to complete a degree in mathematics. In 1885, he completed an M. A. in mathematics and in 1886, in the same year he was married to Jogomaya Devi. Mukherjee turned down a job in the Department of Public Instruction to complete his Bachelor of Law degree, during this time, he continued publishing scholarly papers on mathematics and physics. At the age of 24, he became a Fellow of the Calcutta University and helped in its transformation from a body into a major centre of learning. He was influential in the University affairs throughout his life, being appointed the Vice-Chancellor from 1906 to 1914 and he was instrumental in discovering the talents of C. V. Raman and S. Radhakrishnan. The French scholar Sylvain Lévi commented, Had this Bengal Tiger been born in France, he would have exceeded even Georges Clemenceau, Ashutosh had no peer in the whole of Europe. Ashutosh Mukherjee had a vision of the kind of education he wanted people to have. He also made arrangements for postgraduate teaching and research in Bengali, Hindi, Pali, scholars from all over India, irrespective of race, caste, and gender, came to study and teach there. He even persuaded European scholars to teach at his university and he was one of the first persons to recognise the work of Srinivasa Ramanujan
32.
University of Calcutta
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The University of Calcutta is a public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India established on 24 January 1857. It was the first institution in Asia to be established as a multidisciplinary, within India it is recognized as a Five-Star University and a Centre with Potential for Excellence by the University Grants Commission and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. There are seven Nobel laureates associated with this university including Ronald Ross, Rabindranath Tagore, C. V. Raman, the University of Calcutta was ranked 601-650 in the QS World University Rankings of 2011 and 43 in the QS University Rankings for Asia in 2012. In India, it was ranked second by India Today in its list of Top India Universities of 2012,2013 and 2014 and it is 16th Best University in All over India by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. The Calcutta University Act came into force on 24 January 1857, the land for the establishment of this university was given by Maharaja Maheshwar Singh Bahadur, who was a Maharaja of Darbhanga. When the university was first established it had a catchment area covering the area from Lahore to Rangoon, and Ceylon, the first Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University were Governor General Lord Canning and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Sir James William Colvile, respectively. In 1858, Joddu Nath Bose and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay became the first graduates of the university, on 30 January 1858, the Syndicate of the Calcutta University started functioning. Following its inauguration, many institutions came under its jurisdiction. Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu became the first female graduates of the country in 1882, the Honourable Justice Gooroodas Banerjee became the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of University of Calcutta in the year 1890. Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was the Vice-Chancellor for four consecutive two-year terms, four Nobel laureates were associated with this university, Ronald Ross. Rabindra Nath Tagore, C. V. Raman and Amartya Sen, the current university seal is the modified version of the sixth seal. The motto Advancement of Learning has remained the same through the seals transitions, the university has a total of 14 campuses spread over the city of Kolkata and its suburbs. The major campuses are the Central Campus in College Street, Rashbehari Shiksha Prangan in Rajabazar, Taraknath Palit Shiksha Prangan in Ballygunge, other campuses include the Hazra Road Campus, the University Press and Book Depot, the B. T. Road Campus, the Viharilal College of Home Science Campus, the University Health Service, the Haringhata Campus, the Dhakuria Lakes, asutosh Siksha Prangan is the main campus of the university, where the administrative work is done. Located on College Street, is spread over an area of 2.7 acres. Sahid Khudiram Siksha Prangan at Alipore houses the department of History, Archeology, Business Management, Political Science, Sociology and others. The university is building a campus which is known as Technology Campus or Tech Campus, to bring together the Three engineering and technical departments, in Sector 3, JD Block, Salt Lake. As of December 2016, most of these departments have moved to this campus
33.
Syama Prasad Mukherjee
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After falling out with Nehru, Mukherjee quit the Indian National Congress and founded the right wing nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was born in a Bengali family on 6 July 1901 in Calcutta and his father was Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, a judge of the High Court of Calcutta, Bengal, who was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. His mother was Lady Jogamaya Devi Mukherjee and he enrolled in Bhawanipurs Mitra Institution in 1906 and his behavior in school was later on described favourably by his teachers. In 1917, he passed his examination and was admitted into Presidency College. He stood first in the Inter Arts Examination in 1919 and graduated in English securing the first position in first class in 1921 and he was married to Sudha Devi on 16 April 1922. Mukherjee also completed an M. A. in Bengali which he passed as a first class in 1923 and he completed his B. L. in 1924. He enrolled as an advocate in Calcutta High Court in 1924, subsequently, he left for England in 1926 to study at Lincolns Inn and was called to the English Bar in the same year. At the age of 33, he became the youngest Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta in 1934, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee started his political career in 1929, when he entered the Bengal Legislative Council as an Indian National Congress candidate representing Calcutta University. However, he resigned the year when the INC decided to boycott the legislature. Subsequently, he contested the election as an independent candidate and was elected in the same year, in 1937, he was elected as an independent candidate in the elctions which brought the Krishak Praja Party-All India Muslim League coalition to power. He served as the Finance Minister of Bengal Province in 1941–42 under A. K, fazlul Haqs Progressive Coalition government which was formed on 12 December 1941 after the resignations of Muslim League ministers of the government. During his tenure, his statements against the government were censored and he wasl also prevented from visiting the Midnapore district in 1942 when severe floods caused a heavy loss of life and property. He resigned on 20 November 1942 accusing the British government of trying to hold on to India under any cost, after resigning, he mobilised support and organised relief with the help of Mahabodhi Society, Ramakrishna Mission and Marwari Relief Society. In 1946, he was elected as an independent candidate from the Calcutta University. He was elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly of India in the same year, Mukherjee joined the Hindu Mahasabha in Bengal in 1939 and became its acting president in the same year. He was appointed as the president of the organisation in 1940. On 11 February 1941, Mukherjee told a Hindu rally that if Muslims wanted to live in Pakistan they should pack their bag and baggage and he was elected as the President of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha in 1943. He remained in this position till 1946, with Laxman Bhopatkar becoming the new President in the same year, Mukherjee supported the partition of Bengal in 1946 to prevent the inclusion of its Hindu-majority areas in a Muslim-dominated East Pakistan
34.
Bharatiya Jana Sangh
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In 1977, it merged with several other left, centre and right parties opposed to rule of the Indian National Congress and formed the Janata Party. After the Janata Party split in 1980, it was re-formed as the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980, the BJS was started by Syama Prasad Mookerjee on 21 October 1951 in Delhi in collaboration with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a nationalistic alternative to the India Congress. After the death of Mookerjee, the RSS activists in the party edged out the career politicians and made it a political arm of the RSS, the symbol of the party in Indian elections was an oil lamp and like the RSS, its ideology was centred on Hindutva. In the 1952 general elections to the Parliament of India, Bharatiya Jana Sangh won three seats, Mookerjee being one of the winning candidates, the BJS would often link up on issues and debates with the right-wing Swatantra Party of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. Its strongest parliamentary performance came in the 1967 elections, when the Congress majority was its thinnest ever, the BJS was ideologically close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and derived most of its political activist base and candidates from the RSS ranks. The BJSs strongest constituencies were in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, the BJS leadership strongly supported a stringent policy against Pakistan and China, and were averse to the USSR and communism. Many BJS leaders also inaugurated the drive to ban cow slaughter nationwide in the early 1960s, in 1975, Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency, and threw many major opposition politicians in jail including the leaders of the BJS. In 1977, the Emergency was withdrawn, and elections were held, the BJS, joined forces with the Bharatiya Lok Dal, the Congress, and the Socialist Party, to form the Janata Party. The Janata Party became the first Indian government not led by the Indian National Congress, former BJS leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L. K. Advani became the External Affairs, and Information and Broadcasting Ministers respectively. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Mauli Chandra Sharma Prem Nath Dogra Acharya D. P, ghosh Pitambar Das Avasarala Rama Rao Acharya D. P. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee and Durga Charan Banerjee were elected from Bengal, all the like-minded parties formed a block in the Parliament, led by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee. The party steadily improved its electoral performance until, as a constituent of the Janata Party in 1977, in 2014 elections, the BJP emerged as the largest single party in the lower house of the Indian Parliament, forming a government under the leadership of Narendra Modi. On 17 January 2000, there were reports of the RSS, former president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Balraj Madhok had written a letter to the then RSS chief Rajendra Singh for support. The Jana Sangh - A Biography of an Indian Political Party, graham, B. D. Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics, The Origins and Development of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics
35.
Premendra Mitra
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Premendra Mitra was a renowned Bengali poet, novelist, short story and thrillers writer and film director. He was also Bengals most famous practitioner of science fiction in its own language and his critique of humanity led him to believe that for it to survive, human beings had to forget their differences and be united. He was born in Varanasi, India where his father Gyanendranath Mitra was an employee of the Indian Railways, having lost his mother, who died during his childhood, he was brought up by his grandparents in Uttar Pradesh and spent his later life in Kolkata and Dhaka. During his initial years, he aspired to be a physician, later he started out as a school teacher. He even tried to make a career for himself as a businessman, at a time, he was working in the marketing division of a medicine producing company. After trying out the other occupations, in which he met marginal or moderate success, he rediscovered his talents for creativity in writing and eventually became a Bengali author and poet. Married to Beena Mitra in 1930, he was, by profession and he spent almost his entire life in a house at Kalighat, Kolkata. In November 1923, Mitra came from Dhaka and stayed in a mess at Gobinda Ghoshal Lane, there, he wrote 2 stories and sent them to the popular Bengali journal Prabasi. His first published work was Shudhu Keranee in Prabasi in March 1924, in the following issue, another story, Goponcharini, was published. His poems were known for their sharpness and wit. They also expressed empathy for the sufferings of the proletariat, buddhadeb Bosu thus wrote, He is one of the earliest practitioners— one might say pioneers— of the prose poem. The first book of poetry was Prothoma and his short stories were well-structured and innovative, and encompassed the diverse to the divergent in urban Indian society. The themes of poverty, degradation, caste, the intermittent conflict between religion and rationality and themes of the divide are a thematically occurring refrain in much of his work. He experimented with the nuances of Bengali prose and tried to offer alternative linguistic parameters to the high-class elite prosaic Bengali language. It was basically an effort to make the Bengali literature free from softness, excessive romance, nana Range Bona is not only a short story collection, but it is the only known autobiography of Premendra Mitra. He edited Bengali journals and news-magazines like Kollol, Kali Kalam, Banglar Kotha and he also wrote in Mouchak, a magazine run by Sudhir Chandra Sarkar. He was connected to the Akashbani at first as a producer, later he performed other duties and he even wrote brilliant and innovative science fictions and thrillers. Those are based on firm scientific temperaments and facts, two of his most well-known stories are Piprey Puran and Mangalbairi
India
Kolkata/South travel guide from Wikivoyage