1.
India
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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.
States and union territories of India
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India is a federal union comprising twenty-nine states and seven union territories. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and further into smaller administrative divisions, the Constitution of India distributes the sovereign executive and legislative powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any State between the Union and that State. The Indian subcontinent has been ruled by different ethnic groups throughout its history. Between 1947 and 1950, the territories of the states were politically integrated into the Indian Union. The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, the new republic was also declared to be a Union of States. The nine Part A states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The eight Part B states were former princely states or groups of states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India, the Part B states were Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, and Travancore-Cochin. The ten Part C states included both the former chief commissioners provinces and some states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The Part C states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Cutch, Manipur, Tripura, the only Part D state was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government. The Union Territory of Puducherry was created in 1954 comprising the previous French enclaves of Pondichéry, Karaikal, Yanam, Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states, as a result of this act, Madras State retained its name with Kanyakumari district added to from Travancore-Cochin. Andhra Pradesh was created with the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in 1956, kerala was created with the merger of Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara districts of Madras State with Travancore-Cochin. The Laccadive Islands which were divided between South Canara and Malabar districts of Madras State were united and organised into the territory of Lakshadweep. Bombay State was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra State and Kutch State, Rajasthan and Punjab gained territories from Ajmer and Patiala and East Punjab States Union respectively and certain territories of Bihar was transferred to West Bengal. Bombay State was split into the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act. Nagaland was formed on 1 December 1963, the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 resulted in the creation of Haryana on 1 November and the transfer of the northern districts of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh. The act also designated Chandigarh as a territory and the shared capital of Punjab
3.
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
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
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
8.
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
9.
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
10.
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
11.
Shyambazar
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Shyambazar is a neighbourhood in north Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area, under Shyampukur police station of Kolkata Police, has been, along with neighbouring Bagbazar, Shyambazar broadly covers Ward Nos.10,11 and 12 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The Japanese dropped a bomb near Hatibagan market during World War II, there was a big market in the area, which Holwell called Charles Bazar. The present designation was conferred upon it by Sobharam Basak, in honour of Shyam Rai, the Basaks and the Setts were amongst the first to have settled in Sutanuti, after having cleared the jungles. Sobharam Basak was one of the wealthiest native inhabitants of 18th century Kolkata, growth and development of the neighbourhood and surrounding localities largely followed the construction of roads that opened up the area. Sutanuti had no roads, except the pilgrim path extending across it from Halisahar to Barisha, Chitpur Road was developed along this path. It passed through neighbouring Bagbazar and Chitpur, Road construction picked up in the early 19th century. The Lottery Commission and its successor the Lottery Committee opened up the parts of old Kolkata. The main axial thrusts were from south to the north, parallel to the existing Chowringhee – Chitpur alignment, the three-mile long Maratha Ditch was excavated in 1742 as a protection against the marauding Maratha soldiers then foraging in the countryside but who never came. It was filled up in 1799 to build the Circular Road and it was metalled in the early 19th century. The new road to Barrackpur and R. G. Kar Road also converged at the same point, horse drawn tram cars were introduced up to Shyambazar in 1882 and in 1899, Calcutta Tramways Company Limited introduced electric traction. In 1902 the entire system was electrified, subsequently, tramways were extended to Belgachia. In 1941, tram tracks were laid along Circular Road, for many years tram cars were the only form of mass transport in Kolkata. Although the first motor car appeared in Kolkata in1896, motor bus services started only in 1920, Shyambazar tram depot is on Bidhan Sarani, near the five-point crossing. Circular Road had a garbage clearance light railway up to the early fifties, the Shyambazar metro station of Kolkata Metro is also located at Shyambazar five – point crossing. Shyambazar is the point of shopping in north Kolkata. In fabrics and clothing, it can match College Street-Mahatma Gandhi Road crossing in central Kolkata or Gariahat in south Kolkata, in Jewellery, it can match Bowbazar in central Calcutta or Gariahat in south Kolkata. The once famous house of jewellers, M B Sircar of Shyambazar, Senco Gold, has given way to numerous shops of descendants using variations of the name, all across the city
12.
Kali
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Kālī, also known as Kālikā, is a Hindu goddess. Kali is one of the ten Mahavidyas, a list which combines Sakta, Kalis earliest appearance is that of a destroyer principally of evil forces. She is the goddess of one of the four subcategories of the Kulamārga, over time, she has been worshipped by devotional movements and tantric sects variously as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, Adi Shakti, or Adi Parashakti. Shakta Hindu and Tantric sects additionally worship her as the reality or Brahman. She is also seen as protector and the one who bestows moksha. Kali is often portrayed standing or dancing on her consort, the Hindu god Shiva, Kali is worshipped by Hindus throughout India. Kālī is the form of kālam. Kālī also shares the meaning of time or the fullness of time with the masculine noun kāla—and by extension, other names include Kālarātri, and Kālikā. The homonymous kāla, appointed time, which depending on context can mean death, is distinct from kāla black, the association is seen in a passage from the Mahābhārata, depicting a female figure who carries away the spirits of slain warriors and animals. She is called kālarātri and also kālī, Kālī is also the feminine form of Kāla, an epithet of Shiva, and thus the consort of Shiva. Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, Kali appears in the Mundaka Upanishad not explicitly as a goddess, but as the black tongue of the seven flickering tongues of Agni, the Hindu god of fire. According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hindu tradition as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and she is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. Her most well known appearance on the battlefield is in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam, when Vishnu woke up he started a war against the two demons. After a long battle with lord Vishnu when the two demons were undefeated Mahakali took the form of Mahamaya to enchant the two asuras, when Madhu and Kaitabha were enchanted by Mahakali, Vishnu killed them. In the later chapters the story of two demons can be found who were destroyed by Kali, Chanda and Munda attack the goddess Durga. Durga responds with anger that her face turns dark and Kali appears out of her forehead. Kalis appearance is black, gaunt with sunken eyes, and wearing a tiger skin and she immediately defeats the two demons. Later in the battle, the demon Raktabija is undefeated because of his ability to reproduce himself from every drop of his blood that reaches the ground
13.
Sutanuti
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Sutanuti was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Kolkata in India. The other two villages were Gobindapur and Kalikata, Job Charnock, an administrator with the British East India Company is traditionally credited with the honour of founding the city. He settled in the village of Sutanuti, out of these four Betor, which was the focus of trade once upon a time, vanished in the seventeenth century. It was located around where Shibpur presently is and it was confined to the locality between Baboo Ghat, hard by modern Eden Gardens, and a point about a hundred yards to the north of Clive Street. Surrounding it was the portion of ‘Dhee’ Kolkata, and to the north was Suttanuttee. On the south stood Govindpore, high on the river-bank and covered with thick jungle, thence commenced the northern boundary of ‘Dhee’ Kolkata, and that village proceeded south as far as Baboo Ghat. Here Govindpore began and ended at the Govindpore Creek, afterwards called Surman’s Nullah, Satgaon or Saptagram on the west bank of the Hooghly, between Bandel and Tribeni was a great port. Lower down the river, on the bank, Betor was a large market town. Chitpur and Kalikata were neighbouring villages passed just before reaching Betor, Gobindapur and Sutanuti did not exist. Kalighat was a small sanctuary claiming just a bare mention, Tolly’s Nallah or Adi Ganga was then the outlet to the sea and ocean-going ships came up to around where Garden Reach presently is, then the anchoring place for ships. Only country boats operated further up the river, possibly the Saraswati river was another watery life line. It started drying up from the middle of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese built a new port at Hugli in 1580. Towards the end of the century, the merchant-princes of Port Pequeno were forced to seek another market for their trade. On the northern side of Dhee Kalikata, came up a place for sale of cloth, which was soon to become celebrated as Sutanuti Haat, the cotton bale market. In 1596, the place is noticed as a district of the Sirkar of Satgaon, in the book Ain-e-Akbari of Abul Fazal, as traders, the Portuguese were succeeded by the Dutch and finally the British came. Job Charnock is heard of in various positions and places associated with the East India Company from around 1658, after Cossimbazar and Patna he stayed for shorter periods at Hughli, Hijli and Sutanuti. He was convinced about the advantages of Sutanuti as a place of settlement but his colleagues and he lived for two and half years after that. Job Charnock favoured Sutanuti as a settlement because of the security of the location and it was protected by the river on the west and by impassable marshes on the south and the east
14.
Battle of Plassey
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The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757. The battle consolidated the Companys presence in Bengal, which expanded to cover much of India over the next hundred years. The battle took place at Palashi on the banks of the Bhagirathi River, about 150 kilometres north of Calcutta and south of Murshidabad, the belligerents were the Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, and the British East India Company. Siraj-ud-daulah had become the Nawab of Bengal the year before, Robert Clive bribed Mir Jafar, the commander in chief of the nawabs army, and also promised him to make him Nawab of Bengal. He defeated the Nawab at Plassey in 1757 and captured Calcutta, the battle was preceded by the attack on British-controlled Calcutta by Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah and the Black Hole massacre. The British sent reinforcements under Colonel Robert Clive and Admiral Charles Watson from Madras to Bengal, Clive then seized the initiative to capture the French fort of Chandernagar. Tensions and suspicions between Siraj-ud-daulah and the British culminated in the Battle of Plassey, the battle was waged during the Seven Years War, and, in a mirror of their European rivalry, the French East India Company sent a small contingent to fight against the British. Siraj-ud-Daulah had a superior force and made his stand at Plassey. The British, worried about being outnumbered, formed a conspiracy with Siraj-ud-Daulahs demoted army chief Mir Jafar, along with such as Yar Lutuf Khan, Jagat Seths, Omichund. Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh and Yar Lutuf Khan thus assembled their troops near the battlefield, the battle was ended in 11 hours. This is judged to be one of the battles in the control of Indian subcontinent by the colonial powers. The British now wielded enormous influence over the Nawab and consequently acquired significant concessions for previous losses and revenue from trade. The British East India Company had a presence in India with the three main stations of Fort St. George in Madras, Fort William in Calcutta and Bombay Castle in western India. These stations were independent presidencies governed by a president and a council, the British adopted a policy of allying themselves with various princes and Nawabs, promising security against usurpers and rebels. The Nawabs often gave them concessions in return for the security, by then, all rivalry had ceased between the British East India Company and the Dutch or Portuguese. The French were a late comer in India trade, but they established themselves in India and were poised to overtake Britain for control. The War of the Austrian Succession marked the beginning of the struggle between Britain and France and of European military ascendancy and political intervention in the Indian subcontinent. In September 1746, Mahé de La Bourdonnais landed off Madras with a naval squadron, the defences of Madras were weak and the garrison sustained a bombardment of three days before surrendering
15.
Baghbazar
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Bagbazar is a neighbourhood in north Kolkata, in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area, under Shyampukur police station of Kolkata Police, has been, along with neighbouring Shyambazar, Bagbazar has played an active role in growth and development of Kolkata. The name, Bagbazar, is derived from two words put together from old Bengali literature, bagh meaning garden and bazaar meaning market. So it refers to a place where flowers are abundant, as Kalikata became settled, Sutanuti was gradually abandoned by the English as a place of residence. However, it was frequented from around 1746 and by 1752 was sold for Rs.25,000. Captain Perin was owner of several ships, scott began manufacturing gunpowder at the garden. We can divide this glorious history in two very distinguished parts, the first period is from 1919 to 1930 and 1930 onwards and this was the first Puja of Calcutta organised by people communally and not inside a Zamindar home. Members of the Public contributed money and continued the Puja and it was named as Lebubagan Baroyari Durga-puja and it was continued in that very place for more three more years before being shifted in 1924 to the junction of Bagbazar Street and Pashupati Bose Lane. Next year it was placed at Kantapukur and in 1927 it tookplace in the Bagbazar Kali-temple and he is also the person who gave the name of the organization and set up the structure for a communal durga puja which was emulated by hundreds of other groups around the city thereafter. In 1929 for the occasion of the puja an exhibition took place, for the required space to organize the exhibition he selected this very place where the Durganagar of today is situated. This place was known as Metal-Yard formerly, and it used to the storage of Calcutta Corporations road-repair department, durgacharan Bandyopadhyay requested the Mayor of Calcutta Netaji Subhash Ch. Bose then to requested the Mayor of Calcutta Netaji Subhash Ch. Bose then for the due permission. Mr. Bose approved his request and agreed for a joint exhibition with the participation of Corporation. He also donated five hundred rupees to this organization, from 1930 itself the inaugural and closing ceremony of the occasion over here is a very integral and important part and an innumerable fellow persona had their presence in these occasion. The inauguration takes place on the shukla-panchami of the month of Ashwina whereas the closing ceremony takes place on the day of the sublimation of Goddess Laxmi. Basu, Netaji Subhash Ch. Bose, Acharya Prafulla Ch. Roy, Sir Harishankar Pal, in 1938-1939 this organization was privileged by the active participation of Netaji Subhash Ch Bose as the president. Patriot Pulin Das the renowned member of Anusulan Samity used to be present in the occasion of Birastami until when he was unable to join it. From the late 1990s the organization tried to move the higher authority for converting the yard to a permanent park under the control of this organization. We are hopeful to have all the charge of this park soon and this street is one of the most old and famous streets of Bagbazar, where the main Bagbazar Post Office is also located
16.
Kolkata Police Force
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The Kolkata Police Force is one of the three police forces of the Indian state of West Bengal. Kolkata Police has the task of policing the area of Kolkata, India, as defined under the Calcutta Police Act,1866. As of 2014, Kolkata Police has 8 divisions covering 69 Police Stations and it has a strength of approximately 27,000 and a territorial jurisdiction of 243 km2. There are 8 battalions of armed forces as well as specialised branches, the force also uses various modern technologies for effective handling of unconventional crimes, terrorism and related activities. The history of the present structure of policing in Kolkata goes back to times, when the city was known as Calcutta. Calcutta was founded on the banks of the Hooghly by an Englishman. Policing in Calcuttas earliest days was confined to the Mughal administration, Bengal was still technically a part of the Mughal Empire, but the Nawabs of Bengal, based in Murshidabad in North Bengal, were its effective rulers. The Watch and Ward functions were entrusted to a Kotwal or town prefect who had 45 peons under him, armed with weapons like staves and spears. In 1720, the East India Company formally appointed an officer to be in charge of civil and he was assisted by an Indian functionary commonly known as black deputy or black zamindar. Under him were three naib-dewans, one of whom was in charge of the police, the settlement was divided into thanas under thanadars who had in turn contingents of naiks and paiks. A small contingent of police was also formed. A statute passed in the year 1778 raised the strength of the police in Calcutta to 700 paiks,31 thanadars and 34 naibs under a superintendent, in 1785 commissioners of conservancy were appointed for the town who also ooked after watch and ward. Policing was still very loosely organised, in 1794, justices of peace were appointed for the municipal administration of Calcutta and its suburbs, under a chief magistrate who was directly in charge of the Police. In 1806 justices of peace were constituted as magistrates of 24 Parganas, the middle decades of the 19th century witnessed a greater systematisation and institutionalisation of policing in Calcutta. A city magistrate by the name of William Coats Blacquiere inaugurated a network of spies or goendas, in 1845 a committee under J. H. Patton brought about key changes in police organisation which now began to be modelled on the London Metropolitan Police. A Commissioner of Police was appointed with powers of a justice of peace to preserve law and order, detect crime,1857 was a difficult time for the English East India Company. The year saw the first upsurge against British rule, the rebellion led to the dissolution of the East India Company in 1858. It also led the British to reorganise the army, the financial system, the country was thereafter directly governed by the crown as the new British Raj
17.
Amherst Street (Kolkata)
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Amherst Street is a north-south street in central Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. The street was named after William Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst and it has been renamed as Raja Rammohan Roy Sarani after Raja Rammohan Roy. On the extreme south lies the Bank of India and on the north lies Raja Rammohan Roy Memorial Museum. Born Into Brothels mentions this street in the movie
18.
Bagbazar
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Bagbazar is a neighbourhood in north Kolkata, in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area, under Shyampukur police station of Kolkata Police, has been, along with neighbouring Shyambazar, Bagbazar has played an active role in growth and development of Kolkata. The name, Bagbazar, is derived from two words put together from old Bengali literature, bagh meaning garden and bazaar meaning market. So it refers to a place where flowers are abundant, as Kalikata became settled, Sutanuti was gradually abandoned by the English as a place of residence. However, it was frequented from around 1746 and by 1752 was sold for Rs.25,000. Captain Perin was owner of several ships, scott began manufacturing gunpowder at the garden. We can divide this glorious history in two very distinguished parts, the first period is from 1919 to 1930 and 1930 onwards and this was the first Puja of Calcutta organised by people communally and not inside a Zamindar home. Members of the Public contributed money and continued the Puja and it was named as Lebubagan Baroyari Durga-puja and it was continued in that very place for more three more years before being shifted in 1924 to the junction of Bagbazar Street and Pashupati Bose Lane. Next year it was placed at Kantapukur and in 1927 it tookplace in the Bagbazar Kali-temple and he is also the person who gave the name of the organization and set up the structure for a communal durga puja which was emulated by hundreds of other groups around the city thereafter. In 1929 for the occasion of the puja an exhibition took place, for the required space to organize the exhibition he selected this very place where the Durganagar of today is situated. This place was known as Metal-Yard formerly, and it used to the storage of Calcutta Corporations road-repair department, durgacharan Bandyopadhyay requested the Mayor of Calcutta Netaji Subhash Ch. Bose then to requested the Mayor of Calcutta Netaji Subhash Ch. Bose then for the due permission. Mr. Bose approved his request and agreed for a joint exhibition with the participation of Corporation. He also donated five hundred rupees to this organization, from 1930 itself the inaugural and closing ceremony of the occasion over here is a very integral and important part and an innumerable fellow persona had their presence in these occasion. The inauguration takes place on the shukla-panchami of the month of Ashwina whereas the closing ceremony takes place on the day of the sublimation of Goddess Laxmi. Basu, Netaji Subhash Ch. Bose, Acharya Prafulla Ch. Roy, Sir Harishankar Pal, in 1938-1939 this organization was privileged by the active participation of Netaji Subhash Ch Bose as the president. Patriot Pulin Das the renowned member of Anusulan Samity used to be present in the occasion of Birastami until when he was unable to join it. From the late 1990s the organization tried to move the higher authority for converting the yard to a permanent park under the control of this organization. We are hopeful to have all the charge of this park soon and this street is one of the most old and famous streets of Bagbazar, where the main Bagbazar Post Office is also located
19.
Kumortuli
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Kumortuli is a traditionally potters’ quarter in northern Kolkata, the capital of the east Indian state of West Bengal. The city is famous as a sculpting hot-spot which not only manufactures clay idols for various festivals, the British colonisation of Bengal and India started following the victory of the British East India Company in the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The Company decided to build new settlement Fort William at the site of the Gobindapur village, most of the existing population shifted to Sutanuti. While such neighbourhoods as Jorasanko and Pathuriaghata became the centres of the local rich, the villages of Gobindapur, Sutanuti and Kalikata developed to give rise to the later day metropolis of Calcutta. In addition, Marwari businessmen virtually flushed out others from many north Kolkata localities, the potters of Kumortuli, who fashioned the clay from the river beside their home into pots to be sold at Sutanuti Bazar, managed to survive in the area. Gradually they took to making the images of gods and goddesses, worshipped in large numbers in the all around and later at community pujas in the city. Kumortuli is located in Ward No.9 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and it is between Ahiritola and Shobhabazar. In maps showing thanas or police stations in old Kolkata, Kumortuli is shown as being between Shyampukur, Bartala, Jorasanko, Jorabagan and Hooghly River, being in the periphery of the heart of Kolkata, Kumortuli was home to a number of renowned persons during the Bengal Renaissance. There is a road in Kumortuli named after Nandram Sen, famous as Black Deputy, gobindram Mitter, the next Black Deputy, had a sprawling house at Kumortuli spread on 50 bighas of land. Banamali Sarkar’s famous house which is immortalized in Bengali rhyming proverb, was till the 19th century. He has a lane named after him in Kumortuli
20.
Shobhabazar
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Shobhabazar is a neighbourhood in north Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. Sheths and Basaks, well-to-do traders at Saptagram, were among the first to settle in Sutanuti and are said to have cleared much of the jungles in the area. Neighbouring Shyambazar was named after the deity of the Basaks, Shyam Roy. No historian touches upon the origin of the name of the neighbourhood but all link its fame and growth to the Deb family, who settled there. When Ramcharan Deb was murdered by Maratha marauders in the jungles of Midnapore, the house was washed away by the Hooghly River and they moved to Arpooly, and from there to Shobhabazar. Ramcharan’s youngest son Maharaja Nabakrishna Deb rose to fame and power, the glorious days of Shobhabazar starts with the decision of the British to build, after their decisive win in Battle of Plassey, the new Fort William in the heart of Gobindapur. The inhabitants of the village were compensated and provided land in Taltala, Kumortuli. Maharaja Nabakrishna Deb built his Rajbari at Shobhabazar, some say that he acquired it from Shobharam Basak and made major extensions, matching his taste for pomp and grandeur. At least money was not in short supply, after the death of Siraj ud-Daulah, Nabakrishna Deb along with Mir Jafar, Amir Beg and Ramchand Roy earned eight crore rupees worth of treasures from the secret treasury. Maharaja Nabakrishna Deb is said to have constructed the road from Upper Chitpur Road to Upper Circular Road, however, while half of the street was merged with Grey Street, another half became Shobhabazar Street. Another street north of it was named Raja Nabakrishna Street, Shobhabazar is spread over Ward No.9 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and is bounded by Baghbazar on the north, Shyambazar on the east, Nimtala on the south, and the River Hooghly on the west. Ward No.9 under Shyampukur police station had a population of 19,937 in the 2001 census. Maharaja Naba Krishna Deb started the Durga Puja in Shobhabazar Rajbari in 1757 and he set a pattern for the puja which became a fashion and a status symbol among the upcoming merchant class of Kolkata. The number of Englishmen attending the family Durga Puja became an index of prestige, religious scruples fell by the wayside. The nautch girls were mostly from Muslim gharanas, the Englishmen attending the dance-parties, dined on beef and ham from Wilson’s Hotel, and drank to their heart’s contentment. The Shobhabazar Durga Puja is split into two parts, near each other, but both the Pujas continue with their characteristic distinctions, karttikeya is dressed in breaches worn by Englishmen. In earlier days Nidhu Babu and kabials like Anthony Firingee and Bhola Moira vied for attention with the nautch girls, as the non-Brahmin patrons of Sovabazar Rajbari were not allowed by tradition to offer annobhog or rice in any form, they offered homemade sweets to the goddess. For the past 250 years, generations of haluikars from Bardhaman come down to the Sovabazar Rajbari and make lip-smacking delicacies like jibe gaja, khaja and nimki
21.
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
22.
Mohun Bagan A.C.
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Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is a football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The club was established in 1889 by Bhupendra Nath Bose and is the oldest existing club in India. The club plays in the I-League, the domestic league of Indian football. Though it is not a statement by the Indian Government or its ministry of youth affair and sports. Mohun Bagan have won the football league in India four times. They are the most successful team in the history of the Federation Cup having won the fourteen times. The club has won several other accolades, including the Durand Cup, IFA Shield. Till 2016, Mohun Bagan has won 248 trophies, which is highest by any Indian club, the club contests the Kolkata Derby with long-time rivals East Bengal. The first match between the two teams was played on 8 August 1921 which ended in a draw with Mohun Bagan winning the replayed match which got played on 10 August 1921 by 3–0. Mohun Bagan was established in 1889 by three famous aristocratic Bengali families of North Kolkata, Bhupendra Nath Bose was the first ever president of the club. The team won its first trophy in 1904, when they won the Coochbehar Cup, in 1905 Mohun Bagan reached the finals of the Gladstone Cup which was held in Chinsurah where they defeated the reigning IFA Shield champions Dalhousie 6–1. In 1911 Mohun Bagan created history by becoming the first Indian club to win the IFA Shield after defeating East Yorkshire Regiment 2–1 on July 29, most Mohun Bagan players played bare feet while East Yorkshire Regiment played with proper footballing equipment. This win was considered a victory in the Indian freedom struggle. Mohun Bagan played their first match in first division of Calcutta Football League on 15 May 1915 against Calcutta Club, in 1939 Mohun Bagan won their first ever Calcutta Football League title. Mohun Bagan got incredible success from 1933 to 1939 where they won 29 trophies, during that phase, out of 23 derbies, they beat East Bengal 12 times, drew 10 matches and lost only 1 to their archrivals. It was a period in the history of the club. In 1947 Mohun Bagan became the first Indian club to win the IFA Shield post independence, in 1954 the Green & Maroons became the first ever club to clinch the double crown of Kolkata — the IFA Shield and Calcutta Football League. In 1977 Mohun Bagan became the first ever Indian football club to win the crown in the same year
23.
Mohun Bagan Ground
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Mohun Bagan Ground is a football stadium located in the maidan region of central Kolkata, just opposite the Eden Gardens stadium. The stadium is owned by Mohun Bagan who currently uses the stadium as a training ground only, the stadium has a capacity of around 22,000 spectators at present. The office and club tent of Mohun Bagan are adjacent to the stadium and this ground, till date, is mainly used by Mohun Bagan for Calcutta Football League matches against smaller and local Kolkata sides. The first ground of the club was inside the marble palace, owned by Kirti Mitra of the Mitra family. It was situated in Fariapukur lane of north Kolkata, as a football ground however, this ground was not sufficiently large. It is believed that Mohun Bagan played the first match on this ground against the students of Eden Hindu hostel. In 1891, with the help of the Maharaja of Shyampukur, Durga Charan Laha and that place is now known as Shyampukur Laha Colony. Later, with the help of Mr. Harry Lee, the chairman of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the ground was shared with the Aryan F. C. and Bagbazar Club. In 1900, Mohun Bagan became the partner of Presidency College, Mohun Bagan continued to play here for 15 years. Then in 1915, Mohun Bagan got the ground of National AC, on this ground, Mohun Bagan played till 1963. In 1915, that ground was stretched east–west, but afterwards, it became north–south stretched like the other club grounds in Kolkata. Presently, that ground is occupied by one of the oldest clubs of Kolkata, the stadium has galleries on three sides and a rampart on the fourth side. The north side gallery is the gallery and is the most modern gallery of the stadium. The east side and south galleries are still made of a temporary wooden structure and are designated for non-member supporters. The playing pitch is about 100 x 60 in dimension, just adjacent the stadium, the club tent and main office are located. The club tent consists of a lawn, with benches known as the Mohun Bagan lawn. In 1977 Mohun Bagan became the first club in maidan to have floodlights installed in their stadium, the flood lights operated till the mid-90s, after which they became fully dysfunctional. The lights were repaired and renovated and were inaugurated on 25 February 2016 with an IFA Shield match between Mohun Bagan U19s and DSK Liverpool academy
24.
Jamshedji Framji Madan
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He accumulated his wealth on the Parsi theatre district scene in Bombay in the 1890s where he owned two theatre companies. He moved to Calcutta in 1902 where he founded Elphinstone Bioscope Company and he expanded his empire considerably after acquiring rights to Pathé Frères films. He produced Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra in 1917 and Bilwamangal in 1919, Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra was the first feature film to be shot in Calcutta. Elphinstone merged into Madan Theatres Limited in 1919 which brought adapted many of Bengalis most popular works to the stage. Madan Theatres was a force in Indian theatre throughout the 1920s and 1930s. He was born into a Parsi family in Bombay, madans father suffered a huge monetary loss when Bombay Reclamation Bank, which was responsible for reclaiming land between the seven islands of Bombay, failed. JF Madan had to school, and he joined Elphinstone Dramatic Club as a prop boy in 1868. By 1875, this amateur club turned into a theatre company staging shows all over India. In 1882, Madan left the company and had a short successful stint in business at Karachi. He moved to Calcutta in 1883 and his success in a business of supplying goods to army cantonments enabled him to buy Corinthian Hall, where theatre shows used to be staged. Also, he took over the Elphinstone Theatre Company, where he started his career, from Cooverji Nazir, one of the founders of the theatre. Corinthian Hall was turned into Corinthian Theatre, and it very popular for Parsi theatre shows, which were full of grandeur and had women actors. In 1902, he started bioscope shows in a tent in Maidan, the equipments used were procured from Pathé Frères of Paris. Most of the shown in those shows were from Pathé Productions. These bioscope shows were organised under the banner of Elphinstone Bioscope Company, Elphinstone Bioscope Company produced a number of short films. He also started film shows in Alfred Theatre, which he bought in the same year, in 1907, he established Elphinstone Picture Palace, which was the first permanent show house in Calcutta. He also opened Madan Theatre and Palace of Varieties, during the First World War, he helped as a supplier to Supply and Transport Corps in the British Indian Army in Lucknow. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1918 Birthday Honours for his support, after the war, his business started growing rapidly
25.
Bioscope show
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A Bioscope show was a music hall and fairground attraction consisting of a travelling cinema. The heyday of the Bioscope was from the late 1890s until World War I, Bioscope shows were fronted by the largest fairground organs, and these formed the entire public face of the show. A stage was usually in front of the organ, and dancing girls would entertain the crowds between film shows, films shown in the Bioscope were primitive, and the earliest of these were made by the showmen themselves. Bioscope shows were integrated, in Britain at least, into the Variety shows in the huge Music Halls which were built at the end of the nineteenth century, after the Music Hall Strike of 1907 in London, bioscope operators set up a trade union to represent them. There were about seventy operators in London at this point, in South Africa Bioscope or in Afrikaans bioskoop is an archaic word for the cinema and some people still use it regularly
26.
Maidan (Kolkata)
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The Maidan also referred as Brigade Parade Ground is the largest urban park in Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a vast stretch of field and home to play grounds, including the famous cricketing venue Eden Gardens, several football stadia. The Maidan is dotted with statues and pieces of architecture, most notable being the Victoria Memorial, due to the freshness and greenery it provides to the metropolis, it has been referred to as the lungs of Kolkata. The Maidan is a property of the Indian Army and hosts the Eastern zone high command of the Indian Army in Fort William. The Maidan stretches from as far north as the Raj Bhavan building in Esplanade, the wide field stretches from the Hoogly River on the west to the Victoria Memorial on the east. It is a historical and cultural center of Kolkata as well as a center of leisure, in 1758, one year after their decisive win in Battle of Plassey, the British East India Company commenced construction of the new Fort William in the center of the village Gobindapur. The inhabitants of the village were compensated and provided land in Taltala, Kumartuli. The fort was completed in 1773, “The tiger-haunted jungle which cut off the village of Chowringhee from the river was cleared, and gave way to the wide grassy stretch of the Maidan of which Calcutta is so proud. The movement towards Chowringhee had already been noticeable as early as 1746. ”In 1883 -1884 it, along with grounds of the Indian Museum, hosted the Calcutta International Exhibition In 1909, H. E. A. Cotton wrote, “The great Maidan presents a most refreshing appearance to the eye, many of the fine trees with which it was once studded were blown down in the cyclone of 1864. But they have not been allowed to remain without successors, and the handsome avenues across the Maidan still constitute the chief glory of Calcutta. Dotting the wide expanse are a number of tanks, from which the inhabitants were content in former days to obtain their water-supply. ”The Maidan was initially developed as a 5 square kilometre parade ground for the forces. While the Europeans moved to the area around the Maidan, the Indians moved away, the richer families such as the Debs moved to Sobhabazar, the Tagores to Pathuriaghata and Jorasanko, and the Ghosals to Bhukailash. The Maidan has been with the army since it was developed, they are the owners, thieves, both Indian and European, were there as early as the 1860s. Legally, the fort and the Maidan were excluded from the city as per Act 16 of 1847, while the core of the Maidan has remained untouched except for roads and tram tracks across it, the surrounding areas have seen a lot of construction activity. In 1882, Calcutta Tramways Corporation introduced steam-powered trams across the Maidan from Chowringhee to Kalighat, in 1889, came the electric trams. The oldest road on the Maidan is the Course, extending from the ‘Cocked hat’ in the north to the Khidirpur bridge, the ‘broad gravelled walk’ on the west side of that portion is the Red Road, constructed in 1820. To the south of the fort is the Ellenborough Course, meant for horse exercises and that was the scenario a century back
27.
Barowari
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Barowari refers to the public organisation of a religious or other festival, mainly in West Bengal. This is extensively used for Durga Puja, the word Barowari came from the words baro, which means 12, and yari. Much earlier in 1790,12 Brahmin friends in Guptipara, Hooghly, had decided to institute Community Puja, thus started baro-yari or Barowari Puja in Bengal which gained popularity in leaps and bounds. Initially, Durga Puja was an occasion for the rich Babus of Kolkata, in more recent times, the nomenclature ‘barowari’ is being replaced by ‘sarbajanin’. The Barowari festival is the opposite of household festival organised privately, the Barowari festival is organised with funds raised from the public at large through donations or subscriptions. The first publicly organised Durga Puja was held at Guptipara, when men were stopped from taking part in a household Durga Puja. Twelve of them formed a committee and organised a barowari puja, there is a difference of opinion about the year of worship –1761 or 1790. There were numerous household pujas, particularly Durga Puja, in parts of Bengal. Generally such pujas allowed others to participate in the worshipping but the organisation and other matters were obviously with the taking the initiative. The Sabarna Roy Choudhury family has been celebrating Durga Puja since 1610 in their home at Barisha. It is possibly the oldest organised festival in the Kolkata region, today altogether seven Durga Pujas are being held in the family. Out of these, six are at Barisha while the seventh is at Birati, the Pujas which are held at Barisha are that of - Aatchala, Baro Bari, Mejo Bari, Benaki Bari, Kalikingkar Bhawan and Majher Bari. Other than the Durga Puja, the family organizes Chandi Puja, Jagadhatri Puja, Dol Yatra and this is according to their family history handed down the generations by the spoken word. Eventually it was Kashiswar Dutta Chaudhury who, by the grace of Mughal prince Shah-Jehan, was able to recover from his own uncle most of what was taken and it is one of the oldest Durga Puja in West-Bengal. Nabakrishna Deb started the Durga Puja in Shobhabazar Rajbari in 1757 and he set a pattern for the puja which became a fashion and a status symbol among the upcoming merchant class of Kolkata. The number of Englishmen attending the family Durga Puja became an index of prestige, religious scruples fell by the wayside. The nautch girls were mostly from Muslim gharanas, the Englishmen attending the dance-parties, dined on beef and ham from Wilsons Hotel, and drank to their hearts contentment. Rani Rashmoni used to celebrate Durga Puja at her residence with traditional pomp, including all-night jatras, after her death in 1861, the sons-in-law took to celebrating Durga Puja in their respective premises
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Durga Puja
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Durga Puja, also called Durgotsava and Navaratri, is an annual Hindu festival in the Indian subcontinent that reveres the goddess Durga. It is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Ashvin, typically September or October of the Gregorian calendar and it is a major festival in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism across India and Shakta Hindu diaspora. Durga Puja festival marks the battle of goddess Durga with the shape-shifting, deceptive and powerful buffalo demon Mahishasura, and her emerging victorious. Thus, the festival epitomises the victory of Good over Evil, the primary goddess revered during Durga Puja is Durga, but her stage and celebrations feature other major deities of Hinduism such as goddess Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya. The latter two are considered to be children of Durga, the Hindu god Shiva, as Durgas husband, is also revered during this festival. The festival begins on the first day with Mahalaya, marking Durgas advent in her battle against evil, starting with the sixth day, the goddess is welcomed, festive Durga worship and celebrations begin in elaborately decorated temples and pandals hosting the statues. Lakshmi and Saraswati are revered on the following days, the festival is an old tradition of Hinduism, though it is unclear how and in which century the festival began. The prominence of Durga Puja increased during the British Raj in its provinces of Bengal, Durga Puja has been a ten day festival, of which the last five are typically special and an annual holiday in regions such as West Bengal and Tripura where it is particularly popular. In the contemporary era, the importance of Durga Puja is as much as a festival as a religious one wherever it is observed. In Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Durga Puja is also called Akalbodhan, Sharadiya Pujo, Sharodotsab, Maha Pujo, Maayer Pujo, Durga Pujo, in Bangladesh, Durga Puja used to be celebrated as Bhagabati Puja. It is also called Durga Puja in West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha, Delhi, Durga is an ancient deity of Hinduism, according to archeological and textual evidence available. However, the origins of Durga puja are unclear and undocumented. The word Durga, and related terms appear in the Vedic literature, such as in the Rigveda hymns 4.28,5.34,8.27,8.47,8.93 and 10.127, and in sections 10.1 and 12.4 of the Atharvaveda. A deity named Durgi appears in section 10.1.7 of the Taittiriya Aranyaka, while the Vedic literature uses the word Durga, the description therein lacks the legendary details about her or about Durga puja that is found in later Hindu literature. A key text associated with Durga puja observations is Devi Mahatmya, Durga was likely well established before the time this Hindu text was composed, which scholars variously estimate to between 400 to 600 CE. Durga calmly understands and counters the evil in order to achieve her solemn goals, Durga, in her various forms, appears as an independent deity in the Epics period of ancient India, that is the centuries around the start of the common era. Both Yudhisthira and Arjuna characters of the Mahabharata invoke hymns to Durga and she appears in Harivamsa in the form of Vishnus eulogy, and in Pradyumna prayer. The prominent mention of Durga in this popular epics may have led to her worship, the Indian texts that mention the Durga Puja festival are inconsistent
29.
Ramakrishna
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Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Ramkṛiṣṇo Pôromôhongśo,17 February 1836 –16 August 1886), born Gadadhar Chatterjee or Gadadhar Chattopadhyay, was an Indian mystic and yogi during the 19th-century. Admiration for him amongst Bengali elites led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda. Ramakrishna was born on 17 February 1836, in the village of Kamarpukur, in the Hoogli district of West Bengal, into a poor, pious. Kamarpukur was untouched by the glamour of the city and contained rice fields, tall palms, royal banyans, a few lakes and his parents were Khudiram Chattopadhyay and Chandramani Devi. According to his followers, Ramakrishnas parents experienced supernatural incidents and visions before his birth, in Gaya his father Khudiram had a dream in which Lord Gadadhara, said that he would be born as his son. Chandramani Devi is said to have had a vision of light entering her womb from Shivas temple, although Ramakrishna attended a village school with some regularity for 12 years, he later rejected the traditional schooling saying that he was not interested in a bread-winning education. Kamarpukur, being a transit-point in well-established pilgrimage routes to Puri, brought him contact with renunciates. He could read and write in Bengali, Ramakrishna describes his first spiritual ecstasy at the age of six, while walking along the paddy fields, a flock of white cranes flying against a backdrop of dark thunder clouds caught his vision. He reportedly became so absorbed by this scene that he lost outward consciousness, Ramakrishna reportedly had experiences of similar nature a few other times in his childhood—while worshipping the goddess Vishalakshi, and portraying god Shiva in a drama during Shivaratri festival. From his 10th or 11th year of school on, the trances became common, early on, these experiences have been interpreted as epileptic seizures, an interpretation which was rejected by Ramakrishna himself. Ramakrishnas father died in 1843, after which family responsibilities fell on his elder brother Ramkumar, when Ramakrishna was in his teens, the familys financial position worsened. Ramkumar started a Sanskrit school in Calcutta and also served as a priest, Ramakrishna moved to Calcutta in 1852 with Ramkumar to assist in the priestly work. In 1855 Ramkumar was appointed as the priest of Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Ramakrishna, along with his nephew Hriday, became assistants to Ramkumar, with Ramakrishna given the task of decorating the deity. When Ramkumar died in 1856, Ramakrishna took his place as the priest of the Kali temple, after Ramkumars death Ramakrishna became more contemplative. He began to look upon the image of the goddess Kali as his mother, Ramakrishna reportedly had a vision of the goddess Kali as the universal Mother, which he described as. Houses, doors, temples and everything else vanished altogether, as if there was nothing anywhere, and what I saw was an infinite shoreless sea of light, a sea that was consciousness. However far and in whatever direction I looked, I saw shining waves, one after another, rumors spread to Kamarpukur that Ramakrishna had become unstable as a result of his spiritual practices at Dakshineswar. Ramakrishna himself mentioned that they could find the bride at the house of Ramchandra Mukherjee in Jayrambati, the five-year-old bride, Saradamani Mukhopadhyaya was found and the marriage was duly solemnised in 1859
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Cossipore
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Cossipore is a neighbourhood in north Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. One of the old neighbourhoods of the metropolis, it has a station and is an assembly constituency. The British East India Company purchased thirty-eight villages in 1717 and added them to their property at Calcutta and they later reconstituted them as fifty-five villages or mouzas. Cossipore was one of those villages, cotton writes, “The Cossipore Reach was one of the finest on the river, and is lined by a number of villa residences. ”From those days Cossipore had a number of industrial units. – the Government Gun Foundry, the Snider and Rifle Shell factories, sugar mills, ward No.1 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation covers Cossipore. It has six prominent ghats on the Hooghly – from south - Cossipore Ghat, Sadhur Ghat, Ranir Ghat, Pramanick Ghat, Ramakrishna Mahasashan and Ratan Babu Ghat. Cossipore police station area spread over ward nos.1 and 2 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation had a population of 96,043 in the 2001 census. The area recorded a negative decadal growth, part of ward no.6 is under Cossipore police station. The more than two centuries old Gun and Shell Factory at Cossipore is the oldest surviving factory in the Indian subcontinent and it was set up in 1802 and functions under the Ordnance Factories Board. Along with technological evolution, the plant has successfully altered its product mix to suit the requirements of changing times. The plant has undergone large scale modernisation. Its product-mix ranges from big barrel guns to small barrel pistols, different varieties of shells and fuses. It started off as Gun Carriage Agency, but after shifting of the agency first to Allahabad in 1814, finally in 1829, all the machines were shifted to Fatehgarh. However, it had the strength of springing back to again and again. The vacant space was utilised for the expansion and renovation of the Gun Factory of Fort William. Besides casting of guns, it also took up manufacture of iron shot. Around 1855, breech-loading steel rifled guns had got its way to the British arsenal, the mini-bullet factory was transferred to Dumdum. It had little work and there were suggestions for its closure, the rifled guns, imported from England, required new elongated shells. It was decided that Cossipore would be utilised for manufacturing of the new shells and it underwent some expansion and the name ‘Gun Foundry’ was changed to ‘Foundry and Shell Factory’ in 1872
31.
Sukanta Chaudhuri
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Sukanta Chaudhuri is an internationally renowned Bengali Indian scholar of English literature of the Renaissance period. He was educated at Presidency College, Kolkata and the University of Oxford and he taught at Presidency College from January 1973 to December 1991 and at Jadavpur University from December 1991 till his retirement in June 2010. He also held the post of Professor Emeritus at Jadavpur University, Sukanta Chaudhuri works in the fields of European Renaissance studies, translation, and textual studies. His first major monograph Infirm Glory, Shakespeare and the Renaissance Image of Man was republished in 2006 by DC Publishers and he has also worked on the links and parallels between the European and the Bengal Renaissances, to examine the possibility of a common model of a ‘Renaissance’. Currently, he is preparing the third Arden Shakespeare edition of A Midsummer Nights Dream and he is General Editor of the Oxford Tagore Translations. He has also authored Translation and Understanding, over the last few years, he has researched, lectured and written widely on textual studies and editorial theory. His book The Metaphysics of Text combines the insights of traditional bibliography and textual criticism with recent editorial theory and he is also involved with new areas of activity in recording, editing and analyzing Indian texts and records. At Jadavpur University, he was among the founders of the School of Cultural Texts and Records. Chaudhuri is interested in urban studies and he edited the major two-volume compilation Calcutta, The Living City. He writes and campaigns extensively on issues, especially concerning his native city. In early 2007 Chaudhuris Bengali play Jaha Chai was performed in Calcutta by the Nandikar theatre group under the direction of Rudra Prasad Sengupta and this was part of a project on cultural mobility carried out by the scholar Stephen Greenblatt and the off-Broadway dramatist Charles L. Mee. Chaudhuri Indianised the idea and set the story in modern Bengal, with Bengali and Adivasi characters and he is married to Supriya Chaudhuri who also taught at the Department of English, Jadavpur University. Works by or about Sukanta Chaudhuri in libraries
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
33.
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
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B. B. D. Bagh
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Bagh, formerly called Dalhousie Square, is the shortened version for Benoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh. It is the seat of power of the government, as well as the central business district in Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. Stands for three young Indian independence freedom fighters — Benoy, Badal and Dinesh — who on 8 December 1930 shot dead the Inspector General of Prisons, simpson, in the balconies of the Writers Building of the then Dalhousie Square. The square had been named after Lord Dalhousie, Governor General of India from 1847 to 1856, at different times it has been called ‘The Green before the Fort’ or Tank Square. Bagh area is near the Hooghly River in the part of central Kolkata and is a square built around the old Lal Dighi tank. The old fort built by the British was near where the General Post Office now is, the area was in the heart of Kalikata or the White Town in old Calcutta. Bagh was created as the center of the British East India Companys trading post along the banks of the Hooghly River, between the river and the tank, lay the original Fort William. In the summer of 1756, Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah of Bengal, Bihar, the survivors of the attack were sent to a garrison within the fort which spurred an incident infamously known as the Black Hole of Calcutta. The British soon retook the city after the Nawab retreated from the forces of Robert Clive, within a year, the British East India Companys forces had taken all of Bengal and Calcutta, along with the square, was established as the commercial and political center of British India. Over the next one and a half centuries, the square grew in importance and influence and it was named after Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India. After the fall of company rule in India, the Writers Building became the secretariat of the Viceroy of India, a number of corporations and institutions opened offices and headquarters in and around the square, giving it its role as the central business district of the city. In 1912, the capital of British India was officially moved to New Delhi, during the first half of the 20th century, the Indian Independence Movement began to reach its peak and took a violent turn in Bengal. On the eighth of December 1930, three revolutionaries, Benoy, Badal, and Dinesh, stormed the building and fatally shot the Inspector General of Prisons, the three committed suicide and the square was renamed B. B. D. Bagh in their honor after Indian independence, in 1947, the political establishments were officially handed over to the government of India and the government of the newly formed state of West Bengal. Over the next few decades, Calcutta would go through rapid economic decline, Bagh would remain the heart of East India. Bagh is still the commercial and political center of all of East India and many of the business, the centerpiece is the Writers Building which is the secretariat of the Government of the State of West Bengal and houses the office of the Chief Minister of West Bengal. The native name of the area is Office Para, to the north lie the Royal Exchange Building which houses the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Calcutta Stock Exchange, the Standard Chartered Building, and many financial establishments. The eastern end also houses a number of offices till Chittaranjan Avenue, the area south of the square is home to the Raj Bhavan, which is now the residence of the governor and the former residence of the viceroy and governor-general of India
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Baishnabghata Patuli Township
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Baishnabghata Patuli is a township located in the southern part of east Kolkata in West Bengal, India. It constitutes a portion of Garia. Baishnaghata Patuli Township is a World Bank–funded project on the fringes of EM Bypass. Small sweet shops like Nnoni, Giriraj, Palace of Sweets, Madhumalancha, besides there is a cafeteria opposite the State Bank ATM called Muzik Cafe which is a rather good proxy for Coffee House. A Mio Amore outlet is located just beside the State Bank ATM which is a high functioning food shop. There is a park juxtaposed to Ashabari Housing Complex called Satyajit Ray Park where wedding, cultural or any type of social ceremonies can be held
India
Kolkata/North Kolkata travel guide from Wikivoyage