West Bengal is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi) as of 2011. The population estimate as of 2023 is 102,552,787. West Bengal is the fourth-most populous and thirteenth-largest state by area in India, as well as the eighth-most populous country subdivision of the world. As a part of the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, it borders Bangladesh in the east, and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also borders the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the third-largest metropolis, and seventh largest city by population in India. West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region, the coastal Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal. The state's main ethnic group are the Bengalis, with the Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority.
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, 80 km (50 mi) west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary financial and commercial centre of eastern and northeastern India. Kolkata is the seventh most populous city in India with an estimated city proper population of 4.5 million (0.45 crore) while its metropolitan region Kolkata Metropolitan Area is third most populous metropolitan region of India with a metro population of over 15 million. Kolkata is regarded by many sources as the cultural capital of India and a historically and culturally significant city in the historic region of Bengal.
The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (CU), is a public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate colleges and 16 institutes in Kolkata and nearby areas. It was established on 24 January 1857 and is the oldest multidisciplinary university of Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asian Region. Today, the university's jurisdiction is limited to a few districts of West Bengal, but at the time of its establishment it had a catchment area ranging from Kabul to Myanmar. It is accredited as an "A" grade university by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
Jadavpur is a neighbourhood of South Kolkata in Kolkata district in West Bengal, India. Jadavpur is one of the important junctions in South Kolkata. Jadavpur University and a number of research institutes of national and international repute are located in Jadavpur.
Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH), colloquially known as Chittaranjan Hospital, is a public medical college and hospital located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established by the amalgamation of the National Medical Institute and Calcutta Medical Institute.
Bidhannagar, also known as Salt Lake City is a city and a municipal corporation of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).
Sonagachi is a neighbourhood in Kolkata, India, located in North Kolkata near the intersection of Jatindra Mohan Avenue with Beadon Street and Sovabazar, about one kilometer north of the Marble Palace area. Sonagachi is among the largest red-light districts in Asia and the world with several hundred multi-storey brothels residing more than 16,000 commercial sex workers.
Education in West Bengal is provided by both the public sector as well as the private sector. Health Sciences, University of North Bengal and University of Calcutta.
New Town is a planned Satellite city of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is administered by NKDA. New Town is declared as a "Solar City" and "Smart Green City" by Government of India.
Kalyani is a city and a municipality of Nadia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of Kalyani subdivision. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).
The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, or simply Durbar, is a collective of 60,000 sex workers in West Bengal. Established on 15 February 1992, in Sonagachi, the largest red-light district in Kolkata, West Bengal, India with estimated 11,000 sex workers, Durbar has been working on women's rights and sex workers' rights advocacy, anti-human trafficking and HIV/AIDS prevention. The Durbar states that its aims are the challenging and altering of the barriers that form the everyday reality of sex workers' lives as they relate to their poverty or their ostracism. Durbar runs 51 free clinics for sex workers across West Bengal, with support from organisations such as the Ford Foundation and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), who also help Durbar in its initiatives like networking, rights protection and creating alternative livelihood for sex workers.
The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies is an autonomous research institute based in Kolkata. It is funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India. It was founded on 4 January 1993. The foundation stone of the institute was laid where the new building now stands on 12 March 1993. It is devoted to the study of the life and works of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the eminent nationalist leader and India's first education minister, after whom it is named, and to the furtherance of Area Studies, with special reference to South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia, especially dealing with social, cultural, economic, political and administrative developments in Asia from the nineteenth century to the present. M.Phil.- and Ph.D.-level students of the University of Calcutta, Jadavpur University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi are also associated with it.
Ajit Kumar Panja was a Union minister of state in the Government of India. He was a member of Indian National Congress party but left it to join Trinamool Congress. He was born in Calcutta, and studied law at the Scottish Church College, Calcutta and at the Lincoln's Inn. His Native village was a small village in Burdwan district, named Majigram. A lawyer by profession, he authored many books. He was also a stage actor who enacted the role of Ramakrishna Paramahansa in Kolkata.
Barrackpore subdivision is an administrative subdivision of the North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Sugata Marjit is the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta and currently the First Distinguished Professor at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and the Project Director of Centre for Training & Research in Public Finance and Policy (CTRPFP), a Ministry of Finance, Government of India funded initiative. He did his Ph.D. at the University of Rochester and is currently the Editor of South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance. He used to be the Director of Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata, from March 2007 to March 2012 and Reserve Bank of India Chair Professor of Industrial Economics at CSSSC till September, 2019. On 15 July 2015 he took the charge as an interim Vice-Chancellor of the prestigious University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India.
Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research and Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital, colloquially known as P. G. Hospital, is a public medical college and hospital located in Kolkata, India. It is a national research institute.
Sealdah is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) is a Public hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, India which started as Asia's first private medical college. It was established in 1886 to ensure self-sufficiency in medical education and services in the colonial era. On May 12, 1958, the West Bengal Government assumed management of the establishment. It was under the University of Calcutta from 1916 to 2003 and affiliated to West Bengal University of Health Sciences when it was established in 2003. The college is a co-educational institution that is recognized by the National Medical Commission and affiliated with the West Bengal University of Health Sciences.
Bishnupada Mukerjee or Bishnupada Mukhopadhyaya was an Indian pharmacologist and orthopedic surgeon, known for his contributions in the fields of pharmacological research and standardization of drugs in India. The Government of India honoured him in 1962, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his services to the nation.
Smarajit Jana was a public health scientist of the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Kolkata. He is notable for his work for the rights of sex workers in Sonagachi. He was an epidemiologist and member of the Indian National Task Force on COVID-19 but ironically died due to Coronavirus.
