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.
Presidency University,Kolkata is a public state university located in College Street,Kolkata. It was among the best colleges in the country when the institute was affiliated to University of Calcutta. The institution was elevated to university status in 2010 after functioning as a constituent college of the University of Calcutta for about 193 years. Currently,it continues to rank among the top universities in India. The University boasts an illustrious list of extraordinary alumni over the last two centuries,including several pioneers of the Bengal Renaissance,leaders of the Indian Independence Movement,heads of state,noble laureates,Academy Award winner etc.
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service. Members of these three services serve the Government of India as well as the individual states. IAS officers are also deployed to various government establishments such as constitutional bodies,staff and line agencies,auxiliary bodies,public sector undertakings,regulatory bodies,statutory bodies and autonomous bodies.
Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi is a former administrator and diplomat who served as the 22nd Governor of West Bengal serving from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). As a former IAS officer he served as Secretary to the President of India and as High Commissioner to South Africa and Sri Lanka,among other administrative and diplomatic posts. He was the United Progressive Alliance nominee for Vice President of India 2017 elections and lost with 244 votes against NDA candidate Venkaiah Naidu,who got 516 votes.
The Padmanabhaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple,dedicated to Vishnu,in Thiruvananthapuram,the capital of the state of Kerala,India. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams,the sacred abodes of Vishnu in the Sri Vaishnava tradition. It is widely considered as the world's richest Hindu temple. The name of the city of 'Thiruvananthapuram' in Malayalam and Tamil translates to "The City of Ananta". The temple is built in an intricate fusion of the Kerala style and the Dravidian style of architecture,featuring high walls,and a 16th-century gopuram. While as per some traditions the Ananthapura temple in Kumbla in Kasaragod district in Kerala is considered as the original spiritual seat of the deity ("Mulasthanam"),architecturally to some extent,the temple is a replica of the Adikesava Perumal temple in Thiruvattar in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu.
Basanta Kumar Biswas was an Indian pro-independence activist involved in the Jugantar group who,in December 1912,played a role in the bombing of the Viceroy's parade in what came to be known as the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy.
Nandalal Bose was one of the pioneers of modern Indian art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism.
The Indian Association was the first avowed nationalist organization founded in British India by Surendranath Banerjee and Ananda Mohan Bose in 1876. The objectives of this Association were "promoting by every legitimate means the political,intellectual and material advancement of the people". The Association attracted educated Indians and civics leaders from all parts of the country,and became an important forum for India's aspirations for independence. It later merged with the Indian National Congress.
The Purulia arms drop happened on 17 December 1995 when unauthorised arms were dropped from an Antonov An-26 aircraft in Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The chief accused "Kim Davy" has been vocal about his involvement in the arms drop. He asserts he tried to procure arms to protect members of Ananda Marga from communists and claims that it was a conspiracy of the Congress Indian government together with R&AW and MI5 to overthrow the communist government in West Bengal and he was given assurances from the central government about his safety and return to Denmark. He further alleges that MP Pappu Yadav,in association with the then Prime Minister of India P. V. Narasimha Rao facilitated his safe exit from India. Niels Holck is author of the book De kalder mig terrorist. Niels Holck was involved in a 14-year journey from 1982 involved in community building projects like building schools in Guatemala,agricultural projects in Ananda Nagar,Purulia,India and attending tiger conferences in Russia. According to Holck,the Government of India at the time permitted arms drop operation for Ananda Marga to be able to protect its projects and people from the onslaught of Communists in Bengal. The Communists in Bengal had been targeting and killing people involved with Ananda Marga projects right from the 1970s,and this continued well into the 1990s.
Greater Bangladesh,or Greater Bengal is the irredentist ideology of Bangladesh to inevitably expand its territory to include the Indian states that currently has,or historically had,large populations of ethnic Bengali people. These include West Bengal,Bihar,Odisha,and Jharkhand to the west,Sikkim to the north,and the states of Arunachal Pradesh,Assam,Meghalaya,Tripura,Mizoram,Manipur,and Nagaland to the east. Greater Bangladesh would naturally therefore take on the more inclusive title of Greater Bengal,as her people would be united under a common ethnicity and heritage based on language rather than one based on religion.
Bengali Americans are Americans of Bengali ethnic,cultural and linguistic heritage and identity. They trace their ancestry to the historic ethnolinguistic region of Bengal region in the Indian subcontinent,now divided in South Asia between Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. Bengali Americans are also a subgroup of modern-day Bangladeshi Americans and Indian Americans. Bengalis are also classified under Bangladeshi Americans. Significant immigration of Bengalis to the United States started after 1965.
The Bengali Hindu diaspora is the worldwide population of the Bengali Hindus of Indian and Bangladeshi origin.
Rahul Easwar is an Indian public policy commentator and activist from Kerala.
The Chief Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the state government. The Chief Secretary is the ex-officio head of the state Civil Services Board,the State Secretariat,the state cadre Indian Administrative Service and all civil services under the rules of business of the state government. The Chief Secretary acts as the principal advisor to the chief minister on all matters of state administration.
The 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election was the 17th quinquennial legislative election held in West Bengal,to elect all 294 members of West Bengal Legislative Assembly. This electoral process of 292 seats unfolded between 27 March to 29 April 2021,taking place in eight phases. Voting for the two remaining constituencies was delayed to 30 September 2021.
