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). 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.
Syama Prasad Mukherjee was an Indian politician, barrister and academician, who served as India's first Minister for Industry and Supply in Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet. After falling out with Nehru, protesting against the Liaquat-Nehru Pact, Mukherjee resigned from Nehru's cabinet. With the help of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor to the Bharatiya Janata Party, in 1951.
Serampore College is located in Serampore, in West Bengal state, India. Established in 1818, it is the third oldest college in the country after CMS College, Kottayam and Presidency College Calcutta, and one of the oldest continuously operating educational institutes in India. The college consists of two entities: The theological faculty and a separate college with faculties of arts, science, commerce.
The University of Calcutta 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. Today, the university's jurisdiction is limited to a few districts of West Bengal, but at the time of establishment it had a catchment area ranging from Lahore to Myanmar. Within India, it is recognized as a "Five-Star University" and accredited an "A+" grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
Presidency University, Kolkata is a public state university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of the best colleges when Presidency College 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.
Scottish Church College is a college affiliated by Calcutta University, India. It offers selective co-educational undergraduate and postgraduate studies and is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in Asia. It has been rated (A) by the Indian National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Students and alumni call themselves "Caledonians" in the name of the college festival, "Caledonia".
Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq, popularly known as Sher-e-Bangla, was a Pakistani Bengali lawyer and politician who presented the Lahore Resolution which had the objective of creating an independent Pakistan. He also served as the first and longest Prime Minister of Bengal during the British Raj.
Mamata Banerjee is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal since 20 May 2011, the first woman to hold the office. Having served many times as a Union Cabinet Minister, Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the first time in 2011. She founded the All India Trinamool Congress in 1998 after separating from the Indian National Congress, and became its first chairperson. She is often referred to as 'Didi'.
Doreen Geraldine Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne, DStJ was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and socialite. She died as a result of her injuries following an attack by the Provisional IRA in August 1979, when a boat was bombed off the coast of County Sligo. The bomb targeted Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was also killed in the explosion.
Education in West Bengal is provided by both the public sector as well as the private sector. The modern education system was developed by the British missionaries and the Indian social reformists. West Bengal has many institutes of higher education like –Amity University,Visva-Bharati University, Marine Engineering and Research Institute, Jadavpur University, Aliah University, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Kalyani, Indian Statistical Institute, West Bengal University of Health Sciences, University of North Bengal and University of Calcutta.
Jasodhara Bagchi was a leading Indian feminist professor, author, critic and activist. She was the founder and director of the School of Women's Studies at Jadavpur University. Her books include Loved and Unloved – The Girl Child and Trauma and Triumph – Gender and Partition in Eastern India. She also founded the women's rights organization Sachetana.
St. John's Diocesan Girls' H.S. School is a girls-only day school located in Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, India. It was established in 1876 by British missionary Angelina Margaret Hoare from Kent, England who devoted her life to the advancement of women's education in British India. It is a Christian school run by the Protestant Church of North India and its primary language of instruction is English. The school's patron saint is Saint John the Baptist. Although previously a college, the school was stripped of its college status by the British Government when freedom-fighter Bina Das, a student of the school, attempted to assassinate the Governor of Bengal, Stanley Jackson.
Tathagata Roy is an Indian politician who served as the Governor of Tripura from 2015 to 2018 and the Governor of Meghalaya from August 2018 to the end of his term in August 2020. He was the 6th president of West Bengal state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party from 2002 to 2006 and a member of the BJP National Executive from 2002 until 2015.
Basanti Devi College is the first government sponsored Girls college in Kolkata and was founded by the Government of West Bengal in 1959 with the mission of empowerment of women. Named after the eminent freedom fighter Basanti Devi, the first lady to be imprisoned under British Rule for being involved in the war of Independence of India. It is affiliated with the University of Calcutta.
Bhawanipur Education Society College is a private, co-educational, undergraduate college affiliated with the University of Calcutta in Kolkata, India. It is at 5, Lala Lajpat Rai Sarani of the Bhowanipore area of Kolkata.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT), formerly known as West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT), is a public state university located in Kalyani, West Bengal, India. It is funded completely by the Government of West Bengal. It was established in 2001 by the West Bengal legislature. The university provides management and engineering degrees through affiliated colleges and in-house departments.
Nawab Sirajul Islam (1845-1923) was a Bengali lawyer during the British rule of India, a Muslim activist, and education reformer.
Vivekananda College is a state government-aided public college, affiliated to the University of Calcutta, located in Southwest Kolkata, close to the Thakurpukur metro station. The college offers both post-graduate and under-graduate courses in a number of subjects of science, arts and commerce. Founded in 1950 as Barisha College(Bengali: বড়িশা কলেজ), it was established under the dispersal scheme of the state government to reduce the pressure of students from the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.
