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 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 of India with an estimated city proper population of 4.5 million (0.45 crore). It is the centre of the Kolkata Metropolitan Region, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world with a population of over 15 million residents. Kolkata is the de facto cultural capital of India and historically and culturally significant city in the historic region of Bengal. It is the second largest Bengali-speaking city in the world. It has the highest number of Nobel laureates among all cities in India.
Jadavpur is a southern neighbourhood of Kolkata in the district of Kolkata of 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.
The Pashchimbanga Bangla Akademi is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in West Bengal, India. It was founded on 20 May 1986 in Kolkata to act as the official authority of the language and is entrusted with the responsibility of reforming Bengali spelling and grammar, compiling dictionaries, encyclopedias and terminologies and promoting Bengali language and culture in West Bengal. Though the Akademi has no enforcement power over their rules and regulations, they are widely accepted by the Governments of West Bengal and Tripura as well as a considerable number of private publishing houses and institutions such as the Oxford University Press and the Ramakrishna Mission.
Bengali literature denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time and dynastic patronization or non-patronization. Bengali has developed over the course of roughly 1,300 years. If the emergence of the Bengali literature supposes to date back to roughly 650 AD, the development of Bengali literature claims to be 1600 years old. The earliest extant work in Bengali literature is the Charyapada, a collection of Buddhist mystic songs in Old Bengali dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries. The timeline of Bengali literature is divided into three periods: ancient (650–1200), medieval (1200–1800) and modern. Medieval Bengali literature consists of various poetic genres, including Hindu religious scriptures, Islamic epics, Vaishnava texts, translations of Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit texts, and secular texts by Muslim poets. Novels were introduced in the mid-19th century. Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore is the best known figure of Bengali literature to the world. Kazi Nazrul Islam, notable for his activism and anti-British literature, was described as the Rebel Poet and is now recognised as the National poet of Bangladesh.
The East Kolkata Wetlands, , are a complex of natural and human-made wetlands lying east of the city of Calcutta (Kolkata), of West Bengal in India. The wetlands cover 125 square kilometres and include salt marshes, and agricultural fields, sewage farms and settling ponds. The wetlands are also used to treat Kolkata's sewage, and the nutrients contained in the wastewater sustain fish farms and agriculture.
Bengali theatre primarily refers to theatre performed in the Bengali language. Bengali theatre is produced mainly in West Bengal, and in Bangladesh. The term may also refer to some Hindi theatres which are accepted by the Bengali people.
Mohit Chattopadhyaya was a Bengali Indian playwright, screenwriter, dramatist and poet. He was a leading figure in modern Indian drama. Mohit Chottopadhya died on 12 April 2012. He had been suffering from cancer.
Surface water is water located on top of land, forming terrestrial waterbodies, and may also be referred to as blue water, opposed to the seawater and waterbodies like the ocean.
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 state 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.
Lakes and tanks in the metropolitan area of Greater Bangalore and the district of Bangalore Urban are reservoirs of varying sizes constructed over a number of centuries by various empires and dynasties for rainwater harvesting. Historically, these reservoirs were primarily either irrigation tanks or for the water supply, with secondary uses such as bathing and washing. The need for creating and sustaining these man-made dammed freshwater reservoirs was created by the absence of a major river nearby coupled with a growing settlement. As Bangalore grew from a small settlement into a city, both of the primary historical uses of the tanks changed. Agricultural land witnessed urbanization and alternate sources of water were provisioned, such as through borewells, piped reservoir water and later river water from further away.
Ghosts are an important and integral part of the folklore of the socio-cultural fabric of the geographical and ethno-linguistic region of Bengal which presently consists of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. Bengali folktales and Bengali cultural identity are intertwined in such a way that ghosts depicted reflect the culture it sets in. Fairy tales, both old and new, often use the concept of ghosts. References to ghosts are often found in modern-day Bengali literature, cinema, radio and television media. There are also alleged haunted sites in the region. The common word for ghosts in Bengali is bhoot or bhut. This word has an alternative meaning: 'past' in Bengali. Also, the word Pret is used in Bengali to mean ghost. In Bengal, ghosts are believed to be the unsatisfied spirits of human beings who cannot find peace after death or the souls of people who died in unnatural or abnormal circumstances like murders, suicides or accidents. Non-human animals can also turn into ghosts after their death. But they are often associated with good luck and wealth in Bangladesh.
Swapan Kumar Chakravorty was an Indian academic who was a distinguished Professor of Humanities at the Presidency University, Kolkata.
Mrinal Chatterjee is an Indian academic and author. He heads the Indian Institute of Dhenkanal. He has authored five academic books on media studies in Odia, including History of Journalism in Odisha and Glossary of Terms for Media Persons. His has authored ten novels and seven short story collections in Odia, including Jagate Thiba Jate Dina published (2010), Kandhei (2013), Eka Sundar Chandini Ratire (2016), Yamraj Chutire (2015), Yamraj Number 5003 (2016), which is translated into Assamese, and a series of columns in Odia
Bengali Hindus are an ethnoreligious population who make up the majority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jharkhand, and Assam's Barak Valley region. In Bangladesh, they form the largest minority. They are adherents of Hinduism and are native to the Bengal region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. Comprising about one-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ethnic group among Hindus after Hindustani Hindus. Bengali Hindus speak Bengali, which belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family and adhere to Shaktism or Vaishnavism of their native religion Hinduism with some regional deities. There are significant numbers of Bengali-speaking Hindus in different Indian states. According to the census in 1881, 12.81 per cent of Bengali Hindus belonged to the three upper castes while the rest belonged to the Shudra and Dalit castes.
Gol Talab or Gol Talaab also known as Nawab Bari Pukur, is a small oval-shaped water tank/pond in Islampur, Old Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh, located immediately to the north-west of the Ahsan Manzil Palace and north of the Buriganga River. Gol Talab is an official heritage site, designated by the city government of Dhaka.
Dr. Partha Banerjee is a human rights activist, writer, educator, public speaker, media critic, and musician. Born and raised in Kolkata (Calcutta), Banerjee now lives in New York with frequent visits to India. He considers himself a disciple of world-renowned scholar Noam Chomsky. Reputed organization Brooklyn For Peace has recently nominated him to receive its coveted Pathmakers to Peace award.
Dilip Ghosh is an Indian politician from West Bengal. He is the incumbent Member of Parliament representing the Medinipur constituency in Lok Sabha. He also served as one of the national vice presidents of Bharatiya Janata Party from 2021 to 2023. He served as the 9th president of the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Hasna Begum was a Bangladeshi philosopher and feminist, and a professor of philosophy at the University of Dhaka until her retirement in December 2000.
