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).
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.
St. Xavier's College is a private, Catholic, autonomous college in Kolkata, India. It is run by the Calcutta Province of the Society of Jesus. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1860 and named after St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit saint of the 16th century, who travelled to India. In 2006, it became the first autonomous college in West Bengal, India. The college is affiliated to the University of Calcutta. St. Xavier's was ranked 6th among colleges in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2024.
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 multiple 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 second chairperson later in 2001. She often refers to herself as Didi.
Maulana Azad College is a public institute of liberal arts, commerce and science in India, located in central Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The college is fully government-administered. It is located near the junction of Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road and S. N. Banerjee Road, popularly called "Lotus crossing".
St. Xavier's Collegiate School is a private Catholic primary and secondary school for boys, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The school was founded in 1860 by the Jesuits under the supervision of Fr. Henri Depelchin S.J., and it is named after St. Francis Xavier, a 16th-century Jesuit missionary to India. The school caters to approximately 2,300 students.
Sir Gooroodas Banerjee was an Indian judge of the Calcutta High Court. In 1890, he also became the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of University of Calcutta.
Christianity in West Bengal, India, is a minority religion. According to the 2011 census of India, there were 658,618 Christians in West Bengal, or 0.72% of the population. Although Mother Teresa worked in Kolkata (Calcutta), Christianity is a minority religion in Kolkata as well. West Bengal has the highest number of Bengali Christians. Bengali Christians have been established since the 16th century with the advent of the Portuguese in Bengal. Later in the 19th and 20th centuries, many upper-class Bengalis converted to Christianity during the Bengali Renaissance under British rule, including Krishna Mohan Banerjee, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Anil Kumar Gain, and Gnanendramohan Tagore. Aurobindo Nath Mukherjee was the first Indian to be Anglican Bishop of Calcutta.
Bratyabrata Basu Roy Chowdhury, also known as Bratya Basu, is an Indian actor, stage director, playwright, film director, professor and politician who has been the Education Minister of West Bengal since 2021. He has also assumed the same office in the First Mamata Banerjee ministry. In May 2016, Basu was assigned the portfolios of Tourism, Science Technology and Bio-Technology, and Information Technology and Electronics. He has been elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, from the Dum Dum constituency since the 2011 Assembly Election of West Bengal. Basu is presently the Chairperson of Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi and Minerva Natyasanskriti Charchakendra under the governance of the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, West Bengal.
Sanjiv Goenka is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of RPSG Group and an early-stage investor. With a US$6 billion asset base and US$4.3 billion revenue, this multinational conglomerate is headquartered in Kolkata. He also owns the IPL cricket team Lucknow Super Giants and the Investor of the ISL football team Mohun Bagan. As per the Forbes 2022 report, he is the 83rd richest person in India and overall 1238th in the world. He was also a member of Padma award committee 2023.
Madan Mitra is an Indian politician, actor from West Bengal. Madan Mitra started his career with party Indian National Congress. He held many positions of Indian Youth Congress, the party's youth wing. In 1998, he joined Trinamool Congress party, founded by his colleague Mamata Banerjee, and his movie debut was in the 2023 Bengali film Oh! Lovely. In 2011, he was elected to the legislative assembly and became a state minister. He was arrested for the Sarada Chit Fund conspiracy case and got bail after 22 months.
Biman Banerjee is an Indian politician who has been Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly since May 30, 2011. Being a member of All India Trinamool Congress, he is a sitting member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Baruipur Paschim.
Kazi Nazrul University (KNU) is a public state research university located in Asansol, West Bengal. The CM Mamata Banerjee laid the foundation stone on 10 January 2013. The university has been named after the poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. The university was established under the Kazi Nazrul University Act, 2012. Anuradha Mukherjee was appointed as the first vice-chancellor of the university. In 2018 in a special convocation the university honored Ex Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina with honorary Doctorate of Literature.
XIM University is a Jesuit, Catholic university located in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. It was authorized by the Odisha Legislative Assembly in 2013 making it the first Jesuit university in India. Drawing its legacy from Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar(XIMB), founded by the Jesuits in 1987, the university was facilitated by the Govt of Odisha in 2013 and went on to be called as XIM University with XIMB now being a constituent school offering only MBA-BM through XIM University. The other XIMB courses like HRM and RM are now continued by separate schools under XIM University. The sprawling XIM University campus is situated at Sundarpada jatani road near Jatani town in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. The Jesuits have more than 50 colleges and several hundred educational institutes in India but this is the first university they have founded in the country.
Radhe Shyam Agarwal is an Indian entrepreneur, co-founder and executive chairman of Emami, a global group of company engaged in the business of FMCG, paper, real estate, edible oils, health care and cement. Radhe is among the top 100 richest Indians and was listed by Forbes as having a net worth of $1.43 billion in 2015.
Shishir Bajoria is an Indian politician, industrialist and the head of S K Bajoria Group, an Indian multinational with an annual turnover of US$330 million.
Shivendra Bijoy Malla Deb, known as Durgesh Da, is a veteran Indian politician. He is from Jhargram, West Bengal.
Jagdeep Dhankhar is an Indian politician and lawyer, serving as the 14th and current vice president of India since 2022. He previously served as the Governor of West Bengal from 2019 to 2022. He also served as a Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in the Chandra Shekhar ministry from 1990 to 1991. He was a member of Lok Sabha from 1989 to 1991 and later a Member of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from 1993 to 1998. He has also been affiliated with multiple political parties in India, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, Indian National Congress and Janata Dal.
Mahatma Gandhi University, West Bengal is a university in Mahishadal, Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal. The university was established in 2018 as Purba Medinipur University under The Purba Medinipur University Act, 2017. In 2018 it was renamed through The Purba Medinipur University (Amendment) Act, 2018. It became active with the appointment of the first vice-chancellor, Subrata Kumar De, in November 2020. It offers education in Bengali, English, History and Mathematics.
John Felix Raj is the a professor of economics at St. Xavier's University, Kolkata (SXUK), India. He is a Jesuit priest of the Calcutta province of the Society of Jesus. He was the Rector from 1996 to 2002 and Principal from 2009 to 2017 of St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.
