KOLKATA
KOLKATA
Kolkata is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the banks of the Hooghly River, the city is approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commercial, and financial hub of Eastern India and the main port of communication for North-East India.[19] According to the 2011 Indian census, Kolkata is the seventh-most populous city in India, with a population of 4.5 million residents within the city limits, and a population of over 14.1 million residents in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area. It is the third-most populous metropolitan area in India. In 2021, Kolkata metropolitan area crossed 15 million registered voters. The Port of Kolkata is India’s oldest operating port and its sole major riverine port. Kolkata is regarded as the cultural capital of India.[1][20]
In the late 17th century, the three villages that predated Calcutta were ruled by the Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. After the Nawab granted the East India Company a trading licence in 1690,[21] the area was developed by the Company into an increasingly fortified trading post known as Fort William. Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah occupied Calcutta in 1756, and the East India Company retook it the following year
HISTORY
The discovery and archaeological study of Chandraketugarh, 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Kolkata, provide evidence that the region in which the city stands has been inhabited for over two millennia.[29][30] Kolkata’s recorded history began in 1690 with the arrival of the English East India Company, which was consolidating its trade business in Bengal. Job Charnock, an administrator who worked for the company, was formerly credited as the founder of the city;[31] In response to a public petition,[32] the Calcutta High Court ruled in 2003 that the city does not have a founder.[33] The area occupied by the present-day city encompassed three villages: Kalikata, Gobindapur and Sutanuti. Kalikata was a fishing village; Sutanuti was a riverside weavers’ village. They were part of an estate belonging to the Mughal emperor; the jagirdari (a land grant bestowed by a king on his noblemen) taxation rights to the villages were held by the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family of landowners, or zamindars. These rights were transferred to the East India Company in 1698.
GEOGRAPHY
Spread roughly north–south along the east bank of the Hooghly River, Kolkata sits within the lower Ganges Delta of eastern India approximately 75 km (47 mi) west of the international border with Bangladesh; the city’s elevation is 1.5–9 m (5–30 ft).[62] Much of the city was originally a wetland that was reclaimed over the decades to accommodate a burgeoning population.[63] The remaining undeveloped areas, known as the East Kolkata Wetlands, were designated a “wetland of international importance” by the Ramsar Convention (1975).[64] As with most of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the soil and water are predominantly alluvial in origin. Kolkata is located over the “Bengal basin”, a pericratonic tertiary basin.[65] Bengal basin comprises three structural units: shelf or platform in the west; central hinge or shelf/slope break; and deep basinal part in the east and southeast. Kolkata is located atop the western part of the hinge zone which is about 25 km (16 mi) wide at a depth of about 45,000 m (148,000 ft) below the surface.[65] The shelf and hinge zones have many faults, among them some are active. Total thickness of sediment below Kolkata is nearly 7,500 m (24,600 ft) above the crystalline basement; of these the top 350–450 m (1,150–1,480 ft) is Quaternary, followed by 4,500–5,500 m (14,760–18,040 ft) of Tertiary sediments, 500–700 m (1,640–2,300 ft) trap wash of Cretaceous trap and 600–800 m (1,970–2,620 ft) Permian-Carboniferous Gondwana rocks.[65] The quaternary sediments consist of clay, silt and several grades of sand and gravel. These sediments are sandwiched between two clay beds: the lower one at a depth of 250–650 m (820–2,130 ft); the upper one 10–40 m (30–130 ft) in thickness.[66] According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, on a scale ranging from I to V in order of increasing susceptibility to earthquakes, the city lies inside seismic zone III.
ECONOMY
Kolkata is the commercial and financial hub of East and North-East India[70] and home to the Calcutta Stock Exchange.[95][96] It is a major commercial and military port, and is the only city in eastern India, apart from Bhubaneswar to have an international airport. Once India’s leading city, Kolkata experienced a steady economic decline in the decades following India’s independence due to steep population increases and a rise in militant trade-unionism, which included frequent strikes that were backed by left-wing parties.[61] From the 1960s to the late 1990s, several factories were closed and businesses relocated.[61] The lack of capital and resources added to the depressed state of the city’s economy and gave rise to an unwelcome sobriquet: the “dying city”.[97] The city’s fortunes improved after the Indian economy was liberalised in the 1990s and changes in economic policy were enacted by the West Bengal state government.[61] Recent estimates of the economy of Kolkata’s metropolitan area have ranged from $150 to $250 billion (PPP GDP), and have ranked it third-most productive metro area of India.
ahmedabad DISTRICT'S
Chennai district, formerly known as Madras district,[a] is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the smallest and most densely populated district in the state. The district is coterminous with the city of Chennai, which is administered by the Greater Chennai Corporation. It is surrounded by Tiruvallur district in the north and the west, Kanchipuram district in the south-west, Chenglpattu district in the south, and the Bay of Bengal in the east.
As of 2011, the district had a population of 7,100,000 with a sex-ratio of 989 females for every 1,000 males.[3] Much of the district’s population descended from its settlements in the 1st century CE to the Middle Ages, but the diversity has grown much since then. The district consists of only one civic body, the megacity of Chennai, which forms the core and the most notable portion of the much bigger Chennai metropolis, or officially, the Chennai Metropolitan Area. In 2018, the district’s limits were expanded, aligning with that of the newly expanded Greater Chennai Corporation, which annexed adjacent municipalities. It resulted in the area being increased from 175 square kilometres (68 sq mi) to 426 square kilometres (164 sq mi).[1][2] The district is divided into three revenue divisions and ten taluks.
more info
Chennai, formerly Madras, city, capital of Tamil Nadu state, southern India, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. Known as the “Gateway to South India,” Chennai is a major administrative and cultural centre. Pop. (2001) city, 4,343,645; urban agglom., 6,560,242.Armenian and Portuguese traders were living in the San Thome area of what is now present-day Chennai before the arrival of the British in 1639. Madras was the shortened name of the fishing village Madraspatnam, where the British East India Company built a fort and factory (trading post) in 1639–40. At that time, the weaving of cotton fabrics was a local industry, and the English invited the weavers and native merchants to settle near the fort.
demographics
The demonym for residents of Kolkata are Calcuttan and Kolkatan. According to provisional results of the 2011 national census, Kolkata district, which occupies an area of 185 km2 (71 sq mi), had a population of 4,486,679;[113] its population density was 24,252/km2 (62,810/sq mi).[113] This represents a decline of 1.88% during the decade 2001–11. The sex ratio is 899 females per 1000 males—lower than the national average.[114] The ratio is depressed by the influx of working males from surrounding rural areas, from the rest of West Bengal; these men commonly leave their families behind.[115] Kolkata’s literacy rate of 87.14%[114] exceeds the national average of 74%.[116] The final population totals of census 2011 stated the population of city as 4,496,694.[9] The urban agglomeration had a population of 14,112,536 in 2011.
Bengali, the official state language, is the dominant language in Kolkata.[118] English is also used, particularly by the white-collar workforce. Hindi and Urdu are spoken by a sizeable minority.[119][120] Bengali Hindus form the majority of Kolkata’s population; Marwaris, Biharis and Urdu-speaking Muslims compose large minorities.[121] Among Kolkata’s smaller communities are Chinese, Tamils, Nepalis, Pathans/Afghans (locally known as Kabuliwala[122]) Odias, Telugus, Gujaratis, Anglo-Indians, Armenians, Bengali Muslims, Greeks, Tibetans, Maharashtrians, Konkanis, Malayalees, Punjabis and Parsis.[34]: 3 The number of Armenians, Greeks, Jews and other foreign-origin groups declined during the 20th century.[123] The Jewish population of Kolkata was 5,000 during World War II, but declined after Indian independence and the establishment of Israel;[124] by 2013, there were 25 Jews in the city.[125] India’s sole Chinatown is in eastern Kolkata;[123] once home to 20,000 ethnic Chinese, its population dropped to around 2,000 as of 2009[123] as a result of multiple factors including repatriation and denial of Indian citizenship following the 1962 Sino-Indian War, and immigration to foreign countries for better economic opportunities.[126] The Chinese community traditionally worked in the local tanning industry and ran Chinese restaurants.
| Population of Kolkata | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Population | %± | |
| 1901 | 1,009,853 | — | |
| 1911 | 1,117,966 | 10.7% | |
| 1921 | 1,158,497 | 3.6% | |
| 1931 | 1,289,461 | 11.3% | |
| 1941 | 2,352,399 | 82.4% | |
| 1951 | 2,956,475 | 25.7% | |
| 1961 | 3,351,250 | 13.4% | |
| 1971 | 3,727,020 | 11.2% | |
| 1981 | 4,126,846 | 10.7% | |
| 1991 | 4,399,819 | 6.6% | |
| 2001 | 4,572,876 | 3.9% | |
| 2011 | 4,496,694 | −1.7% | |
transport
rail
Calcutta State Transport Corporation (CSTC) was a West Bengal state government undertaken transport corporation. Headquartered in Kolkata, it was set up on 31 July 1948.[1] Currently it operates under the name WBTC. It plied buses in Kolkata and nearby districts of West Bengal, along with some long-distance services. CSTC owned 11 depots in Kolkata and the districts to station its fleet of busses.
road
Calcutta State Transport Corporation (CSTC) was a West Bengal state government undertaken transport corporation. Headquartered in Kolkata, it was set up on 31 July 1948.[1] Currently it operates under the name WBTC. It plied buses in Kolkata and nearby districts of West Bengal, along with some long-distance services. CSTC owned 11 depots in Kolkata and the districts to station its fleet of busses.
AIRPORT
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, located in Dum Dum, about 16 km (9.9 mi) north-east of the city centre, operates domestic and international flights. In 2013, the airport was upgraded to handle increased air traffic.
RESEDENTIAL AREAS
BLANK MAM
lal darwaza market
The New Market, formerly known as Sir Stuart Hogg Market,[2] is a market in Kolkata situated on Lindsay Street, beside Free School Street (Mirza Ghalib Street/Rani Rasmoni Road). Although primarily “New Market” referred to the original enclosed market, today in local parlance, the entire shopping area is often known as “New Market”.
Some of the earliest English quarters of Calcutta were in an area known then as Dalhousie Square. Terretti and Lalbazar nearby were the customary shopping haunts of the British. Later settlements arose in Kashaitola, Dharmatala and Chowringhee.
SHOPPING MALL (koyambedu MALL)
South City Mall is a shopping mall in South Kolkata, West Bengal. Located at Prince Anwar Shah Road, Jadavpur (where the erstwhile Usha Industries factories and staff quarters were situated), it has been open since 16 January 2008.[1] It has a Gross Leasable Area of 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2)[2] and parking for 2,500 vehicles.[3]
The mall was designed by retail specialist ICS Bentel Associates. Anchored by major stores like Pantaloons, Spencer’s Retail and Shoppers Stop, there are also 134 other stores, a food court on the top floor and an INOX multiplex.
The adjoining South City Township, with four 35-storey and one 15-storey residential highrises, was built by the same developer – South City Projects.
MOVIE THREATERS
Metro Cinema or Metro Cinemas is a uniplex cinema hall and a heritage building located in Jawahar Lal Nehru Road (Esplanade), Kolkata, West Bengal, India.[1] This theatre was opened by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1935.[2] It is currently owned by a Mumbai-based firm and is undergoing a renovation to be converted into a multiplex theatre. The building is located in the posh Esplanade area of Kolkata, right at the heart of the city. It is a heritage structure and a very famous landmark of the city of Kolkata. And one of the many famous cinema halls in the Esplanade area of Central Kolkata.
PARKs
Eco Park (or Prakriti Tirtha) is an urban park in New Town, Rajarhat, Kolkata and the biggest park so far in India.[2] The park is situated on a 480 acres (190 ha) plot and is surrounded by a 104 acres (42 ha) waterbody with an island in the middle.[3] The park was conceptualised by Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee in July 2011.[4] West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) is the overarching body coordinating the construction of the park, along with different other government bodies responsible for implementation of different works inside the park.
HOSPITALS
IPGMER and SSKM Hospital, or in its full name Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research and Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital, colloquially known as P. G. Hospital (Presidency General Hospital), also known as PGI KOLKATA, is a government medical school and tertiary referral government hospital for the state of West Bengal, India and is a national research institute.
Located near Race Course ground and the Victoria Memorial Hall of Kolkata, its location is in the heart of Kolkata surrounded by cultural and historical landmarks like the Nandan complex, Rabindra Sadan, Academy of Fine Arts the Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the Red Road and the Indian Museum. It faces the Maidan of Kolkata – a hot-spot for political rallies in the city.
