Kolkata

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"Calcutta" redirects here. For other uses, see Calcutta (disambiguation) and
Kolkata (disambiguation).
Kolkata
Calcutta
Metropolis

Clockwise from top: Victoria Memorial, Biswa Bangla Gate, City Tram Line, ITC Royal
Bengal, Vidyasagar Setu, Central Business District, Howrah Bridge, and St. Paul's
Cathedral
Coat of arms of Kolkata
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): City of Joy, Cultural Capital[1]
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Coordinates: 22°34′03″N 88°43′57″ECoordinates: 22°34′03″N 88°43′57″E
Country India
State West Bengal
Division Presidency
District Kolkata[2][3][4][5][6][A]
Government
• Type Municipal Corporation
• Body Kolkata Municipal Corporation
• Mayor Firhad Hakim
• Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh
• Sheriff Mani Shankar Mukherjee
• Police commissioner Soumen Mitra
Area[7][8]
• Metropolis 206.08 km2 (79.151 sq mi)
• Metro 1,886.67 km2 (728.45 sq mi)
Elevation 9 m (30 ft)
Population (2011)[7][9]
• Metropolis 4,496,694
• Rank 3rd
• Density 22,000/km2 (57,000/sq mi)
• Urban 14,112,536
14,617,882 (Extended UA)
• Urban rank 3rd
Demonyms Kolkatan
Calcuttan
Languages
• Official Bengali • English[10]
Time zone UTC+05:30 (IST)
PIN
700 xxx
Telephone code +91 33
Vehicle registration WB-01 to WB-10
UN/LOCODE IN CCU
GDP/PPP $150.1 billion(GDP PPP 2017)[11]
HDI (2004) Increase 0.780[12] (High)
Website www.kmcgov.in
The Kolkata metropolitan area also includes portions of North 24 Parganas, South
24 Parganas, Howrah, Nadia and Hooghly districts. See: Urban structure.
Bengali This article contains Bengali text. Without proper rendering support,
you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.
Kolkata (English: /kɒlˈkɑːtə/[15] or /kɒlˈkʌtə/,[16] Bengali: [kolˈkata] (listen);
also known as Calcutta /kælˈkʌtə/,[16] the official name until 2001) is the capital
of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly
River, the city is approximately 80 km (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.[17] According to the 2011 Indian
census, Kolkata is the seventh-most populous city in India, with a population of 45
lakh (4.5 million) residents within the city limits, and a population of over 1.41
crore (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 1.5 crore (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][18]

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,[19] 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.
In 1793 the East India company was strong enough to abolish native rule, and
assumed full sovereignty of the region. Under the company rule and later under the
British Raj, Calcutta served as the capital of British-held territories in India
until 1911. In that year, after assessing its geographical location, combined with
growing nationalism in Bengal (Calcutta became the centre for the Indian
independence movement), the British moved the capital to the relatively more
centrally located New Delhi.

Following independence in 1947, Kolkata, which was once the premier centre of
Indian commerce, culture, and politics, suffered many decades of political violence
and economic stagnation before it rebounded.[20] A demographically diverse city,
the culture of Kolkata features idiosyncrasies that include distinctively close-
knit neighbourhoods (paras) and freestyle conversations (adda). Kolkata is home to
eastern India's film industry, known as Tollywood, and cultural institutions, such
as the Academy of Fine Arts, the Victoria Memorial, the Asiatic Society, the Indian
Museum, and the National Library of India. Among scientific institutions, Kolkata
hosts the Agri Horticultural Society of India, the Geological Survey of India, the
Botanical Survey of India, the Calcutta Mathematical Society, the Indian Science
Congress Association, the Zoological Survey of India, the Institution of Engineers,
the Anthropological Survey of India and the Indian Public Health Association. Four
Nobel laureates and two Nobel Memorial Prize winners are associated with the city.
[21] Though home to major cricketing venues and franchises, Kolkata stands out in
India for being the country's centre of association football and also having strong
culture in other sports less widespread elsewhere.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 British colonial rule
2.2 Contemporary
3 Geography
3.1 Urban structure
3.2 Climate
3.2.1 Temperature
3.2.2 Rainfall
3.3 Environmental issues
4 Economy
5 Demographics
6 Government and public services
6.1 Civic administration
6.2 Utility services
6.3 Military and diplomatic establishments
7 Transport
8 Healthcare
9 Education
10 Culture
11 Media
12 Sports
13 Sister cities
14 See also
15 References
16 Further reading
17 External links
Etymology
Main article: Etymology of Kolkata
The word Kolkata (Bengali: কলকাতা [kolˈkata]) derives from Kôlikata (Bengali:
কলিকাতা [ˈkɔliˌkata]), the Bengali language name of one of three villages that
predated the arrival of the British, the other two villages were Sutanuti and
Govindapur.[22]

There are several explanations for the etymology of this name:

Kolikata is thought to be a variation of Kalikkhetrô (Bengali: কালীক্ষেত্র [ˈkali

ˌkʰetrɔ]), meaning "Field of [the goddess] Kali". Similarly, it can be a variation
of 'Kalikshetra' (Sanskrit: कालीक्षेत्र, lit. "area of Goddess Kali").
Another theory is that the name derives from Kalighat.[23]
Alternatively, the name may have been derived from the Bengali term kilkila
(Bengali: কিলকিলা), or "flat area".[24]
The name may have its origin in the words khal (Bengali: খাল [ˈkʰal]) meaning
"canal", followed by kaṭa (Bengali: কাটা [ˈkaʈa]), which may mean "dug".[25]
According to another theory, the area specialised in the production of quicklime or
koli chun (Bengali: কলি চুন [ˈkɔliˌtʃun]) and coir or kata (Bengali: কাতা [ˈkata]);
hence, it was called Kolikata).[24]
Although the city's name has always been pronounced Kolkata or Kôlikata in Bengali,
the anglicised form Calcutta was the official name until 2001, when it was changed
to Kolkata in order to match Bengali pronunciation.[26]

History
Main article: History of Kolkata

Fort William, headquarters of the British East India Company

British colonial rule

Arms of the city of Calcutta, c. 1914.

The discovery and archaeological study of Chandraketugarh, 35 km (22 mi) north of
Kolkata, provide evidence that the region in which the city stands has been
inhabited for over two millennia.[27][28] 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;[29] In response to a
public petition,[30] the Calcutta High Court ruled in 2003 that the city does not
have a founder.[31] 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.[32]: 
1 

Chowringhee avenue and Tipu Sultan Mosque in central Calcutta, 1945.

In 1712, the British completed the construction of Fort William, located on the
east bank of the Hooghly River to protect their trading factory.[33] Facing
frequent skirmishes with French forces, the British began to upgrade their
fortifications in 1756. The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, condemned the
militarisation and tax evasion by the company. His warning went unheeded, and the
Nawab attacked; he captured Fort William which led to the killings of several East
India company officials in the Black Hole of Calcutta.[34] A force of Company
soldiers (sepoys) and British troops led by Robert Clive recaptured the city the
following year.[34] Per the 1765 Treaty of Allahabad following the battle of Buxar,
East India company was appointed imperial tax collector of the Mughal emperor in
the province of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, while Mughal-appointed Nawabs continued
to rule the province.[35] Declared a presidency city, Calcutta became the
headquarters of the East India Company by 1773.[36]

In 1793, ruling power of the Nawabs were abolished and East India company took
complete control of the city and the province. In the early 19th century, the
marshes surrounding the city were drained; the government area was laid out along
the banks of the Hooghly River. Richard Wellesley, Governor-General of the
Presidency of Fort William between 1797 and 1805, was largely responsible for the
development of the city and its public architecture.[37] Throughout the late 18th
and 19th century, the city was a centre of the East India Company's opium trade.
[38] A census in 1837 records the population of the city proper as 229,700, of
which the British residents made up only 3,138.[39] The same source says another
177,000 resided in the suburbs and neighbouring villages, making the entire
population of greater Calcutta 406,700.

In 1864, a typhoon struck the city and killed about 60,000 in Kolkata.[40]

Panoramic view of Kolkata (Calcutta) from the Shaheed Minar (Octerlony Monument),
1832, drawn by Jacob Janssen
By the 1850s, Calcutta had two areas: White Town, which was primarily British and
centred on Chowringhee and Dalhousie Square; and Black Town, mainly Indian and
centred on North Calcutta.[41] The city underwent rapid industrial growth starting
in the early 1850s, especially in the textile and jute industries; this encouraged
British companies to massively invest in infrastructure projects, which included
telegraph connections and Howrah railway station. The coalescence of British and
Indian culture resulted in the emergence of a new babu class of urbane Indians,
whose members were often bureaucrats, professionals, newspaper readers, and
Anglophiles; they usually belonged to upper-caste Hindu communities.[42] In the
19th century, the Bengal Renaissance brought about an increased sociocultural
sophistication among city denizens. In 1883, Calcutta was host to the first
national conference of the Indian National Association, the first avowed
nationalist organisation in India.[43]

Bengali billboards on Harrison Street. Calcutta was the largest commercial centre
in British India.
The partition of Bengal in 1905 along religious lines led to mass protests, making
Calcutta a less hospitable place for the British.[44][45] The capital was moved to
New Delhi in 1911.[46] Calcutta continued to be a centre for revolutionary
organisations associated with the Indian independence movement. The city and its
port were bombed several times by the Japanese between 1942 and 1944, during World
War II.[47][48] Coinciding with the war, millions starved to death during the
Bengal famine of 1943 due to a combination of military, administrative, and natural
factors.[49] Demands for the creation of a Muslim state led in 1946 to an episode
of communal violence that killed over 4,000.[50][51][52] The partition of India led
to further clashes and a demographic shift—many Muslims left for East Pakistan
(present day Bangladesh), while hundreds of thousands of Hindus fled into the city.
[53]

Contemporary
During the 1960s and 1970s, severe power shortages, strikes and a violent Marxist–
Maoist movement by groups known as the Naxalites damaged much of the city's
infrastructure, resulting in economic stagnation.[20] The Bangladesh Liberation War
of 1971 led to a massive influx of thousands of refugees, many of them penniless,
that strained Kolkata's infrastructure.[54] During the mid-1980s, Mumbai (then
called Bombay) overtook Kolkata as India's most populous city. In 1985, Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi dubbed Kolkata a "dying city" in light of its socio-political
woes.[55] In the period 1977–2011, West Bengal was governed from Kolkata by the
Left Front, which was dominated by the Communist Party of India (CPM). It was the
world's longest-serving democratically elected communist government, during which
Kolkata was a key base for Indian communism.[56][57][58] In the 2011 West Bengal
Legislative Assembly election, Left Front was defeated by the Trinamool Congress.
The city's economic recovery gathered momentum after the 1990s, when India began to
institute pro-market reforms. Since 2000, the information technology (IT) services
sector has revitalised Kolkata's stagnant economy. The city is also experiencing
marked growth in its manufacturing base.[59]

Geography
Main article: Geography of Kolkata

Chowringhee, Kolkata skyline from Howrah

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).[60] Much of the city was originally a wetland that was reclaimed over the
decades to accommodate a burgeoning population.[61] The remaining undeveloped
areas, known as the East Kolkata Wetlands, were designated a "wetland of
international importance" by the Ramsar Convention (1975).[62] 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.[63]
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.[63] 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.[63] 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.[64] 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.[65]

Urban structure

Map of Calcutta, ca 1914

Aerial view of the Kolkata skyline, including The 42 and Vidyasagar Setu

Park Street, Kolkata is an important central avenue of the city

The Kolkata metropolitan area is spread over 1,886.67 km2 (728.45 sq mi)[66]: 7  and
comprises 4 municipal corporations (including Kolkata Municipal Corporation), 37
local municipalities and 24 panchayat samitis, as of 2011.[66]: 7  The urban
agglomeration encompassed 72 cities and 527 towns and villages, as of 2006.[67]
Suburban areas in the Kolkata metropolitan area incorporate parts of the following
districts: North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia.[68]:  15 
Kolkata, which is under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation
(KMC), has an area of 206.08 km2 (80 sq mi).[67] The east–west dimension of the
city is comparatively narrow, stretching from the Hooghly River in the west to
roughly the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass in the east—a span of 9–10 km (5.6–6.2 mi).
[69] The north–south distance is greater, and its axis is used to section the city
into North, Central, South and East Kolkata. North Kolkata is the oldest part of
the city. Characterised by 19th-century architecture and narrow alleyways, it
includes areas such as Jorasanko, Rajabazar, Maniktala, Ultadanga, Shyambazar,
Shobhabazar, Bagbazar, Cossipore, Sinthee etc. The north suburban areas like Dum
Dum, Baranagar, Belgharia, Sodepur, Khardaha, New Barrackpore, Madhyamgram,
Barrackpore, Barasat etc. are also within the city of Kolkata (as a metropolitan
structure).[68]: 
65–66  Central Kolkata hosts the central business district. It
contains B.B.D. Bagh, formerly known as Dalhousie Square, and the Esplanade on its
east; Strand Road is on its west.[70] The West Bengal Secretariat, General Post
Office, Reserve Bank of India, Calcutta High Court, Lalbazar Police Headquarters
and several other government and private offices are located there. Another b