Geography
Kolkata is in the eastern part of India at 22°82ⲠN 88°20ⲠE. It has spread linearly along the banks of the river Hooghly.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has an area of 185 square kilometres. The city proper today can be roughly divided into two sections along Mother Teresa Sarani which was known during english rule as Park Street. North of Park Street is the more congested part of the city. South of Park Street is the slightly better planned section of the city.South Kolkata is better planned with wider roads and better equipped police force for keeping Law&Order.The better plannings in South Kolkata are because it was built much later after Independence.The North is the real,old Kolkata and most of the oldest families and buildings are situated there.
The old Central Business District CBD is where the seat of the West Bengal Government is located, along with many other government offices. Several banks have their corporate Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India, UCO Bank or regional headquarters Reserve Bank of India, State Bank of India, Bank of India, Central Bank of India amongst many others around the B. B. D. Bagh areanamed after the revolutionaries Binoy,Badol and Dinesh who forced entry into The Writer's Building,the heart centre of english government in West Bengal,and killed the officers who were famous for their rude and cruel treatment with the people and their various techniques of oppression. Many of Kolkata's older business groups have their main offices here. The area is a mix of multi-storeyed office blocks and colonial buildings.
The newer CBD is around the south of Park Street, Camac Street and AJC Bose Road. Several high-rise office blocks including some of Kolkata's tallest commercial buildings - like the Chatterjee International Centre, Tata Centre, Everest House, Industry House, CGO Building - are located here. An even-newer CBD is now being set up in the Rajarhat Newtown area, lying between Salt Lake and the Airport.
Maidan meaning open field is situated between the river Ganges and J.L.Nehru Road or Chowringhee. It is said to be the lungs of Kolkata. The lush green meadow also houses Victoria Memorial, Eden Gardens, and several sporting clubs. Kolkatans simply love to stroll in the Maidan.
In an effort to relieve congestion in the main city, many government offices have shifted to high-rise office buildings lining Bidhan Nagar's Salt Lake Central Park.
The residential buildings are mainly lowrise and comprise of older colonial buildings and numerous new four storied apartment blocks. Ten to twelve storied apartment blocks have come up in large numbers in south Kolkata. The city has relaxed its rules on high-rise construction recently and twenty storied buildings are becoming more common. The tallest residential towers of eastern India - the four thirty-five-storey towers of South City has recently finished construction on Prince Anwar Shah Road.
Heavy construction activity along the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass is changing the face of the city. Luxury hotels, a convention centre, speciality hospitals, condominium complexes, malls and multiplexes are coming up at a rapid pace.
The city's expansion in the eastern side is spearheaded by the construction of a large new city called New Town adjacent to the well planned Bidhan Nagar. Located in Rajarhat, it is one of the largest planned urban developments in India.
The neglected western side of the urban agglomeration has got a boost recently with the signing of an agreement with Chiputra, an Indonesian company to build the Kolkata West International City KWIC. Another huge new township is in the proposal state in Dankuni.
Slums and dilapidated structures exist in many pockets of the city proper and house over 25% of the city's population Census 2001. Slum redevelopment schemes have helped improve living conditions by a small extent but there is huge scope for improvement in this area. Efforts to shift slum dwellers to newer developments have often met with resistance and failure because many of the slums are in prime areas of the city and the slum dwellers who are integrated in the social structure of the neighbourhood do not want to shift.
Opposition to the setting up of the Nano factory at Shingur, 50 Kms. away from Kolkata, where the Tata's plan to build the cheapest car in the world, threatens to take away a lot of the investments due to come to the state. But in recent times,specially after the ousting of the communists on 13th May 2011,the state including the city,has recieved many investment proposals from national as well as international corporations.
Modern kolkata
Kolkata is the main business, commercial and financial hub of eastern India. Kolkata witnessed an economic decline from the late sixties till the late nineties. The city's economic fortunes turned the tide as the economic liberalization in India during the early nineties reached Kolkata during late nineties. Kolkata is a multicultural, cosmopolitan city. Apart from the diversity of India, there are also Europeans including Germans, Armenians, and others and other Asians including Chinese, Sinhalese, and Tibetans.
Since 1977, a "Left Front" coalition of communist and Marxist parties has continuously ruled the state. This is reflected in street names and memorials in the city. For example there are streets like Lenin Sarani, Ho Chi Minh Sarani, etc. The Left Front regained control of the Municipal Corporation of Kolkata from the Trinamul Congress in the 2005 civic elections, but in 2010, Trinamul Congress again captured the power over Municipal Corporation of Kolkata.
Economy
Kolkata is fast developing into a modern infotech city with various private sector companies setting up shop here. The landscape of the city is also fast changing with flyovers, gardens and several new commercial establishments. Kolkata city itself has expanded into its suburbs, with the Greater Kolkata stretching from Kalyani in Nadia District in North to Diamond Harbour in South in the South 24 Parganas District.
The city's fortunes have looked up since the early nineties, coinciding with the liberalization of the Indian economy. Its economy has been amongst the fastest growing in the country. The New Metro city is characterised by popular spots such as Multiplexes, theatres, Clubs, Pubs, Coffee Shops, and Museums.
Kolkata is home to many industrial units, of large Indian corporations, whose product range is varied and includes - engineering products, electronics, electrical equipment, cables, steel, leather, textiles, jewellery, frigates, automobiles, railway coaches and wagons.
Several industrial estates like Taratola, Kalyani, Uluberia, Dankuni, Kasba, Howrah are spread throughout the urban agglomeration. A huge leather complex has come up at Bantola. An export processing zone has been set up in Falta. Specialized setups like the country's first Toy Park, and a Gem and Jewellery Park have also been established.
Kolkata is also starting to become a major hub for the IT Information Technology industry. With the formation of New Town at Rajarhat and extension of Salt Lake's Sector-V, Kolkata is rapidly turning into a pro-IT town. More and more businesses are coming to Kolkata to set up their offices.
History
Kolkata's history is intimately related to the British East India Company, which first arrived in 1690, and to British India, of which Calcutta became the capital in 1772. Job Charnock was widely known as the founder of Calcutta There were 3 villages named Sutanuti, Govindapur & Kolkata.Later the village Kolkata became the city Kolkata. but in recent years a number of Indian historians have disputed this claim, arguing that Kolkata occupies the site of an older Indian city, centered around the ancient Kali temple at Kalighat. This claim has been accepted by the Kolkata High Court. The Court has dismissed the name of Job Charnock as the founder of the city and 24th August as its date of birth. The historic Judgement was based upon an high level Expert Commitee findings. It has been proved that Kolkata had an highly civilized society for centuries before the Europeans first came here.
Whatever its origins,Kolkata flowered as the capital of British India during the nineteenth century, the heyday of the Raj. Calcutta University, the first modern Indian university was founded here in 1857.Kolkata became the center of Indian arts and literature, and the national movement for independence got its start here. However, with the transfer of the capital to Delhi in 1911, the pains of the partition of Bengal in 1947,a violent and bloody Maoist movement the Naxalite movement in the 1970s and many political betrayals which no other city experienced,Kolkata had become synonymous with urban decay and poverty, but reversal changes can be already seen.