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It has been suggested that Kolkata trivia be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) |
| ?Kolkata West Bengal • India | |
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| Coordinates: | |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| Area • Elevation | 1,480 km² (571 sq mi) • 9 m (30 ft) |
| District(s) | Calcutta † |
| Population • Density • Metro | 14,681,589 (2001) • 9,920/km² (25,693/sq mi) • 4,580,544 |
| Language(s) | Bengali, English, Hindi, Urdu |
| Mayor | Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya |
| Codes • Pincode • Telephone | • 700 xxx • +91 (33) |
| Website: www.kolkatamycity.com | |
| † The Kolkata urban agglomeration also includes portions of North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts. | |
"Calcutta" redirects here. For other uses, see Calcutta (disambiguation).
Kolkata (Bengali: কলকাতা), IPA: [\'kolkat̪a], formerly Calcutta , is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in eastern India on the east bank of the River Hooghly. The city has a population of almost 4.5 million, with an extended metropolitan population of over fourteen million, making it the third-largest urban agglomeration and the fourth-largest city in India.
Kolkata served as the capital of India during the British Raj until 1911. Once the centre of modern education, science, culture and politics in India, Kolkata witnessed economic stagnation in the years following India\'s independence in 1947. However, since the year 2000, economic rejuvenation has led to a spurt in the city\'s growth. Like the other metropolitan cities of India, Kolkata continues to struggle with urbanisation problems like poverty, pollution and traffic congestion.
Kolkata is noted for its revolutionary history, ranging from the Indian struggle for independence to the leftist and trade union movements.
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The names Kolkata and Calcutta were probably based on Kalikata, the name of one of the three villages (Kalikata, Sutanuti, Gobindapur) in the area before the arrival of the British.(Mukherjee 1991) "Kalikata", in turn, is believed to be an anglicised version of Kalikshetra (কালীক্ষেত্র, "Land of [the goddess] Kālī"). Alternatively, the name may have been derived from the Bengali term kilkila ("flat area").Kolkata (Calcutta): History (Bangla). Calcuttaweb.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-18. Again, the name may have its origin in the indigenous term for a natural canal, Khal, followed by Katta (which may mean dug).Nair, P. Thankappan. "Calcutta in the 17th Century", Firma KLM Private Limited, 1986. While the city\'s name was always pronounced either "Kolkata" or "Kolikata" in the local Bengali language, its official English name was only changed from "Calcutta" to "Kolkata" in 2001, reflecting the Bengali pronunciation. Some view this as a move to erase the legacy of British rule.Easwaran, Kenny. The Politics of Name Changes in India. OCF, UC Berkeley. Retrieved on 2007-08-12.
St. Paul\'s Cathedral was built in Kolkata during the British Raj
The discovery of the nearby Chandraketugarh, History. Yahoo! Pte Ltd. Retrieved on 2006-05-08. an archaeological site, provides evidence that the area has been inhabited for over two millennia.
Das S. "Pre-Raj crown on Clive House - Abode of historical riches to be museum", The Telegraph, Calcutta, India, 2003-01-15. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. The city\'s documented history, however, begins with the arrival of the British East India Company in 1690, when the Company was consolidating its trade business in Bengal. Job Charnock, an administrator with the Company was traditionally credited as the founder of this city. However, recently experts have endorsed the view that Charnock was not the founder of the city.Gupta, Subhrangshu. "Job Charnock not Kolkata founder: HC Says city has no foundation day", Nation, The Tribune, May 18, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
In 1702, the British completed the construction of old Fort William, "William, Fort". Encyclopædia Britannica. (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-01. which was used to station its troops and as a regional base. Kolkata (then Calcutta) was declared a Presidency City, and later became the headquarters of the Bengal Presidency. "Calcutta". Encyclopædia Britannica. (1911). Retrieved on 2007-09-18. Faced with frequent skirmishes with French forces, in 1756 the British began to upgrade their fortifications. When protests against the militarisation by the Nawab of Bengal Siraj-Ud-Daulah went unheeded he attacked and captured Fort William, leading to the infamous Black Hole incident.History of Kolkata. Kolkathub.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-04. A force of Company sepoys and British troops led by Robert Clive recaptured the city the following year. Kolkata was named the capital of British India in 1772, although the capital shifted to the hilly town of Shimla during the summer months every year, starting from the year 1864.IANS. "Shimla - more than just Raj nostalgia", Yahoo news, Yahoo Web Services India Pvt Ltd, 7 August 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-08. It was during this period that the marshes surrounding the city were drained and the government area was laid out along the banks of the Hooghly River. Richard Wellesley, the Governor General between 1797–1805, was largely responsible for the growth of the city and its public architecture which led to the description of Kolkata as "The City of Palaces".Dutta, Krishna. Calcutta; A Cultural and Literary History. Interlink Books. Retrieved on 2007-10-11. The city was a centre of the British East India Company\'s opium trade during the 18th and 19th century; locally produced opium was sold at auction in Kolkata, to be shipped to China.Pati, Biswamoy (2006). "Narcotics and empire". Frontline 23 (10). The Hindu. Retrieved on 2007-09-04.
By the early 19th century, Kolkata was split into two distinct areas—one British (known as the White Town), the other Indian (known as Black Town).Hardgrave, Jr, Robert L. (1990). "A Portrait of Black Town: Balthazard Solvyns in Calcutta, 1791–1804", in Pratapaditya Pal: Changing Visions, Lasting Images: Calcutta Through 300 Years. Bombay: Marg Publications, 31–46. ISBN 8185026114. Even at the time, the poverty of the \'Black Town\' shanties was considered shocking. The city underwent rapid industrial growth from the 1850s, especially in the textile and jute sectors; this caused a massive investment in infrastructure projects like railroads and telegraph by British government. 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, read newspapers, were Anglophiles, and usually belonged to upper-caste Hindu communities.Jack I. (2001). "IntroductionPDF (145 KiB) to (Chaudhuri 2001, pp. v-xi) URL accessed on 2006-04-26. Throughout the nineteenth century, a socio-cultural reform, often referred to as the Bengal Renaissance resulted in the general uplifting of the people. In 1883, Surendranath Banerjea organised a national conference — the first of its kind in nineteenth century India. Gradually Kolkata became a centre of the Indian independence movement, especially revolutionary organisations. The 1905 Partition of Bengal on communal grounds resulted in widespread public agitation and the boycott of British goods (Swadeshi movement).Roy, Ranjit. Swadeshi Movement. Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Retrieved on 2007-09-14. These activities, along with the administratively disadvantageous location of Kolkata in the eastern fringes of India, prompted the British to move the capital to New Delhi in 1911.Hall, P (2002). Cities of Tomorrow. Blackwell Publishing, pp.198-206. ISBN 0631232524.
Kolkata port in 1945. It was an important military port during WWII.
The city\'s port was bombed twice by the Japanese during World War II.Randhawa K. The bombing of Calcutta by the Japanese. BBC. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. As food stocks were being diverted to feed Allied troops, millions starved to death during the Bengal famine of 1943.(Sen 1973) In 1946, demands for the creation of a Muslim state led to large-scale communal violence resulting in the deaths of over 2,000 people.Suhrawardy HS (1987). "Direct Action Day", in Talukdar, MHR. (ed.): Memoirs of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. University Press of Bangladesh, 55–56. ISBN 9840510878. The partition of India also created intense violence and a shift in demographics — large numbers of Muslims left for East Pakistan, while hundreds of thousands of Hindus fled into the city.(Gandhi 1992, pp. 497)
Over the 1960s and 1970s, severe power shortages, strikes and a violent Marxist-Maoist movement — the Naxalites — damaged much of the city\'s infrastructure, leading to an economic stagnation.Calcutta. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-17. In 1971, war between India and Pakistan led to the mass influx of thousands of refugees into Kolkata resulting in a massive strain on its infrastructure.(Bennett & Hindle 1996, pp. 63–70) In the mid-1980s, Mumbai overtook Kolkata as India\'s most populous city. Kolkata has been a strong base of Indian communism as West Bengal has been ruled by the CPI(M) dominated Left Front for three decades now — the world\'s longest-running democratically-elected Communist government.Biswas S. Calcutta\'s colourless campaign. BBC. Retrieved on 2006-04-26.(Roy & Alsayyad 2004) The city\'s economic recovery gathered momentum after economic reforms in India introduced by the central government in the mid-1990s. Since 2000, Information Technology (IT) services revitalized the city’s stagnant economy. The city is also experiencing a growth in the manufacturing sector.
The Hooghly River
Kolkata is located in eastern India at in the Ganges Delta at an elevation ranging between 1.5 to 9 metres.NASA image It is spread linearly along the banks of the River Hooghly in a north-south direction. Much of the city was originally a vast wetland, reclaimed over the decades to accommodate the city\'s burgeoning population.An Introduction. History of Calcutta. Catchcal.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-29. The remaining wetland, known as East Calcutta Wetlands has been designated a "wetland of international importance" under the Ramsar Convention.Roy Chadhuri, S. (2006-07-25). "Microbial genetic resource mapping of East Calcutta wetlands". Current Science 91 (2): 212-217. Indian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved on [].
Like the most of the Indo-Gangetic plains, the predominant soil type is alluvial. Quaternary sediments consisting of clay, silt, various grades of sand and gravel underlie the city. These sediments are sandwiched between two clay beds, the lower one at depths between 250 and 650 m and the upper one ranging between 10 and 40 m in thickness. Bunting SW, Kundu N, Mukherjee M. Situation Analysis. Production Systems and Natural Resources Use in PU Kolkata (PDF Format) 3. Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the town falls under seismic zone-III, in a scale of I to V (in order of increasing proneness to earthquakes)Hazard profiles of Indian districts (PDF). National Capacity Building Project in Disaster Management. UNDP. Archived from the original on []. Retrieved on 2006-08-23. while the wind and cyclone zoning is "very high damage risk", according to UNDP report.
Kolkata city, under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), has an area of 185 km² (71 sq mi).007 Kolkata (India) (PDF Format). World Association of the Major Metropolises. Retrieved on 2007-08-31. The Kolkata urban agglomeration, however, has continuously expanded and as of 2006, the urban agglomeration (Kolkata Metropolitan Area) is spread over 1,750 km² (676 sq mi), and comprises 157 postal areas.Kolkata Postal Codes. bloom9.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-29. The urban agglomeration is formally administered by several local governments including 38 local municipalities. The urban agglomeration comprises 72 cities and 527 towns and villages. The suburban areas of Kolkata metropolitan district incorporates parts of the districts North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia.
The east-to-west dimension of the proper city is narrow, stretching from the Hooghly River in the west to roughly the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass in the east, a span of barely 5–6 km.deduced from the satellite map of the city, from NASA The north-south expansion is roughly divided into North, Central and South Kolkata. North Kolkata locality is the oldest part of the city, with 19th century architecture and narrow alleyways. South Kolkata grew mostly after independence and consists of well-to-do localities. The Salt Lake City (Bidhan Nagar) area to the northeast of the city is a planned section of Kolkata. Rajarhat, also called New Town, is a planned township being developed on the north-eastern fringes of the city.
Central Kolkata houses the central business district around the B. B. D. Bagh area. The government secretariat, General Post Office, High Court, Lalbazar Police HQs and several other government and private offices are located here. The Maidan is a large open field in the heart of the city where several sporting events and public meetings are held. Several companies have set up their offices around the area south of Park Street which has become a secondary central business district.
Main Article: Climate of Kolkata
Monsoon clouds over Howrah Bridge.
Kolkata has a tropical wet-and-dry climate (Koppen climate classification Aw). The annual mean temperature is 26.8 °C (80 °F); monthly mean temperatures range from 19 °C to 30 °C (67 °F to 86 °F). Weatherbase entry for Kolkata. Canty and Associates LLC. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. Summers are hot and humid with temperatures in the low 30\'s and during dry spells the maximum temperatures often exceed 40 °C (104 °F) during May and June. Winter tends to last for only about two and a half months, with seasonal lows dipping to 12 °C – 14 °C (54 °F – 57 °F) between December and January. The highest recorded temperature is 43.9 °C (113 °F) and the lowest is 5 °C (41 °F). Often during early summer, dusty squalls followed by spells of thunderstorm and heavy rains lash the city, bringing relief from the humid heat. These thunderstorms are convective in nature, and is locally known as Kal baisakhi (কালবৈশাখী, Nor\'westers).kal Baisakhi. Glossary of Meteorology. American Meteorological Society. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
Rains brought by the Bay of Bengal branch of South-West monsoon Khichar, M.L.; Ram Niwas (July 14 2003). Know your monsoon. Agriculture Tribune, The Tribune. The Tribune Trust. Retrieved on 2007-06-09. lash the city between June and September and supplies the city with most of its annual rainfall of 1,582 mm. The highest rainfall occurs during the monsoon in August (306 mm). The city receives 2,528 hours of sunshine per annum, with the maximum sunlight occurring in March.
Calcutta: Not \'The City of Joy\'. Gaia: Environmental Information System. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. Pollution is a major concern in Kolkata, and the Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) level is high when compared to other major cities of India,
Central Pollution Control Board. Ambient Air Quality in Seven Major Cities During 2002. Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt of India. Retrieved on 2006-04-26.
Central Pollution Control Board. Air quality in major cities on 16–17 March, 2006. Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt of India. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. leading to regular smog and haze. Severe air pollution in the city has caused rise in pollution-related respiratory ailments such as lung cancer.Bhaumik, Subir. "Oxygen supplies for India police", South Asia, BBC, 17 May 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
Kolkata is the main business, commercial and financial hub of eastern India and the northeastern states. It is home to the Calcutta Stock Exchange — India\'s second-largest bourse.
Genesis and Growth of the Calcutta Stock Exchange. Calcutta Stock Exchange Association Ltd. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. It is also a major commercial and military port, and the only city in the region to have an international airport. Once India\'s leading city and Capital, Kolkata experienced a steady economic decline in the years following India\'s independence due to the prevalent unstabilised political condition and rise in trade-unionism supported by left-wing parties. "Kolkata". Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia. (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-13. Between the 1960s to the mid 1990s, flight of capital was enormous as many large factories were closed or downsized and businesses relocated. The lack of capital and resources coupled with a worldwide glut in demand in the city\'s traditional industries (e.g. jute) added to the depressed state of the city\'s economy.
Follath E. "The Indian Offensive: From Poorhouse ro Powerhouse", Spiegel Online, 2005-11-30. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. The liberalisation of the Indian economy in the 1990s along with the election of a new reformist Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya have resulted in the improvement of the city\'s fortunes.
Until recently, flexible production had always been the norm in Kolkata, and the informal sector has comprised more than 40% of the labour force.Chakravorty S (2000). "From Colonial City to Global City? The Far-From-Complete Spatial Transformation of Calcutta" in (Marcuse & van Kempen 2000, pp. 56–77) For example, roadside hawkers generated business worth Rs. 8,772 crore (around 2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005.Ganguly, Deepankar. Hawkers stay as Rs. 265 crore talks. The Telegraph, 30 November 2006. Retrieved on 2008-02-16. State and federal government employees make up a large percentage of the city\'s workforce. The city has a large unskilled and semi-skilled labour population, along with other blue-collar and knowledge workers. Kolkata\'s economic revival was led largely by IT services, with the IT sector growing at 70% yearly — twice that of the national average.
Datta T. "Rising Kolkata\'s winners and losers", BBC Radio 4\'s Crossing Continents, 2006-03-22. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. In recent years there has been a surge of investments in the housing infrastructure sector with several new projects coming up in the city. Mukherjee Shankar. "Demand spurs New Town III- Never-before response to Rajarhat sale", The Telegraph-Kolkata, 2005-03-28. Retrieved on 2006-07-25. Kolkata is home to many industrial units operated by large Indian corporations with products ranging from electronics to jute. Some notable companies headquartered in Kolkata include ITC Limited, Bata India, Birla Corporation, Coal India Limited, Damodar Valley Corporation, United Bank of India, UCO Bank and Allahabad Bank. Recently, various events like adoption of "Look East" policy by the government of India, opening of the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim as a border trade-route with China and immense interest in the South East Asian countries to enter the Indian market and invest have put Kolkata in an advantageous position.Sambit Saha. "Nathula trade may spur business in NE", rediff.com, 2003-09-09. Retrieved on 2007-09-18. C. Raja Mohan. "A foreign policy for the East", The Hindu, 2007-07-16. Retrieved on 2007-09-18.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), (formerly the Calcutta Municipal Corporation), established in 1876, is responsible for the civic maintenance and infrastructure of Kolkata. The city is divided into 141 administrative wards that are grouped into 15 boroughs.Kolkata Statistics. Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Retrieved on 2007-09-01. Each of these wards elects a councillor to the KMC. Each borough has a committee consisting of the councillors elected from the respective wards of the borough. The Corporation, through the borough committees, maintains government-aided schools, hospitals and municipal markets and partakes in urban planning and road maintenance.
007 Kolkata (India) (PDF Format). World Association of the Major Metropolises. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. The corporation as the apex body discharges its function through the Mayor-in-Council, consisting of a mayor, assisted by a deputy mayor, and ten other elected members of the KMC. The mayor is responsible for the overall functioning of the KMC and has a tenure of five-years.
About Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. At present, the CPI(M) led Left Front holds the power in KMC.
The city also has an apolitical titular post, that of the Sheriff of Kolkata."New sheriff of Kolkata", The Telegraph, 2005-12-28. Retrieved on 2007-09-01. The Sheriff presides over various city-related functions and conferences. Another ancillary civic body is the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) responsible for the statutory planning and development of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA).About Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. Retrieved on 2007-09-01. The KMA includes a large suburban hinterland around the urban centres of Kolkata.
As the capital of the state and the seat of the Government of West Bengal, Kolkata houses the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, the Secretariat (Writers\' Building) and the Calcutta High Court. Kolkata also has lower courts; the Small Causes Court for civil matters, and the Sessions Court for criminal cases. The Kolkata Police, headed by the Police Commissioner, comes under the West Bengal Home Ministry. The city is administratively divided into five police-zones subdivided into 48 local police stations.
Service of Kolkata Police. Kolkata Police. Retrieved on 2007-09-01. The city elects 3 representatives to the Lok Sabha (India\'s lower house) and 21 representatives to the state Legislative Assembly.
West Bengal Assembly Elections 2006. Indian Elections. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
VSNL tower of VSNL–Tata Indicom — a major telecom service provider in the city
The KMC supplies potable water to the city, sourced from the River Hooghly. The water is purified and treated at Palta water pumping station located in North 24 Parganas. Almost all of Kolkata\'s daily refuse of 2500 tonnes is transported to the dumping grounds in Dhapa to the east of the town. Agriculture on this dumping ground is encouraged for natural recycling of garbage and sewer water.
Sound Practices Composting. United Nations Environment Programme. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. Parts of the city still lack sewage facilities leading to unsanitary methods of waste disposal.
Calcutta: Not \'The City of Joy\'. Gaia: Environmental Information System. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. Electricity is supplied by the privately operated Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) to the city region, and by the West Bengal State Electricity Board in the suburbs. Frequent interruption of power supply was a problem until the mid 1990s; however the situation has since improved immensely with seldom power cuts occurring presently. The city has 20 fire stations (under West Bengal Fire Service) that attend to 7,500 fire and rescue calls on average per year.
Dheri SK, Misra GC. Fire: Blazing Questions (PDF Format). indiadisasters.org. Archived from the original on []. Retrieved on 2006-04-26.
State-owned BSNL and private enterprises like Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance Infocomm and Tata Indicom are the leading telephone and cell phone service providers in the city. Cellular coverage is extensive with both GSM and CDMA services being available. Broadband internet penetration has steadily increased with BSNL, Tata Indicom, Airtel and Reliance being the leading service providers.
Bengali language newspapers like Anandabazar Patrika, Aajkaal, Bartaman, Sangbad Pratidin and Ganashakti, Dainik Statesman are widely circulated. Regional and national English newspapers such as The Telegraph, The Statesman, Asian Age, Hindustan Times and The Times of India are sold in large numbers. Some major periodicals are Desh, Sananda, Unish Kuri, Anandalok and Anandamela. Being the biggest trading market in Eastern India, Kolkata has a substantial readership of many financial dailies including Economic Times & Business Standard.Business Development Mission to India November 29 – December 5, 2006 (PDF Format). International Trade Administration. Retrieved on 2007-10-13. Vernacular newspapers such as those in Hindi, Gujarati, Oriya, Urdu, Punjabi and Chinese are also read by a minority. Kolkata has ten local FM stations: AIR Kolkata (FM Rainbow & FM Gold), Radio Mirchi (98.3 MHz), Red FM (93.5 MHz), Aamar FM (106.2 MHz), Gyan Vani (105.4 MHz), Big FM (92.7 MHz), Meow FM (104.8 MHz), Power FM (107.8 MHz), Friends FM (91.9 MHz)and Fever FM (104.0 MHz). The state-owned television broadcaster Doordarshan provides two free terrestrial channels, while four MSO provide a mix of Bengali, Hindi, English and other regional channels via cable. Bengali 24-hour television news channels include STAR Ananda, 24 Ghanta, Kolkata TV and Tara Newz.
A busy road in Kolkata
The Howrah Bridge at night
Public transport is provided by the Kolkata suburban railway, the Kolkata Metro, trams and buses. The suburban network is extensive and extends into the distant suburbs. The Kolkata Metro, run by the Indian Railways, is the oldest underground system in India.About Kolkata Metro. Kolkata Metro. Retrieved on 2007-09-01. It runs parallel to the River Hooghly and spans the north-south length of the city covering a distance of 16.45 km. Buses are the preferred mode of transport and are run by both government agencies and private operators. Kolkata is India\'s only city to have a tram network, operated by Calcutta Tramways Company.Intra-city train travel. reaching India. Times Internet Limited. Retrieved on 2007-08-31. The slow-moving tram services are restricted to certain areas of the city. Water-logging due to heavy rains during the monsoon sometimes interrupts the public transport."HC admits PIL on waterlogging", Times of India, Times Internet Limited, 11 July 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-18. "Rain abates, but water logging paralyses normal life in Kolkata", dailyindia.com, DailyIndia.com, 4 July 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-18. Hired forms of mechanised transport include the yellow metered taxis, while auto rickshaws ply in specific routes. Almost all the taxis in Kolkata are Ambassadors. This is unlike most other cities where Tata Indica or Fiats are more common. In some areas of the city, cycle rickshaws and hand-pulled rickshaws are also patronised by the public for short distances. Private owned vehicles are less in number and usage compared to other major cities due to the abundance in both variety and number of public vehicles. Table E2 Registered Motor Vehicles in Million-plus Cities,1991 to 1996 (As on 31st March). National Institute of Urban Affairs. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. However, the city witnessed a steady increase in the number of registered vehicles; 2002 data showed an increase of 44% over a period of seven years.Traffic Accident Characteristics of Kolkata. UNESCAP. Retrieved on 2006-07-05. The road space (matched with population density) in the city is only 6%, compared to 23% in Delhi and 17% in Mumbai, creating major traffic problems."Call to ensure traffic discipline in Kolkata", The Hindu Business Line, 2004-09-05. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. Kolkata Metro Railway and a number of new roads and flyovers have decongested the traffic to some extent.
Kolkata has two major long distance railway stations at Howrah Station and Sealdah. A third station named Kolkata has been launched in early 2006."New station flag-off- Amenities added", The Telegraph, 2006-02-20. Retrieved on 2007-09-02. The city is the headquarters of two divisions of the Indian Railways — Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway.Geography : Railway Zones. IRFCA.org. Indian Railways Fan Club. Retrieved on 2007-08-31.
The city\'s sole airport, the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport at Dum Dum to the north of the city, operates both domestic and international flights. Kolkata is also a major riverport in eastern India. The Kolkata Port Trust manages both the Kolkata docks and the Haldia docks.Salient Physical Features. Kolkata Port Trust. Kolkata Port Trust, India. Retrieved on 2007-06-09. There are passenger service to Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and cargo ship service to various ports in India and abroad, operated by the Shipping Corporation of India. Also there are ferry services connecting Kolkata with its twin city of Howrah.
Residents of Kolkata are called Calcuttans. As of 2001, Kolkata city had a population of 4,580,544, while the urban agglomeration had a population of 13,216,546. The sex ratio is 828 females per 1000 malesDirectorate of Census Operations, West Bengal (2003). Table-4: Population, Decadal Growth Rate, Density and General Sex Ratio by Residence and Sex, West Bengal/ District/ Sub District, 1991 and 2001. Census of India 2001: Provisional Population Totals, West Bengal. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. – which is lower than the national average, because many working males come from rural areas, where they leave behind their families. Kolkata\'s literacy rate of 80.86%Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal (2003). Table 11 Literacy Rate with Decadal Percentage Point Increase (in brackets) * by Residence and Sex, West Bengal / District 1951–2001. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. exceeds the all-India average of 64.8%.Number of Literates & Literacy Rate. India at a Glance. Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved on 2006-12-05. Kolkata Municipal Corporation area has registered a growth rate of 4.1%, which is the lowest among the million-plus cities in India.Highlights: Cities with more than one Million Population. Census of India 2001 (Provisional). Office of the Registrar General, India (2001-09-13). Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
Bengalis comprise the majority of Kolkata\'s population, with Marwaris and Bihari communities forming a large portion of the minorities. Some of Kolkata\'s notable communities include Chinese, Tamils, Marwaris, Gujaratis, Anglo-Indians, Armenians, Tibetans, Maharashtrians and Parsis. Major languages spoken in Kolkata are Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, English, Oriya, and Bhojpuri.
According to the 2001 census, 77.68% of the population in Kolkata is Hindu, 20.27% Muslim,0.88% Christian and 0.75% Jains. Other minorities such as Sikhs, Buddhist, Jews and Zoroastrian constitute the rest of the city\'s population. Census GIS Household. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. 1.5 million people, who constitute about a third of the city\'s population, live in 2,011 registered and 3,500 unregistered (occupied by squatters) slums.Kundu N. Understanding slums: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements 2003. The Case of Kolkata, India (PDF Format) 6. Development Planning Unit. University College, London. Retrieved on 2006-04-26.
Kolkata reported 67.6% of total Special and Local Laws (SLL) crimes registered in 35 Indian mega cities.National Crime Records Bureau (2004). "General Crime Statistics Snapshots 2004", Crime in India-2004 (PDF Format), Ministry of Home Affairs, 1. Kolkata police district registered 10,757 IPC cases in 2004, which was 10th highest in the country.National Crime Records Bureau (2004). "Executive Summary", Crime in India-2004 (PDF Format), Ministry of Home Affairs, 34. The crime rate in the city was 81.4 per 100,000 against the national rate of 168.8 in 2004.National Crime Records Bureau (2004). "Violent Crimes", Crime in India-2004 (PDF Format), Ministry of Home Affairs, 158. Kolkata\'s Sonagachi area, with more than 10,000 sex workers,
Grant M. "Girl-trafficking hampers Aids fight", BBC, 2004-11-30. Retrieved on 2006-04-26. is one of Asia\'s largest red-light districts.
The Victoria Memorial is a famous museum in Kolkata
Kolkata is a centre of culture in India. Shown here is the National Library
Kolkata has long been known for its literary, artistic and revolutionary heritage. As the former capital of India, Kolkata was the birthplace of modern Indian literary and artistic thought. Kolkatans tend to have a special appreciation for art and literature; its tradition of welcoming new talent has made it a "city of furious creative energy".Sinha P (1990). "Kolkata and the Currents of History", in Chaudhuri S. (ed.): Kolkata — The Living City. Volume 1: The Past. Oxford University Press, Oxford.. Cited by: Heierstad G (2003). Nandikar: Staging Globalisation in Kolkata and Abroad (PDF Format) 102. University of Os
