GK Questions on West Bengal

West Bengal

General Knowledge Questions on West Bengal 

Question 1: Who is Chief Minister of West Bengal?

Answer: Mamata Banerjee

Mamata Banerjee also known as Didi, born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician of Bengali descent who serves as the 8th and current Chief Minister of West Bengal since 2011. She is the first woman to hold the office. She founded the party All India Trinamool Congress (AITC or TMC) in 1998 after separating from the Indian National Congress, and became its chairperson. She is often referred to as Didi (meaning: elder sister in Hindi and Bengali).

Banerjee has previously served twice as the Minister of Railways, the first woman to do so. She is also the first female Minister of Coal, and Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Youth Affairs, Sports, Women and Child Development in the cabinet of the Indian government. She rose to prominence after opposing the erstwhile land acquisition policies for industrialisation of the Communist government in West Bengal for Special Economic Zones at the cost of agriculturalists and farmers at Singur. In 2011 Banerjee pulled off a landslide victory for the TMC Congress alliance in West Bengal, defeating the 34-year-old Communist Party of India (Marxist)- led Left Front government, the world's longest-serving democratically elected communist government in the process.

In 2012, Time magazine named her as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Bloomberg Markets magazine listed her among the 50 most influential people in the world of finance in September 2012.

Question 2: When did West Bengal become a state?

Answer: 26 January 1950

The history of West Bengal began in 1947, when the Hindu-dominated western part of British Bengal Province became the Indian state of West Bengal.

When India gained independence in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines. The western part went to India (and was named West Bengal) while the eastern part joined Pakistan as a province called East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan, giving rise to independent Bangladesh in 1971)

In 1950, the Princely State of Koch Bihar merged with West Bengal after King Jagaddipendra Narayan had signed the Instrument of Accession with India. In 1955, the former French enclave of Chandannagar, which had passed into Indian control after 1950, was integrated into West Bengal. Portions of Bihar were subsequently merged with West Bengal

Question 3: What is the capital of West Bengal?

Answer: Kolkata

Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River approximately 75 kilometres (47 mi) west of the border with Bangladesh, it is the principal commercial, cultural, and educational centre of East India, while the Port of Kolkata is India's oldest operating port and its sole major riverine port. The city is widely regarded as the "cultural capital" of India, and is also nicknamed the "City of Joy". According to the 2011 Indian census, it is the seventh most populous city; the city had a population of 4.5 million, while the suburb population brought the total to 14.1 million, making it the third-most populous metropolitan area in India. Recent estimates of Kolkata Metropolitan Area's economy have ranged from $60 to $150 billion (GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity) making it third most-productive metropolitan area in India, after Mumbai and Delhi.

Question 4: Who is governor of West Bengal?

Answer: Keshari Nath Tripathi

Keshari Nath Tripathi (born 10 November 1934) is an Indian politician and the present Governor of West Bengal. He took oath as Governor of West Bengal on 24 July 2014 and as Governor of Bihar on 27 November, same year. He was sworn in as the Governor of Mizoram on 4 April 2015. He is a Veteran BJP leader. Earlier, he was the speaker of Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly and the president of Uttar Pradesh unit of Bharatiya Janata Party.

Question 5: Which is the largest city in West Bengal? 

Answer: Kolkata

Question 6:  Which is the official language of West Bengal?

Answer: Bengali

Bengali, also known by its endonym Bangla, is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Bengalis in South Asia. It is the official and most widely spoken language of West Bangal and Bangladesh. Its second most widely spoken of the 22 scheduled languages of India, behind Hindi.

Question 7: Which city in West Bengal was a Danish Colony?

Answer: Serampore

Serampore (also called Serampur, Srirampur, Srirampore, Shreerampur, Shreerampore, Shrirampur, Shrirampore) is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampore subdivision. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is a pre-colonial city on the west bank of the Hooghly River. It was part of Danish India under the name Frederiknagore from 1755 to 1845.

Question 8: Where did the Portuguese have a factory in West Bengal?

Answer: Hooghly

The district of Hooghly derived its name from the town of Hooghly on the west bank of the Hooghly River about 40 km north of Kolkata. This town was a river port in the fifteenth century.

The district has thousands of years of rich heritage as part of the Bengali kingdom of Bhurshut. The first European to reach this area was the Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama. In 1536 Portuguese traders obtained a permit from Sultan Mahmud Shah to trade in this area. In those days the Hooghly River was the main route for transportation and Hooghly served as an excellent trading port.

Within a few decades the town of Hooghly turned into a major commercial centre and the largest port in Bengal. Later in 1579–80 Emperor Akbar gave permission to a Portuguese captain Pedro Tavares to establish a city anywhere in the Bengal province. They chose Hooghly, and it became the first European settlement in Bengal. In 1599 the Portuguese traders built a convent and a church in Bandel. This is the first Christian church in Bengal known as ‘Bandel Church’ today.

Question 9: Who founded Calcutta?

Answer: Job Charnock

Job Charnock (1630–1692/1693) was an employee and administrator of the English East India Company, and traditionally regarded as the founder of the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). However, his status as official founder is not universally accepted.

Question 10: Who is the first Indian and Asian to receive the Nobel Prize in literature?

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore FRAS (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941), also known by his sobriquets Gurudev, Kabiguru, and Biswakabi, was a Bengali polymath, poet, musician, and artist from the Indian subcontinent. He reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of the "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse" of Gitanjali, he became in 1913 the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Tagore's poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal. He is sometimes referred to as "the Bard of Bengal".

Question 11: Who is the first Indian to receive the miss universe award?

Answer: Sushmita Sen

Sushmita Sen (born 19 November 1975) is an Indian film actress and model who was crowned Femina Miss India Universe in 1994 and she later won the Miss Universe 1994 contest at the age of 18. Sen is the first Indian woman to win the competition. Primarily known for her work in Hindi films, she has also appeared in Tamil and Bengali language films. She has won several accolades including a Filmfare Award.

Sen was born into a Bengali Baidya family in Hyderabad. Her parents are Shubeer Sen, a former Indian Air Force Wing Commander, and Subhra Sen, a jewelry designer and owner of a Dubai-based store. She has two siblings, a sister named Neelam and a brother named Rajeev.She has attended Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute in New Delhi and St. Ann's High School in Secunderabad, but did not pursue higher education

Question 12: Indian Museum a heritage site located in which state of india?

Answer: Kolkata

The Indian Museum in Kolkata, also referred to as the Imperial Museum at Calcutta in British India era texts, is the largest and oldest museum in India and has rare collections of antiques, armour and ornaments, fossils, skeletons, mummies, and Mughal paintings. It was founded by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, in 1814 C.E. The founder curator was Nathaniel Wallich, a Danish botanist.