Basirhat
—  city  —
Basirhat Location of Basirhat in West Bengal and India
Coordinates	22°40′N 88°53′E / 22.66°N 88.89°E / 22.66; 88.89Coordinates: 22°40′N 88°53′E / 22.66°N 88.89°E / 22.66; 88.89
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District(s)	North 24 Parganas
Municipality Chairman	Krishna Majumdar[1]
Parliamentary constituency	Basirhat
Assembly constituency	Basirhat Dakshin, Basirhat Uttar
Population	144,891 (2011[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 6 metres (20 ft)
Website	north24parganas.nic.in

Basirhat (In Bengali: বসিরহাট) is a city and a municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the state of West Bengal, India. Basirhat subdivisional town is located on the banks of Ichamati River.

History[link]

Basirhat has a long history of farmer's movement like 'Tebhaga Andolan'. Freedom fighter Dinesh Chandra Majumder was born here in 1907. There is a lot of controversy and debate regarding the naming of "Basirhat". But all explanations are satisfying and are causally related in some or other way. It implies that if we examine the sources then it will reflect the one or other socio-economic dimensions of the "Basirhat" region.

The sources which are considered till now behind the naming of Basirhat are as follows:

    Bahurhat - market for various items.
    Banserhat - market for buying and selling bamboos.
    Bastirhat - low land market

According to Dr. Sukumar Sen, Basirhat is named after a person named 'Basi'. Referring to Bengali Dictionary, the word Basi means-Indriya Basban, Jitendriya, Apradhin, Sadhin, Swatantra. From this it may be concluded that Basirhat was an independent tax-free business centre. Like present day's Free Business Centres.

Basirhat is named after a person named Basir Muhammad or Basir Khan. In spite of this if we consider Basir Khan's market then it should be around medieval period. But from the records it is clear that Muslim intrusion didn't take place before 1200 B.C. Basirhat's Sahi Masjid was constructed in 1466 B.C.

Economics[link]

Agriculture is the main source of income. Other industries like brick making and fisheries are also dominant in this area. Two other things are very popular from Basirhat 1. Sweet called nolen gurer sandesh, also patali both from local date-palm syrup 2. Hand made towel called gamcha

Education[link]

There is 7 High Schools in Basirhat. Two big schools of Basirhat are Basirhat Hari Mohan Dalal Girls' High School and Basirhat High School for Boys.

Transport[link]

Basirhat was connected with Barasat by the narrow gauge Barasat Basirhat Railway of Martin's Light Railways. It was closed in 1955 and subsequently converted to broad gauge.

Railways had been electrified and EMUs are running frequently from Sealdah and Hasnabad.Connectivity by bus is also there from Kolkata and other places.

Demographics[link]

In the 2011 census, Basirhat Urban Agglomeration had a population of 144,891, out of which 73,491 were males and 71,400 were females. The 0-6 years population was 12,578. Effective literacy rate for the 7+ population was 86.88 per cent.^[2]

As of 2001^[update] India census,^[3] Basirhat had a population of 113,120. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Basirhat has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 54% of the literates being male and 46% being female. 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Healthcare[link]

Basirhat is one of the areas where ground water is affected by arsenic contamination.^[4]

Basirhat Municipality[link]

• Chairman: Krishna Majumdar
• Year of Establishment of Municipality: 1 April 1869

The Municipal vision statements of Basirhat Municipality are:

• To provide all its citizens a humane social order based on truth, justice, freedom, equity and integrity in which basic human rights and the dignity of every individual is upheld, with sustained access to improved health, adequate and equitable basic services,
• To provide livelihood opportunities in an environmentally sustainable urban area, which upholds social justice and practices democratic and secular values, including human rights
• To provide right to information coupled with balanced development supported by an advanced, transparent and sustainable Urban Local Body, making Basirhat Municipality an attractive and secure place for investment and to eradicate poverty.

The Municipality is divided into 22 wards covering 22.5 km², with population of 113,120 as per 2001 census, out of which 30% are currently under the below poverty level (whereas, BPL average percentage in West Bengal as per 2001 census is 31.58%). The current population growth rate of Basirhat Municipality is approximately 25.17% per decade. If this growth rate does not incline, by the year 2025 the population density will be 6782 persons per square kilometre. In Basirhat Municipality the density of slum population is about 30%. Nearly 97% of the populace of the Municipality is Bengali speaking and the rest 3% speaks other language.

Basirhat Municipality has recently launched its Official Website as [1]

Administrative boundaries[link]

On 1 January 1861, Basirhat Sub-division was constituted as per order of the Government. Before that Basirhat was under the jurisdiction of Barasat Sub-division. Initially this subdivision was not named as Basirhāt, it was Basurhāt. This subdivision covered an area of 352 km² with 473 villages. The population was 268,146. In 1861, as per the order of Indian Government, Basurhāt Sub-Division was formed consisting of Balia Pargana's Basurhāt, Kalingā, Hāruā, Husenābād Police Stations. The name Basurhāt continued to exist till 1896. Afterwards it became Basirhāt.

Etymology[link]

The sources which are considered till now behind the naming of Basirhat are as follows:

• Bahurhāt—market for various items
• Banserhāt—market for buying and selling bamboos
• Bastirhāt—low land market

According to Dr. Sukumar Sen, Basirhāt is named after a person named 'Basi'. Referring to Bengali Dictionary, the word Basi means—Indriya Basbān, Jitendriya, Āprādhin, Sādhin, Swatantra. From this it may be concluded that Basirhat was an independent tax-free business centre. Like present day's Free Business Centres. Basirhāt is named after a person named Basir Muhammad or Basir Khan. In spite of this if we consider Basir Khan's market then it should be around medieval period. But from the records it is clear that Muslim intrusion didn't take place before 1200 AD. Basirhāt's Sahi Masjid was constructed in 1466 AD.

Nearby place[link]

Bhabla[link]

Bhabla (also spelt Bhyabla) near Basirhat is the place of birth and ancestral home of pioneering industrialist, Sir Rajen Mukherjee. He had contributed substantially for the development of Basirhat.^[5][6] Bhyabla station is 2 km from Basirhat station.

References[link]

v t e Cities, towns and locations in North 24 Parganas district Cities and Towns Barasat Sadar subdivision Ashoknagar Kalyangarh Bamangachhi Bara Bamonia Barasat Duttapukur Gobardanga Guma Habra Hridaypur Madhyamgram Maslandapur Nokpul Raigachhi Rajarhat Sadpur Barrackpore subdivision Baranagar Barrackpore Barrackpur Cantonment Bhatpara Bijpur Birati Chandpur Dakshineswar Dum Dum Durganagar Garshyamnagar Garulia Ghola Halisahar Ichapore Ichhapur Defence Estate Jafarpur Jagatdal Jetia Kamarhati Kanchrapara Kaugachhi Khardaha Muragachha Naihati New Barrackpur Noapara North Barrackpur North Dumdum Panihati Patulia Ruiya Sodepur South Dumdum Talbandha Titagarh Bangaon subdivision Bangaon Dhakuria Sonatikiri Basirhat subdivision Baduria Basirhat Dhanyakuria Taki Bidhannagar subdivision Bidhannagar Locations other than cities and towns Bankipur Berunanpukuria Chandraketugarh Petrapole Related topics North 24 Parganas topics People from North 24 Parganas district Bibhutibhushan Wildlife Sanctuary Chandraketugarh Sundarbans Sundarban National Park Kolkata neighbourhoods Cities, towns and locations in other districts Bankura Bardhaman Birbhum Cooch Behar Dakshin Dinajpur Darjeeling Hooghly Howrah Jalpaiguri Malda Murshidabad Nadia Paschim Medinipur Purba Medinipur Purulia South 24 Parganas Uttar Dinajpur West Bengal portal

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee বুদ্ধদেব ভট্টাচার্য
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
In office 6 November 2000 – 13 May 2011[1]
Preceded by	Jyoti Basu
Succeeded by	Mamata Banerjee
MLA
In office 1987 – 13 May 2011
Preceded by	Sankar Gupta[2]
Succeeded by	Manish Gupta
Constituency	Jadavpur
Personal details
Born	(1944-03-01) 1 March 1944 (age 68) Calcutta, Bengal, British India
Residence	Palm Avenue, Calcutta
Religion	Atheist
Signature	Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's signature
As of January 27, 2007 Source: [2]

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (Bengali: বুদ্ধদেব ভট্টাচার্য Buddhodeb Bhôṭṭacharjo; born 1 March 1944) is an Indian politician and a member of the politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2000 to 2011. He was the MLA of Jadavpur constituency for twenty-four years until 13 May 2011, when he was historically defeated by the former Chief Secretary of his own government, Manish Gupta (who previously worked under him)^[3] by a landslide 16,684 votes in the 2011 Assembly Election of West Bengal.^[4] He is the second West Bengal Chief Minister to lose an election from his own constituency, after Prafulla Chandra Sen in 1967.^[5]

Events during his tenure as Chief Minister included attempts to industrialise West Bengal thwarted by the TATA leaving Bengal in the face of relentless opposition by Trinamool congress,^[6] the land acquisition dispute in Singur, the Nandigram incident,^[7] and the Netai incident.^[8]

Early life[link]

Born in 1944 in north Calcutta, the chief minister belongs to a family which had produced another famous son. Revolutionary poet Sukanta Bhattacharya was his father's cousin. A former student of Sailendra Sirkar Vidyalaya‎.^[9] He studied Bengali literature at the Presidency College, Kolkata, and secured his B.A degree (2nd Class) in Bengali (Honours), later he joined the CPI(M) as a primary member.^[10] Besides taking active part in the food movement, he also supported Vietnam's cause in 1968. He was appointed state secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation, the youth wing of the CPI(M) that was later merged into the Democratic Youth Federation of India.

In 1977, he was elected as a Legislative Assembly Member for the first time. His constituency then was Cossipore. It was the first time that the CPI(M)-led Left Front came to power in West Bengal. He was given charge of the ministry of information and culture; it was his favourite position and during his tenure he contributed to Bengali theatre, movies and music. After losing the 1982 assembly election from Cossipore, he changed his constituency to Jadavpur in 1987. The move was successful; he won comfortably and regained his post.

Bhattacharya is also known to be a passionate cricket fan. An avid traveller, he has toured extensively in China, the erstwhile Soviet Union, Cuba, Vietnam, Great Britain, France and Singapore. Bhattacharyya and his wife Meera have a daughter, Suchetana who is an environment and wildlife activist. He has refused to move to the designated residence of Chief Minister in honour of party patriarch Jyoti Basu and continued working from his one bed-room Lower Income Group government quarter at Palm Avenue, Kolkata.

In 1993,Buddhadeb tendered his resignation from the state cabinet due to a significant difference of opinion with Jyoti Basu. However, there has never been any conclusive evidence on reasons behind his leaving the cabinet and party's decision to bring him back within a couple of years. It is during this period, Buddhadeb has written a critique of poetry written by Jibanananda Das, the legendary bengalee poet named "Hridayer Shabdoheen Jyotsna-r Bhitor".

Not only did the two leaders (Jyoti Basu and Bhattacharya) become closer during this period, Bhattacharya also matured as a politician. He is considered to be one of the few leaders who is both moderate and efficient and can balance both the hardliners and liberals in the party. Which was why, since 1996, he was always considered a viable alternative to Basu.

This eventually led to his being promoted the Chief Minister, when Basu finally decided to step down in 2000, ahead of the State Assembly elections due in May 2001. Though Basu was ill and aged, his government was fast losing popularity. There were substantiated media stories about corruption involving Basu's son, and the state economy was generally losing steam. There was an investment flight away from the state, increased joblessness in urban areas, a serious crunch in technical and medical education facilities and a near-breakdown of health services at the time. Bhattacharya was made the Chief Minister with the objective of making the administration look cleaner (he is seen as 'uncorruptible' to this day even by his critics) and more efficient. His clean image was primarily responsible for winning a record 6th term for the Left Front government in West Bengal in May 2001, though with a much reduced majority.

After becoming the chief minister Bhattacharya has liberalized Bengal's economy significantly^{[citation needed]}. He has attracted a lot of foreign investment in Bengal^{[citation needed]}. Many new industries and information technology related services have emerged under his leadership. He is generally seen as a Communist leader who is open to reforms. However, his opponents have criticized him for taking farmlands to build industries. Bhattacharya countered that these farmlands were not too productive; they would provide higher-paying jobs to many poor farmers. Some communists have also criticized Bhattacharya for pursuing economic reforms. Recently Bhattacharya said that he does not want to unionize the IT industry. Labour unions of Bengal have criticized this decision saying that this will lead to the exploitation of IT workers.

His biggest asset proved to be his clean image, which helped him lead the Left Front to a 7th consecutive term in 2006 Assembly Elections. He personally won from Jadavpur constituency with 127,837 votes. His victory margin went up from 29,281 in 2001 to 58,130 in 2006. His coalition improved its tally from 199 seats (out of 294) to 235 and reduced the other opposition parties to insignificance.

However, he took the biggest risk of his political career by embarking upon the industrialization drive to change the face of West Bengal, which has agriculture as primary source of income. He deviated from the standard Marxist doctrine to invite foreign and national capitals to set up factories in West Bengal. Notable among them was the worlds cheapest car Tata Nano^[11] from a small hamlet near Kolkata called Singur. There were other proposals too, such as country's largest integrated steel plant in Salboni, West Midanpore district by Jindal group, and a chemical hub at Nayachar after it faced agrarian resistance in Nandigram. However, his plans backfired, and his party, along with its front partners, suffered heavy losses in the Lok Sabha election 2009. FInally in the 2011 Assembly Elections he was defeated by the Trinamool Congress candidate Manish Gupta by 16,684 votes and this finally ended his regime as chief minister of West Bengal.

Criticism of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's Industrialization Policies[link]

In January 2006 the Supreme Court of India issued notices to Left Front Government ministers including Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and others in relation to land allotments made in the Salt Lake City township in Kolkata.^[12]

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's Government came under heavy criticism for police action against demonstrators in Nandigram in East Midnapore. He was criticized not only by opposition parties (such as the Trinamool Congress) and other Left Front coalition allies like Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party (India) and Forward Bloc, who threatened to back out from the ministry on this issue, but also by his mentor and the state's former chief minister, Jyoti Basu.On March 15, 2007 Basu criticized Bhattacharya for failing to restrain the police in Nandigram.^[13] Bhattacharya has expressed regret for the shootings, but claimed that he permitted police action because Nandigram was an "area where there had been no rule of law and no presence of an administration for not one, two or 10 days but for two-and-a-half months, and many hundreds of villagers left nandigram , and took shelter in a state relief camp outside nandigram."^[14] Actually Budhhadeb Bhattacharya declared that land in Nandigram won't be acquired by ordering the Nandigram notification to be torn apart.[3][4] Still police were not allowed to enter Nandigram. Roads were dug up preventing administration from entering the area.[5] The CPI(M) has declared that they are totally behind Bhattacharya and have drawn up "plans" to placate his critics in the Left Front.^[15] His government has also been criticized by Left supporters in failing to protect the Left party workers (including his own party CPI(M)) who came under assault from political opponents - both right wing and ultra-left wing Maoists during the post-Nandigram turmoil till the end of 7th Left Front Government.

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

v t e Chief Ministers of West Bengal Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (15 August 1947-14 January 1948) · Bidhan Chandra Roy (14 January 1948-1 July 1962) · (President's rule) (1 July 1962-8 July 1962) · Prafulla Chandra Sen (8 July 1962-15 March 1967) · Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (15 March 1967-2 November 1967) · Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (2 November 1967-20 February 1968) · (President's rule)  (20 February 1968-25 February 1969) · Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (25 February 1969-19 March 1970) · (President's rule)  (19 March 1970-2 April 1971) · Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (2 April 1971-28 June 1971) · (President's rule) (28 June 1971-19 March 1972) · Siddhartha Shankar Ray (19 March 1972-21 June 1977) · Jyoti Basu (21 June 1977-6 November 2000) · Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (6 November 2000-20 May 2011) · Mamata Banerjee (20 May 2011- present ) ·