Haldia (Bengali: হলদিয়া) is a city and a municipality in Purba Medinipur in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a major seaport and industrial belt located approximately 50 kilometres southwest of Calcutta near the mouth of the Hooghly River, one of the distributaries of the Ganges. The population in 2011 was 200,762.

Haldia is being developed as a major trade port for Calcutta (Kolkata), intended mainly for bulk cargoes. The industrial city has several major factories, including South Asian Petrochemicals Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Exide, Shaw Wallace, Tata Chemicals, Haldia Petrochemicals and Hindustan Lever, in addition to various light industries. The port has attracted Major International Petrochemicals Companies, like Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC). Mitsubishi Chemicals has the Second Largest Terephthalic Acid Producing Plant in Haldia. A large number of companies are also being set up now, Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCI), primarily being ancillary industries to the Haldia Petrochemicals. The Haldia Petrochemicals is the second largest project of such kind in India.

Suvendu Adhikari is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha. He was elected as a Trinamool Congress candidate from Tamluk (Lok Sabha constituency). An honours graduate, he was born on 15 December 1970. He is the son of Sisir Adhikari.

Credited as the man who galvanised the people of Nandigram under the umbrella of the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee, when rumours of land acquisition for a chemical hub had triggered a movement, Suvendu Adhikari was a member of the Legislative Assembly from Contai. CPI(M)’s strongman Lakshman Chandra Seth, who led the charge in recapturing the villages from Trinamool Congress supporters leading to a bloodbath in 2007, was sent packing by Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated his rival in Tamluk by a margin of 1.73 lakh votes.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha candidate’s affidavit data Suvendu Adhikari mentioned that there were three criminal cases in which he was accused but there were none in which he was convicted. Suvendu Adhikari alleged, “The CPI-M leaders, here, are trying to regain lost ground with the help of a section of police and administrative officers by framing false cases against our workers."

Monali Thakur (bengali born November 3, 1985 in Kolkata, India) is an Indian playback singer and actress.

Thakur comes from a musical family, her father is Bengali singer and her sister Mehuli Thakur Goswami is also a playback singer. Being a child, she has also appeared in a Bengali television soap, Aalokito ek Indu, in which she played the lead role Indu.

Thakur got her start by singing in school and college competitions and performing at local functions, and then rose to popularity after placing ninth in Indian Idol 2. She had to struggle a lot hard even after Indian Idol to get a strong foothold in the music industry. Finally, she got an offer to sing for music director Pritam to sing two songs for the hit movie Race in 2008 - "Khwab Dekhe (Sexy lady)" and "Zara Zara Touch Me". She was originally scheduled for only one song, but her first recording impressed the film's directors Abbas and Mustan enough for them to book her a second. "Zara Zara Touch Me" was enormously successful, becoming the fourth-most-played song on Indian radio during the first half of 2008. She also got nominated for Best Playback Singer(Female) in IIFA Awards for the song "Zara Zara Touch Me".