100 Notable alumni of
Presidency University - Kolkata
Updated:
Presidency University - Kolkata is 418th in the world, 81st in Asia, and 7th in India by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Presidency University - Kolkata sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Swami Vivekananda
- Occupations
- monkphilosopherspiritual leaderoratorwriter
- Biography
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Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world. He is credited with raising interfaith awareness and bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion in the late nineteenth century.
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Subhas Chandra Bose
- Occupations
- revolutionarypoliticianwriterfreedom fighter
- Biography
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Subhas Chandra Bose was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Fascist Japan left a legacy vexed by authoritarianism, anti-Semitism, and military failure. The honorific 'Netaji' (Hindustani: "Respected Leader") was first applied to Bose in Germany in early 1942—by the Indian soldiers of the Indische Legion and by the German and Indian officials in the Special Bureau for India in Berlin. It is now used throughout India.
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Satyajit Ray
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- In 1939 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in economics
- Occupations
- composersongwriterwritercinematographerfilm editor
- Biography
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Satyajit Ray was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and composer. Ray is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors in the history of cinema. He is celebrated for works including The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959), The Music Room (1958), The Big City (1963), Charulata (1964), and the Goopy–Bagha trilogy (1969–1992).
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Rajendra Prasad
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Rajendra Prasad was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1952 to 1962. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement and became a major leader from the region of Bihar. A supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, Prasad was imprisoned by British authorities during the Salt Satyagraha of 1930 and the Quit India movement of 1942. After the constituent assembly 1946 elections, Prasad served as 1st Minister of Food and Agriculture in the central government from 1947 to 1948. Upon independence in 1947, Prasad was elected as President of the Constituent Assembly of India, which prepared the Constitution of India and which served as its provisional Parliament.
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Ashok Kumar
- Occupations
- film producerfilm directorsingeractor
- Biography
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Ashok Kumar, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema. He was considered the first big star of Indian cinema as well as the first lead actor to play an anti-hero. He also became the first star to reinvent himself, enjoying a long and hugely successful career as a character actor. He was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He was honoured in 1988 with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest national award for cinema artists, by the Government of India. He received the Padma Shri in 1962 and Padma Bhushan in 1999 for his contributions to Indian cinema.
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Satyendra Nath Bose
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- Studied in 1909-1915
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianmathematicianphysicist
- Biography
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Satyendra Nath Bose FRS, MP was an Indian theoretical physicist and mathematician. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, in developing the foundation for Bose–Einstein statistics, and the theory of the Bose–Einstein condensate. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he was awarded India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 1954 by the Government of India.
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Abhijit Banerjee
- Occupations
- university teachereconomist
- Biography
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Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee is an Indian-born Bengali american economist who is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), an MIT based global research center promoting the use of scientific evidence to inform poverty alleviation strategies. In 2019, Banerjee shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty." He and Esther Duflo are married, and became the sixth married couple to jointly win a Nobel or Nobel Memorial Prize.
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Syama Prasad Mukherjee
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- In 1921 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- 1921-1923 graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianbarristerfreedom fighter
- Biography
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Syama Prasad Mookerjee was an Indian barrister, educationist, politician, activist, social worker, and a minister in the state and national governments. Noted for his opposition to Quit India movement within the independence movement in India, he later served as India's first Minister for Industry and Supply (currently known as Minister of Commerce and Industries) in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet after breaking up with the Hindu Mahasabha. After falling out with Nehru, protesting against the Liaquat–Nehru Pact, Mukherjee resigned from Nehru's cabinet. With the help of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor to the Bharatiya Janata Party, in 1951.
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Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
- Occupations
- journalistpoetwriteressayistnovelist
- Biography
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Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay CIE (26 or 27 June 1838 – 8 April 1894) was an Indian Bengali novelist, poet, essayist and journalist. He was the author of the 1882 Bengali language novel Anandamath, which is one of the landmarks of modern Bengali and Indian literature. He was the composer of Vande Mataram, written in highly Sanskritised Bengali, personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring activists during the Indian Independence Movement. Chattopadhayay wrote fourteen novels and many serious, serio-comic, satirical, scientific and critical treatises in Bengali. He is known as Sahitya Samrat (Emperor of Literature) in Bengali.
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Michael Madhusudan Dutt
- Occupations
- editorplaywrightpoetwritertranslator
- Biography
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Michael Madhusudan Dutt was a Bengali poet and playwright. He is considered one of the pioneers of Bengali literature.
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Aparna Sen
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorfilm actor
- Biography
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Aparna Sen is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards East and thirteen Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. For her contribution in the field of arts, the Government of India honoured her with Padma Shri, the country's fourth highest civilian award.
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Prafulla Chandra Ray
- Occupations
- chemistprofessor
- Biography
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Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray CIE FNI FRASB FIAS FCS was an Indian chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist. He established the first modern Indian research school in chemistry (post classical age) and is regarded as the Father of Indian Chemistry.
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Jibanananda Das
- Occupations
- writerpoetprofessor
- Biography
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Jibanananda Das was a Bengali poet, writer, novelist and essayist in the Bengali language. Popularly called "Rupashi Banglar Kabi'' ('Poet of Beautiful Bengal'), Das is the most read Bengali poet after Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam in Bangladesh and West Bengal. While not particularly well recognised during his lifetime, today Das is acknowledged as one of the greatest poets in the Bengali language.
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Bipin Chandra Pal
- Occupations
- politicianwriterhead teacherfreedom fighter
- Biography
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Bipin Chandra Pal was an Indian nationalist, writer, orator, social reformer and freedom fighter. He was one third of the "Lal Bal Pal" triumvirate. He was one of the main architects of the Swadeshi movement. He is known as the Father of Revolutionary Thoughts in India. He also opposed the partition of Bengal by the British colonial government.
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Sukumar Ray
- Occupations
- photographerplaywrightpoetwriterchildren's writer
- Biography
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Sukumar Ray FRPS was a Bengali writer and poet from British India. He is remembered mainly for his writings for children. He was the son of children's story writer Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury and the father of Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
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Meghnad Saha
- Occupations
- astronomerpoliticianuniversity teacherphysicistastrophysicist
- Biography
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Meghnad Saha was an Indian astrophysicist who helped devise the theory of thermal ionisation. His Saha ionisation equation allowed astronomers to accurately relate the spectral classes of stars to their actual temperatures.
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Chittaranjan Das
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- In 1890 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- politicianwriterbarristerfreedom fighter
- Biography
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Chittaranjan Das, popularly called Deshbandhu (friend of the country), was a Bengali freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian Independence Movement and the political guru of Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. He was the founder-leader of the Swaraj Party in undivided Bengal during the period of British Colonial rule in India. His name is abbreviated as C. R. Das. He was closely associated with a number of literary societies and wrote poems, apart from numerous articles and essays.
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Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
- Occupations
- translatorpoliticianwriter
- Biography
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Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was an Indian communist politician and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who served as the 7th Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2000 to 2011. In a political career over five decades, he became one of the senior leaders of Communist Party of India (Marxist) during his regime.
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Surendranath Banerjee
- Occupations
- freedom fighterpolitician
- Biography
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Sir Surendranath Banerjee, often known as Rashtraguru (lit. 'Teacher of the Nation') was an Indian nationalist leader during the British Rule. He founded a nationalist organization called the Indian National Association to bring Hindus and Muslims together for political action. He was one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress. Surendranath supported Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, unlike Congress, and with many liberal leaders he left Congress and founded a new organisation named Indian National Liberation Federation in 1919.
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Radhabinod Pal
- Occupations
- university teacherjudge
- Biography
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Radhabinod Pal was an Indian jurist who was a member of the United Nations' International Law Commission from 1952 to 1966. He was one of three Asian judges appointed to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the "Tokyo Trials" of Japanese war crimes committed during the Second World War. Among all the judges of the tribunal, he was the only one who submitted a judgment which insisted all defendants were not guilty. The Yasukuni Shrine and the Kyoto Ryozen Gokoku Shrine have monuments specially dedicated to Pal.
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M. J. Akbar
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- Studied in 1967-1970
- Occupations
- politicianwriterbloggerjournalist
- Biography
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Mobasher Jawed Akbar is an Indian journalist and politician, who served as the Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs until 17 October 2018. Akbar is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, and was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers by PM Narendra Modi on 5 July 2016. He is also a veteran Indian journalist and author of several books. He was a Member of Parliament between 1989 and 1991, and returned to public life in March 2014 when he joined the BJP and was appointed national spokesperson during the 2014 general elections that brought the party back to office with a simple majority under the leadership of Narendra Modi. In July 2015 he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand. During his long career in journalism, he launched, as editor, India's first weekly political news periodicals, including India Today, Headlines Today, The Telegraph, The Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle, among others.
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Henry Louis Vivian Derozio
- Occupations
- teacherpoet
- Biography
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Henry Louis Vivian Derozio was an Indian poet and assistant headmaster of Hindu College, Kolkata. He was a radical thinker of his time and one of the first Indian educators to disseminate Western learning and science among the young men of Bengal.
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Prabodh Kumar Bandyopadhyay
- Occupations
- writerscreenwriter
- Biography
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Manik Bandyopadhyay [alias Banerjee] is an Indian author regarded as one of the major figures of 20th century Bengali literature. During a lifespan of 48 years and 28 years of literary career, battling with epilepsy from the age of around 28 and financial strains all along, he produced some masterpieces of novels and short stories, besides some poems, essays etc. One of the early neo-realist film shot in Pakistan, The Day Shall Dawn is based on his story.
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Keshub Chunder Sen
- Occupations
- Indologisttheologianphilosopherthinkerpublic figure
- Biography
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Keshub Chandra Sen was an Indian philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within the framework of Hindu thought. Born a Hindu in the Bengal Presidency of British India, he became a member of the Brahmo Samaj in 1857 but established his own breakaway "Bharatvarshiya Brahmo Samaj" in 1866 while the Brahmo Samaj remained under the leadership of Debendranath Tagore (who headed the Brahmo Samaj until his death in 1905). In 1878, his followers abandoned him after the underage child marriage of his daughter which exposed his campaign against child marriage as hollow.
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Nabaneeta Dev Sen
- Occupations
- writerpoetacademic
- Biography
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Nabaneeta Dev Sen was an Indian writer and academic. After studying arts and comparative literature, she moved to the United States where she studied further. She returned to India and taught at several universities and institutes as well as serving in various positions in literary institutes. She published more than 80 books in Bengali: poetry, novels, short stories, plays, literary criticism, personal essays, travelogues, humour writing, translations and children's literature. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2000 and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1999.
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Sarat Chandra Bose
- Occupations
- writerpoliticianbarrister
- Biography
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Sarat Chandra Bose was an Indian barrister and independence activist.
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Satyendranath Tagore
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- Studied in 1857
- Occupations
- writermagistratetranslatoreditor
- Biography
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Satyendranath Tagore was an Indian civil servant, poet, composer, writer, social reformer and linguist from Calcutta, Bengal. He was the first Indian who became an Indian Civil Service officer in 1863. He was a member of Bramho Samaj.
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Shankha Ghosh
- Occupations
- poetliterary critic
- Biography
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Sankha Ghosh was an Indian poet and literary critic. He was born in Chandpur District of the then Bengal Presidency, present day Bangladesh. His ancestral home was at Banaripara Upazila in Barisal District. He spent his childhood and adolescence in Ishwardi Upazila of Pabna District, which was his father's workplace.
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Somnath Chatterjee
- Occupations
- politicianbarrister
- Biography
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Somnath Chatterjee was an Indian politician who was associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for most of his life, though he had been a non affiliated independent during his last decade. He was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha (House of the People) from 2004 to 2009.
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Dwijendralal Ray
- Occupations
- composerpoetteachercivil servantwriter
- Biography
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Dwijendralal Ray, also known as D. L. Ray, was a Bengali poet, playwright, and musician. He was known for his Hindu mythological and nationalist historical plays and songs known as Dwijendrageeti or the Songs of Dwijendralal, which number over 500, create a separate subgenre of Bengali music.
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Bibek Debroy
- Occupations
- university teacherwritertranslatoreconomist
- Biography
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Bibek Debroy was an Indian economist, who served as the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. He was also the Chairman of the Finance Ministry's 'Expert Committee for Infrastructure Classification and Financing Framework for Amrit Kaal'. Debroy has made significant contributions to game theory, economic theory, income and social inequalities, poverty, law reforms, railway reforms and Indology among others. From its inception in January 2015 until June 2019, Mr. Debroy was a member of the NITI Aayog, the think tank of the Indian Government. He was awarded the Padma Shri (the fourth-highest civilian honour in India) in 2015.
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Ashutosh Mukherjee
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- 1880-1883 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- judgebarristerprofessor
- Biography
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Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee CSI FRAS FRSE MRIA was a Bengali mathematician, lawyer, jurist, judge, educator, and institution builder. A unique figure in Indian history, he made major contributions in three fields - mathematics, law, and higher education.
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Bimal Jalan
- Occupations
- politicianeconomist
- Biography
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Bimal Jalan is a former Governor of Reserve Bank of India and was a nominated member of the Upper House of India's Parliament, the Rajya Sabha during 2003–2009.
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R. P. Goenka
- Occupations
- industrialist
- Biography
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Rama Prasad Goenka was the founder and chairman Emeritus of the RPG Group, a multi-sector Indian industrial conglomerate. Born in 1930, he was the eldest son of Keshav Prasad Goenka and grandson of Sir Badri Prasad Goenka, the first Indian to be appointed Chairman of the Imperial Bank of India (now the State Bank of India). His two younger brothers were Jagdish Prasad and Gouri Prasad. On Keshav Prasad Goenka's death, his businesses were split between the three brothers. Rama Prasad Goenka (better known as RP Goenka), established RPG Enterprises in 1979.
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Ramesh Chandra Majumdar
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacherhistorian
- Biography
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Ramesh Chandra Majumdar was an Indian historian and professor known for promoting Hindu nationalist views. He principally studied the history of India.
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Ashoke Sen
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Ashoke Sen FRS is an Indian theoretical physicist and distinguished professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bangalore. A former distinguished professor at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Prayagraj, He is also an honorary fellow in National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) India he is also a Morningstar Visiting professor at MIT and a distinguished professor at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study. His main area of work is string theory. He was among the first recipients of the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics "for opening the path to the realization that all string theories are different limits of the same underlying theory".
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Dinabandhu Mitra
- Occupations
- postmasterwriterplaywrightpoet
- Biography
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Dinabandhu Mitra, also known as Denobhandhoo Mithra, was a Bengali-language writer and dramatist. He is notable for his play Nil Darpan (1860).
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Siddhartha Shankar Ray
- Occupations
- barristerpoliticiandiplomat
- Biography
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Siddhartha Shankar Ray was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Chief Minister of West Bengal (1972–77), Union Minister of Education (1971–72), Governor of Punjab (1986–89) and Indian Ambassador to the United States (1992–96). He was, at one point, the main troubleshooter for the Congress Party.
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Sugata Bose
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianhistorianauthor
- Biography
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Sugata Bose is an Indian historian and politician who has taught and worked in the United States since the mid-1980s. His fields of study are South Asian and Indian Ocean history. Bose taught at Tufts University until 2001, when he accepted the Gardiner Chair of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University. Bose is also the director of the Netaji Research Bureau in Kolkata, India, a research center and archives devoted to the life and work of Bose's great uncle, the Indian nationalist, Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose is the author most recently of His Majesty's Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India's Struggle against Empire (2011) and A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire (2006).
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Romesh Chunder Dutt
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- Studied in 1866
- Occupations
- magistratehistorianeconomistwriterDewan
- Biography
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Romesh Chunder Dutt CIE was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, translator of Ramayana and Mahabharata. He was one of the prominent proponents of Indian economic nationalism.
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Anugrah Narayan Sinha
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Anugrah Narayan Sinha, known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian nationalist politician, participant in Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhian & one of the architects of modern Bihar, who was the first Deputy Chief Minister and the Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar (1946–1957). He was also a Member of the Constituent Assembly of India, which was elected to write the Constitution of India and served in its first Parliament as an independent nation. He also held a range of portfolios including Labour, Local Self Government, Public Works, Supply & Price Control, Health and Agriculture. A.N. Sinha, affectionately called Anugrah Babu, was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom movement and worked with Bihar Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha to lead the Gandhian movement in Bihar. One of the leading nationalists in the Indian independence movement from Bihar after Dr Rajendra Prasad, he was elected as the Congress Party deputy leader in the state assembly to assume office as the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of independent Bihar, and re-elected when the Congress Party won Bihar's first general election with a massive mandate in 1952.
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Jadunath Sarkar
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacherhistorian
- Biography
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Sir Jadunath Sarkar, CIE, FRAS was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty.
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Bratya Basu
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorpoliticianfilm directorwriter
- Biography
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Bratyabrata Basu Roy Chowdhury, also known as Bratya Basu, is an Indian actor, stage director, playwright, film director, professor and politician who has been the Education Minister of West Bengal since 2021. He has also assumed the same office in the First Mamata Banerjee ministry. In May 2016, Basu was assigned the portfolios of Tourism, Science Technology and Bio-Technology, and Information Technology and Electronics. He has been elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, from the Dum Dum constituency since the 2011 Assembly Election of West Bengal. Basu is presently the Chairperson of Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi and Minerva Natyasanskriti Charchakendra under the governance of the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, West Bengal.
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Muhammad Shahidullah
- Occupations
- linguist
- Biography
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Muhammad Shahidullah was a Bengali linguist, philologist, educationist, and writer.
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Jyotirindranath Tagore
- Occupations
- translatormusicianpainterwriterplaywright
- Biography
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Jyotirindranath Tagore was a playwright, musician, editor, and painter from Bengal. He played a major role in the flowering of the talents of his younger brother, the first non-European Nobel Prize winner, Rabindranath Tagore.
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Pritish Nandy
- Occupations
- politicianjournalistpoet
- Biography
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Pritish Nandy was an Indian poet, painter, journalist, politician, media and television personality, animal activist and maker of films, television and streaming content. He was a parliamentarian in the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, elected on a ticket from the Shiv Sena. He authored forty books of poetry in English and translated poems by other writers from Bengali, Urdu and Punjabi into English as well as a new version of the Isha Upanishad. Apart from these, he authored books of stories and non fiction as well as three books of translations of classical love poetry from Sanskrit. He was the Publishing Director of The Times of India Group between 1982 and 1991, and also served as editor for The Illustrated Weekly of India, The Independent, and Filmfare. He held six exhibitions of his paintings and calligraphy. He founded Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd, the content company, in 1993. He also founded People for Animals, India's first animal rights NGO with Maneka Gandhi.
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Saugata Roy
- Occupations
- politicianprofessor
- Biography
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Saugata Roy is an Indian politician of Trinamool Congress and also a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha of the Indian Parliament representing the Dum Dum constituency in the 16th Lok Sabha. He has also served as Union Minister of State for Urban Development in the Manmohan Singh government.
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Altamas Kabir
- Occupations
- juristjudge
- Biography
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Altamas Kabir was an Indian lawyer and judge who served as the 39th Chief Justice of India.
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Radhanath Sikdar
- Occupations
- mathematician
- Biography
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Radhanath Sikdar was an Indian mathematician who is best known for calculating the height of Mount Everest. He was the first person to calculate the height of Mount Everest, in 1852.
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Pramatha Chaudhuri
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- In 1889 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- In 1890 graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- editorwriterbarristerprofessor
- Biography
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Pramathanath Chaudhuri, known as Pramatha Chaudhuri, alias Birbal, was an Indian writer and a figure in Bengali literature. He was the nephew of Rabindranath Tagore as his mother was Sukumari Debi, the second sister of Tagore. He married musician and writer Indira Devi Chaudhurani, daughter of Satyendranath Tagore, the first Indian to have joined the Indian Civil Services and an author, composer and feminist, who was the second eldest brother of Rabindranath Tagore.
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Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay
- Occupations
- writerhistorianarchaeologist
- Biography
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Rakhal Das Banerji, also Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, was an Indian archaeologist and an officer of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). In 1919, he became the second ASI officer deputed to survey the site of Mohenjo-daro and returned there in the 1922-23 season. He was the first person to propose the remote antiquity of the site—which he did in a letter to Marshall in 1923—and in effect of the Harappan culture. After leaving the ASI, he held the Manindra Chandra Nandy professorship of Ancient Indian History and Culture at the Banaras Hindu University from 1928 until his premature death in 1930.
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Subroto Mukerjee
- Occupations
- flying ace
- Biography
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Subroto Mukerjee was an Indian military officer who was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Indian Air Force. He was awarded several honours during the course of a three-decade-long career, ended by his untimely demise in 1960. Mukerjee has been called the "Father of the Indian Air Force."
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Atulprasad Sen
- Occupations
- barristerwriterlyricistpoet
- Biography
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Atul Prasad Sen was a Bengali composer, lyricist and singer, and also a lawyer, philanthropist, social worker, educationist and writer.
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Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari
- Occupations
- association football player
- Biography
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Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikary was an Indian educationist, sports administrator and football pioneer. He is widely regarded as the "Father of Indian Football" for his role in founding the first Indian football organisations after introducing the sport to his classmates at Hare School.
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Abu Sayeed Chowdhury
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Abu Sayeed Chowdhury was a jurist and the second president of Bangladesh. Besides that, he held the positions of the Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Human rights, the vice-chancellor of the University of Dhaka, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh and the first Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK.
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Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha
- Occupations
- judgepoliticianbarrister
- Biography
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Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha, KCSI, PC, KC, was a prominent British Indian lawyer and statesman. He was the first Governor of Bihar and Orissa, first Indian Advocate-General of Bengal, first Indian to become a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council and the first Indian to become a member of the British ministry. He is sometimes also referred as Satyendra Prasanno Sinha or Satyendra Prasad Sinha.
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Indira Banerjee
- Occupations
- judge
- Biography
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Indira Banerjee is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India and the eighth female judge in history of Supreme Court. Previously, she served as chief justice of the Madras High Court, the second woman to hold the position in India.
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Upendranath Brahmachari
- Occupations
- physicianscientist
- Biography
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Rai Bahadur Sir Upendranath Brahmachari FRSM FRS was a prominent Indian physician and scientist. In 1922, he synthesised urea-stibamine (carbostibamide) and demonstrated its effectiveness in treating kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis).
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Isher Judge Ahluwalia
- Years
- 1945-2020 (aged 75)
- Occupations
- economist
- Biography
-
Isher Judge Ahluwalia was an Indian economist, public policy researcher, and professor. She was Chairperson Emeritus, Board of Governors, at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). She had also served as the chairperson of the board of the International Food Policy Research Institute, and the chairperson of the Government of India's High-Powered Committee on Urban Infrastructure Services. She was awarded India's 3rd highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan, in 2009.
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Haraprasad Shastri
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- writerteacherscholar
- Biography
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Hara Prasad Shastri, also known as Hara Prasad Bhattacharya, was an Indian academic, Sanskrit scholar, archivist, and historian of Bengali literature. He is most known for discovering the Charyapada, the earliest known examples of Bengali literature.
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Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan was the Speaker of Pakistan's Constituent Assembly from 1948 to 1954 and National Assembly of Pakistan between 1962 and 1963.
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Ajit Nath Ray
- Years
- 1912-2010 (aged 98)
- Occupations
- judge
- Biography
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Ajit Nath Ray was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India from 25 April 1973 till his retirement on 28 January 1977.
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Peary Chand Mitra
- Occupations
- writerlibrarian
- Biography
-
Peary Chand Mitra was an Indian writer, journalist, cultural activist and entrepreneur. His pseudonym was Tek Chand Thakur. He was a member of Henry Derozio's Young Bengal group, who played a leading role in the Bengal renaissance with the introduction of simple Bengali prose. His Alaler Gharer Dulal pioneered the novel in the Bengali language, leading to a tradition taken up by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and others. Mitra died on 23 November 1883 in Kolkata.
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Mahendralal Sarkar
- Occupations
- homeopath
- Biography
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Mahendralal Sarkar CIE was a Bengali medical doctor (MD), the second MD graduated from the Calcutta Medical College, social reformer, and propagator of scientific studies in nineteenth-century India. He was the founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.
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Pramathesh Barua
- Occupations
- film produceractorfilm actorscreenwriterfilm director
- Biography
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Pramathesh Chandra Barua was an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era, born in Gauripur, Dhubri, Assam.
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Mahendranath Gupta
- Occupations
- writerprofessor
- Biography
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Mahendranath Gupta, (also popularly known as Shri M and Master Mahashay), was a disciple of Ramakrishna and a mystic himself. He was the author of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (5 vols.), a Bengali classic; in English, it is known as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He was also an early teacher to Paramahansa Yogananda, a famous 20th-century yogi, guru and philosopher. In his autobiography, Yogananda noted that Gupta ran a small boys' high school in Kolkata, and he recounted their visits, as they often traveled to the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple together. Having a devotional nature, Gupta worshipped the Divine Mother in the form of Kali, and often reflected the wisdom of his guru Ramakrishna in his daily life and mannerisms. Yogananda reverentially regarded Gupta's spirituality, calling him an "Incarnation of purity" and "the greatest man of humility I ever knew."
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Dwijendranath Tagore
- Occupations
- translatorpoetphilosophermathematicianvocal composer
- Biography
-
Dwijendranath Tagore was an Indian poet, song composer, philosopher, mathematician and painter. He was one of the pioneers of shorthand and notation in Bengali script. He was the eldest son of Debendranath Tagore and the eldest brother of Rabindranath Tagore.
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K. S. Hegde
- Occupations
- politicianjudge
- Biography
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Kowdoor Sadananda Hegde was an Indian jurist and politician who served as a judge of the Supreme Court of India and later as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Hegde founded the Nitte Education Trust. He is the father of Santhosh Hegde, who also served as a judge in the Supreme Court of India.
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Qazi Motahar Hossain
- Occupations
- physicistjournalistauthor
- Biography
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Qazi Motahar Hossain was a Bangladeshi writer, scientist, statistician, chess player, and journalist.
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Hemchandra Goswami
- Occupations
- poetwriter
- Biography
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Hemchandra Goswami was an Indian writer, poet, historian, teacher and a linguist from Assam in the early part of modern Assamese literature. He was the fourth president of the Asom Sahitya Sabha in 1920 held at Tezpur. He retired as Extra Assistant Commissioner in the British Assam.
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Dwijendra Narayan Jha
- Years
- 1940-2021 (aged 81)
- Occupations
- historianauthor
- Biography
-
Dwijendra Narayan Jha was an Indian Marxist historian who studied and wrote on ancient and medieval India. He was a professor of history at Delhi University and a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research. Some of his books include Ancient India: In Historical Outline (1997), The Myth of the Holy Cow (2001), and Early India: A Concise History (2004). Through his works he argued against the communal distortions of history including challenging popular beliefs of the sanctity of cow and Indian beef eating tradition.
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Ashoke Kumar Sen
- Occupations
- politicianbarrister
- Biography
-
Ashoke Kumar Sen was an Indian barrister, a former Cabinet minister of India, and an Indian parliamentarian.
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Krishna Mohan Banerjee
- Occupations
- teacherwriter
- Biography
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Krishna Mohan Banerjee was a 19th-century Indian thinker who attempted to rethink Hindu philosophy, religion and ethics in response to the stimulus of Christian ideas. He himself became a Christian, and was the first president of the Bengal Christian Association, which was administered and financed by Indians. He was a prominent member of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio's (1808–1831) Young Bengal group, educationist, linguist and Christian missionary.
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Rajnarayan Basu
- Years
- 1826-1899 (aged 73)
- Occupations
- teacherwriter
- Biography
-
Rajnarayan Basu was an Indian writer and intellectual of the Bengal Renaissance. He was born in Boral in 24 Parganas and studied at the Hare School and Hindu College, in Kolkata, Bengal. A monotheist at heart, Basu converted to the Brahmoism sect at the age of twenty. After retiring, he was given the honorary title of Rishi or sage. He was one of the best known prose writers in Bengali in the nineteenth century, writing often for the Tattwabodhini Patrika, a premier Brahmo journal. Due to his defence of Brahmoism, he was given the title "Grandfather of Indian Nationalism".
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Jatindra Mohan Sengupta
- Occupations
- politicianjuristlawyer
- Biography
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Jatindra Mohan Sengupta was an Indian revolutionary against the British rule. He was arrested several times by the British police. In 1933, he died in a prison located in Ranchi, India.
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Monomohun Ghose
- Occupations
- barrister
- Biography
-
Manmohun Ghose was the first practicing barrister of Indian origin. He is notable for his contributions towards the fields of women's education, for arousing the patriotic feeling of his countrymen and for being one of the earliest persons in the country in organised national politics. At the same time his Anglicised habits often made him a target of ridicule in Calcutta.He was one of the co-founders of Indian National Congress.
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Nabin Chandra Sen
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- Studied in 1865
- Occupations
- poettranslator
- Biography
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Nabinchandra Sen was a Bengali poet and writer, often considered one of the greatest poets prior to the arrival of Rabindranath Tagore. He commented on the battle of Plassey and the arrival of British Rule in India as "A night of Eternal Gloom".
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Sisir Kumar Ghosh
- Years
- 1840-1911 (aged 71)
- Occupations
- composerjournalistwriter
- Biography
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Sisir Kumar Ghosh, also spelled Shishir Kumar Ghose, was an Indian journalist, founder of the Amrita Bazar Patrika, a Bengali language newspaper, in 1868, and an independence activist from Bengal.
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Ramendra Sundar Tribedi
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- In 1886 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- writerprofessor
- Biography
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Ramendra Sundar Tribedi was a Bengali writer. He is known for his works in Bengali poems, and stories. He is one of the most popular poets of India
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Chandranath Basu
- Years
- 1844-1910 (aged 66)
- Occupations
- writernovelistlawyer
- Biography
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Chandranath Basu was an Indian litterateur. A staunch Hindu, Chandranath coined the term Hindutva and has been regarded as a doyen of economic and Indian nationalism in Bengal.
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Parvez Sharma
- Occupations
- writerfilm directorcinematographerjournalist
- Biography
-
Parvez Sharma is a New York-based Indian filmmaker, author, and journalist. He is a recipient of the 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship in the film/video category. He was amongst the 173 fellows selected from 3000 applicants in the 94th year of the fellowship, which originally started in 1925. In an official press release by the foundation, president Edward Hirsch said, "The winners of the 94th annual competition as "the best of the best...This diverse group of scholars, artists, and scientists are appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise." Sharma is best known for his two films A Jihad for Love, A Sinner in Mecca, and his 2017 book A Sinner in Mecca: A Gay Muslim's Hajj of Defiance. A Jihad for Love was the world's first film documenting the lives of gay and lesbian Muslims. He received the 2009 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary amongst several other international awards for A Jihad for Love. In 2016, Sharma was named "a human rights defender" by Amnesty International. This was an award given at the Hague in the Netherlands to "worldwide human rights activists" which he shared with the Saudi human rights activist Ensaf Haidar.
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Ullaskar Dutta
- Occupations
- revolutionarywriter
- Biography
-
Ullaskar Dutta was an Indian revolutionary associated with Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar of Bengal, and was a close associate of Barindra Ghosh. He was the principal bomb maker of the Jugantar group until Hemchandra Kanungo returned from Paris learning political theory and explosive chemistry.
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Gurusaday Dutt
- Occupations
- politicianwritercivil servantbarrister
- Biography
-
Gurusaday Dutt was a civil servant, folklorist, and writer. He was the founder of the Bratachari Movement in the 1930s.
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Ashok Lahiri
- Occupations
- politicianacademiceconomistbanker
- Biography
-
Ashok Kumar Lahiri is an Indian economist and a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Balurghat. He is currently serving as a member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. Lahiri previously served as 12th Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, reader at the Delhi School of Economics, chairman of Bandhan Bank, executive director at the Asian Development Bank and director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and had stints with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as a consultant and senior economist respectively. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
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Pranab Bardhan
- Occupations
- university teachereconomist
- Biography
-
Pranab Bardhan is an Indian economist who has taught and worked in the United States since 1979. He is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Madan Mohan Tarkalankar
- Years
- 1817-1858 (aged 41)
- Occupations
- judgepoetprofessoreditor
- Biography
-
Madanmohan Tarkalankar is one of the Sanskrit scholars of the Indian subcontinent in the nineteenth century who has made a special contribution to the development of written Bengali language. He is also considered as one of the pioneers of the Bengali renaissance. He was a professor at Fort William College and authored several textbooks on early childhood education.
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Jnan Chandra Ghosh
- Occupations
- chemist
- Biography
-
Sir Jnan Chandra Ghosh or Jnanendra Chandra Ghosh was an Indian chemist best known for his contribution to the development of scientific research, industrial development and technology education in India. He served as the director of the newly formed Eastern Higher Technical Institute in 1950, which was renamed as IIT Kharagpur in 1951. He was also the director of the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta.
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Somak Raychaudhury
- Occupations
- astronomerastrophysicistacademic
- Biography
-
Somak Raychaudhury is an Indian astrophysicist. He is the Vice-Chancellor at Ashoka University and was the Director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune. He is on leave from Presidency University, Kolkata, India, where he is a Professor of Physics, and is also affiliated to the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. He is known for his work on stellar mass black holes and supermassive black holes. His significant contributions include those in the fields of gravitational lensing, galaxy dynamics and large-scale motions in the Universe, including the Great Attractor.
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Bikash Sinha
- Occupations
- physicist
- Biography
-
Bikash Sinha was an Indian physicist who was active in the fields of nuclear physics and high energy physics. Sinha was the director of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre and the chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur in June 2005. He was also a member of scientific advisory board to the Prime Minister of India.
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Bishnuram Medhi
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Bishnuram Medhi was an Indian politician and freedom-fighter who served as the Chief Minister of Assam from 1950 to 1957 and Governor of Madras State from January 1958 till May 1964.
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Benoy Kumar Sarkar
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- In 1905 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- sociologisteconomistuniversity teachereditorwriter
- Biography
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Benoy Kumar Sarkar was an Indian social scientist, professor, and nationalist. He founded several institutes in Calcutta, including the Bengali Institute of Sociology, Bengali Asia Academy, Bengali Dante Society, and Bengali Institute of American Culture.
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Sarat Chandra Das
- Occupations
- photographerspylinguistexplorerwriter
- Biography
-
Sarat Chandra Dash was an Indian scholar of Tibetan language and culture most noted for his two journeys to Tibet in 1879 and in 1881–1882.
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Tapan Raychaudhuri
- Occupations
- historianautobiographer
- Biography
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Tapan Raychaudhuri was a British-Indian historian specialising in British Indian history, Indian economic history and the History of Bengal.
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Bhupendra Nath Bose
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Bhupendra Nath Bose was an Indian politician and President of the Indian National Congress in 1914.
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Bhudev Mukhopadhyay
- Occupations
- editorwritercivil servantteacher
- Biography
-
Bhudev Mukhopadhyay was a writer and intellectual in 19th century Bengal. His works were considered ardent displays of nationalism and philosophy in the period of the Bengal renaissance. His novel Anguriya Binimoy (1857) was the first historical novel written in Bengal.
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Anindya Sinha
- Born in
-
India - Occupations
- primatologistzoologist
- Biography
-
Anindya Sinha is an Indian primatologist. He is a professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), India.
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Amiya Kumar Bagchi
- Years
- 1936-2024 (aged 88)
- Occupations
- university teacherhistorianauthoreconomist
- Biography
-
Amiya Kumar Bagchi was an Indian political economist.
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Hemchandra Bandyopadhyay
- Years
- 1838-1903 (aged 65)
- Enrolled in Presidency University - Kolkata
- In 1859 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- translatorschool teacherpoetlawyerclerk
- Biography
-
Hemchandra Bandyopadhyay was a student of Hindu College and a graduate of the University of Calcutta. He was one of the most well known among the poets succeeding Michael Madhusudan Dutt. Hemchandra's works contributed to the tradition of Bengali epic poetry and are known for their patriotic sentiment.
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Surjya Kumar Bhuyan
- Occupations
- poetpolitician
- Biography
-
Rai Bahadur Surya Kumar Bhuyan MBE was a writer, historian, educator, social activist, storyteller, essayist, professor and a poet from Assam. He has written many books on ancient history, stories, essays, biographies, etc. in the world of Assamese literature. He presided over the Asam Sahitya Sabha (1953) held at Shillong. He was the elected member of Rajya Sabha during 1952–53, and was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1956.
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Gooroodas Banerjee
- Occupations
- professorjudgescholarlawyerwriter
- Biography
-
Sir Gooroodas Banerjee was an Indian judge of the Calcutta High Court. In 1890, he also became the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of University of Calcutta.
