West Bengal

Draft UCC bill for West Bengal to be placed before cabinet on July 2: CM

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday announced that a draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill will be placed before the state cabinet on July 2. Announcing this in the assembly, Adhikari said that former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai will head a committee that will formulate the UCC bill. The bill will be tabled in the assembly later, he said. The proposed legislation seeks to establish a common civil framework governing marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption irrespective of religion.

West Bengal tables bill to detain anti-socials for up to 12 months

A bill to curb anti-social activities with a stringent provision of preventive detention for up to 12 months without trial was tabled in the West Bengal assembly on Monday. The West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-social Activities Bill, 2026, is aimed at preventing riots and other forms of violence, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said in the House. Explaining the rationale behind introducing the bill, Adhikari said the existing laws do not have the provision to recover the cost for property destruction from those involved in violence, directly or otherwise. The bill is targeted at goondas and won't be misused in any manner, including for political purposes, the CM assured the House.

Fusion CX to invest ₹100 cr in Bengal Silicon Valley campus, plans 9k jobs

Fusion CX, a multinational customer experience and business process solutions provider, said it will invest Rs 100 crore over the next three years to set up an IT and ITeS campus at the Bengal Silicon Valley Tech Hub in New Town near Kolkata. The Kolkata-headquartered company said it has secured 1.06 acres of land in Action Area II for the proposed project, which will house an 11-storeyed facility with a built-up area of around 2 lakh square feet. The upcoming campus is expected to generate employment for more than 9,000 people at full capacity and further strengthen West Bengal as Fusion CX's largest offshore delivery cluster. "West Bengal offers a lot of potential. We are hopeful that the new government will make the investment climate conducive. We will invest around Rs 100 crore over the next three years in this facility. The campus has the potential to generate employment for more than 9,000 people at full capacity," Fusion CX co-founder, managing director and CEO Pankaj Dhanuk

West Bengal to scrap urban land ceiling law, says FM Swapan Dasgupta

West Bengal plans to scrap the Urban Land Ceiling Act to unlock land, attract investment and accelerate urban and industrial development

West Bengal's school meal shift rekindles debate over food, identity

The battle over West Bengal's political future may have ended, but one of the assembly poll campaign's most emotive themes has resurfaced in school kitchens. The BJP government's decision to engage ISKCON to provide cooked mid-day meals in schools under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area and replace eggs with vegetarian alternatives has reopened a wider debate over nutrition, culture and identity. The move revived memories of the poll-season clash when fish became a political symbol, and the TMC accused the BJP of seeking to impose a vegetarian cultural template on West Bengal. Presenting the state's first budget after the BJP's victory in the assembly polls, Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta announced that the material cost for primary school mid-day meals would be increased from Rs 6.78 to Rs 10 per student and that ISKCON would be entrusted with supplying cooked meals under a pilot project in the KMC area. The enhanced allocation was welcomed across the political spectrum. Bu

Bengal govt declares July 6 holiday for Syama Prasad Mookerjee anniversary

The West Bengal government declared July 6 a public holiday across the state to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a notification said. The Finance Department notification, issued on Thursday, said the holiday has been declared to observe the birth anniversary of Mookerjee, described as "one of the most illustrious sons of this state". In a separate memorandum, the state announced a half-day holiday on July 1 on the occasion of Doctors' Day, which is observed every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of former West Bengal chief minister Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy. It said all state government offices, educational institutions, urban and local bodies, corporations, undertakings and grant-in-aid institutions under the control of the West Bengal government will remain closed from 2 pm on July 1. The order, however, said the Offices of the Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata, and the Collector of Stamp Revenue, Kolkata, would remain exempt from the half-day ..

10 dead, 19 injured after under-construction warehouse collapses in Kolkata

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday said nine people have died and 20 others were injured when an under-construction warehouse collapsed in Kolkata's Taratala area a day ago. In a statement in the Assembly, he announced Rs 10 lakh compensation for the families of each deceased and Rs one lakh for each injured in the incident. Of the 20 injured, one is in critical condition, and four are in serious condition, the chief minister said. Stating that five people have been arrested in connection with the warehouse collapse at Transport Depot Road in west Kolkata, Adhikari asserted that no one will be spared. He said that former mayor and minister Firhad Hakim's signature appears on the building plan of the collapsed warehouse. A day earlier, the chief minister said that preliminary inputs received from Kolkata Municipal Corporation engineers suggested that there were defects in the building plan approved for the warehouse. He has suspended till July 31 the work of a

ADB offers assistance to develop industrial, logistics infra in West Bengal

The Asian Development Bank has offered financial assistance to the West Bengal government for developing infrastructure to support industrial growth in the state, a senior official at the state secretariat said on Wednesday. The proposal came when an Asian Development Bank (ADB) delegation met a top bureaucrat at the Chief Minister's Office on Tuesday, a day after the state budget was presented, he said. "ADB has indicated its willingness to support the state in building economic regions that can improve industrial connectivity, logistics and urban infrastructure. Discussions are at a preliminary stage, but the proposals are significant," a senior bureaucrat at Nabanna told PTI. It has expressed interest in extending loans for a range of infrastructure projects, including the development of City Economic Regions (CERs), logistics hubs and tourism-related facilities in the state, he said. ADB has proposed the creation of two City Economic Regions in West Bengal. One would cover ...

West Bengal govt unequivocally pro-business, says FM Swapan Dasgupta

Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta says the state will pursue a pro-business policy framework, revive industrial incentives and align more closely with the national economy

Best of BS Opinion: RBI strategy, Greenspan's legacy, and Kolkata's renewal

Today's opinions explore India's forex reserve strategy, Alan Greenspan's complex legacy, West Bengal's urban renewal agenda, maize-led farm growth and China's coercive diplomacy

Kolkata's revival depends on urban reform and revival, not industry alone

A revitalised Kolkata can once again become both the heart of the state and the growth engine of eastern India

Haldia port in Bengal designated as 41st immigration checkpost in India

The Union home ministry has designated Haldia seaport in West Bengal as an immigration checkpost making it the 41st such seaport in county, according to a gazette notification on Monday. Last year in September, the Ministry designated 34 sea and river ports as immigration ports. The Ministry issued the orders using it powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 (13 of 2025).

BJP's first West Bengal Budget focuses on infrastructure, industry

Swapan Dasgupta presents a Rs 4.38 trillion Budget centred on infrastructure, industrialisation, targeted welfare and closer alignment with central government initiatives

Rebel TMC faction ousts Mamata, elects MLA Arup Roy as chairperson

For the first time since the TMC was founded by Mamata Banerjee in 1998, a rebel faction on Monday replaced her as the party chairperson and elected senior MLA Arup Roy to the post, while unveiling a parallel leadership structure. At a special session here, the faction led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee constituted a new national leadership hierarchy, directly challenging the authority of Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, the party's national general secretary. The rebellion within the TMC crossed a political Rubicon as dissident leaders moved beyond challenging the leadership and sought to remake the organisation itself, projecting their camp as the legitimate continuation of the party. Held at a hotel here, the 31-minute special session brought together rebel MLAs, former councillors and party functionaries from across the state. The political messaging was unmistakable. While the TMC's twin-flower symbol remained prominently displayed, portraits

118-year-old Calcutta Stock Exchange seeks to find its lost trading pulse

While presenting the Budget on Monday, Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta said that the 118-year-old institution was on the verge of closure due to several legal hurdles

West Bengal govt to re-examine land ceiling Act to attract investments

The West Bengal government on Monday announced that it would 're-examine' the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976, with Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta describing the legislation as a major bottleneck to attracting large-scale investments in the state. Presenting the state budget in the Assembly, Dasgupta said West Bengal remains the only major state in the country where the Act's provisions continue to be in force, hampering large-scale industrial and infrastructure projects. "I hereby announce that the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976, will be re-examined to unlock the potential of developable land, attract investments and fuel economic growth," the minister said. The announcement assumes significance as industry bodies and investors have long argued that restrictions on urban land holdings limit the availability of large contiguous land parcels required for industrial, commercial and infrastructure projects. The Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act was

Bengal BJP govt's first budget promises 100k jobs, DA hike for employees

The BJP government in West Bengal on Monday presented its maiden budget, announcing the filling of 1 lakh government vacancies, a 20 percentage point hike in DA for its employees, and a Rs 36,000-crore outlay for the financial assistance scheme for women, Annapurna Yojana. Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta said his government has inherited a debt burden of Rs 8.15 lakh crore from the previous administration, asserting that restoring fiscal discipline and public confidence in governance would be among his priorities. "Building a corruption-free administrative structure is a cornerstone of our vision. We have to restore people's trust in governance," he said. Dasgupta said DA for state government employees and DR for pensioners would be raised by 20 percentage points from October 1, taking it to 38 per cent. The move narrows the gap between the DA received by state government employees and their central government counterparts by 22 percentage points, a politically significant ...

Unlike past govts, we'll honour Syama Prasad Mookerjee's legacy: Suvendu

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday announced plans to preserve the legacy of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, while alleging that previous governments had sought to suppress the significance of June 20 and overlook his role in ensuring that West Bengal remained a part of India during Partition. Addressing the Paschimbanga Divas (West Bengal Day) celebration at Tarakeswar in Hooghly district in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Governor R N Ravi, Adhikari said June 20 marked a defining moment in Bengal's history when legislators from western Bengal voted in favour of remaining with India, paving the way for the formation of West Bengal. "There have been sustained efforts over the years to suppress the significance of June 20 and erase the historic role played by Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Our government is committed to restoring this chapter of Bengal's history to its rightful place," he said. Adhikari said Paschimbanga Divas was being observed to commemorate

Bengal has broken its shackles, says PM Modi in first visit since polls

Addressing the Paschimbanga Divas celebrations in Tarakeswar, Modi said the atmosphere in the state reflected a sense of change and renewed optimism

PM greets people of Bengal on 'Paschimbanga Divas', vows support for growth

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday greeted the people of West Bengal on 'Paschimbanga Divas' and said the central government will work with the state government to fulfil their dreams and aspirations. The new BJP government has decided to observe 'Paschimbanga Divas' or West Bengal Day on June 20. June 20 marks the day in 1947 when the Bengal Legislative Assembly voted in favour of the creation of a separate province that eventually became West Bengal after Partition. "Warm greetings to my sisters and brothers of West Bengal on the occasion of Paschimbanga Divas. The Central Government will work with the West Bengal Government to fulfil the dreams and aspirations of the people. I pray for the progress of West Bengal and the prosperity of its people," Modi said in a post on X. The prime minister said this day celebrates a state that has profoundly shaped India's history through its contributions to diverse areas, be it literature, music, art, spirituality, science, trade and .