The most stable state government of the country, the current West Bengal Government is in the power for the last thirty years at a stretch. The left front led state government of West Bengal has excelled in many aspects over the years. However it has also faced severe criticism in some areas of its activities. The political scenario of the state comprised of the national parties like the Communist Party of India Marxist, CPI, All India Forward Block, Bahujan Samaj Party, the Indian National Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party, National Congress Party and regional parties like the Trinamool Congress, SUCI, CPIML, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, PDS, JDS, JDU, RSP, etc.
West Bengal has forty two constituencies and two hundred and ninety four state legislative assembly seats. The present chief minister of West Bengal is Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharya who is serving his second consecutive term. He is guided by the Honorable Governor Mr. Gopal Krishna Gandhi. The judiciary of the state comprised of the Calcutta High Court, district courts, West Bengal Human Rights Commissions and few others. The chief justice of the High Court is Mr. Surinder Singh Nijjar. The state government maintains a number of regular ministries like the sports, law and order, power, agriculture, industries and some special ministries. The government also undertake to maintain various departments.
The Executive body of the State legislative Assembly of West Bengal helps in the governance of the state. The Unicameral State Legislative Assembly takes important decisions on various vital social, economic and political issues that shape the future of the state of West Bengal. The Executive Body West Bengal is headed by the Governor of the state who is further assisted by the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers.
The Governor is appointed by the President of India. At present, West Bengal is blessed with Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi as the Governor. Being a successful Civil Servant, Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi is aware of the intricacies of administration. His experience has helped him to rise above the situations and offer instant solutions to the numerous problems faced by the state.
The Governor is supported by the Chief Minister, Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and his Council of Ministers. The Chief Minister and the Councils of Minister are elected by the adult franchise. Anyone who is the citizen of West Bengal and is above eighteen years of age is authorized to cast a vote in favor of any candidate. After the general election as the Member of the Legislative Assembly, the leader of the majority party becomes the Chief Minister. The MLA's come to a consensus and chose a leader amongst them, who is then formally invited by the Governor to form the Government. The Chief Minister then appoints the various Ministers who are assigned with important portfolios. All the Ministers and the Chief Minister are collectively responsible to the state Legislative Assembly.
The Executive Body of West Bengal also deals with the Judiciary of the state. The High Court takes all the important decisions regarding the Civil and the Criminal matters affecting the citizens of the state. The High Court is equipped with the Chief Justice and several other Lawyers. The City Civil Court and the Labour and Tribunal Court looks into the matters that falls within their jurisdiction.
The state of West Bengal is divided into 294 assembly constituencies. The members of the state legislative assembly are elected from these assembly constituencies. The state has been divided into 294 assembly constituencies to ensure adequate representation of the people of the state in the legislative assembly.
The assembly constituencies include an appropriate representation of the people and the populace of every district of the state of West Bengal. The districts maybe divided into a number of constituencies to secure the interest of each citizen. The elected members of the assembly constituencies become members of the Vidahn Sabha or the legislative assembly of the state of West Bengal situated in the capital city of Kolkata. The city of Kolkata is divided into more than 10 assembly constituencies that include the constituencies of Dum Dum, Alipore, Tollygaunge, Dhakuria, Ballygaunje and Sealdah. To protect the vested interests of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes of the state, the electoral body of the country has made provisions for their adequate representation through the assembly constituencies. There are several West Bengal assembly constituencies that elect the members of these categories. Mekliganj, Sitalkuchi, Malda, Sagardigha, Raiganj, Rajnagar and Taltola constituency of Kolkata elect members of the scheduled caste. Some of the constituencies that elect scheduled tribe members are Raipur, Nayagram, Kalchini, Nagrakata and Mal. More Details...
West Bengal is a state, which has contributed a lot to the country's political richness. The state has always sent able representatives who have made unforgettable impressions in national level politics. Thus the National Political Parties have always shown immense interest in the West Bengal state politics. The main National Political Parties in West Bengal are: -
Among the National Political Parties, the Indian National Congress has always been powerful in West Bengal; in fact it is the politicians from West Bengal who had played a major role in its inception. After the Indian Independence, the Indian National Congress, despite its divisions and break ups, managed to hold on to the power before it was finally overthrown by the Left Front in 1977. The Communist Party of India or the CPI was established in 1925 but it remains as an underground party till 1942. The Communist Party of India Marxist - CPIM, broke away from the original Communist Party of India due to ideological differences. The two parties came together in the left front and have been in power since 1977 - a record success. The left front emerged victorious again in the 2006 state assembly elections to serve its eighth consecutive term. The Bharatiya Janta Party - BJP was not very strong in the state politics till the recent years. The JD-S, JD - U and Nationalist Congress Party have also come into the political frame of the state.
There are 42 parliamentary constituencies in the state of West Bengal. The members of the parliamentary constituencies of the state are elected to the Lok Sabha or the lower house of legislature of the country. The parliamentary constituencies are distributed all over the state.
The government ensures that there is adequate representation of the state in the Lok Sabha. The parliamentary constituencies in a state are divided according to the number of seats in the legislative assembly of the state. The state of West Bengal has reservations of 294 seats in the legislative assembly of the state. The representation of the state of West Bengal in the parliament accounts for a seat for every seventh member of the legislative assembly of the state.
Among the 42 parliamentary constituencies, provisions have been made for the representation of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes of the state. 8 seats are reserved for the scheduled castes while there are provisions for 2 seats in the house for the scheduled tribes. The elected members of the Alipurduar and the Jhargram parliamentary constituencies represent the scheduled tribes of the state in the parliament constituted after the elections in 2004. The members of the scheduled caste were elected from Cooch Behar, Balurghat, Nabadwip, Joynagar, Mathurapur, Vishnupur, Durgapur and Birbhum for the 2004 election to the Lok Sabha.
The Bharatiya Janta Party, despite its national success has not been able to make much impressions in the West Bengal politics till it made ally with the Trinamool Congress and wrested a major Lok Sabha seat in 1998 Parliamentary Elections. Since then the BJP in West Bengal has emerged as a force to reckon. However it has a long way to go to compete with the influence that the Left Front and the Congress have on the state's political scenario.
The origin of the Bharatiya Janta Party dates back to 1951 when Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangha or the BJS. It was much later in 1980 that the Jana Sanghis founded the Bharatiya Janta Party. The initial days of the party were not smooth. The party received a hard blow in the 1984 Lok Sabha Elections, losing hands down to the Congress. However it gathered strength with time and won the 1998 with its allies in NDA - National Democratic Alliance. The Bharatiya Janta Party made allies with Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. However in the last State Assembly elections in 2006, both the parties fared quite poorly. The Left front emerged as the winner and the Congress came out as the major opposition party once again.
The present West Bengal State BJP President is Mr. Tathagata Roy and the national president is Mr.Rajnath Singh.
The Ministry of Fisheries under the Government of West Bengal looks after the scope to promote fisheries in the state. They are looking forward to bring all the different type of water bodies here into fisheries by being eco-friendly.
They aim to involve a lot of people in this activity to uplift their economic conditions. The Ministry of Fisheries is promoting Fisheries in the economically backward regions of the state. This effort is expected to employ a large group of the population of these areas. They are also planning to utilize the coastal stretch of West Bengal to the fullest.
The Ministry of Fisheries is headed by a Minister in Charge. Presently the Minister of Fisheries is Shri Kiranmay Nanda. The Secretary and the Nodal Officer assist him. Shri R.P.S Kahalon, IAS is presently the Secretary to the Ministry of Fisheries in West Bengal. Shri A.K Bhattacharya, WBCS is the Nodal Officer here.
The Ministry of Fisheries of West Bengal can be contacted at the following telephone numbers
They are presently promoting Fishery as a major economic activity in the areas near Digha. Talshari and Sankarpur are two such centers. For a proper growth of this activity this Special Ministry of West Bengal is also looking after the development of these areas.
By exploiting all the scopes for Fishery in West Bengal the Ministry of Fisheries in the state is expected to bring a striking change in the economic structure.
The state of West Bengal has arguably the maximum number of politically aware people. Right from the time of the freedom struggle, the state has led the country in the field of Politics. Numerous leaders of extraordinary caliber hailed from this region, which includes Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rashbehari Bose, Chittaranjan Das and many others in the post independence era. Politics and West Bengal are synonymous and perhaps it is one of the few states in the country where people vote keeping their political inclinations in mind and not influenced by religion or caste.
The state of West Bengal is dived into forty two parliamentary constituencies and two hundred and ninety four State Legislative Assembly seats. Various parties of national and regional exposure contest in the election to form the state government. National parties like the Communist Party of India - Marxist, Communist Party of India, Indian National Congress, All India Forward Block, regional parties like Trinamool Congress, SUCI, RSP, PDS, Jharkand Mukti Morcha etc. The highest executive power of the state of West Bengal is with the Governor. The present Governor of the state is Mr. Gopal Krishna Gandhi while Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharya is the Chief Minster.
The Calcutta High Court is the highest seat of judiciary in the state and Mr. Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar is the current chief justice of the court. With its political and administrative structure, the political scenario in the state of West Bengal is active as ever.
Some Special Ministries are appointed by the Government of West Bengal for the purpose of development in the specified areas. These Ministries look after the progress and growth of certain fields to enable them flourish. Different promotional activities are carried out by the departments under these Special Ministries of the Government of West Bengal.
Each such Ministries are headed by a minister. For example the Ministry of Tourism is lead by Tourism Minister, Shri Manabendra Mukherjee. This branch of the government looks after the development of the tourism industry in the state. They are shouldering the responsibility of promoting new spots as sites of tourist attraction. They arrange for government lodges in remote locations to facilitate the tourists. There major aim is to look after the interests of the visitors.
The Ministry of Fisheries is also another important branch of the state government. This department is headed by Shri Kiranmay Nanda. This Special Ministry looks forward to the development of fisheries in the state of West Bengal.
The other Special Ministries in the state are the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of IT. The Ministry of Home Affairs functions to rehabilitate the people coming to West Bengal from other regions. The Ministry related to IT is one of the most important departments of the state government because of the IT revolution that is presently going on.
These Special Ministries of West Bengal work towards the progress of the economic activities and the welfare of the state.
The administrative bodies of the state of West Bengal are quite well formulated. The responsibilities are well distributed and compartmentalized. Certain State Commissions are responsible for different issues. These State Commissions of West Bengal help in proper functioning of the state government.
Different members of the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal are responsible for different Commissions under the government. These bodies look after the various primary sectors of the government. All these State Commissions are headed by a Chairperson. Apart from the Chairperson there is also a secretary and several other members in the Commission.
Some of the most important State Commissions in West Bengal are the Public Service Commission,the Human Rights Commission, the Finance Commission, State Commission for Women, the Election Commission and the Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Retired Justice S.K Paujdar is the chairperson of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission. This Commission is responsible for determining the tariff and regulate the purchase of power. The present office of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission is located in Salt Lake of Kolkata.
Honorable Justice Sri Shyamal Kumar Sen is the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of West Bengal. Sri B Mahapatra, IAS is the secretary of this Commission. It works according to the regulations set up by the state government.
The basic determinants of` the Public Service Commission of West Bengal are the values of impartiality, integrity and independence. Sri T.K Bose holds the office of the chairperson of this State Commission.
The presence of these State Commissions make the work of the state Government of West Bengal easier.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is a state level political party, which functions in the state of West Bengal. The leader of Trinamool Congress (TMC), Mamata Banerjee, broke away from another state level party, West Bengal Pradesh Congress, to form a strong opposition against the Communist Party of India - Maxist (CPIM). It is an anti-left front political party, which was known as West Bengal Trinamool Congress at the time of its inception.
In the year 1998, the West Bengal Trinamool Congress made ally with some of the unsuccessful electorates from the different states in India to form the All India Trinamool Congress. It was formed with the objective to take the Trinamool Congress to the national level. It took part in the elections of several other Indian states along with the elections in West Bengal.
Although it could not make a big mark on the national front, Trinamool Congress won the control of Kolkata in the municipal elections in the year 2000. In the next election in the year 2005, it lost its position.
Around the election of the Lok Sabha in the year 2004, the All India Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee, merged with a fraction of Nationalist Congress Party in India. This breakaway part of the Nationalist Congress Party was led by P.A. Sangma. This newly formed party was known as Nationalist Trinamool Congress.
Before this union, there were different sections of the Trinamool Congress. These different divisions were named as:
