States And Union Territories Of India

"The extent to which this process of political organization of disadvantaged groups has occurred has varied a great deal between different parts of India… In West Bengal, for instance, effective organization of different groups under the leadership of the ‘left front’ parties has led to a significant change in the balance of political power, and this, in turn, has provided the basis for important social achievements, notably land reforms…West Bengal provides a good example of the possibility and rewards of land reform programmes (enhancing equity as well as the efficiency of local agriculture.)"

"This is the history of the people who speak Bengali, covering both present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal and other Bengali-speaking areas of the country from the earliest recorded times to 1947 when the Indian subcontinent was partitioned into India and Pakistan, and nearly two-thirds of undivided Bengal went to Pakistan."

"I think that on the whole, the Muslim minority in West Bengal – which also, I think, suffers from a feeling of frustration and a certain insecurity – is relatively more secure than the Hindu minority in East Bengal… Now take the proposal regarding exchange of population… it is completely opposed to our political economic, social and spiritual ideals. If you want to have an exchange of population, then you must change the whole basis of not only this Government but of all that we have stood for these thirty odd years and during the movement for freedom in this country."

"It is a fact that most of the corrupt come from OBCs and Scheduled Castes and now increasingly the Scheduled Tribes. I will give an example. One of the states with the least amount of corruption is state of West Bengal when the CPI(M) was there. And I must draw attention to the fact that in the last 100 years, nobody from OBC, SC and ST has come anywhere near to power. It is an absolutely clean state."

"This is where, between 1956-57 and 1966-67, 46.9 per cent of India’s exports left the country and where 30.4 per cent of the imports arrived… The Mogul rulers of India knew Bengal as their Paradise on earth, and this certainly was’nt because it was comfortable to live in. The British soon came to the same conclusion and Charles Stewart had decided by 1813 that ‘The province of Bengal is one of the most valuable acquisitions that was ever made by any nation.’ It has always been a source of profit. In 1964, West Bengal was producing 95 per cent of India’s jute, 92 per cent of its razor blades, 87 per cent of its electric fans, 80 per cent of its sewing machines, 78 per cent of its railway wagons, 74 per cent of its rubber shoes…"

"It is my firm belief that if our plans of education are followed up, there will not be a single idolator among the respectable classes of Bengal thirty years hence."

"Haig writes that “it is evident, from the numerical superiority in Eastern Bengal of the Muslims… that at some period an immense wave of proselytization must have swept over the country and it is most probable that the period was the period of Jalaluddin Muhammad (converted son of Hindu Raja Ganesh) during whose reign of seventeen years (1414-1431)… hosts of Hindus are said to have been forcibly converted to Islam”.81 With regard to these conversions, Dr. Wise writes that “the only condition he offered were the Koran or death… many Hindus fled to Kamrup and the jungles of Assam, but it is nevertheless probable that more Muhammadans were added to Islam during these seventeen years (1414-31) than in the next three hundred years”."

"One of the dreams that have inspired me and given a purpose to my life is that of a great and undivided Bengal … a Bengal that is above all sects and groups and is the home alike of the Muslim, the Hindu, the Christian and the Buddhist."

"There’s nothing in common between the East Bengalis and the West Bengalis. Between us and the East Bengalis, on the other hand, there’s religion in com­mon. The Partition of 1947 was a very good thing."

"What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow."

"It is obviously an advantage in the sixteenth century Bengal to be a Moor, in as much as the Hindus daily become Moors to gain the favour of their rulers."

"In 2023, the state government submitted their report on crime against women, in which over four lakhs of pending cases, in which no one is convicted or action is not taken, in West Bengal, which is the highest in the country… Police administration is not working on them. The judiciary is also failing because of non-cooperation by the administration and the police. They are not submitting the charge sheet in time. This thing is going on in West Bengal, and they are hiding facts… This is the tip of the iceberg…"

"This is a vast country, abounding in rice, and nowhere in the world have I seen any land where prices are lower than there; on the other hand it is a gloomy place, and the people of Khurasan call it “A hell full of good things.” I have seen fat fowls sold there at the rate of eight for a single dirham, young pigeons at fifteen to the dirham, and a fat ram sold for two dirhams. I saw too a piece of fine cotton cloth, of excellent quality, thirty cubits long, sold for two dinars, and a beautiful slave-girl for a single gold dinar, that is, two and a half gold dinars in Moroccan money. The first city in Bengal that we entered was Sudkawan [Satgaon or Chittagong], a large town on the coast of the great sea. Close by it the river Ganges, to which the Hindus go on pilgrimage, and the river Jun [Jumna, here obviously the Brahmaputra] unite and discharge together into the sea. They have a large fleet on the river, with which they make war on the inhabitants of the land of Laknawti."

"The azure seas of Goa yield a variety of fresh, tasty seafood and fish. With a pleasant climate and diverse flora and fauna, Goa is a haven of peace and a mix of laziness and nonchalance, a mixture of the past and the future, where beautiful palm-fringed beaches glitter on its shores. Floring plants and trees grow lush, verdant, and fast. Fat ripe fruits like mangoes, papayas, cajus and many others abound."

"History in Goa was simple. In the long colonial emptiness the pre-Portuguese past had ceased to matter; it was something to be picked up from books; and then the 450 years of Portuguese rule was like a single idea that anyone could carry about with him. To leave Goa, to go south and west along the narrow, winding mountain road into the state of Karnataka, was to enter India and its complicated history again."

"There are a great many heathens in this kingdom of Goa, more than in the kingdom of the Deccan. Some of them are very honoured men with large fortunes ; and almost the whole kingdom lies in their hands, because they are natives and possess the land and they pay the taxes. Some of them are noblemen with many followers and lands of their own, and are persons of great repute, and wealthy, and they live on their estates, which are very gay and fresh. The heathens of the kingdom of Goa surpass those of Cambay. They have beautiful temples of their own in this kingdom ; they have priests or Brahmans of many kinds. There are some very honoured stocks among these Brahmans. Some of them will not eat anything which has contained blood or anything prepared by the hand of another. These Brahmans are greatly revered throughout the country, particularly among the heathen. Like those of Cambay, the poor ones serve to take merchandise and letters safely through the land, because the rich ones rank as great lords. They are clever, prudent, learned in their religion. A Brahman would not become a Mahommedan (even) if he were made a king."

"Goanism is a psycho-endemic-repulsion, brought on whenever two or more Goans, of known or unknown significance, converge on the same field of survival, revival, rivalry or connivery."

"Hospitality is not just a word here -- it's a tradition."

"If you follow Goanet, it seems to be a Goan feature to have 10 Goans, 12 opinions, and 16 enemies."

"With the arrival of the Portuguese in Goa, in the early 16th century, Konkani music was confronted with a new musical style, Western European in origin, employing harmony, where usually three or more sounds combine simultaneously to form a chord..."

"Simply stated, the first paradox asks why the majority of international tourists are so enthusiastic about Goa in spite of the fact that there are aspects of the tourism experience which, if found in Europe or other developed countries, would constitute serious grounds for complaint."

"The Goans were very Victorian. Their girls were expected to be respectable and straightfaced and anti-sensual.The result was that the honest men had to hunt out Damibian women who did not have the Goan problem (the dishonest ones could find bored housewives, tired of their arranged, loveless marriages to older, respectable men or the more daring ones whose defiant love marriages had dried up all too soon)."

"Goa, Sanskrit Gomantak, the land of gods, was mentioned in the Sahyadri Kand of the Skanda Purana. It described the reclamation of the land from the sea by Parashuram, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu. Shiva also took up temporary residence there after he left his Himalayan abode. Goa experienced tremendous loss of its sacred heritage in the medieval period."