Opinion | The Inside Story Of The Decline Of Bengal |
Opinion | The Inside Story Of The Decline Of Bengal
Updated: Mar 20, 2026 10:48 am IST Published On Mar 20, 2026 10:22 am IST Last Updated On Mar 20, 2026 10:48 am IST
Published On Mar 20, 2026 10:22 am IST
Last Updated On Mar 20, 2026 10:48 am IST
Half a century ago, far removed from the cacophony of today's reality, Calcutta - now Kolkata - glistened with the promise of progress and prosperity. It stood as an emblem of industrial might, a city that whispered to the ambitions of a newly independent nation.
A journey from Asansol-Burnpur, twin cities where I spent my school days, southwards to Calcutta, was a route that spoke volumes about the industrial trajectory. The ancient national highway, the Grand Trunk Road, besides which my school, St Patrick's, as well as my home, lay, wove through booming towns where manufacturing giants thrived-Barakar, Kumardhubi, Kulti, Burnpur, Asansol, Raniganj, Durgapur-each a cog in the vast ecosystem of Bengal's surging economy.
From my home, which lay at the border between Asansol and Burnpur, I could observe the glow of the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) factory, first incorporated in 1918. Its precursor was Bengal Iron Works Company, established in 1875, at Barakar, which later became part of IISCO.
I grew up in an atmosphere rich with the scent of melting iron and the promise of intricately forged steel. The foundries and factories that lined our path to the Burnpur Club, where I participated in debating competitions, were more than mere brick and mortar; they were the lifeblood of a society intertwined with ambition and enterprise. The Durand Institute, walking distance from my school, where I learnt to appreciate art, culture, music and dance, combined the best of cosmopolitan Anglo-Indian tradition with that of Rabindra Sangeet.
As you drive eastward, the landscape transformed into a montage of colliery towns like Nirsa, Sitarampur, Jamuria, Pandaveswar, Chinakuri, and Raniganj, once basking in the glow of ownership by titans like the Tatas and Bird & Company and smaller ancillary units owned by Marwari, Gujarati and Punjabi entrepreneurs. Other nearby industrial hubs, with many mining and manufacturing workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, included Neamatpur, Satgram, and Mugma. Westwards, the journey would take you to Bihar, industrial hubs of Dhanbad, Bokaro and Jamshedpur. After the IISCO plant of Burnpur, Durgapur's steel plants and chemical factories were the crown jewels of this industrial kingdom of Bengal.
Calcutta was more dynamic than Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain and Dubai
Calcutta stood firm with its deep-water ports in Kidderpore Docks and Budge Budge wharves, which served as a key hub for petroleum products. Calcutta was not just a metropolis those days; it was a global hub-a metropolis larger and more dynamic than Hong Kong, or Singapore, or Bahrain and Dubai, the........