Residents of Natunpara, a village in the Alipurduar 1 block, were caught by surprise early on Thursday morning after a one-horned rhino from the Jaldapara National Park strayed into the locality. A forest department source said the rhino lost its ...
9 January 2026 TelegraphMamata Banerjee said on Thursday that the raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the premises linked to I-PAC betrayed the BJP’s desperation to wrest Bengal, but sources in her party said the Centre had actually handed the chief ...
9 January 2026 TelegraphThe organisers of the International Kolkata Book Fair have sought an increased police presence at the event, anticipating potential disturbances due to the unrest in neighbouring Bangladesh. They have requested the state’s home department to deploy plainclothes police at the ...
8 January 2026 TelegraphThe minimum temperature in the city was 10.3° Celsius on Wednesday, almost identical to the previous day’s 10.2°, and still well below normal. Dum Dum recorded a minimum of 9.8°, while Barrackpore was colder at 9°. Yet many Calcuttans felt that ...
8 January 2026 TelegraphAnother new year has arrived, but Calcutta airport’s long-standing problems show no sign of easing. Beacon-fitted cars continue to be parked along the kerbside outside the terminal’s arrival gates, forcing passengers — many of them elderly, carrying luggage or using ...
8 January 2026 TelegraphThe high court on Wednesday rejected a list of 1,806 candidates classified as “tainted” for schoolteacher roles, released by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC). Justice Amrita Sinha instructed the SSC to compile a new list that must contain ...
8 January 2026 TelegraphSt Xavier’s College on Park Street plans to introduce an MSc in artificial intelligence in 2028, said Father Dominic Savio, the principal of the college, on Wednesday. He said that the emphasis is on innovative courses, particularly AI, for their ...
8 January 2026 TelegraphAir quality deteriorated further on Wednesday as cold weather continued to grip the city, with most monitoring stations reporting “poor” or “very poor” air through the day. Of the seven air quality monitoring stations in Calcutta, one reported “very poor”, ...
8 January 2026 TelegraphPresidency University will conduct its undergraduate admissions independently, ending its decade-old arrangement with the state JEE board. All 16 departments told the admissions committee on Wednesday that they want to either admit students through department-led tests or based on (Plus-II) ...
8 January 2026 TelegraphRent for top grade office in Calcutta went up by 16 per cent in 2025, highest in percentage terms among the leading cities in the country, as occupancy levels rose amidst a lack of fresh supply of office properties. A ...
8 January 2026 TelegraphAround 11.30am, tennis players warmed up for a veterans’ tournament at South Club on Woodburn Park Road. Several wore full-length track pants instead of shorts. At a PSU bank in Behala, long queues usually form at the counters as soon ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphA fire ripped through a slum settlement in eastern Kolkata’s Nonadanga area on Wednesday evening, leaving several families without shelter, officials said. The blaze broke out at the Matangini Colony slum under Anandapur police station around 6.20 pm. Within minutes, ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphThe Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Bengal government to address a long-standing pay parity dispute involving part-time higher secondary school teachers. The state government now has four months to issue a “detailed reasoned order” regarding the teachers’ claims for ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphTrinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to extend the ongoing SIR process in Bengal beyond January 15, alleging that the drive would lead to massive disenfranchisement as the Election Commission has purportedly found “logical ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphTrinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday flew in from Calcutta to Rampurhat on a helicopter sent by Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren from Ranchi after clearance had been delayed for the chopper that was to have ferried him ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission on Tuesday held a video conference with district election officers (DEOs) to discuss arrangements made for serving hearing notices on 95 lakh voters whose enumeration forms for the special intensive revision (SIR) had “logical discrepancies”. Sources said ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphDomicile certificates submitted as documentary evidence during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) hearings in West Bengal will not be considered valid at present, a senior poll official said on Wednesday. Voters who have already submitted the domicile certificates may be ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphThe West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Wednesday moved to calm a growing political storm after hearing summonses were issued to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Indian cricketer Mohammed Shami and Bengali actor-turned-TMC MP Dev as part of the ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphWith just three months to go for the assembly polls, the West Bengal BJP on Wednesday constituted its long-delayed state committee, a carefully weighted organisational reset that seeks to balance old loyalties, contain internal rivalries and ring-fence key electoral ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphAbhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP, met the families of two BJP workers who were arrested in Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi as alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators at their residence in South Dinajpur’s Tapan on Wednesday. “They were branded as ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphA booth-level officer (BLO) in West Bengal’s Malda district died on Wednesday, triggering a political exchange over the workload linked to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The deceased, Samprita Choudhury Sanyal, was serving as the BLO ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission on Wednesday served a notice to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in connection with the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, seeking a hearing of the 92-year-old economist on January 16 at ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphA tea worker was attacked by a leopard on a plantation in the Khasbusty area of Jalpaiguri’s Nagrakata block on Tuesday. A source reported that around 10.30am, Chaiti Oraon was plucking tea leaves when a leopard pounced on her and ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphA platform of state university teachers’ association on Tuesday alleged that the absence of full-term vice-chancellors in 11 state-aided universities has triggered an academic and administrative stalemate on those campuses. The teachers said that implementing the four-year undergraduate programmes under ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphJadavpur University has asked the head of its English department to go on leave until the end of January while investigations into the allegations of harassment of two students during exam invigilation are underway. Vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee took the decision ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphThe Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Calcutta, council has appointed another officiating director after a search-and-selection committee failed to select a full-term director, despite initiating the process in May 2025. After the tenure of officiating director Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay expired on December ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphGeriatricians are recommending that the elderly population of the city avoid outdoor activities in the early morning and late evening. It is also suggested that they perform free-hand exercises to prevent muscle stiffness and remain vigilant to avoid falling ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphCalcutta Boys’ School has decided to start classes an hour later from Wednesday due to the cold. In many schools, a significant number of students, particularly in primary classes, were absent on Tuesday because of the chill. Starting Wednesday, Calcutta ...
7 January 2026 TelegraphThe four-month-long deadlock at Subarnapur, a tea garden in the Kranti block of Jalpaiguri district, finally came to an end on Monday. The locked office of the tea garden was opened, bringing relief to around 200 tea workers and ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphCricketer Mohammed Shami has been asked to appear for a Special Intensive Review (SIR) verification hearing in Kolkata, officials said on Tuesday. Shami was initially called along with his brother, Mohammed Kaif, on Monday at a school in Jadavpur. However, he ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphNobel laureate Amartya Sen's name is among the Bengal electors with "logical discrepancies" in their enumeration forms submitted for the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. However, the Election Commission (EC) later in the day clarified that Amartya Sen, ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphIndian football’s deepening crisis has found a new, influential voice. John Abraham, owner of Northeast United FC, posted a message on Sunday that appeared to aim at the sport’s governing establishment, as the Indian Super League remains suspended. Sharing a ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphA 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing his grandmother after branding her a “witch” at Mamudpur village in the Kumarganj block of South Dinajpur district on Sunday night. Sanjay Tudu, 21, was produced in a court at Balurghat on ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphPassengers of IndiGo’s Bagdogra-Calcutta flight 6E 6135 on Sunday evening were left confused when their plane was delayed due to “bad weather”, despite no fog at either Calcutta or Bagdogra. The flight, scheduled to depart Bagdogra at 7.50pm, finally took off ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphThe temporary paddock set up on the Maidan for training mounted police needs to be resurfaced with additional layers of soil and sand to prevent injuries to horses, Kolkata Police have told Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), the agency ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphSchool curriculum should aim to link learning with everyday life wherever possible, the chief of the ICSE council told school heads on Monday. Joseph Emmanuel, chief executive and secretary of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), was ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphA 65-year-old woman died in her sleep early on Monday after a large chunk of concrete broke off from the ceiling of a three-storey residential building and fell on her family near Park Circus. The incident occurred around 3.10am in ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphThe city spent another shivering afternoon as the mercury was 18.4° Celsius, seven degrees colder than usual, even during the warmest part of the day. As the sun set, the cold winds became more piercing. Monday marked the beginning of a ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphA shed for the Maidan market or Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy Market — popular for sports goods — where traders are supposed to shift temporarily to enable the construction of the Esplanade station on the Joka–Esplanade Metro Purple Line ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphA committee constituted by Jadavpur University to investigate whether two students from the English department were harassed during invigilation has recommended that the department head be relieved of her responsibilities pending the probe. The three-member committee, formed last week, held ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphAn octogenarian staying alone at her Bansdroni home was allegedly robbed of ₹1.5 lakh and valuables by a woman who had been her caregiver for the past 20 years. The elderly woman discovered her cash and valuables missing only after ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphAlleged attacks on Muslim migrant workers from Murshidabad district in Bengal continue unabated in Odisha and other BJP-ruled states, forcing many to flee their workplaces and return home in fear. The latest such incident was reported on Sunday from Sambalpur ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphThe desperation in both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP to secure the Assembly seats of the north Bengal tea belt has prompted leaders of both camps to chant the mantra of wage hike to woo the tea population. While ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphThe state labour department introduced 11 school buses for students residing in the tea estates of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts on Monday, within 48 hours of Trinamool’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s interaction with tea garden workers. On Saturday, while ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphMamata Banerjee on Monday said she would move the Supreme Court against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bengal. The chief minister alleged the SIR had brought fear, harassment and administrative arbitrariness that had led to ...
6 January 2026 TelegraphTwo Calcuttans lost more than ₹50 lakh after making investments through apps they encountered on social media platforms. Police said one of the victims, a resident of Urbana, lost more than ₹37 lakh, while the other, a resident of Turf ...
5 January 2026 TelegraphThe 186-year-old Parsi fire temple on Ezra Street, which was feared to have been badly damaged by a fire on its premises in November, remains “structurally stable” and can be “restored,” engineers from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said. The ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphA notification issued by the state health department on December 31, posting Aniket Mahata to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, surfaced on Saturday. A senior health department official said: “We have communicated the order about his posting to the ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphA former student on Saturday showed Jadavpur University exactly what is wrong with its approach toward alumni. Suman Chakraborty, a mechanical engineering alumnus from the class of 1996 and the current director of IIT Kharagpur, lamented the absence of dialogue ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphGrades are not indicative of intelligence; thus, it is essential to emphasise learning over marks, collaboration and teamwork over isolated rote learning, and creativity over the use of ChatGPT. This has been communicated to students at The Heritage School ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphMany migrant workers from Bengal have returned home after being summoned for hearings as part of the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of Bengal’s electoral rolls. The unscheduled leave from work has meant travel expenses, loss of daily wages and ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphJadavpur University cannot permit “hooliganism” in the name of fostering “intellectual independence”, IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty, himself an alumnus of JU, said on Saturday. Chakraborty was at JU to deliver the keynote address on the occasion of its second ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphUnidentified men broke into the Hind Motor house of Padmashree Bula Chowdhury in Hooghly on Saturday, the second burglary at her residence in five months. The last incident, on August 15, saw several of the ace swimmer's medals and awards ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is on Monday scheduled to lay the foundation stone for a bridge across the Muriganga River, connecting the Sagar Island, where the annual Gangasagar Mela is held, with the mainland, an official said. The ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphIllegal sand mining to the tune of nearly ₹145 crore was allegedly carried out in parts of Bengal by Arun Saraf and his company, GD Mining Private Limited, along with 14 other firms and his several associates, the Enforcement ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, urging him to immediately halt the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, and warned that it could cause "mass disenfranchisement" and ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphA controversial remark by a BJP leader at a public meeting in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district, suggesting husbands should restrain women beneficiaries of the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme from voting for the TMC, triggered a sharp political backlash and ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphThree migrant workers from West Bengal's Paschim Bardhaman district were allegedly assaulted in Maharashtra after being suspected of being 'Bangladeshis' for speaking Bengali, prompting sharp political reactions in the state. The workers, identified as Dilip Bagdi and Samir Barui, along ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphProtests over alleged voter list exclusions and an assault on a Matua religious leader escalated on Sunday after a TMC-backed Matua group called for statewide road blockades across West Bengal. The bandh call was issued by the Trinamool Congress-supported faction ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphIndia's tea production has seen a steady surge over the past one-and-a-half decades, but auction prices have not kept pace, tea industry stakeholders said on Saturday. “Over the last 15 years, India’s tea production has increased by 35 per cent, ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphA gram panchayat member of the BJP in Murshidabad district was arrested on charges of attempt to rape and molestation on Saturday. Dipankar Das, 32, a member of the Nayansuk gram panchayat under the jurisdiction of the Farakka police station, ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphEast Midnapore police arrested Swapan Nayak, the Trinamool Congress chairman of Egra municipality, on Saturday on charges of illegally transferring government land, sparking a political war of words between the ruling dispensation and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari over the ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission has asked the director general of police, Rajeev Kumar, to send an action- taken report by January 6 on the “serious and disturbing incidents” that occurred during the visit of C. Murugan, the electoral roll observer, ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphAt least six cops were injured and their vehicle vandalised by a mob on Friday night when they unsuccessfully attempted to arrest a Trinamool Congress worker and a close aide to the party's former strongman Sheikh Shahjahan in connection ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphMausam Benazir Noor, the Malda-based Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP, rejoined the Congress on Saturday, seven years after she had left the party in favour of Bengal’s ruling dispensation in January 2019. Her departure from Trinamool appeared a manifestation of the ...
4 January 2026 TelegraphOn a winter morning at the end of December 2025, my phone rang with a call I did not expect. The booth-level officer (BLO) assigned to my area told me a hearing letter had been issued in my name for ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphRight-wing activists on Friday surveyed street vendors in Jammu to look for Bangladeshis and Rohingya refugees, prompting Jammu and Kashmir police to intervene. The activists scanned several localities in Jammu, asking the vendors for their Aadhaar cards. They were seen ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphSenior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday took a sharp swipe at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, calling him “Vanish Kumar” over alleged illegitimate deletions of voters during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphSix policemen were injured after a mob attacked them while they were arresting a Trinamool Congress (TMC) activist in the Sandeshkhali area of North 24 Parganas district, a police officer said on Saturday. The incident occurred on Friday night when ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphBengali film stars Dev and Subhashree Ganguly are set to reunite on screen, putting to rest speculation that last year’s delayed release of Dhumketu would mark the end of their much-discussed pairing. Taking to social media on Friday, Dev and ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphThe average maximum temperature in the last fortnight of December was three degrees below normal in Calcutta this year. That drop made us feel the chill more than any year in recent memory. The mean maximum temperature for the month was ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphAn excess of bureaucracy coupled with a lack of empathy has rendered the special intensive revision (SIR) hearing process distressing for many, discussions with officials and politicians have indicated. Many of them spoke of “over-bureaucratisation” and the failure to engage ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphA committee appointed by the Supreme Court to recommend measures to improve India’s road safety has urged chief minister Mamata Banerjee to act immediately on five essential areas, including pedestrian safety and wrong-lane driving. In April 2014, the apex court ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphAround 10 shops were gutted in a blaze in the old market area of Mainaguri, Jalpaiguri district, on Friday morning. Police, fire brigade personnel and residents rushed to the spot and worked together to control the fire. Two fire engines ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphBJP’s Assembly election campaign for the Darjeeling hills will start from Kurseong on Sunday, and the party reaffirmed on Friday that it would fight the polls in alliance with the old allies in the region. Actor Mithun Chakraborty will attend ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphA fresh controversy has erupted in South Dinajpur district following the death of a 50-year-old woman whose family and the Trinamool Congress have alleged that panic over the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll triggered a heart ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphChief minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to lay the foundation stone of the Mahakal temple near Siliguri in the second week of January, city mayor Gautam Deb said on Friday. The foundation-laying ceremony may take place during her visit to ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphSuvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition, on Friday said that the BJP would secure 220 seats in 2026 if Hindu consolidation was optimal, as witnessed in Malda and Nandigram in the recent elections. The statement comes after Union home ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission will summon for hearings and document verification more than 24 lakh Bengal voters whose ways of linking themselves to the previous post-SIR rolls through their parents it finds suspicious. Many more voters are under the scanner for ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphAbhishek Banerjee on Friday set a high-stakes target for the Trinamool Congress in the Assembly polls, vowing to surpass its 2021 landslide seat-count of 214 by at least one, not long before Suvendu Adhikari's claim of a tally of ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphAn experiment by the state forest department to curb tiger attacks by increasing the height of nylon net fencing along village perimeters in vulnerable pockets of Sundarbans has led to a sharp decline in incidents of animal intrusion into ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphThe first Vande Bharat sleeper train of the country to run between Bengal and Assam will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this month, Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at Rail Bhavan in Delhi on Thursday. “All ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphMinimum temperatures across several parts of West Bengal edged up slightly on Friday, offering residents brief relief from the prevailing cold conditions, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast a rise of two to four degrees Celsius in the ...
2 January 2026 Telegraphn The Debi Ghat immersion site will be inaugurated in Dakshindari, post-renovation, in the first week of January. The ghat had been closed for work last year and has been renovated over four months at a cost of Rs ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphThe unveiling of the foundation stone of Durga Angan on Monday has not just created a stir in state politics but has also triggered a debate among residents of New Town about the choice of its location.The temple complex, ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphRail Vihar Phase III BFor the third time in a row, residents of Rail Vihar Phase III B celebrated a Christmas carnival that was enjoyed by kids and elders alike.The main attraction this year was the exhibition area that ...
3 January 2026 TelegraphBusy Bee Academy, the activity centre in AB Block, came alive with colours, laughter and creativity as they hosted a gingerbread house-making workshop that brought together artistes of all ages.Those above the age of seven took charge of turning ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphBan on pigeon-feedingResidents aware of the health hazards posed by pigeons wish others would stop feeding them. Pigeons spread diseases through their droppings and shed feathers. When dried droppings turn to dust and are inhaled, they can lodge in ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphPhilately: Stamps & moreGather supplies: You don’t need much to begin. A basic stamp album, a pair of stamp tongs (tweezers) to handle stamps carefully and a magnifying glass are ideal starting points.Source stamps: Even till the 90s, one ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphEighty-five-year-old Purnima Roy and 83-year-old Om Prakash Jalan are incapable of standing without assistance, but both were obligated to attend an SIR hearing in Baguiati in person on the last day of 2025.Purnima arrived in a rickshaw that drove ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphA man from Rajasthan has been arrested for allegedly creating a fake profile on a social media platform of a senior bureaucrat in Calcutta and taking money from people on the officer’s friend list by impersonating him. Kolkata Police ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphMajor General D.K. Singh took over as the new commander in charge of the Bengal Sub-Area under Eastern Command on Wednesday.The change of command took place during a formal ceremony, when Major General Rajesh A. Moghe handed over the ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphAniket Mahata, a prominent figure in the junior doctors’ protests of 2024 following the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, has stepped down from the junior doctors’ organisation that was established ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphThe special investigation team (SIT) probing the Messi fiasco at the Salt Lake Stadium is considering seeking a court order to refund ticket purchases to attendees who acquired tickets for the event on December 13. Sources in the police ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphMemories and dreams well up in Katayun Saklat’s paintings.They seem to be created in a state of quiet reverie, though Saklat is quite grounded as an artist and as a human being, now and then she doesn’t mind drifting ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphThe city saw a decline in the number of drink-driving cases on New Year’s Eve, with police records indicating a drop of about one-third compared to last year.According to the police, 149 motorists were prosecuted for drink-driving between December ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphRevellers rang in the New Year with more food and drink than usual, restaurateurs said, as Calcuttans took to the city’s eateries and pubs in high spirits.The surge was not just in footfall but also in spending.A popular Park ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphThe Alipore zoo recorded just over 52,000 visitors on January 1, down from more than 82,000 the previous year. Science City saw around 25,000 visitors, compared to 30,000 last year, while the Victoria Memorial had about 36,000, slightly lower ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission of India (ECI) wants people to vote in the area where they reside and is urging to get their names shifted if they do not.“We do not want situations where a person lives in Salt Lake ...
2 January 2026 TelegraphThe high court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to industrialist Pawan Ruia and two of his family members in connection with a case for allegedly parking proceeds of various online scams across the country in their bank accounts.The court ...
2 January 2026 Telegraph