The first major Bengali poet to write Vaishnava lyrics was Chandidas. He is also known for his humanist declaration "Sabar upare manish satya, tahar upare nai".

Sri Krishna Kirtana is considered the second oldest work of Bengali literature after Charyapada. Sri Krishna Kirtana was written by Boru Chandidas in the later half of 14th century CE.

Vidyapati flourished in the modern-day Darbhanga district of Bihar, India in the 14th century

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote Vande Mataram, the national song of India, which appears in his novel 'Anandamath' (1882).

The Ramayana, under the title of 'Sri Rama Panchali' more popularly known as the Krittibasi Ramayana was translated by Krittibas Ojha.

In 1859, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar started the newspaper Shom Prakash.

Bangladesh declared Kazi Nazrul Islam as their national poet.

Abanindranath, the founder of the Bengal Art School was popularly known as 'Aban Thakur'.

Surendranath Sen is the author of Eighteen Fifty Seven.

Kazi Nazrul Islam's support for political and social justice earned him the title 'Rebel Poet' or 'Bidrohi Kabi'.

The well-known plays of Arun Mukhopadhyay include Marich Sangbad, Jagannath, Ramjatra, Putul Nacher Itikatha. He won the National Film Award for Best Actor for the film Parasuram.

Sombhu Mitra founded the Bohurupee Theatre Group in Kolkata in 1948.

In 1942, Sisir Kumar Bhaduri established Srirangam which is now known as Biswarupa Theatre.

Sohini Sengupta has acted in films like Paromitar Ek Din, Icche, Alik Sukh, etc. Her famous plays include Gotraheen, Babli, Chitranggada, Bappaditya, Kanyadan, Nagarkirtan, Ajnatobaas, Naachni, Bipannata, etc. She won the National Film Award in 1999 for best supporting role in Aparna Sen's film Paromitar Ek Din, Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2007 and ABP Ananda Award in 2013.

In 1947, the Little Theatre Group was founded by Utpal Dutt. This group staged many Shakespeare and Brecht plays. Later this group enacted plays which expressed radical Marxist ideologies.

Girish Manch, located at Bagbazar street in Kolkata, was established in 1986. The founder of Girish Manch was Girish Ghosh.

Bohurupee theatre group was founded in 1948. Nandikar was established in 1960 and considered as one of the premier groups of Kolkata. Rangakarmee was started in 1976 by theatre activist Usha Ganguly. Swapnasandhani was started in 1992 by Koushik Sen.

Dinabandhu Mitra published his first and most famous play Nil Darpan in 1860 about the plight of Indigo farmers. It was an emotionally motivating play which played a significant role in Indigo revolt (Nilbidroha). Kapalkundala is a Bengali romance novel by Indian writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Published in 1866, it is a story of a forest-dwelling girl named Kapalkundala, who fell in love with and married Nabakumar, a young gentleman from Saptagram, but eventually found that she is unable to adjust herself with the city life. Rakta Karabi was Rabindranath Tagore's written play. Ebang Indrajit was Badal Sarkar' first play.

Bihurupee, the foremost theatre group was founded in 1948 by some active members who left the Indian People's Theatre Association like Sombhu Mitra and Bijon Bhattacharya.

Some famous plays written by Bijon Bhattacharya include Jabanbandi, Nabanna, Mora Chand, Debi Gorjon, Aaj Basanta, etc.

With the efforts of a Russian dramatist, Gerasim Lebedev and a Bengali theatre lover Goloknath Das, earliest plays were staged in the theatre. These plays were Disguise and Love is the Best Doctor.

The Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) was established in 1943 in Calcutta. Its goal was to bring cultural awakening among the people.

Badal Sarkar experimented with Stage craft, costumes, presentation and subject matter of theatre. He is seen as modern Indian playwright in Bengali just as Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi and Girish Karnad in Kannada.

Badal Sarkar received Padma Shri Award in 1972. He received Sangeet Natak akademi Award in 1968. He received Padma Bhusan in 2010.

Madhusudan Manch is an auditorium located at Dhakuria in Kolkata. This was established in 1995.

Utpal Dutt staged plays like Tiner Toloar, Dushwapner Hagari, Surya Shikar and Maha Bidroha. Some of the other famous plays of him were Lall Durgo and Janatar Aphim in 1990.

Life Divine was written by Aurobindo Ghosh.

The Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) was the cultural wing of both CPIM and CPI.

In 1992, Kaushik Sen founded Bengali theatre group 'Swapnasandhani'. Some major productions of it include Macbeth, Jal Chhabi, Tiktiki, Punoscho, Birpurush, etc.

The Crude Birth Rate (CBR) of West Bengal is 16%, which is lower than the national average of 21.4%

The AYUSHMATI scheme run by the West Bengal Government, caters to provide maternity services to evry needy woman.

Rudraprasad Sengupta joined the Kolkata based Nandikar theatre group in 1961 and later became the leader of the group and started to direct several plays for that group.

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The West Bengal government started the Swasthya Sathi in 2016 to provide medical insurance cover upto 1.5 lakh rupees.

The Hindu College of Kolkata was established in the year 1817. It was renamed as Presidency College in 1855.

Festivals and fairs are an integral part of the Bhutiya tribal society. Most of these Bhutiya festivals and social functions have Buddhist religious significance. Amongst the festivals of Bhutiya tribe, the Losar and Losoong are most significant.

Losar and Losoong are popular festivals of Bhutiya tribe.

The first women graduates Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu were from West Bengal in 1884. Kadambini Ganguly also became the first women physician.

The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) runs the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists) scheme for the mothers and ailing infants in West Bengal. The AYUSHMATI schem run by the West Bengal government, caters to provide maternity services to every needy woman. The West Bengal state has initiated an insurance scheme from 2014 known as West Bengal Cashless Medical Treatment Scheme.

The sex ratio of Scheduled Caste population is 951, which is higher than the national average of 945. Bankura district has the highest Scheduled Caste se ratio of 979 and Kolkata district has the lowest SC sex ratio of 889.

According to Census 2011, Scheduled Tribe (ST) population in the state is 52,96,953 which constitutes 5.8% of the total population of the state.

Tripitaka is the sacred book of Magh (Mog) tribal community in West Bengal. It is written in Pali language.

As per Census 2011, the rural literacy rate of West Bengal is 72.13%. The rural male literacy rate stands at 78.44% and the rural female literacy rate stands at 65.50%.

As per Census 2011, literacy rate in West Bengal is 76.26% which is higher than the national average of 74%. Male literacy rate is 81.69% and female literacy rate is 70.54%.

Munda tribe has a well developed script known as Mundari Bani which was invented by Rohidas Singh Nag.

Madhur-Sneha is the first Human Milk Bank set-up in West Bengal at SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. It was started in 2013.

The Hindu College was established in 1817 by Raja Rammohan Roy, Radhakanta Deb, David Hare, Justice Sir Edward Hyde, Baidyanath Mukhopadhyay ana Rasamay Dutt.