Can one person be the author of the lyrics for the national anthems of three countries and one state? The answer to this riddle is simple—of course, he can, if he was born in the mid-19th century in West Bengal, became the first non-European Nobel laureate, and his name was Rabindranath Tagore.
Thus, the anthems still performed today include India's "Jana Gana Mana" ("Soul of the People"), Bangladesh's "Amar Sonar Bangla" ("My Golden Bengal")—as Bangladesh was formerly East Bengal, Sri Lanka's "Sri Lanka Matha" ("Mother Sri Lanka"), and finally, Bengal’s own anthem, "Banglar Mati Banglar Jol" ("Land and Water of Bengal").
What do we really know about this region, whose population is only slightly smaller than that of the Russian Federation? Bengal tigers, Bengal fire—some might recall Vasily Vereshchagin’s painting "Execution of the Sepoys", which actually depicts the execution of officers of the Bengal Army, marking the suppression of the first uprising for independence against the British.
And of course, there is Goddess Kali. Indiana Jones barely escaped from the clutches of her priests. The image of a mythical fanged woman holding a severed head and wearing a necklace of skulls is indeed striking. However, in West Bengal, she is revered, and a major festival is held in her honor. Unlike in Hollywood portrayals, Indians believe she protects them from demons—including American ones.
It was to this enigmatic land that a delegation from Saint Petersburg Mining University traveled in early March. The visit was reciprocal—six months earlier, a distinguished Indian delegation had attended the BRICS Summit of Rectors and Scientists, where they were impressed by the university's infrastructure and extended an invitation to visit. The first stop was the city of Kharagpur, home to one of the top Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)—among the 25 premier technological institutions in India.
On Sunday, the Saint Petersburg delegation was welcomed by a familiar face—Professor Biswajit Samanta, Dean of the Faculty of Mining, along with his entire team. Despite it being a weekend, all professors and assistants came to work to showcase their twelve laboratories.
These are the Geomechanics and Physical-Mechanical Properties of Rocks laboratories
Industrial ventilation and aerology of mining enterprises
Occupational safety
Mineral deposit development and blasting technologies
Computer modeling of rock dynamics.
The faculty, known here as the Department, conducts joint research, student and postgraduate exchange programs, and international publication and consulting activities with partners such as the Colorado School of Mines, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Technical University of Munich.
In 2024, in addition to state funding, the department generated 80 million rupees (currently 1 rupee = 1 ruble) from its international collaborations. There is reason to believe that by 2025, mutually beneficial agreements will establish strong ties between Saint Petersburg and Bengal.
«Our delegation traveled to Kharagpur not just to get better acquainted with our Indian colleagues, but to identify specific areas of collaboration that we can begin implementing this year. The world of science is so dynamic that success comes only to those who act without delay. Given the potential of Saint Petersburg Mining University, we presented concrete proposals: inviting Indian students to participate in our English-language summer schools, organizing a Russian-Indian forum for doctoral students and young researchers, and jointly preparing thematic issues of scientific papers for publication in high-ranking journals» - said Marat Rudakov, Vice-Rector for Special Programs.
The Department of Mining Engineering in Kharagpur currently has 435 undergraduate students, 44 master’s students, and 35 doctoral candidates. All of them have gone through an extremely competitive selection process. Admission to technical programs within the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), including Kharagpur, follows special regulations. Each year, around four million applicants compete for admission to these tuition-based universities, while only 40,000 spots are available—meaning that only one in every hundred applicants earns the opportunity to study.
The entrance examinations consist of two rounds. The first is analogous to Russia’s Unified State Exam (USE) and includes mathematics, chemistry, and physics—successful candidates make it to the shortlist. The second stage is also a written exam, but more advanced and evaluated alongside all school academic records. For doctoral candidates, most of whom stay at the university to teach, the selection process is slightly less competitive—only ten out of every hundred applicants are ultimately accepted. (For reference, doctoral students receive a stipend of 45,000 rupees).
There are two main reasons behind this intense competition. First, the most prestigious professions in India are medicine, law, and engineering—even in the marriage market, these three professions rank at the top. When parents choose a groom for their daughter, their primary concern is his financial stability. Engineers, in particular, are highly sought after by both state-owned and private companies engaged in natural resource extraction and processing, and their salaries, by local standards, are exceptionally high.
Like Russia, India possesses nearly the entire periodic table of elements. West Bengal is home to large deposits of coal, iron ore, manganese, silicon, limestone, kaolin (china clay), and dolomite. The subsoil of this state, along with the neighboring states of Bihar and Odisha, contains some of the world’s largest reserves of bauxite, chromite, and mica. West Bengal’s coal reserves are concentrated in the Raniganj coal seam, which currently supports 93 active mines. The headquarters of major state-owned mining enterprises, including Coal India Limited and Hindustan Copper Limited, are located in Kolkata, the state capital.
Kolkata, Howrah, and Durgapur serve as major hubs for heavy and light engineering, steel, cast iron, and aluminum production. Today, West Bengal leads the country in ferroalloy production. Thanks to India’s industrial policies and low energy tariffs, new metallurgical plants continue to be commissioned across the state. The estimated monthly production volume is 15 million tons, making it the highest in the country.
There is another significant aspect to the prestigious and in-demand profession of a mining engineer—one that is comparable to the tradition of wearing a uniform at Saint Petersburg Mining University. At the Saint Petersburg university, the uniform is not just a tradition but also a symbol of social equality.
We are all familiar with the caste system. There are the upper castes—Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors)—and the untouchables—Dalits, whose ancestors spent centuries rummaging through waste. The Equal Rights Act of 1951 granted formal equality only on paper. However, thanks to universities like IIT Kharagpur, discriminatory traditions are fading. This is partly because there is a government quota for lower castes (as they have less access to private schooling) and partly because the government has turned the caste system upside down.
Today, the highest caste in the country is considered to be a person, regardless of their ancestry, who has received an outstanding education. University dormitories are full of stories about students from different social backgrounds—for example, top-performing female students from various social strata, who not only studied together but remained friends afterward. Now, education—not birthright—determines a person’s place in India’s elite.
A clear confirmation of this transformation can be seen in the stark contrast between the city itself and its suburban campus, which is gated and guarded. Within this 1.5 square kilometer area, the streets are clean, the lawns and sports fields are well-maintained, and there are cafés and restaurants where one can safely dine without concern. Yes, only ten percent of India’s 1.5 billion population currently enjoys this standard of living, but the opportunity is available to everyone.
This, however, was merely the prelude to the visit. The following morning, in the office of Acting Rector Rintu Banerjee, the heads of all structural divisions gathered to introduce themselves and refine the working agenda. The program included visits to various faculties, laboratories, and research centers, as well as business meetings and presentations of collaborative opportunities from both sides.
Looking ahead, judging by the warm reception at every meeting, it is safe to say that the once-popular slogan from the last century, "Hindi-Rusi Bhai Bhai" (Indians and Russians are brothers), has not lost its relevance. This was further emphasized when, before the formal discussions, the guests were shown the university museum’s main exhibit—a MiG-21 fighter jet, which had taken part in the Indo-Pakistani war on the side of the Republic of India.
