Bengal government always keen to talk to governor over running of universities: Education Minister

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government has always shown its willingness to hold discussions with Governor CV Ananda Bose over the functioning of state-run universities, Education Minister Bratya Basu said on Tuesday. The state has repeatedly made attempts to hold talks with the governor over university-related issues, including the appointment of vice-chancellors, he told reporters.

"We had said more than four times in the past that we are positive about holding talks with him," the minister said. He, however, refused to comment on the governor's meeting with the interim VCs of 22 state-run universities. Basu was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function organised to mark the 203rd birth anniversary of icon Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar.

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Addressing the programme, he hailed the roles that Vidyasagar played as a social reformer, educator and linguist. He said that the state government will provide full support to the Vidyasagar Academy, which has been set up at the 147-year-old building where the legend used to live. 'Mahasagar Vidyasagar', a compilation of essays and poems by Rabindranath Tagore, Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay, Michael Madhusudan Dutta and Satyendranath Dutta written as a tribute to the icon, was published by the academy. The book has been edited by Basu and academic Avik Majumdar.

The Vidyasagar Academy has plans to set up a library which will have books on Vidyasagar and books written by him, its chairperson Sailesh Mukherjee said. Tufts University professor Brian A Hatcher and writer Ketaki Kushari Dyson were honoured by the academy at the function for their contribution in research works on Vidyasagar.