Bratya Basu – Artifex.News

Union, W.B. Education Ministers spar over NEP, funds

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 19:43:00 +0000

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan addressing a teachers’ conference in Kolkata on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Criticising the Mamata Banerjee government on several fronts relating to education, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said that West Bengal lost Central funds worth ₹10,000 crore by not implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) in the State.

“Despite repeated requests, the NEP was not implemented in West Bengal by the State government. The policy talks about education in the mother tongue, and in West Bengal, that would have been Bengali. The State government does not want to allow education in Bengali,” Mr. Pradhan said while addressing a teachers’ conference organised by the Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kolkata on Saturday.

The Union Minister said that had the NEP been implemented, additional funds would have been given to the State under the Samagra Shiksha Mission. Mr. Pradhan also accused the Mamata Banerjee government of siphoning off funds from the midday meal scheme.

Mr. Pradhan cited various statistics to argue that the education system in West Bengal had deteriorated during the Trinamool Congress regime in the state. The Minister said that West Bengal accounted for nearly 50 % of the total schools in the country that do not have a single teacher. “The maximum number of teacher-less schools in the country is in West Bengal. The figure is around 4,000, which is almost 50 % of the national figure,” he said.

The BJP leader said that internet penetration in state-run schools is just 16 % in West Bengal, compared to the national average of 70 %.

‘SEP more advanced’

State Education Minister Bratya Basu refuted the charges made by the Union Minister and said that the State Education Policy (SEP) was adopted in 2023, where all acceptable aspects of the NEP have been incorporated.

“Policies that protect the interests of West Bengal and those already practised in the State have also been included. The State Education Policy is more advanced. Education being on the concurrent list, the Bengal government is empowered to follow its own policy,” the State Education Minister said.

On the charge of the Union Minister that the State has the highest number of teacher-less schools in the country, Mr. Basu claimed that there are inconsistencies in this information for various reasons.

“The education portal includes several private aided schools whose teacher count became zero and were consequently shut down. However, due to their UDISE numbers, they are still shown as government schools on the portal. These have been identified, and a corrected portal will be published shortly,” the West Bengal Education Minister said.

On low penetration of internet, Mr. Basu said that all government upper primary, secondary and Higher Secondary schools in the state were provided internet facilities long ago.

The State Education Minister also refuted charges of siphoning out of mid day meal funds and said that the claims were “baseless and unfounded allegation”. “If any such complaint is found anywhere, anyone can file an FIR regarding the matter, none of which has come to the knowledge of the Government,” Mr. Basu.

Published – February 15, 2026 01:13 am IST

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Bengal Governor’s Midnight Letters, And A “Vampire” Dig By Minister

admin — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 03:13:51 +0000

Governor Bose had on Saturday warned of “midnight action”.

Kolkata:

Two confidential sealed letters, one sent to the state Secretariat and the other to the Centre, is the latest flashpoint between West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose and state education minister Bratya Basu after the latter accused Mr Bose of trying to “destroy” the higher education system in the state and running a “puppet regime” in universities.

Following Mr Basu’s strong allegations, Governor Bose had on Saturday warned of “midnight action”.

“Wait for the stroke of midnight today. You will see what is the action,” Governor Bose said.

As the clock approached midnight, two confidential and sealed letters were dispatched to their destinations, sparking a new twist in the ongoing feud between the two leaders.

Governor Bose signed the letters shortly after a meeting with Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi at the Bengal Raj Bhavan. The meeting was not made public by either the state government or the Governor’s office.

Soon after Governor Bose’s stern warning, Mr Basu took a veiled swipe at him, referring to him as the “new vampire in town” and warning people to “beware”.

“See till midnight, see the action BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! New Vampire in the town! Citizens please watch yourselves. Eagerly waiting for the “Rakkhas Prahar” (monster prahar), according to Indian Mythology!,” Mr Basu posted on X, formerly on Twitter.

“See till midnight, see the action”
BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE!
New Vampire in the town! Citizens please watch yourselves. Eagerly waiting for the “Rakkhas Prahar”, according to Indian Mythology!

— Bratya Basu (@basu_bratya) September 9, 2023

In the latest round of the ongoing feud between the West Bengal government and the Raj Bhavan over the appointment of interim vice-chancellors in universities,

Mr Basu accused the governor of deliberately undermining the state’s higher education system. The minister also accused the governor, who is also the chancellor of state-run universities, of running a “puppet regime” in the universities and of using intimidation tactics to prevent registrars from meeting with the higher education department.

“The honourable governor wants to run a puppet regime by appointing people according to his whims to satisfy someone’s ego. He is making a constant effort to dismantle the higher education system,” Mr Basu said.

The governor recently appointed interim vice-chancellors for eight universities in Bengal, including Presidency University, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT), and the University of Burdwan, a move that was met with heavy criticism from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who accused the Mr Bose of interfering with the running of state-run universities.

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Bengal Minister After Governor’s Varsity Appointments

admin — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 11:40:51 +0000

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has bitterly criticised the Governor over the appointments.

Kolkata:

Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose’s move to appoint interim vice-chancellors of seven universities, including Presidency University, has stirred a hornet’s nest. State education minister Bratya Basu likened him to “James Bond” and said Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who was his predecessor in Bengal’s Raj Bhavan, compared favourably.

On Sunday, in his capacity as the Chancellor of state-run universities, the Governor had appointed Vice-Chancellors for seven universities. Besides Presidency, the list includes Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology and University of Burdwan, Netaji Subhas Open University and West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences.

“The earlier Governor at least used to move files. If I sent a file, he would send a note and I would send a note in return. If we disagreed, we argued, and he knew the law as he was a senior lawyer…There was discussion and dialogue, it was not a monologue like this,” Bratya Basu said today.

“He never left out the state government on decisions. Every time I have spoken to Jagdeep Dhankhar, he wanted to sit at the table and discuss things. We argued over the law, and it happened face to face. But he was not silent operator like James Bond,” Mr Basu added.

The appointments come in the wake of a long war of words. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has bitterly criticised the Governor over the appointments, especially those where the appointees do not have an academic background.

Prof Raj Kumar Kothari has been appointed Interim VC of West Bengal State University, while Justice Subhrakamal Mukherjee, who currently holds interim charge of Rabindra Bharati University, will also be the interim Vice-Chancellor of Presidency University.

The Governor’s office has argued that the university statutes do not require Vice-Chancellors to have an academic background.

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