Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 26 (ANI): The West Bengal Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod to introduce a bill to replace the governor with the chief minister as chancellor of all state-run universities, informed education minister Bratya Basu.

Kolkata Apr 21 PTI Seven universities of West Bengal signed 15 memoranda of understanding MoUs with higher educational institutions based outside India and the state for joint research programmes knowledge transfer and academic exchange an education department official said The MoUs were inked during the Global Interactive Session a part of the Bengal Global Business Summit organised by the state government here in presence of Education Minister Bratya Basu Four state-run and three private universities made those pacts with five foreign varsities and 10 Indian institutes We are exploring country-level collaborations partnerships between regional and international universities and preparation of an institutional framework for promoting strategic partnerships Basu said at the programme State-run Jadavpur University JU and Calcutta University CU signed five and three MoUs with different institutions respectively while Presidency University and Vidyasagar University inked one each on Wednesday Privately-run Adamas University Seacom Skills University and Sister Nivedita University also signed MoUs with various institutes JU signed an MoU with University of Warsaw Poland for knowledge transfer academic collaboration and student mobility in social science and another with Exeter University UK for joint classes and thesis supervision in various subjects JU inked three more pacts with other Indian institutes Calcutta University signed MoUs with UCL London for joint research programmes in development of software tools for low cost diagnostics and with University of Leeds England for quality improvement in teaching-learning process It inked the third MoU with University of Warsaw in the domain of political sciences and international studies for student and faculty exchange Vidyasagar University signed an MoU with the Russian Academy of Sciences for development and implementation of collaborative research projects Presidency University VC Anuradha Lohia signed an MoU with Jamshedpur-based Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research in the field of Earth Science for mentoring of research scholars and studentship programmes Among private universities Sister Nivedita University signed an MoU with Okayama University of Japan for development of healthcare industry and knowledge transfer Basu said 15 universities and 319 colleges of Bengal are accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council NAAC which affirms the high academic standard of the state in the regime of Mamata Banerjee We did have many such collaborations with universities in the country and abroad in the past in different fields of science and arts We will continue to look for future collaborations partnering with institutions known for their pioneering works in different fields CU VC Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee told PTI after signing the MoU The MoUs were inked at the Global Interactive Session attended by British Council Director Barbara Wickham Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner Australian Trade and Investment Commission Dr Monica Kennedy and other foreign dignitaries at Science City on Wednesday PTI SUS NN NN

Kolkata Mar 22 PTI The West Bengal school education department will fill up all the vacant posts of teachers in an expeditious manner state Minister Bratya Basu said in the assembly on TuesdayWe give importance to imparting quality education to children in state-run and aided schools Our students are making us proud with their achievements in the country So while recruiting we exercise caution so that there is no compromise on the quality front Basu said during a question-answer session in the HouseAs instructed by the chief minister the department is taking every single step to fill up all vacant posts of teachers in the state-run and aided schools in an expeditious mannerBasu said the authorities will take help of the portal of the department to see if meritorious students are either posted in schools near their residences or within the respective district PTI SUS BDC BDC

Kolkata Jan 21 PTI West Bengal education minister and eminent theatre personality Bratya Basu has been appointed as the chairman of Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi an autonomous body which promotes study and research of Bengali literature Basu will be succeeding thespian Saoli Mitra who breathed her last on January 15 In a notification issued on Thursday the Information and Cultural Affairs Department said Bratya Basu is being appointed as the new chairman of Bangla Akademi from January 20 till further orders Appointments in Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi are made only after the governor gives his assent to the names recommended by the state government The department in its notification has also named eminent personalities such as poet Joy Goswami and writer Shirshendu Mukherjee as the autonomous bodys invited members Basu was conferred Sahitya Akademi Award last year for his book Mirzafar O Anyanya Natok Mirzafar and Other Plays PTI SUS RMS RMS

Kolkata Dec 31 PTI With daily COVID-19 cases doubling within one day the West Bengal School Education Department has asked teachers and non-teaching staffers having cough cold or mild fever to not attend schools till they test negative for the infection The state registered more than 1000 fresh cases on Wednesday after a gap of nearly six months The daily count crossed 2000 on Thursday Primary secondary and higher secondary schools have been asked to ensure that teachers and non-teaching employees dont come to the institutions if they have a cold cough or mild fever Also they must get tested for COVID-19 and will be allowed to enter the schools only if the results return negative They will have to produce the reports to the health department an official told PTI on Friday While physical classes for standards 9-12 have resumed on November 16 the state government has been mulling to restart lower classes in the offline mode in a phased manner from next year Education Minister Bratya Basu had earlier said However with the fresh spike in cases Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently said that the government will review the situation and take steps accordingly keeping in mind the safety of the students PTI SUS SBN ACD ACD

New Delhi Dec 30 PTI Eminent author Namita Gokhale TMC MLA Bratya Basu and noted Punjabi writer Khalid Hussian were among the 20 names announced for the Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 on Thursday The annual awards given in 20 Indian languages included seven books of poetry two novels five short stories two plays one book each of biography autobiography criticism and epic poetry While Gokhale won the award for her 2016 historical epic novel Things to Leave Behind Basu and Hussain won the awards for a play and collection of short stories Sullan Da Salan respectively Deeply honoured by the Sahitya Akademi Award for English 2021 for my novel Things To Leave Behind Feel a deep sense of pride and gratitude to belong to the vibrant Indian literatures ManyLanguagesOneLiterature sahityaakademi PenguinIndia JaipurLitFest tweeted Gokhale The awards for Gujarati Maithili Manipuri and Urdu languages will be announced at a later date the Akademi said in a statement Mwdal Gahai Bodo Sanjiv Verenkar Konkani Hrushikesh Mallick Odia Meethesh Nirmohi Rajasthani Vindeshwariprasad Mishr Vinay Sanskrit Arjun Chawia Sindhi and Gorati Venkannat Telugu were named as winners for poetry Apart from Hussain the others who won the award for short stories include Raj Rahi Dogri Kiran Gurav Marathi Niranjan Hansda Santali and Ambai Tamil Other winners of the award are DS Nagabhushana Kannada for a biography George Onakkoor Malayalam for an autobiography Daya Prakash Sinha Hindi for a play Wali Mohd Aseer Kashtawari Kashmiri for criticism Anuradha Sarma Pujari Assamese for novel and Chhabilal Upadhyaya Nepali for epic poetry The books were selected on the basis of recommendations made by a jury of three members in the concerned languages in accordance with the procedure laid down for the purpose According to the procedure the Executive Board declared the awards on the basis of unanimous selections made by the jurors or selection made on the basis of majority vote The awards relate to books first published during the five years immediately preceding the year of Award between January 1 2015 and December 31 2019 the Akademi said The award which will include a casket containing an engraved copper plaque a shawl and an amount of Rs 100000 will be presented at the award presentation function which will be held at a later date PTI ASG MG AAR AAR

New Delhi Dec 30 PTI Eminent author Namita Gokhale TMC MLA Bratya Basu and noted Punjabi writer Khalid Hussian were among the 20 names announced for the Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 on Thursday The annual awards given in 20 Indian languages included seven books of poetry two novels five short stories two plays one book each of biography autobiography criticism and epic poetry While Gokhale won the award for her 2016 historical epic novel Things to Leave Behind Basu and Hussain won the awards for a play and collection of short stories Sullan Da Salan respectively Deeply honoured by the Sahitya Akademi Award for English 2021 for my novel Things To Leave Behind Feel a deep sense of pride and gratitude to belong to the vibrant Indian literatures ManyLanguagesOneLiterature sahityaakademi PenguinIndia JaipurLitFest tweeted Gokhale The awards for Gujarati Maithili Manipuri and Urdu languages will be announced at a later date the Akademi said in a statement Mwdal Gahai Bodo Sanjiv Verenkar Konkani Hrushikesh Mallick Odia Meethesh Nirmohi Rajasthani Vindeshwariprasad Mishr Vinay Sanskrit Arjun Chawia Sindhi and Gorati Venkannat Telugu were named as winners for poetry Apart from Hussain the others who won the award for short stories include Raj Rahi Dogri Kiran Gurav Marathi Niranjan Hansda Santali and Ambai Tamil Other winners of the award are DS Nagabhushana Kannada for a biography George Onakkoor Malayalam for an autobiography Daya Prakash Sinha Hindi for a play Wali Mohd Aseer Kashtawari Kashmiri for criticism and Chhabilal Upadhyaya Nepali for epic poetry The books were selected on the basis of recommendations made by a jury of three members in the concerned languages in accordance with the procedure laid down for the purpose According to the procedure the Executive Board declared the awards on the basis of unanimous selections made by the jurors or selection made on the basis of majority vote The awards relate to books first published during the five years immediately preceding the year of Award between January 1 2015 and December 31 2019 the Akademi said The award which will include a casket containing an engraved copper plaque a shawl and an amount of Rs 100000 will be presented at the award presentation function which will be held at a later date PTI ASG MG AAR

Kolkata Dec 30 PTI West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu on Thursday shared a satirical Bengali poem by Sukumar Roy on his Twitter handle to take a jibe at Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar without naming him Basu also a theatre personality posted eight stanzas of Roys popular poem Lorai Khyapa The Fight is Crazy in which the poet humourously narrates the antics of a person who often gets angry over one issue or another suddenly jumps out of his chair in a fit of rage to rave and rant and then threatens to carry on his fierce fight against one and all His post has two Bengali words at the top -prosongo anumodan subject - approval indicating the flagging by Dhankhar earlier in the day about the Chancellors approval on the appointment of VCs Roy is a famed poet of the nonsense poem genre and is the father of film maestro Satyajit Ray Dhankhar who shares an acrimonious relation with the TMC government in the state ever since he took over office in July 2019 has alleged that approval on the appointment of VCs in the state universities was not taken from Raj Bhavan by the Trinamool Congress government in the past The governor said the appointment of vice-chancellors in 24 state universities in the past was made without his approval or in defiance of orders and demanded an explanation from the higher education department on the matter Basu had in the past advocated stopping the practice of the governor being the chancellor of state universities and appointing a scholar in his place instead Vice-chancellors Council general secretary Subiresh Bhattacharya told PTI We had all been duly appointed as per the Act drafted by the state government in the past If someone comments without knowing the Act that is his problem Bhattacharya who is also the VC of North Bengal University said the VCs Council will not react to what someone says The West Bengal State Universities Terms and Conditions of Service of the Vice Chancellor the Manner and Procedure of Official Communication Rules 2019 introduced to the West Bengal Universities and Colleges Administration and Regulation Act 2017 had abolished the chancellors secretariat and reduced the chancellors role in choosing vice-chancellors It also took away his power to convene meeting of the highest bodies of the universities or take action against vice-chancellors PTI SUS KK KK KK

Kolkata Dec 24 PTI Months ahead of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration GTA election former GJM leader Binay Tamang who had quit the hills-based party earlier this year joined the ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday Former Gorkha Janmukti Morcha GJM MLA Rohit Sharma also joined Mamata Banerjees party Tamang and Sharma were handed over TMC flags by state ministers Moloy Ghatak and Bratya Basu When asked about his stance on the Gorkhaland statehood issue Tamang said the development of Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills is his top priority Development of the hills is my top priority The BJP is trying to use the statehood issue to fool the people of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts Since 2009 they have been saying that they support the Gorkhaland demand but have not done anything towards it he said Tamang who had broken away from Bimal Gurung-led GJM in 2017 and led a faction of the party quit the hills-based outfit in July this year Election to the 45-member GTA is likely to be held early next year The last election to the semi-autonomous council was held in 2012 Tamangs joining the TMC comes at a time when a section of BJP leaders have renewed the demand for Gorkhaland state and also sought to carve out north Bengal as a centrally-administered Union territory citing disparity in development and injustice to the people of the region PTI PNT ACD ACD

Kolkata Dec 23 PTI An association of Jadavpur University professors on Thursday wrote to West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Education Minister Bratya Basu requesting them to take immediate steps to fill up vacant posts of dean in arts and engineering faculties of the institute The Jadavpur University Teachers Association also pointed out that absence of chancellors nominees for Comparative Literature and Bengali departments is impeding academic activities There is no permanent dean either in the faculty of Arts or in the faculty of Engineering and Technology for a long time This seriously hampers various academic and administrative activities and functioning the JUTA said in the letters sent separately to Basu and Dhankhar the chancellor of the institute After the amendment of the Jadavpur University Act1981 in 2011 and 2012 the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies Law and Management was created and students have been admitted to various courses but the FISLM cannot award degrees as the universitys statutes have still not been amended JUTA general secretary Partha Pratim Ray said This is likely to cause considerable difficulties for students admitted to various courses of study under this faculty Such students may face problems with their degrees in future In such a situation we request you to either approve the amended statutes or close down this faculty We cannot keep on playing with our students future in this manner for an indefinite period of time Ray said in the letters PTI SUS BDC BDC