University bills not aimed at election : Partha

The Kanyashree University Bill and Harichand Guruchand University Bill 2018 introduced by the West Bengal government are not election gimmicks, state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee asserted on Wednesday.

Chatterjee was replying to allegations raised by BJP MLA and the party state unit president Dilip Ghosh assembly during the discussion on the bills in the assembly that though Harichand Guruchand University, proposed to be set up at Thakurnagar at North 24 Parganas, is a welcome step but should have been introduced much earlier.

The Kanyashree University is the second university exclusively in the state with emphasis to the women under the Kanyashree Prakalpa ensuring the empowerment of adolescent girls who complete school education.

He said the bill has been introduced at this juncture with an eye on the impending general election next year and to woo voters in the name of education.

Ghosh also expressed doubts whether the announcements for new universities would remain on paper.

Chatterjee responding to his comments in the House said work for all the universities announced by the government is progressing. Land for the universities have been allotted and budgets allocated.

He also invited Ghosh to pay a visit to get a first hand experience of these university projects.

The Kanyashree scheme - a targeted conditional cash transfer scheme of the West Bengal government aimed at retaining girls in schools and other educational and skill development institutions and preventing early child marriage was recognised by Unesco last year.

The proposed Harichand Guruchand University will empower students of Thakurnagar, which is inhabited by a large number of Matua community people, who are still far from the ambit of higher education due to geographical distances and and economic distress.