C V Ananda Bose, PM Modi’s “man of ideas,” is the new governor of West Bengal.
Bose was the head of the working group that drafted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development programme while he was acting as an adviser to the governor of Meghalaya. His notion of “affordable housing for all Indians” was chosen by the prime minister for nationwide execution, and he has been regarded as a “Man of Ideas.” Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh called him a “inspired government servant” as well.
The former official graduated from the elite BITS Pilani and served as the Indian government’s top secretary. According to his website, he has served as university vice-chancellor, principal secretary to Kerala’s chief minister, chairman of the central public sector undertaking Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), and district collector.
According to his website, Bose entered the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1977 and quickly created a name for himself by proposing innovations in good governance for the effective delivery of public services. He has a PhD in habitat and environment and serves as the head of the Habitat Alliance, which has consultative status with the United Nations. He also holds an MA in English literature from Kerala University.
Bose is the first Lal Bahadur Shastri Fellow and a winner of the coveted Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship.
In terms of his housing experience and contribution to Indian national policy, Bose launched the Nirmithi Kendra as the district collector of Kollam in 1985 to provide affordable and environmentally compatible homes. This has evolved into a nationwide network and is now one of the pillars of national housing policy.
Bengal’s incoming governor is a prolific writer and columnist who had written 40 volumes of novels, short tales, poetry, and essays, in English, Malayalam, and Hindi. He has received 33 international and national prizes in various domains and has represented India at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, and the International Fusion Energy Organisation, ITER, France. He served as the president of the Atomic Energy Education Society.
He was born on January 2, 1951, in Mannanam, a hamlet in Kerala’s Kottayam district, to freedom fighter PK Vasudevan Nair and former government employee C Padmavathy Amma. He married LS Lakshmi and had two daughters with her.
It remains to be seen how his relationship with the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal administration plays out. Dhankhar, his predecessor and currently India’s vice-president, had a contentious relationship with the ruling party.