C. V. Ananda Bose

Some Lesser Known Facts About C. V. Ananda Bose

• An average student, Ananda grew up participating in various co-curricular activities in his school days.

• While studying at college, Bose developed an interest in debating and participated in several inter-college debate and elocution competitions. He won around 100 debate competitions and bagged around 15 gold medals in debates.

• He was considered one of the best speakers at Kerala University.

• After pursuing a post-graduation degree in English, Ananda started working as an assistant professor in a central government college.

• Simultaneously, he started preparing for bank exams. Within a few months, he passed the banking exam and got placed as a probationary officer at the State Bank of India, Kolkata.

• He then decided to appear in the civil services examinations and became a 1977 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Kerala cadre.

• He then went for his training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie, where he topped several debates.

• During his tenure as an IAS officer, Ananda initiated several innovative movements in the field of affordable housing, good governance, health care, science and technology, rural development, education, gender mainstreaming and communal harmony.

• He also founded several institutions like Nirmithi Kendra (Building Centre), District Tourism Council, and Dhanvantri fair price shops for medicine, which were replicated at the national and global levels.

• While serving as the sub-collector of Kasargod, Ananda introduced the Gramotsava program that helped in the time-bound development of rural areas. The Kerala government found the program to be effective and after officially evaluating it, decided to replicate the model in the entire rural sector of the state. The program was applied to around 200 panchayats in Kerala.

• After his superannuation (as an IAS officer) in 2011, Bose was appointed Chairman of the Govt. of India Public Sector Undertakings, Central Warehousing Corporation & Central Rail side Warehouse Company Ltd.

• He has also worked as the Chairman of the Habitat Alliance, in consultative status with UN Ecosoc.

• Ananda Bose was once a member of the UN-Habitat Governing Council.

• In 2018, he was appointed as an advisor to the Meghalaya government.

• Bose entered politics in 2019 and became a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

• Although he kept himself away from state politics, he networked with the national leaders.

• In 2021, after the Bharatiya Janata Party failed to perform well at the Kerala Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought Ananda’s suggestions to revive the party in Kerala. A report for submitted for the same by Ananda, which did not go well with the existing leadership in Kerala.

• On 17 November 2022, the President of India Droupadi Murmu named C. V. Ananda Bose as the twenty-second governor of West Bengal. Ananda assumed the office on 23 November 2022 and took over the responsibilities of the governor from Manipur Governor La Ganesan, the interim governor of West Bengal who assumed the additional charge as the governor of West Bengal on 18 July 2022 after Jagdeep Dhankhar (previous governor of West Bengal) was elected as the Vice-President of India.

• Ananda Bose took the oath at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Speaker Biman Banerjee, and other state ministries. The oath was administered to him by Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Prakash Shrivastava.

  

• After taking the charge as the governor of West Bengal, C. V. Ananda addressed the media and said,
  

  I consider this as a great opportunity for me to know the great state firsthand, to interact with the people and be of some service to the people of West Bengal. I don’t see the governor’s post as a big position but as an opportunity to commit my service to the welfare of the people.”

• C. V. Ananda Bose is well-versed in three languages- English, Hindi, and Malayalam.

• He is very active in literary works and has published 45 books in Hindi, English, and Malayalam which consist of novels, short stories, poems, and essays.

• Although a Malayali by birth, Ananda was given the Bengali surname ‘Bose’ after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by his father as his father was a great admirer of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

• Bose is fond of the Bengali white rosogollas.

• Ananda is the second civil service officer to become the governor of West Bengal during Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s tenure (2010-2014). The first one being M. K. Narayanan.

• Post his retirement as an IAS officer, Ananda has put his efforts in upholding India’s heritage with his writings and media interviews. His efforts at social integration and mainstreaming of minorities has made perceptible impact in society.

• Known widely for his mastery in oratory, Ananda Bose has addressed many prestigious global forums like the United Nations General Assembly, European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, and International Fusion Energy Organisation.

• He was described as an ‘ace debater’ and ‘man of ideas’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as ‘an inspired civil servant’ by PM Manmohan Singh, and as ‘lord of ideas’ by the government of Kerala. He is also known as the ‘makeover man’ of the civil service.

• According to some sources, during the lockdown period in India due to Covid-19, the labour ministry sought an action plan from Bose for the welfare of migrant workers.

• In November 2023, Ananda claimed that attempts at snooping were being made at his official residence. While making this allegation, in an interview, he asserted that he had credible information about the incident; however, he refrained from disclosing any specific names. ^[6]Hindustan Times In the interview, Ananda said,
  

  It is a fact. I had reliable information about snooping in Raj Bhavan. That issue has been flagged to the concerned authorities. I will wait and watch.”

• On 20 June 2024, he said he was not feeling safe with the contingent of Kolkata Police posted at Raj Bhavan in Kolkata. He had earlier ordered the police personnel to vacate the Raj Bhavan premises.