Kolkata: On the occasion of Children's Day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee advised students to use their brains to distinguish between real and fake news.
She made these remarks while attending a ceremony to distribute tablets to class 12 students, State Education Minister Bratya Basu was also present.
"Use your brains which have so many cells. Those brain cells get spoiled by evil thinking. So, think positively to keep those brain cells active and differentiate genuine news from fake news," the Chief Minister said.
Her advice was to avoid news channels as far as possible since they often resort to broadcasting fake news to pump up their TRPs.
Without directly mentioning the recent controversies over the teachers' recruitment scam in the state, Banerjee said that work mistakes are bound to happen.
"We will have to rectify those mistakes. The law will surely take its own course. Avoid watching television news channels as far as possible. They always broadcast propaganda against us. They did not spare me even when I was the railway minister," she said.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister's advice to the school children present on the occasion was to get over excessive greed. "Life is short. So why become the victim of greed? For you, the value of humanity should be much more than crores of rupees"
She also used the dais to launch an attack against the opposition parties in the state without directly naming them.
"Those who do not have the minimum respect and love for West Bengal are resorting to baseless scandals. They are pleading with New Delhi to stop funds to West Bengal. Do I care about Delhi? West Bengal is self-sufficient," Banerjee said.
She claimed that her regime started the process where secondary and high-secondary students of West Bengal boards and councils are granted higher marks at par with other national and state examination boards.
"Previously, because of the low marking system in West Bengal, the students here lagged behind their counterparts in other boards. But after we came to power, we started the system of higher marking."
