Overview

• Aitijhya Das, 5, wrote to the West Bengal chief minister asking that his mother be moved closer to their home in Asansol.
• His mother, Swagata Pain, has served as a primary teacher in Uttar Dinajpur since 2021 at a distance reported between roughly 450 and 600 kilometers.
• Pain says repeated transfer requests to various offices, including the chief minister’s, have received no reply to date.
• The family cites the child’s asthma—worsened during a trial stay in Uttar Dinajpur—and caregiving by his father and elderly grandfather as reasons he remains in Asansol.
• Teachers and the family point to a broader issue, with reports that about 16,500 were recruited in 2021 and roughly 6,000 were posted away from their home districts.