The vast rural hinterland, comprising the districts of Hooghly, Bankura, Purulia, Midnapur and Burdwan had been left uncared for in British India. The situation did not improve much even in the initial years of India's independence. It was in this atmosphere of constant hardship and frustration that Dr. Radhakrisna Pal, the then M. L. A. of the area, freedom fighter and educationalist took up an uphill task of spreading education from primary to college level. With this end in view, he set up in this region a number of educational institutions all by himself. He dreamt a dream of setting up at Bengai, a Degree College and named it after Smt. Aghorekamini Roy and Sri. Prakashchandra Roy, the parents of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, the then Chief Minister, West Bengal. On January 4, 1959, Dr. Roy laid the foundation stone of the dream college which started its functioning in the same year and was affiliated to the University of Calcutta. In 1960, it came under the jurisdiction of the University of Burdwan.