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Hindu College, Delhi

College of the University of Delhi, India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hindu College, Delhi
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Hindu College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi.[1][2] Founded in 1899, it is one of the oldest colleges in India,[3][4] offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the sciences, humanities and commerce.

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Hindu College

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The college has produced many notable alumni over the years, and has been awarded 'Star College' status for its Department of Biotechnology by the Ministry of Science and Technology.[5]

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History

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A 1999 stamp dedicated to Hindu College

Hindu College was founded in 1899 by Krishan Dassji Gurwale and Pandit Deen Dayal Sharma[6][7] in the backdrop of the nationalist struggle against the British Raj. Some prominent citizens, including Rai Bahadur Amba Prasad, Gurwale Ji, decided to start a college that would provide nationalist education to the youth, while being non-elitist and non-sectarian. Originally, the college was housed in a humble building in Kinari Bazar, Chandni Chowk, and it was affiliated to Punjab University as there was no university in Delhi at that time. As the college grew, it faced a major crisis in 1902. The Punjab University warned the college that the university would disaffiliate the college if the college failed to get a proper building of its own. Rai Bahadur Lala Sultan Singh came to rescue the college from this crisis. He donated a part of his historic property, which originally belonged to Colonel James Skinner, at Kashmiri Gate, Delhi, to the college. The college functioned from there till 1953.[8] When the University of Delhi took birth in 1922, Hindu College along with Ramjas College and St. Stephen's College were subsequently affiliated with the University of Delhi, making them the first three institutions to be affiliated with the university.[9]

Hindu College was a centre for intellectual and political debate during India's freedom struggle, especially during the Quit India Movement. It is the only college in Delhi to have a students' parliament since 1935, which provided a platform to many national leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Annie Besant, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Subhash Chandra Bose for motivating the youth. Responding to Gandhi's Quit India Movement in 1942, the college played a substantial role in India's freedom struggle and some of this college's teachers and students<patel> courted arrest.[10] The college also closed its gates for several months.[11]

Principals

  1. B.B. Mookerji, 1899–1906
  2. N.N. Roy, 1906–1911
  3. P.B. Adhikari, 1911–1915
  4. S. Sen, 1915–1917
  5. N.V. Thadani, 1917–1928
  6. S.K. Sen, 1928–1934
  7. N.V. Thadani, 1935–1950
  8. A. Bhattacharya, 1950–1957
  9. R.N. Mathur, 1958–1964
  10. B.M. Bhatia*, 1964–1971, 1973–1980
  11. P.C. Verma, 1980–1995
  12. S.N. Maheshwari, 1995–1997
  13. Kavita A. Sharma, 1998–2008
  14. S. Choudhary, 2008–2010
  15. Vinay K Srivastava, 2010–2012
  16. Pradumn Kumar 2012–2014
  17. Anju Srivastava 2014–present


*Dr. B.M. Bhatia was on leave for two years, 1971–1973. During this period, Dr. P.C. Sood was the substituting principal. [12]

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Campus

The college is spread across a 25-acre campus. Hindu College's library, founded in 1899, is among the oldest college libraries in the University of Delhi.

Hindu College's boys' Hostel is situated next to the sports complex of the college and provides residential facilities to about two hundred undergraduate and postgraduate male students. A girls' hostel, named Smt Indu Punj Girls' Hostel, began construction in 2013, accommodating 156 female students.[13]

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Academics

Rankings

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Hindu College is ranked first among colleges in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2024.[16]

Student life

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Student Societies

Every department has its own society which is tasked with organising department-specific co-curricular activities. Ibtida is the dramatics society of Hindu College which performs both stage and street plays. It was formed by Imtiaz Ali while he was a student at the college.[17] The women's development cell of the college has been very active in gender sensitisation and after the scrapping of section 377 successfully led pride parades to create awareness about LGBTQ+ rights.[citation needed] Caucus l[18] is the discussion forum of Hindu College and works as a mini think tank. It was founded in 2008 and organises group discussions, speaker sessions, roundtable discussions, runs an active blog on its website www.caucus.in and publishes a monthly magazine The Probe. Caucus also functions as the international cell of the college and is responsible for managing the international collaborations of the college. Recently, they have collaborated with King's College London. The intellectual fest of Hindu College - Compass is also organised annually by Caucus and has hosted various eminent personalities in the past like Prof. Arvind Panagariya, Mr. William Dalrymple, Amb. Shivshanker Menon, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Mr. Shekhar Gupta among others. It is one of the most active societies of the college.

Hindu College runs the Naval Wing of NCC since 2004.

Hindu College in 2017 established Electoral Literacy Club (Jagriti). The club conducts the Annual Youth Dialogue at Hindu College as its annual student festival by the name 'Drishti' and also conduct other important events and enthusiastically celebrates days like Constitution Day, National Voter's Day, etc. It hosted its annual student festival 'Drishti: Annual Youth Dialogue 2023', on 9 May 2023 with a resounding success. The Indian music society, Alankar, holds its annual festival Harmony every year.[19] The English debating society, popularly known as the Debsoc, is representative of an inquiring and active intellectual life on campus. Debsoc is the only debating society at Delhi University to organise four major debates in an academic year.[20]

The Science Forum is a group of diverse science enthusiasts dwelling in Hindu College.[21]

The Symposium Society is the policy and deliberation forum of Hindu College, University of Delhi. The organization follows a 'General Body' structure, with the President and vice-president at the core. Among its many activities the prominent ones are the Prime Ministerial Debate and Interviews, Hindu Darbar, Hindu Mock Indian Parliament (HMIP), and Hindu Policy Forum (HPS).[citation needed] Furthermore, the society promotes independent student journalism through its bimonthly publication- Hindu College Gazette. The publication also reviews and publishes opinions and analyses from scholars and writers from across the country.[22] However, this society has become inactive lately.

Other societies include Abhyas - The Internship Cell; The Finance & Investment Cell; Abhirang, the Hindi Dramatic Society; Adhrita, The Indian Dance Society, that works to maintain culture and heritage and conduct the only dance fest of DU; Abstraction, the Fine Arts Society; Aria, the Western Music Society; Manthan, the Quiz Society; Srijya, the Contemporary Dance Society; Scribe: The Literary Society; Masque, The English Dramatic Society; Vagmi, the Hindi Debating Society; and Vivre, The Film and Photography Society, the Entrepreneurship Cell, or more commonly just Ecell.[citation needed]

Students' Parliament

The college has a Students' Parliament. The Hindu College Parliament is a unique student organisation in the country. All the students and teachers of the college are its members. The students elect the Prime Minister from amongst themselves at the beginning of the year. There is also a Leader of the Opposition. The Speaker of the Parliament is a teacher nominated by the Principal in his/her capacity as the President of the Hindu College Republic.[23] The College Parliament is a forum for discussions on academic and other issues. It allocates funds to various societies. The parliament is in continuous operation since 1935. Members of the Cabinet of students' Parliament are elected by students. The students' parliament takes care of student demands.[24]

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Notable alumni

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The alumni of Hindu College are called Hinduites.

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References

External links

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