Type Public Principal Dr. Anju Srivastava Campus Urban Founded 1899 Motto Music of Truth Parent organization University of Delhi | Established 1899 Academic staff 120 Founder Krishan Dassji Gurwale Phone 011 2766 7184 Number of students 2,500 | |
 | ||
Location University Enclave, New Delhi Address University of Delhi, University Enclave, Delhi, 110007 Notable alumni Imtiaz Ali, Arnab Goswami, Tisca Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Meenakshi Lekhi Similar University of Delhi, Ramjas College, Miranda House - University, Lady Shri Ram College f, Gargi College | ||
A day at hindu college university of delhi
Hindu College is one of the colleges under the affiliation of University of Delhi in Delhi, India. Founded in 1899, it offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in science, humanities and social sciences. The college is also among the oldest colleges in Delhi.
Contents
- A day at hindu college university of delhi
- History
- Principals
- Campus
- Library
- Hostel
- Student societies
- Departments
- Notable alumni
- References
Hindu College is ranked among the top colleges in India for humanities, science and commerce with more than 100 faculty members. It has been awarded the 'Star College' status for the Department of Biotechnology, by the Ministry of Science and Technology of India. Notwithstanding its name, students from all religions are admitted.
History
Hindu College was founded in 1899 by Krishan Dassji Gurwale in the backdrop of the nationalist struggle against British Raj. Some prominent citizens, including 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. Fortunately, 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. When the University of Delhi took birth in 1922, Hindu College along with Ramjas College and St. Stephen's College were subsequently affiliated to the University of Delhi, making them the first three institutions to be affiliated with the university.
Hindu College was a centre for intellectual and political debate during India’s freedom struggle, especially during the Quit India Movement. This 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, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Annie Besant, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Subhash Chandra Bose for motivating the youth. Responding whole-heartedly to Gandhi Ji's Quit India call in 1942, the college played a leading role in India’s freedom struggle as some teachers and students of the college even went to prison and it closed its gates for several months.
Principals
- B.B. Mookerji, 1899-1906
- N.N. Roy, 1906-1911
- P.B. Adhikari, 1911-1915
- S. Sen, 1915-1917
- N.V. Thadani, 1917-1928
- S.K. Sen, 1928-1934
- N.V. Thadani, 1935-1950
- A. Bhattacharya, 1950-1957
- R.N. Mathur, 1958-1964
- B.M. Bhatia*, 1964-1971, 1973-1980
- P.C. Verma, 1980-1995
- S.N. Maheshwari, 1995-1997
- Kavita A. Sharma, 1998-2008
- S. Choudhary, 2008–2010
- Vinay K Srivastava, 2010-2012
- Pradumn Kumar, 2012-2014
- Anju Srivastava, 2014–2015
*Dr. B.M. Bhatia was on leave for two years, 1971-1973. During this period, Dr. P.C. Sood was the substituting principal.
Campus
The college has twenty-five acre campus. It also has one auditorium and a seminar room. The college maintains a playground and a sports complex. Basketball, cricket, lawn tennis and table tennis are organised under the supervision of the Director of Physical Education. The college has well equipped physics and chemistry laboratories, NCC and NSS rooms. A computer room, photocopier and stationery shop are also available. A Students' Centre offers the facility of a bank and a hygienic canteen.
Library
Hindu College's library is one of the oldest among the University of Delhi's college libraries. It came into existence along with the foundation of the college in 1899. The library is fully air conditioned and computerised. It is open to bona fide students of all the classes. All important textbooks are kept in the reserve section to enable the students to write their tutorials. It has more than one lakh books and 2000+ eJournals. There is a well equipped reading room, which subscribes to a large number of dailies, weeklies, periodicals and journals on a variety of subjects.
Hostel
Hindu College's boys hostel, with its architectural grandeur and aesthetics, has been an abode to many luminaries and is situated next to the sports complex of college. It is a spacious structure with 119 rooms enclosing eight lawns with rose beds and hedges. The hostel provides residential facilities to about two hundred undergraduate and postgraduate male students. A common room provides the residents recreational facilities such as carrom-board, chess, and a separate TV room apart from the newspapers and magazines. The college will also sport a girls hostel which has been delayed due to procedural delays.
Student societies
Apart from academic excellence, the college firmly believes in the overall development of moral, physical and intellectual realms. For this there are college societies to foster comradeship amongst the students. Every department has its own society which is tasked with organising the 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.
The Indian music society, Alankar, holds its annual festival Harmony every year. The English debating society, popularly known as the Desboc, is representative of an inquiring and active intellectual life on campus. Debsoc is the only debating society in Delhi University to organise four major debates in an academic year. Vivre, the film society, screens almost 15 films a month in the college seminar room and holds an annual fest named Snap.
Other societies include The Finance & Investment Cell; Abhirang, the Hindi Dramatic Society; Abstraction, the Fine Arts Society; Aria, the Western Music Society; Manthan, the Choreography Society; Srijya, the Quiz Society; Masque, The English Dramatic Society; Vagmi, the Hindi Debating Society; and Vivre, The Film and Photography Society.
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.
The College Parliament is a forum for discussions on academic and other issues. It is an excellent training ground for public speaking and leadership qualities. It allocates funds to the various societies. The parliament is in continuous operation since 1935. Members of students' parliament are elected by students. The students' parliament takes care of demands of students.
Departments
Notable alumni
The alumni of Hindu College are called Hinduites.