| Presidency College | |
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| Established | 20 January, 1817 |
| Type | Public |
| Principal | Dr. Sanjib Ghosh |
| Students | 2202 (in 2004) (951 male, 1251 female) |
| Location | 86/1 College Street, Kolkata |
| Campus | Urban |
| Affiliations | University of Calcutta |
| Website | Official website |
Presidency College, Kolkata[1] is a co-founding, semi-autonomous, arts and sciences college affiliated to the University of Calcutta. Initially called Hindu College, it is the oldest college in India, set up in 1817. It continues to be one of the leading Indian educational institutions. It has been consistently rated, since rating of Indian colleges was begun, as one of the top ten colleges of the country: in 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine India Today. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees as well as Ph.D. degrees in the natural sciences, humanities and the social sciences.
Contents |
History
| Principals |
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Origin
With the creation of the Supreme Court of Calcutta in 1773 many Hindus of Bengal became eager to learn the English language. A Scot watchmaker, David Hare, in collaboration with Raja Radhakanta Deb had already taken steps introduce English education in Bengal. Babu Buddinath Mukherjee advanced the introduction of English as a medium of instruction further by enlisting the support of Sir Edward Hyde East, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who called a meeting of 'European and Hindu Gentlemen' in his house in May 1816. The purpose of the meeting was to "discuss the proposal to establish an institution for giving a liberal education to the children of the members of the Hindu Community". The proposal was received with unanimous approbation and a donation of over Rs. 100, 000 was promised for the setting up of the new college. Raja Ram Mohan Roy showed full sympathy for the scheme but chose not to come out in support of the proposal publicly for fear of "alarming the prejudices of his orthodox countrymen and thus marring the whole idea".
The College formally opened on Monday, January 20, 1817 with twenty 'scholars'. The foundation committee of the college, which oversaw its establishment, was headed by Raja Rammohan Roy. The control of the institution was vested in a body of two Governors and four Directors. The first Governors of the college were Maharaja Tejchandra Bahadur of Burdwan and Babu Gopee Mohan Thakoor. The first Directors were Babu Gopeemohan Deb (the father of Raja Radhakanta Deb of Sobhabazar), Babu Joykissen Sinha (grandfather of Kaliprasanna Sinha, the translator of Mahabharata into Bengali), Babu Radha Madhab Banerjee and Babu Gunganarain Doss. Babu Buddinath Mukherjee was appointed as the first Secretary of the college. It admitted non-Hindu students like Muslims, Jews, Christians and Buddhists.
The classes were held at first in a rented house belonging to Gorachand Bysack at Garanhatta (later 304 Chitpore Road). In January 1818 the college moved to 'Feringhi Kamal Bose's house' that was located nearby. The building is a historic one because Raja Ram Mohan Roy inaugurated his Brahma Sabha there and Reverend Alexander Duff of the Scottish Missionary Board started his educational establishment, the General Assembly's Institution there as well a few years later in 1830. From Chitpore, the college eventually shifted to Bowbazar and later to the building that now houses the Sanskrit College.
Early 19th century
The increasing realization of the value of western education made the college a coveted destination for scholars from all over the subcontinent. Pupils came from Behar, especially Patna, Assam, Vizagapatnam. By 1828 enrolment of students rose to 400. The obvious question, which was raised, was whether it would not be wiser for the Bengal Government to establish a new 'English College' open to all classes and community and leave the Hindu College to its fate. At the same time, facing financial problems, the Committee of Managers of the Hindu College had become dependent on subsidy from the government which, as expected, began to play a greater role in running the affairs of the College.
By the middle of the nineteenth century the college had outgrown the plans made by its founders. Not only did it attract an ever-increasing number of scholars from far and near, but it had also introduced courses in Law, Drawing, and Engineering, which catered to the needs of all classes of students - Hindus as well as non-Hindus. The government had also to consider whether this growing institution, spending a good deal of public money could be retained as a non-governmental institution, particularly when Calcutta had no general college managed exclusively by the Council of Education. In the fitness of things, when smaller towns in Bengal had government colleges, it became imperative that the metropolis should also have one.
From Hindu College to Presidency College
The proposal to set up a new college called the Calcutta College, or the Metropolitan College, open to students from all communities had already been mooted, but this would have meant greater financial liability for the government, which would also have to provide it with a competent faculty. A viable alternative was to convert Hindu College into a general institution open to all communities, managed by the government. On October 21, 1853, Lord Dalhousie, the Governor of Bengal, suggested that
| “ | a new general college should be established at Calcutta by the government and designated "The Presidency College" .. the College should be open to all youths of every caste, class or creed. | ” |
The new name, 'Presidency', referred to the Bengal Presidency, which was the local administrative unit of British India. Accordingly, the Committee of Management for Hindu College met for the last time on 11 January, 1854. The Court of Directors renamed the College as Presidency College. The College started functioning formally on 15 June, 1855. The 'scholars' of the College Department of Hindu College were transferred to Presidency College and 101 new students were admitted. Of these 101 pupils, two were Muslims, while the rest were Hindus.
Initially, it was felt that the Civil Engineering College and Medical College, that were located nearby, should be associated with the new Presidency College. But with the formation of the new University of Calcutta, also located close by, the Council of Education, however, had to shelve plans for allowing the expantion of the these three premier institutions into a full fledged university. The college was formally placed under the control of the University of Calcutta in 1857.
Expansion of Presidency
In 1856, Presidency College had 132 students on its rolls. 94 students were in the General Branch and 38 students were in the Legal Branch. Of them, 82 students had paid tuition fees, 43 were scholarship holders, and 7 enjoyed free studentships. The Legal Branch was given a measure of autonomy, its students being subject to examination by the professors of the branch themselves. Two years later Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, a student of the Law Department earned the distinction of being one of the first two graduates in Arts of the University of Calcutta.
Calcutta University was given the task to determine the courses of studies for colleges affiliated to it. Since Presidency College was the first college to be affiliated to the university, it became an institution preparing candidates for the BA examination. At the first Entrance Examination, held in 1857, Presidency College sent twenty-three students. The MA degree was conferred for the first time on six students of this college in 1863.
The College authorities were faced with space shortage even after the expansion of the Sanskrit College building. The process for acquisition of land for building a separate building and grounds started in September 1865 and by 1870 the Principal of the new Presidency College was in a position to submit a plan for the construction of a building on the premises where it is presently located. The new building was opened on March 31, 1874 by the then Lieutenant–Governor Sir George Campbell in the presence of His Excellency, the Viceroy of India. The finishing touch was given by Babu Nuffer Chandra Pal Chaudhuri, who provided it with a turret clock, at a cost of nearly Rs. 5000.00 soon after the new building's opening. Professor J. Sutcliffe was the Principal of the College when the new building was opened.
The First Arts or F.A. Examination was introduced in 1861. The first candidate to qualify in this examination from Presidency College was Gooroodas Banerji, who later became the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University. The ever-increasing rolls of the college were indicative of the keen interest shown by students from all over Bengal. The prestigious award of Gilchrist Scholarship for pursuance of further studies in England went to students of this college for four successive years since its introduction in 1868. The college soon expanded its campus and the present edifice was officially opened by the Lieutenant Governor on 31 March, 1874 in the presence of the Viceroy.
The construction of the new building was beneficial for the science departments which now had adequate space for holding classes and carrying out laboratory work. The chemistry department introduced practical classes in the new building in 1875. Engineering classes, until then held at the college, were discontinued in 1880 when the Shibpur Engineering College was set up. In order to augment the Faculty of Science a professorship of Geology was instituted in 1892. The Department of Biology was founded eight years later and Subodh Chandra Mahalanabish was made a professor there. The last two decades of the nineteenth century saw the appointment of distinguished scholars to teaching positions at the college. For instance, H.M.Percival joined in 1880, Bipinvihary Gupta in 1883, Jagadish Chandra Bose in 1885, Prafulla Chandra Ray in 1889, and Manmohan Ghosh in 1896.
The Baker Laboratories, named after Edward Norman Baker, the then Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, was formally opened on January 20, 1913 and the Departments of Physics, Physiology, Botany and Geology were transferred to the new establishment. One of the biggest rooms in the Baker Laboratories accommodated the science library (the Peake Library, named after Professor C.W. Peake). Commerce classes were started in 1903.
Meanwhile in 1902, Dr. P.K.Roy became the first Indian to take over as Principal (offtg.) of the college. He served two more terms as the Principal (in officiating capacity) in 1903 and from 1905-1906. Bhupatimohan Sen became the first Indian full-time Principal of the college from 1934-6.
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 interrupted plans for the building of an additional hostel and other facilities but the college continued to cross important milestones in the advancement of teaching and higher learning. New dimensions were added to the college with the reorganisation of the college library in 1908 and the introduction of a College Union in 1914. The 1920s continued to see eminent teachers such as Professor Wordsworth, Professor Sterling, Professor Home and Dr. Harrison strenghten the reputation of the faculty.
It was also one of the first colleges in India to admit female students with the first female student attending a class in 1897. Between 1868 and 1900, 25 students of the college were awarded the Premchand Roychand studentship, the highest honour for academic excellance awarded by Calcutta University.
Presidency during the Indian freedom struggle
During the Non-Cooperation Movement and the Civil Disobedience Movement, J.R.Barrow the then Principal of the college. He set the highest standards of discipline and academic excellence, but also meted out punitive action to students participating in the National Movement. His objective, of increasing the academic standards of the college and its reputation, however, was never in doubt, and he earned the deep respect and appreciation of teachers as well as students. This was the period when the Oaten Affair, in which Subhas Chandra Bose, then a student of the college, insulted by Professor Oaten, pushed the latter down the staircase of the main building.
From the early 1930s, Indian principals headed the college, though the Education Department retained the services of British officers until 1947. From the 1920s to the end of the 1940s the college remained a centre of nationalist activities.
Presidency after independence
The college continued to enjoy a great deal of prestige even at the time of India's independence. Before 1947 and soon after in the 1950s the college was still the numero uno of Indian education. Anybody who was somebody in India, and some of them are still working in India or abroad, had to be a student of Presidency College. The college represented the creme de la creme of bhadralok society, which was both admired and envied by the intelligentsia of the rest of India. The old saying "What Bengal does today, India does tomorrow" seemed to apply to the high standards of academic excellence set by the college. In the 1950s one could easily claim "What Presidency does today, the rest of Indian colleges do tomorrow". Such high level of prestige was clearly evident in a verse written by Phani Bhushan Chakrabarty, a former student of the college who later became the first Indian Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court:
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- Prathom jakhon collegey elam
- Bollam bahabaharey,
- Aschi hotey Hindu Hare,
- Koriney care kaharey.
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- When I first came to college,
- I said, "Oh! Wow,
- Have come from Hindu-Hare,
- Don't care for the high-brow.
Chakrabarty, like many others of his generation, was expressing the awe with which the college was held in India in mid-twentieth century. By the time of India's independence no other college in the country could boast of an alumni as distinguished as that of Presidency College, and it is doubtful whether any other college in today's India or any other country in the subcontinent can still boast of such a distinguished body of former students.
Recent history
In the post-independence period the college had become a centre for left and then far-left politics. The Marxist-Leninist Movement, also called the 'Naxalite Movement' of the late 1960s-early 1970s exerted great influence on the Bengali students and enjoyed support from the bhadralok intelligentsia who had themselves been students of Presidency College. Through the 1970s and 1980s the college fought off repeated attempts to control it from outside, especially by dominant political parties. The independence and initiative of the individual members of the college has been evident in the success of several of its students either finding admission and/or employment in reputed universities outside the state, or joining the civil services in India, or joining the Bar or the Bench. In 2005 Mamata Roy became the first woman principal of the college. Demand for autonomy which had started in the early 1970s is now a full fledged demand for the granting of university status to the institution. In 2007 the college was granted partial autonomy by the state government. In 2009 the state government announced that a bill will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly granting the college full university status, and will rename it Presidency University.
Presidency in Popular Culture
In Fiction
- Sunil Gangopadhyay's novel Shei Samaye (Those Days) mentions this college in the context of nineteenth century Bengali society.
In Films
- The Bollywood blockbuster Yuva starring Ajay Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee shows this college. It is the college where Devgan, called Michael in the movie, is a student leader.
Departments
Bengali - Biochemistry - Botany - Chemistry - Civil Engineering - Economics - English - Geography - Geology - Hindi - History - Law - Mathematics - Molecular Biology & Genetics - Philosophy - Physics - Physiology - Political Science - Sanskrit - Sociology -Statistics - Zoology
Department of Economics
Perhaps the most illustrious of all the departments of the college, and only second to Physics, both in terms of the quality of work done by the faculty as well as the students who have spread out to the corners of the world. The old saying "Once a Presidencian, always a Presidencian" holds especially true for this department. A student when he/she joins this department is "Welcomed into a Brotherhood", one no less strong than "Blood Ties". Many former students and teachers of this department are legendary and some are justifiably considered to be world-beaters. Some of them are: Abhijit Banerjee, Amartya Sen, Amit Bhaduri, Amitava Bose, Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Anindya Sen, Anup K. Sinha, Ashok Lahiri,Asim Dasgupta, Avirup Sarkar, Badal Mukherjee, Basubeb Biswas, Bhabotosh Dutta, Bhaskar Dutta, Bibek Debroy, Bimal Jalan, Debraj Ray, Dhiresh Bhattacharya, Dilip Mukherjee, Dipankar Dasgupta, Dipak Banerjee, Kalyan Chaterjee, Kalyan Sanyal, Kunal Sengupta, Maitreesh Ghatak, Mihir Rakshit, Mukul Majumdar, Prabal Roychowdhuri, Pranab Bardhan, Ratan Lal Basu, Sanjit Bose, Soumen Sikdar, Subhasis Gangopadhyay, Sugata Marjit, Sukhomoy Chakroborty, Sujoy Mookerjee, Tapan Mitra, Tapas Majumdar, Udayan Mukherjee. The Department has been organising "Professor Dipak Banerjee Memorial Lecture" since 2007.
Department of English
One of the most popular and well known departments of the college, it boasts of Peary Charan Sarkar, the nineteenth century Bengal Renaissance personality. It also boasts of such legendary names as Taraknath Sen, Subodh Chandra Sengupta and Amal Bhattacharya, all of whom taught here from the first half to the middle of the twentieth century. Other equally popular and erudite teachers of this department include Arun Kumar Dasgupta, Sukanta Chaudhuri, Supriya Chaudhuri, Kajal Sengupta and Pralay Kumar Deb. Most of those mentioned here were both students and teachers of this department.
Department of History
This is one of the most notable departments of the college. Some of its well-known teachers include Hemchandra Raychaudhuri, Kiran Shankar Ray, Kuruvilla Zachariah, Susobhan Sarkar, Amalesh Tripathi, Ashin Dasgupta, Hirendranath Chakrabarty, and Rajat Kanta Ray, most of whom were also former students of the college. Some of its other prominent students include Hirendranath Mukherjee, Tapan Raychaudhuri, Mohit Sen, Sipra Sarkar, Partha Sarathi Gupta, Binoy Bhushan Chaudhuri, Barun De and Sumit Sarkar. The department has a Seminar Library of its own with a seminar secretary and a seminar librarian elected by the students of the department from themselves. In 1990, a lecture series entitled P.C. Sen Memorial Lecture, named after Pratap Chandra Sen, another former student of the department, was started with an endowment given by his family members. In 2004, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who had just become Governor of West Bengal, chose to attend a class by Rajat Kanta Ray, then one of the longest serving departmental heads of the college and later an Upacharya of Visva Bharati. The current faculty members of the department are mostly former students.
Department of Law
The college until the beginning of the twentieth century had a separate Department of Law. This was not one of its original departments, but it had been started soon after the inception of Hindu College. Two of its more prominent students were Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and HH Maharaja Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur of Coochbehar.
Department of Physics
It is one of the notable departments of the college. The department has had as students or as teachers several luminaries, including Sir Jagadish Chandr Bose, Satyendra Nath Bose, Meghnad Saha, Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri and Ashoke Sen. The Baker Laboratories and the Physics Lecture Theatre, in the majestic new building built in 1913 are two of the most famous features of the college. Since 2004, the department has started an autonomous Post-Graduate course in Physics recognised by Calcutta University. Earlier, the department's course in post graduate studies was carried out at the University College of Science and Technology of Calcutta University in Rajabazar. On 27 February, 2009, the department organized a one-day symposium on the 150th birth anniversary of Sir J.C. Bose.
Department of Physiology
The years 1900–1913 are demarcated as the first phase in the history of the department and the period of inauguration of physiology in India. Dr. Subodh Chandra Mahalanobis returned to India from England in 1900 and joined the Bengal Education Service. He was posted at Presidency College as the Head of the Department of Biology, which was at that time composed of Human Physiology and Botany. In 1902, study of Human Physiology started as a separate course at Presidency College, which was officially recognized in 1903 by the University of Calcutta. On the Founders’ Day, i.e. 20 January 1913, the new building for science subjects, later named as Baker Laboratories, was formally inaugurated and the Department of Human Physiology was shifted to its second floor. In 1915, the University of Calcutta gave affiliation to this department in M.Sc. in Human Physiology. In 1923, during the tenure of Dr. N.M.Basu as Head of the Department, Nobel Laureate E. H. Sterling visited this department. In 1939, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, as Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University convened a historic meeting and took two important resolutions in favour of this department: (a) PG teaching in Physiology at Presidency College should continue as before; and (b) the university should not open Honours course in Physiology as this was running at its best at Presidency College. In 1944, Nobel Laureate and the then Secretary of the Royal Society of England, Sir A.V. Hill visited the department. From 1947 to 1959, the department was guided under the able stewardship of Prof. Sachchidananda Banerjee, the first D.Sc. in Physiology from Calcutta University. In 1960, Dr. Achintya Kumar Mukherjee joined the post of Professor and Head of the Department. In 1983, he became the Principal of Presidency College and served for another four years. Dr. Haripada Chattopadhyay worked as an interim Head of the department from 1984-1987. In 1988, Dr. Chandan Mitra joined the post of Professor and Head of the Department. In 2001, the department celebrated 100 years of UG teaching in this department as well as in India. The Centenary Postgraduate Wing was inaugurated during that celebration and in the same year the department was affiliated for independent postgraduate teaching. In 2004, the department was given full academic autonomy for postgraduate teaching. The department organized The XVIII Annual Conference of the Physiological Society of India on December 8-10, 2006.
Department of Political Science
This department emerged out of the Department of Economics and is in the early twenty-first century one of the finest departments of Political Science in India. A creation of the second half of the twentieth century, it already boasts of an alumus which is world famous. Among its ex-students are Partha Chatterjee and Sudipta Kaviraj, both extremely well known in Indian political studies. Yet another student was Amal Mukhopadhyaya, who was a Professor and Head of this department and also one of the better known Principals of the college at the time of its 175th birth anniversary.
Department of Statistics
Although the Department of Statistics is small in size and relatively young - it is only about 60 years old - it was at one time the premier statistics department in the country & is still glamorous as ever.Originally it was started as a Statistical Laboratory by Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. Later, it housed the ISI before that institute moved to Baranagar. Through the second half of the twentieth century, the department grew in stature under the tutelage of Professor Bhattacharyya and Professor Atindra Mohan Gun. Some of its famous alumni include Jayanta K. Ghosh, Pranab K. Sen, Malay Ghosh, and Bani Kumar Mallick, among others.
Department of Zoology
One of the best departments in Presidency College with a rich museum and well equipped laboratories. It has postgraduate and undergraduate courses. Research fellows are also recruited through various examinations. The department was built by Sivatosh Mookerjee. The present Head of the Department is Trilochan Midya. It has a good teacher-student ratio. Well-equipped laboratories, rich faculties and educational excellence are the characteristics of this department. It has a Central Computer Room with Ultra-modern Servers, a rich-with-books Seminar Library and an ultra-modern Laboratory for modern researches. All forms of modern biochemical and biotechnological researches can be done in these laboratories.
Institutions that were started in Presidency
Presidency College, being the oldest in the country, boasts of a number of prestigious institutions of higher learning that were started under its aegis. Both the insitutions mentioned in the list below owe their origins to this college, but are now world famous in their own rights. Initiailly, they were started within respective departments of college, but later became autonomous institutions, either affiliated or independent of Calcutta University.
- Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur: From 1865 to 1879 it was called the Civil Engineering Department of Presidency College.
- Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta: In 1931 the institute was founded and housed in the Statistical Laboratory of Presidency College.
Administration
The college is administered on a daily basis by a principal, a burser, a deputy controller of examinations and the respective heads of departments. It offers several scholarships to meritorious students, such as B.C.Law Free Studentship (185), Book Prizes (50), Cash Prizes (33), FAEA Scholarships (5), Hindi Scholarship (6), Hostel Stipend (14), Lump Grant (9), Medals (19), National Scholarship (14), Presidency College Graduate Scholarships (6), T.S.Sterling Onetime Grant (17), T.S.Sterling Scholarships (16).
Hostel facilities
The college has two halls of residence, one each for boys and girls. The boys hostel is the famous Eden Hindu Hostel, which was started in 1886. It stands on Peary Charan Sarkar Street, which separates the college's premises to the south from the hostel, which is next to the central premises of the University of Calcutta, called the Ashutosh Shiksha Prangan, that includes the Ashutosh Building and Darbhanga Building. After 1990, the college administration also built a girls' hostel in Salt Lake in Calcutta.
Extra-Curricular activities
Students' Union
The Students' Union room is located behind the main building. The Union has been active since the first half of the twentieth century. It is run by a President and a General Secretary. It plays a constructive role in the day-to-day running of the students' affairs. It is pertinent to note that the Union has always been controlled by elected students' groups that seek to challenge and question policies framed and actions taken by the establishment, both inside and outside the college, especially at the state level. In the first decade after independence, when the college was starting off as a centre of excellence, wholly managed by Indians, and more specifically by Bengalis, the Union was firmly in the hands of forces not always friendly towards the Students Federation (SF). From the sixties until the end of the eighties, the Union was controlled by the Marxist-Leninists. After a brief period of students' apathy and indifference towards politics in the late eighties, the Union, in 1989, came under the control of a loosely formed group called the Independent Consolidation (IC), covertly formed by an assortment of progressive democratic elements, owing allegiance to left-of-center and Marxist-Leninist parties which are hostile to the Students Federation of India (SFI). Barring a brief spell of a few years at the end of the last century and the beginning of this century, the IC has kept control of the student body. The Union is now under the control of the SFI, which returned to power in 2009.
Sports
The college has a long history of excellence in sports, especially in cricket and lawn tennis. Until date it has a strong cricket team. Until the mid-1950s the college used to have a lawn tennis court to the west of the premises, which was later replaced by the new building housing the economics, political science and sociology departments as well the college's auditorium, Derozio Hall. Until the mid-twentieth century the college's sporting facilties were managed and maintained by a Sports Secretary elected from the student body. There is a table tennis board in the Junior Common Room of the college on the ground floor and a badminton court in a room close to the Student's Union Room.
The college has a long association with Mohun Bagan AC, the first Bengali football club, whose history is closely linked to the rise of the Indian national movement. One of the preliminary matches played by Mohun Bagan was against Eden Hindu Hostel's team. Some students of the college who had joined this club earlier invited Professor F.J. Row, a grammatologist, to visit the club ground, then at Mohun Bagan Villa, on the day it was founded, i.e. 15 August 1889. At this occasion Row suggested that the Club could be called 'Athletic', due to its excellant infrustructural facilities.
Cultural events
Presidency has an annual festival organised by the students union called the 'Milieu' which hosts events in which students of all other colleges and universities of West Bengal participate. The events of the festival comprise of a wide variety of activities such as outdoor sports and literary events including debates and quizzes. The college always had a great tradition of debates. Amartya Sen's first lecture entitled 'Bigyaponer Arthoniti' ('The Economics of Advertisement') was delivered at a debate organised by the Student's Union soon after he joined the college in 1951.
Canteen
The college also has a students' canteen situated at the back of the main building, beyond the Students' Union room and next to the badminton Court. In the 1940s the college's canteen was called "Ray Babur Canteen". A decade later in the 1950s the students of the college frequently visited the neighbouring Coffee House, on the lane that is now called Bankim Chatterjee Street, which soon became a hub of both academic and political activities and discussions and is now famous for its debates. Several eminent academics of the second half of the twentieth century, many of whom joined the government and/or have or still are teaching in the finest world universities were regulars at the Coffee House. Later, in the last quarter of the twentieth century, the students of the college began to return to the college's canteen, which has been run by Pramodda since the 1980s and is now called "Pramoddar Canteen". The canteen remains the most popular meeting place for the students of the college. The Coffee House retains its popularity amongst Presidencians.
Building and Grounds
The main building, housing the English, History, Geography, Bengali and Philosophy Departments of the college, which also has a clock tower, was built in the nineteenth century and is representative of the architecture of the middle of that century. It has a quadrangle in the middle, next to the central library of the college which is located on the ground floor. The science building, which has the Physics Lecture Theatre in it, is situated to the south of the college premises and opens out on to Peary Charan Sarkar Street. It was built in 1913. The new building housing the Economics, Political Science and Sociology Departments and the Derozio Hall was built in 1956, while the newest building built to the west of the main building for the holding of post-graduate classes, was built in 1990.
Alumni
Alumni Association
The college has an active Alumni Association.[2] It works from within the main building of the college. Some of the eminent past Presidents of the Association were Radhabinod Pal and Pratap Chandra Chunder. Dr. Shyamaprasad Mookherjee was a past Vice President of the Association. The Association publishes an yearly journal entitled the 'Autumn Annual'. Professor Subodh Chandra Sengupta was the longest serving editor-in-chief of the journal.
Notable alumni
The former students of this college are still the best and the brightest in India and abroad. Until the middle of the twentieth century this college was widely considered to be the very best in higher education in the country. In the second half of the twentieth century it can still claim to be among the top five colleges in the country and is clearly still the most famous of all the Indian colleges. That the college continues to be the alma mater of eminent professionals, including senior politicians and industrialists, who are still working gives evidence of its relevance today and also shows that it is still at the height of its powers. Students of this college have continued to be awarded all the major scholarships, such as the Rhodes Scholarship, the Commonwealth Scholarship, Inlaks Scholarship, Radhakrishnan Scholarship and Government of India and State Scholarship to study in either Oxford or Cambridge.
The college started with the expressed objective of encouraging boys of landed and aristocratic families of the Bengal Presidency to join it, but has also traditionally attracted extremely meritorious students from district schools and colleges to it since the nineteenth century. It has the distinction of being the college where Academy Award winner Satyajit Ray and the Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen studied. Rabindranath Tagore was admitted into the college, but spent only one day there.
In politics, it has amongst its students, some of the biggest names of the Indian national movement, such as five Presidents of the Indian National Congress, including Surendranath Banerjea, Romesh Chandra Dutt, Bhupendra Nath Bose, Lord Satyendra Prasanno Sinha and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad studied in this college. The Speaker of the Indian Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee was a student of this college. The first President of Bangladesh, Abu Sayeed Chowdhury was also a student of this college. It has had one Governor of an Indian state, Sir Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh, as its student also. Since elections were first held in Indian provinces in 1937, and after independence, it has had three Prime Ministers, one each of Pakistan, Bengal and Assam, five Chief Ministers of West Bengal and one Chief Minister of Assam as its former students. They are the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Bogra, first Prime Minister of Bengal, A.K. Fazlul Huq, the first Prime Minister of Assam, Sir Saiyid Mohammed Saadullah, the first and second Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Prafulla Chandra Ghosh and Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray, later Chief Ministers of the same state, Shri Siddhartha Shankar Ray, Shri Jyoti Basu and Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and the sixth Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Bishnu Ram Medhi. The first Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Anugrah Narayan Sinha was a student of this college. The college has had as its students a host of other politicians including central and state level ministers. The former Maharaja of Coochbehar, Maharaja Sir Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur was a student of this college.
There are several senior judges, such as the first Indian judge of the High Court of Calcutta, Sir Gooroodas Banerjee and a Chief Justice of India, Sabyasachi Mukherjee who were students of this college. Several senior civilians, such as the first Indian member of the ICS, Satyendranath Tagore and first Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sukumar Sen studied in this college.
This college has also performed equally well in industry. Sir Rajen Mookerjee was its student and Shri Rama Prasad Goenka also studied in this college.
In academics too, eminent intellectuals and vice chancellors, such as the scientist, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, the pre-eminent vice chancellor of Calcutta University, Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, the doyen of Indian history, Sir Jadunath Sarkar, and India's first planner, Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, have been students of this college. In literature, it has amongst its students, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Sukumar Ray and Jibanananda Das. Amongst journalists, Avik Sarkar, M. J. Akbar and Pritish Nandy studied here.
In the entertainment industry, this college can boast of such legendary names as Pramathesh Barua, Ashok Kumar and Aparna Sen among other equally gifted and well known film and theatre personalities. Vece Paes, a member of India's hockey team was also a student of this college.
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