Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
: আশুতোষ কলেজ) is a college affiliated to the
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
Jatin Das Park Metro Station
Jatin Das Park is a station of the Kolkata Metro located on Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road at Hazra More, Kalighat.
History
Construction
The station
Structure
Jatin Das Park is underground metro station, situated on the Kolkata Metro Line 1 o ...
, gate No. 2. It was established in 1916 as the South Suburban College, under the stewardship of educationist Sir
Ashutosh Mukherjee
Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (anglicised, originally Asutosh Mukhopadhyay, also anglicised to Asutosh Mookerjee) (29 June 1864 – 25 May 1924) was a prolific Bengali educator, jurist, barrister and mathematician. He was the first student to be awar ...
, who was the then
vice-chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...
of the University of Calcutta. After the death of Sir Mukherjee, the college was renamed as Asutosh College in 1924. The principal of the college is Dr. Dipak Kumar Kar. It is affiliated to the
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
.
The first college in West Bengal to be accredited by the
National Assessment and Accreditation Council
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is a government organisation in India that assesses and accredits Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is an autonomous body funded by the University Grants Commission and headquarte ...
in 2002, it was given an A grade with a CGPA score of 3.22 in 2016, helping it secure its position among the top four affiliated colleges of West Bengal.
History
The college shifted to its current location in 1935. The present college building has a premise of forty thousand square feet and more than fifty classrooms which can contain about 4000 students. Twenty-eight subjects are taught as Honors/Major/Vocational at the Undergraduate level.
In the year 2002, a post graduation course in
Environmental Science
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geograp ...
was introduced. Post graduate courses in Applied
Geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
,
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
,
Computer Science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
,
Information Science
Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, Categorization, classification, manipulation, storage, information retrieval, retrieval, movement, dissemin ...
,
Geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
,
Zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
were introduced in between 2009 and 2014. In 2013, add-on courses in Hospital waste disposal management, Industrial Chemistry and Travel & Tourism were introduced.
In 2012, the Mother Teresa International Award was conferred on Asutosh College for outstanding achievement and contribution in the field of Best College of the Year.
In 2014, University Grants Commission-approved free add-on courses on Tourism, Industrial Chemistry, and Hospital Waste Disposal Management were introduced by the college.
Campuses
A Second Campus of Asutosh College was planned in 2003.
The
Centenary
{{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation)
A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years.
Notable events
Notable centennial events at ...
Building of the college was inaugurated by the erstwhile
President of India
The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...
,
Pranab Mukherjee
Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the India ...
on 1 April 2015. Asutosh college is the 12th college in Kolkata that was first to set up rooftop solar plant to produce 20 kW for its own use.
Academics
The college is an institution of choice for many students in
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
and the wider state for subjects in the liberal arts and science. While the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
,
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
and
Statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...
departments of the college are staffed by some of the most senior academic faculty in the city, the upgradation of laboratory infrastructure has focused attention on the science stream in recent years. The
Geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
,
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
,
Zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
,
Microbiology
Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...
and chemistry departments have remained special draws for under graduation students. The
Mass Communication
Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...
department and Communicative English Department has also seen applications rising.Each year the college has UDAAN celebration which has become quite popular for showcasing youth talent.
However, this has continued to exacerbate the major imbalance in student to teacher ratio, in Honours classes as well as those for Pass subjects. This problem had been pointed out by NAAC in its very first review of the college in 2004. "In the big urban colleges, like that of Asutosh, the teacher-taught ratio needs to be much more balanced. Universities and educational administrators of the state need to think of a way out of this huge imbalance in the classroom, as this may throw normal teaching-learning out of gear."
NAAC accreditation
In 2015, the
Government of West Bengal
The Government of West Bengal also known as the West Bengal Government, is the subnational government of the Indian state of West Bengal , created by the National Constitution as the state's legislative, executive and judicial authority. The ...
offered a financial incentive of up to Rs. 2 crore each, to colleges with NAAC grading of A or B. The Department of Higher Education wanted institutions like Asutosh College with a proven academic track record of renewing their NAAC grade. But many colleges, including Asutosh, was reluctant to get involved in the process which the Principal at the time called "long drawn and fund consuming, without having any real benefit". While the college was rated C++ in its inaugural assessment back in 2002, it did not apply in 2007 when the rating expired. It has since applied for certification and now has an A grade rating by the NAAC.
Facilities
The college has a separate counselling cell for both victims of ragging as well as possible aggressors, as part of an anti-ragging initiative.
All the departments have their own libraries and well-organized laboratories for Science departments.
Controversies
In 1996, then Principal Subhankar Chakraborty was accused of moral policing after he asked female students to dress modestly.
In early 2018, sanitary pad dispensers, installed in the college back in 2015 were found to be not working. Many female students did not know about the machines while others felt self-conscious to use the machines which were placed in corridors and other public parts of the campus. However, the college alleged the quality of pads were so low that students gave them a miss. They also said the after sales service of the company roped in by the state government to install and operate the machines, were unpredictable and bad.
Notable alumni
*
Bappaditya Bandopadhyay
Bappaditya Bandopadhyay or Bappaditya Banerjee ( bn, বাপ্পাদিত্য ব্যানার্জী; 28 August 1970 – 7 November 2015) was an Indian film director and poet.
Career
Bandopadhyay was the recipient of the Mo ...
Amitabha Chowdhury
Amitabha Chowdhury (11 November 1927 – 1 May 2015) was an Indian investigative journalist. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his reporting on individual rights and community interests in India
India, officially the Republic o ...
Diptendu Pramanick
Diptendu Pramanick (July 18, 1910 – December 15, 1989) was a Bengali film personality from Calcutta. He was the founder secretary of the ''Eastern India Motion Pictures Association'' in Calcutta, India - a fraternity of film personnel which ...
*
Arun Kumar Sharma
Arun Kumar Sharma (1924 – 2017), popularly known as AKS, was an Indian cytogeneticist, cell biologist, cytochemist and a former ''Sir Rashbehary Ghose Professor'' and Head of the Department of Botany at the University of Kolkata, College of ...
Dhiraj Bhattacharya
Dhiraj Bhattacharya (5 November 1905 - 1959) was an actor of Bengali and Hindi cinema who began in silent films. He was also a theater personality and writer.
Early life
Bhattacharya was born in a zamindar family of Panjia village, near Jessore ...
*
Amlan Datta
Amlan Datta ( bn, অম্লান দত্ত) (17 June 1924 – 18 February 2010) was an Indian economist and educationist. He was pro-vice chancellor of Calcutta University and vice chancellor of North Bengal and Visva Bharti universities.
...
Politicians
*
Ritabrata Banerjee
Ritabrata Banerjee (born 15 November 1978) is an Indian politician. He is currently serving as the State
President of All India Trinamool Trade Union Congress West Bengal . He was elected a Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal in February 2014.
...
*
Firhad Hakim
Firhad Hakim 1 January 1959) is an Indian politician serving as the current and 38th Mayor of Kolkata.
He is also serving as Cabinet Minister of
Urban Development and Municipal Affairs and Housing, Government of West Bengal. He is a MLA of t ...
*
Gurudas Dasgupta
Gurudas Dasgupta (3 November 1936 – 31 October 2019) was an Indian politician and a leader of the Communist Party of India. In the 1950s and 60s, he held several offices as a student leader. Later he was a member of Rajya Sabha for three term ...
*
Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury
Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury (born 12 January 1938) is an Indian politician and former Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare. He has represented the Maldaha Dakshin (Lok Sabha constituency) since 2009. He first elected M.P from hi ...
*
Sovandeb Chattopadhyay
Sovandeb Chattopadhyay is an Indian politician representing All India Trinamool Congress and is the first elected MLA of the party, elected in 1998. He was the founder president of INTTUC the labour wing of his party Trinamool Congress.
He was ...
*
Madan Mitra
Madan Mitra (born 3 December 1954) is an Indian politician, and social media sensation. Madan Mitra started his career with party Indian National Congress. He held many positions of Indian Youth Congress, the party's youth wing. In 1998, he joi ...
*
Partha Chatterjee Partha ( sa, pārtha) may refer to:
* Partha, an epithet of Arjuna, a warrior in the Mahabharata
* Partha, an ancestor of the Shah Mir dynasty of Kashmir
* Partha, a given name (for a list of people with the name, see )
* Partha
See also
* Parth ...
*
Mimi Chakraborty
Mimi Chakraborty (born 11 February 1989) is an Indian actress, singer and politician. She is known for her work in Bengali cinema and television. Her debut film was Bapi Bari Jaa in which she played the female lead, Dola.
She was listed as t ...
*
Dipsita Dhar
Dipsita Dhar (born 9 August 1993) is an Indian politician and student activist. She is the All India Joint Secretary of Students' Federation of India. She was the CPI(M) candidate from Bally constituency for 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assemb ...
*
Geeta Mukherjee
Geeta Mukherjee (8 January 1924 – 4 March 2000) was an Indian politician and social worker and a four times MLA from Panskura Purba, from 1967 to 1977. As a Member of Parliament, she was elected seven times from the Panskura constituency, ...
*
Shatarup Ghosh
Shatarup Ghosh is an Indian politician from West Bengal belonging to Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM). He had formerly served as the All India Joint Secretary of Students' Federation of India (SFI), the students wing of CPIM and was me ...
*
Kanai Chatterjee
Kanai Chatterjee popularly known as K.C. (1933 — 18 July 1983) was a Bengali Maoist ideologue, founder of the Maoist Communist Centre of India.
Early life
Chatterjee was born in 1933 at Baruikhali village, Barishal British India. He particip ...
Actors
*
Tripti Mitra
Tripti Mitra (''née'' Bahaduri; 25 October 1925 – 24 May 1989) was a popular Indian actress of Bengali theatre and films, and wife of Sombhu Mitra, noted theatre director, with whom she co-founded pioneering theatre group ''Bohurupee'' in 19 ...
*
Rabi Ghosh
Robi Ghosh ( bn, রবি ঘোষ) (24 November 1931 – 4 February 1997) was an Indian actor known for his work in Bengali cinema. He is known for his comic appeal, though his versatile acting talent brought him success in various kin ...
*
Basabi Nandi
Basabi Nandi (5 December 1935 – 22 July 2018) was an Indian actress and singer active in the Bengali cinema. She received Best Supporting Actress Award by Bengal Film Journalists' Association for the movie Bon Palashir Padabali in 1974.
Career
...
*
Bijoya Ray
Bijoya Ray ('' née'' Das; 27 October 1917 – 2 June 2015) was the wife of the Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Their son Sandip Ray is also a film director. Bijoya and Satyajit were first cousins. Bijoya's father was the eldest half brother of ...
*
Ranjit Mallick
Ranjit Mallick (রঞ্জিত মল্লিক) (born 28 September 1944) is an Indian actor who works mainly in Bengali cinema. He is particularly known for appearing in films such as ''Interview'', '' Mouchak'', ''Shatru'', ''Shakha Pr ...
Mimi Chakraborty
Mimi Chakraborty (born 11 February 1989) is an Indian actress, singer and politician. She is known for her work in Bengali cinema and television. Her debut film was Bapi Bari Jaa in which she played the female lead, Dola.
She was listed as t ...
*
Antara Biswas
Antara Biswas (born 21 November 1982), better known by her stage name Monalisa, is an Indian actress. She has done mostly Bhojpuri language films, and has also appeared in Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu language films. She wa ...
Ditipriya Roy
Ditipriya Roy is an Indian television and film actress working in Bengali-language films and serials. She is known for portraying the character of Rani Rashmoni in the Bengali television series ''Karunamoyee Rani Rashmoni''. Her movies include '' ...
Authors & Poets
*
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay (23 July 1898 – 14 September 1971) was an Indian novelist who wrote in the Bengali language. He wrote 65 novels, 53-story-books, 12 plays, 4 essay-books, 4 autobiographies, 2 travel stories and composed several songs. ...
*
Mahasweta Devi
Mahasweta Devi (14 January 1926 – 28 July 2016) ''
*
Dinesh Das
Dinesh Das (16 September 1913 – 13 March 1985) was a Bengali people, Bengali poet.
He was born in his maternal home at Chetla in Alipore, a locality on the bank of Adi Ganga creek. When he was in Class IX, at around 15 years age, he became ...
Srijato
Srijato Bandopadhyay is an Indian poet of the Bengali language. He won the Ananda Puroskar in 2004 for his book ''Udanta Sawb Joker: All Those Flying Jokers''. In 2014, he won the Filmfare Awards East for Best Lyricist for the song 'Balir Shoho ...
Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay
Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989), known professionally as Hemant Kumar and Hemanta Mukherjee, was a legendary Indian music composer and playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, as well as other Indian ...
*
Anjan Dutt
Anjan Dutt (Bengali: অঞ্জন দত্ত) is an Indian film director, actor, and singer-songwriter known for his work in the Bengali alternative music genre ''anyodharar gaan''. As an actor, Dutt began his career in Bengali cinema i ...
*
Neel Dutt
Neel Dutt (born 7 March 1979) is an Indian composer and singer from Kolkata. He received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction from the Govt. of India in 2012 for the soundtrack of the Bengali film ''Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona'' (Ranjana ...
*
Nachiketa Chakraborty
Nachiketa Chakraborty, simply known as Nachiketa, is an Indian singer, songwriter, musician, composer and playback singer who is known for his modern Bengali lyrics. He achieved fame in the early 1990s, with the release of his debut album ''Ei Be ...
*
Anup Ghoshal
Anup Ghoshal is an Indian playback singer, composer in Hindi films and other vernacular Indian films, especially Bengali language films. He is known in his native Bengal primarily as one of the foremost Nazrulgeeti exponents, and was one of th ...
*
Rupam Islam
Rupam Islam (born 25 January 1974) is an Indian Bengali singer, songwriter, music composer, writer and humanist. He is the lead vocalist of the popular Bengali Rock Band Fossils. He gained popularity mainly through his solo albums and his works ...
Sports personalities
*
Sunil Chetri
Sunil Chhetri (born 3 August 1984) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team. Widely regarded as the greatest Indian footballer of all time, he ...
*
Chuni Goswami
Subimal "Chuni" Goswami (15 January 1938 – 30 April 2020) was an Indian professional footballer and first-class cricketer. As footballer, he played as a striker or winger, captained both the Mohun Bagan club and the Indian national te ...
*
Benu Dasgupta
Ashok Kumar (Benu) Dasgupta (born Kolkata, India, 7 March 1928; died 21 April 2010) was an Indian cricketer. He was active during the 1950s and played for the Bengal and Bihar cricket teams.
Dasgupta was one of the main pillars of Bengal's batti ...
*
Syed Naeemuddin
Syed Nayeemuddin (born 1944), known as Nayeem, is an Indian football coach and former player. He played for and was captain of the Indian national teamJogamaya Devi College
Jogamaya Devi College is one of the oldest and leading women's colleges in Kolkata, India. It shares the same building with Asutosh College (day college) and Syamaprasad College (evening college) and is named after the wife of Sir Asutosh Mu ...
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...