An Exasperated Presidency

The erstwhile Hindu College opened on Monday, January 20, 1817 with 20 '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 of Sobhabazar, Babu Joykissen Sinha, Babu Radha Madhab Banerjee and Babu Gunganarain Doss. Babu Buddinath Mukherjee was appointed as the first Secretary of the college. The newly established college mostly admitted Hindu students from affluent and progressive families, but also admitted non-Hindu students.

At first the classes were held in a house belonging to Gorachand Bysack of Garanhatta (later renamed 304, Chitpore Road), which was rented by the college. In January 1818 the college moved to 'Feringhi Kamal Bose's house' which was located nearby in Chitpore. From Chitpore, the college moved to Bowbazar and later to the building that now houses the Sanskrit College on College Street .

On 21 October, 1853, Dalhousie, the Governor of Bengal, suggested that

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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.

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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 on 15 June, 1855. The 'scholars' of the College Department of Hindu College were transferred to Presidency College and 101 new students were freshly admitted.

Initially, it was felt that the Civil Engineering College and Medical College, that were located nearby, should be associated with Presidency College. But with the formation of the University of Calcutta, also located close by, the Council of Education shelved plans for allowing the expansion 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.

Presidency college, being the oldest educational institution in the country, boasts of a number of prestigious institutions of primary, secondary and higher learning that were started under its aegis. The Hindu School was the college's school when it was established, although it is now independent. The Hare School has been from the middle of the nineteenth century located inside the premises of the college and has been traditionally associated with the college. Its students used to complete their higher education in the college in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur was founded in this college and was a department of the college frm 1865 to 1879. The Indian Statistical Institute, was founded in the Statistical Laboratoty of this college in 1931.

A college which should have been an university long long ago finds itself exasperated as a section of teachers try to stifle the placement of the bill in the assembly. Why would this happen. Why should anyone object to an establishment like 'Presi' becoming an university. Nothing is strange in Bengal. A few teachers to further their own personal agenda are doing everything possible to create a chaos. Being a state government institution, the teachers automatically become government employees. Now who would like to loose this status or look for a transfer after spending years at the union room. The Telegraph editorial today clearly exposes this.

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Goonda Raj!

The culture of bandh once created by the leftists, which made Calcutta famous was once again in view during yesterday's bandh called by BJP. The total lack of governance and administration in Bengal was amptly demonstrated by Goondas who ran riot across the city, burning buses, breaking car windscreens, stopping trains, blocking arterial roads. There was no effort by the administration machinery to even try to protect the citizens and public property. These events showed how how little the people can expect of the administration which has been made inept by the leftists during their three decade rule.

During the recent past, across various places within the state, the governments unwillingness to uphold the writ of the law has been all too evident. The lack of political competition had meant that there was no incentive to deliver governance and human capital development. A morally degraded society fed on a diet of the typical Bengal form of protest of burning buses, stopping trains midway, stoning cars, stopping willing citizens from reaching work, deflating tyres cannot vision beyond all of these. The BJP leadership should be made to pay 40 lacs for the two buses it burnt. The money came from the taxes we pay. Calcutta has turned into a city where anyone can do anything. There cannot be a more free place anywhere else in the earth.

Buddha is the chief minister of the left party, the state seems to run on its own. It seems to be; A government by the party, for the party and of the party. Buddha dear, you are still the chief minister for the next two years. Get up from your slumber and deliver what you have been elected to do. You cannot ditch the people like this who elected you three years back with two-thirds majority. Bengal cannot be ruined further.