About Us

Asutosh College, since its inception in July, 1916, has been a leading centre of education in Kolkata. As it enters its hundredth year of existence, let us step back in time and retrace the steps of its evolution from an Intermediate College in South Calcutta to its present position as a premier institute of Undergraduate, Postgraduate Studies and Research, not only of Kolkata, but also of West Bengal and eastern India.

Established by Sir Asutosh Mukherjee, one of the pioneers of modern education in India, the college was initially known as South Suburban College, following the up gradation of the South Suburban School into an Intermediate College. What occasioned its foundation was the closing down of two colleges in and around Bhowanipore – the London Missionary Society Institution and Doveton College (Bishop’s College) in 1911. The General Committee of South Suburban Group of Schools (estd. 1872) with Sir Asutosh as the then President, realizing the urgent need for a college in South Kolkata (or, Calcutta as it was then known) applied to the British Government on 12 February, 1915, for permission to set up an Intermediate College. Due to a variety of reasons, including financial, permission was not forthcoming initially, but finally, in May of the following year, the authorities relented and affiliation up to the Intermediate standard for Arts was granted with effect from the 1916-1917 academic session of Calcutta University. With some 250 students on its rolls, South Suburban College with Sir Asutosh as the President of its ten-member Governing Body, began its journey in a two-storied building at 26, Lansdowne Road. The subjects then taught in the college included English, Bengali, Sanskrit, Logic, History, Mathematics and Botany. By the following year itself, the burgeoning student strength forced the College authorities to relocate to more spacious and conveniently situated premises at Bijni House, 147, Russa Road (S. P. Mookerjee Road today) from where it continued to operate till September, 1936. The Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute is now located at the site.

In October, 1917, the College administration applied for the University affiliation to be extended to the B.A. Pass standard in English, Bengali, Sanskrit, Mental and Moral Philosophy, History, Political Economy and Political Philosophy and Mathematics which was granted with effect from the 1917-1919 academic session. Needless to say, up gradation to the Honours level was the next goal to the achieved, in pursuance of which the authorities applied for and obtained permission to start the Honours Course in English and Philosophy in 1921-1922. Affiliation in Geography to be taught up to the Intermediate standard was also obtained while those for Chemistry and Physics were obtained from the 1922-1923 academic session. I.Sc. classes began in the same year. The B.A. Honours affiliation in Mathematics was granted with effect from the 1923-1924 academic session, while B. Sc. Honours Course affiliation in Mathematics and B. Sc. Pass Course affiliation in Botany and Chemistry were granted from the 1924-1925 and 1925-1 926 academic sessions respectively. Affiliation in B.Sc. Pass Course in Physics, and B.A. Pass Course in Bengali and Botany were obtained from the 1929-1930 academic session. Affiliation in I.A. Civics was obtained in the 1930-31 academic session. From the 1932-1933 academic session Economics at the Honours level began to be taught in the College. The Honours Course in History and the Intermediate Course in Bengali for girl students commenced with the 1933-1934 academic session. Sanskrit Honours began to be taught from the 1936-37 session while the Intermediate standard affiliation for Zoology and Biology was obtained with effect from the 1938-’39 academic session. Affiliation for Bengali Honours was obtained in 1939-1940.

Meanwhile, on 25 May, 1924, Sir Asutosh passed away in Patna. As Calcutta and the whole of Bengal mourned his passing away, the College attempted to come to terms with the untimely loss of its guiding spirit. On 15 June, 1924, South Suburban College was renamed Asutosh College in memory of its Founder-President. In the able hands of Dr. Syamaprasad Mookerjee, Sir Asutosh’s son, and a towering personality in his own right, who was elected President of the College Governing Body, the College witnessed a fresh spurt of development. On 30 March, 1927, Asutosh College came to be registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860.

As the college grew, in size and strength the need for its own space grew likewise. In 1929, the Calcutta Corporation headed by Mayor Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, in response to an appeal made by the Asutosh Memorial Institute, leased a portion of Hazra Park for a token fee of Re. 1/- to the Institute for the construction of a new building to house the College, a library and an auditorium. Built with generous financial support of many eminent citizens the building was completed in 1935 and soon became an imposing landmark of the city. The journey that began from the leafy precincts of 26, Lansdowne Road, with a brief stopover at Bijni House, continues to this day from this grand edifice situated on 92, Syamaprasad Mookerjee Road, on the northern flank of Jatin Das Park, the erstwhile Hazra Park.

The Journey

The dream of Sir Asutosh Mukherjee, the visionary, that materialized on the 17th of July, 1916, has now reached the centennial milestone, with nearly 6000 students, 250 faculty members, and 180 non-teaching staff members, involved in the teaching-learning process in more than 28 subjects, including Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Diploma, Certificate, B. Voc, Community College, and Add-on courses.

Though it was originally intended to open the college on the 3rd of July, 1916, the actual opening had to be deferred till the 17th of July on which date regular lectures in the first year and second year classes commenced. There were altogether 288 students on the rolls in the first academic session; 183 in the first year class and 105 in the second year class. Mr. Abani Nath Basu (Roll No. 1) was the first student to be admitted to the college.

As the documents reveal, Asutosh College embarked on its journey with a framework for imparting knowledge in basic and conventional subjects, catering, perhaps to the needs and demands of the time and the locality. The thrust was more on the study of Humanities than of Science. The financial constraints, of course, have to be taken into account in this context. It is significant that Mathematics was introduced as part of an Honours course (at first as an Arts subject) in 1924 just a couple of months before the sad and sudden demise of Sir Asutosh, the Founder-President and mathematical giant. After two years, Mathematics was included in the Science course.

By the time the college reached the threshold of its Silver Jubilee, it had widened its ambit with Intermediate courses in no less than fourteen subjects (both Arts and Science), Honours courses in 6 subjects, and Pass (now General) courses in 13 subjects.

As the college authorities were truly desirous of living up to the ideals of the Founder-President, they set up a “Poor Students’ Fund” in order to help poor and meritorious students in their studies. There was a “Poor Students’ Library” to meet the growing needs of the students. Not only text books but books of general interest too were lent, for a long period of time, to needy students unable to buy books. The college also had a general library (which remained open up to 9 pm), containing no less than 12,000 volumes. Students were provided with chairs and small tables so that they could properly concentrate on their individual requirements. Regular subscriptions were made to current journals, both Indian and foreign, to help the learners.

Besides the libraries, the college had a students’ Common Room, rich with its collection of magazines, newspapers and books of common interest. (“Light literature” is the phrase used by our forefathers in this context). The members of the Students’ Union were in charge of lending and stock-taking of books under the supervision of a teacher. The college was equipped with commodious laboratories for Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology and Geography along with two Balance Rooms and one Dark Room specially arranged for the Physics and Chemistry departments. Our seniors used to believe in the Deweyan principle that knowledge is nothing but a “successful practice”. Hence, a workshop was arranged by the Physics Department to train the students who might opt for Applied Physics in future. An industrial section was opened as an annex to the B.Sc. Department, in order to encourage students to adopt various industrial occupations in life. The tremendous foresight of our preceptors ensured that education would never be divorced from life.

Our forefathers held a holistic view of education. So, to encourage the physical well-being of the students, a well-equipped gymnasium was set up in the north face of the main building of the college on a plot of land owned by the college and two qualified instructors were appointed as supervisors. Besides Annual Sports for students, outdoor games like Football, Cricket, Volleyball, Basketball and Hockey were encouraged through regular tournaments. The college went to the extent of fostering off-beat sports like Cross-Country Cycling Competition and inter-collegiate Walking Competition. Drill was compulsory for the students (even when they used to come to the college dhoti-clad).

Asutosh College was one of the earliest institutions to organize a Rowing Club, a Bratachari Society and a St. John’s Ambulance Division. The college was declared as a “a centre of parade” by the then military authorities in recognition of the achievements of the college cadets attached to the University Training Corps. With the permission of Calcutta Corporation a portion of the Hazra Park adjacent to the main building of the College was reserved exclusively for women students of the morning section of the college during morning hours, where under the supervision of a lady physical instructor, students participated in physical exercise.

Most importantly, the academic ambience ensured and administered by the college produced a number of awardees of Premchand Roychand Studentships and Doctoral degrees from Universities, at home and abroad.

Our institution subsequently established its corporate identity with the help of its college council, (Teachers’ Council, nowadays) with the Principal as its ex-officio President, Professors’ Club (Tea Club of recent years) established in about 1936, Co-operative Credit Society, College Union (renamed Students’ Union) and Ex-students Association established in 1933 (changed into Alumni Association in 2010.). Excursions for students were undertaken from an early date.

The messages received by the college on the occasion of its Silver Jubilee are worth reviewing. Dr. Syamaprasad Mukherjee articulated his high hope: “Our ideal is not merely to maintain efficiently an institution that will be the home of academic learning but also to develop the mind and body of our alumni so as to fit them for active national services”. The Vice-President of the Governing Body of the college,the Hon’ble Mr. Justice C. C. Biswas was vibrant with confidence; ”…… its (the college’s) crowded classes not only proclaim the growing popularity of the institution, but afford the surest guarantee of its future”. Ex-Secretary, Governing Body, the Hon’ble Mr. P.N. Banerjee, then Minister of West Bengal renders valuable information. ”…..the present grandeur of the college is due as much to the honest effort of our veteran Principal Mr. (Panchanan) Sinha and his own colleagues as to the untiring energy and zeal of the present President of its Governing Body, Dr. Syamaprosad Mukherjee. The Professors helped the authorities of the college in liquidating their obligation to the architects and the builders by allowing a loan of Rs. 25,000/- from out of their Provident Fund.” With about 2200 students on its rolls (including about 500 girls) Asutosh College embarked on the second phase of its journey.

The College moved to the new site at Hazra Park in 1935 where it still exists. The construction that today accommodates Asutosh College, along with the Asutosh Mukherjee Memorial Hall and Library was built on a plot of land, one bigha and fourteen kottahs in extent, at a cost of Rs. 2,14,469/-. While the contribution of the College authorities towards the expenditure was Rs.1, 21,061/-, the remaining amount was obtained from the benevolent donations of the public.

In later years, to harbour nearly 4000 students the building was extended vertically. Around 88 students among them enjoyed hostel facilities at 16, Basanta Bose Road, owned by the College (now renovated as Humanities Block) and at 22, Kalighat Road, at that time a rented building and now, owned and reconstructed as the Centenary Building.

The Morning section of the college, meant for the girl students, had its separate identity, and was formally inaugurated in June, 1932. It was later named after Smt. Jogamaya Devi, wife of Sir Asutosh, in the year 1958. Catering to the public demand, Asutosh College authorities opened an evening section for the benefit of the students engaged in full-time jobs during the day. It was decided that the evening classes would be generally restricted to students opting for LA. (Intermediate Arts) course, with commerce subjects including the B.Com. course.

The University affiliation was obtained from the session 1945-46, but in the post-Independence period, in the year 1948, to be precise, the Governing Body decided to reconstitute the three units of the college as separate and independent domains, with separate offices and accounts sections. However, it was decided that there would be a single governing body supervising and a common staff council of teachers. The evening section was named after Dr. Syamaprasad Mukherjee, the youngest son of Sir Asutosh, in 1958, following Syamaprasad’s unfortunate and untimely demise in 1953. In the following academic session, i.e., 1958-59, the three units of the college, morning, day and evening, entered upon their independent journeys under the management of three separate Governing Bodies and with three separate staff councils.

The history of Asutosh College is one of expansion, consolidation and development. In 1952, the college purchased a plot of land next to its existing site out of its own reserve funds.

As the college moved towards its Diamond Jubilee, the various Honours departments formed departmental libraries with a large collection of books to meet the increasing demands of the students. The college authorities set apart a separate fund for the holding of seminars in the first floor Seminar Hall (later cubicled and permanently partitioned into class rooms) for the benefit of the honours students. The collections of books of the Departmental libraries were kept in that seminar hall and consequently used to be referred to as “seminar libraries”.

The students of Asutosh College created a niche for themselves in sports and games too. Many renowned sports personalities represented not only Bengal but also India, from Asutosh College in Football, Cricket, Hockey, Boxing, Weightlifting and Best Physique, Basketball, Volleyball, Athletics, Power-lifting and Body building. Among them are Subimal (Chuni) Goswami (Football and Cricket), Sukumar Samajpati and S. Nayeemuddin (Football), P. (Khokan) Sen (Cricket), who once took the wicket of none other than Donald Bradman; Balbir Singh (Hockey), Sovandeb Chattopadhyay(Boxing); Saroshi Ganguly (Teeth-Lifting Champion), Parimal Ray, Mr Asia (Body Building), Riten Roychowdhury (Basketball) and many University Blues who enhanced the glory of Asutosh College in the arena of physical culture. No wonder, as a recognition of the fact, the Calcutta University authorities allotted a portion of land and a tent in Kolkata (then Calcutta) Maidan to Asutosh College jointly with Bangabasi College, in 1952. The tent was inaugurated by Justice Ramaprasad Mookerjee in December, 1956. Asutosh and Bangabasi are the only two colleges affiliated to the University of Calcutta having their own grounds in the Maidan along with their own tents.

Among the teachers there were some stalwarts whose reputation in teaching surpassed the boundaries of Asutosh College. A few of them are Profs. Someswar Prasad Mukherjee, Mohini Mohan Mukherjee, Dr. Lila Majumdar, Dr. Lila Maitra, Dr. Sisir Kr. Das, Dr. Dhritikanta Lahiri Choudhuri, Sri Amulyadhan Mukherjee, Sm. Sujata Choudhuri, Sri Prabodh Ranjan Sen, Sri Ajit Krishna Basu of English, Prof. Nirmalya Bhushan Acharyya, Tarapada Bhattacharjee, Amiya Ratan Mukherjee, Pranab Ranjan Ghosh of Bengali, Profs Kalidas Sen and Harimohan Bhattacharya of Philosophy and Prof. Amal Kr. Ray Choudhury of History, Prof. K. P. Biswas of Botany, Prof. Gopal Tribedi of Economics, Profs. Parimal Kar and Amritava Banerjee of Political Science, Prof. Kantish Maity and Jamini Kar of Mathematics, Prof. Amal Roy Chowdhury and Ramen Poddar of Physics. A substantial portion of the faculty members continue to be engaged in research activities in the college and elsewhere, in collaboration with universities and other institutes of repute. Many faculty members regularly contribute articles to peer-reviewed journals. Some of our mentors later opted for administrative services: Dr. Satyendranath Sen and Prof. Amlan Dutta became Vice-Chancellors of Calcutta University and North Bengal University respectively. Dr. Sankari Prosad Banerji of Philosophy and Dr. Golap Chandra Roy Choudhury of History became Registrars of Calcutta University, Prof. Sanat Kumar Basu of Mathematics, Dr. Nisith Ranjan Kar of Geography, Dr. P. K. Dutta of Chemistry, Prof. Phanindranath Mukherjee of English and Dr. Pratip Kumar Mukherjee of Geology – all joined the W. B. Senior Educational Service as D.P.I.S. and D.D.P.I.S.

Initially, the same teachers used to teach both Economics and Political Science. Former Principal Sri Panchanan Sinha and Former Vice Chancellors Dr. Satyendranath Sen and Prof. Amlan Dutta were no exceptions to this. With the passing of the years, these two departments established their separate identities. The Departments of Botany and Zoology were named as ‘Botany and Biology’ and ‘Zoology and Biology’ respectively. We had a Linguistics Department as well. In those good old days the college had a Vice Principal to assist the Principal but no Bursar. The first Bursar of the college was Sri Bhusan Ghoshal, M.A., LLB who served the institution in this capacity from 1946 to 1948. The Non-Teaching staff members were of only two categories: Ministerial Staff and Lower Subordinate Staff; whereas these days we have Head Clerk, Accountant, Asst. Accountant, Cashier, Computer Assistant, Office-Assistant, Library Assistant, Library Attendants, Laboratory Assistants, Skilled Laboratory Attendant, Laboratory Attendant, IT Associates, Attendants, Caretakers and many others to take care of the varied needs of the institution.

The objective of an educational institution is not just generating awardees of degrees but also good and responsible citizens. Hence, besides achieving academic excellence and championing the cause of physical culture, Asutosh College dedicated itself to the cause of social service too. The college had a full company of 156 cadets in the N. C. C. under the charge of a number of commissioned officer-members of the teaching staff. The unit was attached with the 2nd Bengal Battalion. The college also had two units of the National Social Service under the charge of an Officer-in-Charge who was a member of the staff. Students, under the stewardship of the college teachers joined the C.U. Youth Leadership Training Camp at Kamarpukur in 1954. The college organized social service camps and Labour Welfare Camps at Bawali (24 Pgs Dist) and at Chakdaha (Nadia Dist.) in 1955. Students also participated in the Apprenticeship Training in Village Development organized jointly by the University of Calcutta, Government of West Bengal and the Ford Foundation. At those camps they carried out socio-economic surveys of the villages that drew the attention of Community Development Project Administration, the Government of India and consequently, UNESCO. Asutosh College was invited by the UNESCO to participate in the Youth Enterprise on Fundamental Education Work Camps and to take up one of the five Pilot Projects in South East Asia.

The milestones that marked the journey of the institution from its Diamond Jubilee year to the Platinum Jubilee year were many. While Zoology was upgraded to the Honours level in 1973, Botany was upgraded to the same in 1985. The year 1983 was marked by a revolutionary decision of the college authorities to introduce co-education in the B.A. Courses. As a result, the student intake in Humanities stream was escalated. An Honours course was introduced in an emerging discipline like Sociology in the same year, well before other colleges did so. The Department of Geology took the initiative to publish the first departmental journal of Asutosh College, SCAN, in 1985. On the eve of its Platinum Jubilee, the College had a student strength of nearly 2500 pursuing Honours courses in 16 subjects and Pass Courses in 20 subjects and around a hundred teachers and members of the non-teaching staff. Most importantly, the Asutosh College Training Centre was established in 1993, in a newly-constructed four storied building on Basanta Bose Road. The state-of-the-art centre housed courses in Computer Training (in collaboration with I.C.E [I]). The first three years of the newly-introduced courses had a total roll-strength of approximately 2500 students. Scholarships were introduced for meritorious students. The centre also conducted (and still conducts) training courses for various competitive examinations for entry into higher services like WBCS, IAS, NET and SET. In 1995, Aptitude Test Courses, Career Counseling and Guidance were initiated too. The creation of a computerized Database or Databank that would collect and classify information regarding career opportunities in and outside West Bengal, as also outside India was proposed. It was decided that the information collected would be categorized into person-oriented data and career-oriented data. A language laboratory was built to encourage “English for Communication”. The idea behind its implementation was to enhance the confidence of the students facing interview boards.

Our forbears knew that learning becomes meaningful only when coupled with practical applications. A one-year certificate course in Management Education was introduced in December, 1995 in collaboration with Peerless and approved by the State Council for Engineering and Technical Education. Later, a Diploma Course in Safety Engineering (now Industrial Safety Engineering) was introduced. A Centre for Creative Writing and Translation Workshop was also proposed. An anthology of poems, Bhalolagar Kabita, where both the current students and teachers contributed, was released in the Calcutta Book Fair, 1995. Initiatives were taken to arrange mock-interviews and group discussions to benefit job-seekers.

On the whole, class-room teaching was, for the first time, geared to the changing needs of society. Our forefathers asserted their belief in the maxim: Be the change you want to see in others.

The last decade of the preceding century witnessed the effect of free economy and globalization and the days that followed the Platinum Jubilee year of the College, 1991, ushered in an era where the pursuit of knowledge had to go hand in hand with technological advancements.

Honours and Major courses were introduced in newly-emerging disciplines like Industrial Fish and Fisheries, Computer Science, Psychology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Journalism and Mass Communication, Electronics, Environmental Science, Bachelor of Business Administration and Communicative English in course of time. In 2013, UGC-approved Add-on Courses in Industrial Chemistry, Travel & Tourism, and Hospital Waste Disposal Management were introduced free of cost to enable our students to face the challenges of the job and market confidently.

In tune with this thought, the UGC-approved Community College Scheme with courses in Software Development and Mobile Communication and B. Voc (Bachelor of Vocation) courses in Software Development and Industrial Aquaculture and Fisheries were launched in 2014. The classes are being held at Bhasa, the second Campus of Asutosh College.

The Main Campus was gradually expanded to house regular Postgraduate courses in Environmental Science, Geography, Zoology, Bengali, Applied Geology and Computer and Information Science in the years between 2002 and 2014. The Postgraduate Study Centre (Distance Mode) of Vidyasagar University was inaugurated in 2013 with PG Courses in English, History, Political Science, Environmental Science and Commerce in the second campus of the College. The Postgraduate Study Centre (Distance Mode) of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was started in 2019 with PG Courses in Psychology, Sociology and Public Administration.

Time marched on. With the evolving conditions, the stakeholders decided to supplement the classroom teaching-learning process and student-support services by forming the Placement Cell (2002), the Psychotherapy Unit (2014) and the Eco Club (2013 June). The fact that the SC-ST-OBC Cell was set up in 2012 and B. Sc. courses were made co-educational in 2002 was also in accordance with the demands of the changing times. Central and Departmental Libraries underwent automation in 2014 to provide students better and wider facilities in borrowing books and journals from the library and accessing the comprehensive Catalogue on line, and the College Website was first launched in 2006. In 2014, the I.T. Section was set up in the ground floor of the Humanities Block on Basanta Bose Road.

As early as 1996, Asutosh College was selected to be one of the two representative colleges from West Bengal (the other being the Presidency College of yesteryear.) to join the C.D.I. (Camps Diversity Initiative) programme sponsored by the Ford Foundation, USA. It focused on a survey as to how Indians handle ethnic diversity and make cultural exchanges among various ethnic groups possible. As part of the programme, Asutosh College joined the “Conference of Friendship” at D.A.V. College, Dehradun, along with many other colleges of India, where the students and teachers were requested to recreate the environment of their home state, including cultural activities, customs, dress, and cuisine.

As part of “Campus Outreach” programme under C.D.I. (Campus Diversity Initiative), Khariberia Primary School in Bishnupur village near Bhasa was adopted by Asutosh College. A group of Asutosh College students used to coach the school students, counsel the guardians and organize cultural activities on a weekly basis under the guidance of one of our college teachers.

The Foundation for Academic Excellence and Access (FAEA) programme of which the college became a part in 2003, was also sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Twenty four colleges were selected throughout India and three colleges were selected from West Bengal to be the part of the programme. Asutosh College, along with Presidency College and Kalimpong College enjoyed this privilege. Our College had to arrange scholarships for socially and economically marginalized meritorious students. A teacher from Asutosh College became the cluster coordinator of the Eastern Region who was endowed with the responsibility of disbursing fellowship grants and organizing workshops. The project continued till 2010.

Funded by the FAEA, the Asutosh College Teachers’ Council started publishing a journal, DELF, comprising research-oriented articles by faculty members of the College. The inaugural issue saw light in 2003. This inspired the faculty members of the Political Science Department and the Department of Communicative English to publish their Departmental Journals, ‘Politicus’ and ‘Communique’ in 2009 and 2010 respectively. The Asutosh College Publication Cell formed in 2014 made its debut effort by publishing “Asutosh: Vidyar Sarathi” to commemorate the sesquicentennial Birth Anniversary of the Founder of the College, Sir Asutosh Mukherjee and a multidisciplinary journal was published to commemorate the century-long march of the college in 2016.

Meanwhile, infrastructural developments were also being undertaken. In the year 1985, the main building of the College (the college’s only building existing at that time) suffered damage due to construction work by the Metro Rail authorities on S. P. Mookerjee Road, in front of the College. Engineers brought in to assess the damage opined that repair works would have to be undertaken with immediate effect. The students and members of the teaching and non-teaching staff of the college headed by Dr. Subhankar Chakraborty, the then Principal, made a protest march from the college to Metro Rail Bhavan on Chowringhee Road and succeeded in procuring an amount of Rs. 25,00,000/- (Rupees twenty five lakhs) from the Metro Rail Authorities for repair-cum-renovation work in the College.

Following the construction of the ACTC building on adjoining Basanta Bose Road in 1993, as mentioned earlier, in 2006, a fourth floor was added to the Main Building to provide increased space to the departments of Geography, Electronics, Mathematics, Statistics, Botany, and Zoology and to house the BOOST laboratory (funded by the department of Biotechnology, Govt. of West Bengal). A fourth, followed by the fifth, floor were also added to the ACTC building in 2008 and 2010 respectively. A vertical extension was also made in the Main Building on the western side of the Professors’ Room. The open space in front of the students’ canteen was also roofed in and named Vivekananda Mancha as part of the 150th Birth Anniversary Celebrations of Swamiji in 2013. Earlier, in 2011, as part of the 150th Birth Anniversary celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore, the Central Library was restructured and a commemorative tablet placed to mark the event, while the Reading Room in the ACTC Building was renovated and named Vidyasagar Pathagar. As a tribute to three great pioneers in the field of Science, the Physics and Chemistry Lecture Galleries were renovated and named after Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose and Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray respectively, while the Statistics laboratory was redesigned and named after Sir P. C. Mahalanobish. A marble bust of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray has also installed on the porch in front of the Chemistry Department, in May, 2016. To ensure better facilities for the students, the Journalism Laboratory and the Communicative English Project room were restructured. The staircase upto the first floor was overlain with marble and CCTV for improve security and a high capacity generator to combat power cuts also installed. A solar power generating cell to partially meet increasing demands has also been set up in Electronics laboratory. In 2002, security personnel were engaged to work in the main building and later on, in the other buildings of the college’s extended campus. Lifts were installed in the main building and the ACTC in 2009 and 2013 respectively. A ramp too was constructed on the ground floor of the ACTC to aid the movement of physically changed individuals.

In the last few years, Asutosh College has continued to expand campus-wise as well. In 2001, 33 bighas of land were purchased in Bhasa, near Joka in South 24 Parganas, to set up the second and suburban campus of the College. Within the perimeter of a 4000 ft. long boundary wall have been planted a number of medicinal as well as fruit-bearing trees like arjun, amaltash, jamun, neem, krishnachura, jarul, mango, guava, coconut-palm and many others. There is also an extensive herb garden. This garden, ‘Sushrut’, is a brilliant initiative taken up by the college at the Bhasa campus, has been set up in an area of 6560 sq. ft., where nearly a hundred varieties of medicinal plants are being grown. Pitcher plants, different varieties of ocimum, harjora (used as a remedy in bone fracture), aswagandha, are the chief attractions of this garden. The garden also has an eco-friendly bamboo-made platform for interactive sessions with students. Entering through the Centenary Gate of this campus, one can see the Girls’ and Boys’ Hostels, Community College and PG Study Centre building. The master-plan of the campus with its building has been drawn up by architects of repute and engineers of IIT, Kharagpur. Construction of other buildings is in progress. Future projects include setting up of several ‘schools’ with inter and multidisciplinary approaches and further development of’Green Campus’ components.

On the eve of the Centennial Celebrations of the College, the erstwhile Boys’ Hostel on Basanta Bose Road was renovated along with elevator installation and transformed to house the Humanities Block, where the departments of English, Communicative English, Economics, History, Journalism, Philosophy, Political Science, Sanskrit and Sociology conduct classes and enjoy exclusive faculty rooms and classrooms with computer & library facilities along with ‘IT Cell’ in ground floor.

The five-storied Centenary Building has been constructed on purchased land at 22 Kalighat Road, on which had once stood the Boys’ Hostel (old). It houses the regular PG departments and is equipped with smart classrooms, modern laboratories mainly for PG studies and research, a seminar hall, an e-library, a conference room – all state-of-the-art arrangements befitting the century-long journey of the college. This Building was inaugurated on the 1st of April, 2015, by Sri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India.

In this context, some of the endeavors taken up by the college in its Centenary Year are worth mentioning. A new classroom and laboratory for the Electronics department, and a soil-water analysis laboratory for the Geography department have been set up in the ACTC building in order to lessen the excessive load on the comparatively older classrooms and laboratories housed in the main building. A Visitors’ Room has been created adjacent to the Principal’s Room on the first floor of the main building. A room on the second floor in this building has also been earmarked for the NCC and NSS units. In the Centenary building and Alumni Corner has been made for former students of the college. A room in the Humanities Block has been set aside to be used as a ‘Health Care Unit’ for the students and staff members requiring first-aid or medical attention.

We are the first college in West Bengal to undergo the process of Assessment and Accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of India, in 2002, under the new scheme initiated by the UGC. Asutosh College has currently been graded as NAAC Grade A with CGPA 3.22 in 2016.

Asutosh College, which began its journey as an Intermediate-level college in pre-independent India, has emerged today also as a centre for postgraduate studies and research. To facilitate the research needs, we have introduced Asutosh College Research Centre in 2019, a dedicated multidisciplinary research centre with the aim to stimulate on-campus research environment. Located at 128/9, Hazra Road, Kolkata, Asutosh College Research Centre (ACRC) is determined to enhance various research activities. It will be facilitative for the faculty members and researchers to pursue interdisciplinary and social research with state-of-the-art equipments in addition to online resources and extension activities.

Today, with nearly 6000 students and 430 Staff members, Asutosh College is brimming with confidence to explore new vistas of knowledge, and to develop improved resources of higher education, in keeping with the rich legacy that it is justifiably proud of.