Students’ Activities

If education is the manifestation of perfection in a person, such perfection is brought up about by co-curricular activities along with regular studies within a well programmed curriculum. Asutosh College has since its inception assured a befitting educational programme to its students, irrespective of barriers.

The College has a Students’ Common room where students can emerge in co-curricular activities at their will. Besides, there are a gymnasium, the Bratachari Samity, a Rowing Club, and a playground with a tent near the Kolkata Maidan in order to make provisions for extensive physical exercises as part of the students’ health and fitness programme. In this context, it must be mentioned that Asutosh College has had a long tradition of achievements in sports. The extra ordinary performances of the students in football, basketball, hockey, rowing, cricket, volleyball, table-tennis, lawn-tennis, and athletics deserve special mention. The college has produced some outstanding sportsmen, who in later years left the imprints of their achievement in the National arena too. These sportsmen include Manish Sarkar, Chuni Goswami, Sukumar Samajpati, S. Nayeemuddin, Manas Bhattacharya, Krishanu Dey, Sunil Chetri in football; P. Sen (Khokon Sen), Sunil Dasgupta, Anil Bhattacharya, Bireswar Ghosh, Gopal Chakraborty, Sahadev Banerjee, Siddhartha Roy, Kamal Bhattacharjee, Salil Banerjee, Asoke Moitra and S. Mitter in cricket. The other University Blues produced by Asutosh College and noted for their proficiency in games are Prodyut Mitra, Priyabrata Paul in hockey; Gautam Devar in tennis; Debu Chatterjee, S. Roychowdhury in basketball; Sovandeb Chattopadhyay in boxing; Riten Chowdhury in volleyball; Arunangsu Chatterjee, Ramaprasad Chatterjee, Supriya Banerjee, Dindayal Haralalka in rowing. The names of Soroshi Ganguly, Parimal Roy, Hem Mukherjee deserve mention for their achievements in weight-lifting and body building.

The College can boast also of the achievements of its students in inter-college and even in inter-state tournaments held every year. The students also have records of participation in the Asian Games. The annual sporting events include the Annual Sports Meet organized by the Students’ Union. In addition to the indoor games competition held annually, a friendly cricket match between teachers and non-teaching staff of the college is held annually. The Teachers-in-Charge for Sports Administration, Dr. M. Banerjee and Dr. S Dasgupta with the support staff, Sri Pratap Das have been efficiently organizing and managing the sports events for the last few years. In the year 2014 the college had organized Inter-College State Sports and Games Championship of the South Kolkata District.

The college has several Welfare Bodies to cater to the needs of students, teachers and other members of the staff. There had been a Poor Students’ Fund and a Poor Students’ Library to provide assistance to needy students of the college. Recently the college has set up an SC/ST Cell for the welfare of the Backward Students, with the assistance of the UGC. Such welfare cells organize remedial coaching classes for the SC/ST/OBC students of the college. Besides, the Teachers Council, Professors’ Tea Club, Co-operative Society and the College Union function to look after the interests and cater to the requirements of the students, teachers and the other staff of the college. There are some other bodies set up by the college in order to maintain a congenial and healthy ambience. Such bodies include the Anti-ragging Cell, Disciplinary Committee, Grievance Redressal Cell, and Committee against Sexual Harassment. Recent additions to the list are a Psychotherapy Unit and an Eco-club to maintain a balanced mental and physical environment

Asutosh College boasts of its students and their achievements just as the students of the college may boast of the several Students Support Services offered by the College. The College Central Library has a stock of more than 90,000 volumes and also provides reading room facilities. The Central Library has been renovated recently and provides today more facilities to its students than ever before. An additional reading room in the ACTC can accommodate nearly a hundred readers at a time. The Library run by trained staff also provides Internet facilities like Web OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue). In addition, there are Departmental Libraries for the benefit of the students pursuing Honours Courses.

The laboratory-based Science Departments have large, well equipped laboratories. Computer facilities including internet facilities are available for more comprehensive study and analyses. The departments and offices are connected through computer networking in order to provide quick communication.

The Students’ Common Room provides ample space where indoor games are often organized. Newspapers and magazines displayed here provide opportunities for the students to brush up their current information. Facilities of Students’ Health Home are available in order to ensure health and physical safety of the students of the college. Asutosh College follows the Calcutta University Statute, like any other college, to form a democratically elected Students’ Union. The constructive relationship between the union and the administration fosters a healthy atmosphere conducive to serious studies and research. The Students’ Union functions to ensure discipline in the college. Critical inputs are carefully heeded by the Students’ Union and it co-operates with the administrative body of the college to provide all-round development of the students. Hostel facilities for students are provided by the college. Seats in the hostel are allotted in the strict merit-cum-distance basis, though admittedly the available seats are insufficient to meet the needs of all intending boarders. The Girls’ and Boys’ Hostels have been constructed in the Asutosh College Second Campus with funds from the UGC.

The Placement Cell of Asutosh College is one of the most important agencies to cater to the students’ needs on completion of their courses. The Cell is administered by Dr. Abhik Kundu, Department of Geology, and Dr. Dhiman Dutta, Department of Statistics provides employment opportunities to every competent student on completion of her/his academic curriculum. The Placement Cell has significantly progressed in its function since reputed Indian and Multinational Companies often visit the College campus and select a large number of students for requirement. The companies include Cognizant, TCS, Tech Mahindra, IBM, Daksh, Accenture, Wipro, Genpact, Ranbaxy, GSK, ACC, Pantaloon (Retail), and many others. The college provides every possible facility to the students so that they may march forward in their careers with the least difficulty. The college reserves seats for the admission of the SC, ST, OBC and the Physically Challenged Candidates, following the Government regulations. The college also arranges for concession in the tuition fees to meritorious students hailing from economically backward families. Besides the UGC sponsored remedial coaching for SC, ST, OBC and other minority students from every department, the college has arrangements for free coaching of the marginalised students for WBCS, SSC, NET and SET examinations. UGC approved Add-on courses in Travel and Tourism, Industrial Chemistry, Hospital Waste Management, etc. are now available free of cost to all students pursuing undergraduate studies in the college. To facilitate the students in their studies and regular activities in the college, there are a photocopy centre, book store and a cheap canteen within the college premises, all of which function at subsidized rates.

The Asutosh College Training Centre was developed in the Platinum Jubilee year of the College (1991) to equip the students for job-screening examinations like WBCS, SSC, NET, SET, etc. The training centre also arranges Certificate Course in Export and Import as well as a Diploma Course in Safety Engineering. Classes for Soft Skills Development and Computer Courses are also conducted. Career Counselling is made available to the students.

In order to integrate academics with social responsibility the college has two units – the National Social Service (NSS) and the National Cadet Corps (NCC). The history of the NCC is fairly long. The NCC unit originated under the aegis of the now defunct University Training Corps (U.T.C) set up under the Indian Defence Act of 1917. The college had even once provided two efficient Platoons to the U.T.C. The college was also designated a Centre of Parade as the officers and cadets from the college distinguished themselves by their general efficiency and excellence in rifle and revolver practice in camps. The name of Late Professor Lt. Ajit Kumar Ghosh, one of the pioneers of military education in Bengal, deserves special mention here. Without his wholehearted focus on military training of the students, the college would not have earned such laurels. The NCC (set up in accordance with the National Cadet Corps Act) replaced, on the 15th of July, 1948, the U.T.C. with its primary military focus. Subsequently, the Asutosh College unit, set up in the early fifties was affiliated to the 17 Bengal Battalion (with its headquarters at Southern Avenue) and the 39 Bengal Battalion (with headquarters at Jodhpur Park). The college had a full company of 156 cadets placed under the charge of a number of commissioned officer-members of the teaching staff.

The defunct unit revived in 2011, is now affiliated to the 20 Bengal Battalion, headquartered at 8, Southern Avenue. Both boy and girl cadets (SD and SW respectively) were enrolled this time. Of the Cadets, Hansa Naata and Basudeb Pramanik became the first in the revived unit to be selected for a NIC (National Integration Camp, Jaisalmer, Oct.-Nov. 2012).

The cadets of the Asutosh College Unit not only undergo weekly training and parades guided by the officers of the 20 Bengal Battalion, but also participate regularly in several college events. The cadets also observe NCC Foundation Day, Army Day, eco-initiatives (to name a few). In camps and outside, their motto is ‘All for One and One for All’ in harmony with the NCC motto, ‘Ekta aur Anushashan – Unity and Discipline.’

Asutosh College has a long history of social service in different forms. Swami Lokeshwarananda Maharaj of the Ramakrishna Mission was associated with the social activity of the college in 1954 and the UNESCO in 1956 extolled the college for its social service. Since 1933 the college also had an Ambulance division of its own. Asutosh College has started a new programme in social service under the National Service Scheme. Swami Lokeshwarananda gave leadership to the Asutosh College NSS Unit as it participated in the Youth Leadership Training Camp, organized by Calcutta University in October, 1954. The NSS Unit of the college earned laurels for their camp at Bawali, 24 Parganas, and the report was published in the "Kurukhestra", the official organ of the Community Development Project Administration, Government of India. It even got published in full in the UNESCO publication – Work Camp and Fundamental Education. The NSS Unit was invited by the UNESCO Associated Youth Enterprise on Fundamental Education Work Camp and took up one of the top five Pilot Projects in South East Asia.

The NSS Unit of the College, after a lapse of its activities for a few years, resumed to function effectively since 2006, when Dr. Manas Kabi, Assistant Professor in Bengali, started to work as an NSS Officer. Under his guidance the NSS Unit breathed a new life. After that, Dr. Ashis Kumar Das, Professor in the Department of Geology, took charge of the NSS Unit, after receiving a formal training at TORC, Narendrapur. The Unit has organized several programmes under NSS, of Blood Donation Camp, ‘Anti-Smoking’ and ‘Anti-Drug’ campaigning, Women and Child Health Care, gender and spirituality etc. It regularly organizes awareness programmes on HIV, AIDS, Breast Cancer, Adolescent Health issues etc. The National Youth Day, Ambedkar Utsav, NSS Day, etc. are observed by the NSS Officers and volunteers with great enthusiasm. George Biswas, a Second Year Honours Student of Geology has been awarded the best NSS Volunteer (Male) for the year 2012-2013. The NSS Unit of the college has taken up a special programme to help the students of the slum area of Dhakuria station for their education and mental growth. To adopt a village of Bhasa, South 24 Parganas with the aim to work on the socio-economic and educational problems of the villagers and to bring about a holistic change in their thought and behavior patterns constitute an important agenda of the NSS unit of Asutosh College.

Asutosh College has an Auditorium of its own with a well equipped Seminar Hall located in the Centenary building of the college. Lectures and academic symposia of the college are held regularly. The Acharya P. C. Ray Memorial Lecture Hall and the Acharya J. C. Bose Memorial Lecture Hall have been developed in the Chemistry and Physics Departments respectively, for the purpose. Interactive academic sessions with distinguished personnel, faculty and students are carried out through seminars, symposia and workshops. The departments under the sponsorship of the UGC and other academic bodies, organize such academic sessions at regular intervals. Besides, to improve the academic-cultural atmosphere of the college, the Students’ Union organizes various cultural programmes and competitions in the form of debate, drama, music, elocution, drawing, short story writing, etc. The publication of the Annual College Magazine, College Social and Freshers’ Welcome constitute a part of the cultural activities of the students of Asutosh College.