Hindu College, Delhi is one of the oldest and well-known colleges in India, that was set up in 1899. It is under the affiliation of University of Delhi. It has seen enviable growth over the years. It offers undergraduate as well as postgraduate courses in Science, Humanities and Commerce. It is frequently ranked among the top five colleges in India in arts, science, and commerce.

The Hindu College is recognized as one of the premier academic institutions in the country. It stands tall in public esteem and also in the memories of its alumni, many of whom are now prominent figures in government, business and industry, the media and education. Notwithstanding its name, students from all religions have grown up here and excelled in the chosen areas of their interests, be it academics, sports, or extra-curricular activities. Students and alumni of the college are called as Hinduites.

History

College Societies

Apart from academic excellence, Hindu College firmly believes in overall development of an individual in the moral, physical and intellectual realms. For this there are various college societies to foster comradeship amongst the students.

Every department has its own society which is tasked with organizing the department-specific co-curricular activities.

Abstractions: The Fine Arts Society of Hindu College organizes it’s annual festival Rangsrijan where participants students from all over Universities and Colleges showcase their paintings in this exhibition cum painting competition.

The English Literary Society of the English Department organises its own fest, competitions and activities. It also publishes its own magazine and runs various notice boards. It is widely reputed to be one of the best English societies in the University of Delhi.

The Economics Society also holds the All India Economics Students Meet, where top colleges from Delhi and other national Universities send their economics students to compete. It is one of the most reputed events for economics students in the country.

The Hindi dramatics society “IBTIDA” is considered to be one of the best dramatics society in Delhi University, with their record in street play competitions being particularly impressive and recently they have even made a mark in the stage play domain. The English Dramatics society “Masque” is also considered one of the best of its kind in the town.

The Film Society called Vivre screens almost 15 films a month at the college seminar room. The films include a huge variety and great names like Ingmar Bergman and Alfred Hitchcock.

The Indian Music Society – ALANKAR is coming up as one of the leading music societies of Delhi University.It holds its annual festival HARMONY every year which sees enthusiastic participation from other leading colleges of Delhi.

The ‘English Debating Society’, popularly known as the debsoc is representative of an inquiring and active intellectual life on campus. It is considered one of the best debating societies in the University of Delhi. Over the years, it has developed unique and anecdotal rivalries with various colleges across the University. It also hosts four prestigious debates: The Ashok Priyadarshi Memorial Freshers Debate, The Tantra Delhi University Extempore Debate, The Premchand Memorial Parliamentary Debate and the N.V. Thadani Memorial Parliamentary Debate. In addition, a tradition of intra-college debates has developed over the years, where members of the debating society duel over matters ranging from “the fiscal deficit to the color of one’s t-shirt”, never once forgetting to provide solid and respectable arguments to hold their own. The ‘Eco’ Balcony is a favored meeting point for the members. The members past and present have won all of the most prestigious debates held all around the country. Many have gone on to represent and win debates internationally amongst the finest International teams.

The Quizzing Society is called “Manthan” and is known for consistently providing the best quizzers in and around the capital. Members of the society meet regularly over various formal and informal quizzes for the several year round inter college and university quizzes. In 2004, the then president of the society, Abhishek Sengupta led Hindu College to finals of BBC’s Indian version of the University Challenge. Consequently, they became one of the only four institutions to represent Delhi in that inaugural edition and also the first and the only team from the University of Delhi to qualify for the final round on television

Department of Statistics organizes an academic fest named “KURTOSIS” every year which is best among all academic fests in DU. More info on KURTOSIS: www.kurtosis9.co.cc

The college also organises many extra curricular activities carried out through different vibrant societies. The following is the list of these societies:

• Dramatics (separate societies for Hindi “IBTIDA – The Beginning” & English ” MASQUE”)
• Music(separate societies for Hindi “ALANKAR” & English “Western Music Society”)
• Abstractions The Fine Arts Society of Hindu College
• Elocution
• Poetry Club
• Adventure and Nature Club
• Cine Club
• Choreography
• Photography
• Environment Club
• Mountaineering Club
• Fashion Club

The college also has a tradition of inviting NGO’s and organisations such as SPIC MACAY to conduct various cultural programmes on the campus.

Hostel

Library

The college maintains a well-stocked library. The library is open to the bonafide students of all the classes. All important textbooks are kept in the reserve section to enable the students to write their tutorials. It has subscriptions to a large number of dailies, weeklies, periodicals and journals. These publications are available to its members in the well-equipped reading room as a reference to a wide spectrum of academic and non-academic subjects. Students, teachers, and other members of the staff are entitled to become members of the Library. The library has 3 floors holding more than 1,00,000 books excluding the journals, magazines and dailies which it stocks. Students from other colleges often visit the library to read. The reading room has space for a hundred students to sit and study at one time.

Magazine

Indraprastha, the college magazine, publishes articles by students and reviews of the educational, cultural, and social and sports activities of the college. Each section of the magazine is edited by a Student Editor under the supervision of a member of the teaching staff.

Sports

The college maintains an extensive playground and a sports complex. Cricket, Table Tennis, Lawn Tennis, Basketball and Swimming are organised in the college under direct supervision of Director of Physical Education.

Hindu College Cricket Team

Hindu College cricket team is one of best college teams in Delhi University. The current team has 6 Delhi state players. Many famous names who have played in the national side had started off in the Hindu college cricket team. Some of them include Ajay Jadeja,Gautam Gambhir, Murali Karthik, Vinay Lamba, Ashish Nehra, Deep Dasgupta .

The College Parliament

The Hindu College Parliament is a unique student organisation, and onle one of its kind in the country. All the students and teachers are its members. The students from amongst themselves elect the prime minister at the beginning of each year. The speaker of the parliament is a teacher nominated by the principal in his/her capacity as the president of the Hindu college republic. It is a forum for discussion of academic and other issues. It is an excellent training ground for public speaking and leadership qualities. The Principal of the college is the President. The Government passes an annual budget which allocates funds to the various societies and departments of the college. The various ministries are Finance, Sports, Student Development, Food Services, Campus Development, Cultural etc. Each ministry has a minister and a secretary who handle the affairs. The Parliament often meets to debate issues pertaining to the college.It regularly hold budget sessions, question hour etc. It has a reputation of attracting famous speakers from all over the country to address the students. Pre-independence, famous nationalist leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawarharlal Nehru, M.A.Jinnah etc. debated fiery issues with students in this very parliament itself.Atal Bihari Vajpayee then Prime Minister of India, attended the Budget session on The Hindu College Parliament and after watching the proceedings, said ” This Parliament is indeed a great institution. And we are quite lucky because today India has not one but two Prime Ministers” referring to the Hindu College Prime Minister and himself.

College Cafe

Hindu college has a modern, newly built cafeteria for its students and staff, where all barriers are broken down amidst much bonhomie.

College Annual Event – MECCA

The College student body organizes annual cultural event by the name of MECCA. The event which span over multiple days involves theatrical, literary,dance and other misc events. Previous years have also seen Star nights ranging from Classical to Rock and Roll.The festival is one of the most famous fest in DU and attract thousands of students throughout the festival.