A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE Mahadevananda Mahavidyalaya, a co-educational day College, affiliated to the
University of Calcutta (date of affiliation: 29.07.1968), was founded in
Monirampore, under Barrackpore Sub-division of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal,
by Late Swami Jyotirmoyananda Giri Maharaj, in the sacred memory of his
preceptor Late Swami Mahadevananda Giri Maharaj, on the auspicious day of
Janmashtami, and the Independence Day, the 15th of August, 1968. The 15th of
August being a holiday, the 16th of August has been officially declared as the
Foundation Day of the College.
The College, now a multifaculty one, is situated within the KMDA area, on the
eastern bank of the river Hooghly. It is well-connected by road, river-traffic
and the railway station, which is only 2 kms. from the campus.
In the late sixties, when the College was founded, Monirampore, though
well-known for the quality products of its many brick-fileds, was a sparsely
populated, quiet, semi-urban area. Today Monirampore is a semi-urban,
semi-industrial, densely populated area. Mahadevananda Mahavidyalaya is the only
college in the area as well as the only study centre providing various popular
courses of Netaji Subhas Open University catering to the variety of needs of
higher education not only of the local people but also of the people belonging
to the wide catchment area of the College. The College was included in the list
of colleges by UGC U/S 2F of UGC Act of 1956, on the 11th of April, 1987 with retrospective effect.
The
College had a very humble beginning with a few departments in the science
faculty, but within a few years, both Arts and Commerce streams were introduced.
From the date of inception of the College ( 16.08.1968) till date, the number of
subjects taught increased from 5 to 18 in General courses and from 0 to 8 in
Honours courses; the number of students from 143 to 1754, the number of teachers
from 5 to 52 and the number of non-teaching employees from 7 to 38. Land area
under possession increased from 0.197 acres to 3.086 acres, and built-up area
from 812 sq. mts. to 3,748 sq.mts.
This phenomenal growth of the College as evident from the figures above, has
taken place in the last ten years, only after the College was listed as a
private college U/S 93 of the Calcutta University Statute (1979) in the year,
1994, from its earlier status of Trust College U/S 100 of the Calcutta
University Statute (1979).
In 1997, the Government of West Bengal handed over the stately residential
building of Rashtraguru Surendranath Banerjea, doyen of India's struggle for
Independence and one of the Founders of Indian National Congress and its
President. This picturesque possession made a huge boost to the infrastructural
facility of the College.
For all these developments that took place in the current decade, the College
sincerely and gratefully acknowledges the sincere support and able guidance that
it received from the leadership of WBCUTA, the only Teachers' organisation in
West Bengal, of the non Govt. colleges and universities. The College sincerely
extends its profound gratitude to the Govt. of W.B., particularly the Deptt. of
HIgher Education headed by the Minister-in-charge of Higher Education for
handing over the RGSN complex to the college. The College also sincerely
appreciates the role of the local Member of Parliament in helping the College in
every manner, financial or otherwise, whenever the College needed it.
The concern for imparting quality education has led us to undertake the exercise
of approaching NAAC this year for the accreditation of our college.
