College, where Gandhi stayed during satyagraha, gets heritage status

In a move to conserve the historical values of colleges more than 100 years old, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has given the heritage tag to 19 such colleges. The prominent colleges selected under the scheme include Old Agra College, Agra; Meerut College, Meerut and Langat Singh College, which is situated in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur. The UGC has approved financial assistance for the selected colleges to conserve their historical values.

According to HRD officials, the UGC had received around 60 proposals for heritage tag under the Heritage College Scheme. After scrutinising the proposals, the Selective Committee found 19 colleges eligible under the <g data-gr-id="41">scheme,</g> while the proposal of <g data-gr-id="40">rest</g> of 41 colleges failed to meet the set criteria. Notably, the Langat Singh College is <g data-gr-id="39">one where Mahatma Gandhi had stayed during his Champaran Satyagraha and nation’s first President Rajendra Prasad</g> was a teacher.

Apart from above mentioned three colleges, the other colleges selected for heritage status include St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai; CMS College Kottayam; St Joseph College, Trichy; Khalsa College, Amritsar; St Bede’s College, Shimla among others.

The other noted colleges which failed to get heritage tag include TNB College, Bhagalpur; St John’s College, Bareilly; Shiv Sanatan Dharm Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, Sultanpur (UP); Darwin Christian College, Allahabad; Vasanta College for Women, Varanasi and DAV College, Dehradun.

The UGC has sanctioned a fund of Rs 25 lakh for the Agra College, which was founded by noted scholar Pandit Gangadhar Shastri in 1823. Congress president Moti Lal Nehru and Sir Chhotu Ram are the noted students of the college. These days the college is the prime centre of engineering and technology education.

Similarly, Meerut College which was established in the year 1892 has been granted Rs 1.34 crore for revamping the college. The fund would be utilised for <g data-gr-id="37">renovation</g> of Art Gallery, Geological Museum and initiating projects for identification of heritage locations in nearby areas. Former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh and former HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi are the eminent alumni of this college.

The Langat Singh College has got Rs 15 lakh financial aid from the UGC for developing <g data-gr-id="34">digital</g> library. The college was founded in 1899 and had first President of the country Rajendra Prasad as a teacher. Prasad had taught English and History in this <g data-gr-id="32">college,</g> while other known teachers of the college 

include Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, HR Malkani, JB Kripalani among others. Notably, Mahatma Gandhi had stayed here during his Champaran Satyagraha.