Calcutta University
editUniversity of Calcutta is the oldest of the modern universities in India.[1] It was founded in 1857 during the administration of Lord Canning (1856–1862), the Governor General of India. Dr Fredrick John, the education secretary to the then British Government in India, first tendered a proposal to the British Government in London for the establishment of a university in Calcutta, along the lines of London University, but at that time the plan failed to obtain the necessary approval. However, a proposal to establish two universities, one in Calcutta and the other in Bombay was later accepted in 1854 and the necessary authority was given. The Calcutta University Act came into force on 24 January 1857 and a 41-member Senate was formed as the policy making body of the university. When the university was first established it had a catchment area covering the area from Lahore to Rangoon (now in Myanmar) — the largest of any Indian university.[1]
The first Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University were Governor General Lord Canning and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Sir James William Colvil, respectively.[2] In 1858, Joddu Nath Bose and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay became the first graduates of the university.[3] On 30 January 1858, the Syndicate of the Calcutta University started functioning.[3] The first meeting of the Senate was held in the Council room of the Calcutta Medical College. A temporary office of the university was started in a few rented rooms in Camac Street. For several years afterwards the meetings of the Senate and Syndicate were held in a room of the Writers' building. 244 candidates appeared for the first Entrance Examination of the university, held in March 1857 in the Town Hall of Calcutta. In 1862, a decision was taken by the Senate to construct for the university a building of its own. Accordingly, the historical Senate Hall was constructed at a cost of Rs. 2,52,221/- and inaugurated on 12 March 1873 by holding the convocation of the university.
In 1875 Mohindra College, Patiala in Punjab province of British India became one of the first colleges to be affiliated with University of Calcutta. Later many institutions came under its jurisdiction. Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu became the first lady graduates of the country in 1882.[3] The Hon'ble Justice Gooroodas Banerjee became the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of University of Calcutta in the year 1890.[2] Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was the Vice-Chancellor for four consecutive two-year terms (1906–1914) and a fifth two-year term (1921–23). In 1902, Indian Universities Commission was formed and the constitution of the senate initiated. In 1908, University library begun functioning and the University press was established. A number of well-known personalities joined the univeristy in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, including Jagadish Chandra Bose (appointed University Lecturer in 1907), Prafulla Chandra Roy ( Palit Professor of Chemistry in 1916), Satyendra Nath Bose (university teacher in 1916), C. V. Raman ( Palit Professor of Physics in 1917), Meghnad Saha (university teacher in 1917), Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Professor of Philosophy in 1921).[3] A centralized Post-Graduate system of teaching and research was started in 1917. The Asutoish building was opened in officially in 1926. The Asutosh museum of Indian Art started in 1937. Institute of Nuclear Physics, the first of its kind in Asia, was founded under the leadership of Meghnad Saha in 1945. After Independence of India, C. Rajagopalachari became the first Indian Chancellor of the university.
Media West Bengal
editAs of 2012, West Bengal has 358 news dailies,[4] of which 168 are in Bengali.[5]
Group theatre of Kolkata
editThe group theatre tradition in Kolkata started in 1940s..[6] As opposed to commercial theatres, group theatre is a theatre that is not professional or commercial, a theatre different in aims and objective — a centre of various experiments in theme, content, and production.[6] Group theatre activists use the proscenium stage to highlight some social message.[7][8]
IPTA and Nabanna
editThe play Nabanna in 1944 is said to be the birth of group theatres in Kolkata.[6] Nabanna was written by Bijon Bhattacharya and directed by himself and Sambhu Mitra, both active members of Indian People's Theatre Association, the association of leftist theatre-artists.[6] In the commercial theatres at that time, entertainment was the sole purpose. However, the time was tumultuous—the Indian independence movement was strengthening on the backdrop of the World War 2, and the fate of Bengal province was further worsened by the Bengal famine of 1943.[6] Activists and thinkers attempted to use the media of theatre to highlight the plight of the people, and to stage a form of artistic protest.
In this backdrop, Nabanna was a socially committed play displaying the life and problems of a group of peasants as victim of the famine, who has to face a series of crises as they leave their "village only to be reduced to the most abject acknowledge poverty in Kolkata, where they develop a political awareness of their suffering".[6] Another production of IPTA was Jobanbondi.
Notion of group
editInitially, the idea was perhaps to break away from the star system of yesteryears when actors like Sisir Bhaduri, Ahindra Chowdhury and others had been considered the main draw for the audience. Now the emphasis was supposedly on the group.[9] The attempt was to make gononatyo (people's theatre). An important distinction that was often made forcefully was that this theatre was by non-professionals, people who came to do theatre out of love for it, and not in order to make money.[9]
Groups after IPTA
editThe initial group of IPTA dispersed in 1947. However, the main members continued to carry the legacy of IPTA by forming several groups with similar ideology. Ahindra Chowdhuri, Sombhu Mitra and Tripti Mitra were the leading members of the group Bohurupee. Raktakarabi, Tahar Nam Ti Ranjana, Char Adhyay (written by Rabindranath Tagore) were some of the earlier productions of Bahurupee. Utpal Dutt led another faction of artists and went to create classics like Tiner Talowar and Kallol. 1950s and 1960s saw brilliant stagecraft and intense depth of production that had the "right mix of democratic politics — with certain groups drifting towards a revolutionary rhetoric — and humane ideals, based on literature drawn from the world over".[9]
Notable group theatrs include the Little Theatre Group, Gandharba, Calcutta Theatre, Nandikar.[9] Famous drama and theatrics personalities include Ajitesh Bondhopadhya, Utpal Dutta, Rudraprasad Sengupta, Shambhu Mitra, Tripti Mitra, Badal Sarkar
.
References
edit- ^ a b Chakraborty, Rachana. "University of Calcutta". Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Retrieved 2007-03-22.
- ^ a b "Genesis and Historical Overview of the University". University and its Campuses. University of Calcutta. Retrieved 2007-03-22.
- ^ a b c d "Memorable Events". University and its Campuses. University of Calcutta. Retrieved 2007-03-22.
- ^ "composite queries". Title search. Registrar of Newspapers for India. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ^ "composite queries". Title search. Registrar of Newspapers for India. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f Geir, Heierstad (2003). Nandikar: Staging Globalisation in Kolkata and Abroad (PDF) (Cand.polit.). University of Oslo. pp. 39–48. Retrieved 9 march 2012.
{{cite thesis}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Bhattacharya, Malini (2005). "Culture". In Bagchi, Jasodhara (ed.). The changing status of women in West Bengal, 1970–2000: the challenge ahead. New Delhi: Sage Publications. pp. 99–100. ISBN 9780761932420. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- ^ Zarilli, Phillip; McConachie, Bruce; Williams, Gary Jay; Sorgenfrei, Carol Fisher (2010) [2006]. Williams, Gary Jay (ed.). Theatre Histories: An Introduction. Abingdon, UK: Rotledge. pp. 429–430. ISBN 9780415462235. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- ^ a b c d Ghosh, Parimal (2012). "Rise and fall of Calcutta's group theatre: the end of a political dream" (PDF). Economic & Political Weekly. 47 (10). Economic and Political Weekly: 36–42. ISSN 0012-9976. Retrieved 9 March 2012.