Cotton College all set for centenary celebrations

GUWAHATI, March 15: It was set up as a second grade institute with five professors, one of them being the principal, 39 students on its roll, and nine subjects viz, English, Mathematics, Logic, Physics, Chemistry, Sanskrit, History, Arabic and Persian on its curriculum. On May 27, 1901 it was declared open. Bihagikabi Raghunath Choudhury sang a song, specially composed by him for its inaugural ceremony, and, on the harmonium, it was none other than Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi, who accompanied the Bihagikabi. Today, the alma mater of almost all the worthy sons and daughters of Assam and her neighbours in the NE States, who brought about a renaissance in the region in matters of learning and social activities, this College has on its roll a brigade of 5,000 students and 240 teachers. It has now 22 undergraduate and 21 post-graduate science and humanities departments. This is Cotton College. It is now preparing for a year-long celebration of its centenary to be kick started with an inaugural function slated for May 27 next. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is expected to inaugurate the celebration that day in presence of G White, the grand daughter of Sir Henry Cotton and Sangeet Natak Academi Chairman Bhupen Hazarika. It may be mentioned here that for setting up the College, late Manik Chandra Barooah submitted a memorandum to the then Government of Assam in March 1899 and Sir Henry Cotton, the then Chief Commissioner of Assam, and acting on the memorandum approved of a proposal for the second grade college. According to a Times of Assam report, the people of Guwahati named the proposed college as Cotton College after Sir Henry Cotton as a gratitude to him. Fedrick William Sudmersen, a professor in English, was the founder principal of the College. According to Ram Charan Thakuria, president of the Cotton College Centenary Celebration Committee (CCCCC), and Satyendra Kumar Choudhury, general secretary and Biswajit Bhagwati, treasurer respectively of the Celebration Committee, the Committee has been trying its level best to create an awareness that Cotton College acted not only as the epicentre of higher education in the Northeastern region of India, but also as the torch bearer of progress and modernity in the region. And hence, they said, there is the emphasis on the need to preserve and enhance this character of the institution by revamping the existing facilities and infrastructure of the College, so that it can finally emerge as an autonomous college with the status of a deemed university. This is the main thrust area of the Centenary Celebration - the alma mater of the majority of the NE intelligentsia should be helped to flourished to such a height! Meanwhile, a computer centre has already been set up at the Celebration Committee office investing an amount of Rs 2 lakh contributed by Rajya Sabha MP Arun Kumar Sarma from his MP's Local Area Development Fund. The Committee is launching of a website of the College within a very short period. Besides, 14 publications have also been proposed by the Celebration Committee on the occasion of the centenary celebration. Three of these, - Cotton College Shatabarshiki Smritigrantha, Cotton College Centenary volume and the History of Cotton College, are planned to be released in the May 27 inaugural ceremony. Besides, the proposed publications also include the two-volume Collection of articles from the Cottonian (English and Assamese), Annual Research Bulletin of Cotton College (Inaugural volume), Cottonianor Galpa Sankalan, Sports in Cotton College, Samakalin Chinta, Bhasa Sankalan, Sahitya Sankalan, Sanaskritimulak, Nibandha Sankalan and Bigyanmulak Nibandha Sankalan. In addition to all these publications proposed by the Celebration Committee, some well wishers of the College are also preparing a phot album of the photographs concerning the past 100 years of the College. Against a proposal for a grant of Rs 25 crore to undertake developmental works in the College, the Union government has released so far an amount of Rs 3 crore from its Non-Lapsable Pool of fund for the NE. With the help of this amount construction works of the two-storied new SK Bhuyan Library Building, the two-storied Students' Day Home and Information Data Centre and the second floor of the Bani Kanta Kakati Bhawan (for housing the academic departments) are undertaken, the CCCCC office bearers said, adding, construction of all these buildings will be completed by April next. Besides, the construction of the boundary walls, around the Physics Department campus and the Administrative Building and the hostel campuses adjacent to it, are also on, while the construction of a centenary gate near the KRB Hall (formerly Union Hall), with the financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh from the Guwahati Oil Refinery is also on. Also, works are also on a Rs 32 lakh project for the renovation of the Manik Chandra Barooah Bhawan administrative building, the New Arts Building and four boys' and two girls' hostels of the College, Thakuria said, adding, a proposal of Rs 20 lakh has also been submitted to Kuldip Nayar, MP for the completion of the College's indoor stadium. The Committee has also submitted a proposal to the ONGC for sponsoring the complete renovation of the KRB Hall, he said.