NSS

Overview

Introduction

The National Service Scheme (NSS) is a scheme of the Government of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. It was introduced with the sole purpose of encouraging student youth of 11th & 12th Class of schools at +2 Board level and student youth of Technical Institution, Graduate & Post Graduate at colleges and University level of India to take part in various government led community service activities & programmes. NSS Unit, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Mahavidyalaya (then affiliated to The University of Calcutta) was initially sanctioned (vide letter no NSS/PC/1360 dated 19.06.2006) in 2006 but remained in a moribund state for two years. On 01.04.2008 the NSS unit of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Mahavidyalaya was sanctioned by the (then) affiliating university (University of Calcutta).

Mr Debadyuti Karmakar was appointed as Convener of National Service Scheme on 02.01.2015 (vide letter no. 7459/NSS dated 02.01.2015) and served in this post till 26.08.2017. Mr Mijanur Rahaman was appointed as Programme Officer of National Service Scheme 0n 26.08.2017 ( vide letter no. 7087/NSS/Prog.Off dated 25.08.2017) and served in this post till 03.03.2020. Mr Biswadeep Roy was appointed as Programme Officer of NSS Unit of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Mahavidyalaya on 03.03.2020 (vide letter no. 584/NSS/20 dated 03.03.2020) and served in this post till 01.03.2022. Mr Utpal Biswas started fulfilling the responsibility of NSS Programme Officer and he was officially appointed on 01.04.2022 (vide letter no. 1160/WBSU/NSS/2022 dated 06.04.2022). His appointment was made official through a Governing Body Resolution dated 29.03.2022. Mr Utpal Biswas will serve as NSS Programme Officer till 31.03.2024 as per this resolution.

The NSS Motto and Badge

The motto of NSS is ‘NOT ME BUT YOU’. One has to forget and surrender the self, and should be ever ready to render selfless service to others.

A youth volunteer who opts to serve the nation through the NSS led community service wears the NSS badge with pride and a sense of responsibility towards helping the needy.

The NSS badge has the Konark wheel embedded in it. The 8 bars of the Konark wheel signify the 24 hours of the day, reminding the wearer to be ready to be of service to the nation round the clock i.e. for 24 hours.

The Red colour in the badge signifies energy and spirit displayed by the NSS volunteers. The Blue colour signifies the cosmos of which the NSS is a tiny part.

Constitution of the NSS Unit:

The constitution of NSS Unit at Institutional level comprises of –

NSS Advisory Committee: State NSS Officer; Regional Directorate of NSS; WBSU NSS Programme Coordinator; Councillor of Baranagar Municipality.

Head of The Institution (Chairman of the Advisory Committee): Dr Arnab Ghosh

Programme Officer (s): Mr Utpal Biswas

NSS Teachers’ Committee: Dr Alpana Ray and Dr Sreyasi Chatterjee

Student Volunteers: Mr. Aniket Saha and Ms. Tithi Ganguly

Details of the NSS Advisory Committee:

Principal: Dr Arnab Ghosh
State NSS Officer, Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal: Dr Ramaprasad Bhattacharyya
Regional Director of NSS: Mr. Vinay Kumar
Programme Coordinator of NSS, WBSU: Prof. Dr Pranam Dhar
Programme Officer, College Unit: Sri Utpal Biswas
IQAC Coordinator: Dr Alpana Ray
Teacher Representative, PCMM: Dr Sreyasi Chatterjee
Councillor, Baranagar Municipality (Ward No.18): Sri Sunath Biswas (Representative from Adopted Slum)
NSS Volunteer (Students’ Representative), PCMM Unit: Sri Aniket Saha
NSS Volunteer (Students’ Representative), PCMM Unit: Smt Tithi Ganguly

Objectives of NSS Unit- “NOT ME BUT YOU”.

To conduct activities that are directed towards benefit of community with emphasis on neighbourhood/ local community
To conduct activities that are directed towards formation of socially responsible citizens so as to serve the country in times of need.

Collaborations:

NSS Unit of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Mahavidyalaya has successfully collaborated with 16 different NGOs and Government organizations to conduct its various activities for the last 5 years. Some collaborations were event based (like Daya Foundation for Health Care Camp, Yoga Competition for Local Community with Swarnayoga Yoga Centre, Cancer Prevention Awareness Programme with Sanjivani: Life Beyond Cancer, Awareness Programme on Gender Equality with Shobar Poth, Shantineer for Extension Activity at Oldage Home, Blood Donation Camp with College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital, Distribution of Education Kit with Dakshineswar Ramkrishna Sangha, Adyapith School, HIV/AIDS Awareness Programme with Kolkata Network for HIV Positive, Breast Cancer Awareness Workshop with Hitaishini, Vaccination Drive with Department of Higher Education of West Bengal and Global Accessibility Awareness Workshop with National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities) while other activities like Dengue Awareness with Baranagar Municipality continued over a prolonged period of time. Clothes Distribution and Donation Drive, Say No to Spitting in Public Places, Food Distribution Drive, Sanitization of Campus were some other activities done in collaboration with Baranagar Municipality. Activities in collaboration with Baranagar Ichhey Udaan like Drive for Plastic Free Campus and Green Zone Cleaning Campaign; activities with MSME-Testing Centre, Kolkata like Swachhata, Child Rights and Vigilance Awareness Workshop and Week-Long Cleanliness Drive; activities with Madhabilata: Fight for Her Justice like Outreach Activity: Distribution of Stationery and Health and Hygiene Workshop and Environmental Awareness Walk with Purbasha Eco Helpline were collaborations that were based on “Memorandum of Understanding”(MoU) being signed by the NGO and The College during the session 2018 – 2023 and presently also in active state.

Number of extension and outreach programs conducted by the institution through organized forums including NSS/NCC with involvement of community during the last five years.

YEAR	2018 -2019	2019-2020	2020-2021	2021-2022	2022-2023
NUMBER	09	05	04	10	20

Fig 1: No. of Activities Undertaken

Fig 2: Ratio of Capacity Building Activities & Community Outreach Activities

Fig 3: Overview of number of extension activities conducted by NSS Unit, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Mahavidyalaya in collaboration with different Non-Governmental Organisation and Government agencies.

TYPES AND CATEGORY OF ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED DURING LAST FIVE YEARS

The number of activities conducted in the Session 2018-2019 is 09, Session 2019-2020 is 05, Session 2020-2021 is 04, Session 2021-2022 is 10 and Session 2022-2023 is 20. In the first Session (2018-2019) activities were focused almost equally on capacity building of volunteers and on outreach activities. In the second session (2019-2020) the activities focused more on community outreach. In the third session (2020-2021) the pandemic restricted movement of volunteers and hence activities focused more on capacity building of volunteers. In the fourth session (2021-2022) activities focused more on capacity building of volunteers because without appropriate orientation of volunteers Outreach activities could not have been properly executed. There is certain skewness in the graph for the session 2022-2023 with respect to Outreach activities being conducted by the unit in the session 2022- 2023, which is mainly due to successful collaborations, appropriate priming of volunteers, rejuvenation of academic and cocurricular activities in post-pandemic period and also flow of fund from the University authorities, hence considering these rationalisation principles, there is more or less gradual rise in the trendline. The objectives of NSS Unit are operationalised through SPECIAL CAMP ACTIVITIES which will be conducted in the forthcoming academic year of 2023-2024.

Mainly 4 categories of activities were conducted which are

Health Awareness generation (including AIDS)
Literacy promotional activities for the socio-economically marginalised section of the society
Environmental awareness, Swaachta or cleanliness promotion
Socio-economic equality promotion

Fig 5: Overview of category of extension activities conducted by NSS Unit, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Mahavidyalaya in collaboration with different Non-Governmental Organisation and Government agencies.