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Hindi the bestseller at DU

Parul Sharma

‘Thanks to a great boom in Hindi journalism and mass media’

NEW DELHI: Even as many colleges of Delhi University have closed admission to courses like B.Com (Programme), B.Com (Honours) and Political Science (Hons) after the first cut-off list, what has taken many by surprise is that a traditionally not-so-popular course like Hindi (Hons) is also no longer on offer to students as seats in several colleges are already full.

Daulat Ram College, Gargi College, Hans Raj College, Indraprastha College for Women, Kamla Nehru College and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College have shut admissions to Hindi (Hons), thanks to the rush after the first cut-off list. The colleges are attributing this “positive trend” to the great opportunities available in Hindi journalism and mass media. “I think this is for the first time in the past two decades that seats for Hindi (Hons) have gone full in the first cut-off list itself. This has been made possible because perceptions about the media, both print and electronic, have changed now. There is more acceptance of Hindi newspapers and channels and a greater degree of respectability for them now,” says Ira Pandit, media coordinator of Daulat Ram College.

Agrees Gargi College Principal Neera Ramachandran who believes that people have begun to come out of their “colonial mindset”: “The interest in Hindi (Hons) has been fuelled by the proliferation of print and electronic media. There seems to have been a decolonisation of minds. Hindi newspapers, magazines and channels are doing extremely well. The glamour quotient and job prospects associated with the regional languages and Hindi have increased now.”

Teachers also feel that since seats in journalism and mass media courses are limited , an undergraduate degree in Hindi (Hons) becomes a second preference for many. However, this is not the first time that Hans Raj College has shut admissions to the course.

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