In India, Institutions of Higher learning have been classified as under:

  Those established by Acts of Parliament and classified as Central Universities.

  Those established by Acts of State Legislatures. eg. Madras University, Madurai Kamarajar University.

  Those declared as Deemed Universities under Section 3 of U.G.C. Act. eg. Bharathi Vidya Peeth, Pune,
Birla Institute of Tech. & Science, Pilani.

  Institutions of National Importance

These are established by Acts of Parliament and have the right of awarding degrees as said in section 22(1) of the U.G.C. Act, e.g. 6 Indian Institutes of Technology (I.I.T.). There are in all 12 Institutions under this category and Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, Madras is one of them.

Past at a Glance

‘Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha’ was established in the year 1918 by our beloved father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi with the sole aim of propagating Hindi in southern states. The first Pracharak was none other than Devadoss Gandhi son of Mahatma Gandhi.

‘Hindi Prachar’ was a movement that emerged as part of Freedom Movement and the leaders who led the nation to 'FREE INDIA' felt the necessity of making a single Indian Language the National Language, and through that language unify the people and thereby intensify National Integration.

1927 saw the emergence of Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha as an independent organisation and Mahatma Gandhi was its President till he breathed his last.

Gandhiji desired that the 'Hindi Prachar' in the south should be carried on by involving the local people of the respective area. Till 1920, this Sabha had its office at George Town in Madras and after some years shifted to Mylapore and from thereafter to Triplicane where it functioned till 1936.

Provincial Branches were established in 1936 to intensify the movement and the same year saw the Sabha moving into the then new town, Thyagaraya Nagar, in Madras on a sprawling 7-acre land. The foundation for the building was laid by Janab Abdul Hameed Khan and the building was declared open on 7th October, 1936 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who was then the President of the Indian National Congress.

Preliminary Examinations were being held regularly from 1922. The first degree level examination ‘Rashtrabasha Visharad’ was conducted and Convocation held which was addressed by Kaka Kalelkar in 1931.

The Sabha celebrated its Silver Jubilee in the year 1946 after the Second World War and Gandhiji presided over the celebrations.

To commemorate his presence during the Silver Jubilee celebrations in the Sabha and mark that historic occasion it was decided to build a Gandhi Mantap at the spot where Mahatmaji made his presence felt. Accordingly, a Mantap was built and it was inaugurated on 9th June 1963 by Sri Morarji Desaiji.

Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha which is marching ahead towards its centenary year is conducting various Examinations in Hindi which are detailed below under the head ‘Examination Department’.

An important landmark is the building of ‘Mahatma Gandhi Convocation Hall’ (Mahatma Gandhi Padavidan Mantap) exclusively for the use of holding the annual convocation and other functions of the Sabha.

In 1993 the President of the Sabha and the then Prime Minister of India Hon. Sri P.V. Narasimha Rao inaugurated the Amritotsav "Platinum Jubilee" celebrations at his residence on March 1993 at New Delhi.

We would like to mention that following eminent leaders were Ex-President’s of ‘Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha’

In India, Institutions of Higher learning have been classified as under:

  Shri. Mahatma Gandhiji --       1918 to 1948

   Shri. Babu Rajendra Prasad--       1948 to 1965

   Shri. Lal Bahadur Sastri--       1965 to 1966

  Shri. Indira Gandhi--       1966 to 1984

  Shri. Rajiv Gandhi--       1984 to 1991

  Shri. P.V.Narasimha Rao--       1991 to 1997

  Dr. B.D.Jatti--       1997 to 1998

  Shri. R. Venkataraman--       1998 to 2001

  Justice. Ranganath Misra--       2001 to 2003

  Shri. M Mahadev--       2003 to 2005

  Shri. M V Rajasekaran--       2005 to 2009

  Dr. Justice V.S.Malimath--       2009 to 2015

   Dr. Justice Shivaraj Patil--       2015 to 2019

  The Present President is V.MURALIDHARAN