New Delhi, Aug. 16: A new hostel of Hindu College under Delhi University will be named after Kanaklata Barua, the Assamese girl who laid down her life with the Tricolour in her hand in 1942.

This is the first time an educational facility in the national capital is being named after a personality from the northeastern state.

A college official said the management had taken the decision keeping in view the lack of awareness among students about eminent personalities from the Northeast although a sizeable number of students from the region studies in Delhi University.

The college management approached Robin Hibu, a senior Delhi police officer from the Northeast, to suggest the name of a freedom fighter from the region. Hibu suggested Barua's name.

During the Quit India Movement in 1942, Barua, 17, was shot several times when she was trying to hoist the Tricolour at a police station in Gohpur subdivision in Sonitpur district of Assam. She was part of a squad determined to sacrifice their lives for freedom.

Other than erecting a statue of Barua on the Guwahati-Itanagar National Highway, not much has been done by national-level institutions and projects to commemorate Barua.

A committee headed by retired IAS officer M.P. Bezbaruah on discrimination of people from the Northeast in Delhi had recommended in 2014 that efforts should be made to integrate every aspect of the Northeast into the consciousness of the people in other parts of the country.

A college official said the decision to name the hostel has nothing to do with the Bezbaruah panel's suggestions. The new hostel will be inaugurated soon.

The panel had recommended that a fast-track court be set up to deal with cases in which people from the Northeast are victims and more content on the region in school textbooks.

Officials of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) said such recommendations would be examined when the revision of textbook was carried out.

At present, the human resource development ministry is preparing a new education policy, which is expected to throw light on textbooks and content. The NCERT is likely to undertake the revision next year.

The University Grants Commission has decided to treat any discrimination on the basis of caste, race, religion and colour as ragging. Students found guilty can be rusticated.