History and Growth of NSS: In India, the idea of involving students in the task of national service dates back to the times of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation. The central theme which he tried to impress upon his student audience time and again was that they should always keep before them, their social responsibility. The first duty of the students should be, not to treat their period of study as one of the opportunities for indulgence in intellectual luxury, but for preparing themselves for final dedication in the service of those who provided the sinews of the nation with the national goods & services so essential to society. Advising them to form a living contact with the community in whose midst their institution is located, he suggested that instead of undertaking academic research about economic and social disability, the students should do “something positive so that the life of the villagers might be raised to a higher material and moral level”.
On September 24, 1969, the then Union Education Minister Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao, launched the NSS programme in 37 universities covering all States and simultaneously requested the Chief Ministers of States for their cooperation and help. It was appropriate that the programme was started during the Gandhi Centenary Year as it was Gandhiji who inspired the Indian youth to participate in the movement for Indian independence and the social uplift of the downtrodden masses of our nation.,

Programme Coordinator:

• The Programme Coordinator is the key functionary as far as NSS is concerned.
Therefore, a dedicated and devoted Programme Coordinator can plan, execute and evaluate theNSS activities in a proper perspective. The Programme Coordinator will execute alladministrative and policy directives of the government, decisions of the State AdvisoryCommittee and University Advisory Committee. The NSS programme will be prepared in thelight of the guidelines issued by the Government of India.