Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University popularly known as HAU, is one of Asia's biggest agricultural universities, located at Hisar in the Indian state of Haryana. It is named after India's seventh Prime Minister, Choudhary Charan Singh. It is a leader in agricultural research in India and contributed significantly to Green Revolution and White Revolution in India in the 1960s and 70s. It has a very large campus and has several research centres throughout the state. It won the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's Award for the Best Institute in 1997.
HAU was initially a campus of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. After the formation of Haryana in 1966, it became an autonomous institution on February 2, 1970 through a Presidential Ordinance, later ratified as Haryana and Punjab Agricultural Universities Act, 1970, passed by the Lok Sabha on March 29, 1970. A. L. Fletcher, the first Vice-Chancellor of the university, was instrumental in its initial growth.
The development plan of the University is based on the concept of a Central Campus Core around which academic buildings for various colleges, schools and departments, residential, recreational and common facilities such as Faculty House and Club, Farmers' Hostel, Students' Hostel, Hospital, Shopping Centre etc., are built. The buildings comprising the Core are Gandhi Bhawan, Nehru Library, Indira Gandhi Auditorium and the Administration Building, situated on three sides of great Plazza, the greater part of which is four feet above ground level.