D aulat Ram is a prestigious women’s college of Delhi University with a track record of distinction in academics, sports and co-curricular activities. The college believes in industry interface and invites representatives from places like the Department of Bio-Technology, the Ministry of Environment and Science, assorted media groups and NGOs like the World Wildlife Fund. The inclusive spirit of this college is evident in a simple but important fact — this is one of the few DU colleges that have a ramp entry for the disabled.
Famous for
Economics (Hons) and Maths (Hons) are the best known courses of this college. The add-on courses, especially the foreign languages, including Chinese, Korean and Japanese, attract a lot of students. The campus placement cell helps students find jobs in companies like Google India, Ernst & Young, Barclays and Genpact.
Programmes
The college offers 17 Bachelor’s programmes and eight Master’s programmes. The undergraduate programmes are BA (Hons) in English, Hindi, Sanskrit, economics, political science, philosophy, psychology, history and music. It also offers a BA pass course, a BCom (Hons) and a BCom pass course. Its BSc (Hons) courses include biochemistry, chemistry, botany and zoology. Master’s level courses are in English, Hindi, Sanskrit, history, political science, psychology and vocal and instrumental music.
Extra-curricular activities
Environment club: A national environment campaign is celebrated every year with great pomp and show. Funds are provided by the Indian Environmental Society, founded by the Ministry of Environment.
Social services society: The college’s National Service Scheme (NSS) unit is actively involved in aiding the underprivileged. Projects undertaken include AIDS awareness, family life education and help for the visually impaired.
Extra-curricular activities
Environment club: A national environment campaign is celebrated every year with great pomp and show. Funds are provided by the Indian Environmental Society, founded by the Ministry of Environment.
Social services society: The college’s National Service Scheme (NSS) unit is actively involved in aiding the underprivileged. Projects undertaken include AIDS awareness, family life education and help for the visually impaired.
College festival:
The fest, known as Manjari, takes place in December.
Dramatics society:
There are English and Hindi theatre societies that stage plays annually. “This year, we plan to organise a public show since it our golden jubilee,” says Dr Kanan Nanda, Principal.
Debating society:
Apart from an inter-college debate competition, this college also organises the Daulat Ram Memorial Debate every year (Hindi and English alternately).
Infrastructure
The top-class hostel has 125 seats. The auditorium, Sadbhavana Bhavan, has a seating capacity of about 1,300 and one of the largest stages in Delhi. Well-equipped labs are in place for all science programmes. A totally refurbished cafeteria allows students to relax.
Wishlist
“I would like to have new classroom desks, as the old ones are peeling and crumbling in places,” says Chetna Mahajan, a second-year BA (Hons) student of political science. Some others say that they would like to see the ‘no-cell-phones-inside-the-hostel’ rule scrapped.
Factfile
The college was founded by the late educationist Daulat Ram Gupta in 1960. It originally started as Pramila College (Women’s College) at 22 Tilak Marg with 13 members of the faculty and two office staff, and about 350 students. In 1964, the college shifted to its present premises on North Campus and was renamed ‘Daulat Ram College’. The college has acquired a strong identity and has its own distinct culture and traditions. At present, the college has 19 departments, over 2,500 students, 138 teaching staff and 100 non-teaching staff.