DELHI UNIVERSITY NEAR CP?

The story of DU begins in 1911 when the Emperor King George V announced that the Capital of India would be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi. The plan was, however, shelved because of the outbreak of the first world war in 1914

When plans were being made for the building of the new Capital in 1914, a plot of land of around 200 acres on the Raisina site in New Delhi bisected by what is now Kasturba Gandhi Marg or Curzon Road, then called the Great College Street, was earmarked for the new University. There were to be two colleges, a government institute and St Stephen’s on two sides of a triangular block with the university buildings at the base. An Oriental institute and a few schools were also planned. Moving the existing colleges to the new site would have cost around `6 lakh of which the government was to provide `2.8 lakh plus the value of the existing buildings. About 15,000 pounds were to be given by England but with the outbreak of the first World War, this plan was shelved by DU. Had the plan gone through, the campus would have been designed by Lutyens and located in Connaught Place, the heart of the new Capital. This idea was also rejected by the new Capital Committee which felt that placing a large body of students in close proximity to the distractions of the Capital had its disadvantages

Only four colleges existed before Independence in Delhi. St Stephen’s College was founded in 1881, Hindu College in 1899 and Lady Hardinge Medical College for Women in 1916. Ramjas College was founded in 1917. All of them were affiliated to Punjab University

DU was established in 1922 as a unitary, teaching and residential university on the lines recommended by the Calcutta University Commission