Delhi NCR

Meeting people at Daulat Ram College

Daulat Ram College is a North Campus women's college with more than 4,000 students, a busy arts scene and a strong science side. Students often identify by their society as much as their course, so auditions for Memesis, Zenith or the Debating Society are where friendships start.

The story of Daulat Ram College

Daulat Ram College was founded in 1960 as Pramila College by educationist and philanthropist Shri Daulat Ram Gupta. It started at 22 Tilak Marg with around 350 students before moving to its present North Campus site and taking its founder's name in 1964.

The college grew from a small arts college into a multi-stream institution, adding science departments alongside humanities and commerce. Its motto translates as 'without knowledge there is no salvation', and it now teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

In 2025 alumna Rekha Gupta became Chief Minister of Delhi, a moment the college and its students celebrated widely. She has said that Daulat Ram College is where she transformed into a leader.

What the campus is like socially

DRC is warm, creative and politically aware. Students describe a down-to-earth crowd, an active arts and performance scene, and a tradition of speaking up about campus issues. Society identity runs deep: being a Memesis or Zenith member is a big part of who you are here.

Location helps. DRC sits close to Miranda House, Hansraj and Kirori Mal, and the Vishwavidyalaya metro area and Kamla Nagar are a short walk away. That makes North Campus fests, theatre shows and debates easy to reach every week.

Traditions every Daulat Ram College student knows

• Manjari: DRC's annual cultural fest. Manjari 2017 dressed the campus in warli paintings and tribal masks and closed with Guru Randhawa and Tulsi Kumar.
• Manjari's sub-fests: Aaroh for music, Adakari for theatre, Taabeer for photography, Shades for fine arts and Promenade for fashion all run under the Manjari banner.
• Inclusive talent hunt: Manjari has included a talent competition for visually challenged participants, a small detail students are proud of.

Campus lore and insider spots

• Pramila College: DRC's first name was Pramila College, and it started in a building on Tilak Marg before moving to North Campus.
• A student leader turned CM: Rekha Gupta studied at DRC, became DUSU President in 1996-97 and later Chief Minister of Delhi.
• Society first, college second: At DRC people often introduce themselves by society, and the label sticks well after graduation.

How to find your people here

Join a society or the fest committee at Daulat Ram College in your first few weeks. DU friendships tend to form around a shared activity, not the classroom, and the North or South Campus ecosystem makes it easy to meet people from other colleges too.

Fests and societies at Daulat Ram College

Signature fests

• Manjari

Notable societies

• Memesis (Dramatics Society)
• The Debating Society
• SPECTRA (Fine Arts Society)

Societies worth knowing at Daulat Ram College

• Memesis: The dramatics society, one of DRC's best known names on the DU theatre circuit.
• Zenith: The Western dance society, a competitive team at inter-college fests.
• The Debating Society: A recognised name on the DU debating circuit and a route into law, policy and media.
• Spectra: The fine arts society.
• Annhad and Alahyaa: The Indian dance and Indian music societies.
• Pragati: The Women's Development Cell, one of the college's advocacy bodies.

Careers, internships and placements

DRC's placement cell runs a career fair and workshops and brings in recruiters, with commerce students most active in placements. Many students build careers through internships and further study rather than campus hiring alone.

The college's best known alumni have gone into public life, journalism and activism, and that shapes how students think about careers. Debating, political science and economics are popular routes into law, civil services and policy.

Notable alumni

• Rekha Gupta: Chief Minister of Delhi and former DUSU President, who credits DRC with making her a leader.
• Anjana Om Kashyap: Senior journalist and anchor at Aaj Tak.
• Aishe Ghosh: Student leader who later became President of the JNU Students' Union.

Rivalries and eternal debates

The standing comparison is DRC vs Miranda House vs LSR, argued every admission season on cutoffs, placements and vibe. DRC students tend to pitch their college as more grounded and more arts-driven than the other two. On the North Campus fest calendar, Manjari competes for attention with every other spring fest, and the promo posts like to say so.

What Daulat Ram College is talking about now

Fest countdown reels and campus vlogs spike every Manjari season, and Rekha Gupta's rise to Chief Minister gave current students a fresh source of college pride.

Meeting people at Daulat Ram College by interest

A lot of friendships here form around a shared interest rather than a class or a hostel wing. If you are into theatre and dramatics, debating and mun, art and sketching, poetry and open mics, and reading and book clubs, those pages cover where that scene actually happens in India and how to find people near you who are into the same thing.

Colleges nearby

Daulat Ram College sits close to Miranda House, Hansraj College, and Kirori Mal College, all part of the same Delhi NCR student scene. Cross-college friendships often start at inter-college fests, hackathons, or shared-interest communities rather than in class.

Similar campuses across India

If you are looking beyond your own campus, students at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Delhi School of Economics, Dyal Singh College, and Gargi College share a similar campus culture, and Zyber works the same way at each: showing you verified people nearby who match on interest, intent, or timing.

Zyber on campus

Zyber is live at Daulat Ram College, matching you in real time with people nearby who share your interests or your drive, with verified profiles only.

New to Daulat Ram College? Start here

If you are just starting out, these freshers guides are written for exactly this moment: first week of college checklist, how to choose societies in college, making friends beyond your branch, and internship in first year.

See meeting people in Delhi NCR, events in Delhi NCR, the freshers guide, the Meet People pillar, or read what Zyber is.