Delhi NCR

Meeting people at Hansraj College

Hansraj is one of DU's biggest North Campus colleges, with more than 5,000 students across science, commerce and arts, so there is a society or team for almost every interest. Confluence in spring and the competitive society scene are where most students find their crowd.

The story of Hansraj College

Hansraj College was founded on 26 July 1948 by the D.A.V. College Managing Committee, the Arya Samaj linked trust that runs more than 700 institutions. It was set up in memory of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati and Mahatma Hansraj, the educator who founded DAV College in Lahore.

The college started as a men-only institution and became co-educational in 1978, a shift alumni describe as the moment modern Hansraj took shape. It grew into one of DU's largest colleges, with undergraduate and postgraduate programmes across the sciences, commerce and humanities.

On 25 January 2017 Naveen Jindal hoisted a 100-foot monumental tricolour at Hansraj, Delhi University's first monumental flag. In 2025 the college was ranked third among Indian colleges by NIRF and holds an A++ grade from NAAC.

What the campus is like socially

Hansraj is big, busy and sporty. With thousands of students, three streams and hostels for men and women, the campus always has something going on, from rehearsals on the lawns to practice at the shooting range. Students describe a competitive but friendly atmosphere where society leadership is as prized as marks.

Being on North Campus means friendships spill over to Kirori Mal, Miranda House and Ramjas, and fest season turns the neighbourhood into one long circuit. The Delhi University metro area and Kamla Nagar's food lanes are the default hangouts after class.

Traditions every Hansraj College student knows

• Confluence: Hansraj's annual cultural fest. It returned in April 2024 after a four-year gap, with sub-events like Oorja for western dance, Taal Tarang for classical dance, Bolbala for street plays and Plickture for photography.
• Allure: The fashion showcase that runs as part of Confluence.
• Lit Fest: Confluence's literary strand, with open mics and writing competitions.

Campus lore and insider spots

• SRK's degree, 28 years later: Shah Rukh Khan studied economics at Hansraj and returned to collect his degree from the principal 28 years later, while promoting Fan.
• The monumental flag: Hansraj was the first DU college with a monumental tricolour, a 100-foot flag that stays lit after sunset.
• The only shooting range: Hansraj has the only electronic shooting range in Delhi University, which fits a college with Arjuna Award winners among its alumni.
• Men-only until 1978: For its first three decades Hansraj admitted only men, a fact that surprises today's students.

How to find your people here

Join a society or the fest committee at Hansraj 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 Hansraj College

Signature fests

• Confluence

Notable societies

• Hansraj Dramatics Society
• English Debating Society
• Enactus

Societies worth knowing at Hansraj College

• Enactus Hansraj: Social entrepreneurship team of about 65 students, National Champions among 90 teams in 2020 and Top 4 at that year's Enactus World Cup. Projects include Vriddhi on stubble use and Ahsaas on jobs for differently-abled people.
• English Debating Society: A heavyweight of the DU debating circuit with a long record of national wins.
• Hansraj Dramatics Society: Part of DU's well-known theatre and street play circuit.
• Bolbala and the street play scene: Hansraj's street theatre culture gets its own stage at Confluence.
• Placement Cell: Student-run cell that handles recruiter relationships and pre-placement workshops.

Careers, internships and placements

Hansraj's placement cell brings consulting, Big Four, banking and analytics recruiters to campus, with commerce and economics students most in demand. Science students often move toward research, master's programmes and specialised exams.

Students point to societies as the strongest CV builders. Enactus projects turn into consulting and social impact roles, and the debating society is a common thread in the stories of alumni who went into law, policy and the civil services.

Notable alumni

• Shah Rukh Khan: The actor studied economics at Hansraj and collected his degree 28 years later.
• Anurag Kashyap: Filmmaker who enrolled at Hansraj to study zoology, graduating in 1993, before switching to cinema.
• Kiren Rijiju: Union Minister and Member of Parliament.
• Gunjan Saxena: The first woman IAF officer to fly into a war zone, whose story became a film.
• Subramanian Ramadorai: Former CEO of TCS and a Padma Bhushan recipient.
• Abhishek Verma: Compound archer and Arjuna Award recipient.

Rivalries and eternal debates

The classic admissions dilemma is Hansraj or Hindu, two North Campus neighbours chasing the same applicants. SRCC is the commerce benchmark Hansraj is always measured against, and Kirori Mal joins the debate for arts and theatre. In sport, Hansraj's basketball team has a famous record against Hindu College, and fest season becomes a running comparison of Confluence, Mecca and everyone else's lineups.

What Hansraj College is talking about now

Confluence's return after the pandemic years and debates about how fests are run have been big campus talking points. Enactus wins have also made social entrepreneurship an aspirational track for many students.

Meeting people at Hansraj 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, volunteering and social impact, 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

Hansraj College sits close to Kirori Mal College, Miranda House, and Ramjas 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 Hindu College, Indraprastha College for Women, Janki Devi Memorial College, and Jesus and Mary 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 Hansraj College, matching you in real time with people nearby who share your interests or your drive, with verified profiles only.

New to Hansraj 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.