Kirori Mal College

Kirori Mal College
Established	1954
Type	Government supported
Academic affiliation	University of Delhi
Principal	Dr. Bhim Sen Singh
Location	North Campus, University of Delhi, Delhi-110 007, area=17 acres(0.068 km2)
Website	Official website

Kirori Mal College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, located in New Delhi, India that was established in 1954.^[1] It offers undergraduate and graduate courses in science, arts, liberal arts and commerce and is known for being one of the most politically active colleges in University of Delhi. It is also known for being one of the most active colleges when it comes to extracurricular activities especially theatre, music and art.

History

Kirori Mal College began as Nirmala College, started by American Jesuits in the wake of partition. It was located on Qutub Road. Faced with intractable problems relating to the staff in the period following the partition, the management of the college changed hands and the trust founded by Seth Kirori Mal took over the college. The college shifted to its present campus on 1 February 1954.

The college celebrated its Golden jubilee in February 2004. The college has come a long way since its inception in 1956. The farsightedness of its founding fathers has led this institution of higher learning to occupy and important place in the University of Delhi.

Academics

The following courses are offered at the college:

• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics, English, Geography, Hindi, History, Mathematics, Political Science and Urdu.
• Bachelor of Arts (Programme) degree in subjects chosen by the student.
• Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Botany, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Zoology.
• Bachelor of Science (Programme) degree in Physical Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics), Applied Physical Sciences (Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science), Applied Physical Sciences (Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Mathophysics), Life Sciences (Chemistry, Botany, Zoology)
• Bachelor of Commerce (Honours)
• Bachelor of Commerce (Programme)

It consists of 20 departments: Bengali, Botany, Chemistry, Commerce, Computer Science, Economics, English, Geography, Hindi, History, Library, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physical Science, Physics, Political Science, Sanskrit, Statistics, Urdu, Zoology.^[2]

Famous academicians and scholars who have taught as well as studied in the college include Prof. Arun Bose, Prof. KM Ashraf, Prof. Harbans Mukhia, Prof. Sarup Singh (ex-VC, University of Delhi), Prof. Frank Thakurdass, Dr. P.V. Narsimhan and Dr. Badri Raina.

Infrastructure

The college's campus spans 17 acres or 0.0068 km2 and is in the North Campus of Delhi University. Housed in an elegant building, the college has a fully computerised library, a state-of-the-art computer centre, an active placement cell, a spacious seminar room, a well-equipped gymnasium, attractive lawns, and several other facilities.

Library: The N.S. Pradhan Memorial Library is one of the most extensive libraries in University of Delhi. It caters not only to the college's academic requirements, but also stocks leisure books and books of general awareness. It is fully computerised, houses about 1.5 lakh books and can accommodate about 350 students.

Laboratories: The college has modern, well-equipped and efficiently managed laboratories for all the science courses. Besides these, the departments of Geography, Computer Science and Statistics have their own laboratories.

Computer Centre: The computer centre is fully air-conditioned. It enables students to stray abreast of evolving trends information technology. Students are trained at this facility to hone their computer skills.

Seminar Room: The seminar room is a modern facility, comparable to the best equivalent institutions have to offer. Seminars and lectures to acquaint students with new developments in the academic, cultural and social fields are a regular feature.

Conference Room: The conference room serves as a venue for small interactive seminars and discussions, committee meetings and career counseling sessions. It caters to the need of visiting corporates to interact with college students in a congenial atmosphere.

The College Portal: The portal is the backbone of the admission process. Kirori Mal was the first to initiate online admissions in University of Delhi. Besides admissions, the portal provides online access to examination results, courses of study, research publications and a range of other information.

Auditorium: Built in 1954, the auditorium has long been a launching pad for eminent names in theatre and cinema, such as Amitabh Bachchan, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Satish Kaushik, Ravi Baswani, among others. New names continue to be added to this list every year. Work on upgrading and renovating the auditorium, to make it among the best any college has to offer, is under way.

Canteen: The college canteen provides a variety of foods/beverages at reasonable rates. It is spacious, clean and hygienic. The Lawns outside add to the ambience.

Bank: The college's banker, Oriental Bank of Commerce, is on the premises. It offers all banking facilities.

Gymnasium: The college has a well-equipped, state-of-the-art, supervised gym facility for staff and students.

Hostel: The hostel is an integral part of the college family. Its 89 rooms house about 150 students from India and abroad. The hostel adds a dimension of vigour and commitment to the academic and extracurricular environment.

Students common rooms: The college has separate common rooms for male and female students. These are well-equipped for between-study hours, with television sets and indoor games.

Staff room: The college has a comfortable,air-conditioned and spacious staff room with modern facilities. It is equipped with computer cubicles with Internet access, besides a dedicated tea room.

Computer Cabins: The computer porta-cabin caters to student personal computer needs. It is part-administered by students, Internet-enabled and free of usage charges.

The 2010 academic year witnessed a major expansion of college resources in the form of a comprehensive upgrade of academic facilities, sports and cultural infrastructure. The college playground was used as a training facility for the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi.

=Student union

KMCSU (Kirori Mal College Students` Union) is an integral part of the college. This is an elected body of some students which represents the whole of the students of college in the college affairs. This year^[when?] this union is presided by a very capable leader, Abhishek Verma. He is the president of the college. He won the elections with a huge margin of 368 votes. The whole union is working in a constructive and systematic way to fulfill their duties.

Sports

Kirori Mal College has a spectacular history in sports. It holds the record for having won five first positions in a single year (including three major games) in the University of Delhi inter-college tournaments and of once having been awarded the coveted Vice-Chancellor's Trophy being the best All Round College. Year after year, they have provided outstanding players to University of Delhi, Delhi State and the junior India teams in several games.

The college provides facilities for Hockey, Cricket, Football, Badminton, Table Tennis, Basketball, Athletics, Boxing and Chess.

Cultural societies

Kirori Mal College has a distinguished history of sustained cultural activity in drama, debate, music, fine arts, photography, dance and film. These activities are organised through cultural societies.

The Players is one of the leading campus theatre groups in the country's varsity circuit, with an impressive record of exciting and varied activity throughout its 52-year history. Its members receive hands-on training in theatre arts. It generally puts up fourproductions in a year and is famous countrywide for the undoubted quality and excellence of its plays. The noted KMC Dramatics Society flourished under teacher Frank Thakurdas and was revived in 1981 by the present head Keval Arora. It has produced a large number of notable people in the film and theatre world which include Amitabh Bachchan, Siddharth Narayan, Shakti Kapoor, Satish Kaushik, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Vijay Raaz, Ravi Baswani, Dinesh Thakur, Habib Faisal, Kabir Khan, Sushant Singh, Jonathan "Ulta Pulta Nitin" among others.^[3]

DEBSOC: Members of the debating society are a force to reckon with in debate and quiz competitions who have done exceedingly well at national and international levels. Its past members include Manish Makhija and Siddharth Narayan.

MUSOC is a dominant presence in the university in classical and light music. With its members excelling in individual and chorus performances, it has won accolades and made a distinctive mark wherever its members have performed. The band Parikrama was formed in the college as part of the Music Society as did famous musicians like Krishnakumar Kunnath (popularly known as KK) among others.

FAPS has built up an impressive record of creative work in fine arts and photography in the campus circuit.

SENSATION: The dance society SENSATION impresses audiences with its talent and professional ability wherever it performs.

THE FILM SOCIETY exposes students to a rich variety of cinematic work and critical perspectives on cinema.

The SPIC MACAY chapter of the college co-ordinates with the parent body to organise cultural performance by artists of national eminence. Santoor maestro Padmashree Pandit Bhajan Sapori, Ustad Imrat Khan, Pandit Debu Chaudhuri, among others, have given enthralling performances.

Department societies

The departments of the college hold co-curricular activities through their respective societies. These range from discussions, talks and seminars to inter-college competitive events and festivals.

Women's Development Cell (WDC): Parivartan, the college WDC, is a forum for debate and discussion of gender-related issues. It organises film shows, workshops and other events on issues such as gender stereotyping, discrimination and violence. The society provides the services of a trained counselor. A primary objective of the society is to create an atmosphere free of gender discrimination on the campus.

Avenues: The placement cell of Kirori Mal College has been active in securing job placement for students. Reputed companies such as Wipro Technologies, Mckinsey, Taj Group, Google, ABN-Amro, etc. have participated in the graduate recruitment drive at college.

National Cadet Corps (NCC): Kirori Mal's NCC wing is among the finest in the University. It has an active training and cultural calender. The college has coed facilities for NCC training.

National Service Scheme (NSS): The college actively implements the National Service Scheme in force at the University Of Delhi. Organisation of blood donation camps and literacy campaigns are annual features of the college NSS chapter.

The Society for the Physically Challenged, formed in 2006, deals with problems faced by the physically challenged at college. It promotes academic, cultural and sports activities amongst the physically challenged and organizes an annual cultural festival. It also counsels students on their problems and prospects.

Notable alumni

Some of the alumni of the college include:

• Amitabh Bachchan
• Abhay Kumar
• G.P. Koirala
• M.S. Kohli
• Satish Kaushik
• Shakti Kapoor
• Dinesh Thakur
• Kulbhushan Kharbanda
• Naveen Patnaik
• Madanlal Khurana
• Siddharth Narayan
• Krishna Kumar
• Kabir Khan
• Saeed Naqvi
• Manish Makhija
• Ravi Baswani
• Sushant Singh
• Parikrama, famous Indian Band
• Vijay Raaz
• Habib Faisal
• Jonathan "Ulta-Pulta Nitin" Brady
• Atul Chhikkara

References

1. ^ Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi.
2. ^ Departments KMC website.
3. ^ Ghosh, Abantika (Jun 22, 2006). "All the world's a stage at DU". The Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1669456.cms. 

External links

• Kirori Mal College: Institute of the Week
• Kirori Mal College Official Site
• Delhi University Talk Students Forum