Several notable names, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Arun Jaitley, Amartya Sen, and Savitri Bai Phule, are under consideration for naming upcoming colleges and centers at Delhi University. The university’s Executive Council previously passed a resolution suggesting names such as Swami Vivekananda, Sushma Swaraj, V D Savarkar, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for the new institutions.
Responding to a query in the Lok Sabha about this decision, the Ministry of Education revealed that additional names, including Atal Bihari Bajpai, Savitri Bai Phule, Arun Jaitley, Choudhary Brahm Prakash, C.D. Deshmukh, and Prof. Amartya Sen, were also proposed. The Council authorized the Vice-Chancellor to finalize the names.
Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh from Kerala raised concerns in the Lok Sabha, questioning whether the government plans to reconsider the “policy of naming colleges after individuals with contested legacies” and if there is a plan to establish a standard benchmark for the naming process. In response, the ministry stated that Delhi University is competent to make academic and administrative decisions with the approval of its statutory bodies.
Meanwhile, Delhi University is taking steps to establish two facilitation centers to address the needs of students residing in distant areas of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) as part of the initial efforts to establish new colleges. These centers are proposed to be set up on plots of land allocated to DU in Najafgarh and Fatehpur Beri.
