Delhi University a great institution, part of India's development: Puri

The Delhi University is a great institution and India has been "very profoundly influenced" by its work, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Friday.

Speaking at an event, Puri said the institution has a great history and is a part of India's development.

He was the chief guest at the university's first alumni meet. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master of Arts in History from Hindu College, University of Delhi.

"The institution with which I am associated has a great history. Hindu College's association with the freedom movement is well-documented. So in many ways, the Delhi University is privileged to be part of India's development, not only in development sense in terms of academic development in terms of social movement," he said.

"The Delhi University is a great institution, it has a great history. India has been very profoundly influenced by the work of this university," Puri said.

Speaking at the event, DU Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh articulated that the university has a very important, significant and established history.

"The DU has completed 100 years. It is a matter of pride for all of us. It has a very important, significant and established history," he said.

On the growth of the university, the vice chancellor said: "We started with three colleges, now the count stands at 90. We had two faculties, now the number of faculties is 16. We had two departments and now it has 86 departments," he said.

"We started with 750 students, after 100 years we have 6,10,230 students in the university. We started 1,380 books now in our library and now we have 80 lakh books and then we have digital books," he added.