History

The Department of Geology in Delhi University was established in 1966 at the initiative of Dr. C.D. Deshmukh, the then Vice Chancellor of Delhi University. Dr. A.G. Jhingran, after retirement as Director General, Geological Survey of India, was given the charge of establishing this Department. The Department started functioning in November 1966 in a rented building at 29, Banarsi Das Estate in Timarpur. In 1967, a part of the old constructions in the Anthropology Department was made available for starting the first batch of B.Sc (Hons) classes. Today, the Central Science Library stands in this place. With assistance from the University Grants Commission, the Ground floor of the present building of the Department on Chatra Marg was built in 1972. The next two floors were constructed later in separate phases with assistance from the UGC. The three-storey building now houses the laboratories, classrooms, museum, auditorium and offices of the Geology Department. In the first phase, basic teaching and research equipments were procured with the assistance of US$ 1,35,000 from the Ford Foundation. Further additions of new equipments were made since 1990s through the Special Assistance Programme (DSA) of the UGC, which is now running in its third phase and the one-time COSIST programme of UGC. Recently the Department has been granted Rs.1.46 crores under the FIST (level II) programme of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India.