Delhi School of Economics

Genesis

The Delhi School of Economics (DSE) was established in 1949 as a centre for excellence and advanced learning and research in the social sciences with Professor V.K.R.V. Rao as the Founder-Director and the Department of Economics of the University of Delhi as the nucleus.

Guided by his vision of India’s future and support from India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Professor V.K.R.V. Rao envisioned establishing an institution devoted to research and teaching in economics and allied areas in the social sciences, which would also produce students who would play an important role in the economic development and social progress of the country. Such students were to be not only well trained in rigorous theory with a quantitative orientation but also have a wider perception of important social issues facing the country.

Professor V.K.R.V. Rao was deeply inspired by a well-known prayer of Swami Vivekananda to serve the poor and downtrodden which is inscribed in the Swami Vivekananda Hall in the Delhi School of Economics.

“May I be born again and again, and suffer thousands of miseries so that I may worship the only God that exists, the only God I believe in, the sum total of all souls – and above all, my God the wicked, my God the miserable, my God the poor of all races, is the special object of my worship.” Read more