The Damodarshree National Award for Academic Excellence

Late Prof. D.D.Khanna was one of the founders of the College. His vision was “to help the girl student discover their innate potential and promote them towards their personal and social benefits”. Prof. Khanna was an arduous promoter of education among the masses, specifically the girl students so that they develop into strong personalities and be able to make significant contribution to the civil society, at par with their male counter parts. To keep alive his dream and transform it into action The Saraswat Khattri Pathshala Society instituted “The Damodarshree National Award for Academic Excellence” in reverential remembrance of the Late Professor Damodar Das Khanna, its former President, in 2011. The Award, an essay writing contest, is a platform and an invitation to young minds from across the country’s centres of higher learning to think seriously over the given topic and to share their thoughts in dialogue with a distinguished group of people from the older generation. It is an opportunity to foster creativity among students in expressing one’s own perceptions and views on an issue.

In this national level essay competition a topic is chosen by the Organizing Committee to provide a kind of tenuous centrality to the dialogue beyond narrow confines. The participation is open to students pursuing their Under-Graduate, Post-Graduate or Doctoral studies   in Central Universities and Universities established more than 75 years old, or their constituent/affiliated Colleges.

Through a careful pyramidal process of scrutiny and gradual elimination, in which ten to twelve University Professors, High Court judges and scholars are involved ten best participants are selected to present and defend their essays before a panel of thirteen to fifteen judges who come after reading the essays of the finalists, to engage in dialogue with them. The contest is unlike a debate wherein the participants compete against each other, in writing the essay each writer explores and unfolds his/her own line of thinking and feeling independently. It is held on 2nd October each year since its inception. The Award carries cash prizes under five categories namely- Winner of ‘Damodarshree Award’ gets a cash prize of Rs.2,00,000 and a trophy the First Runner up gets a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000 along with a trophy, the Second Runner up gets a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 and a trophy, Best Undergraduate Award and Best Special Participant Award carry a cash Prize of Rs.31,000 each. All the ten participants are given books of their own and certificates. Besides, the organizing committee bears to and fro travel expenses of outstation participants along with one of their parents who accompany them. The lodging and hospitality is also taken care of by the organizing committee. The popularity of the Award across the country can be assessed by the increasing number of participants being witnessed each year. More than 300 entries are received each year.

The Award hosted on the 2nd of October each year becomes a festival with the entire programme being conducted in two sessions. In the Morning Session, the College confers an Award to a local personality in recognition of his/her services to the society in a specific field. Thereafter, the defense of the essay by the contestants takes place before the panel of judges and they are evaluated. In the second session before the declaration of the award, a Damodarshree Memorial Lecture is delivered by an eminent person invited on the ocassion. Thus the conduct of the entire event provides learning experiences not only to the participants but the students of the College as well as they also get an opportunity to listen to the views of participants from other regions of the country and thus widen the horizon of one’s own thinking. The special lecture delivered by the invited guest augments their knowledge as also motivates them to come forward, take up challenges and realize theipotential. The contest being open to both boys and girls, it gives female participants an opportunity to compete at par with the male contestants and freely express their views.