Patna Women's College has scissored out of its rulebook a uniform colour code for its first-year students.

From July first week, the premier college for women has embraced a colour code for its students categorised according to its departments. For instance, first-year science students of PWC will have to wear blue kurtis and skin-coloured salwars, extending below the knee. The college has already banned a few outfits such as jeans and leggings that they find "elitist" and may discriminate students.

The rule, as of now, stands must only for first-year students who were admitted in 2016.

The code will be extended to the sophomores and final-year students from the next academic session.

Earlier, students could wear salwar suits of their own choice but after the recent directive, the college has not only fixed the colour code but has also fixed the length of the suits which students must wear on the campus.

"The first-year students will wear the same uniform in their second and third years. This will bring uniformity socially among students. The dress code will also help us identify our students. We often find students from other colleges sitting in the classrooms. We couldn't identify them because there was no dress code. We enforced the dress code to stop this," said PWC principal sister Marie Jessie.

On how will it bring uniformity socially, she said: "Many students style themselves in branded clothes to show off on the campus. Those from underprivileged families slip into inferiority complex seeing students from well-off families. We are trying to bring them all on the same platform."

When asked why can't identity cards be checked at the gate to ensure outsiders don't enter the college, she said: "There are over 5,000 students in our college. It is not possible for the guards to check the identity card of each and every student. We often find outsiders on the campus because guards checked whether an identity card was hanging around a student's neck or not. He didn't check whether the identity card belonged to the same student."

A fresher from the humanities was seething in anger after the dress diktat came into force.

"This is like interfering in one's personal life. One can understand the logic behind uniforms at schools when students are immature. But to treat college girls like this is frustrating," she said.

A science fresher echoed her.

"The dress sense of the college administration is pathetic. Our college seems to be influenced by Talibanism," she said.

Kislay Kashyap, an assistant professor of fashion management studies in National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Patna, said jeans came in vogue from the lower strata of the society.

"Jeans represent the working class and not the elite. The history of jeans is very interesting. Jeans was made for people working in mines in the early 18th century. The idea was to find a comfortable and endurable garment for them and that's how jeans was born. Not only jeans. It would be irrelevant to ban any dress at any place," said Kashyap.

Clinical psychologist Binda Singh said restrictions in any form be it a dress or a place creates a pressure on a person's mind. "If he is a teenager, the pressure is more. Teenagers don't feel good when restrictions are imposed on them."

Patna, which aspires to join the league of Metros, has another college with a dress code.

Students of Magadh Mahila College, a constituent college of Patna University, also have to wear jackets on which the college logo is imprinted. Students of a few departments of the college, including bachelor of business administration, bachelor of computer application and bachelor of commerce, have to wear different coloured uniforms.

College principal Asha Singh said: "We have a dress code for a few departments for easy understanding. This will help us establish their identity. For other departments, we have jackets with logos. We have not imposed any regulation against jeans because we feel it is very easy to handle jeans and we don't find anything wrong in wearing it. Students, however, have been asked not to wear outfits that show too much of skin. As long as students are modestly dressed on the campus, we have no objection."