At the time of independence, Durg was a backward district, with a diverse demographic composition, consisting mostly of OBC, SC, and tribal populations. The district was backward in terms of educational, industrial, and economic development. In the post-independence era, new avenues of development opened with the beginning of industrialization in the region. An integrated steel plant, the biggest of its kind in Asia, was founded with the support of the erstwhile USSR. During the same period, higher education was announced in the region and led to the inception of Govt. Arts and Science College, Durg in August 1958.
Later, in the year 2002, the college was renamed after the late Shri Vishwanath Yadav Tamaskar, an eminent politician and freedom fighter from this region.
The college had a humble start with just two rooms and 12 students that housed Arts and Science faculty, at the local Hindi Bhawan. The foundation stone of the present building was laid by the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Dr. Kailash Nath Katju in November 1958. It was shifted to its present site, a campus of 21.75 acres, in 1962. Since then the college has been continuously growing in terms of infrastructure and learning resources in its journey towards excellence.
Presently the college is one of the biggest Govt. Colleges in Chhattisgarh, a Lead College* of Durg district that provides administrative and academic support and guidance to 83 (19 Govt. & 64 Private Colleges) colleges of the district. The college has a student strength of 7410 in the current session. It holds the unique opportunity of being a mixed bowl of urban, tribal, and rural students, the majority of them being first-generation learners. The college, since its commencement, is serving society in a significant way by providing higher education to first-generation learners, making this a distinctive feature of this institution.
The institution always cherished its locational advantage for being situated close to Durg Railway Junction and Bus Stand, alongside main road connecting state highways.
