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July 27, 2010

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The academic year begins on a good note for Civil Services aspirants. Four months after Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh approved the Union Public Service Commission’s proposal to replace the preliminary examination by an aptitude test, the government has now finalised the details of the new examination.
During the last one decade, the existing pattern of CSE conducted by UPSC has been criticized widely on the grounds of irrelevancy and inadequacy. To rectify the loopholes into recruitment pattern UPSC appointed several committees. All these committees and commissions have recommended reform in the current pattern.
As per the Chairman of UPSC, Prof. D P Agrawal, Civil Service Aptitude Test will replace the existing Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination. The PT is to have two objective type papers that are common to all candidates. The emphasis is on testing the aptitude of the candidate for the demanding life in the civil service, as well as on ethical and moral dimensions of decision-making.
This aptitude test will be designed to assess the ability of the candidate including mental alertness, power of assimilation, clear and logical expression, balanced judgment, ability to lead, coordinate and guide etc.
Aptitude Test will include-
• Quantitative Aptitude
• Data Interpretation & Sufficiency
• Verbal and non verbal reasoning
• Verbal ability
• Reading ability
• Comprehension
• Awareness of science, current affairs
• Awareness of Administration

UPSC wants to implement the new pattern from 2010 but the only reason for a delay in notification is the yet to be given green signal from the Union Government. All things considered the scales are in favor for the aspirants. Therefore, regardless of an official declaration they have already started preparing for the test and have accepted the change with an open mind.

A few controversies, dozens of protests and several meetings later Delhi University has implemented 12 semester-based Under Graduate courses for Science from the academic year 2010-2011.
The initial sign of change was a letter sent from University Grants Commission (UGC) suggesting academic reforms in early 2008. A subsequent proposal to introduce a semester system was sent to faculty of DU by the Vice Chancellor. Blueprint of implementation and syllabi was finalised on May 13, 2010 and conveyed to principals of all colleges by May 25. The inspiration of this development came from successful models of higher education in America and Europe.
Courses of Science like Physics, Chemistry, Statistics, Botany, Zoology, Anthropology, Geology, Bio-Chemistry, Microbiology, Anthropology, Bio-Medical Science, Nursing, Electronics, B.Sc Programme of Life Sciences and Physical Sciences will commence the bi-annual examinations with 24 papers in total, four every semester. The syllabus previously included 60 hours of lectures per subject per semester, but after much discord, it was reduced to 48 plus 12 hours of tutorials.
The new academic schedule has a 16-week long semester with mid-break from 4th to 15th October, 2010. However, preparation period and conducting examinations has been significantly reduced to 20 days starting from 20th November till 10th December. The second semester will begin from 3rd Jan, 2011 and go on uninterrupted till 16th April.

Meanwhile, sources in administration confirm that preparation of syllabus regarding semester system for the Commerce Department is in its finishing stages. This will be approved by the Academic Council. Future students of B.Com, academic session 2011-12 can expect a semester based course. As for Social Science, nothing can be ascertained as the faculty has strongly been opposing it. They question the practicality of reforms unless proper infrastructure is in place with appropriate efficiency.
Devansh Dwivedi studying Computer Science (which runs on semester system) feels keeping aside the factor of preparation, the course is quite manageable. “We have sufficient time on our hands in comparison to the students in the annual mode who cram last minute and pass even when they have a reasonably longer prep period. The syllabus is well structured for semesters and papers are well divided, even though the course is quite intensive”, he says.
Institutions such as IIT and JNU have been successfully operating on semester system while Bombay University has experimented with it in post-graduate courses.

1. People protest DU student’s murder
Angry relatives and neighbours of 20-year-old Kamal Singh Rawat, a Delhi University commerce student who was brutally murdered by some young men at Sonia Vihar in the trans-Yamuna area on Monday, went on the rampage, setting afire the houses of three of the suspects, damaging vehicles and hurling stones at the police on Tuesday. While two of the murder accused have been nabbed, the police have arrested 38 people on charges of arson and rioting.

2. Attendance relaxation awarded to pregnant women
The Delhi High Court has said a woman student cannot be prevented from appearing in examinations in any semester on the ground of shortage of attendance in class due to her pregnancy.
The court said, “Law should be an instrument of social change and not a defender of it. Motherhood is not a medical condition but a promise. We all kow-tow to our mothers to whom we owe our existence and to punish a woman for becoming a mother would surely be the mother of all ironies”.

3. Facebook launches panic button.
Social networking website Facebook on Monday introduced a new Internet safety application which will allow British teenagers to report suspicious or inappropriate online behavior.
The “panic button”, which was launched after months of negotiations between the website and Britain’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), is aimed at young children who can report abuse to child protection authorities.

4. All Games venues to be completed in 15 days: CPWD
The Central Public Works Department, the main construction arm of the government, on Monday said that upgrading of all venues for the Commonwealth Games will be completed in a fortnight.
The venues which remain uncompleted so far are the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the SPM Swimming Pool complex and the new weightlifting stadium in the Nehru Stadium complex.

Apple goes transparent.
Apple’s new iTransparent concept phone is the new talk of the town. This so-called Window Phone has one impressive feature – its transparent housing varies depending on the weather! Thus, in the sunny days, the screen will be completely transparent, on a rainy day it will show virtual drops on the screen, and on a snowy day it is totally covered with frost, i.e. the translucent screen will look like as well as present a window into a variety of weather.

‘Mission Admission’ may have been successfully completed, but the new inductees into Delhi University from out of town face another hurdle this year: ‘Mission Accommodation’.

The Commonwealth Games are proving to be an expensive affair, not just for the government, but also for out-station students with the leasing out of college hostel rooms. This has led to an increase in the demand for Paying Guest (PG) accommodation this year. Even though such accommodation has been made available, it has been done at unreasonable prices. Given the non-regularised nature of PGs, there has been no check on the exorbitant rents charged by land owners. This lack of monitoring has also resulted in poor quality of accommodation. Students complain about the small size or the rooms in proportion to the rent, and the inadequate facilities.

In the areas around Lady Shri Ram College, the rents stand at an average of Rs 9000 a month, a huge leap from last year’s Rs 6500. These charges do not take into account other costs like electricity, among others. While the PG owners claim that the rise in price is a result of over-all inflation, it may be seen as directly related to the fall in number of available hostel rooms due to the Commonwealth Games.

While there has been an increase in the rates of PG accommodations and in the rents of flats that are often occupied by students in north campus as well, it has not been anything out of the ordinary. Says Aditii Saxena, “My PG has increased it rates by a thousand rupees, but it is justified considering the facilities they provide. They have increased the rates due to the provision of Wi-fi.” This view was shared by a resident of a PG in Civil Lines, “I am now paying a higher rent, but it has nothing to do with the Commonwealth Games.”

Thus, there seems to be a dichotomy between the rates charged and facilities provided by the accommodations provided around North and South Campus colleges.

The boisterous zeal with which students attended the Commonwealth Games Volunteering Program was the central theme at Amity University, Noida. An astounding 30,000 volunteers were being trained since early June when the sessions began.
The tight schedule begins at 8.30 in the morning and goes on till around 5 in the evening. In the completed sessions, about 500 volunteers were divided into blue and yellow groups and team-work enhancing sessions, light- hearted exercises and informatory sessions about the games were carried out. This was followed by a rather simple lunch.
Thereafter, the volunteers were sub-divided into five groups and were trained to greet guests, handle complex situations, undertake group tasks and were taught the importance of a good volunteer.
“It was a nice experience, the events and the seminars were very entertaining”, said Sana after attending her training program. The sessions were highly interactive with usage of multimedia technology such as training videos, patriotic songs and PowerPoint slides.
The Delhi United Team officials have two more sets of training sessions planned for the volunteers. After the general training, venue specific and role specific training will also take place. Role-specific training will depend on the capabilities of a volunteer and accordingly responsibilities will be designated, according to Vipul Sharma of the Delhi United Team. After all the three training sessions, there would be an Event Leadership program for the volunteers giving them an understanding of being a good leader, which is the central theme of Delhi United Team.


Malvika Tripathi and Mehak Batra

1. Prepare to have hours of free time. You WILL be having a lot of time on your hands- in between classes, waiting for your friends to come (because you will want to travel in packs), waiting for the lecture to begin, and then praying for the lecturer to leave!

2. Choose your friends carefully, since you’ll be making a lot of them, some for life. That said, try to avoid hostelites unless you’re living in a hostel, otherwise you will constantly hear them whine about curfews they have to meet etc.

3. Ragging. There isn’t much ragging now in DU anyway, after the crackdown. Don’t be nervous, it’s not all that bad. Try and enjoy it if you can. And keep your ego at home.

4. College societies are important. Not only will you make a lot of friends, it will give you a sense of purpose .DU gives a lot of options from the usual Debating and Dramatics to the off-beat ones like Film Appreciation, African Culture or Photography. And of course, you can always start your own society.

5. Try to avoid your car/bike to college. You will unnecessarily get caught in traffic jams. Car-pool, if possible. It’s an excellent way of making new friends and bonding with someone who understands exactly the ordeal you will go through to travel to and from college. Note-when planning taking the U-especial, make sure you have nothing planned for the rest of the day!

First Year

First year in college is, as some already know and some of you will eventually get to know, unlike any other. You can feel it on your first day, when you realise that the first division your school was so proud of is shared by fifty other people in your class.
Also, unless you’re in Stephens’ or Miranda and the like, you can’t help but notice that your college is definitely less glossy than had been shown in the national daily. And hereon you know you’re on your way to busting a few good myths about college life by the end of the year. Your mind constantly oscillates between a “Look at me!” and “What next?” which in a few month boils down to “So this is how it’s really like? Gulp!” And don’t be surprised if you soon find yourself discussing philosophical nothings with your lecturers in class and on facebook alike.

First year is all about whirlwind evolution, where in one year you go from being a restless juvenile to being comfortable in your skin; the means to that end consisting of real workload, attendance blues, societies, new discoveries and meeting people from all spheres to teach you a new thing or two along the way.

Second Year

First year turns out to be a year of unexpected surprises, unmet expectations, new-found freedom and acclimatization to all of this. Come second year, everyone looks back at the year that was, and are proud of some things and regret some others. Everyone resolves that this year is going to be different. This year, we will study more. This year we will do something we should have done last year, for sure. And it turns out to be like one of those typical New Year Resolutions, made to be broken. So for a few days, things do look a little different, but then most people move down that slippery slope of first year.
Second year is still very different from first year in several ways. By this time, most people find their niche in their classes and in the college and become much more comfortable. Also, now you move up the pecking order as you become seniors and have juniors who can bossed around. It’s a big break from first year, when everyone is trying very hard to remember everyone’s name and at being amicable to everyone. People now approach you about advice on which college or course to choose, which subsidiary to opt for, which texts to follow; you know: the works.
It turns out, without exception, to be a whirlwind of a year. But before you know it, it’s over.

Third Year

Strike final year and you know your third year passes you by before you utter the word graduate. You suddenly realize how many unfinished things still remain to be ticked off your to-do list before college ends. It also means you barely find the time to complete it or study your course because you are too busy preparing for your entrances all year round. It’s a tough act to balance but you don’t have a choice because you know it’s your last year to pass off as a kid in a grown up’s body. And when reality hits a home run, you can’t help but wisen up.

Teachers become friends. Friends become teachers. Your increasing fondness for college makes you want to be more regular and you start missing it months before it’s actually over. It’s but natural, since the constant research on post graduation options, search for new universities, scholarship queries et al keeps you quite ahead of yourself.

You can’t help but wonder and be amazed at the magnitude of change and potential that has become a part of you in three years and this year helps you to channelise it all in the right direction. And when it is almost over and everyone has bid farewell, you know that college was never just about a degree. It was about growing up and facing life head on. And you learnt it all here in these three years of college.


Devika Dutt and Kritika Kushwaha

The first time I took drugs was after my XII boards, a year back. My friends took me to a place they knew, where drugs are sold cheap and in abundance. The first thing I ever smoked was weed, which I bought at Rs 50 per packet. Later, I moved on to smoking hash which was much more expensive. I was told that these substances are grass based and, in fact, herbs used to cure diseases. But because they induce a certain level of intoxication, they can’t be prescribed.
– Anonymous

As admission bells ring in DU, applicants toy with the idea of experimenting with substance abuse. “Depends on who we hang out with. We’re okay with other people getting into such habits but would try not to give in to peer pressure ourselves,” said Shruti and Anusha.
While citizens below the age of 25 are legally forbidden alcohol consumption in New Delhi, several students at DU pay no heed to the law. Umang, another aspirant, says, “If you are allowed to vote, you are capable of making decisions for yourself.” Ankita, an occasional drinker, said that many people forego the habit by the time they are 25. “The regulation does not make sense,” she added. 60% respondents demand a decrease in the legal age for drinking, most of them suggesting 21 years as the ideal age.

Inexpensive drugs like hash, marijuana and acid are another common form of intoxication for students. When asked about drug use, most DU applicants were unnerved. “It is okay to experiment, but one should be very careful not to go to extremes,” said Umang. Rohit (name changed), a drug user, said: “It’s sad when I see people at the age of 15-16 getting into drugs. The laws are clear but implementation is poor. A person looking for drugs would be able to find them easily in a day at very reasonable prices.”

Dr Rajni Sahni, a psychology professor at DU, counts peer pressure as one of the most common causes for addiction. She said that a person who is low on self-esteem looks towards what society, specifically his/her peers, approve of. “This is especially prevalent among adolescents who lack confidence,” she emphasized. “Experimentation, even at the seemingly harmless level, is detrimental as the main motivation is to get a high. If there is no one to guide you to a positive way of getting a high, like an achievement or doing a good deed, then you are bound to get addicted.”

Rehabilitation centers offer processes of medical and psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on substance abuse. Hope Trust (Hyderabad), Muktangan (Pune) and Santulan (New Delhi) are some renowned de-addiction centers in India. Sadly, none of the respondents were aware of the location, or even the name, of any of the rehabs in the country. Dr Sahni suggested establishment of de-addiction centers in the campus, not only for students but also for teaching and non-teaching staff. She also recommended spreading the message and sensitizing students through street plays, films and talk shows.

  • DU aspirants willing to experiment with drugs: 30%
  • Zones for smokers on campus: 55%
  • Legal age for drinking should be decreased: 60%
  • Ideal age for legally drinking: 21 yrs

Aakriti Bajaj (3rd year student of Mass Media and Mass Communication at IP College, University of Delhi)

Neha Gupta (2nd year student of Journalism at Kamla Nehru College, University of Delhi)

The recent bandh called by the opposition parties seemed to come just in time for those preparing for the new academic session. Just as the University was getting ready for another year, the bandh came as a reminder of an intrinsic part of the academic calendar.
Student political parties, and occasionally the Delhi University Students’ Union, call for strikes for various reasons. An oft-repeated experience in such strikes is very telling. On the day of the strike, students from the strike-calling group traipse through the corridors of colleges looking for classes in progress and ask the teacher to let the students go. Surely, if the students are in class on the day of the strike, it means one of two things: the strike holds no meaning for them or that their class is more important than the issue over which the strike has been called. Issues in student politics earn legitimacy due to the sheer numbers of supporters. What is the point of a strike that isn’t supported by students? Many students, if not most, don’t know why such strikes are called, ironically. Also, one wonders about the impact of a strike which most people don’t even know about till a day before it or even perhaps on the day of the strike. This is evidenced by the fact that “Is there a strike tomorrow?” is often a reflex question, asked sometimes in jest, sometimes in hope.
Strikes are meant to be a tool to make the authorities feel the heat and to push them into action. Is this really possible under the current environment as far as strikes are concerned? Strikes are considered an unscheduled holiday, and not a means of making a point or two, enmasse. Perhaps political parties on campus can rethink their strategy of the manner in which that strikes are called to reach out to more students. They could even try to talk to those outside the immediate sphere of university politics. In such a situation, strikes would receive more support from students and these students would not be alone in telling the authorities that not everything’s hunky-dory.
The DUTA serves as a pretty handy comparison, being in the same public space. They took a firm decision on their stand vis-a-vis the semester system and well-nigh everybody in and around the University has been forced to sit up and notice. There will, of course, be two sides to the story of every strike, and this one is no different. But perhaps it has lessons in inclusiveness and concerted action.

QUESTION

I am 32 year old. I marrey in 2005. Now 2 child here. What I would ask you some question about sex matter.

ANSWER

Before I answer any question of yours mister, I have some of my own. How does a guy be 32, married, have 2 kids AND STILL NOT KNOW ABOUT SEX??!! WHAT DID YOU DO ON YOUR WEDDING NIGHT? Play carrom? Aiyyo, the stork doesn’t really bring the kids you know. Has your wife been
“borrowing sugar” from the neighbor a lot lately?

Anyway, about “sex matter”. It’s almost as good as chocolate, except that it will not make cellulite mountains of your hips (yes yes now you know my weakness). Very important too, for the survival of the
species and all that. Bottom line- Do it. For the kids. May Balaji grant you everlasting virility.

QUESTION

Hey Sex Amma. I am desperately crazy about a guy in my college. I have tried many times to seduce him but he is faithful to his girlfriend who is my best friend. But when we are alone he also tries to get naughty with me but stays away in front of his girlfriend. Once I tried to smooch him forcefully and he also got carried away and then he started removing my clothes when I turned him on big time by my passionate smooch and handjob. The moment he undid my bra, his girlfriend came. They broke up few days after that incident and now he asked me out. Should I start a relationship with him? What if he ditches me just like he ditched my best friend? But I want him desperately. What should I do?

ANSWER

WOW. You and your best friend seem to be extremely close. He undid YOUR bra, and your best friend came? I mean WOW. I wish I had a friend who I shared such a connection with. Imagine all the time and effort I’d save.
Seriously though, this guy must be one helluva stud if you “tried to smooch him forcefully”. All I’d say to you is, don’t over-think it. You want him (almost creepily so), your friend doesn’t. Problem solved. Go
for it. Get yours. After all, one of the greatest thinkers of our times said “ye jism pyaar nahi jaanta. Ye sirf jaanta hai bhookh, jism ki bhookh.”