April 19, 2014

DU colleges begin allotment of DC-II courses under the FYUP

By Shaily Sharma April 19, 2014

With the current academic session close to its end, there will be introduction of Discipline Courses-II (DC-II), under the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). The FYUP students have to choose a total of six minor subjects, called DC-II, along with the main subjects in their third semester. The university has asked the colleges to independently figure out this entire process. So the procedure differs from college to college.

Colleges all over the University are occupied in resolving this process. Surveys have been conducted in colleges like Hindu College, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Gargi College and Miranda House. St. Stephen’s College held an orientation program which summarized the courses and their structure.

In Lady Shri Ram College for Women, the authorities haven’t come to a conclusion yet. Students were asked to fill forms in which they were asked for their preferences and then top 3 preferences were shortlisted for each department. Eventually the subject with the highest demand will be adopted. However, there’s no such attempt to sort the process out in College of Vocational Studies.

The allotment of the Discipline 2 courses in Miranda House has been done. The online survey conducted by the college for each course asking the students for their first five preferences has been announced as the final one. The students have been e-mailed a form which they will have to fill and sign, indicating their choice of DC 2. The application will be counter signed by the Teacher-in-charge of the respective department. The students are required to fill the application and get it signed during 21^stApril to 23^rd April.

Students were initially allotted date and time to clear their doubts regarding the course, scoring patterns, syllabus and career options of the subject which has helped them make up their minds regarding which subject to choose.

“This entire process was very confusing but the way everything from the doubt clearing sessions to the online form survey, was well articulated.” said Divya Singh, a FYUP student of Miranda House.

In Jesus and Mary College, students were asked to fill their preferences online. So far, there has not been introduction of any merit based allotments. “For BMS students, DU had designed 6 DC IIs which only we could take and nobody else. They were marketing, finance, global business, HR, services and tourism. But recently we got to know that students from other courses can also take it, thus, taking away the exclusivity from our course” said a BMS student of Deen Dayal Upadhyay College.

Dr. Geeta Kitchlu, a Senior Professor of Gargi College said, “Students were given a Performa and were asked to tick their top 3 preferences. These forms have been forwarded to various Teachers-in-charge and the workload committee is active on the process of compiling the data. Students will study either six papers of the same subject or 3-3 papers of tow subjects depending upon their choices. Decision regarding number of sections to be made will be taken according to the number of students opting for a particular subject”

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News

University of Delhi rejects reservation of 85% seats for Delhi domicile students

By Shaily Sharma April 19, 2014

The proposal of Delhi government for the reservation of 85% seats for the Delhi domicile students in all 12 colleges wholly funded by state government and other 16 colleges receiving 5% of its fund from Delhi government, has been rejected by the University of Delhi on the 16th of April 2014. This break has been unfolded by an RTI application filed by Abhishek Ranjan, RTI Activist who is an ex-student of the University on 3rd March. These colleges include Maharaja Agrasen College, Shaheed Rajguru College, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Keshav Mahavidyalaya and Deen Dayal Upadhayay College.

Ranjan had appealed to the Prime Minister Office (PMO) directly for getting first hand information on the issue. On receiving his application, the PMO forwarded it to Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry. The University was then asked to provide answers to Ranjan’s letter no. F.No.63-4(3)/2014-CU-III, dated 14th March 2014.

“Being a law student, I wanted to know whether such reservation can be allowed in a Central University. I filed the RTI asking if such proposal can be accepted by any Central University, whether there has been any such proposal in DU and if yes, what decisions have been taken on the matter. According to me if this kind of reservation is allowed in DU now, then people will start asking for similar reservations in other universities like JNU. ” says Ranjan. He added that new colleges should be open, number of seats should be increased and even introduction of evening shifts in colleges can be there in order to solve the problem of admissions of the Delhi domicile students.

R.K. Verma, Principal Secretary of Department of IT had written to Dinesh Singh, Vice Chancellor of Delhi University on 25th February 2014, asking for reservations and mentioning that the students of Delhi have to go outside Delhi for pursuing higher studies because of lack of institutions in Delhi which could provide admission to all students passing their higher secondary exam from the schools of Delhi. On 27th March 2014, the Assistant Registrar (Academics) of Delhi University in his reply mentioned that the proposal submitted by the University for the reservation of seats can’t be accepted, Delhi University being a Central University.

Nandita Narain, the President of DUTA expresses her views on the matter, “We, at DUTA, totally agree with the decision of the University. Diversity from all over the country is one of the highlighting features of our university. The proposal by Sheila Dixit government was totally an unacceptable one on the grounds of Delhi University being a Central University and not a State University.”

For more information on the RTI application, HRD Ministry letter to DU and University’s reply to the RTI Activist, check out this link.

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Campus Central

Khanabadosh – the street play society with a difference

By Iresh Gupta April 19, 2014

nukkad (street drama) and rangmanch (stage drama) have been confined merely to perform for the competitive motives and have been restricted to perform to DU circuit audiences. With this thought of breaking the mainstream theatre culture, widening the ambit of theatre from the narrow DU restricted one, and opening the avenues for ex DU students, a theatre group called Khanabadosh was founded.

About Khanabadosh

Founded by DU alumnus Sidhaant Sharma (Maharaja Agarsen College) on August 31 2013, Khanabadosh caters to the general public with a motive of creating awareness and instigating a thought about the right and wrong. The group that initially did theatre with all the ex-students of the university has now expanded their artist base to others as well. In working since October, Khanabadosh has 24 active members and 17 performances to its credit till date. Khanabadosh is presently just a street theatre group.

Vision

In words of the director, “Khanabadosh doesn’t aim to manufacture actors. It doesn’t even aim to create professionals. The vision is to create those human beings who can understand the matters of the society. Those who can notice what is happening around them, observe, analyse the problem and then play or act. Yahan motive insaan banana hai.” Sidhaant adds, “I wish to create such a team that has the freedom of expression with this clear vision in mind,never deviating from it.” The team has different people from various backgrounds. They have different perceptions and few members within the team have mutual admirations. So the most challenging task is to maintain harmony in the team where everyone has the urge to create a difference.

Mission

With this vision in mind, Khanabadosh vows never to participate in competitions and do theatre only for its target audience. They have created a mission to let the audience introspect about what is happening around. The plays of the group are a satire on the society and its systems or to put it more precisely, a slap on the face. Their theatre is different from the fancy and organized theatre at the university. ‘Khanabadosh’ (the word which means ‘nomads’) undertakes unorganized form of theatre through the dramatic art. According to the members of the group, today’s common man doesn’t understand fancy theatre which includes extensive element of music and poetry in nukkad. The group, therefore gets to the street with a less complex plan of action for the play and a dhafli and plans to cover each part of the capital city under this theatrical cause.

Members and Performances

Khanabadosh has artists from Maharaja Agarsen College,SGTB Khalsa, Kamala Nehru College, Gargi, PGDAV and DCAC. It also has other members with no acting experience or background who are provided with required training. Khanabadosh has one production to its credit after completing six months. Their nukkad natak DEMO-CRAZY is a play based on the political truths and is a satire on the political system. It highlights how common man of the country is left with no option in this vicious circle of politics and how people who don’t vote, have no right to question. The team has performed for the general audience at metro stations, Shri Ram Centre (Mandi House), Connaught Place, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Park, Mayur Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Patparganj, Tri Nagar, GB Road, Dilli Hatt, IIT Delhi and TDI Mall as part of Manthan’14. Their viewers range from market going people to the vegetable or fruit vendors and from students to people with political backgrounds. “In all performances, it is amazing to see how people could relate to the play and gave responses. For us, it is still a learning process.” said a team member. The team travels to different places allover the capital city, and arranges for certain formal permissions required to perform in respective areas.

Future Plan of Action

Khanabadosh, the team that is currently on an election break plans to resume the series of performances soon. They also plan to get the group officially registered with the government and expand itself to stage theatre as well. The new season will witness a new play by Khanabadosh on some other social topic. The team apart from Delhi will also move out of the city for both revolution and change. As one of the members of the team say, “Khanabadosh wishes to grow from a baby to kid and then to an adult.” [gallery ids="22658,22656"]

Appeal to the University Theatre Circuit

During the conversation, Sidhaant who was also a volunteer for General Elections 2014 told DU Beat how the voters of the country portrayed dilemma on their face while voting. “This is all a shitty mess, jahan janta pareshaan hai. We are happy in doing our bit by taking our political play out for the public.” Team Khanabadosh appeals to all the teams of the university to bring their brand of street theatre actually out to streets and not limit it only to the university and competitions. The group feels that the meaning of ‘nukkad’ is lost otherwise. For more updates about the team and their performances visit: Khanabadosh Facebook Page]]>

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Interviews

In Conversation with Distortion of Mischief

By Arushi Srivastava April 19, 2014

With an unwavering devotion to Old School Rock n Roll music and measureless energy which they offset at the stage with the purpose of making each and every person in the crowd jump out of their seats and rock with them, Delhi-based band Distortion of Mischief (DOM) proudly calls itself as ‘People’s Band’. Comprising of 5 members; Ashutosh as vocalist, Minaam as Lead Guitarist, Ishaan as Rhythm Guitarist, Guru on drums and Mahesh as Bassist, this band is a bunch of jumpy, high spirited and mischievous members which they all vow to be deeply embed in their personalities.

Here DU Beat gets in conversation with the band members and let’s see what they’ve got to say!

Q: When was your band formed? What is the genre of the music that you people usually play?
A: Distortion of Mischief was formed about 7 months ago in October 2013 after the breakdown of a previous band.
We’re into Rock n Roll and Classic Rock music.

Q: Where all has DOM performed till now? What response do you usually get from people after your performances?
A: In the past 7 months we’ve played in about 17 places out of which 15 were college fests and Battles. Public response, well we can say they love us, at least our compositions, from the way they react when we’re off stage, congratulating and praising our most popular composition ‘Bombshell’.

Q: Which famous musician/artist/band does Distortion of Mischief usually take inspiration from?

A: We’re all hardcore ACDC fans. And owe them big time for what we are today. Every time we walk onstage to perform even one cover of them (which people say we do quite well), the crowd goes wild no matter where we are.

Q: How often and long do you people rehearse? What do you practice – exercises, new tunes, hard tunes, etc?
A: More than rehearsal, it’s the bonding we have between us, we do practice, but more than that hang around a lot which kind of helps us understand each other better, in turn helping us perform better. And when we’re practicing; we do more of new tunes that pops up every now and then when we jam together.

Q: What major awards, achievements has DOM bagged till now?
A: Every prize we get is important in its own way…Okay that is a very old one to quote here!
But honestly it’s the crowd cheering for us that counts more than the prize. But if you insist (which you will), our first victory at Fortune Institute of International Business was the most important and memorable one.
And after that over a period of 7 months and in 15 competitions we’ve won around 11 of them.

Q: How do you see your rock band for English music fitting the culture of Indian music? What is the scope of rock music in our country?
A: We’ve never felt that English was never supported in India, it always has been and we’ve been able to make many people like Distortion of Mischief and Rock n Roll too.

Q: Do you people write your own songs? What are the songs generally about? (Any specific themes)
A: Yup, we write our own songs, we’ve got around 6-7 compositions in our list. The topics of our songs are mainly mischief, fun and well girls to be very honest.

Q: How do you justify the name of your band with the music that you play?
A: Distortion of Mischief is mainly all about fun and mischief. Being a band that plays Rock N Roll, we add fun and mischief to our music and performance, on stage and off stage too.

Q: Since everyone is a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
A: It’s more about the music that you guys play. Stick to the genre that you’re playing and don’t think whether this genre is supported or not. If you like it, play it. Oh yeah… and don’t do drugs (laughs).

Q: Tell us one thing which you feel that sets you apart from various upcoming bands in the country.
A: We call ourselves the “People’s Band”, we’re more fun and crazy when it comes to performing. Plus we’ve got this mission to resurrect Classic Rock in this age of music, so that’s how we think we’re different.

One can find more about their upcoming gigs and music on their Facebook page.

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Arts & Culture

The Western music society of Aurobindo College call Ed Sheeran and Rascal Flatts their influence

By Ishaan Sengupta April 19, 2014

After jamming regularly in empty class rooms and missing classes, they went to their first inter – college fest at Jesus and Mary College where they won the 2nd prize in duet singing. This gave them confidence and since then, they’ve bagged positions in various solo, duet, trio singing competitions held at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Kamala Nehru College, SSCBS, JDMC and NIFT. On being asked about their influences, Vaibhav Singh, the Society President, cited that there are a vast number of artists, whom they follow. They started covering Boy Bands and then they progressed to Blues, Jazz and Country. He also mentioned Ed Sheeran, Zac Brown Band and Rascal Flatts as being a few of their major influences. When asked about their immediate prospects, he replied,” Firstly we would like to organize a western music fest in the college campus and would like registrations from major societies from various eminent colleges. Secondly, we would really like to uplift the name of our college.” He also mentioned that they want to be a well recognized society in DU. DU Beat wishes Allegro success for future endeavors! ]]>