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September 13, 2014

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Five Famous Alumni: Former DUSU Presidents who became notable Indian politicians

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In a city defined by politics, the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections are seen as a stepping stone to the national stage. This fame is not unfounded, and that is why we give you a list of 5 renowned names that started their political stories here as former DUSU Presidents.

 1. Arun Jaitley

arun

Widely known to be the most intellectual man in the BJP, Arun Jaitley currently serves as the Minister for Defense and Minister for Finance in the Lok Sabha Government. He has a degree in Commerce from the Sri Ram College of Commerce. He is by far the most prominent politician to have won the DUSU election, having won the second-ever election in 1974 on an ABVP ticket. He is an avid blogger and is known to personally update his Twitter account.

 

 2. Vijay Goel

vijay goel

Another alumnus of SRCC, Vijay Goel currently serves as the President of the Delhi state unit of the BJP. He has been a Member of the 13th Lok Sabha from the Chandani Chowk constituency. Vijay Goel was DUSU President in the year 1977-78, again on an ABVP ticket. He is known for his social causes which include the Toy Bank; a not-for-profit bank that collects toys from donors, refurbishes them and then redistributes the toys amongst the underprivileged children in Delhi.

 

3. Vijay Jolly

jolly

Vijay Jolly did his Bachelors in Commerce from SRCC followed by M.Com from the University of Delhi. Jolly was elected as the DUSU President for the year 1980-81 as a member of ABVP. He is currently the All India Incharge and Prabhari of Tripura State, BJP and All India Incharge and Convenor of Foreign Cell, BJP. Vijay made it to the headlines back in the year 2011, when he allegedly demanded removal of then Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit on the grounds of corruption in the CWG.

 4. Ajay Maken

maken

Famous for his ‘dichotomous’ conflict with Mani Shankar Aiyyer, Ajay Maken is currently the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress. He was previously Minister of Sports and Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in the UPA Government.A graduate from Hansraj College, he won the DUSU elections in 1985. He is currently the only person from B.Sc. (Chemistry) Final Year to ever win this election.

5. Alka Lambaalka

Alka Lamba did her B.Sc from Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi followed by M.Sc and M.Ed from St. Stephen’s College. Alka contested for the DUSU President’s post in 1995 on NSUI’s ticket and won by huge margins. Taking her political career to new heights, Alka was announced the All India Girls Convenor, NSUI in 1996 and she became the all India NSUI President in 1997. After working for the Indian National Congress for over two decades, Lamba quit the party on December 26th, 2013 to  volunteer for Aam Aadmi Party.

With this list of the former DUSU Presidents who made it well into the bigger arena of Indian politics, we wish all the very best to the newly elected DUSU representatives of 2014-15. May you not only accomplish the manifested promises but also have a healthy career.

 

Ashish Mathew

([email protected])

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DUB Speak

5 things that would happen if alcohol was banned in Delhi

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The only state in India where you might not find liquor is Gujarat. But what if it were to be banned elsewhere? And what if that place would be none other than the capital of India? Well! The former chief minister of the only dry state now resides in New Delhi and he might find a reason somewhere in the near future to completely ban the consumption of alcohol here.

People who consume it and are reading this article would already have gone in a state of eternal shock. But what else could happen? Here are 5 most likely scenarios that would emerge if alcohol was to be completely banned in Delhi:

 

1. An end to the bars, pubs and clubs

The first and the foremost damage that banning of liquor will cause would be to the proud owners of bars and pubs. Liquor shops would close down, disgruntled owners would be seen having clashes with MCD shop sealers and many other unprecedented consequences would follow. What can be ensured though is a marginal economic crisis (seeing the huge number of alcohol serving shops).

2. A Juxtaposed Dharna

If the alcohol were to be banned amidst the rule of the incumbent government, likely scenario would be that the opposition local parties of Delhi as well as the national parties might stage a Dharna at all the likely spots possible. What will be interesting to see would be a clash between organisations favouring the ban as well as those (mostly the alcohol lobby) against it.

3. The Positive Side

Although banning of alcohol might create havoc in this alcohol loving city, we must not forget the other much positive scenarios that would build up. There would be a drop in the number of road accidents, less cases of domestic violence, day workers would be bound to secure money they now use on buying alcohol, chances of diseases which occur due to alcohol consumption would become minimal, etc.

 

4. The Rise of the Dark Corners

United States saw a huge surge in illegal consumption of alcohol when it was banned there for a whole decade between 1920s and 1930s. Such a scenario is likely to be caused in Delhi as well. Since illegal consumption would become phenomenally high, chances are that the rate of crime would also grow.

5. New Liquor Havens

A possible bane for the capital, banning of alcohol might become a boom for the NCR region where new liquor hubs would come up so as to ensure a regular supply of liquor based drinks to people who would now be travelling outside Delhi to consume their favorite drink.

 

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DUB News

ABVP sweeps DUSU elections 2014

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The results of the first Delhi University Students’ Union Elections after establishment of BJP led government at the centre are out and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) swept all four seats following in the footsteps of its parent political party.

 

Mohit Nagar with 20,718 votes, Parvesh Malik with 21,935 votes, Kanika Shekhawat with 18,671 votes and Aashutosh Mathur securing 23,133 votes bagged the posts of President, Vice President, Secretary and Joint Secretary respectively, defeating ABVP’s biggest rival the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) by a few thousand votes. The vote count for the latter being – Presidential candidate(19,804), Vice Presidential candidate(14,076), Secretarial candidate(15,649) and Joint Secretarial candidate(12,065). All India Students’ Association (AISA) with its influential presence during the campaigning season rose to the third position with its candidates for the posts of President, VP, Secretary and Joint Secretary attaining 10,163, 11,944, 12,932 and 9,338 votes respectively.

 

Total voter turnout for 2014 DUSU election reached 59,423(43.43%) with 1,36,821 eligible voters and votes accumulated from 128 EVMs gathered from 50 polling centers. While last year ABVP managed to win three of the four posts with the secretarial post taken over by NSUI, 2014 has been the first time since 1997 that the party has had a clear sweep over DUSU. The “Modi Wave” seems to have worked its charm yet again, this time at the university level, as admitted by the newly appointed Joint Secretary.

 

Ishani Rajkhowa

[email protected]

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DUB News

i2A workshop by Connecting Dreams Foundation at SRCC

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Connecting Dreams Foundation established its branch by the name of CDF- SRCC Chapter in Shri Ram College of Commerce this academic session for the first time. 10th and 11TH September , 2014 marked their first i2A (ideation) workshop.

 

The ideation workshop was a two day workshop attended by all the members of CDF SRCC and was conducted by Mr. Amit Tuteja along with the core team. The main objective of the workshop was to turn the ideas the members came up with into action by analyzing the weak and the strong points along with the feasibility and affordability of their solution providing models. It also aimed at instilling the idea of doing social good through entrepreneurship. The first day saw a variety of stages. The members were divided into 5 groups. Each group came up with rather comical names for their respective teams. A number of different templates were provided, which consisted of brain storming activities involving group discussions , research etc. All these activities were time bound to build up a slight amount of pressure among the members. Apart from intensive thinking and discussions, the i2A workshop also saw execution of some great dramatic skills through the enactment of problems and solutions they came up in the form of short skits. This was followed by a quick session of question and answer round. The most interesting activity was writing the probable solutions to the core problem by each team member . This created a rather competitive atmosphere where the members were seen scribbling endlessly. It saw as many as 130 ideas in a time frame of 15 minutes from one team. A number of inspiring short videos were shown throughout the 2 day workshop which related to these young minds and encouraged them to ideate and give them the focus and encouragement needed to execute those ideas. By the end of the intensive two days , the members were charged up with the thought of being social entrepreneurs and had the will to execute the ideas they had in mind.

 

 

Mehr Gill

[email protected]

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Flicks

Four greatest war movies that you must watch!

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War. It has made women widows. It has toppled kings from their golden thrones. It has decided the fate of entire countries. It has made…history. Despite the unimaginable horrors that it leaves behind in its wake, war has an undeniable allure to it. That is why people have spent billions developing games, movies, books, etc. upon the theme of war and its aftermath. So, as an unimaginative block as I am, I have decided to go with the crowd and compiled a list of 4 great movies that in capture the essence of War:

1. Guns of Navarone (1961)

The story revolves around a rag-tag team of ‘specialists’ from different ‘Allied’ countries, brought together by the British Intelligence in order to accomplish the impossible: Destroying the German artillery. The many plot twists in the story and the top class acting that keeps one glued to the screen from the start to the finish.

2. Gettysburg (1993)

Gettysburg, is a masterpiece in terms of cinematography, historical accuracy and flamboyant speeches. What sets Gettysburg apart from the rest of the ‘Battle of Gettysburg gimmicks’ is that it provides a viewpoint of both the confederates and the union army – about their own personal motives and beliefs. It is fascinating to see thousands of men march in perfect synchronisation, in rhythm with the drums, screams, musket fire and exploding mortar shells.

3. Good Morning Vietnam (1987)

Good Morning Vietnam, is a comic story that revolves around a radio jockey, Adrian Cronauer (played by Robin Williams), and his personal growth as both a human being and a victim of a war. Throw in a little military action, a school boy romance and a touch of grim seriousness in the mix and we get a strangely inspirational war/comedy movie.

4. The Hurt Locker (2008)

A bomb disposal squad in Iraq loses their Staff Sergeant to unsuccessful bomb disarmament and is replaced by Sergeant 1st Class William James (played by Jeremy Renner). At first glance, the new squad leader seemed nice enough. But on their first mission as a team, they are shocked by the utter recklessness of their new Sarge. James’ maverick ways were a threat to the safety of the entire squad and that puts a strain in the squad’s psychology and cohesion. The Hurt Locker provides a total flip side – the addiction to war.

 

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Lady Shri Ram College for Women

LSR to organize its first TEDx talk

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TEDx in collaboration with Lady Shri Ram College for Women is organizing an event on 13th September, bringing in speakers from various strides of life. TED, an American not-for-profit organization sets up guest lectures for masses with people who have innovative ideas and events. TEDx is a typical example of franchise where it gives various institutes the license to organize such events under its banner.

Being the first TEDx event in LSR, the college is all geared up to make it a huge and successful event. Some of the speakers are Mihir Srivastava, who’ll be talking about nude art, Shreena Thakore, the Co-founder of No Country for Women and many other esteemed speakers, coming from Bangalore and USA. The aim of the event is to sensitise people on small issues and ideas which don’t strike us in every day lie, despite the fact that they are so prevalent.

The idea of planning and executing such an event basically germinated from the Psychology department’s Book Club which conceptualized this idea. The logistics of the entire event have been properly worked out with 100 people attending this talk including students and guests. The idea behind restricting the gathering to 100 is that everyone should get an opportunity to interact and absorb to the fullest.

Anupriya Jain, the primary licensee and lead organizer said, “Organizing the event introduced me to some great yet unsung ideas. Working towards a TEDx event really gets you in touch with a group of intellectuals”

All those people who won’t be able see the talk live can watch the video online on YouTube. For more information about the event check their site: www.tedxlsrcollege.in

 

Ishita Sharma

[email protected]

Image Credits: Anupriya Jain

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