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October 20, 2014

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“La Politique”, the Political Science department of Kirori Mal College, in association with the Centre for Advanced Research on Development and Change, organized a seminar on 16th October, titled “Ragging, Rape and Reform.”

 

The event began with power-point presentations made by second year students, dealing with the alarming issue of ragging. Aimed at highlighting the ongoing menace, despite the sensitization of society and implementation of stringent laws, a student – made video was shared, pin-pointing the psychological trauma inflicted upon a fresher due to ragging. Shocking statistics showed that India and Sri Lanka remain the only two nations where the issue remains prevalent even today. The students also covered a rather little known aspect of ragging, the harassment of teachers by students. Though a small-scale phenomenon, it highlights the deteriorating teacher-student relationship, especially at the college level.

 

The second issue covered by the students was another burning topic- juvenile delinquency, i.e. offences committed by minors. Firstly, the students tried to understand the issue not in vacuum, but as a product of several factors such as poverty, domestic violence, illiteracy, child labor and peer pressure. The question of trial of juveniles as adults, in heinous crimes such as rapes, was hotly debated. This was followed by an analysis of the implementation of the recently amended Juvenile Justice Act and the state of rehabilitation centres in India. A strong appeal was made for the creation of a children’s court, to handle such matters with sensitivity and not push juveniles further into the world of crimes.

 

Next, it was the turn of the guest speaker for the day, Prof Rajinder Kachroo, founder and trustee of the Aman Satya Kachroo Foundation, to present his views on the matter. He labeled the ongoing issue of ragging as a manifestation of the “seniority syndrome” and “unconditional obedience” prevalent in India. Sharing experiences from his lectures in various institutions in and around Delhi, he focused on the need to sensitize not only the victims and perpetrators, but also the bystanders. He even put up an open question- whether any form of punishment really proved to be a deterrent for the committers of crimes? This was followed by an impassionate appeal for dissing the “chalta hai” attitude and making a stride towards change by Ms. Naeem Akhtar. With the end of the two-hour long seminar, students walked out of the hall, with refreshments in their hand and a buzz of ideas in their head.

 

 

Shruti Sonal

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Delhi University is in the habit of going beyond the cliché, bringing out exclusiveness in everything it does. With people’s houses being festooned with illuminations one by one and the market flooding with myriad diyas and candles, DU colleges celebrated the festival of lights in their own distinctive way. Jesus and Mary College, Gargi College, Lady Shri Ram College for Women and Indraprastha College for Women saw its students dressing up the Indian way and celebrating the festivities with beats of music and shopping their hearts away at the NSS Diwali Melas. Here’s a peek into the exuberance of festivities celebrated by these colleges.

Kamala Nerhu College

Every year, the NSS unit and the Students Union organize an NGO cum Diwali Mela where they invite about 20-25 NGOs to provide them with a platform to not only generate awareness about the various works that they have been doing but also to showcase the talent of the people associated or being helped through these NGOs. On the auspicious occasion of Diwali the mela is organized keeping in mind with the festivities. Adrith’14 was graced with the presence of about 22 NGOs like Save the Quest, Umeed, Rhythm of Life and Can Support.

 

Jesus and Mary College

15th October, 2014- merely a week away from the most widely celebrated festival of India, JMC organised its annual Sparsh Diwali Mela. The college’s amphitheatre was decorated with brightly coloured dupattas and attractive stalls. Apart from the usual Chaat and Pao Bhaaji stalls, the Mela had stalls selling quirky pajamas, customized t-shirts, Kurtis, bangles and other accessories.

 

Gargi College

The much-talked about college for Diwali Melas organised Zistatva, its annual NSS Diwali Mela on 17th October. The engrossing games, the diverse stalls offering multitude of varieties for multitude of choices along with the musical beats added a lot more charisma to the atmosphere. The photo-booth was a major attraction where all you needed was to dress up the way you like and let the funky accessories colour your life.

 

Indraprastha College

IP College  organised its Diwali Mela on 18th October. Among the highlights of the Mela was the Enactus Society fundraiser stall. Conventional food and games stalls attracted huge crowd too. Keeping the Indian festive spirit alive, all stalls made offerings to the kids of the non-teaching staff of the college that served as a perfect culmination of the event.

 

Lady Shri Ram College for Women

Diwali Mela at LSR  was a roaring success. 18th October saw LSR getting together to celebrate the beauty of Diwali. From Kurtis to T-Shirts, Pao Bhaaji to Cakes; it was a perfect setting to celebrate the diversity of this festival. The Mela was a shopper’s paradise and met the expectations of spectators and visitors alike.

 

Arushi Pathak
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With Inputs from: Vani Vivek, Shaily Sharma, Aditi Soni, Kritika Narula and Mugdha

Image credits: Mugdha for DU Beat

ABVP’s protest on Friday, the 17th of October, Delhi University had promised to restart the system of revaluation in the University. The dharna outside Arts’ Faculty had demanded reintroduction of re-evaluation, special chance and supplementary exams. The option of evaluation of answer sheets had been done away with during the October-November exams in 2013. The official notification had declared that since examination sheets were jointly corrected by a number of examiners, revaluation would not be continued. The notice issued by Delhi University today, on the 20th of October, starts off by declaring that these changes have been brought after various representatives (DUSU, in particular), had appealed to the University for the same. Here are some of the main points from the notice:

  • Revaluation of examination sheets will be reintroduced. Further, the sheets will now be checked by a single examiner. The details of the procedure for revaluation will be disclosed soon.
  • Those students who failed in their 1st year under the FYUP and could not take admission for whatever reason, will be allowed to apply for readmission to 1st year till the 29th of October, 2014.
  • The attendance of such students will be counted from the day of their admission and Internal Assessment shall be conducted as per the college’s rules. However, the students must cover the curriculum on their own and not claim any loss of teaching.
When asked about this change, here’s what Saket Bahuguna, Delhi State Secretary, ABVP had to say, “This was the first time that DUSU office bearers were called by the Delhi University officials. So, we feel that it is a very positive step and the coming in of the notification symbolizes victory of students. This is because DU administration has now realized that it cannot function if it does not take decisions favouring the students. ABVP is committed to fight for all such issues that a student faces in the University.”  Glimpse of the dharna held last week. Image courtesy: ABVP Press Release You can read the full notice here.]]>

On Friday, 10th October 2014, 450 young minds came together for Indian Youth to Business Forum at the Indian School of Business, Mohali. Themed ‘Next. Big. Leap’, the event was crafted to sequentially take the audience through futuristic, audacious and actionable stories and ideas from a pot-pourri of achievers. While Viral Oza, the Marketing Head of Microsoft Mobile Devices and Shireesh Joshi,  ?COO, Strategic Marketing Group at Godrej had stimulating insights into the world of business and marketing, Saachi Soni, the youngest Indian girl to have scaled the Mt.Everest, stole the show with her story of passion, simplicity and excellence.

A story that certainly seemed to have made a mark was that of young, globally acclaimed photographer, Vicky Roy. The crowd was moved by his humbling journey towards greatness from the streets and his remarkable take on life. The agenda was well packed with several interesting workshops that were conducted by big brands like Microsoft, Young India Fellowship, Teach for India and KPMG and compelling conversations with people like Vimal Sumbly, Managing Director of Triumph Motorcycles, India and the dynamic Vivek Atray, IAS Officer and novelist.

What set this event apart was its closing. Pradeep Singh, the Deputy Dean of ISB delivered a heartening talk on some of the indispensable essentials for the youth and marked the commenecement of a unique, never-before activity. Th 450 students sat under one roof to sketch a consequential output, knitting together the problems faced by the youth and concrete solutions to deal with the same. AIESEC will be releasing this output to the general public soon.

Image from India Y2B Forum Facebook page