March 21, 2017

RANGARANG’17, the Holi Festival of Ramanujan College.

By DU Beat March 21, 2017

Thank you, people, for the immense love and support!
Because of you all, the Eco-Friendly Holi Festival RANGARANG’17 organized by TATVA: ECO CLUB, the Mathematics Society: RamanuGEN and the Philosophy Society: Yatharth of the Ramanujan College, was a big success. The unending hard work and efforts of all the three societies working together came to recognition.

With an attempt to bring smile on every face without colors, RANGARANG’17, the Holi Festival was organised with an objective of promoting eco-friendly holi celebrations by using no colours and no water by three active societies for the first time in Delhi University and proved to be a grand success!!! The fest saw participation from more than 20 colleges of the University!

Started at 10 am, RANGARANG began with lamp lighting ceremony by our respectable principal Dr. S.P.Aggarwal and our Chief Guest, Dr. B. C. Sabata, head of Environment Clubs in Delhi Secretariat, on 3rd March, 2017. This was followed by the melodious performance by Shivaranjani, the music society of our college. Even the dance society & theatre society showed their amazing performances. Various competitions were held like Mathematical Rangoli, KBC, AdMad, Mock CID, Dance competition, Photography, etc. Prizes for the winners and participation certificate were provided to all. There were various food stalls which included Domino’s, Sagar Ratna, Chinese Chat Corner and more.

The one day fest was closed at 6 pm by the performance of three talented Rappers from the town!

Also, we took the opportunity to thank the three NGOs LECIN, LEFT and KHUSHI for their benign presence at our event with their little children who added colours of joy and smiles.

This could not have been possible without the support of our all the Media Partners (Du Beat, DU Express, Natkhatt, Campus Drift), Student internship partner (Twenty19), Education Partner (The Education tree), Hospitality Partner (Nearbuy), Snacks Food and Beverages Partner (Giani’s, Sagar Ratna, Dominoz, Cornitos), Student App Partner (Frapp), Online Media Partners (College Desk, Carrer 360, fuccha) & the Photography Partner (DCOP) and all the students and teachers involved.

This first ever Holi fest with the objective of ”no colour no water wastage” in Delhi University fulfilled its purpose.

With this, we will be working even harder for bringing you all together again for another unique and interesting events to be a part of.

Thank you all for huge participation!
Congratulations to the team!

Deep Gratitude to Principal Sir, Dr. S.P. Aggarwal and the entire faculty of the college.

Missed the grand no colour no water holi celebrations?

Check out the highlights of RANGARANG’17 at www.fb.com/Tatva.rcdu/
#Rangarang’17 #ramanujancollege

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DUB Speak

The Dawn of the Robot Apocalypse: Is Robot Tax the Solution?

By DU Beat March 21, 2017

With automation and technological advancement threatening the employment sector, will Bill Gates’s idea of ‘Robot Tax’ prove to be helpful?

What is Robot Tax?

In the near future, automation is definitely going take over our world and change the face of the employment sector as we know it. Recently, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft in an interview proposed that robots should be taxed in the form of Robot tax. He anticipates that automation will replace large numbers of the work force over the next 2 decades. This is indeed a serious threat that will change humanity, and steps must be taken to smoothen the transition.

What is Gates’s central argument?

The most vital part of his argument is that in order to be “net ahead” as a society once a robot has taken the job of a human, the displaced labor must be able to perform various kinds of work so that there would be an increase in production which leads to economic growth. He argued since the displaced labor needs retraining, the robot must be taxed, and that the funds thus raised could be used to retrain and financially support displaced workers, who could then move into new jobs in other sectors like health care, education where the human touch is needed. He further added that, by taxing the robots, we would slow down the pace of automation which will mitigate public resistance to automation.

Is this idea feasible?

No, this idea is not very feasible because firstly, for the purpose of levying, paying and collecting ‘Robot tax’ levying, paying and collection, how does one define robots? If at all the puzzle of ‘ defining robots’ is solved, we would come to the question of who pays the taxes. Since robots can’t pay taxes by themselves, presumably either the owner or the manufacturer of robots will pay the tax.

If the manufacturer is to pay tax for producing robots it will give rise to a new type of tax — production tax and if it is levied will lead to double taxation. This will lead to an increase in consumer burden, where manufacturers increase the price of commodities to make up for their losses.

Moreover, this idea is not feasible because of the simple reason that manufacturers of robots can simply move to countries that don’t tax them, which would also mean a loss of job opportunities for the country that loses the manufacturer.

What then?

Gates’s idea can only be successful if this robot tax is accompanied by safety measures that ensure the displaced workers find employment in the case of a robot apocalypse.

Image Credits: www.robotscompanion.edu.com

Anahita Sahu

[email protected]

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DUB News

Why the Iron Lady lost the Manipur Elections.

By DU Beat March 21, 2017

Having broken her 16-year-old fast on 9^th August 2016, Irom Sharmila set out to contest the Manipur Assembly Elections this year. Her loss is a sad one, let’s review why the ultimate Iron Lady who symbolized resistance and freedom of action failed to win the faith of her people.

Having won a mere 90 votes in comparison to the 18,649 polled in the favour of three-time chief minister, Obobi, Irom Sharmila obtained a meager 0.33% of the votes in Thoubal, her very own constituency. For those who opted for NOTA (none of the above), she didn’t even pose as a viable option. For someone who dedicated her entire life fighting against the oppression of the people by draconian acts like the AFSPA ( Armed Forces Special Powers Act), this comes as a shattering defeat.

There are basically three factors behind her defeat. She lost mass support by ending her fast and contesting elections. In a State that has some 1,500 cases of extra-judicial killings, she was the face of the movement against AFSPA. So, when she ended her fast, people perceived it as the end of the movement.

Her popularity also fell after her plans to get married to Goa-born British national Desmond Coutinho, whom her supporters have always accused of diverting her fight against AFSPA. She had plans to tie the nuptial knot after the polls but Desmond recently said the marriage would not take place before 2019 (Lok Sabha) elections.

The third was her inexperience in electoral politics. Ibobi is a seasoned politician and given his influence over voters, Sharmila’s defeat was a foregone conclusion. The chief minister had guided his party to power for three terms on the trot. Another reason is the PRJA’s low-key poll campaign. The party, which fielded just three candidates, fought the polls with less than Rs.3 lakh. There was a perception among people in Manipur that she would not even be able to give Ibobi a fight, let alone win.

As accurately put by Huffington Post, “Sharmila’s loss is not a reflection on her popularity in the state, but on her shortcomings as a political leader.”

Anahita Sahu

[email protected]

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DUB Speak

Why Social Reform should take precedence?

By DU Beat March 21, 2017

No country, nation or for that matter society is a perfect one. It has its inherent flaws that need to be worked on. Be it social, political or the economic sphere, the need of reform is always felt when stagnation is witnessed. The human society across the world is affected by various problems such as the class system, caste system, racial discrimination etc.

When we talk about the Indian society, one of the biggest problems that has existed since ages is the ‘Caste System’. It categorizes people on the basis of their occupation and simultaneously compels people from a particular caste to adopt a certain occupation irrespective of their will and acumen. Over the period of time, this stratification has degenerated into a tool of subordination of the classes ranking in the lower parts of this strata by those on the top of it.

One of the great thinkers and a reformer, Dr. B.R Ambedkar, who himself was a victim of caste-based discrimination argued as to how social reform should take precedence in the Indian society. Karl Marx, in his works, described as to how the problem of the class divide can be solved by economic reforms with the Proletariats seizing the means of productions which in turn would bring a social change.

Babasaheb, however, argued that the same doesn’t hold well within the Indian society infested by the Caste system. He argued that unlike in other societies, ownership of economic resources doesn’t necessarily translate into social power in the Indian context. He explained this by giving the example of how Brahmin priests and Sadhus, who are supposed to live on ‘Dakshana’, indicating a lack of ownership of resources. Despite this, however, they are epicenters of social power according to our social system.

The same is the case with political reform. Any political reform without the appropriate social changes preceding them would only perpetuate the social differences. A bureaucrat or a Judge who himself/herself stigmatizes against the oppressed is going to do no good irrespective of whatever political reforms may take place.

Therefore it is imperative for Social reform to precede Political or Economic reform in order to proceed towards a better society. Unless we put an end to the oppression and integrate even the most left out and stigmatized sections, the ideal society which we want to build would remain to be a distant dream.

Image Credits: www.publishyourarticle.com

Aditya Narang

[email protected]

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