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While there are general ways of looking at things, not everybody thinks the same way. Popular belief holds that philosophers tend to think differently, unlike most people. Another popular belief holds that a major in Philosophy will be followed by a Masters in Philosophy, eventually taking one to more in-depth study. If you are a Philosophy Honours student planning to pursue your career in Philosophy, it is doubtful that you’ve never pictured yourself in a room, meditating on studies, thinking your brain out and taking the place down with whatever comes within your aura of concentration. Scares you, doesn’t it? Perhaps it scares you even more when you start to doubt that you’ll make it to the top notch in the thinking department. Some may even come to terms with the realization that ‘professional philosopher’ jobs are all but non-existent. Not to worry brethren, there are so many doors open.
Over years of battling with philosophy, one grows to be very inquisitive. Although a degree in Philosophy does not lead directly to many jobs, a Philosophy major is already well trained for research fields. Efficient logical reasoning, critical analysis, open ideas and the ability to put up strong arguments are all the plus points a Philosophy student earns unknowingly from all those toils with the professors.

 

After a graduate degree in Philosophy, one can also hit the business sector. Keeping in mind all the positive qualities already mentioned, just a little more training will easily lift you up to high places in the professional line, maybe in marketing, retail management or public relations.  If you happen to realize your enthusiasm in journalism a little less soon than others, you’re not too late either. There still are many courses open for you. All you require is to use your already acquired skills smartly.
Besides these, there’s the writing line, publishing, art and the list goes on. A certain saying goes, “In Philosophy, we do not train people to be lawyers, doctors, or business leaders – we train them to be better lawyers, better doctors, better business leaders, and better practitioners in general.” So hold your head high deduce whatever is happening around you and consider all the logical relevancies of the paths laid ahead.

 

Greta Khawbung

[email protected]

In a new initiative, Delhi University is planning to introduce short-term courses in eight north-eastern languages. The University, which already offers Assamese and Manipuri as an elective course in the three-year undergraduate program, is now aiming at introducing other north-eastern languages in course content which include Nagamese, Arunachali and Tripuri. Dr. Santacruz, Deputy Dean of Students’ Welfare and Co-ordinator for north-eastern students was also quoted saying that there shall be foundation courses in Nepali and Bengali.

As many as 900 students would be given the opportunity to travel on Delhi University’s “Dharohar-Gyanodaya Express” which shall travel to North-Eastern India from 20th December, 2014 to 30th December, 2014; to spread awareness amongst students about the richness and diversity of the culture of that region.

The University has also opened applications for proposals by interested students stating the kind of projects they wish to undertake while on the tour. The courses in these languages, however, shall be free to be joined by all students irrespective of whether they are a part of the tour or not.

DU Vice Chancellor, Dinesh Singh stated that the linguistic department is currently working on the course structure and content of these languages and they’re likely to finalize it soon. The course, most likely, would be related to basic working knowledge of the language and not the detailed scripts.

The decision is yet to be finalized on whether these courses will be one-time courses or would be offered in the future as well. The University is likely to come out with an official statement soon.

Arushi Pathak [email protected]

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1. Do I have to be a student in Delhi University?
Yes. The newspaper is based in Delhi University and hence all our correspondents are from one of the colleges.

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No. It is an unpaid position like every other in DU Beat.

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While we do not necessarily look for a Shakespeare we do require a certain level of command over the language.

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Anything from a report of an event to a review of a book/movie/TV show. It would be advisable if you could go through our website and make yourself familiar with the kind of content before applying. Please avoid sending poetry and fiction.

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Allotments of stories are done once a week but news reports can be assigned at any point. Enough time is provided to complete them though.

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Reasons for termination:

If you are lacking in your work and do not complete your assigned reports or submit them late.
You refuse to take up assignments a number of times.

We are not satisfied with your stories and your writing.

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Don’t worry, we’re nice people. As long as you laugh at our jokes, of course.

9. I’ve applied before. But haven’t heard back/wasn’t selected. Can I re-apply?

If you think you match all our criteria, then sure, go ahead!

10. What does an ideal candidate look like, for you?

Some one who:
-Has a good command over the language
-Is well versed with DUB’s usual content and likes the kind of work we do
-Is ready to bring their A game and contribute to the team’s effort
-Wants to develop a writing style and experiment with various types of pieces (news stories, opinions, review, event coverage and so)
-Has a good sense of humor and work ethic

 

Lady Shri Ram College for Women organized the Delhi University Inter College Lawn Tennis Tournament on 17th, 20th and 21st October, 2014. The Finals were played between Jesus and Mary College and Shri Ram College for Commerce. The JMC Team, captained by Rishika Sunkara,  succeeded in winning the title. The team consisted of Megha Sehrawat, Teertha Iska, Samriti Punyani, Renu Sharma and Rinisha. The team believes that their coach Mr. Abid Ali has been the driving force behind the winning team. The runners’ up team, led by Ravnoor Kaur, consisted of Shehnaz, Anukriti Chaudhary and Shivani Dabas.

JMC defeated SRCC with a score of 2-0. Rishika, took on Shehnaz in the finals and defeated her by    6-2 and 6-1. Rishika, who is ranked number 3 in India right now is riding high on her success at the recently held Asian Games, where she was a part of the Indian Tennis contingent. Teertha Iska defeated Ravnoor Kaur in a pulsating match.

The third position was secured by Gargi College with Likitha Shetty, as the captain and Anushka Rajkumar, Morisha Dutta, Shubh Gulati, Dipti Rana and Stuti Punjani as team members. Gargi defeated LSR with a score of 2-0. In the Quarter Finals, Shubh Gulati defeated Diksha Agarwal from LSR. This approximately one hour long, exhilarating match proceeded to a tie breaker where Gulati succeeded in leading by a point. The score was 6-1, 1-6, 7-6. On the other hand, Lithika defeated Bhavika by 6-0 and 6-0.  LSR and Gargi had defeated St. Stephens and Miranda House, respectively to enter the Quarter-finals.

This 3 day long tournament, saw 11 teams from different colleges, across Delhi University, participating in the nail biting matches held on the synthetic courts of the LSR sports grounds.  The matches which typically started at 9 am and went on till early evening were attended by the students, coaches and teachers from the participating teams. Ms. Meenakshi Pahuja, the Head of the LSR Physical Education Department and the Convener of the tournaments said, “It was heart warming to see the entire talent cauldron of the Delhi University on our grounds. As a sports’ professional, I feel women players, require such events to be organized at the grassroot level to give them a platform to hone their talent.”

Encouraged by the success of this event, LSR will organize the Delhi University Women’s Tennis Team trials on its grounds on 27th and 28th October, as per the schedule.

 

Mugdha

[email protected]

Picture Credits: Mugdha

It’s that time of the semester again when students wipe the dust over their books (in some cases, buy books) and prepare to prepare for finals. The ritual, however, it all set to become a little easier this semester onwards as leads from DU’s latest Executive Council meeting suggest that limited assistance, in the form of lifelines, will be provided to all exam-takers.

“We do not prepare students for zombie-apocalyptic situations. In real life scenarios, a worker sure can ask their colleagues for a little help. Then why be so hard on students preparing for those same scenarios?” said an official of the Examination Branch, on condition of anonymity. He went on to say that limited assistance is just as okay as providing log tables.

As per the final draft of the new system, each student will be allowed to ask questions worth 10 marks from their teachers during each exam. “It’s better to re-teach a student something he doesn’t remember or did not prepare, even if it needs to be done in the examination hall, instead of leaving no choice for him but to leave questions. Our ultimate aim is the impartment of knowledge,” DU’s vice-chancellor said.

Disclaimer: Bazinga is DU Beat’s weekly column of almost believable fake news!

Aamir Khan, the Bollywood superstar widely acclaimed for his work was recently in Delhi in relation to one of the episodes of his show Satyamev Jayate. This particular episode dealt with the homosexual and transgendered community in India. Post the show, our writers Ishika Gupta and Priyanka Banerjee caught up with him to discuss this matter, his show and more.

Ishika: Hi Aamir, thanks for joining us for an interview!

Aamir: Pleasure.

Ishika: Taking over from where the show left, I was wondering that when your team was researching for the show, did you come across any startling facts or any particular case study or example that hit you emotionally and made you take up this topic to portray to a national audience?

Aamir: There are two parts to your question. One is why did we pick up this topic and whether there was any story that touched me.

First, I’ll tell you why we picked up this topic. You know, I feel that this is a topic that is not understood well enough. I did a film called Taare Zameen Par some years ago. I felt that there was no other film that highlighted the issues of learning disabilities or dyslexia. Even people from the education system, a very small percentage of people, at that time, very few really knew what a learning disability is. Taare Zameen Par was a film that actually really helped a lot of people understand what dyslexia is which is why I believe this topic is so important.

The topic of homosexuality is as important in India but because people have a lot of wrong information, lot of myths about gays, lesbians, alternate sexual preferences. And so it is important to try and unravel the facts behind it, understand it better and then put it to people. Because there is a huge population, certainly a minority but still a significant minority of people in every society, no matter where we look at in the globe, where you have people with a different sexuality and unusual sexuality.

It is roughly 10 percent and 10 percent is a big section of the population. In India, we don’t have the numbers because since it is illegal, people don’t come forward and express that ‘yes, I am homosexual or gay or whatever’, because I’ll be arrested after that, you know I could be arrested. Now, we don’t have the numbers in India, therefore, we thought here we have a topic, which is important, which needs to be addressed, which people need to speak up about, and we need to stop feeling scared of this. So that’s why we really picked it up.

In terms of the story, I have to say that all the stories we saw today on the show, each one of them, touched me very, very deeply. Ghazal’s story is so beautiful, I mean her parents are so amazing, the most amazing parents, so supportive. Remember that they come from a conservative background, but the amount of love they have for their child was so unconditional, so that’s a very touchy story.

I think even Divya’s story was very, very moving, a woman who is married and likes her husband and it takes her a while to come to terms with the fact that she has a preference for the same sex, it takes her a while to come to terms with the fact that she is a lesbian. Normally people have this impression that a lesbian is someone who is a very bold girl, who is very forward, who is a rebel, who has got purple hair or something!  Divya is a woman who is very average, someone who could be your neighbour, who realizes that. So I found her story moving and the fact that her husband was so supportive and understood. And when all of us understand one very basic thing that something we are born with, something that’s how nature intended us to be, each one of us is different. When we come to terms with that, a lot of pre-conceived notions will disappear.

Priyanka:  Recently, an option of the including a third gender has been introduced in Delhi University’s admission forms. For post-graduate courses it has been started already and for undergraduate admissions it will begin from next year. So that’s taken care of it officially. What would your advice be for college students who want to create a strong and supportive peer groups for this community? What suggestions would you have?

Aamir: That’s a big step. That’s a very big step. I am very pleased to hear that Delhi University is doing this. I think that every student, every individual who believes in humanity, who believes that every human being has the right to be different and despite a person being different from me, you know has the same rights, same feelings, same emotions, same fears, same dreams.

If I believe in all of that, and as in India, I believe that we are all equal, I believe in all of these things, if I believe in the Constitution of India, then I should also accept that everyone has a right to be there.

And therefore, people who think this way and believe this way, they can come together to support those people. I may not be a homosexual, but I want to be part of a group who supports the minority, who sometimes feels weak.

Ishika: The show as always is doing a commendable job at bringing to notice social issues which are pertinent to the nation.  As the show proceeds you show examples and case studies and towards the end where you suggest some practical solutions to the problems discussed. So does the SMJ team itself make a conscious effort to implement those solutions that you suggested and also, how do you measure the impact that the show had on the audience?

Aamir: At the Satyamev Jayate team, we definitely live by what we believe. So, we live with the same principles for ourselves. Measuring impact is something very difficult, I don’t know how to do it quite honestly. I don’t know how to do it in an organized way. So in a disorganized way we do come to believe that. After season one when our team went out to research season two, wherever our team went they were told ‘Aap SMJ team se hain, humare gaon main yeh hua, humare mohallle mein yeh hua, humare sheher main yeh hua, kahin pe dawaiyon ki dukaan kholi hai humne’. So you know, we kept hearing these things without really going out to look for the stories. A lot of stories have changed, if you go to our website, which is www.satyamevjayate.in, you will see 50-60 odd such stories.

Sometimes the change has been very big. For example, there have been times when people in administration have taken strong steps.

 

In Madhya Pradesh, the head secretary saw the episode on healthcare and decided to get generic medicines to the people in Madhya Pradesh after the show was aired. And today in MP, medicines are free of cost, for everyone!

 

Ishika and Priyanka: Wow!

Aamir: Everyone who wants to make use of medicines, generic medicines that are being offered, they are free of cost. So imagine a person who at one point could not afford medicines for himself or herself or her child, now has access to medicines and the entire state has done that so it’s a big change to bring to people’s lives. In Gwalior, for example, the Collector saw our show and decided to make Gwalior disabled-accessible. So, 95% of Gwalior is accessible to disabled people, which is another big step. The entire city has changed in that aspect.

40 lakh children reached out for help to after our episode on child sexual abuse when we put out the number of child rights helplines. 40 lakh children reached out for help, it’s a big number. That’s disturbing also that 40 lakh children need help but at least those 40 lakh children could reach out and get help because of that information now available to them.

Priyanka: SMJ routinely brings to light a lot of important issues, and though you receive a lot of appreciation, I am sure there is still a segment that will not be very appreciative of the work that you are doing through SMJ. So, how do you handle this negativity?

Aamir: With love, with love. You see the thing is that you have to understand is that there are people with different opinions and I understand that there are some people who benefit from the status quo. Let’s take road accidents for example, now there are a lot of things happening with the heavy vehicles’ transport industry or the working of it which are not right, because of which there are accidents happening. Now, of course there are economic ramifications of those things. Overloading for example- Supposing I were a truck driver, why would I overload my truck? Because I want to earn more, of course. If I decide that I am not going to overload that means that I am deciding to earn less. So I may not want a new law, which really punishes me very badly if I overload. I don’t want that change, because it doesn’t benefit me. So I will protest and say, nahi nahi yaar yeh sab kya dikha rahe ho? (chuckles)

So every topic will have certain number of people, 99% of people will want change, 1% of people will not want change because that change is not benefitting them, it is benefitting the 99% people. So, those people are going to be there. I feel we must reach out to them as well and tell them ‘Yaar let’s change’, India has a lot to achieve and we will achieve that if we do the positive things.

Ishika: To conclude the interview, I would like to ask you one last question, which is that a large section of the population is the youth in our country, so can you suggest 3 practical ways in which the youth can proactively work towards the social issues which are there in the society and how we can make an impact and bring about solutions to these problems?

Aamir: Hmmm..I am not quite sure what that advice would be. I genuinely believe that each one of us has to be that change that we want to see happen. I have to be that change. So the first big thing that any one of us can do, whether we are youth or we are not a part of the youth, even an elderly person can do that is get yourself to change and that is I think the biggest thing any one of us can do. So, other than that, I think going out to help people, thinking of others, especially those who are less privileged than us, is something that I would strongly urge the youth to move towards.

You know my Mom always said that the biggest thing that you can do is a bring a smile on someone’s face and reach out to help people and if that’s something that the youth also starts doing, which I am sure a lot of youngsters are already doing that, I don’t think that’s something I need to say to them. Quite honestly, I really don’t want to assume that I know what to tell the young people, it is very presumptuous of me to assume that I can tell the youth what to be doing. I think the youth is very intelligent, very smart, and we see that the way the youth react to a show like SMJ, which is not an entertainment show.

Aamir: So it just shows that the youth is very aware and very sorted and I don’t need to tell them much actually, quite honestly.

Ishika: Since you’re quite an influential speaker and a leader so if you tell the youth what to do, I am sure it would have a big impact!

Aamir: I mean I don’t want to tell the youth what to do but I can tell them what I do. And I feel that the few things that I believe in, one of them is if I can give happiness, see happiness is something that I can get, it’s the only thing I can get , if I give it. So if I give happiness, only then will I get it. So that’s one thing I believe in.

The other thing I believe in is that never compromise with your dreams.

Your dreams may seem impossible to achieve, but hang onto your dreams, work towards them, and never compromise with your dreams, you may compromise to achieve your dream, I may have to compromise on one or two things to achieve those dreams, but never compromise the dream itself. And believe in hope. Be positive, things will happen.

Ishika and Priyanka: Thank you so much for joining us for the interview!

 

The Delhi University semester exams for all courses are about to begin. Barely a month or so is left for preparation as the date sheet hails the advent of papers at the end of the coming November.

With our DU lecturers winding up their respective syllabus and holding extra classes, you will start noticing unfamiliar faces visiting libraries now. Important notes are being chased and copied, lectures that were bunked due to various prior engagements are being greatly missed, the number of ‘subject related doubts’ slowly increase to a helpless level; all in all every students will find this month a bit short.

The key to success here is to maintain your cool and study systematically for the coming tests. The idea here is not how many hours you spend burning your eyes in books, but how much can you understand enough to produce on the answer sheet. It’s never ‘how long’ one studies, but ‘how’ they study matters!

The only bunch of students who appear to really enjoy this times of the year, are the ones who have already completed their syllabus twice and are now just revising!

Nevertheless, I am sure that somebody who even starts now from the scratch can do fairly well in the exam with devoting four to five hours daily for a month.

One habit of students that I think does not help in any way for the preparation is the over-consumption of coffee in order to stay awake all night to study. Please understand- getting addicted to coffee will only bless you with sore puffy eyes and nothing else. Coffee actually slows the blood circulation in your body, eventually hampers the oxygen carrying capacity of the vessels to your brain. Too scientific? Eh? But it’s evidently true!

Coffee is harmless if taken twice a day or so. But continuous intake of it every hour to stay wake, is not reasonable in any way. Your mind requires a daily seven hour sleep to be fit and attentive enough to study longer. Taking short power naps is again a very healthy practice during preparations. In this way you will not feel sleepy at night and can continue studying till late as desired.

Start your preparations early and stay cool! Best of luck to fellow DU students!

Surbhi Sharma
[email protected]

DU’s top college of commerce met with ill-fate on Friday as a lit Lakshmi Bomb landed in the staff room of the college and started a fire that was later extinguished. Sources in the college are saying that among the materials destroyed were teachers’ attendance and marks registers. While attendance can be retrieved from the college’s office, the sole copy of internal assessment marks was in the staff room.

Terming the incident as an act of God, the HOD of commerce said it’s a second chance for students. “Students have been given another chance, a fresh new start, and they must not let this opportunity go,” she said, clearly suggesting that exams will be held again, after Diwali.

Most student’s, however, are not receiving the news too well. “I have not seen or heard any cracker go off in our campus. I think my answer scripts are being made into a textbook and sold without my consent. I allege conspiracy,” a student who scored a perfect 20 on 20 on all papers said. Another went on to say that teachers should give her exams since it is their fault to have conveniently kept the registers so exposed. A few frantic students were seen trying to feed almonds to their teachers hoping for them to recall the marks they’d awarded.

Others, who have reportedly not scored well in the internals, are understood to organise a puja for Lord Rama in the coming days and are calling the occurrence ‘victory of good over evil’.

Disclaimer: Bazinga is DU Beat’s weekly column of almost believable fake news!

The recent recommendations made by Union Human Resource Development Ministry in a meeting held at the Delhi University, suggest that soon all central universities might have common entrance examinations for both under-graduate and post graduate courses. Alongside, there is also a proposal which suggests common syllabus and central ranking system. The meeting was attended by seven Central University Vice-Chancellors.

According to the directions, probability to facilitate credit transfer and student mobility would be considered in “common national curriculum.” This would allow students to migrate to other universities because of the common syllabus. This could also result in students taking courses and credits in one university while enrolling in another. Hence, the recommendations are still at the consideration stage.

“We are still at the preliminary stage of this recommendation which was proposed by the committee in place constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. We are just discovering possibilities and trying to evolve a feasible outcome. No decision has been made yet”, said DU media coordinator, Malay Neerav. A common entrance examination could turn out to be a boon for most students as it could provide a benchmark for students across boards and streams to compete for a seat. An All India Ranking would be a possible option for students to decide their courses and colleges, as currently there is no common ranking system within India as credible and efficient as the QS World University Rankings.

Amitoj Singh [email protected]

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