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DU_Logo1The Faculty members of the History Department at Delhi University recently wrote an open letter criticizing the FYUP and highlighting significant loopholes in the way in which this new undergraduate system was implemented by the University officials. Here it is:

“We are in the midst of strong protests by teachers and students against the imposition of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) in Delhi University by the University administration. Since forums for academic discussion and debate in the University are no longer functioning, this letter from Faculty members in the History Department at Delhi University seeks to set the record straight on many details related to this issue.

1) The public needs to know that discussions regarding the new FYUP were managed by the University authorities, not in a democratic academic environment framed by University regulations, but in committees carefully screened by the University administration. The Department of History, indeed no department in the university, was involved in its formulation. We were eventually given a framework within which we were compelled to produce a syllabus for undergraduate instruction (about 35 courses to be taught in the third and fourth years of the programme) in the ridiculously short time of a fortnight, eventually changed to a month. University authorities clearly have no conception that a task of this kind requires time for serious deliberation and discussion about academic content of the courses and the pedagogic principles underlining them.

2) If the History Department was distanced from the framing of the course structure of the FYUP, it was kept entirely in the dark in the making of the compulsory ‘Foundation Courses’ to be taught to every single student in the first two years. Until recently we were actually not privy to their contents – such is the level to which the University has distanced its Faculties from itself today. All new courses in the University are supposed to be first debated in the respective Department Councils, and then passed by their Committee of Courses and finally the respective Faculties. These basic University regulations that ensure the quality and academic integrity of its courses were systematically flouted to enable the passing of the Foundation Courses. The Faculty of the History Department was not informed, nor did we participate in the recently conducted orientation programme for the History Foundation Course which was held for the first batch of specially selected college teachers.

3) Serious questions can be asked about the intellectual and pedagogical quality of the Foundation Courses prepared by the University. The Indian History and Culture Course, for instance, lacks academic rigour, refers to subjects from history while providing no context, and does not introduce students to historical methodology or serious scholarship. Some of the signatories to this letter have drawn attention elsewhere – that the course suffers from a naive and flat presentism, and fails even so much as to mention caste, class or community formation. The casualness in the preparation of this course is underlined by the fact that some of its parts are plagiarized from a Class XI CBSE textbook. Leaving the ethics of the case aside for the moment, the education of first year students in Delhi University is pegged at the same standard as the CBSE! The course has a sophisticated bibliography, but it is clear that these readings were not the inspiration for its contents or the philosophy that guided its pedagogy. A more likely hint of its sources of inspiration lie in the online materials – links to Wikipedia – to which students are also guided. This is shocking considering that teachers all over the world strongly dissuade their students from using their variable and unverifiable quality of information.

4) It is essential to keep in mind that University Education is a moment for both intellectual exploration and training in the complexities of different disciplines. Instead we have courses like the compulsory Integrating Mind, Body and Heart, which consist entirely of a foray into selective episodes in the life of Mahatma Gandhi plucked out of context and require that students model themselves on him (and him alone) in their life. Surely the goal of a modern University is to promote independent and wide-ranging thinking rather than this kind of uncritical and most un-Gandhian worship / adulation of a single individual, no matter how great s/he may be.

The protest and anxiety voiced by the signatories to this letter cuts through the differing intellectual persuasions of the members of the History Department. While the University administrators blame the University Faculties for stymieing progress and course revision, this is far from the truth. We are protesting draconian changes that are conceptually weak, irregularly framed and arbitrarily enforced.”

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) organized the Lunabotics Mining Competition in which it challenged university level students to design and build a lunar excavator, known as a LUNABOT, that can mine on lunar surface. Kirori Mal College in collaboration with Cluster Innovation Centre, University of Delhi (whose Lunabot was on display at Antardhvani 2013) was one of the 50 International institutions invited to participate in NASA’s Fourth Annual Lunabotics The Mining Competition was held at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA from the 20th to 24th of May 2013. The KMC-CIC Lunabotics Team was one of the 12 exceptional teams whose Lunabot was successfully able to mine and dump the lunar simulant. It was the only Indian team to bring laurels to their country by winning two awards out of the five categories at the prestigious event. They won the second position for the outreach category as well as for Luna’s worldwide campaign category.

Dr. Sumitra Mohanty, Assoc Prof. Dept. of Physics was the faculty advisor of the team. The unflinching inspiration and support extended by her helped the team to scale to the projected heights. The team was led by Anubrata Saha a final year, B.Sc. (H) Physics student who the team described as the perfect leader who stays calm and refuses to give up even in the most difficult conditions. The competition was in relevance to NASA’s recently announced mission to find an asteroid by 2016 and then bring it to Cis-Lunar space; the technology concepts developed by the university teams for this competition conceivably could be used to mine resources on Asteroids as well as on Mars. KMC-CIC Lunabotics Team feels highly privileged to bring recognition to Delhi University and looks forward to continuing its engagement with NASA . It also aims to continue its winning streak at the NASA LMC 2014

The students of the Faculty of Law, as well as the students who are trying to take admission in the Faculty of Law, organized a huge protest march starting from the main gate of the Arts Faculty and it culminated inside the Faculty of Law. The main reason for organising this protest march was to make the University authorities aware of the malpractices that are going on with total support from the admission committee and with full guidance and support from the Dean, Faculty of Law.

There have been several cases of mental harassment as well as vulgar abuses against the existing students who have been detained due to personal biases and also against girl students who are trying to seek admission in the Faculty of Law. Several cases of students seeking admission in the Law Faculty being booed with filthy abuses have been reported. There have been several complaints regarding this from the students to DUSU. Students seeking fresh admission to the Faculty, as well as those currently enrolled, came out and joined hands, expressing their solidarity against the Dean in what has been described by some students as a “tyrannical” rule.

Current students of the Faculty have been facing constant harassment at the hands of the Dean as they have been detained on account of shortage of attendance, the stipulated requirement of which is 66%. These students spread out overall three years of the LL.B. course found themselves in these unfortunate circumstances only 4 days before the start of their end-semester examinations. When they approached the Dean and other members of the Faculty, they were humiliated, verbally abused and made to run from pillar to post. They allege that they have been detained without warning and have fallen victim to the rivalry between the Faculty and the administration. As if the testimonies of the current students did not disincentivise an admission seeker from applying to the Faculty of Law, students have been made to wait for hours on end to be able to procure and submit their LL.B. Entrance Forms in the sweltering heat. The counter to submit the forms opens an hour late and the lunch hours are flexible to the whims and fancies of the staff. Upon making a complaint, students were abused verbally and the staff did not even heed to the presence of female students and continued to use filthy language which is not expected from a faculty of their caliber.

Students, fed up with the situation, approached the DUSU Office and through its President, Shri Arun Hooda, a complaint was made. Instead of readdressing the grievances of the students, the faculty, hand in glove with the college administration, falsely framed the student leader of misconduct. The Dean’s attitude and approach has made many a student regretful of their association with the Faculty and fresh admission seekers are thinking twice before applying for admission on account of the harassment meted out to them. The protest was carried out in the Faculty premises and the students marched near Gate No.4 and a memorandum of their grievances was submitted to the University authorities. Appeal has been made by these angered student community for stringent action against the Dean and an enquiry into the issue at hand.

Street Vendors Dialogue with Political Leaders and Civil Society Representatives to Convert Street Vendors Livelihood Protection Bill into the Act

New Delhi, 1 May: Thousands of street vendors’ representatives gathered on  International Labour Day at the” Street Vendors Dialogue with Political Leaders and Civil Society Representatives’ at the Kamani Auditorium, with the Union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Ajay Maken, sending a message to the National association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) that the much awaited Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill had been approved by the Union Cabinet.

The main purpose of organizing the dialogue was to build momentum on getting effective central law in the current session of parliament through bringing key stakeholders together in support of early enactment of Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act. The national dialogue was organized by the NASVI with support from Centre for Civil Society. Besides several street vendor leaders of Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the Congress leader and Delhi MP JP Agrawal, former director general of Labour and Welfare S.K. Das, FSSAI functionary Suniti Kumar Gupta and CCS associate director Shantanu Gupta also addressed the convention. Mr. Maken, who was to address the street vendors’ convention, could not turn up because of his presence in the Cabinet meeting. However, his office sent message of the development related to the Bill.

The Bill vetted by the cabinet incorporates the issue of inclusion of vendors doing their business on railway lands.  Earlier version of the Bill had excluded the railway vendors and the NASVI had strongly objected to the exclusion.  The revised Bill also has greatly empowered the Town Vending Committee (TVC) and given it power to decide ultimately on almost all issues of determining the vending zones. The Bill does also have strong grievance redressal mechanisms.

Describing an inclusive and effective central law as a critical social-political imperative of urbanizing India, NASVI coordinator – Mr. Arbind Singh said, “Once enacted by the parliament, the Act would go a long way in protecting the rights and entitlements of street vendors who earn their livelihood in tough and harsh conditions in cities and towns across India”.

 

Akriti Gupta

If the yellow door isn’t enough to grab your attention, the insanely long queue in front of it will surely do the trick!

The Big Yellow Door is a cozy little café located near North Campus (in Vijay Nagar to be precise) which has been successful in creating a loyal fan following in just over a month after its great launch. The café offers a very interesting menu which boasts of a variety of mouthwatering dishes starting from cheese fries and salads to The Flying Chicken Pizza. Their creativity in terms of inventing something fresh and amusing doesn’t stop there, The Big Yellow Door gives customers a chance to choose from an innovative list of milk shakes, like The Chocolate Oreo Shake, The Kit-Kat Shake and The Black Forest Shake to name a few. These yummy cold beverages are blended to such perfection that they will succeed in transporting you to a food paradise! The best part is that your wallet doesn’t have to shell out a lot of big bucks; the café has priced all its products very reasonably which makes it even more popular with the students.

Apart from the fabulous food, the décor of the café leaves a mark on the customers. The walls are sprinkled with artistic imagination and therefore, it does not come as a surprise that almost everybody who comes to dine here takes out their cell phones to click a photograph or two. The Big Yellow also came up with a wonderful idea to hand out post it notes with the bill for feedback, which are later pinned up on the graffiti wall. The staff is extremely friendly and they try their level best to strike up a conversation with you while you enjoy your meal, giving the café a homely touch.

 

Charvi Jain
Guest Writer

Picture source: www.facebook.com/BigYellowDoor

 

  Kripa Chongtham, a gifted guitarist and a  music honours student at Hindu College committed suicide a few days back. His body was discovered by a roommate who came back to his room at around 5:30 am on Sunday, 14th April. He committed suicide by putting a Nokia mobile charger around his neck and twisting it with a hammer. Investigations reveal that he was suffering from depression and was under therapy for the same. A suicide note was also found in his room.    ]]>

Clean & Clear and MTV have come together to help young girls around the country fulfill their dreams in an initiative called ‘The Dream Project’. This project aims at reaching out to people and showing them that small things we take for granted in our lives, might be big dreams for other people. We have collected over 1000 dreams from young under –privileged girls across the country and now we are giving you and your friends a chance to make a difference!

We are launching a music video with MTV to kick off the program and the website. Here is a preview for you – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLd7EAoLgOU

We are also bringing this program to colleges and CCDs in top cities and we would love for you to help us spread the word and get all your friends and collegians involved!

Your dreams are within reach. Together, let’s help make the dreams of others come true as well.

Do log onto – http://www.thedreamproject.in/ for more details and feel free to write to us if you have any ideas on how we can make this bigger!

Few celebs have also joined by sharing their dreams with us. Click here to see what Kalki, Isha Sharvani and Nawazuddin have to say!

Kalki – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKHF4A_16Iw

Isha Sharvani – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By_qSpAxygk

Nawazuddin – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bISYCUUsMB0

 

-The Dream Project Team

It is with dismay, as a teacher, that I wish to bring to public notice an unthinkable and unfortunate incident that took place in my college, Shri Ram College of Commerce on 6th April. I am doing so for I believe that the incident is symptomatic of the wider, systematic decline in academic culture of the University of Delhi that I have been witnessing over the past few years.

As part of an academic Conference on the subject “Transformational Leadership”, Prof. Dinesh Singh, the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University was to address students and teachers in the college auditorium at 10.00 am. I stood up, before the Vice-Chancellor started his address and had politely and barely uttered “May I take a minute”, when bouncers accompanying Prof. Singh rushed towards me and from the centre of the auditorium kept violently pushing me even though I offered no resistance; this carried on till they made sure that I was out of the auditorium.

The auditorium was full of students as classes started at 8.40 am, student volunteers were sent by organisers to each class room to announce that all teachers and students “have” to be present in the auditorium. This directive itself was unprecedented and undesirable. Many seminars and conferences are held in the college and it is left to students and teachers to voluntarily participate in those events depending on their inclinations and how they value their participation. Even a hint of coercion where the role of students and teachers is reduced to being listeners and applauders is destructive of independent and critical thinking and of the development of socially concerned individuals who will have the sensitivity and courage to stand for what they believe is right. And when it happens in the name of an “academic” event, the event is anything but academic. Many seminars and conferences are held but never had we forced anyone to attend any particular ones. However much I do not wish to say it, it did not escape anyone that such an unwelcome exercise was because the speaker in question occupies an important post and has the powers to favour or disfavour.

On 3 April 2013, Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju was our chief guest for the Annual Day. He walked in and walked out, with the Principal, teachers and alumni, the same auditorium with no security guards. Recently, when Shri Narendra Modi visited the college, his security guards did not enter the lecture venue. In another worrying first, an academic head of our own University was accompanied by bouncers. I have also learnt that before the event began teachers were asked not to occupy the first row since it had been decided that persons accompanying the VC to this academic event and interaction would be seated in the first row.

Further, to the best my knowledge, in any academic event if someone wishes time for raising any issue or express an opinion, normally they are allowed brief intervention. Sometimes, depending on the person occupying the chair, interventions from the floor are allowed while at others, the chair disallows the intervention. Physical manhandling and contact is alien to any healthy academic institution. I was not raising slogans, my voice was soft and polite and I was only seeking permission.

Of the many issues and manner in which the university administration conducting itself, I wished to bring to his notice only one – that only recently on 25th March 2013 one official under him, he being the chief academic and executive officer of the University, had directed colleges to suspend classes on 26 March 2013 in view of possible Holi-eve hooliganism and at the same time directed teachers to mark their presence. Teachers who had non-teaching assignments that day such as organisation of co-curricualr and extra-curricular activities or some assigned administrative duty were anyway supposed to come. To direct teachers to be present without having anything to do and when most colleges have no individual rooms for academic pursuit can only stem from a view which does not visualise teachers as academic workers / intellectuals who should be devoting their time to academic pursuits but as time-bound employees who earn their salary by spending time waiting for orders. Such redefining of teachers’ role carries with itself many undesirable transformations of work culture in an academic institution. Such “small” things, if repeated without critically examining all ramifications, can adversely affect motivation without which no teaching-learning, let alone quality teaching-learning, can take place. Demotivating and humiliating teachers may in the long-term produce a culture that is unthinkable today. Beyond assigned class and contact hours, it may become “normal” not to attend to or interact with students on their queries, doubts and aspirations.

This incident, to me, as a teacher, who has been the profession for over 30 years, is less an occasion for hurt or anger and more one of anguish and pessimism about the future unless such conduct is reviewed and not repeated.

In fact, one has been a hapless witness to the process of academic debate and interaction in the University where the administration speaks only to those who they pick, where meetings and Congresses are reduced to “chosen” audience addressed by “chosen” speakers. Views and counter-views are not allowed to be expressed, let alone debated, before academic decisions are taken. Counter-views, differing opinions and dissent gradually perforce can only be expressed only as protest actions, on streets.

I sincerely hope that we do not come to such a pass. Denial of democracy in academics, academic interaction and academic decision-making undermines excellence and independent thinking, and would lead to disastrous actions such as the hasty introduction of the four-year undergraduate degree course, without the due debate, scrutiny and preparation which should precede any such drastic change, seems to suggest.

-Sanjaya Kumar Bohidar
Associate Professor
Shri Ram College of Commerce
<[email protected]>

Views expressed by the writer are personal. 

Jalnidh Kaur from St. Stephen’s College recently received the Rhodes scholarship, one of the most prestigious international graduate scholarships in the world. The recipient not only gets to study any subject of her choice at the University of Oxford on full scholarship, but is also paid a stipend to cover living expenses. Exclusive rights are also given for entry into the Rhodes Mansion in the University Campus.

Q) Hi Jalnidh, you recently received the Rhodes scholarship. I’m sure that must be really exciting! Tell us more about what motivated you to apply?

I heard about the Rhodes scholarship when I was in Class 7 or 8. I knew about Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Sagarika Ghosh being Rhodes scholars – but it was only in my second year that I heard about the Rhodes scholarship from my seniors. When I researched, I realised that the deadline for the applications was 31st July, and I quickly applied! I realise what a prestige it is to be admitted to this programme. I know that I cannot afford an education abroad myself – and this is such a good opportunity!

Q) What was the procedure? How did you prepare for it?

I realised that I had to apply online and the deadline was on the 31st of July. I had to send in my resume and a detailed essay about my goals, interests, and activities. There was a preliminary interview. It was very technical – based on the discipline (economics) that I am studying. A panel of economists conducted the interview – it included the ISI game theorist Arunav Sen.

Q) How was the interview? Who was it conducted by?

The final interview was a general one. Only 18-20 people made it until there. It was held in Bombay. The panel comprised of 13 or 14 past Rhodes scholars. They just wanted to see whether a candidate possessed the three necessities of Rhodes’ will: academic excellence, performance in sports and community action.

Q) How much importance is given to academic achievements in the application?

The preliminary interview was based on our academic quotient. A group of economists interviewed us. If you had to get through that round, you had to be excited about your discipline.

Q) What all extra-curricular activities were you a part of?

When I was in 12th grade, I used to live in Ludhiana, and I saw the children of construction workers and marginal workers out on the roads. I got them all into a classroom and just taught them the English alphabet. After about one month, they were very excited about going to school, so I got them enrolled in a public school. When I came to Delhi, I started a learning centre for street children called Eclair in Roop Nagar. I also took part in various Business Plan competitions- along with two of my classmates. I initiated a B-Plan called ‘EurekaWow’, which helped spread better learning about topics in Economics. I used to debate as well.

Q) What do you think gave you an edge over the other contestants?

Quite honestly, I thought the rest of the candidates were over-qualified as compared to me. I was the youngest of the lot. My peers belonged to IITs, IIMs or were pursuing PhDs. I think it was my enthusiasm that got me through. I was so excited about my discipline, because I love Economics. I was also very honest. During my preliminary interview, if they asked me a question and I did not know the answer, I told them so; I never pretended to be someone who I am not. I think that was very important.

Q) Now that you have this brilliant opportunity, how do you plan ahead? Which courses are you planning to study?

I plan to do an M. Phil in Economics. I have heard that it is quite a technical course. My professor has told me that I would have to work very hard to be at par with the rest of my classmates. Most people who have gone to Oxford have gotten into policymaking, which seems like an attractive field. If I get an appropriate job in this field, I would be very keen to take it up, but my first preference would be to do a D. Phil after my M. Phil.

 

Adita Bhatia
[email protected]