DU Beat, Author at DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

Even though, I’m stuck some thousands of miles away pegging away on abstract Economic concepts, writing on Asmat and the village we’ve been working in is somehow easy and the memory is lucid and detailed. That’s not surprising. Working in the village of Soda in Rajasthan is the most important thing I’ve done, and it motivated my Masters.

Lavanya Garg, the co-founder of Asmat, had a model of rural volunteering in her mind after teaching children in Cape Town, South Africa. She wanted to design an organization such that students from all over the country would volunteer as part of an ongoing program and cater to the needs of the village. Essentially, we wanted to design a programme for the development of the village, and as a by-product sensitize urban young Indians about the problems facing rural India. I still remember when she had to call the village leader of Soda, Sarpanch Chavvi Rajawat (yields an interesting google search) in 2013. The nervousness we felt about calling someone who’d done the unthinkable – quit her well-paying corporate job to devote herself to working in her ancestral village was fairly justifiable.

Our journey after that phone call wherein she more than happily agreed to have us volunteer has been fascinating. Each volunteer has their story, possibly each villager has his/her story over the past two and a half years over the course of 6 volunteering programs. Each program had its own story. They do keep coming back at times least expected. The story about how Lavanya had to pretend she was a journalist when a small tussle broke out between villagers. Or how hard it was to not get angry when the boys didn’t understand they had to respect their female classmates and let them answer, but understand and explain calmly. Or just the village’s immense natural beauty – the fields, the reservoir as the sun sets, the chai in the cold winter mornings.

But coming back to our work, before I get lost in missing. I mentioned that our aim was to cater to the village’s needs. We started off with wanting to work on education that isn’t covered by school curricula. We’ve encapsulated more notions of non-academic education along the way, expanding the age group we cater to and the concepts we talk about. We’ve brought in sessions on awareness on government schemes, alcohol and tobacco – a rampant issue, health and hygiene. Additionally, something that is really close to our hearts, understanding the taboo that revolves around menstrual hygiene and ensuring that the girls adopt sanitary practices. It has been brilliant to hear of the adoption of sanitary pads by women in subsequent programs. We’ve covered all 10 hamlets of the village; we understand its breadth, the communities’ dreams and aspirations for their children. We also know better than to view it as one homogenous unit. In one of the many conversations while working, the Sarpanch recognized how we could not do away with even one element of our work. Only the combination of all these, recognizing different needs will lead to holistic change.

At this point in Asmat’s career, two and a half years into inception, two and a half years remaining on our (Soviet-like) 5 year plan, it’s a good time to look back and understand what we want to keep going and how. Since hindsight favours you with wisdom, Asmat will be streamlining its activities down to maximize their impact. Now is the time to spread our wings a little wider, go into our projects and particular sessions a bit deeper. In order to attain the depth and maximal impact, we require urgent cash-flow to our organisation. We hope to raise Rupees 80,000. A small sum for many NGOs, a big sum for one village and the possibilities. The next paragraph details the usage, that injection of funds will allow which I hope will make you consider donating.

This winter, we’re looking at a two-day health camp, a necessity for many since the nearest hospital is far. The camp will cost 40,000 in order to pay the doctors’ honorarium and their stay in the village, as well as costs of setting up and getting much needed medicines to the village. Why do we think the village needs this? In the second program, we conducted a survey on the effectiveness of public pension schemes in the village. The pensioners struggles were immeasurably hard, and we tried to bring down their stories in a line in our little survey pads. The lack of a good hospital nearby stood out, since they spent a substantial portion of their pensions just getting to the nearest hospital. Apart from diseases that afflict the elderly, tuberculosis and kwashiorkor are pertinent problems as well that we hope to address.

We’re looking at books and videos, teaching materials for the children to sensitize them on issues such as good touch bad touch. It’s hard to get their attention but more importantly hard to find ways of making them understand how they can and should resist issues which they are not used to discussing in rural India. We’re looking to train women on banking and bookkeeping , not just in order to ensure that the women can start their own business but also to be able to save a little more for their girl children. Books, personalised for the village, projectors, stationery and equipment for holding sessions will cost around 10,000 rupees. One of our greatest losses has been the number of volunteers we’ve lost because traveling to Soda turns out more expensive. With Rupees 10,000, we can ensure brilliant volunteers are subsidised. Some of our work, such as using cotton to make simple biodegradable pads, was thought of by creative volunteers,which we hope to take forward and turn into a bigger thing.

Our fundraising is not just tied to one exact goal. For a meagre sum of Rs. 2500, this winter, we will be able to educate 30 women in Soda about government health schemes that they can avail of, sensitize 10 adolescents about the ill effects of substance abuse and make 20 women financially literate. The value added through this money, which is probably the cost of your next pair of jeans, will be much greater than the sum of its parts, as the positive effects will only multiply.

Kavya Saxena

Co-founder, Asmat

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DUB Speak

Of comfort and coziness – Diary of a winter lover

By DU Beat November 13, 2016

The comfort is unparalleled, the peace is inescapable, and the warmth in the cold brings ease; explore what makes Winter so endearing!

Dear Diary

The seasonal clock has ticked once again, and my mind has trailed off to a place of the future, experienced in the past. The wind has fastened its course and gently touches my face to convey the letter from my favourite season – winter. It has promised to please me aesthetically and bring serenity to the storm in my head. Poems always bring out the shade of exuberance and cheer of the summer, and the quiet and moroseness of the winters. I concur with them, yes. The peace, the quiet, the magical tranquillity winters offer; it has a way of wrapping your heart and soul in a very comfortable vacuum, and the mind needs this kind of unruffled period.

Some question my love for this season and incessantly equate it with the fun in the sun one might engage in during summers, or the ray of hope and sunshine which spring brings, or probably enjoying the soulful phase of the monsoons. My intention is not to justify my longing for this season by berating others; they’re all the beautiful colours of the rainbow. However, I will indulge in an innocent degree of favouritism and regard Winteras the Season Star Performer. My reasons for this judgement are multi-fold and not necessarily agreeable. For one, the Winter time is the perfect span for people who find joy in solidarity. Fancy this: the cold has engulfed every corner of your house, you sit wrapped up in the most comfortable blanket with a hot beverage reading that all-time favourite book or binge-watching a show. Winter gives you the perfect excuse to stay indoors and sleep like a baby. Also, one has the privilege of gracing the bed with the supremely comfortable loose sweaters/hoodies and constantly tugging those long sleeves. No, this scenario can never be replicated with perfection if the background were to be changed. The feel of acquiring warmth in the stark cold beats all contentment levels, won’t you say? Secondly, not only does it spread its advantageous wing indoors, winters can be a delightful fashion season if you make it. My mind is flooded with dreamy outfits entailing those adorable mufflers, coats, boots and sweaters. Winter dressing requires only a tad of creativity and effort to give way to a perfect winter look. One of the most significant feeling of pleasure you may encounter during this period is because of the anticipation of the festivities. Christmas and New Year’s get ready to shower some jingle and cheer our way, and everything smells of hope, joy, and excitement. It’s a wonderful season to welcome a new year and a new phase, thus inserting the very essence of happiness!

Well, as the year draws to a close, I can’t wait to delve in the coziness of the blanket with the harbingers of my happiness. Or, the idea of spending the day outside soaking the warmth of the sun on a chilly day, smelling that hallmark ‘winter air’ and just absorbing the feeling of the world slowly makes me delirious with joy too. The Winter season is all this, and so much more. No wonder, a winter lover like me associates such ethereal charm with its existence. With a longing smile, I happily think: Winter is coming.

Image Credits: Favim

SaumyaKalia

[email protected]

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DUB Speak

The prison of the semester system

By DU Beat November 7, 2016

When I came to DU a year ago, my bag was heavier with ‘to-do lists’ rather than books. Seminars, fests, assignments, attendance, exams, forms— there was just so much balancing to do and only so much I could manage. It has been a year now, but things remain the same. There are no conspicuous differences between the lives of a nine-to-five corporate workaholic and an average DU student, trapped in the semester mode. We are all prisoners. We are all turning into stereotypes.

The semester system was introduced with plenty of good intentions. Last year, CBCS hopped into the bandwagon too. There are now multiple courses to complete in a single semester, regardless of the fact that most of them are not a “choice”. Teachers are wiping their anxious brows on one hand, and students on the other. The former clench their teeth because students do not have the time to interact with them, or form a concrete perspective at the end of three years. Meanwhile, the latter must deal with clashing entrance exams and semester exams, tiptoeing precariously on the line in-between.

“I don’t have the time to study and enjoy events simultaneously during the semester. We all get incredibly busy. But the moment a semester ends, we have absolutely nothing to do,” claims Neha Nara, a second year student from Sri Venkateswara college. This is a common problem faced by many. The capitalist structure denies time for leisure. When we must and do get accustomed to being ‘busy’ every second of every single day, how much of ‘free’ vacation time can we truly handle? For some, taking a long, uninterrupted break can become an unbearable thought.

Societies demand the kind of dedication which only a few can manage in a whirlwind of regular internals and exams. Additionally, it becomes an uphill climb to maintain that spotless attendance record. It fetches marks at the end of a semester, after all. There is hardly any time to fall sick, let alone ‘bunk’ a few classes which may not hold our interest. Student life has ceased to be idyllic. This is what I realised at the end of a year.

From a bird’s-eye view, it is possible to get a degree from a reputed college today. But how much ‘knowledge’ does someone like me truly gain in three years? In fact, what sort of graduates are we churning out in this system? We are mutely witnessing one semester after the other fly out of our reach, college-life coming to an end, while a seemingly unsteady future awaits us outside the gates.

Featured Image Credits: www.candidcovers.files.wordpress.com

Deepannita Misra

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DUB News

The case of vilification of a university: Reporting from JNU

By DU Beat November 2, 2016

A student organisation, certain sections of media, and a pliant Police Force have allegedly collaborated to defaming the best minds of the nation. Here we bring before a rather nefarious nexus of the RSS-ABVP-NDA in deification of their sabotaged nationalism, which no one has told you before.

As the semester draws to close, the great Indian conspiracy of the vilification of Jawaharlal Nehru University, the premier bastion of sheer intellect and knowledge in the entire nation by the ABVP affiliate of the ruling NDA government aided by the amenable Police Force and certain biased television channels seeking sensationalism can be viewed as the most remarkable event in the intellectual circuits.

The entire orchestra had been aimed to malign the dreams of countless students to be a part of the institution which has produced the best of politicians, bureaucrats and scholars. Certain media houses earned huge TRP portraying certain students as terrorists, calling the university “den of desh-drohis” and oversimplifying things to the people of India as “a choice between the support to the sacrifice of Hanuman Thappa and these ‘anti-nationals’.”

Evidently, this was a bitter pill to swallow. After our countless detours around the campus, we came across students who had no record of political carrier to unbiasedly get to the roots.

“I have been keeping a close scrutiny right from day one. It all started when a group of 10 left leaning students organised a peaceful event in solidarity with the people of Kashmir. The event was about to start when a group of ABVP activists, with some Zee News people, started sloganeering against the gathering there, abusing them as “desh-drohi”. As the slogan war got heated, some face-covered people joined in with the separatist slogans like ‘Bharat tere tukre honge, insa allah, insa allah’. They were immediately asked to stop by the organisers. They left into nowhere.” A postgraduate girl and her friends were quoted as saying, on the promise of being kept anonymous.

An internal conspiracy, about who those masked men were, still remains blurry and covered in layers even after repeated efforts. The government, rather than to act sincerely, repeatedly has resorted to its neo-nationalism rhetorics. Even now, after the mysterious death of J R Philemon Chiru, the Manipuri student, and the recent case of a student who has been missing since 13 days now:

“A kidnapping case has been filed against 4 ABVP activists. The Police has not interrogated the accused ones and not even started the basic enquiry. The administration is silence on the whole matter and no action has yet been taken on the whole issue.” A postgraduate students was quoted as saying today. “It is selective elimination”, her friend added.

“Mr. Narendra Modi needs to realise that by defaming institutions and instigating hollow nationalism, he cannot hide his failures. He has also got to check the spoiled brat in ABVP, which in addition to damaging the party beyond repair, is costing the nation it’s cultural fabric. ABVP can only lead to Kashmir like situation in the rest of the nation” said another anonymous faculty, waiting on the bus stand.

There is anger, resentment and scope for a better and in-depth analysis of the situation. The on-ground situation seems different and the take of the media seems opposite. We, as rational individuals must make a more informed choice.

Nikhil Kumar

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Around the Campus

The Entrepreneurship Cell of Motilal Nehru College organised iSocial’s Career Awareness 2016

By DU Beat November 1, 2016

The Entrepreneurship cell in association with iMet Global and Campus Connect (powered by smartech labs) organized iSocial’s Career Awareness 2016 drive on New Age Jobs in Digita-Social media and E-commerce on 26^th October, 2016 at Motilal Nehru College.

Various facts of a career choice and its determining factors such as aptitude and interest, lifespan of career, commercial resources, availability of opportunities, academic potential and other aspects such as digital and social media marketing were explained through relevant examples.

Digital Marketing is becoming a mainstream in India. A digital professional, or specialist is often responsible for developing strategy used in marketing a company’s product online, utilizing such techniques in the fields as social media, web analytics, email marketing and search engine optimization among others.

Here’s is a list of the various digital marketing positions available for those seeking a career in this arena:-

1) Digital Marketing Manager

2) Content Marketing Manager

3) Content Writer

4) Social Media Marketing

5) SEO Executives

6) Copy Writers

7) Web Designers and many more.

The workshop began with an introduction of our well-known speaker Mr. Nishant Sharma followed by Mr. Deepak Goel, a strategic driver of BFG Corporation. He suggests students to choose fields which suits their interest and how such choices make it easier for them to grow and build a successful career.

Thus, this was one of the most interactive and appreciated workshops. Overall, the session was very useful to judge one’s skills and move in the direction where one can achieve their ambition as well as enjoy their career.

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Around the Campus

Enactus of Aryabhatta College celebrates its first ever Enactus Day 2016

By DU Beat October 28, 2016

“If each one of us can make a difference, together, we can make a change.”

With this motto in mind Enactus, Aryabhatta College, an organisation formed just two months ago, celebrated its first ever Enactus Day on 24th October, 2016. The one-day event took place within the college campus and involved students from all over the University of Delhi.

The main motive behind the Enactus Day was to conduct a fundraiser, for Enactus Aryabhatta’s initial project, i.e. ‘Project Shakti’. The project focuses on uplifting the standards of the backward and ignored sections of the society with the help of entrepreneurial actions by the students associated, with the main agenda of making rescued sex workers and Kabadiwalas financially independent.

The newly recruited team of Enactus Aryabhatta having a strength of 60 committed members was enthusiastically involved in the preparations for the event for almost over a month.

Enactus Day was a one of its kind event. It comprised of several stalls with ‘Best Out of Waste’ products on sale. These decorative and utility products were handmade by the team members themselves. Registers made out of one sided used sheets along with handmade items like photo frames, used denim jeans’ bags, earrings, herbal rangoli colours and painted glass bottles were up for sale. “We actually kept boxes all over the college in order to collect one-sided used sheets from the students, weeks before the event. A great response enabled us to make around hundred registers from the collected sheets, each having a trendy cover page.” said Shubham Verma, the General Secretary of Enactus Aryabhatta.

“The products were a success. They made a large part of the revenue, as the people who purchased them had a sense of pride in their minds, contributing their bit towards a social cause. Even the faculty members including the Principal of the college came to the stalls and appreciated the products while purchasing them.” added Mayank Mittal, the Vice President of this team.

The event also had some very successful game stalls which actually attracted a huge crowd and were an instant hit. These included games like the ‘Brick Bucket Challenge’, ‘Sorted’, ‘Cover the Spot’ and the ‘Golden Cup’. However, the main highlight of the event was the ‘The Scavenger Hunt’, which was a dual round mystery object race that involved the participants to be given clues, using which they had to find various objects ranging from car tyres to a candle within stipulated time duration. Dhruv Gupta, the organiser of the scavenger hunt said, “The participants were really enjoying themselves while they were searching for the objects though they were very competitive in doing so. We received a great response and an amazing feedback.”

The event was also complimented by a special ‘Nukkad Natak’ by the Dramatics Society of Aryabhatta College, which was specially prepared for the Enactus Day. Themed upon Project Shakti, the play discussed the tormented story of young girls being forced into prostitution and leading a non-dignified and disrespectful lifestyle without any recognition from the society. Aman Grover, a first year BBE student added, “It was truly an excellent performance, as it made me refurbish my notions about these sex workers and the situations they face every day. I feel proud that being a member of Enactus, I am contributing towards this part of our society.”

As the event progressed, products like decorative items were all sold out. The recycled registers were a hit as well since the entire college contributed for it, literally. The teachers in charge were also praising the efforts and the hard work of the entire team.

Tushar Sharma, President, concluded by conveying his thoughts, “I was very excited to see such a huge amount of crowd coming for our event. The event was successful since we have raised a sufficient amount of fund for our initial motive i.e. Project Shakti. We will now be focusing entirely on the project and will make sure that together we make a significant change towards the people of these communities.”

Akshat Bhargava

Image Credits: Team Enactus Aryabhatta

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Flicks

Biopics: Laying the boundaries of creative license

By DU Beat October 26, 2016

Facts are dismissed in the name of creativity. Ideas and personalities are altered and introduced to enhance marketability. Till what extent can the adulteration run?

Evolution has been the film industry’s backbone, carving niches throughout of varied interests. The diversified interests have also brought along a plethora of genres for the pleasure of the diverse minds of the world. There’s romance, there’s comedy, and there is thriller and horror. And sitting in the far corner is the convoluted genre of biopics.

Biopics canvass the field of entertainment industry used to glorify great figures or show milestone instances. They say actions speak louder than words, and what better way to bring stories to life than to make the whole world listen through the medium of movies. It sounds convenient, and effective even, but it’s an awry path to tread. With the noble ideology, producers harbour of sending across messages or telling true tales, their intentions are also supplemented by the blatant notion of profitability. How do movies become blockbusters and garner rave reviews by the audience? Exceptional use of dramatics and acing the manoeuvres of story-telling. Not every story at its root has the potential of redundant hysterics, for some of them may rely on the ideas of simplicity and idealism. But, considering that easy and minimalistic stories are hard to sell, they are garnished and embellished in the name of ‘creative license’ to construct a final creation which is unrecognisable to the earlier stage.

Explore the range of biopics Indian cinema has to offer, and these ideas will be starkly highlighted. Be it Akshay Kumar’s Rustom or Sushant Singh Rajput’s M.S. Dhoni, an inclusion of incorrect facts to brew some famous ‘Bollywood drama’ or sheer obliviousness defeats the purpose of the genesis of these movies in the first place. By definition, creative license is the act of dramatising a non-fictional event of the history. As long as you don’t portray a lie on the screen, the movie remains parallel to the original story. But, in order to sell the ‘product’, directors often endeavour to ‘sensationalise’ the existent information, thus including certain elements which may be easily misconstrued.

Biopics seek to tell stories like any other genre, one which is non-fiction and accurate at its core. A simple formula needs to be followed: to tell a true yet dramatic story. How do you do that? Assimilate the theme, avoid the clichés, and stay factually correct. Otherwise, the genre of non-fiction would painfully haze into the enormity of the fictional world.

Saumya Kalia

Image Credits: The Indian Express

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Arts & Culture

Dharavi: A long journey of Mumbai’s Hope and Despair

By DU Beat October 19, 2016

Some things come to you from much unexpected places. Read to learn how a stroll in the largest slum in the world changed my view towards life.

While you move in the Sion-Bandra Link, take a left to Sant Rohidas Marg. What you will witness is a locality that is one of the largest slums of the World. A mirror to the picture of India, Dharavi is one of the places which very well known to most of the Mumbaikaars. I visited the place as a part of one of our college project. The experience that I had is worth sharing.

We got out of our vehicle as we thought that touring the surroundings on feet would be easier. As we proceeded along the dingy by lanes of the place, it felt like visiting the characters in the film Slumdog Millionaire. One of my friends asked “What moves this place? There is no sanitation facilities, no proper roads, it’s just some pukka houses.” As we moved along the road we found a group of men sitting and chatting up below a tree. The plastic chairs on which they sat had marks of broken pieces in its handle. Probably, someone would have brought them years back. On asking them about the neighborhood one of them replied “Everything is available here” in a broken Hindi with a deep Marathi accent. The men worked in the shops nearby. One of them worked in the tannery nearby. “We often sit and chat up on holidays only” remarked another man as he got up to go to the sabzi market nearby. After he left, the other one confessed that they were all unemployed, searching for work. Some of them worked in local shops where there parents worked too for a meagre sum of money. ‘Disguised Unemployment is not limited to agriculture’ is something my civics teacher had said me in my school days. Now I was seeing this in real.

We decided to walk on. Just as we had moved a few steps we saw a little girl with a school bag coming out from her home. We decided to followed her and start a conversation with her. Jumping over little pass ways which were used for multiple purposes by people from washing clothes to playing caroms, the girl proceeded to a masjid which she called her school. On asking about what she wants to become she pointed to a boy dancing in a reality shows on one of the channels and said “I want to a dancing star like him.” Most of the teaching at primary levels here happen in local municipality schools or Madrasas said a shopkeeper who sold stationary near the Madrasa.

As we wrapped up our walk and returned we had probably known the answer to the question. Beyond the not plastered walls, small dingy rooms, primeval state of living of humans and animals together, lack of toilets, proper sanitation facilities there was something that has kept this place moving forward from 1922. It is the Hope of a better tomorrow.

Srivedant Kar

[email protected]

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Arts & Culture

Contemporary Arts Week : A Showcase of Creativity

By DU Beat October 18, 2016

The 4th edition of Contemporary Arts Week started on 15th October, 2016 at the Nehru park. Contemporary Arts Week is a unique city-wide festival that includes 55 events which are carried out at fifteen venues. This multi-art integrated festival has brought together 450 artists to manifest their vision and talent among the audiences.

The evening of the opening day was initially lightened with the presentation of ‘Kyta Travel Art’. Kyta Travel Art is an extemporary art form which bringing changes in the tourism. It is a five year project, creating a whole to new perspective on how to experience a place.

The event was followed by contemporary folk and Sufi night full of great performances by noted singers. The star performer of the day was Shilpa Rao. She took over the stage and performed her sensational song ‘Bulleya’, followed by many more. The night also featured the Advatia lead classical singer, Ujwal Nagar, in collaboration with Pt. Ajay Prasanna.

Day 2 of Contemporary Arts Week saw performances by various bands. Ehsas lead singer, Suryaveer, enthralled the audiences with popular numbers Illahi. Soon after Suryaveer’s performance, the Raghu Dixit Project took the stage. Raghu Dixit enchanted the crowd with both his music and his witty one liners. He ended the night with his popular hits.

The week-long arts festival is taking place at several venues throughout the city and there is a lot to look forward to, inlcuding a dance event called ‘Some Bodies of Dance’ on October 19, House DJ and Summer House Bloc party on October 20, and several theatre performances.

For the full schedule of upcoming events and more information, visit their Facebook page.

Picture credits: Gerush Bahal and Sahil Chauhan for DU Beat

Gerush Bahal

[email protected]

With inputs from Sahil Chauhan

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Top Picks

Fellowships – A jump start for for your career

By DU Beat October 12, 2016

For some of us College is just starting out and for others, college is one semester away from getting over. While college is a fresh new change from school and especially the strenuous schedule of the 12^th boards, a lot of us start to get very laid back and we end up in a whirlwind of confusion the minute we start to see blurred lines of the college finish line.

The idea of a gap year crosses a hundred minds at this point but honestly it’s extremely important to have a vision. Your vision might not be grand and to help you with that, there exist pre-existing visions that require more minds to jump into it. Long term goals are hard to get into order and that’s why there are short term goals that can make your long term goals look like a cake walk. If you feel confused about the next big step, India’s got a varied array of incredible fellowships waiting to be tapped into.

We would like to open the fellowship door for you and walk you through some of the most prestigious fellowships in the country:

The Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) – Indian School of Business: This fellowship is great for the budding MBA aspirants. Every Marketer thrives on the research it does, and this fellowship grooms promising young researchers to be innovative problem-solvers and thinkers in the business disciplines of Accounting, Financial Economics, Information Systems, Marketing, Operations Management, Organisational Behaviour and Strategy, which are niche areas at the ISB. This fellowship requires 4 years of study from an individual and packs you in with knowledge galore. Admissions opened in September 2016 and rolling till 15^th January ‘2017. For further information about the application process log on to : http://www.isb.edu/fpm/Programme-Overview

The Young India Fellowship (YIF) – Ashoka University : After going through a tired system of what is conventional Indian education, this incredible fellowship feeds you a bowl full of international standard learning. The Fellowship brings together a group of 215 bright young individuals who show exceptional intellectual ability and leadership potential from across the country, and trains them to become socially committed agents of change. The fellows will be exposed to innumerable perspectives and subjects all jam packed in one year. Admissions have opened for the first round and close on December 18^th. If you miss this bracket then there will be second round of admissions following it. For further details log on to: http://www.youngindiafellowship.com/Default.aspx

The Legislative Assistants to Members of Parliament (LAMP) Fellowship: This fellowship gives you great insight into the political doings of the country and might frame your career in public policy, international relations, politics, law even and many more. This fellowship provides an opportunity for young Indians to be mentored by a Member of Parliament for a period of 11 months. The LAMP Fellows work full time with the assigned MP, from the beginning of the Monsoon session to the end of the Budget session of Parliament. This opportunity gives you a direct platform to voice your opinions to people that matter. The applications are now open and will be rolling till 11^th February ‘2017. For further details log on to: http://lamp.prsindia.org/thefellowship

The Gandhi Fellowship: This one of the most change driven fellowships of the country. The Gandhi Fellowship Program is designed to provide the youth with the opportunity for personal transformation through self-discovery and thereby, contribute to the causes surrounding them. This 2 year fellowship will take you to 5 schools and give you a chance to leave your mark on thousands of young minds that will shape our tomorrow. Applications are now rolling so don’t waste time if you really want to be the change. For further queries log on to : http://gandhifellowship.org/fellowship-programming.php

The Teach For India Fellowship: If you believe in education as the way forward then Teach for India is the place to be. It is among the most popular fellowships in the country and packs immense exposure in a short period. Teach For India offers you the chance to make a real difference in tackling one of India’s most pressing challenges — educational inequity. By presenting you with one of the most difficult challenges of your life, the Fellowship will help you develop leadership skills that are critical in today’s dynamic global work environment. It recognised by some of the top notch colleges of the world and holds a lot of weight. For further details log on to: http://www.teachforindia.org/faqs

The previously mentioned fellowships are among the most revered fellowships in the country and were detailed out solely to widen your horizons and getting you tapping at your keys to research more or better suited options for yourself. You lose nothing by sending out an application so don’t hesitate in taking that first step, the rest of the choices will follow soon.

Image credits: c1styourvoiceblog.com

Baani Kashyap

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