Related: Read more from the life at Delhi University series here
Every year, societies from colleges across the campus compete neck to neck and put up spectacular performances during the fest season. This year too, saw certain teams shine a little brighter than the rest. We bring you a series with college societies that put their heart and soul into their respective fields and took home the top prizes at various cultural fests.
The best college society in each category was selected by creating a tally of the top 3 positions at competitive events held during various cultural fests of this season. Whenever a society won the first prize they were awarded 3 points, for the second position they received 2 points and for the third position, 1 point was added to their tally.
For the Western Dance category, Misba of Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce scored the maximum points in the tally. Misba’s 20 points were followed by Tanz, Miranda House that scored 12 points. Verve, Sri Venkateswara College bagged third spot scoring 9 points.
The Winning Society at a glance
Misba, SGGSCC
Misba, The Western Dance Society of SGGSCC, can be considered to be a perfect mix of entertainment, style and technique. High-octane performances on ‘Babuji zara dheere chalo’ and ‘Jogi’ enthrall the audience, and their sharpness and energy leaves everyone in awe, asking for more.
Jasneet Kaur, President of Misba quotes, “The only thing important for a successful production is the zeal to bring something new to the stage and breaking the stereotypes. No matter which form you do, you should be able to give full justice to it”
Names of Performing Members: 1. Yukti Arora 2. Harshita Bakshi 3. Rituraj Sehgal 4. Jasneet Kaur 5. Dhruv Kumar 6. Nishant Jain 7. Kangana Makkar 8. Abhijeet Chaturvedi 9. Abhishek Kumar 10. Manpriya Jain 11. Priyanka Aggarwal 12. Priyanka Goyal 13.Elisha Mayor 14.Ananya Kaushik 15. Radha Sharma 16. Sahil Saharan 17.Aman Bothra 18.Aman Susan 19.Ritvik Arora 20. Anmol Chabra 21. Naman Pataria
Winners Tally: Misba
Ten fests were included in our analysis for this series which were: Montage, JMC; Nexus, Sri Venkateswara College; Mecca, Hindu College; Crossroads, SRCC; Reverie, Gargi College; Ullas, KNC; Tarang, LSR; Confluence, Hans Raj College; Tempest, Miranda House and Shruti, IPCW.
Here is the list of winning performances by Misba (SGGSCC):
Ist Position: Tarang 2016 (Lady Shri Ram College) Crossroads 2016 (Shri Ram College of Commerce) Tempest 2016 (Miranda College) Mecca 2016 (Hindu College) Confluence 2016 (Hand Raj College)
IInd Position: Ullas 2016 (Kamala Nehru College) Shruti 2016 (IPCW)
III Position: Montage 2016 (Jesus and Mary College)
(Hover on the icons below to know more about their victories)
Shefali Bharti
[email protected]
With the soaring heat in the capital, water remains the prime commodity. Even more so for the students living in the hostels Under Graduate Girls Hostel who are suffering from acute water shortages.
On Saturday after waiting for the officials for more than six hours and trying to lodge complaints to various departments, the women from Undergraduate Hostel for Girls protested in front of the provost house. This protest followed an attempt by the hostellers to file a report at the Mukherjee Nagar Police Station where their issues were not addressed.
For over two months now, the supply of water had been scarce, leading to sanitary and health issues. Often, there was no water supply for three consecutive days, which made the living conditions of these hostels unbearable. There have been cases where severe infections and diarrhea due to unclean, saline water were reported.
The problem allegedly has risen due to the dysfunction and repair of the internal hostel pipeline which was claimed by the authorities as a reduced supply from water sources. The promised supply from the Delhi Jal Board had been inconsistent and the water in the two tankers that reached for 650 girls in the hostel was saline and dirty. There were instances where the water was muddy. Furthermore, the gravest concern was the lack of response and attention from the concerned authorities over the issue, the silence of whom enraged the hostelers even more.
The students waited till late night for Ms. Rita Kakkar, the provost, to respond to their needs. A statement by the Delhi Cabinet Minister, Kapil Mishra was released, wherein the issue has been addressed and the cooperation of the Delhi Jal Board has been promised until the internal hostel pipeline is repaired. The work is expected to be complete within two days and normal water supply to be resumed.
With inputs from Srivedant Kar for DU Beat and Kirti of UGHG
Image by Kriti of UGHG
Shefali Bharati
The second edition of ‘ONENESS ’16’, the Annual Cultural festival of the North East Students’ Society of Sri Venkateswara College was held on 15 March 2016 at Sri Venkateswara College.
The major attractions of the event included, songs and dances, photography exhibition, attires display, a performance by the band Mixers , and a short talk.
The Guest Speaker Ms. Binalakshmi Nepram, Founder, Manipur Women Gun Survivor’s Network; Secretary General, Control Arms Foundation of India, urged the students to embrace the oneness that we all share as Indians. She also stressed on the opportunities that Delhi offers and encouraged the audience to utilize the capitals’ most striking feature- its multi diversity in making friends
The showcase of folk dance exemplified the richness and culture of the tradition and the ‘Mixers’, a band from Manipur, based in Delhi performed their songs. Photos of people, landscapes and culture of the North East were also on display.
The finale was the ramp walk in which the attires of the states and major tribes of the region were represented on stage. Where outfits ranged from Mizoram to Ladakh to Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
“Our society was formed and recognized two years ago, so this is the second edition of the fest. We formed this Association to facilitate interaction between students from our region along with others in order to debunk stereotypes and raise awareness, to ensure that the students from North East do not face any major problems due to their ethnicity at Delhi, to promote the rich culture and diversity of the region through events like this” said Kakho, Vice President of the society
Shefali Bharati
Image Credits: Shivananda Sharma
Inputs from: Kakho Thaoli
As reported by DU Beat in January, the poor conditions of the footpath of south campus and persistent overflow of sewage led students of Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University to write letters to various government and municipal agencies to look into the matter. This was met with a positive response from both, the Prime Minister’s Office and Dr. Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament. However, more than a month and an evening of rain later, the campus reverted to sewage waste on road and water logging. Ashutosh Singh, a student of Sri Venkateswara College, notified the Public Works Department to tackle this issue and also live up to their promise made before of replacing the sewer line. The work for this has begun and new sewer pipeline is being laid out. Demand of public toilet or convenience and the reconstruction and repair of the footpath had also been mentioned in the letters but no work towards it has started yet. “It is essential that we demand for basic rights. With properly constructed footpaths and public toilets, college students can have a pleasant experience instead of hassled one,” said Ashutosh Singh. Under a student run program, a campaign called ‘Outside the Campus’ was initiated where more than 250 students of Sri Venkateswara College wrote post cards to the PMO expressing their grievances, wants and solutions. Also read: Open Sewers and Broken Footpaths: South Campus students complain to authorities Shefali Bharati [email protected] Image credits: Ashutosh Singh]]>
With the world becoming increasingly homogeneous and ‘Pop Culture’ words taking over, there is little space left for any other language to express itself.
It is also a time where knowing a language additional to your own or English can work well for your professional or recreational activities.
A different perspective
A language, foreign or local offers a deeper knowledge in culture, ideas and history of those people. For those who love to travel, language of the place you are visiting is the best thing you can carry. A conversation in the native language between people holds greater connection and meaning and helps forge trust. It makes one feel a part of something bigger and exclusive at the same time.
Saying it right
Looking at the menu and seeing words such as Bolognese or Quesadilla give us social anxiety while ordering to the waiter, the words are usually distressed muffles or simply a finger pointing to it that implies that neither you or the waiter really know what the dish is called. It’s always impressive to pronounce the words correctly and if your language happens to be the one of your favorite cuisine, it’s even better!
Brain and Work
Learning a new language puts your brain to work. It has been proven that knowing more than one language makes you sharp, increasing your cognitive abilities and boosting your memory and attention. It is also great for your employability, where this skill can be advantageous in securing a position or a higher pay.
It could be just the basics to sail you through on trips or the advance that helps you write, it could be self taught from the abundant tools available on the net or a more serious language course at the embassy, it could also be the sophisticated French, animated Italian or the sweet Bengali. But it’s time to invest in learning a new language and reap the many benefits it has to offer!
photo credits: queensu.ca
Shefali Bharati
The 6th semester results of 2015 failed students of sociology across DU colleges with a shocking 95% failure rate in Shivaji College and more than 85% in others such as Keshav Mahavidyala and Lakshmi Bai College. Newspapers like The Hindu and The Indian Express reported about the mass failure of more than 400 final-year students of Delhi University in an interdisciplinary paper, Sociology.
Students protested outside the office of the Dean, Students Welfare in June 2015 where Malay Neerav, the Joint Dean of the Student’s Welfare and Media Co-ordinator of Delhi University, assured the students that the results would be re-evaluated on the priority basis within a week. However, the University rolled out the revised results only after two weeks from the Dean’s declaration on 30th June and passed only 6 more students from Shivaji College’s batch. The media wasn’t following the case any longer and the university formally ended the case with this re-evaluation
8 months later the issue has again come in light when a student, Apaar Sharma of English Honors from Shivaji College posted an ‘Open letter to the family and friends of sociology professors of Delhi Univeristy who failed us last year ’ on Facebook. Apaar has filed a petition in The Delhi High Court against the university which, if not resolved will jeopardize his current degree in Journalism. Due to this erroneous result, students could not even apply to the colleges of their choices or write entrance examinations and the ones who did had to withdraw their admissions on account of not producing the revised ‘passed’ result. Frustrated and tired of this injustice and dysfunctional system, Apaar writes, “My dad calls me every night and in the last eight months, he hasn’t talked about anything much except the case – how he has filed another RTI, what did the University reply to his last RTI, how my lawyer is arguing well in the court, when is the next date of hearing of my case and so on.”
Pursuing the case has consumed students and left them disturbed and bitter, “I haven’t written any poetry or a piece of fiction since I came to Chennai. In December last year, I was back in Delhi for my holidays and was meeting my friends in a cafe, we were talking about college and suddenly we were reminded of the bitter ending. All our reunions and celebrations are marred by disappointment now” wrote Apaar on his post. Emails had been sent to the Vice Chancellor, the Chief Justice of India and the Prime Minister to take cognizance of this grave injustice but no response has been received yet.
There is no rationality or at least none given on account of failing so many students in one specific paper when they seemed to have done well in the rest. The university is accountable and responsible for the marks they give and its implications over our careers and future. It’s completely discouraging and unacceptable when you do not get the marks you deserve and worked hard for.
Featured Image Credits: Bismee Taskin Islam
Read our article on the issue published 8 months ago: https://dubeat.com/2015/06/dean-assures-appropriate-action-students-crying-foul-results/
The Indian Science Congress has honoured Professor Diwan S Rawat of Department of Chemistry with the ‘Professor RC Shah Memorial Lecture Award’ for his contributions in the area of Medicinal Chemistry.
The ‘Professor RC Shah Memorial Lecture Award’ was introduced in the Section of Chemistry in 1995-96, to be given annually for notable research. The award carries a cash amount and a plaque. The recipient has to deliver a lecture on the topic of his/her specialization in the Section of Chemistry during the Science Congress.
Professor Rawats’ work is associated mainly with the development of small organic molecules for the treatment of fatal diseases such as Malaria, Bacterial infection, Cancer and Parkinson. He has also been working on nano-catalysis with the aim of developing green methodologies for the synthesis of medicinally important organic molecules.
Recently, Professor Rawat was appointed by the Royal Society of Chemistry as an Associate Editor of RSC Advances. Professor Rawat has published over 115 research papers in the leading international journals of scientific repute and has nine patents to his credit. He has been invited to deliver several talks and lectures and his research is supported by several national funding agencies such as Department of Science and Technology -Science and Engineering Research Board (DST- SERB), University Grants Commission (UGC), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (DST- PURSE) and MJ Fox Foundation, USA.
We congratulate the professor for his success in the field of Chemistry!
Reference and Picture Credits: du.ac.in
Shefali Bharati
The South Campus of Delhi University comprises of six colleges situated on the Dhaula Kuan stretch, with a strength of almost ten thousand students attending college. However, the public infrastructure has been underdeveloped and ignored.
The campus has been facing a continuous problem of sewage leakage and broken footpaths. Open drains in between the footpaths make it a potential accident hazard and the stench from overflowing and exposed gutters makes it unbearable to walk the stretch. Students coming from the Dhaula Kuan ring road side are compelled to take an auto and spend money where as they could easily walk the distance if the footpaths were maintained, clean and continuous.
On account of this, three students of Sri Venkateswara college namely, Manish Jain (Central Councillor), Ashutosh Singh (Student Activist) and Anshu Mishra went and met with Ms. Meenakshi Lekhi(Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha) and discussed these issues with her. Ashutosh Singh had also sent a mail to The Chief Minister of Delhi specifying the problems and demands on 8th Jan 2016 which had been received by the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of the C.M. and has assured that a positive and a legal action regarding these issues will be taken as soon as possible.
The proposal of demands includes, increase in frequency of the university special buses, installation of CCTV cameras and the completion of the underpass on the Benito Juarez Marg at the earliest. The mail has also been forwarded to the Commissioner, South Municipal Corporation of Delhi (SDMC), Tourism Department and OSD Transport Minister
When DU Beat asked them about their agenda and the execution of changes, Ashutosh Singh said, “After witnessing sewage, footpath, garbage and underpass problems in South campus, we will start a campaign named “Outside the Campus” with the help of all South Campus Colleges. In this initiative student members will write more than 1000 post card letters about the problems they are facing to appropriate authority which will include HRD Ministry, Urban Development Authority, SDMC, Public Works Department of Delhi and the Chief Minister.”
Receiving positive responses and the promise of imminent change, the students are finding strength in their initiative. It’s time South Campus catches up and becomes a pleasant experience for students and others alike.
Featured Image Credits- du.ac.in
Inputs From: Ashutosh Singh
Shefali Bharati
“Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime”
Firmly believing this adage, students of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce (DCAC) and members of Enactus, decided to address the financial problems of economically disadvantaged families in slum areas by creating women entrepreneurs to supplement the family income. The uniqueness of their projects lies in their sustainability for they strongly believe that the effects of charity are both short-lived and detrimental to the person’s dignity. Thus, they seek to bring about long term social empowerment by helping women become financially independent. Harnessing the power of entrepreneurial action as innovative businesspeople and not as benefactors, these ambitious college entrepreneurs have launched two projects. Project Vikalp and Project Adhikaar.
Project Vikalp seeks to harness the natural weaving talent of women by Imparting training to them to stitch swanky and trendy bags which are then subsequently sold through leading e-commerce websites such as Ebay and shopclues, brick and mortar retailers and college stalls at various events. Made out of waste materials, these bags are completely reusable, recyclable and environment friendly. Moreover, the women from the community are involved in every stage of the business to acquaint them with necessary skills to carry on the business independently without external assistance. Besides bringing about a complete transformation in the lives of these women, the experience has been an epiphany for these young college students who have gotten a foretaste of different aspects of running a business. From persuading the reluctant community members, making a pitch before intimidating corporates, to learning the art of salesmanship by selling bags at stalls, the projects have provided ample opportunities to learn and groom a future generation of entrepreneurs, ready to take on the challenges of corporate life.
Project Adhikaar envisions women as ‘drivers’ of social change and seeks to assure them a steady honourable livelihood by imparting driving skills to them .It aims at revolutionizing the commutation sector which has traditionally been a male domain by creating a workforce of women auto rickshaw, e-rickshaw and cab drivers. In a society which makes a mockery of women’s driving skills and yet considers it unsafe for woman to commute in male-driven public vehicles, Project Adhikaar debunks the stereotypes and at the same time ensures better safety in public transportation for both men and women. Besides driving skills, these women are also provided training in public etiquette and self-defense and can give their male counterparts a good run for their money. Thus, this project allows women to ‘steer’ themselves out of financial misery to claim their rightful place in this world which is their Adhikaar (right). “The experience of working closely with a community, segregated by class barriers, has provided us an insight into the prejudices and real problems of the society and enabled us to gain a broader perspective beyond the walls of the classroom” said the members of the team.
Inputs by Bharat Virmani and Yash Goel
Shefali Bharati
[email protected]