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

The concept of a year back which we thought had been done away with ever since DU decided to have each of its current three batches following a different system, seems to have returned and that too in the most bizarre way possible. Delhi University declared on Friday that, all students who write 2015 on their assignments and/or their internal assessments would immediately receive a year back even if they’ve successfully passed the semester that ended in November 2015. The DU administration office is yet to declare a statement as to why exactly they have decided to introduce such a rule but sources say that, it is due to many students somehow managing to acquire assignments from their seniors and resubmitting them after whitening out the tick marks very artfully.

Student Unions are infuriated to say the least. A member of DUSU sent out a threat to the administration and the VC’s office warning them that protests are being planned and are just around the corner. Other student political parties too have decided to put their differences aside and come together to fight against this barbaric rule. “We all follow different ideologies but we have to find common ground sometimes for the welfare of the students. If we work together with the NSUI and ABVP we will surely be able to repeal this rule, just as we did with the FYUP two years ago,” said a member of the AISA. College Unions too have called on its students to organize mass bunks as a sign of protest against the notification. This hasn’t proven to be successful just yet because although students are annoyed they aren’t willing to take the risk of missing their classes and angering their teachers just yet.

Whether this will turn into another fiasco such as the one with the FYUP in 2014 or it will becoming a part of DU’s many draconic rules and regulations, only time will tell!

Disclaimer: Bazinga! This is our weekly column of almost believable fake news.

Image courtesy: http://www.du.ac.in/du/uploads/images/arts_faculty.png

Shraman Ghosh

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DU students cycle to North Campus to support Odd-Even Formula

By Shraman Ghosh January 11, 2016

Although we’re just over a week into the new year and the odd-even era, the online memes, political discussions, corny jokes regarding Mr. Kejriwal’s initiative have become an integral part of our everyday life since the initial announcement was made.

However, despite all the jokes and complaints the people of Delhi have shown remarkable cooperation with a surprisingly small list of violators on a particular day, an increase in those using public transport and people carpooling and cycling to work in order to help the Chief Minister improve Delhi’s alarmingly poor air quality.

It is with this aim that a group of students decided to cycle from their homes to Delhi University’s North Campus on the first of January 2016. Although, colleges were shut till the 4^th these students decided to go for a trial run and vowed to cycle to college all year! One of the students from SRCC told a media correspondent that as a New Year Resolution he has decided to restrict the use of his vehicle to Sundays. Another student from Hindu College acknowledged the difficulties associated with the formula but went on to remind us that we have to make a start somewhere and that this is the time to do so.

Although results, in terms of air quality improvement are yet to show, there seems to be no shortage of support from Delhi’s residents. Students of both DU and JNU are actively participating in making the lives of commuters easier whether it be designing mobile applications or setting up kiosks to provide people with information and encourage them to cycle, carpool or use public transport. With the fifteen-day trial period slowly coming to an end, the support of Delhi’s residents will be integral in determining whether or not the formula is here to stay.

Image Credits: The Hindu

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Believe in Myself: An LSR project to foster healthy self esteem among females

By Shraman Ghosh January 8, 2016

With numerous projects submitted to the varsity in this year’s edition of the Innovation Project Scheme and over 300 of these making the final cut, each project reflects the dedication and commitment of the team behind it. Lady Shri Ram College For Women submitted their project entitled “Believe in myself: Fostering Healthy Self Esteem in Female Adolescents under the mentorship of Dr. Nandita Babu .”

The project aims at creating practices by which, schools can encourage students to develop the ability to approach their life goals with a sense of self-confidence, and the perseverance that comes from self-belief. It is a collaborative project based in the departments of Education and Psychology at LSR, which attempts to bring together psychological insights as well as those gained from the actual transactions that occur in classrooms and shape the psyche of the student. With principal investigators including Dr.Priti Dhawan, Dr. Kanika Ahuja, Dr.Kalyani A, Dr. Megha Dhillon, and Ms. Deepika Papneja, the project aims at enhancing the self-esteem among young females.

The team has already completed their first two phases where they went to four different Co-Ed schools, and identified female adolescents with low and high self-esteem scores on the Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Their next step was the conduction of semi-structured interviews with them so as to recognise the factors that affected their particular self-esteem scores. “We now aim to proceed to teacher’s interviews which will help them to gain an insight into their pedagogical styles that may have an impact on the self-esteems of the students,” said Shazia Naqvi, one of the student members of the project. Thereafter, they will use the information elicited through the interviews, to design their workshops that will be conducted in all four schools. The last phase of the project will include follow-ups for four weeks with the female participants so as to assess its long-term impact.

The student members in the project include: Aditi Suryavanshi, Anjana Dahiya, Charul Katiyar, Himanshi Piplani, Kriti Singh, Rose Paulina Bara, Sana Jamal, Shazia Naqvi, Tushali Paliwal, Vaidehi Mishra

Image Courtesy: https://dubeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Optimized-IMG_29101.jpg

Shraman Ghosh

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Why it’s okay to not do anything this winter

By Shraman Ghosh December 27, 2015

Most students of Delhi University find themselves in a perpetual state of confusion especially in the breaks between college semesters. Although the semester exams are known to reduce our minds to sawdust and enervate us in the truest sense of the word, most of us after two to three days of excessive partying start wondering what exactly we are doing with our lives during the course of this break. So if all your friends are off interning or participating in fests don’t feel bad because there are plenty of reasons why it’s okay to simply sit back and relax during your winter break.

If you’re in first year remember that you have four more sets of holidays to go before college ends and you’ll surely end up doing something constructive in at least one of them if not all. With school reunions, numerous family functions and the successful completion of your first semester of college,taking a few weeks off to get out of town or simply lie in bed is a pretty good way to spend the winter break.

Third semester is usually a living nightmare for most people with most students experiencing what many call a sophomore slump and battling through their exams just to survive. Keeping this in mind and the fact that almost everyone has already done something to enhance their portfolio in the preceding summer or probably will in the upcoming one, if you’re a second year student, and you’ve realized that you’re currently exactly midway through your college life then now would be a good time to do things that you may feel you wont have the time to do in a year’s time, whether it be attending some of the numerous festivals happening across the country or binge watching every TV show that you have missed out on earlier this year.

Third year students this time of year are usually in a state of perpetual mental trauma. As if the realization of college ending in one semester isn’t bad enough, they are also continuously bombarded with the oh-so familiar questions of their “concerned” family members (primarily “Beta, What plans?”). If you aren’t sure about what the next step is then don’t worry, you’ll figure it out soon enough. After five semesters of college, internships, tedious placement processes and entrance examinations now could be a good time to focus on finishing that college bucket list you probably made in school (and haven’t thought about since then) and simply relax yourself and head into the final semester with a positive attitude.

Shraman Ghosh

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Should Donald Trump be taken seriously or not?

By Shraman Ghosh December 23, 2015

As the year draws to an end people begin to reflect upon the numerous events that took place around the globe in 2015. The Nepal Earthquake in April, the legalization of same sex-marriage in the US, the rise of the Islamic State and the exacerbation of the Syrian Refugee crisis are just some of the many events that gave rise to liberal thinking and humanitarianism among individuals across the world, and then came along an individual named Donald Trump.

Most people remember Trump as the intimidating billionaire on the hit US reality show entitled “The Apprentice” but today he is a US presidential candidate running one of the most bizarre political campaigns of our time. Whereas nearly half the world regards Trump as a joke that is likely to fade out over the next couple of months, one should not be too quick to dismiss him because the sad truth is that there are indeed a section of Americans who believe in Trump and the ideology he sells.

Donald Trump represents a portion of Americans who are fed up with the Democratic Party and the Obama Administration. One of the most successful businessmen in the world, Trump knows his audience and exactly what they want and he is the only Republican candidate who has been able to tap into the populist anger at Washington and the widespread xenophobia prevalent among the American people. Add this to the fact that Trump believes in American exceptionalism, is committed towards education, has the business acumen to help the US overcome the trillions of dollars of debt that it finds itself in and has a strong (some would say twisted) standpoint on immigration, is exactly why he has had a substantial lead in the polls for the Republican nomination for the last five months.

It is probably still too early to say what exactly will happen in 2016 but even if somehow Trump manages to win the Republican nomination, the chances of him actually becoming President of the United States are slim. Polls have long shown Hillary Clinton edging out all the Republican nominees including Trump and moreover his latest eruption demanding that Muslims be banned from entering the United States was so horrifying that many Republicans now are openly contemplating a vote for Ms. Clinton stating that Trump scares or concerns them (as he rightly should).

Trump may be giving us a good laugh at the moment, sitting on the other side of the world, but it is important to keep an eye on just how the American elections progress, after all a mad billionaire ruling the most powerful country in the world will not be a particularly amusing scenario in the near future.

Featured Image Credits: www.bbc.co.uk

Shraman Ghosh
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Child Rights and You with DU Beat

CRY urges people to “Get Healthy” to ensure children get a healthy start

By Shraman Ghosh December 21, 2015

Online crowd-funding campaign “Get Healthy.Give Healthy” is bringing together individuals who are pledging personal health goals to raise funds for children in age group of 0-6 years

A healthy nation is a wealthy nation, they say. You may have been tired of reading this cliché, but it perhaps perfectly describes how healthy population is a major indicator of a nation’s progress and growth. While India’s development story continues to grow, different sections of the population still grapples with health issues. The middle class, is nearly 170 million, is fighting lifestyle related health issues, with stress and chronic illness taking a toll on them. On the other hand, children in India are battling lack of nutrition with 50% of the child population suffering from malnutrition. In fact, statistics show that 77 out of every 1000 children do not even get to live up to the age of five a major factor being the lack of nutritional food.

In an attempt to marry these two issues and aid the privileged community to extend their support to underprivileged children, CRY has launched the ‘Get Healthy, Give Healthy’ campaign that encourages individuals and collectives and gives them an opportunity to switch to a healthy lifestyle and pledge their support to facilitate a healthy start for a child in India. The funds raised from the campaign will ensure better immunization, health care and nutrition for children under 0-6 years across India.

Under the campaign, individuals will be required to pledge to achieve their health goals either by giving up things that make them unhealthy like sweets; cigarettes etc or engaging in fitness exercises/sports to actively meet their targets. In the process they can ask their friends and relatives to donate money as they achieve various millstones. This in turn will facilitate better health, nutrition, education and immunization of about 281,405 children from 0-6 years across India.

For the campaign, CRY has partnered with a crowd funding website called Ketto, on which, individuals and teams are raising pledges for getting and giving a healthy lifestyle to themselves and children in India who are taking up challenging health goals.

In addition to this, the Volunteer Action Team of CRY has made a pledge on behalf of all young adults in Delhi. We urge all our readers to contribute to the Get Healthy, Give Healthy campaign which will surely impact the lives of the thousands of children in our country.

You can go to http://cry.ketto.org/VolunteersNorth and make your little contribution for a healthy India. Take a look at the informative video for more details about the campaign.