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Bazinga: DUSU Set to Host a Competition to Decide the Best Fest of 2018

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A Delhi-based production company, Orions Digital in association with the Dilli University Students’ Union (DUSU) is organising a competition to decide the best fest of the year. The competition to be held on the 15th of April 2018, will take place at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Delhi.

The fest which would be declared as the winner would get sponsorships worth INR 72 lakh for the fest season of 2019. The first runners-up will get a guaranteed MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the two Punjabi singers Hardy Sandhu and Guru Randhawa, both of whom would be financed by Orions Digital, for their fest in 2019.

Amongst the judging criterion is the emphasis laid by the organisers on the lineup of performers invited for the star nights, the footfall, the decorations, publicity, hospitality, and media coverage by student run-media houses, besides the organisational framework of the fests.

While the organisers of the competition opened the registration of colleges on the 25th March, they have kept the deadline for the same on the 10th of April. Till the filing of this report, 37 colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi had registered. Amongst them are Mekka the Annual Fest of Hendu College and Crosswords the Annual Fest of Sri Ram Centre of Commerce, both considered to be two of the most prominent fests held in DU.

While it has been announced on DUSU’s official page that the event will be judged by a five-member panel, the names of only three judges have been revealed till now. While model Lisa Haydon and VJ Rannvijay Singh have confirmed their availability to judge the competition, the three other judges are expected to be from within the marketing team of Orions Digital and from the production team of the Times Networks group. The prize distribution ceremony is supposed to be a colossal program whose lineup is expected to include a performance by Shah Rukh Khan and A. R. Rahman.

While this development has been welcomed by the organisers of distinguished fests which receive a footfall of thousands of people, the same has been frowned upon by organisers of lesser-known fests. In the recently held All DU Fest Organisers Association (ADUFOA) meet, the organisers of three fests Sabraang, Reveal, and Kaalrav issued a press release wherein they derided the entire essence of the competition, calling it “a move towards commercialisation of a fun and spirited discourse in the culture of DU”. On a phone call conversation with the DU Beat correspondent, Kinjal Pandey, the President of ADUFOA remarked, “Fests are a vibrant part of what you call the age-old heritage of DU. We feel immensely disheartened at how this competition is seeking to place one fest against the other. Fests were started as an effort to induce a feeling of belonging and to encourage inter-college communication and we must save this spirit.”

Meanwhile, DUSU has remained silent on this matter. When DU Beat approached Orions Digital for a comment, its CEO Sandeep Samal asserted, “This competition will encourage fest organisers to represent their fests at a professional level. This will only invigorate their competency, not lessen it.”

Disclaimer: One of our most beloved features, Bazinga is our weekly column of almost believable fake news. It is only to be appreciated and not accepted!

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak

[email protected]

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DUB Speak

Women’s Representation in Student Politics of DU: A Chronicle of Mixed Reviews

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Although the Lyngdoh Committee report on University elections across India attempts to remove gender inequalities by prohibiting discrimination based on sex and class, women still have only de jure rather than de facto access to these rights in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections.

Indeed, while the DUSU elections champions itself as a beacon of democracy, it clocks in behind other universities like JNU and Guwahati University with regard to women’s participation as representatives in elected student unions. With the exception of ABVP’s Priyanka Chhawri, who served as the Vice-President of the union in 2016-17, the role of women in DUSU in the last six years has been limited to the positions of General Secretary and Joint Secretary.

However, a member of the feminist collective Pinjra Tod, Subhashini Shreya took a rather optimistic view about the current state of women in the University, and mentioned some important statistical data, “We need to acknowledge that we have come a long way from the movement in the 1980s. Earlier, the student population of the Varsity consisted of only 12% women. The rest were men. Today, women consist of 48% of the student community of the University of Delhi.” While women’s increasing presence in DU has subsequently led to their increased participation in DU student politics, their enthusiastic participation in elections does not ostensibly translate into proportionate electoral power for women. In contrast to the encouraging figures pertaining to women voters, the statistics on women’s participation in DUSU or even in high positions of the party organisations presents a grim picture.

Women perform just as well as men in elections when they have to vote, but not when they have to contest in elections themeselves. Pragya Tomar, current General Secretary of the National Students’ Union of India, Delhi State, made an intriguing observation, “Due to anticipated failure or perceived discrimination, women often hesitate from contesting in the student unions. Sometimes, the lack of family support can also discourage them. Kami society mein hai, politics mein nahi. (the fault is in our society, not in politics, that lesser women are contesting elections)”

When asked about the dynamics of DUSU elections 2018, she hinted, “I am planning to stand for elections this year.”

Besides the traditional family arrangements that limit a woman’s career choices, formal and informal requirements such as party service, concerns about campaign funding inequities, wealth gaps and the high costs of a political career, and the experienced who influence who decides to run for office, makes women underestimate their abilities and chances for success.

During the conversation with the DU Beat correspondent, leaders of two political units – NSUI and ABVP – expressed a desire to address the stubborn gender imbalance that pervades DUSU.

Rocky Tuseed, President of DUSU, remarked, “NSUI is a firm believer of inclusiveness, equality of opportunities and maximum representation of women. Women are in positions of leadership in our Gender Cell, Legal Cell, and also the committee for our magazine.”

Adding to that, he mentioned, “In fact, the National in-charge of NSUI is a woman.”

Mahamedhaa Nagar, General Secretary of DUSU, observed, “When we organised the women’s marathon in January, the sight the people witnessed there broke all stereotypes about the ABVP (Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad) as a conservative unit which refrains from talking about certain issues when it comes to women’s freedom.” She went on to describe the sight, “Men who had never discussed issues such as menstruation with their mothers were seen distributing sanitary napkins. This was a heartwarming sight which re-established women’s issues in political affairs of DU.” Speaking further on the expected gender dynamics of DUSU elections of 2018, Mahamedhaa commented optimistically, “Three-fourth women from ABVP are expected to contest in DUSU this year.”

The dearth of women contesting elections can be traced back to history, and to the formation of DUSU and the number of colleges that are affiliated to it. The election culture in DU is highly laced with violence. Right from threatening opposition candidates with physical violence to pressurising potential candidates to withdraw nominations through hooliganism and slut-shaming, the political culture of DU is precarious for women.

And this is one of the major reasons why out of 22 women’s colleges affiliated to DU, only five colleges i.e Miranda House, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Bhagini Nivedita College, Lakshmibai College, and S.P. Mukherji College for Women take part in the DUSU elections.

As a result, most women studying in the various women’s colleges in DU do not have any political participation in the students’ union elections of their own university. While DU might have more women students than other universities, this population is considered politically irrelevant by people contesting the elections.

All of this suggests that the prospect of equal representation in DUSU politics cannot rest solely on political will and individual party champions. Stronger equality measures such as quotas are needed. This is not to suggest that quotas are a ‘cure-all’ for women’s under-representation; as already highlighted, they need to be appropriately designed and effectively implemented in order to make a difference, otherwise parties will find ways to get around them. They need to be situated within a wider strategy aimed at targeting sexist attitudes, and changing institutional cultures and processes

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Campus Central

Sports Quota Entrants in DU: The Victims of Poor Facilities?

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Come January, and you’d mysteriously find the basketball ground refurbished and gentrified with new forward-looking basketball paraphernalia, something that you couldn’t get the sports department to do since months. Come January, and you’d find the most avant-garde gadgetry in the gym with goods and chattels that you had no idea even existed. Come January, and you’d find the worn-out and frayed tennis balls being replaced by newer, winsome looking ones.

Ask me what’s so special about January. The sports quota entrants of colleges across the University of Delhi (DU) would have a uniform answer: Tournament Season. January for a sports quota entrant is like the Regina George of the average American high school, it screams ‘high maintenance’ and ‘flashy’. In the first month of the year, these sports quota entrants are given optimum treatment, for they have to win tournaments and bring laurels to their college. Once the tournament season is over, these entrants go back to being the proletariat, being swindled and hoodwinked by the class of bourgeoisie, the college administration.

If I were to give you an unorthodox analogy, I would compare inter-college rivalry and contention with today’s National media channels vying for TRP ratings. Just like the prime-time news channels have abandoned all pretense of neutrality, becoming the drum beaters of a state narrative aimed at its laid out propaganda, even colleges try to win tournaments by hook or by crook. As a result, we have Motilal College taking in swimmers even when they don’t have a swimming pool, we have the Centre of Vocational Studies (CVS) taking in entrants for badminton even when they don’t have a proper badminton court, and we have Rajdhani College taking in recruits for gymnastics even when they don’t have a gym.

The question being flagged by thousands of sports quota candidates of DU is, why do these colleges accept these students when they can’t provide them with the requisite facilities? Arjun, a footballer from Kirori Mal College, asserted, “Our college is in a crisis when it comes to sports.” Speaking about the poor maintenance of the college football field, he commented, “When we go for practice, it feels like we’re in a beach, there’s so much sand and so little grass. The gym is functioning, but the equipments are in a pathetic condition.” Disclosing certain anomalies in the administration, he added, “The college is supposed to allocate a certain amount of fund for sports facilities, but it gets siphoned off before it can reach us.”Alleging a gross under a provision of facilitates, he observed, “While a team of footballers at least requires 10 to 14 footballs, we are provided with only two to three.”

 Lizza Talukdar, a swimmer from Motilal Nehru College, has had a strenuous experience which costed her a significant amount of money. Due to the absence of a gym and a swimming pool in her college, she had to spend INR 5,000 every month to practice in private gyms and swimming pools. Jahnavi, a tennis player from Miranda House, through a phone call conversation with the DU Beat correspondent, elucidated on the sanitation facilities in her college. A lack of proper hygienics in a girls college can be an authentic torment, for the use of a better term. While her college has no showers or washroom in the gym, she admitted to sneaking into the hostel to take a bath after practice. Her teammate, Isha, complained about the lack of maintainance of the tennis court and said, “As our court is surrounded by foliage, the leaves fall on the ground. Because the surface gets packed with leaves, we slip and end up hurting ourselves.”

Vibhan, a handball player from Rajdhani College, revealed that one of the grave problems that he and his team members face in summers is the absence of a water cooler near their practice grounds. As an outcome, the team has to go to the college time and again to get water. This might sound like a juvenile argument to make. However, for a sportsperson who has to spend hours toiling on the field and battling with the scorching heat, even this anomaly is a grave deceit on part of the college. Eshita from CVS shed light on the negligent attitude of the college administration as she discerned, “While shuttles are decreed to be given to badminton players, we are often provided equipment of unsatisfactory quality.”

Come admission season, the sports quota aspirants would compete with each other to grab the coveted seats in the University of Delhi. Providing them anything less than the best facilities would be deceiving them, beguiling them into a trap. When they have to devote three years of their academic lives to play for the college then don’t they deserve a certain amount of accountability from the colleges?

 

Feature Image Credits: Praveen Negi

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak
[email protected]

 

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Campus Central

North-Eastern Students And Student Politics of DU: A Narrative Of A Distraught Relationship?

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It is early July 2015 when Martha, a student from Nagaland studying in Hansraj College, got called “Chinese” by two men as they rushed past her in a bike through BD Estate,  a relatively posh area near North Campus. Three months later, during election campaigning for the Delhi University Students’ Association (DUSU) elections, Martha spotted one of those two men, garlanded and surrounded by a gang of loud sloganeers who were going from one college to another. He had his picture on hundreds of the same posters pasted on walls, behind e-rickshaws, and even on streetlight poles. In Vijaynagar, an area densely populated with North-Eastern students of DU, he was seen calling his Northeastern “brothers and sisters” to vote for him to see “progressive” policies implemented by DUSU. So much for duplicity and dissimulation.

During the campaigning for DUSU in August 2017, one candidate fielded by a particular student political unit went ahead to claim in his speech, “The North-East people are benefiting because of the quota which helps them get into DU.”

This perfidiously flawed statement made by a student political leader who believes in the existence of a “quota” for North-Eastern students is as vulnerable to laceration as is the laceration of a ripe tomato by a razor-sharp knife. Seeing this incredulous level of awareness of political leaders in DU, it is not startling that out of 20,000 North Eastern students, less than 5,000 cast their vote in the DUSU elections. These statistics were shared by the North East Students’ Society.

“During DUSU elections, tall promises are made for NE students. But nothing is ever done,” remarked Dr Kamei Aphun, Professor of Sociology at Delhi School of Economics. However, sometimes, student political leaders hesitate to even raise the issues of Northeastern students, let alone make tall promises. The issue of the murder of a 20 year-old student studying in Delhi, Nido Tania, provides evidence for the same. On 29th January 2014, Nido Tania died of severe lung and brain injuries from a racial attack inflicted upon him in a South Delhi market. It had led to a national debate on discrimination against ‘Northeasterners’ in Delhi’s educational institutions.

As activists and students expressed their outrage over Nido’s death with candle-light vigils all over Delhi, only a handful of the student political units took up this issue  in the DUSU elections of the subsequent year. “Were they afraid that they might lose their vote bank of “mainstream” Indian students if they pressed this issue too much?,” questions Tenzin, a DU graduate from Zakir Hussain Delhi College.

Alana Golmei, founding member of the Northeast Support Centre and helpline, says she gets half-a-dozen distress calls a week. The existence of such a helpline again makes us question the approachability of  student political units at DU and the DUSU, at large.

Samson Marak, a DU graduate, recounts a painful experience, “When I was a fresher in Ramjas College, I had faced racial abuse numerous times. This one time, mustering up all my courage, I remember marching into the DUSU office to complain about the abuse I was facing. I should have known better, for the first thing that the people did there was make fun of my dyed blonde hair.”

It is perhaps wishful thinking to expect much from student political units when even central authorities have been ineffective in assimilating this ethnically distinct population of students. In 2007, the Delhi police published a much-criticised booklet, advising migrants from the northeast to avoid wearing revealing clothes and to not cook their native foods, such as bamboo shoots and fermented soy beans, for fear of upsetting their Indian neighbors who were unfamiliar with those smells. “Campaigners at the DUSU elections, just after the publication of this booklet didn’t seem to have much of a problem with the same. They went  as far as espousing this booklet in their manifesto readings”, testifies Jordan Warbah, a Hindu College graduate who was  in his final year of college then.

When asked about this bone of contention between DU student politics and ‘Northeasterners’, Sanjay Hazarika, Director, Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, Jamia Millia Islamia made an important observation. He said, “It takes great courage to do what North-Eastern students in Delhi are doing. Their ancestors might have opposed the idea of India by holding onto an impossible dream of freedom and separation, but many younger people these days are engaging with the idea of India and reshaping it.”

Highlighting the role that student political units of DU can play in creating a more inclusive student community, he added, “The wider arena of student politics needs to recognise this phenomenon. The process of building goodwill and understanding remains a work in progress.”

 

Feature Image Credits: Hindustan Times

 

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak

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News

Class 10th and 12th CBSE Students Expected to give Re-exams for Mathematics and Economics

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Earlier today, CBSE announced that the Mathematics and Economics examinations for class 10th and 12th respectively will be re-conducted due to “certain happenings”, the details of which shall be announced within a week.  

The Central Board Certificate Examinations (CBSE) announced earlier today that re-examinations for the Class 10th Mathematics paper and Class 12th Economics will be held soon. The dates of said re-examinations will be announced on the CBSE website, by the end of this week. The announcement was made after concerns were raised regarding the papers being leaked, a day before the examination. The class 12th Economics paper had allegedly been circulated in various WhatsApp groups, a day before the examinations.

The decision to conduct re-examinations has generated a mixed response from students and parents. While some see this decision as another opportunity to perform better, others see it as an unnecessary hassle. Neha Mohajer, a class 10th student from City International School, Lucknow says,” I think this re-examination was a good idea since this paper was lengthy; we weren’t able to finish it in time and would’ve lost a lot of marks. It also gives us time to prepare and do better in our next exam.” However, another class 10th student Aishwarya from New Delhi believed that the re-examination will be exhausting. “We do not have the energy to give the re-exam. The news came out right after we gave our last exam”. This would not be beneficial to students who were unprepared for the exam because “someone who was not able to prepare in one year will not be able to prepare in one more week ” Another concern that has propped up for Class 12th students is that the scheduled examination might be close to other entrance examinations that they were supposed to appear for. Students and parents are also questioning CBSE’s criterion for deciding the afore examinations to be re-held since claims have been made that the Class 10th Social Studies and Class 12th Biology papers were also leaked.

According to ANI, Prime Minister Modi conveyed his unhappiness over news of the re-examination. All in all, the decision to conduct re-examinations has thrown students and parents off-guard. This decision, which will affect more than 28 lakh students has generated mixed responses; while some see it as a second chance to score better, others regard it as a source of unnecessary stress.

Feature Image Credits– ANI

Kinjal Pandey

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Campus Central

ABVP clashes with students during the DUTA Strike at Sri Venkateswara College

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The DUTA strike held from the 19th of March witnessed student quarters of different colleges espousing the cause of the teachers’ strike. In the event of the unfortunate lack of camaraderie between two student groups enveloped by a conflict of interests, a tussle broke out in Sri Venkateswara College on the 23rd of March 2018. There were allegations by a group of students who were protesting with the teachers, that members of the ABVP unit of the college stormed their protest and disrupted the strike.

In a phone call conversation with the DU Beat correspondent, Akangsha Chetri, a student protester, described the incident, “While we were striking along with the teachers, the Vice President Alok Rajput and the Joint Secretary Sanjay Sharma walked in with a group of people who aren’t even from our college. They were carrying Bhagat Singh’s poster because it was his birthday. And they suddenly announced that they’d be organising a tribute and asked us to move from there. They said that our music was disrupting their program.” She went on to say, “We tried to talk it out peacefully. We told them that we would turn our music down, but then they started threatening male members of the strike with physical violence. They flung abuses at the girls. One of our professors C. Rawat who tried to mediate was insulted.”

Student protester Nikhil alleged, “While the ABVP people flagged slogans such as ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’, they also screamed ‘Vaampanthiyon Ko Kabar Mein Daalo’ (bury the communists), thereby referring to the protesters.”

In lieu of the incident, some of the student protesters had decided to hold a silent protest outside the administration office on the 24th of March, wherein they would wear black and put tape over their mouth. It was supposed to commence at 10:45 a.m. However, as told to this correspondent by Prema, the hostel President, the administration released a notice early in the morning informing the students that the college would remain closed for the occasion of Navratri. The correspondent was further informed that the protesters weren’t allowed to hold their silent protest in the college premises thereafter.

When the DU Beat approached the President of the college Prabal, he observed, “Taali Kabhi Ek Haat Se Nahi Bajti (you need both hands to clap). Both sides are at fault. The ABVP members had requested the striking students to lower the volume of their music, but the striking students started shouting anti-ABVP slogans. The ABVP members got enraged and that resulted in a tussle.”

When asked about a video of the tussle uploaded online by a professor, Prabal remarked, “Some of the striking teachers are biased towards the students who support their cause.” He further went on to assert, “These students share the leftist ideology. Some of them are even members of All India Students’ Association (AISA).”

On being asked about the future course of action, Akangsha said, “We have been able to procure a promise of action from the administration with regards to the security of the campus and also regarding the filing of FIRs against people who were accused. So right now, we are writing testimonies and sending applications to the Principal to bring justice to our students.”

 

Feature Image Credits: Akangsha Chetri

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak

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BAZINGA: Proctor agrees Demands to Extend Girls’ Hostel Deadline till 12 am

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In an enormous victory for Pinjra Tod and women across the University of Delhi (DU), hostel timings have now been given a significant extension by the Proctor.

Hostel timings in the University of Delhi (DU) were extended till midnight on Friday in order to “reclaim public spaces for women” according to the Proctor, in agreement to the demands of student activism groups like Pinjra Tod amongst others. Divya, a senior Pinjra Tod member spoke of the accomplishment, “This is a landmark move which would remove patriarchal and unconstitutional curfew from all women’s hostels”. The move came after months of lobbying with the administration undertaken by the feminist collective. Regarding the same, the Proctor announced, “We’ve agreed to one of their demands of extending the hostel deadlines till midnight, for a  trial period of 6 months. If all goes well, we’ll bring this into force permanently. ”

However, not all political circles accepted this decision. The Delhi unit of ABVP issued a statement against this “injudicious” statement of the “misguided” Proctor. The State Secretary said, “It is not our culture to allow women to stay out until odd hours of the night. We will not allow this heinous breakdown of our culture.” Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, has gone a step ahead and organised a hunger strike against the Proctor’s decision. The members of the wing have set up a makeshift pavilion in front of the Faculty of Arts, wherein they would hold their strike. On a phone call conversation with the correspondent, Rajat Pandey, Chief of Bajrang Dal said, “This imbecilic move of the Proctor will only lead to reckless behaviour by couples, which might have outcomes as drastic as unwanted pregnancies. Girls from respectable families shouldn’t be allowed to move around at night. We must be cautious of mindlessly imbibing Western culture.” He further asserted, “We won’t stop our hunger strike until this impetuous development is revoked.”

The All Students’ Parents’ Association (ASPA) held a press conference wherein its internal frictions surfaced. Responding to queries from the press, the Secretary said, “The association thinks that it’s a progressive step, and shall strive to ensure that the required safety measures are taken to facilitate the same.” On the other hand, when the President was questioned on the level of comfort that parents feel in respect to this resolution, he said, “To be honest, the comfort level is zero. Parents from all over the country strive to get their girls into the hostel in the hope that they’d be safe. If the administration is insensitive enough to disregard the fears of parents living thousands of miles away, we spit on that administration.”

So far, the consensus on the decision in terms of public reaction is still not out. While some people find the decision revolutionary in terms of putting women and men on equal fronts, while others see it as a deliberate attack on our culture and values.

 

Disclaimer: One of our most beloved features, Bazinga is our weekly column of almost believable fake news. It is only to be appreciated and not accepted!

Feature Image Credits: Women’s Web

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak

[email protected]

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A Culture Shock: My Experience of Holi in Delhi

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Back home in Assam, Holi was just another two-day holiday from school because I was barely a festive person. Little did I know, as I moved to Delhi, Holi would become an endangerment with no redemptive courtesy, with flinging semen-filled balloons becoming the order of the day.

While Holi was to be only celebrated in the first week of March, the “celebrations” started hitting me hard from the end of January when the kids from my colony made traveling to and fro college a gruesome experience. The equation of most people with kids is based on how irksome they are. If they are cute and quiet, people mostly deal with them in methods which do not involve wracking or lambasting. But if they are like the rumbustious boys in my colony who, having just attended puberty, would drench you in tinted water just to see the outline of your bra through the shirt, they mostly deal with them in their minds, for the Delhi High Court banned corporal punishment in 2000. Things, however, started improving when His Highness, the Secretary of our colony, who hitherto hadn’t taken notice of this preposterous behavior until he himself got a scintillating zeppelin hurled at, brought an order from his honorable office instructing the balloon-propelling to be limited to 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

By the time Valentine’s Day came, I knew enough to think of an excuse to escape the myriad water balloons, for I couldn’t show up dripping in colors of blue, yellow, and green for my date. Thus, when I saw those rowdy seven-year-olds approaching with nerve-racking pochettes, I let out meekly, “Tabiyat Kharab Hai, Please Jane Do.” (I’m not well, please let me go). To my incredulity, the leader amongst them, who looked like he’d probably bully little kids into giving up their tiffin in school, demanded, “Doctor ka receipt!” I’d leave it to your understanding the sequence of events that followed when I couldn’t produce that wretched piece of receipt.

I know they say “Bura Na Mano Holi Hai” (Don’t get offended, because its Holi), but when barbarity is disguised as a festival and freeway to harass people, in particular girls, I can’t help but be angry. Thanks to the feminist upbringing of college and the vehement protests of my sisters-in-arms, this Holi I’m allowing myself to be unapologetically angry. Let’s say it loud and clear- “Bura Mano Holi Hai” (Get offended, because it’s Holi). If consent is ruining your festivities, then guess what? I don’t care about your festivities. 

 

Feature Image Credits: The Dawn

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak

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Think beyond 12th Board Results and Delhi University

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12th Board Results are highly unpredictable and it would be foolishness to allow something like that to control your higher education choices. Explore other colleges that admit students on the basis of entrance examinations and more.
Looking at the title, you might think, “Why should we take it from someone who herself studies in DU? Why would she understand?”The relevance and accuracy of board examinations are largely over-estimated in our country. Our XII board marks don’t stay relevant forever; they are a small part of our life, meant to ensure the smooth transition from one phase to another. Even Vineet Joshi, chairman of CBSE, admitted that Class XII scores are not the correct marker for selection for higher education. I have a disregard for the Indian education system and would not hesitate to voice my opinion that the XII boards only test an individual’s capability of answering a paper according to a prescribed answer pattern. Ever since my encounter with the disaster called CBSE English results, my question has been, how can an answer key dictate expression or knowledge in a subjective paper like English?
I don’t wish to delve into a rant about how marks don’t matter and why scoring decent marks in not only CBSE but any other state/central board is a matter of luck and mugging rather than deep understanding of the text. Through this article, I’d share with you my research on why XII board results are not the be-all, end-all for a student.
One of the grave mistakes many students make is that they apply only to the University of Delhi (DU) and ignore other universities and educational institutes in Delhi as well as outside. Jamia Milia Islamia, one of the best alternatives to DU, conducts entrance tests for admission into its undergraduate courses. A well-reputed university, its degree has value and respect equivalent to DU’s degree. Further, the students have the option of applying to government colleges outside Delhi which conduct entrances such as the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, Loyola College in Chennai, Presidency University in Kolkata, Ramnarain Ruia College (affiliated to Mumbai University), some of which begin with the application process way before the central boards declare their results.
There is no doubt that Delhi University has a rich history and some notable names from the fields of Arts, Films, Journalism, Politics, and Literature in their list of alumni. However, for students who want to pursue specialised courses like design or multimedia, DU wouldn’t suffice even if you have the marks to qualify for the same. For instance, only a handful of colleges from over 64 provide Journalism as a course. And even for those which do, students complain of substandard education. For specialised courses, private universities like Amity University, Sharda University, O.P Jindal University, Ashoka University, and Symbiosis Institute provide meaningful alternatives.
IGNOU is clearly not the conventional choice, but the University is worth a shot for students who wish to complete their graduation while pursuing other interests. Correspondence course students can get access to the study material well in advance and can study at their own pace here.
As the XII boards approach, remember not to worry about the uncles and aunts who never wish you in March (before the exams start) but always uncannily materialise in May (when the results come out). Remember that outside DU, there’s a world of opportunities waiting for you to be explored.

Feature Image credits: NDTV
Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak
[email protected]

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Uncategorized

The Auburn Umbrella: What to Wear During the Unpredictable Weather Conditions

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It’s that time of the year again, when it’s too hot for sweaters in the day and too cold for shorts at night. As the mercury makes its trek up and down, the very thought of your winter wardrobe — the starched button-ups, cardigan sweaters, and woolen dresses — makes you start to sweat. But the alternatives — sundresses, shorts, and tank tops don’t seem too appropriate either for the changing weather.

Here is a list of ideas on what to wear in these unpredictable changing weather conditions:

Sunny

Skirts in this weather are tricky, in that you need to pair it with something heavy in terms of rest of your outfit. A colorful, lightweight jacket would bring a little quirk to the skirt. You can wear them with bold accessories and comfortable sneakers.

Arid

When it’s hot but not humid, you won’t be sweating as much as you would have in humid weather, so a thick weight dress can definitely work.

Rainy

Showers in the changing weather are one of the hardest things to dress for, but it’s not totally impossible to be on-trend and waterproof. You can try cropped pants and loose blouses. Coupling both with a printed umbrella will give the dull day a dose of sunshine, while some sneakers will keep your feet dry.

Overcast

When it’s warm (but not quite sweltering), you can wear a mid-length printed dress with a denim jacket in the morning, then swap it for a tailored blazer in the evening, and finally finish off the day in a leather jacket.

Windy

When you notice that your sleeveless shift dress just doesn’t seem befitting for the windy and slightly cool weather, a casual crewneck sweatshirt plays down the debonair combination of a short-hemmed skirt and heels elegantly.

Feature Image Credits: Lilicons

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak
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