Apply now: http://ccs.in/internship/apply.php

Location: New Delhi
Duration: 6 June – 20 July

Explore, debate, and discuss powerful ideas and ground realities with curious students, guides, and
speakers. The Researching Reality Summer Internship at Centre for Civil Society (CCS) provides
students a transformative learning experience in real-life application of social and economic
principles and develops their skills of research, writing, and above all critical thinking.

“The only summer which changed me intellectually and made me develop a rational
perspective on the impact of public policy from an on ground view.” —Saurav Patyal

Researching Reality is unique in that interns do not merely read and report the theories of others;
they go out into the real world to see what’s going on for themselves. Equipped with appropriate
research tools and expert research guidance, interns do field visits to conduct primary research as
part of their work. Finally, interns publish their findings in a way that will be most likely to inform
public opinion and public policy.

The internship consists of a four-day residential course in public policy and liberal philosophy, an
orientation to research methods, followed by six weeks of firsthand research on a topic of mutual
interest to the intern and CCS. Research projects cluster around three main areas:

1. the effects of regulation on livelihood freedom for poor and informal sector workers,
2. the effects of choice-based policy and private enterprise on education, and
3. issues of accountability and good governance.

Student may also suggest their own topics as long as they match the research interest and
competence of CCS.

“There was always room for arguing my point, perhaps because CCS tells you ‘how’ to think,
not ‘what’ to think.” —Areeba Hamid

Students need no special background knowledge to participate. Applications will be assessed on
candidates’ motivation for attending the program, ability to perform well during the internship, and
future career interests.

For more information, go to the internship webpage: http://www.ccs.in/internship

If after visiting the webpage you have further questions, feel free to contact us: internship@ccs.in

Can we have some crowd management please?

The Sports Day of Sri Venkateswara College would probably have never witnessed an attendance of such magnitude as it did this year. The reason wouldn’t exactly accrue to the brilliant marketing of the steeplechases or the relay races, but to the presence of the Nawab of Najafgarh; Virender Sehwag.

True to his flamboyant cricketing style, Sehwag drove up in a dazzling white Audi and was immediately inundated with people wishing to get any part of him on camera. So what if that happened to be his nostrils? They were Virender Sehwag’s nostrils! Hordes of excited students and equally excited friends of the excited students were fended off by the college guards because surprisingly Sehwag brought no entourage. He then moved, rather was pushed towards the Principal’s office which provided him some respite from the crowd. However this would probably be one of the few occasions wherein students wanted to rush into the Principal’s office just so they could catch a glimpse of the opener!

Those who were either vertically challenged or too weak hearted to jostle their way to the front of the swarm of people could assuage their feelings however as they were privy to even the slightest nuance of Sehwag’s movements owing to the intensity of the squeals emanating from the crowd. This continued till the Chief Guest reached the multicolored pandal which was to be his refuge for the next 20 minutes. Seated next to the Principal, Ms. Hemalatha Reddy, Sehwag got himself some breathing space with the college authorities finally managing to create a respectable distance between him and the wannabe glimpse catchers.

Amidst all the brouhaha, Sehwag eventually got down to inaugurating the 51st Sports Day of the college. He said, “It’s nice to see students take a keen interest in sports.” Talking about the sports facilities of the college he said, “The facilities are very good and such events will bring forth fresh talent.” Following this Sehwag was again escorted to his Audi by the squealing crowd and he left with the amount of flamboyance unchanged.

Urvi Gupta

urvig@dubeat.com

Surprisingly, this year Rio Tinto beat the traditional Deutsche Bank in offering Mehtab Singh Chima and Akshita Kapur the highest pay package, a whooping figure of 30 lakhs. Being undergraduates, this figure is a big achievement. The average package was roughly 5.5 lakhs this year indicating that one of the finest commerce institutions still continues to promise a host of deserving employees to the corporate sector.

Mannat Sandhu 
mannats@dubeat.com

Clockwise from top-left: Bhim Sen Singh, VK Srivastava, Valson Thampu, Rajendra Prasad

The principals of four colleges of the University have been in the news for the past one week for all the wrong reasons. While VK Srivastava, the principal of Hindu College has already resigned from the post, an enquiry has been launched against Bhim Sen Singh, the principal of Kirori Mal College. Rajendra Prasad, the principal of Ramjas College faces suspension over his alleged involvement in the fake certificates admissions scam and Valson Thampu, the principal of St Stephen’s College has been accused of dealing with an internal case in an unfair manner.

VK Srivastava, the principal of Hindu College has been juggling two posts since two years. A professor at the Department of Anthropology, he joined Hindu College as the principal in 2010 and retained his post in the department. He however later resigned from the post of principal of Hindu College and kept teaching in the department for two years. He rejoined Hindu College as the principal and applied for a special leave from the department for a period of two years. He was denied the leave, as a consequence of which, he has resigned from the post of principal of Hindu College.

Srivastava’s resignation has come into light when controversy stalks principals of three other colleges. Bhim Sen Singh who was nearly suspended for refusing to implement the semester system in KMC, now has some fresh charges against him. When Dinesh Singh, the current Vice Chancellor of the University visited the Kirori Mal College campus on 2 January 2012, the first day of the second semester of this academic session, he interacted with a number of students. During his visit it was found that classes were not being held for a number of courses and teachers’ attendance was low. The principal of the college too was absent on the day. Following this incident, the college principal was served a notice. He has been asked to step down from the position till the enquiry is on.

Rajendra Prasad, the principal of Ramjas College, charge-sheeted for being involved in the fake certificates admissions scam said, “The charges that I benefitted in the admission fraud case are malicious, mischievous and baseless. The police needs to do a better job in their investigations”.

Valson Thampu, the principal of St. Stephen’s College has allegedly been protecting an employee who has been charged for sexual harassment by a woman colleague. Thampu has tagged the allegations to be baseless, saying, “My only focus is to run the college to the best of my abilities. I wouldn’t want to waste my time responding to these accusations”.

The admission cancellation fee in DU colleges is merely Rs.15, something which hasn’t been reviewed in the past 40 years. Owing to such negligible cancellation charges, students tend to take admission in multiple colleges in order to block the seat, and then cancel admissions. In doing so, many other students are denied seats in colleges. To check this problem, the committee has suggested that if any student decides to cancel his admission till the last date of admission, a processing fee of Rs.1000 will be deducted.

If the candidate comes for cancellation after the last date of admission, then the full fees paid will be deducted. According to a first year student Neha Mishra, “Even though the cancellation fees is an insignificant figure, some candidates may feel that they could have sought admission and probably achieved it as well, and colleges feel that they are kept in the dark at times when already admitted students seek admission elsewhere; it cannot be denied that the fee hike is not going to be affordable for each and every student. You don’t have to be an SC or an OBC to be poor. DU is supposed to be a government university, then why this sudden money-mindedness? The fact that full fees paid will be deducted if admission is cancelled after the last date is simply unacceptable.”

Along with a revision of the admission cancellation fee, to avoid misuse of reserved seats the high-power committee has recommended that SC/ST and OBC certificates should be in the name of the students, and not the parents. This rule has been proposed because some parents’ names (like Ram Kishan) are extremely common. Consequently it is very easy for students to produce such certificates, which has been a prevalent practice in DU. According to the new rule, the certificates for these quotas will now have to be in the name of the candidate and issued within the past 12 months. For admission through the OBC quota, the certificates will now be required in the Central Government’s prescribed format and will have to specify whether or not the candidate’s caste constitutes the creamy layers.

All this has suddenly created a new stir in the minds of those aspiring to join DU for their graduation. “Besides the horrifying and sky rocketing cut-offs and the newly introduced semester system, it seems like we have one more thing to worry about,” says Akshit Gupta (name changed) who is appearing currently for 12th grade Board examinations and is hoping to join DU.

Even though teachers and other faculty members of the University are in agreement with the authorities about SC certificates being issued and verified in the name of the student himself/herself, they still fear that a new series of protests might erupt as soon as the admission process begin, and are afraid that too many changes might disappoint students.

Tazmeen Amna Siddiqi

tazmeens@dubeat.com

Today, 43 years from its establishment, NSS is still going strong and this is only due to the unwavering commitment of its young volunteers. To celebrate this outstanding role of the program and the impact it has had on the lives of thousands of individuals, the NSS wings of Hindu College and Miranda House jointly organised a two-day festival called Umang.

The fest was arranged at the Lal Bagh slums near Azadpur and Hindu College premises on 26^th and 27^th of February. On the first day, the volunteers visited an MCD school in the slums. The children there were seen vibrantly participating in a painting competition and enjoying various game stalls that had been put up for them. They were rewarded with prizes and certificates to encourage their talent. The dramatics societies of Miranda House and PGDAV College provided educational entertainment for all present at the event through their street plays. Needless to add, the children were treated to some delicious food by the nurturing volunteers.

The day saw 200 volunteers from all over DU join hands to accomplish the mission of bringing joy into the lives of these children. Says Disha Ramanan, a member of Parivartan- social service society of Sri Venkateswara College, “ It was a beautiful experience, made even more special by the delightfully precocious children and dedicated organisers. I am proud to say that the day will stay with me forever.” All the volunteers were headed by the presidents of NSS Hindu and Miranda—Priyananda Singh and Vidhushi.

On 27^th February, Hindu College played host to book fair in collaboration with an NGO called Goonj. Complementing the showcase of books and recycled items was an exhibition of photographs that immortalised the work done by members of NSS in 2011. Later in the day, Dr. Vivek Sharma, a member of Gandhi fellowship society, had an interactive session with the youth of today. The fest concluded with some unique sporting events for the visually impaired. These included a kabaddi match, tug of war and a 100-m race.

“We would like to sincerely thank and congratulate all the volunteers for their ceaseless efforts. This is the start of a new culture and I hope it brings us closer to realising our motto—Not me, but you,” said Ishita Kumar, joint secretary of NSS Hindu College.

The principal of Ramjas College would have breathed a huge sigh of relief when every subsequent revelation pertaining to the fake admission scam left him unscathed. However, one shouldn’t suffer with a guilty conscience for long and therefore the principal has joined the ranks of the co-accused. Naresh Tau, admission scam mastermind spilt the beans when he told the police that he gave Rs 80,000 and a bottle of Johnnie Walker to ensure the fake admissions met with no resistance from within the college, to college principal Rajendra Prasad. Although the Principal has denied allegations, he has been charge sheeted in the case filed before the Tis Hazari Court.

Delhi Police believes that in the last two years 36 students have gained admission in the college using forged mark sheets. As a result, 28 charge sheets have been filed wherein several admission committee members of the college have been named as suspects including the convener PK Malhotra along with the “dealing assistants” who handled the admissions in the absence of the teaching staff. The police have identified discrepancies and “mistakes” which would be more compatible with a fixed cricket match. Shockingly, the admission committee overlooked conspicuous misprints in the mark sheets. What is amazing to note is the fact that the staff signed on admission forms backed by mark sheets that had misspelt ‘ninety’. Hence it is apt that a charge sheet says, “It seems that staff of the admission committee has benefitted the accused knowingly.”

As far as the Principal is concerned however, the charge sheet indicting him also mentions “no evidence yet” on his role in the scam. The scamsters, including several former and current Ramjas students, charged exorbitant amounts from students ranging from 1 to 6 lakhs to forge their mark sheets.

It seems as if the admission sham is getting murkier by the minute with skeletons tumbling out of the closet as every revelation comes along. What remains to be seen is whether the Principal manages to clear his name once this shameful affair is over and done with.

Urvi Gupta
urvig@dubeat.com

From a spectator’s point of view, the three days were certainly eventful. I list the 10 things you couldn’t have missed at Nexus 2012:

Rangoli competition

1. The Rangoli’s. Every other fest is marked by a beautiful Rangoli to greet the participants, and Nexus 2012 was no different. Made at the centre of the foyer, it made for a pretty sighting. So much so that not even a single person stepped over it, careful of not disturbing its beauty.
2. Celebrating Delhi’s 100 years. A number of events showcased this year’s theme of celebrating Delhi’s 100 years as capital of India. Upon entering the college, you could see a cutout of the Lotus temple placed in front of the entrance. Apart from that, the Rangoli competition, Collage making among others incorporated the same.
3. The photographs, which were pinned to the walls in front of the seminar hall, in the lobby, in the foyer, almost everywhere were a hit with the audience as well.
4. Security. After the hap hazard handling of the audience during Celeb nights the previous year, the security handled the situation very well this time round. Though at one point of time the Delhi Police authorities did not allow anyone to enter the college including the participants. What followed were the typical Dilliwallah dialogues – ‘Sir, organizing authority mein hun mai, XYZ se puch lo aap’, ‘ Bhai gate pe hun, entry karwa de meri’ among others.
5. The organizers. Dressed in their suits running from one end to another with a walkie-talkie in their hand, responding to the numerous requests from sponsors, celebrities and the participants.
6. The impromptu b-boying to some videshi numbers was a huge crowd puller. The back spin, turtles, hand glide, six steps were among the various moves these performers pulled out of their magic hat. You can find the video on DU Beat’s facebook page.
7. Even though Parikrama rocked, strangely enough there were seats deployed for a ‘concert’, and the audience was supposed to be sitting during numbers like Highway to Hell and But it Rained. While the audience in the front often got up, some cranky fellows sitting at the back who had apparently come for a movie started cribbing. One of them even said – ‘Baith jaoo oyee, warna aag laga dunga sab mein’. He was with a girl, so the crowd let it be.
8. The rattled expressions on your face when you were thoroughly stumped by the questions in the Delhi Quiz, wondering if you have been living in a parallel universe for the past 12 years.
9. Razzmatazz, the western dance competition was marked by a few technical stoppages, but kudos to the teams which kept on performing even with minimal sound and were rightfully cheered on by an appreciating audience.
10. Finally, after the enthralling performances by Parikrama and Advaita, next was the turn of Shibani Kashyap. But, even her ‘Sajnaaaaa ‘performance could not match up to the levels set by the two bands. If this was not enough, a shimmering dress and a pointless Guitar prop did not help her case, entertaining none the less.

Shashank Gupta

WESTERN VOCALS (Solo)

1. Nirupan – Hansraj
2. Shreya Adhikari – Venky

WESTERN VOCALS (Duet)

1. Nirupan and Devika – hansraj
2. Ketan and Malvika – VENKY

WESTERN VOCALS (Group)

1. Kirori Mal College
2. Lady Shri Ram College for Women

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC (SOLO)

1. Dhruv – Hindu ( Sitar)
2. Sagar – Hansraj (Piano)

INDIAN VOCALS (Group)

1. KMC
2. LSR

Special mention – Venky

LIGHT INDIAN VOCALS (SOLO)

1. Shalini- Venky
2. Prachi – LSR

Indian Classical Music (Solo)

1. Risha – LSR
2. Ananya – Hindu

WESTERN DANCE (Solo)

1. Gaurav Mankoti – Venky
2. Mohit – Dronacharya College of Engineering

FOLK DANCE (Group)

1. SGND Khalsa
2. JMC

RAZZMATAZZ – WESTERN DANCE (Group)

1. Hansraj
2. Sri Guru Gobind Singh College and I.P. College (Tie)

CHOREO

1. Hansraj
2. Hindu

CREATIVE WRITING (English)

1. Riddhi – Venky
2. Rahi Punyashloka – Venky
3. Kapil Joshi

GENERAL QUIZ

1. Shankhayan Dutta, Nishit Jain – IIT Delhi
2. Ishit Gupta – CBS

STREET DANCE (Group)

1. Fair Field Institute of Management

STREET PLAY

1. Maharaja Agrasen
2. Shivaji College

MR. AND MS. NEXUS

1. Tanvi Metre
2. Joshua Haokip

BATTLE OF THE BANDS

1. The Uncertainty Principle

Raghav Meattle-Vocals

Abhishek Rajan-Lead guitar

Nishant Kurup-Rhythm Guitar

Siddharth Rajan-Bass

Keith Peter-Drums: Best Drummer

Genre- Rock/Alternative/Progressive 

       2. Mutiny in March

Aman Bharti-Guitars (Maharaja Surajmal, IP Univ.)

Jatin Chabbra-Bass (Chitkara univ.)

Tushar Saxena(fill in)- Bass(Amity)

Shoumitro Roy- Guitars (Amity)

Abhijeet Sanyal-Vocals- (Jims,IP univ)

Abhijeet Baneerjee-Drums (Arena Animation)

Genre-Metal/Hardcore

DELHI QUIZ

1. Shubham Prakhar – NSIT ,Shashank Malik – IGNOU

1. Shashank Ojha, Soumya Sagar – AIIMS

“Out of Focus” – PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION cum EXHIBITION

1. Chaarvi Mathur – Gargi College
2. Nikita Malik – NIFT
3. Yamini Yogya – Hindu College

Farooq Abdullah with Principal Hemalatha Reddy

The first day of the annual cultural festival of Sri Venkateswara College kicked off in the morning with the chief guest Farooq Abdullah inaugurating the three day event.