We all know that the climate in Delhi is virtually divided into two parts- the bone chilling, teeth chattering winters and the face melting, rash inflicting summers. Now that the cold has died away, we, the analysts in DU Beat have meticulously jotted down the 5 things that even the best of us end up hating about summers: Sweat it out: Whether we’re talking about embarrassing stains they leave on our clothes when we’re out or that icky feeling of brushing against some stranger’s sweaty arm, I think we can all agree that sweating is one of the worst things about summer.
Zombie Apocalypse: With all the heat and the drudgery that the summer heat brings along, it does not take much time for almost every Delhite to become a part of the un-dead horde. Inanimate faces, dragging limbs and reeking body odour everywhere. Summer in Delhi is a perfect holiday for shuffling corpses (“Thriller” remake anyone? Anyone?)
The great queue: Be it you trying to fill your examination form, driving to the office or just trying to relieve the pressure in your bowels, there is, by the rule of law, a queue, the length of which is inversely proportional to two factors:
a) the amount of time you can spare
b) the urgency of your work
Now multiply that dilemma with say a 40 degree Celsius temperature and I assure you that you will find religion.
Lengthier day cycles: We have all learnt that summers mean longer day cycles (ignore this if you were the one snoozing at the last bench with me). Now, longer days mean longer time in the blazing heat, lengthier lectures and a lengthier wait on the queue I just mentioned earlier.
Water shortage: Get ready to listen to the dry, hollow whistle of your household taps as it tries to cough up some water (don’t blame the poor chap, it tries its best). Parched throats and rabid demand for packaged water are common syndromes of the summer blaze. Oh and I would strongly advise you to avoid using shampoos. The shower has a nasty habit of running dry just after you apply a thick lather of shampoo (And when the shampoo gets into your eye, and you’ve run out of water, you will know pain like no other)
On Wednesday, 21st May, 2014, the University Grant Commission (UGC) sent letters to many colleges and departments of Delhi University, asking not to appoint ad hoc teachers since the salary of these teachers is not pertinent according to the commission’s guidelines.
As per the letter, the vacant posts those are presently filled by the ad hoc teachers should be allotted to contract or substitute teachers and these appointed teachers will be given full salary except allowances, gratuity and increment. Guest or part time teachers may be appointed against the posts falling vacant due to retirement, death or resignation. There is an approximate of 5000 ad hoc teachers appointed in the university who are being affected by this change.
“All ad hoc teachers arein state of panic and this process that UGC is asking for is completely illegal. According to the UGC, the ad hoc teachers will get full salary except the allowances which almost halves their salary. This is very disadvantageous” says Nandita Narain, President of DUTA. Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) had asked for the withdrawal of the letter and a clarification to be issued respectively. The executive committee of DUTA also called emergency meetings on 22nd and 23rd of May to delve into the matter in detail.
“We want to know the grounds on which UGC has sent these letters to the colleges because there is no transparency. There is huge contradiction between what UGC says and what is being done by university. We have written to UGC, the university and various colleges. UGC is ready to give the clarification in written form, most probably on Tuesday, 27th of May,” she added.
The Old Students’ Association (OSA), Hindu College organized a panel discussion on the book Hindu College Delhi: A People’s Movement at the India International Centre, New Delhi on 20th of May.
The book is written by Dr Kavita A.Sharma, former Principal, Hindu College and currently Director, India International Centre, and W. D. Mathur, former Bureau Chief, The Indian Express. The book depicts the history of Hindu College and deals with its establishment as a nationalist institution in the post 1857 Walled City of Delhi. The book also talks about the college’s growth and evolution as one of the pre-eminent institutions of higher learning in Delhi University and the country.
The panel discussion on this book was chaired by Dr Kapila Vatsyayan, the founder director, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. Among the panelists were Shri Yashovardhan Azad, Central Information Commissioner; Prof. Dinesh Singh, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi; Justice Manmohan, Judge, Delhi High Court, Dr. Lalit Bhasin, noted legal luminary and President, OSA; Shri K C Mehra, Resident Director, Shapoorji Pallonji Group and Vice President, OSA; Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations; Shri M K Venu, noted journalist, writer and executive director, Amar Ujala Group and Prof. Aparna Basu, former Professor of History, University of Delhi and author of several books including one on the History of Delhi University.
In her opening remarks, Dr Kavita A.Sharma welcomed all the esteemed guests and shed light on the book. She also recalled how people from Hindu and Stephen’s College contributed towards the development of both the colleges. Justice Manmohan remarked, that before this book, there was no authentic document on the history of the college, in spite of it being a 100 year old institution.
Prof. Dinesh Singh called the book ‘a fascinating one’ and observed that the book complemented and supplemented his notions and perceptions about history of the college, university and India. Dr Kapila Vatsyayan in her remarks said that the book wonderfully captured the history of India and the college. She suggested that book could also be made a mandatory reading for all the students of the college and also stressed on the systemic changes in the funding and accountability and use of Western models of alumni funding.
Shri M K Venu delved into the history of India and recalled different educational traditions prevalent in various cities. Shri Yashovardhan Azad praised the book and recalled many incidents from his days and history of the college. He also talked about how Chandrashekhar Azad sought refuge in the hostel during the hard days of Indian independence.
Prof. Aparna Basu talked about the enormous amount of research which went into the book. She recalled the financial difficulties the college faced and how bhikhshuk mandali was formed to collect funds from the people.
On Saturday, 24th May 2014, Open day organized by the Dean of Student’s Welfare Association was held at SP Jain Centre in South Campus. The auditorium was jam-packed with aspiring students, parents and members of the organizing committee, twenty minutes before the program actually started. Dr. Dinesh Varshney , Deputy Dean- Student’s Welfare, South Campus, commenced the interaction session by introducing the student volunteers and the speakers.
The student volunteers gave a presentation introducing the University, courses offered, admission criterion and eligibility. The presentation also highlighted the schedule of admission, admission information centres, documents required at the time of admission, reservations, hostel facilities and entrance tests.
Following the presentation, Dr Minoti Chatterjee, Principal of Kamala Nehru College, addressed the gathering. She advised “Students should look at all the college websites, read the prospectus of various colleges, visit the college campus if time allows, choose a college which is nearby their residence and choose the course rather than the college”. She also talked about the exit points of the FYUP.
Prof. Avinashi Kapoor (Joint Dean Students Welfare) greeted the turnout. He said “Our education system doesn’t stimulate all 500 neurons; there is still lot to be done with the system. It is a misnomer that FYUP is very different from what other universities of India provide. In fact, it is something in addition.”
After Prof. Kapoor’s talk, Dr. Gyantosh Jha (Principal, ARSD College), Dr. Ajay Arora (Principal, Deshbandhu College) and Dr. Purabi Saikia (Principal, Bhagini Nivedita College) addressed the mass. They discussed FYUP, the Discipline Courses, the advantages of major and minor subjects under FYUP, facilities provided by the University.
The first session ended with the doubt clearing round, where Dr. Gulshan Sahani answered queries of the students and parents, followed by the second and third session. “The session was informative, almost all our queries are solved. The only thing I could say is that it should have been more elaborate discussion on the course content rather than focusing on the university” says Kanika Kalra, a student aspirant.
The Delhi University Open Day Program being organised by the Dean of Student’s Welfare Association had its second interaction with admission seeking students and their parents on Thursday, May 22nd, 2014. The main agenda of the day was simplification of the admission procedure, solving of frequently arising queries and familiarizing the students to the working of other DU projects like Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC) and Non Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB).
The day began with a doubt clearing session with Welfare Association volunteers, which was followed by a presentation of admission norms and address by Ms. Savithri Singh (Principal, Acharya Narendra Dev College, DU), Dr. Suprita and Ms. Shobha ( Cluster Innovation Cell in-charges of B.Tech in Humanities and B.Tech in Mathematics & Information Technology) and Professor Khurana, who addressed the common doubts of admission seekers.
Basic Guidelines for admission in Delhi University for under-graduation courses (2014)
While addressing the audience at Conference Centre, North Campus, Professor Khurana said, “The introduction of F.Y.U.P. has been a landmark incident, which brought tremendous rise in applications to Delhi University from 175000 applicants of 2012 to a quarter less than 3 lac applications in 2013. The degree awarded at end of three years is considered equivalent to an under graduation degree, after which students are eligible for employment, MBA or UPSC/ SSC/CGS exams. The fourth year is for students seeking specialization in the subject.”
Apart from this, the following key points related to admissions were discussed on the second Open day of university of Delhi.
Stage One: The Pre-Admission Form
1. There will be a common pre-admission form in the O.M.R. format for all the colleges of University of Delhi, except Jesus and Mary College and St. Stephen’s College, which shall have different application forms available at college premises/ websites.
2. The issue of application forms begins from June 2nd and goes on till June 16th, 2014 (all days except Sundays from 9 A.M to 1 P.M.) and forms shall be available from and submitted at the 18 Admission Information Centres spread in all parts of Delhi.
3. The form should be filled accurately, without cutting/over writing in blue or black ball point ink. Leave a space blank between name and surname, indicate against category/ status of result/ gender clearly.
4. The admission seekers can also apply online at www.du.ac.in, the facility shall be available throughout the day from June 2nd to 16th, 2014.
5. The students shall not be required to submit any documents whatsoever at the time of filling the pre-admission form, except of self attested passport size photograph(s).
6. Any form received by the means of postal delivery shall be summarily rejected. The forms either need to be manually submitted or filled online.
7. Students with Compartment in Board exams or whose result is awaited can also fill in the pre-admission form. The admission, however shall be a subject to the fulfillment of minimum eligibility criterion of the college in which admission is desired.
8. Students belonging to SC/ST/O.B.C./ General category shall be required to indicate their status in the pre-admission form if they so wish to avail the benefit of.
9. However, admissions to colleges by E.C.A./ Sports quota is subject to college’s individual rules and requires the candidates to fill in separate forms for each college. Remember, it is advisable to fill the common pre-admission form as well along with the individual colleges’ E.C.A. oriented forms. If the admission on basis of quota is not awarded, the student can still seek general admission in other colleges.
10. A student can circle as many courses as he wishes to in the pre-admission form. Encircling the courses, automatically makes his registration applicable in all DU colleges that house those courses. One common admission form shall be filled in for all courses.
Stage Two: Computation of Eligibility Criterion/ percentage
a) For selection in Mathematical Sciences/ Science courses
On the basis of marks in P.C.M./ P.C.B. or P.C.M.B. ( P – Physics, C – Chemistry, B – Biology, M – Mathematics)
b) For selection in Humanities/Commerce courses
On the basis of ‘Best of Four’ Percentage which includes:-
i) One compulsory Language subject.
ii) the Discipline- 1 subject; subject in which admission is sought.
iii) Any two elective subjects, the status of elective subjects, defined as follows.
The 40 Discipline One subjects offered by Delhi University (considered – Elective subjects for purpose of admission)
The Elective/Academic subjects for purpose of admission. Source: Delhi University Website (www.du.ac.in)
Note:-
– In boards, where commerce is not taught, the subject of ‘Accounts’ shall be considered as the replacement elective subject.
– The student wishing to pursue Commerce, shall be no longer required to have studied Mathematics in Class 12th. However, the students wishful of pursuing Economics are required to have studied Maths in class 12th. Though, it can be avoided in computation of ‘Best of Four’ percentage.
– The student who hasn’t studied the subject he wants to take up as Discipline – 1, shall suffer a disadvantage of 2 percent.
– Any student who hasn’t studied three elective/academic subjects in class 12th, shall incur a disadvantage of 10% of maximum marks (0.1*100 = 10 marks) on each non elective subject included in ‘Best of Four’ percentage.
Different situations and course of computation so followed. Source: Delhi University Website (www.du.ac.in)
c) For selection in Honors degree in Business Management.
Equal weight shall be given to the merit i.e. Class 12th Boards result as well as an Entrance test. (Schedule for registration and conduct to be announced shortly.)
Stage Three: The Cut Off Lists (beginning from June 24th, 2014)
1. The cut off lists shall begin to be released from Tuesday, June 24th, 2014, three working days including the date of issue of list shall be allowed for admission procedure and payment of fees in the first five lists, and time of two days for admission in subsequent five lists.
2. Once student has missed seeking admission to a particular college in first cut off slot, the student shall not be allowed to be admitted to the college on basis of any any subsequent cut off lists, even if the required eligibility percentage has fallen down.
3. There shall be separate percentages indicated for candidates from SC/ST/O.B.C./ General categories in each cut off list.
Stage Four: The Process of Admission
1. At the time of admission, the admission seeking candidate shall be required to be present in the college campus along with self attested copies of the following documents.
a) Class Xth & XIIth Mark Sheet.
b) Class Xth Pass Certificate.
c) Class XIIth Pass Certificate (Provisional).
d) Character Certificate.
e) Transfer Certificate.
The documents shall be verified, and once the fees is paid, the admission procedure is completed.
2. Additionally, the students applying for SC, ST or O.B.C. Category shall be required to produce the concerend certificates to avail the benefit at time of admission. Remember, such a certificate should be in the admission seeker’s name, not in the name of parents.
Also, the O.B.C. category certificate should clearly indicate the non creamy layer, the candidate belongs to.
3. If after admission to a particular college, the student becomes eligible for a better college/course in succeeding cutoff lists, the first admission will have to be withdrawn and the college authorities shall return the certificates to the candidate with no delays.
4. If at any time, a student is found to be admitted to more than one college/ in more than one course, both the admissions shall be deemed to be canceled.
“It is indeed an informative exercise, clarifying the requirements and procedures of admission to the University. Something like this was required and had been missing, when my elder son was looking for admission here.” said, Ms. Sangeeta, the mother of an aspiring DUite.
The Open days go on for eight more days, with the next two days venue being located in the South campus.
For the detailed schedule of Delhi University open days and list of speakers, click here.
The Office of the Dean of Students Welfare is right in the middle of holding Open Days for young DU aspirants. With the 12th board result slated to be out on May 26th, DU is doing its part to help curb pre admission jitters and entertain as many queries as possible. An Open Day essentially comprises of a presentation on Delhi University and the admissions procedure, followed by a question answer session. Each day, 3 sessions- 1 hour long each- are held, addressed by the Dean of Students Welfare and the Deputy Dean, Mr. J M Khurana and Dr. Tuteja. The session is Open for everyone who wishes to attend including parents of the students. Here are some of the valuable inputs the first session had to reveal:
The central admissions form will be available online and offline from June 2 to June 16, 2014. The offline form is available at various admission centers spread cross Delhi. The North Zone includes- Daulat Ram College, Hans raj College and SGTB Khalsa College among others. The South Zone has A.R.S.D College, Gargi College and a few others. Admissions centres for East Delhi and West Delhi Zones are also in place.
The first cut off list comes out on June 24, following which the first round of admissions will start. The first admissions round completes on June 26.
The subsequent lists comes out post June 26, if any colleges have seats left.
At the time of admissions, the documents needed are:
10th board certificate and marksheet
12th board marksheet
Transfer Certificate
Character Certificate
Category Certificate (if a student wishes to take admission from a reserved category, he will need a certificate IN HIS OWN NAME)
Also, Students who wish to pursue a stream other than the one they studied in the 12th grade can do so- From Science to Commerce to Arts. A 2% deduction will be done in their cumulative score for each new subject that they haven’t studies before. The reverse switching (i.e, from arts to commerce to science) is not allowed.
The session also included a presentation by Dr. Kaur and Dr. Shobha, faculty from Cluster Innovation Centre who talked about the unique courses being offered in their programs.
The session concluded with one on one interaction between the Deans and the students. Anyone who wanted to ask anything particular was personally answered.
The University will be holding Open for almost the nest ten days, the schedule of which can be found here:
Bachelor Of Management Studies, the only undergraduate management course offered by Delhi University, has been seeing quite a few changes in its admissions criteria. As per recent reports, the entrance exam, which was slated for cancellation, is back on.
With the course being only 1 year old, the admission criteria changed last year, when a group discussion round was removed from the criteria. Another change that was sought to be implemented this year was the abolition of the entrance exam, and having 12th grade percentage based cut offs for admissions. The proposal, however, faced vehement opposition, with the Principals of the 6 colleges offering this course along with the student body refuting the idea.
As per recent press release from the office of the Dean of Students Welfare, the entrance exam is back on, with an equal weightage being given to the test score and the board percentage. Whether the decision is final or is due for further deliberations is not certain yet. If the new proposal is finally implemented then the personal interview round for the final selection of students will be done away with.
Kritika Relan, a second year student from BMS is uncertain of the outcome. ‘The criteria has been shifting from one to the other. The whole point of a Personal Interview was to judge students holistically. Only having an entrance seems inadequate.’
A 19 year old student, who was pursuing B.Com (Hons.), via a correspondence course from the University of Delhi, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her Krishna Nagar residence on Wednesday. What was more shocking was that she had left a note on a table which mentioned that the reason for her taking such extreme steps were in a video message on her mobile phone.
The body of the student was found by her father, who had just returned from work at around 11: 45 PM. On examining the video message it was found that she had been deeply frustrated with a group of five people, among which trio of two brothers and a sister who were their neighbors had been regularly harassing and stalking herher. She has named them in the video.The brothers identified as, Joginder and Sonu often passed lewd comments and taunted her with obscene gestures. The others would also join in the act. The duo including their sister had beaten her and her mother in August last year after a complaint was lodged for harassment against the families living in their neighborhood. The brothers were arrested then but were let out on bail.
As a part of initial investigations, it was found out that the deceased was severely depressed after her fiance had turned down their marriage, due to the inability of their family to provide him with a car. Her fiance was detained under the charges of abatement to suicide. Although when the video was viewed, a case was registered under the same charges yet no one was arrested.
The most shocking part of the video was that she mentioned that she held no one responsible inspite of mentioning names of people who were harassing her. As told to newspapers,DCP East Ajay Kumar said, “The student’s family was not on good terms with the neighbors. They had had several disagreements earlier. Investigation is on.”
Delhi University will be holding almost ten days of Open Day to give an opportunity to prospective students and their parents a chance to clarify any confusion and uncertainty regarding admissions, course and colleges.
The University has released a schedule of the Open Days.
The Open Day in North Campus will be organized from 21st-22nd and 26th-30th May in Conference Centre, North Campus, while two days have been allotted for SP Jain Centre in South Campus from 23rd-24th. The timings for the same are from 10:00 am to 1:00pm.
Date
Venue
Guests
21st May, 2014
Wednesday
Conference Centre, North Campus
Prof. SudhishPachauri (Pro-Vice-Chancellor), Prof. J.M.Khurana (Dean Students’ Welfare), Prof. Ajay Kumar (Dean, Research & HOD, Math), Dr. Jaswinder Singh (Principal, SGTB Khalsa College), Prof. Amitabha Mukherjee (HOD, Physics), Dr. V.K. Kwatra (Principal, Hansraj College), Dr. S.P. Aggarwal (Principal, Ramanujan College)
22nd May, 2014
Thursday
Conference Centre
North Campus
Prof. Malashri Lal (Dean, Colleges), Dr. Neelima (HOD, Computer Science), Dr. Poonam Verma (Principal, SSCBS), Dr. Savithri Singh (Principal, ANDC), Dr. B.Moitra Shroff (Principal, IP College), Dr. Sunil Sondhi (Principal, Maharaja Agrasen College), Prof T R Seshadri ( Physics)
23th May, 2014
Friday
SP Jain Centre
South Campus
Prof. Umesh Rai (Director, UDSC), Dr. I.S.Bakshi (Principal, Dyal Singh College), Dr. Hemlata Reddy (Principal, Venkateshwara College), Dr. Shashi Tyagi (Principal, Gargi College), Dr. Inderjeet Dagar (Principal, CVS), Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath (Principal, LSR)
24th May, 2014
Saturday
SP Jain Centre
South Campus
Prof. Avinashi Kapoor (Joint Dean Students Welfare), Dr. Gyantosh Jha (Principal, ARSD College), Dr. Vijay Lakshmi Pandit (Principal, Rajdhani College), Dr. Ajay Arora (Principal, Deshbandhu College), Dr. Purabi Saikia (Principal, Bhagini Nivedita College), Dr. Minoti Chatterjee (Principal, Kamala Nehru College)
26rd May, 2014
Monday
Conference Centre
North Campus
Prof. Satwanti Kapoor (Proctor), Dr. Savithri Singh (Principal, ANDC), Dr. Shashi Nijhawan (Principal, Shivaji College), Dr. Praduman Kumar (Principal, Hindu College), Dr. Manmohan Kaur (Principal, SGND Khalsa College), Prof Anupurani ( Physics)
27th May, 2014
Tuesday
Conference Centre
North Campus
J.M.Khurana (Dean Students’ Welfare), Dr Anju Gupta (Director, NCWEB), Dr. P.K.Khurana (Principal, SBSC), Dr. Kalpana Barara (Principal, Aditi Mahavidyala), Dr. Anula Maurya(Principal, Kalindi College)
28th May, 2014
Wednesday
Conference Centre
North Campus
Prof. J.P. Sharma (HOD, Commerce), Prof. Aditya Bhattacharya (HOD, Economics), Prof. Ramesh Gautam (Director, ILLL), Dr. P.C.Jain (Principal, SRCC), Prof. Rama Mathews (Dean, Education)
29th May, 2014
Thursday
Conference Centre
North Campus
Prof.H. S.Prasad (Dean, Arts Faulty), Dr. J.B.Singh (Principal, SGGSCC), Dr. S.K. Garg (Principal, DDU College), Prof. M.M. Chaturvedi (Director, CIC), Prof. Sreemati Chakarbarti (HOD, East Asian Studies), Prof. C.S. Dubey (Director, COL),Prof. Anand Prakash (Dean, International)
30th May, 2014
Friday
Conference Centre
North Campus
Prof. S.C.Batla (HOD, Botany), Prof. Rashmi Joshi (HOD, SFUS), Dr. Pratibha Jolly (Principal, Miranda House), Dr. Aslam Parvaiz (Principal , Zakir Husain College), Prof. Uma Garg (Dean & HOD, Music Faculty)
In an attempt to increase sports participation at higher studies level, Delhi University’s Academic Council(AC) has introduced five percent quota under sports category from this year for postgraduate admissions. The reservation will be imposed on all faculties barring medicine, engineering, technology and management studies.
Even though the facility existed the prior year unawareness and unsystematic implementation created a lax in its enforcement. The system has been streamlined this year according to which students applying under sports category will have to sit for the entrance examination but there admission under this category will be determined by a trial and interview.
Students who get admission under this category will have to practice their sport religiously after admission, failure to do so will lead to cancellation of the said admission. As told by DU Sports Council (DUSC) director Jitender S Naruka to Times of India, students of sports category should actively participate in the day-to-day training and practice of games, coaching programmes, camps, inter-college and inter-university tournaments, besides other meets approved by the DUSC.
The Council has also introduced methods of examination in a bid to make it easier for the sportsperson to balance college and sports.An alternative method of assessment will be applied by the department or institute in case a sportsperson fails to sit for an in house examination on account of their participation in sport related activities. The marks for tutorials in the internal assessment scheme will also be given after consideration with DUSC.
