Caucus, the group discussion forum of Hindu College organised Vaktavya 2016 on the 15th and 16th of March. The two day fest commenced with an interactive session with Dr. Suborno Chatterjee on the topic ‘Giving refuge: The Syrian refugee crisis in Europe’ followed by a book discussion on Khaled Hosseini’s renowned novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns.” The discussion, which was moderated by Nemisha Kawatra and Muhammad Daniyal, the President and General Secretary of Caucus respectively, took an interesting trajectory with the plight of women in areas of conflict, artistic freedom and the change from resistance to terrorism being discussed among other things. The first prize at the end of the discussion was awarded to Nimisha Savapandit and the second prize to Mehtab Kamboj. The second day started off with a group discussion on the topic ‘Is objectification of women indispensable in the comic verse?’ moderated by Adya, the Vice President of the society. Asis Mansingh was declared the best speaker at the end of the event. This was followed by the final event of the two-day extravaganza, a screening of a short movie, Little Terrorist. The movie followed the story of a 10 year old Pakistani boy named Jamal who accidentally crosses the border between India and Pakistan and finds an unlikely ally in a Hindu Brahmin named Bhola. As Indian soldiers search the village for the so-called terrorist who crossed the border, Bhola’s family insist that they cannot harbor a Pakistani under their roof as a result of which Jamal’s only hope is the humanity that is shared between people separated by this artificial barrier. The movie was followed by the final group discussion of the event where Shreya Parmar emerged as the winner. Provided by Caucus, The Discussion Forum of Hindu College ]]>
The issue has its origin in the fact that the Governing Body of Hindu College has not reimbursed the amount of the fee waived in the last three years. As per an advisory of the University, the Governing Body must meet this expenditure through funds available to the college. Currently, the amount outstanding under this head is Rs. 7,19,313.
The HRD minister spent only 20 minutes in the college, during which the administration announced a complete hostel fee waiver and 50 percent reduction in the mess fee for disabled students. The minister arrived at 11 AM and left the college premises by 11:20 AM. She also met the college officiating principal Anju Srivastava, hostel warden Poonam Sethi and Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) president Nandita Narain. The warden claimed that the governing body didn’t allow the implementation of the scheme in the first place.
DUTA president Nandita Narain made a representation to Irani on the issue of victimisation of teachers, teachers’ pension scheme and the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS). Irani also personally met the teachers who have been on protest for 42 days against their penalisation by the college for writing a letter to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to complain about alleged irregularities in the functioning of the college and certain construction work in the college campus.
Irani assured that she will mark the representation regarding Hindu College to the governing body and seek its response. She also said that the DUTA and other teacher associations will be invited before the review committee and that a meeting will be called to discuss controversial Choice Based Credit System.
Last week, DU’s Executive Council passed CBCS without discussion.
Image credits: DUTA
Sidharth Yadav