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Students of Ramjas College were prevented from gathering in college amphitheater for peaceful Preamble reading by the college administration.

The students of Delhi University’s Ramjas College formed a Young India Coordination Committee along with the nationwide movement by Young India. On 15th January, the committee called for a public meeting at the college amphitheater- a common space where students meet every day, as a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). However, the students were notified that no programme could be held at the institute’s amphitheater without prior permission from the administration.

“ABVP had conducted a program (in the amphitheater) on Vivekananda Jayanti just the day before. But on 14th night, the admin put up Notice saying that no gathering will be allowed. When we came to the college on 15th, we saw police forces outside the gates with lathis and guns while the non-teaching staff wasn’t letting people enter the amphitheater. ABVP had also started mobilising their goons in the college,” quoted Abhigyan, a second-year political science student at Ramjas.

The students accused the administration of attempting to disrupt their peaceful gathering and the reading of the Preamble of the Constitution while the Principal claimed it to be one of the college’s rules. The police were called to prevent any inopportune occurring. Finally, the students decided to gather at the Chemistry Lawns within the campus and peacefully march towards the amphitheater.

“200+ students raised the slogans of Azadi (freedom) right in front of the police, principal & administration, and ABVP. Everyone read out the preamble and also sang the national anthem. Nobody dared to stop us. Once the students do these, it becomes harder to label them as “anti-national”. How can you call someone who sings ‘Jana Gana Mana’, a traitor? Who will believe that a person who proudly reads the Preamble is a terrorist? The program peacefully went on with Ramjas Dramatics Society, Shunya, performing a brilliant play and the students ending it by singing various protest songs,” provided Dhathri, a third-year political science student in Ramjas.

Principal Manoj Khanna argued that the students should have sought permission from the administration at which the college would have made prior arrangements. “If any department wants to hold a function, it has to take the administration’s permission. Is it possible that anybody can come and do anything at the amphitheater? If something goes wrong, who will be responsible?” added Khanna.

The students admitted that no permission was sought. However, Dhathri also provided, “We did not think seeking permission from the clearly biased authority to read preamble and gather around in support of the constitution in our very own college was necessary. We also did not think it was appropriate to get someone’s approval to read and discuss a book (Constitution) in university spaces”.

The Principal also said, “If you want a debate on anything, there has to be both views. It should be an open debate, where each side gets a chance to convince their audience.” 

“The Ramjas Principal along with police and admin staff tried to disrupt our meeting continuously. They kept saying ‘controversy ho jaayegi’ (a controversy might occur)  and ‘maar peet ho sakti hai’ (a brawl may take place). The fact is that they themselves know that it is only the ABVP which inflicts violence, yet they were hell-bent on curbing our gathering, rather than stopping the goons,” further added Abhigyan. 

 

Image Credits: Jaishree Kumar for DU Beat

Aditi Gutgutia

[email protected]

Culture preservation and safety has motivated the University of Delhi (DU) to convert the North Campus into an enclosed area to form a proper campus, much like the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) campus. The initiative will be completed within a year and was informed by the Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi at the executive council (EC) meeting on Saturday 26th October 2019. 

Currently, the proposal is in the contact phase where government agencies and departments are told to start the process, an official announcement hasn’t been made yet. 

The two-day meeting held on Saturday, was a platform for many issues to be discussed, the IOE proposal, construction of 39-storey building and the closing of North Campus. 

However, while these issues may seem independent, they are interconnected. If the EC’s proposal is accepted to enclose North Campus, the construction of the building will be deferred. And, IOE (Institute of Eminence) proposal would pave way for the closing of North Campus. 

EC member Rajesh Jha, said, “We have always demanded that the campus should be closed as we want DU to have a character of its own just like JNU and other varsities in the country. The closed campus will also help authorities improve the security on the varsity premises.”

North Campus is a hub of academics at the University of Delhi, with many colleges and departments within meters of each other, and so, it has always witnessed the greatest college student footfall. This raises some serious questions regarding the safety of the students, with recent developments in many violent cases taking place at North Campus. This concept will increase the safety of students manifold. However, it may subject them to false seclusion and isolation. The culture of campus may be gone when only students of those colleges could take part in it, and not all could witness it.

Interviewing students from all over the campus, DU Beat received many mixed responses.  Here’s what DU students have to say about this. 

Aditi Raj, Daulat Ram College, North Campus said “The idea seems far-fetched, I don’t know how they will manage to do it. The campus is full of roads that connect two parts of the city. And other universities like JNU, have a huge campus with all departments to enclose, where we are just calling few colleges and departments the entire university campus.” 

Satviki Sanjay, Miranda House, North Campus said, “I don’t think DU North Campus should be closed. To ‘maintain its culture’ sounds like a terrible reason as DU ‘culture’ is not just limited in the North Campus but also the other colleges. Closing it would just strengthen the already prevalent elitism in the North Campus. Moreover, there are logistical issues that need to be resolved. DU North Campus is not just educational institutions but an entire ecosystem of students, teachers, market places, transportation and all which make DU North Campus what it is and closing it would rather hamper the ‘culture’.” 

Akshat Arora, Motilal Nehru College, South Campus said, “I feel like restricting an area to a limited number of students will work against your intentions if you intend to preserve “cultures”.”

Whereas, A counter-opinion also existed among the DU students. Priyanshu Sinha, Delhi School of Journalism, North Campus believes, “When we step out of the Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station to head towards our respective colleges, it feels more like going to an isolated corporate office than going to a University. Like JNU, Delhi University needs to have a closed campus.”

Many times the argument comes that DU is a collegiate like Oxford which is based in the Oxfordshire. But then we forget that Oxfordshire is completely established for Oxford University whereas Delhi is a diverse city having government offices, corporate buildings along with the University. It doesn’t feel like a University campus when cars flock all the time, outsiders who have nothing to do with the college or the education roam around in the campus. It also dilutes unity of the campus as a single entity. This step by the administration is very pleasant and we welcome it wholeheartedly.”

Pranavi Prabhakaran, Daulat Ram College, North Campus, told DU Beat, “North Campus is a truly important academic area. It’s only surprising that this move hadn’t been taken earlier. I hope it will be cleaner now.”

While different opinions surface in the University, many questions like whether the infamous Hudson Lane and Patel Chest Photocopy Lane be part of mainstream campus? Will the stalls and Chai corners that exist, still cease to exist? Will colleges provide parking spots to those who earlier parked outside?

To answer all these questions and many more, a formal official notification is awaited. 

Feature Image Credits: Dailymail

Chhavi Bahmba 

[email protected]

 

On 5th September, DU Beat conducted a telephonic interview with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) Presidential candidate Akshit Dahiya ahead of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections 2019, to shed light on his opinions and views.

Akshit Dahiya is currently a first year L.L.B. student at Faculty of Law, University of Delhi (DU). He’s also a graduate in B.Sc. Physical Sciences from Ramjas College, and a silver medallist in bodybuilding from University of Delhi (DU). He became a member of ABVP in 2016.

What are the main issues you will focus on as a presidential candidate? 

Being a sportsperson, I strongly feel about encouragement of sports in University of Delhi (DU). Outside if you notice, all the students who win medals are of universities. Hence, I have a dream that in 2024 Olympics, it should be DU students representing India. 

The other thing is DU special buses, I come from a very low metro connectivity area, so transportation from my home to the varsity became a task. That’s why, we would start these buses by making petitions. 

There have been recent cases like the one on Old Gupta road or near Hindu Rao Hospital that seriously question the safety of students. Have you done anything to ensure the safety of students studying and living there? 

We’ve already taken various steps. I did my entire campaigning on bi-cycles. I took 100 bi-cycles from college to college. I had two motives for it, one was of Green Delhi, it’s shameful for all, how we’re not contributing as individuals towards this issue. The other is, the scheme of closed campus. A lot of cars are driven in campus making students prone to accidents.

What are the few highlights of the ABVP manifesto for DUSU Elections, 2019? 

Even though we’ll have an entire manifesto announcement, few points are: 

  1. Metro Concession passes: Metro is raising their fares constantly making it very expensive for a normal middle-class student of DU to travel. 
  2. Scholarships in University: ABVP is the only group that allotted 50% of their entire budged towards giving scholarships to sportsmen, PWD candidates, and Economically weaker students.
  3. Holiday homework: All the students sit idle for the two months till 20th July until classes start. We’ve taken a target that will we provide 10,000 students with internships in summer vacation. 

How inclusive is ABVP towards LGBTQIA+ students? Will they receive adequate representation? 

It should be noted, that in our manifesto we have mentioned that we want free education for Transgender and the entire LGBT community. 

DUSU seems an unapproachable entity to the common DU student. Will you take any steps for making it more student friendly and less intimidating? 

I was never part of student politics earlier. I was a studious student. So, I’m well aware of the thought process of sports and study-oriented students and I will run a cycle of schemes and programmes to bring them to DUSU. Already ABVP-led-DUSU has done events like “She the Change” to increase the involvement of women and we will continue this even for cultural society members, and sports students as well. 

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Lyngdoh Committee has kept 5000 as maximum expenditure for campaigning. How do you and your party abide by it? 

Our entire party follows this thoroughly as ABVP works on ground level and each student gets affiliated naturally. We work under those INR 5000 per candidate very easily. 

Campaigning for DUSU often leads to littering in campus by all political parties. What steps have you taken to avoid this? 

Our motive this time is Clean Campus. We will follow it in depth and thoroughly till the end. There is no way ABVP supports this. We have ensured that the campus had cleanliness. It’s just the other parties that don’t work all year round and then need heavy campaigning to win, unlike ABVP. 

In 2017, many DU colleges proposed to be given autonomy, which could lead to privatisation of DU’s constituent colleges, are you for or against this, and why? 

My opinion and what steps ABVP will take regarding this will only be revealed in our press conference soon.

Last year, there were allegations of EVM tampering against ABVP, how will you ensure that incidents like this don’t occur this year and how do you plan to make sure elections are held fairly?

The issue of EVM tampering came because on the post of secretary there were only eight candidates and yet votes had been given on a ninth ballot as well. 

It shouldn’t be situated with us, as NSUI won the post of secretary making it evident as to who tampered EVMs. For us, democracy is above all. We have never engaged in undemocratic acts like these.

University of Delhi was recently declared an Institute of Eminence by the Union Government which entitles DU to a receipt of INR 1000 crores over 5 years, however, the trend in 2019 in DU has been of increasing fees and hostel rates, why do you think this is so? And what will your party do to reduce fee hikes and hostel rates?

We have worked a lot against fee hikes for students. Citing a few examples, there was Rajiv Gandhi Girls’ hostel which had increased its fee manifold, ABVP went there to protest and accomplished the goal of reducing their fees for students. At Ramanujan College, after they increased their fee by 100%, we protested there for the same. 

In the end, I would just advise all the students to come and vote. We’ve struggled a lot in history to achieve voting rights for students. They should vote as this time elections will be held on the ideology of nationalism.

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ABVP Panel 

President: Akshit Dahiya, Ballot No.1

Vice President: Pradeep Tanwar, Ballot No. 5

Secretary: Yogit Rathi, Ballot No. 3

Joint Secretary: Shivangi Kharwal, Ballot No. 4

Feature Image credits : ABVP 

Chhavi Bahmba

[email protected]

 

Months on, the road outside Ramjas College is yet to be fully constructed. The road poses a serious threat to differently-abled students.

Amidst the unpredictable Delhi monsoon, the road outside Ramjas College turns into a sludge of dirt, grime, and puddles. Delhi police barricades stand in strange places as students leap over puddles and potholes.

The road that was dug up in March, in hopes of creating an improved one, still remains unfinished.

It limits the movement of students, and other travellers towards Daulat Ram College and Vijay Nagar. The looming cloud of dust became a permanent resident of the college, as students and teachers with breathing issues struggled.

During the second phase of construction, the road right outside the main gate was dug up, a gaping pit, roughly 10 feet deep stared at the world as students were forced to make their way to the college through the sidewalks caked with mounds of dirt and rubble. A walk to the college became a hiking trip.

As the raging Delhi summer went by, the capricious monsoon arrived. The dust outside the college has settled to puddles and swamps. Delhi Police barricades stand at the opening of the road, sometimes, it turns into a parking spot.

The tarmac on the road is yet to be laid but bikes and scooters still manage to scoot past the barricades. On the days when it rains heavily, the road turns into a massive puddle, forcing students to make their way through the sludge.

Letters to authorities have remained unanswered. Udhav Sharma, a third-year student wrote to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), explaining his concerns over the damaged roads. However, the NDMC is yet to respond. “The Principal told me that the work will get over in a few days.” But that’s yet to come true. Another pit has been dug up towards the sports ground gate of the college.

The road is also a source of great discomfort, and a possible threat to differently-abled students, faculty members and visitors to the college. Ramjas College is yet to become fully disabled-friendly. “The college space is inaccessible for people like me, the staff are rude, the damaged road is the cherry on top. There’s always a major risk of getting injured,” said a master’s student who chose to be anonymous.

The college Principal and Vice Principal remained unavailable for comments.

 

 

Feature Image Credits: Jaishree Kumar for DU Beat

 

Jaishree Kumar

[email protected]

 

 

The Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC) is an institution of University of Delhi, established in 2011. Based on interdisciplinary learning, it has been designed to seek and derive answers to the real world problems in all spheres, and look for innovative solutions for problems of the society.

It is a Meta College as well as a Meta University concept with an innovative curriculum, which is more project-oriented and tailored to the need of the society and industry.

Located in the quaint premises of Rugby Sevens Building, University Stadium in North Campus, it is a promising course for students who wish to seek the connect of research with its practical application.

COURSES OFFERED AT CLUSTER INNOVATION CENTRE:

Currently there are three courses offered at CIC-

  1. B.A. (Honours) Humanities and Social Sciences
  2. B. Tech (IT and Mathematical Innovations)
  3. M.Sc. (Mathematics Education)

SEAT MATRIX FOR B.A. AND B. TECH COURSE:

In 2019 – 20 there will be 44 seats each in both the courses. They are distributed as:

General Category – 20 seats

EWS – 2 seats

OBC Category – 12 seats

SC Category – 7 seats

ST Category – 3 seats

Apart from these there are 6 supernumerary seats distributed as:

PwD Category – 2 seats

CW Category – 2 seats

Foreign Nationals – 2 seats

 

  • B.A.(Honours) Humanities and Social Sciences

This is an off-beat course compared to other regular honours programmes offered by University of Delhi.  It is based on interdisciplinary learning, which presents an opportunity to the student to design his/her own degree.

This course is divided into four streams:

  1. Journalism
  2. Counselling
  3. Historical Tourism
  4. Art & Design

Based on these four streams a student can study a variety of subjects offered in different colleges of University of Delhi in semesters two to five, and study some basic courses at the centre itself in semester one and six. Apart from the core papers, the distinctive aspect of the curriculum is the hands-on research project, which gives the students a grass-root level experience of the functionality of the society.

One can schematically study Political Science at Hindu College in one semester and Economics at SRCC in another! The interdisciplinary nature of the course gives a holistic view in the field of humanities and social sciences.

Commenting on the course, Rishabh Gogoi, a third year student of CIC says, “It’s unlike any other course in the country, and a much needed alternative in an otherwise restrictive education system. We all know the efforts of the University of Delhi to enhance the flexibility of its course structure through the Credit Based Credit System (CBCS). The course at CIC takes the same concept several steps ahead to present its scholars an absolute freedom to design their own degree. Although there are a number of nuances associated with the aforementioned “freedom”, but regardless, the B.A. course at CIC is undoubtedly the best decision any indecisive student can make who wants to study humanities and/or social sciences.”

Niharika Dabral, an outgoing student of CIC reminisces her experience at CIC as, “I would never change my experience at CIC for anything. It’s a college experience like none other. Since I’ve survived the project presentations I think I can survive anything. It has been intense.

There are so many things that have to improve, but that University stadium is comfort. Four colleges in six semesters is bound to make one like a nomad, but today I’m more independent than ever.”

However, a person may feel detached and have a certain sense of instability due to changing colleges in each semester, from semester two to five. It may not be the best fit option for students not willing to feel so.  But this rigorous course would surely develop leadership qualities and improve one’s perspective towards humanities and social sciences.

  • B. Tech (IT & Mathematical Innovations)

Cluster Innovation Centre offers a four-year B.Tech. programme in Information Technology & Mathematical Innovation.

According to the official website of CIC, “The B. Tech course offered is a unique programme, is designed to inculcate an innovation mind-set as part of the curriculum and pedagogy. Building strong analytical skills through Mathematics and application skills of Information Technology (IT), this course encourages students to recognize the connectedness of various disciplines.”

The streams offered in the B. Tech programme are-

  1. Robotics and Embedded Systems
  2. Economics and Management
  3. System Biology

The innovation lab known as the “Engineering Kitchen” is the place where students carry out hands-on projects, experiments and model implementations which are linked to the curriculum.

Yatharth Rai, a third year student from B. Tech. says, “The curriculum, although hectic, is quite flexible. The three minor streams grant a clarity. There is a focus on practical applications, rather than theoretical expertise. Each paper in the semester has an accompanying project. I personally find these projects extremely beneficial as they provide an outlet to the theoretical concepts learnt during the semester paper.”

The B.Tech course offered is comprehensive with a special emphasis given on practical learning. In last semester of the course i.e. 8th semester, the programme is based on industrial internship to give students the necessary work experience.

Unlike other B. Tech courses, a student of Arts or Commerce having Mathematics and English can apply in the B.Tech (IT and Mathematical Innovations) course on the condition that he/she fulfils the eligibility criteria as laid down by the Cluster Innovation Centre.

  • M.Sc. (Mathematics Education)

It is a meta-university concept, which offers a two year post graduate programme jointly offered by University of Delhi and Jamia Milia Islamia. The course is developed to give students theoretical as well as hands-on experience of mathematics education.

There are total 20 seats in the programme distributed as:

University of Delhi: 10

Jamia Millia Islamia: 10

Seat Matrix:

 

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Source: www.ducic.ac.in

All the three courses offered at Cluster Innovation Centre are uniquely designed and promote hands-on learning in addition to building theoretical concepts. Therefore, these courses offer a different experience of academics altogether.

Selection to these courses is based on an entrance test which is to be conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) this year.

The entrances for the Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes are to be conducted between 30th June, 2019 – 6th July, 2019.

Feature Image Credits: www.ducic.ac.in

Sriya Rane

[email protected]

 

The college fests bring with them large and often overly enthusiastic crowds, necessitating tight security measures. DU Beat looks at what the security staff themselves have to say about this.

“Fest ke samay zyada satark rehna padta hai” (we need to be more alert during fests), tells us a security guard at Hindu College, requesting anonymity. Naturally, a larger crowd makes checking more difficult. The gentleman tells us that while they recognise 90% of the regular college students, strict ID checks are the first step before allowing entry to anyone – outsiders or not. The same sentiments are reiterated by a female security guard at Hansraj College, also wishing to remain anonymous.

Mr Damodar Singh, a security guard at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) tells us that since it is easier for troublemakers to enter colleges during the fests, the security has to exercise extra caution – switching their phones off is the first thing guards do. Talking unnecessarily to anyone has to be avoided, lest some slip in checking may happen.

Colleges make extra arrangements during fests, especially for maintaining order inside the premises. Bouncers are often present around the campuses to control any chaos. Yet, perhaps their effectiveness is up for question.

Mr Singh tells us that bouncers have an important role to play if chaos erupts; security guards can’t get aggressive in controlling the situation as they have to encounter the students regularly. “Hum bas pyaar se samjha sakte hain” (we can only deal with students softly), he remarks. The lady at Hansraj also tells us how guards sit at the gates while bouncers handle the situation inside.

On the other hand, the gentleman at Hindu, says, with a chuckle, “Hungama hota hai to bouncers bhaag lete hain” (the bouncers run away if chaos takes place) – stating that in such cases, the guards themselves need to control the situation.

While the guards admit that some students get rowdy and try jumping on stages during music performances, they don’t really agree to alleged cases of misbehaviour or lapse of security happening at the fests.

Some students allegedly managed to get alcohol and weed inside the barricades during Crossroads 2018. Mr Singh, however, maintains that beedi, cigarettes and alcohol are strictly banned.

As was reported by the Hindustan Times, the crowd stormed the barricades during singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh’s concert at Hansraj’s Confluence 2017. A stampede was caused following a gas leak, accompanied by the felling of a firework station that caused some electric shocks. The security guard at Hansraj, however, denied these claims.

According to an article in the Times of India, similar incidents of crowd rampage and breaking of barricades took place during singer Parmish Verma’s performance at Maitreyi College’s annual fest last year, forcing the gig to be stopped midway.

Regardless of whether the accountability for these incidents is acknowledged, the probability for security lapses remains high. Of course, the management and organisers need to be held accountable. However, with enthusiasm and excitement running high among overwhelming crowds, the responsibility also lies on the students to exercise precaution and alertness and to maintain civility in order to ensure a safer environment.

 

Featured Image credits: The Times of India

Prateek Pankaj
[email protected]

A few students of Ramjas College decided to hold a meeting in protest of the recent raid and arrest of five human rights activists and intellectuals by the Maharashtra police on 30th August in the basketball court of the college at 12 p.m. However, the protest was cancelled at the last moment by the college administration due to the alleged “fear of violence” in the campus.  DU Beat spoke to teachers, students, and other people involved in the incident. Read on to know the full details. 

Support for the event was generated by a few students from Ramjas College through social media, especially Facebook posts. Dhatri, a second-year student of Political Science at Ramjas, who spearheaded the event, said, “We have seen how human rights intellectuals, activists, and various other people who were highly qualified were arrested on the false grounds that they had Maoist links, which is completely bizarre.  So we were outraged as students and we decided to have a discussion on it? It would only be productive as more people would be informed about what’s happening all over the country and how voices of dissent are being suppressed by the government.” She also alleged that the posters the students had put up about the event were taken down. “Suddenly in half an hour, we see that they have been taken off. In front of the staff room, the posters were taken off in a span of five minutes,” Dhatri added.

DU Beat talked to the security guards, who were ushering the students away from the basketball court. The guard on duty said that the Principal had issued a notice against the gathering of more than four people, in fear of the “threat of violence” because of a rally that started by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) around the same time in front of Ramjas College. On being pressed for more information, the security guard refused to allow even one person on the basketball court and ushered the students away.

According to the students holding the protest meeting, such a rally had not existed till that morning. Although they had not taken prior permission for such a meeting, they said that they had assumed that the students of the college would naturally be allowed to congregate in the basketball court for a meeting. In an official notice by the college administration later, it disallowed “any procession or unlawful assembly or gathering or disturbing the classes in group or demonstration without the prior approval of the Principal inside the College Campus.”

According to Professor Rahul Kumar Rao of the Political Science department, he had been told by the Principal that any such meeting has been disallowed and prohibited. “They said that elections would happen on the 12th of September and there is a fear of possible violence. I told the Principal that we had planned an interactive session instead of a protest and as far as interacting with the students is concerned no teacher can be disallowed from interacting with his students. But as far as protest is concerned, yes, prior permission has to be taken.”

The students then assembled in Room 315 of the college and held a meeting, deciding that they would then submit a petition to the Principal seeking permission to hold an interactive session again. Dhatri also alleged that a person from the Special Branch of the Delhi Police had called her and asked her to keep her updated in case of any meeting they organise. “If I want to have a meeting with my friends in the college or with my professors, why am I supposed to inform the Delhi Police? Why would the police be informed by the Principal of a college about an interactive session with the students? Why would the ABVP start a rally at the same time at the same place?” Dhatri also alleged that the Principal had also put a stop to even small gatherings in the classroom until the elections, without prior approval.

Was ABVP involved?

The ABVP had meanwhile arranged a rally at the Faculty of Arts at 11 p.m., campaigning for which, according to its volunteers, had started a month before. Various pre-election candidates started their own individual rallies around points like Ramjas College, Kirori Mal College, School of Open Learning, etc. They all congregated at the Arts Faculty. According to an official poster, the rally was supposed to focus on various issues related to concerns of students such as the construction of new hostels and colleges, installation of sanitary pad vending machines in all University of Delhi colleges and so on.  

While inside the campus, the security guards of Ramjas College closed down its gates, not allowing anyone to enter or leave the campus, claiming that they have orders from above. Sudhir Dedha, an alumnus of Ramjas College, was the ABVP potential candidate who started his rally at the Ramjas College gate and marched towards the Arts Faculty.

Mahamedha Nagar, the General Secretary of Delhi University Student’s Union (DUSU) claimed that the ABVP rally had nothing to do with the cancellation of the meeting. According to her, the ABVP had never meant to enter Ramjas. When asked about the alleged “threat of violence”, Bharat Khatana, State Secretary of ABVP, said, “These are false rumours. There was no such protest or rally to be held in Ramjas by us. Our rally was in Arts Faculty. We had no plan to go inside Ramjas College.”

Allegations of “Urban Naxalism”

The issue of “Urban Naxalism” has gripped the recent discourse in media. Shri Niwas, National Joint Organising Secretary of the ABVP, threw up allegations in the rally at the Arts Faculty that the professors of Delhi University were slowly propagating Urban Naxalism. He specifically mentioned colleges like Ramjas, Kirori Mal, and Hindu College as being hubs of such ideology.

“We see that there is an issue on campus about Urban Naxalism. So, we need to make students aware of these because these are Urban Naxalites,” Mr. Khatana said when asked about Shri Niwas’s comments.

“There are certain professors who are spreading Urban Naxalism in campus. For now, we cannot say who these people are. In time, they will show their colours. Not just these three colleges, there must be other colleges too,” he added referring to the arrest and conviction of Professor G.N. Saibaba and the 2017 Ramjas incident wherein slogans for the independence of Bastar (in Chattisgarh) were allegedly raised.

When asked about the allegations of violence perpetrated by the ABVP members in the 2017 conference in Ramjas College, Mr. Khatana said, “It was the college union which gave an application to not allow people like Umar Khalid to come and speak in their campus. The violence had started from their side and not from the ABVP.”    

Meanwhile, the students of Ramjas plan to continue with their meeting on 1st September, Saturday after their petition to hold a meeting was denied by the Principal to avoid “disruptions by college election groups”, as Dhatri claimed.

Sara Sohail

[email protected]

With inputs from Haris Khan ([email protected]) and  Sharvi Maheshwari ([email protected]

In yet another instance of smothering the agents of discourse and discussion, the Delhi School Of Economics (DSE) postponed an event on the campus on grounds of ‘lack of space’.
The event, titled ‘DU Conversations Celebrate 70 Years of Indian Democracy’, was scheduled to be held on Thursday. It was being organised by ‘DU Conversations’, a group comprising students and teachers from different departments of Delhi University.
However, Pami Dua, the DSE director issued a notice stating that the event had to be ‘postponed due to lack of space’.
The organisers on the other hand, allege that the event was postponed even after obtaining prior permission.
The program was to have included songs of the freedom movement by a member of the Ambedkar Univerity, Delhi  faculty, a performance of Dastan-e Amir Hamza by DU history students and music by a workers band. In between, say the organisers, there were to have been two 15 minutes slots for open conversation about DU concerns, “including discrimination”.
Further, efforts of the students to approach the proctor of the university, hoping for an alternative venue, were squashed by the DU Chief Security Officer (CSO).
Denying rumours that students were invited to speak on the Ramjas issue at the event, organiser Rajat Sonkar said, “We did not invite anybody to speak on the Ramjas issue and, unlike some reports doing the rounds, we do not have any political affiliations” as told to The Hindu.
The students further said that they were persistently questioned by the police and charged with “baseless allegations”
On February 22, violent clashes had broken out between the ABVP – the student wing of the RSS – and students who were protesting the cancellation of a seminar where JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid were expected to speak. Since then, several events on campus aimed at discussing the political clashes in Ramjas college have been cancelled.
This has created an atmosphere of a bleak University space where voices and reason can’t sustain itself under the authority of the administration. The question remains, how long will this culture of muffling opinions under the garb of administrative judiciary, persist?

Feature Image Credits- The Wire

Ankita Dhar Karmakar
[email protected]

A “Poetry Procession” was organized by All India Student’s Association(AISA) at the University Of Delhi on  4th August (Friday). Students and AISA activists took out a poetry march with the theme “Harmony shall win.’ The march visited Ramjas College, Hindu College & Kirori Mal College protesting against the allegedly growing number of violent incidents on campus, reported Hindustan Times.

The students’ march from the front gate of Arts Faculty was followed by a large number of alert policemen, many of them in riot gear. Raising banners and singing songs, the marchers reached Ramjas College and took their procession inside the College campus.

When the participants entered Ramjas College, they were met by protests by members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), who shouted slogans like “anti-national AISA get out of campus.” Slogans of “AISA campus chodo” and “Deshdrohi naare lagane walon, wapas jao” were also heard. Police officers accompanying the procession prevented any untoward incident.

While speaking to Hindustan Times Saket Bahuguna, the National media convener of ABVP denied the presence of any ABVP activists there and said that the resisting students were probably Ramjas Students. But one of the ABVP members Sudhir Dedha while speaking to Times of India accepted the fact that it was ABVP members who protested against the march. He said, “We will not tolerate their presence and will keep protesting against them.’

At Hindu College, the students were not allowed to enter the premises hence they registered their protest by singing songs and reading poetry outside the college gates.  Hindu College principal Anju Shrivastava, however, said she had been busy at the time and was not even aware of the protest at the college gates or that they were denied entry.

Meanwhile speaking to Hindustan Times about the reason behind the protests, Kawalpreet Kaur said “We wanted to break the silence, that is borne out of fear amongst many in Delhi University Campus. In the light of what has happened in Ramjas, SRCC, and other DU colleges, we wanted to convey a message that violence on campus cannot be normalized.”

Image Credits: Hindustan Times

 

Sandeep Samal

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Reid Hoffman once said, “an entrepreneur is someone who will jump off a cliff and assemble an airplane on the way down.”, the founding team of E-Cell Ramjas took him at his word as they sketched their launch pad event roughly ten days before its implementation. Fighting against all odds, the team put together 500+ students and 30+ companies making The Internship Fair 1.0 a grand success! ‘ – Cover

 

The Startup Edge- Entrepreneurship Cell, Ramjas College organised an Internship Fair on 15th November 2016. The fair witnessed a chock a block participation of more than 500 students hailing from several states and varied educational backgrounds who thereby availed a chance to be interviewed by the HRs of 32 companies, startups and NGOs ranging from First League Ventures to Karma circles, DU Beat to Visok Advisors and Yoddhas to WWF. Approximately 3500 walk in interviews were conducted and 250 CVs were submitted to the online hub for evaluation by 10 elite brands. Also, the event’s training partners Internshala & Talerang guided the students on CV making.

internship fair

Being the society’s first event, The Internship Fair 1.0 became the stage for its inauguration. The principal of Ramjas College, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, officially proclaimed the society by cutting the ribbon and reinforced our Prime Minister’s initiative of ‘Startup India, Standup India.’ Along with the Principal and Vice Principal , the event was attended by supreme faculties of Ramjas College such as Dr. PC Tulsian and Dr. ND Vohra and the Secretary of DUSU, Mr. Amit Sangwan.

At the conclusion of the event, the founder of Clado and an alumni of SRCC asserted, “This is the best internship fair I have ever perceived” Alike were the thoughts of the founder of Esmee network who appreciated the quality of participants by saying,” I have been paying several websites in order to find interns but none could compare the quality I found at Ramjas.” The team of Clazzez professed that they ended up selecting double the number of people they initially planned on hiring. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, being flooded with positive reviews, congratulated the E-Cell Team and invited collaboration proposals from several NGOs and startups.

startup cell

In the words of the president of the society, Sunny Garg, “ The Internship Fair 1.0 accorded E-Cell Ramjas with mass recognition, a strong startup network, an indomitable spirit and most importantly, a high fervent and proficient team that shall lead the society to newer heights!