June 2013

Admissions 2013

St. Stephen’s College Cut Off 2013

By DU Beat June 21, 2013

Every year, St. Stephen’s College has its own procedure for admissions. After the forms are filled, there is a release of cut-offs followed by interviews. Admissions are based on marks obtained in the Qualifying Examination(s) and on interviews held for candidates whose marks are above the cut-offs. The interview list will be out on Saturday, 22nd June. (For entire Admissions 2013 coverage click here)

Here is St. Stephen’s category wise cut-off for 2013:

Economics received the highest BFS cut-off when compared to the other courses at St. Stephen’s. The cut-off happens to be almost the same when compared to that of 2012. For the general category, the course has a requirement of 85% marks in Maths while students under the SC/ST category have an additional qualifying criteria of 80%.
Number of seats available in Economics: 100

Mathematics cut-offs have surely risen when compared to the previous year’s cut-off. For the general category, commerce students now require a BFS of 97 instead of 96.25 last year while science students need a 96.5 instead of the 96 that was present last year. The biggest leap is required by Humanities students who would now require a 94.5. The rise in cut-off is not exclusive to the general category since other categories also show a higher percentage requirement for the course than before. The BFS score should be inclusive of the applicant’s mathematics score.
Number of seats available in Mathematics: 50

English with its tag of one of the most sought after courses in the college, does show a slight rise in the course cut-off. Until last year, while other courses were providing admissions for English on the basis of CATE (Common Aptitude Test for English), Stephen’s has always chosen candidates on the basis of the cut-off and the interview. When compared to 2012, the cut-off for the generally category has seen a slight rise of 1% for commerce students and 0.5% for humanities students. Students from science still need an extremely high percentage of 98%, same as last year. The SC/ST category also shows a significant rise of 2-3% for students from all the three academic backgrounds.
Number of seats available in English: 60

History sees a slight rise in the cut-off with an increase of around 0.5-1% for the general category. The SC/ST category however, shows a steep rise of 2-3% when compared to the 2012 cut-off of St. Stephen’s.
Number of seats available in History: 60

Philosophy under the general category has shown the maximum rise. The difference between the cut off for the two years reflects a change of up to 5.5%.
Number of seats available in Philosophy: 10

Sanskrit with a 65% BFS requirement across all streams and categories, continues to stay the same as last year.
Number of seats available in Sanskrit: 10

Chemistry has received a 1% rise for the general category cut off changing last year’s 95 PCM requirement to a 96 this year. With regards, to the SC/ST category the change is again significant with a difference of 4%.
Number of seats available in Chemistry: 60

Physics cut off records a rise of around 0.67% across all the categories. The subject continues to stay one of the most sought after courses of the college.
Number of seats available in Physics: 60

Update: Students can check the Interview Schedule here.

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Flicks

Man of Steel: Movie Review

By Akriti Gupta June 21, 2013

Film – Man of Steel
Starring – Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner
Director – Zack Snyder
Producer – Christopher Nolan
Rating – 3/5

The first thing most Superman fanatics would notice is that our hero has finally learned to wear his red underwear on the right side of his pants, and also that, Zack Snyder’s steroidal yet sensitive Man of Steel is not a superhero film. To understand what sets Man of Steel well apart from previous efforts to deliver Superman to a mass audience, it’s important to keep in mind that the Superman who has shown up in movies and on television to date is only nominally a figure of science fiction. Mr. Clark Kent here has a heart folks. But there is so much even Christopher Nolan can do to make this movie any different from its small-screen counterpart Smallville.

The kickass and bold graphic-laden trailers definitely raised expectations and eyebrows, and also, let down many of us when the actual movie came out. The movie is a cross between the broody Nolan-style and also the loud bone-crunching style of Zack Snyder. ‘Man of Steel’ is punchy, engaging and fun, but it eventually slips into a final 45 minutes of explosions and fights during which reason starts to vanish and the science gets muddy.

Henry Cavill plays the quintessential wandering 20-something super hero, with the curl on the forehead and dimple on the chin et al. Performances by Michael Shannon and Russell Crowe were laudable, whereas the usually chirpy and fresh Amy Adams disappoints in this one with her ‘barely there’ role. Mostly, this ‘Superman’ is more action than angst. But those daddy issues are still in play. The graphics and action sequences were well- directed and engineered, and the soundtrack composed by the legendary Hans Zimmer kept you at the edge of your seat at all times.

So overall, this Superman was a good shot at restarting the franchise with a fresh angle at the storyline. The cinematography was similar to that of a ‘Tree of Life’ with the beautiful backyard and sunset.

Yet, the Man of Steel failed to enthrall us as much as it was expected earlier.

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Lady Shri Ram College for Women

The Implications of Autonomy for Top DU Colleges

By Tanya Kak June 21, 2013

The Union Home Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is working on a plan to give complete autonomy to some of the country’s prestigious colleges. The move will free the colleges from the administrative control of the Universities they’re currently affiliated to. So here’s how this dramatic step promises to topple the world of the various colleges being spoken of and what the implication of this fancy jargon will be, on us students.

Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR), Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and St Stephen’s College – three of the top ranking colleges of Delhi University are being sought to be brought under the ambit of this drastic step. However in what ensued, was a collective and outright state of condemnation and panic by the faculty and the students alike.

Earlier in the year, the staff association of LSR resolved “to reject any move to delink Lady Shri Ram College from the Delhi University in any manner and in any aspect in part or in whole “. As far as LSR is concerned, clarified Ms. Meenakshi Gopinath, no such application form for autonomy had been filled or no such proposal was lying in the pipeline. This statement came in the wake of similar rumours about granting of autonomous status to these colleges. The statement also went onto say that privatisation of these colleges would compromise on inclusiveness, equity and quality of higher education in India. Calling it as one of the ways for the state to recede from the key sectors of the economy, they were completely opposed to such balkanisation of The University.

The teaching community has mixed reactions to offer on this, as do a lot of DU students. Some of them see it as the last stone to be unturned for saving the fate of thousands of students from the shackles of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme being introduced in the University. The rest of them are grappling with the fear of a possible financial crunch which might lead to a hike and a change in the fee structure in future, making higher education inaccessible to the masses.

Whatever be the case, all we can do is to keep our hopes high and believe that this is not going to be another one of the rushed-and-then-put-under-the-carpet-steps blindly taken by the authorities like The Four Year Programme. While making such decisions, it becomes important to involve the stakeholders- faculty and the students and to uphold the democratic values that we so vehemently preach in the confines of those four walled classrooms.

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Admissions 2013

Entrance Gyaan: Bachelor of Management Studies- Last Minute Do’s and Don’ts

By Raghav Chopra June 20, 2013

Another year, another batch and yet another bunch of earth shattering cut offs. If you’re a class 12^th student about to enter college, you’re in for a treat. SRCC and St. Stephens are having yet another bumper year with all the aspiring economists vying for a golden ticket. All the budding engineers are hoarding to get into IIT Delhi (or any other, for that matter).And all the others students pursuing different streams are holding their breath as they eagerly await the first cut offs.

Among the various questionable changes being introduced in the curriculum from this academic year, the introduction BMS-Bachelor of Management Studies- is the most engaging. It is a four-year undergraduate program that has been formulated after combing BBS, BBEand BFIA. To everyone’s surprise,More than 22,000 students have applied for the course. So it’s just going to be you and 21,999 other students competing for a few hundreds seats, to say the very least. Not to dampen your spirits further and to make this article actually worth reading, let’s focus on what exactly is the entrance exam going to be like.

The marks are distributed as follows:

50%	The Entrance Exam
30%	The Board Result
20%	Personal Interview

In order to actually reach the personal interview round, an applicant first needs to clear the written exam. Here is a list of Do’s and Don’ts that can be helpful in preparing for the exam:

The Test Structure: The exam will have a total of 100 questions. Although there is no set syllabus, the exam aims to test:
- General/ Business Awareness
- Quantitative Abilities (Mathematics)
- Reasoning Skills
- English.
The format of the exam itself is still the same, so practicing from past year papers can be of great help. Practice questions can also be found on the Facebook pages of prominent institutes like Pratham, IMS, Edumentor etc. Another very useful website I stumbled upon is ‘www.indiabix.com’. It has general practice questions on most of the sections for BMS. Also, continue reading the newspaper (no, not HT City and the Delhi Times, but the main paper).

Segment wise Division: Every candidate has only 120 minutes to complete the exam. So it’s better to think of a strategy before entering the exam hall. The section on General Awareness is the shortest, so that should be attempted first. The Mathematics and Critical Reasoning sections, being the lengthiest, should follow it. The English Section is relatively easy so that can be attempted in the last, keeping in mind the time constraints. It’s better to attempt an entire section at once as it helps to maintain a flow of thought.

Negative Marking: 1 mark will be deducted for each incorrect answer and correct answers fetch you 3 marks each. So if your unsure of an answer, it’s better to leave it blank. Also, DO NOT mark multiple answers for the same question.

The Examination Day– Irrespective of what you have or haven’t done, stay calm and confident. Do not clutter your mind with new things. Either you know it or you don’t know it and there is nothing you can do to change that a few hours before the exam.

Last Minute Worries– Last minute hassles can cause more troubles than the exam itself. Make sure that all your documents, stationery, admit card etc. are in place well in advance. Read all the instructions carefully a day or two before the exam to make sure you don’t ignore an important instruction.

Keeping all pointers apart, work hard; there is no substitute for that. Study smartly and plan your time well. These two always seem to work.

All the best!

Illustration Credit: Megha Sarogi

(For entire Admissions 2013 coverage click here)

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Admissions 2013

An Open Letter to VC Dinesh Singh

By Siddhi Goel June 20, 2013

Respected Mr. Dinesh Singh,

This letter is to congratulate you on your relentless pursuits to making Delhi University a world class university. I am fully aware that due to the “hurried” changes in the degree program, you have received more brickbats than bouquets, but this letter is an exception.

It has been around three years that you’ve been elected the VC of the best university in India. In your interviews you’ve maintained that the preparations for implementing the four year undergraduate programme (FYUP) started as soon as you held office. Even then you made the smart decision to implement the semester system, just to replace it with FYUP after two years. Your uncanny future planning is admirable, sir.

You’ve claimed rather vehemently that FYUP is going to increase the employability of students. I fully trust you when you imply that by studying non-core subjects more than core subjects in the span of 4 years, a pass out will be the preferred choice. I also believe you that by giving multiple exit points and still “benefiting” from the studies, a drop out with a B.A degree will get a job without really specializing in his 2/3 years of study.

Sir, I appreciate your concern for the students who wish to study in U.S.A after completing their graduation in India. Your decision to make structural changes (increasing the span from 3 years to 4 years to suit the USA model) rather than focusing on the quality of the structure (the quality of core disciplines, lessening the burden of non-core subjects) is admirable. Because you see, spending a year extra without learning extra is the goal, USA and all.

I understand you value quality education, that’s what FYUP is all about after all, isn’t it? Therefore I applaud your decision of making students study the disciplines that are in no way related to the field they want to major in. The fact that you’re making an English major aspirant from humanities background study biochemistry perfectly makes sense. Because the value of science foundation courses is so important in literature after all, that it would have been better to delete a Shakespeare text and replace it with physics. Also, since not everyone has studied biochemistry at the high school level, college level bio-chemistry is going to be pretty much same to high school bio chemistry, so that everyone is able to study, thereby not taking college level studies a notch up. I perfectly see where you’re taking quality education with this.

You, respected sir have created an ideal university, where professors keep shouting and administrators turn a blind eye. Where students aren’t able to learn and nobody listens. Where cut offs keep rising and quality education keeps going downwards.

Congratulations sir. My heartiest wishes to you in your endeavour to achieve life, liberty and happiness, and perpetual deafness.

Yours sincerely
A student who being in second year is facing the misfortune of not studying in FYUP.

Image Credit: South Campus website

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Admissions 2013

SOL might adopt FYUP in the next academic year

By Gurman Bhatia June 19, 2013

After a range of concerns surfacing amidst students, the School of Open Learning, popularly known as SOL might be getting the FYUP next academic year onwards.

SOL or School of Open Learning is Delhi University’s solution for students who prefer distance learning. The correspondence courses from the institute are a popular preference for students who want to immediately work after school while they also earn a degree. It is also an option for those who do not have a very high percentage that might be sufficient for them to earn admission in their choice of course in a regular college. However, the best part about SOL has been the fact that despite the fact that you are doing a correspondence course, the degree is the same as other colleges and is awarded by the Delhi University.

When the rest of the colleges in the Delhi University went ahead with the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) this year, it was announced that SOL would continue with the previous existing three year programme. The decision has raised a slew of apprehensions among applicants who are now looking at a three year correspondence course vis-à-vis a four year regular one. Not only does it create a disparity between the degrees awarded, it also raises questions whether the ones under the FYUP will actually be more ‘employable’.

The reason for SOL not adopting FYUP this year is the fact that the methodology of SOL courses is heavily dependent on the course material. And it is apparent that developing course material for the hurriedly formulated FYUP will certainly take time. However, SOL authorities believe that they should be able to work on the same and the FYUP should come to SOL in the coming year. At present the centre offers five undergraduate courses namely, B.A. Programme, B.Com (Pass), B.Com (Hons.), B.A. (Hons.) Political Science and B.A (Hons.) English literature. One needs to note that three of these don’t exist with the FYUP. While B.A. Programme is scrapped, B.Com has been replaced with a Baccalaureate in Commerce degree. Hence, what would happen to SOL next year with its limited set of courses is a matter of concern as well.

With drastic changes coming to the rest of the university, the changes that are in store for SOL might have been delayed, but are surely still expected.

(For entire Admissions 2013 coverage click here)

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Events

Jackie Chan at China Film Festival in New Delhi

By Niharika Singh June 19, 2013

Jackie Chan loves to sing, the movie 3 Idiots and Biryani. At the China Film Festival held in Siri Fort Complex on 18th June, the multi-faceted actor talked about fostering better ties between the two growing economies. Chan, who was here to inaugurate the first ever China Film Festival in India displayed his interest in acting in a Bollywood movie. “I can sing and dance….I am a good actor,” said the star. He also sent out an open invitation to Bollywood directors to hire him in their movies stating that all he needed was “a good script”. He wishes to change his image as that of an action superstar to that of an actor and added that he wants to be remembered as “Asia’s Robert De Niro”.

Present with him were his co-stars from his latest film ‘Chinese Zodiac’, who were all praises for him as a director to which Chan quipped,“They have to love me or they are fired!” On being questioned about the strain in the India-China relations recently, Chan hesitant at first, replied that we cannot choose our neighbours and that, we should make more movies on peace. On his never playing the role of the ‘bad guy’ in his films Chan said, “Young children watch my movies and I do not want to be a bad influence on them.” As an actor and a director, Chan feels it is his responsibility to produce a clean, free of violence film for his audience.

Chan felt that even though there is a lot of good cinema coming out of India, the producers are just not putting in enough effort to promote it globally. The star quipped that he has no time for vacations and only accepts invitation, if there is work involved.

Image credits: Niharika Singh

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Spo(r)tlight

French Open 2013: Another chapter in the book of Grand Slam Tennis

By Raghav Chopra June 19, 2013

Irrespective of who you are and where your interests lie, everyone has their eyes set on France in the months of May and June. The movie buffs are in for a treat as they witness yet another installment of the magnificent Cannes Film Festival and the sports fanatics are busy rooting for their favourite tennis stars as they make their way to Paris in a bid to make history by winning the French Open, The Glorious International Tennis Tournament held in Paris every year for two weeks between end of May and June.

French Open which is alternatively referred to as Roland Garros after the French aviator with the same name, was first held in 1891 and ever since then it has increased in it’s popularity and sheer magnitude by leaps and bounds. With more and more money riding on it every year, and the popularity of tennis rivaling that of soccer and cricket, the 112th edition of the French Open had the entire world’s eyes glued on Paris from 26th May to 9th June this year. Titles were up for grabs in Men and Women’s Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles. Juniors and players on wheelchairs also competed in Singles and Doubles.

The frenzy that lasted two weeks ended with the declaration of results on the last two days. Serena Williams defeated the defending champion Maria Sharapova and went on to win the title for the second time. Her first win was eleven years earlier in 2002. Rafael Nadal emerged as the champion in the men’s singles category on the last day of the event. He was not only the defending champion but has also won the title seven other times summing his totals to an astronomical eight. In addition to winning this prestigious title, the two also got a cash prize of a whooping €1,500,000 each. Russian Players Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina won the Women’s Doubles after they defeated Sara Errani and Robert Vinci from Italy. Americans, Bob Byron and Mike Byron, won the Men’s Doubles against Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut from France. The prize money awarded to the winners amounted to €360,000.

The rest of the winners included Lucie Hradecká and František ?ermák (Mixed Doubles), ChritianGarin (Boy’s Singles), Belinda Bencic (Girl’s Singles), Kyle Edmund and Frederico Ferreira Silva (Boy’s Doubles), Barbora Zahlavova and Kate?ina Siniaková (Girl’s Doubles),Stéphane Houdet (Wheelchair Men’s Singles), Sabine Ellerbrock (Wheelchair Women’s Singles), Stéphane Houdet and Shingo Kunieda (Wheelchair Men’s Doubles), Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot(Wheelchair Women’s Doubles).

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News

Moksha Jan Utsav- bridging gaps and simplifying lives

By Priyanka Banerjee June 18, 2013

Moksha Foundation is recently started, zealous organisation that aims at simplifying lives. Located in Naraina, this NGO focuses on 3 primary areas of work which are, promotion of green energy, taking up information based awareness programs and providing legal advice and medical aid to those who can’t afford it. It was founded by Devesh Lalwani, a recent Bachelor of Business Studies graduate from the University of Delhi. The NGO successfully executed its first project earlier this year, called ‘The Take Two Campaign’ in association with Perfetti Van Melle.

Currently, all members of the organisation are below 25 years, with many DU students in the team. Moksha Foundation hopes to bring this youthful energy to its next project called ‘Moksha Jan Utsav’ which is a 20 week program under which an integrated camp will be held every Sunday in various slum areas and lower income group colonies in West Delhi. Through this project, the NGO will address common issues faced by the residents.

The team held its first camp on June 16 at the Satsang Bhawan in Dasghara village, Pusa Institute.

A part of the camp was a multi speciality medical camp, with a range of doctors including orthopaedists and cardiologists to help patients. The residents also availed a number of tests including BMD, ECG, ECHO screening and those to check blood pressure and sugar levels. To ensure that the best doctors were on board for the camp, the NGO had tied up with Metro Heart Institute, a leading hospital located in Naraina.

The next section was dedicated to providing free legal consultation on civil matters. As is observed often, those with issues hesitate to seek legal advice due to the expected time and money required. The camp bridged this gap by inviting residents to talk about their concerns to Mr Tarun Bhardwaj, the lawyer Moksha Foundation is associated with. He talked them through issues related to pension, property and so on.

Apart from that, the volunteers helped the people at the Moksha Jan Utsav by checking the status of their Aadhar cards, and even printing the cards out for them to use. In the upcoming camps, the NGO will set up a booth to assist the residents to enroll for their Voter ID cards.

Despite the rain, around 400 people came to the camp.

To ensure that cases which require long term attention are not abandoned once the camp is wrapped up, effective follow up has been planned. The project has been designed in such a way that those facing such issues can seek further help from the doctors and lawyers in the future as well, at highly subsidized rates.

Dinesh Lalwani, Chief Patron of the Moksha Foundation said:

“Its through a collective effort of society and the youth that through the passage of time, the society we live in can reach a situation of normalcy were the word ‘aid’ should be a foreign concept.”

At a time when citizens of the country frequently criticize the youth for being self centred and insensitive to important causes, NGOs such as Moksha Foundation exist to prove them wrong. With a successful beginning to the project behind them, the team is determined to help the nation, step by step.

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Events

DUSU organises Delhi University’s first ever Job Fair

By Shaily Sharma June 16, 2013

The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) organised their first ever job fair on June 11 and 12, 2013 at the Delhi University Sports Complex (North Campus). The event saw the participation of representatives from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) and 45 private companies including Wipro, NIIT, VLCC, Convergys, ICICI, Axis Capital etc. The fair was inaugurated by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday.

The fair was conducted for all colleges and departments of the university. The two-day event acted as an opportunity for job seekers to be interviewed for opportunities across sectors such as IT, FMCG, real estate, health care, manufacturing, hospitality, retail and others. Students from other top educational institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi College of Engineering, Jamia Millia Islamia and Amity University also participated in the fair. The event was being organised by Ventex Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. On the success of the event, Manish Thakur, Director of Ventex Hospitality Pvt Ltd said:

“It was an excellent experience to work for and organise the Delhi University’s Job Fair which happened for the first time in history.”

Besides interacting with potential recruiters, students also availed of motivational speeches by Anurag Mishra, Director, MIB, Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister of New Delhi, Yoganand Shastri, Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly, Oscar Fernandes, Congress leader and other corporate personalities. Around 20,000 students attended counseling sessions, personality development and other requisite trainings.

Ashok Bhagat, Cultural Secretary, DUSU informed the statistics with regard to the participation at the job fair.

“690 students were selected in the spot placement, 1200 students got internships, and 750 are shortlisted currently. The highest package was 6.5 lakhs and the minimum package given was 1.8 lakh. It’s the first time that DUSU took such an initiative and I am happy that the event ended on a successful note.”

Image Credit: Arun Hooda’s Facebook album

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