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Delhi University students to evaluate teachers from January

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In what appears to be a very comprehensive reform in Delhi University, students are set to evaluate the teachers from the next semester starting in January. The Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh has come out with this measure where every teacher will be evaluated twice or thrice every semester. Confidentiality of the feedback will be maintained in the evaluation system by students according to him.
This evaluation will be decisive factor for the promotion of teachers and would be made part of teacher’s files. Teachers will be judged on factors like quality of teaching, regularity in taking classes and innovation in manner of teaching. The new feedback system is called ‘holistic and formal’ by the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University.

When DUTA was asked on their take at this new system, President Nandita Narain expressed her disillusionment. In a telephonic conversation to DU Beat she said, “It is a very dangerous quid pro quo situation and only the teachers would be blamed. There is no provision about monitoring and authenticity of the students’ feedback for teachers. Teachers were not consulted in this decision and the VC is running the university like a mafia. When the teachers don’t have the right to design the courses, how could they be held accountable? It makes no sense and we will certainly oppose this insensitive bureaucratic device.”

She also said, “This measure is nothing but a retaliatory action to the student feedback exercise undertaken by DUTA earlier this month at several colleges. More than 90% students are in favour of 3 year UG system and opposed the FYUP vehemently in their feedback. Now the VC wants to harass teachers with this tool as a tit for tat measure.”

Mrs Neeru Kapoor, a professor at Delhi College of Arts & Commerce said, “This system can be effective only when the students are mature enough and give their judgement properly. Right now our university is in a chaotic situation with the FYUP and semester system and genuine teachers will be penalised if the evaluation system is not genuine. How can a student who does not attend 60% classes decide on the effectiveness of a teacher?”

Another teachers’ body Academics for Action and Development (AAD) has also condemned the university administration and called it a regressive measure where complexities of caste, gender, religion and region come into operation and may result in harassment of teachers.

“I think this new system will be good if implemented well. Teachers will be more regular so as to teach us certain concepts which we are not familiar with. If they teach us using models, projects, through physical demonstration or case studies, then we’ll be able to grasp the course easily by these innovative methods”, said Vijay, a student of FYUP in Delhi University.

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News

Delhi University declares results for FYUP students

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Delhi University declared the result for the examinations held for the first semester in the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) on Saturday, the 21st of December. The announcement of the results comes shortly after a fortnight since the examinations ended. This is also the first round of results to have come out for the semester exams held in November and December.

While the results of a total of 42 FYUP courses have been announced, some courses including Journalism and Mass Communication are not present in the list. In order to avoid the crashing server that follow the announcement of all results, the University has hosted the results on three separate servers this time. Only, they still seem to be crashing with students’ attempts to access their results constantly going in vain.

Link to the results servers: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3

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Hindu College

DUTA stages dharna at Hindu College

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On Friday, 19th December 2013, the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) brought out a dharna at Hindu College counterclaiming the withdrawal of the suspension of two teachers of the college. The Staff Association of the college as well as many teachers from other colleges accompanied the DUTA in staging the same. In fact, there was unanimous support from the Staff Association of Daulat Ram College through means of an official delegation.

The two teachers – Mr. Jai Inderpal Singh and Mr. Arvind Chaudhry, allegedly manhandled some colleagues in a meeting of the Staff Association on 27th August 2013. On 25th September 2013, show cause notices were sent to these teachers by Mr. SNP Punj, the Chairman of the Governing Body. This memo asked both of them, the reason for not taking any action against them for maltreating their colleagues in that meeting with 25th October 2013 as the deadline for their reply. The notice also contained the complaint filed by the individuals who were supposedly manhandled.

On 12th October 2013, Mr. Punj released another notice to both the teachers stating their suspension, although their response to the previous notice hadn’t been received by that time. The response and proceedings taken by the Governing Body were rendered illegal by the representatives of the teachers as well as called them ‘against the principles of natural justice’.

On 23rd October, the two teachers lodged a complaint that was forwarded by the Acting Principal of the college to a Grievance Committee, which in turn held the suspension unwarranted and the complaint as false.

Nandita Narain, President of DUTA says “The decision should be quite clear at the level of the governing authorities but their decision is absolutely ridiculous. It’s a case where inner differences of the college teachers are being exploited showing larger politics at higher level. This is a step that is taken by the Vice Chancellor to gain control over the teachers’ union. The innocent who took a stand against a tainted nexus, have been victimized. We want the withdrawal of this suspension and an apology to these teachers and we’ll continue our protest till the two get justice”

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Features

LBBD’s guide to the perfect holiday plan

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Little Black Book Delhi brings DU Beat’s readers something awesome to explore for the fortnight! This week help you plan your holidays!

With the month packed with Christmas and the New Year approaching we are all shopping and preparing for our trips. This time we give you places to pick up some new shawls and stoles and great place to pick up cakes! For those who are not travelling could spend time learning a new skill and or take a quick break from the city.

Shopping

A great new collection of leather boots and jackets are available at Sarojini market and Paharganj {Light on wallet too!}. Gift shopping can never get better at Shahpur Jat.  LBBD’s also picked out a special selection of stores for shawls and stoles; don’t forget to check them out!

Shawls and stoles | http://littleblackbookdelhi.com/26904/shops-shawls-stoles-delhi/

Shopping in Shahpur Jat | http://littleblackbookdelhi.com/18530/little-black-book-for-shahpur-jat/

Paharganj Guide | http://littleblackbookdelhi.com/8364/simply-digging-pahadganj/

Dance classes around town

Whether its energetic jazz or the good old classical Indian dances forms, Delhi has everything in its stores. A new skill never hurt anyone!

Details | http://littleblackbookdelhi.com/17919/delhi-dance-classes-and-centres/

Classical Schools | http://littleblackbookdelhi.com/19364/classical-dances-little-black-book/

Learn a new language

Spice up everyday conversation from ‘Hello! How are you?’ to ‘Hola! Que tal?’ There is the whole range of European language centers in the city along with places that teach regional and language from the sub-continent.

Foreign Languages | http://littleblackbookdelhi.com/14059/foreign-language-courses-delhi-lbbd/

Language from the Sub-Continent | http://littleblackbookdelhi.com/25040/zabaan-language-courses/

Quick Getaways

If you haven’t planned a trip, the city has some quick getaway destinations. One can enjoy the spa at the gorgeous Neemrana Fort or spend some quiet time reading at Chambal Safari Lodge. If you are visting Goa, do try some of our favorites at the beach town.

Details | http://littleblackbookdelhi.com/25858/5-roadtrips-delhi/

Goa Plans | http://littleblackbookdelhi.com/27093/guide-things-to-do-goa/

Cakes

The festive season is the perfect reason to explore new bakeries and cakes to cut. If you look at the right places, the city has prepared some new flavors beyond the everyday chocolate and pineapple. Here are our favorite bakers in town.

Bakeries | http://littleblackbookdelhi.com/23716/bakeries-delhi/

Join us on www.littleblackbookdelhi.com for more of the best of the city! Write to us at [email protected] for any suggestions, recommendations or inputs.

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Features

TroubleSeekerTeam: Pranking away to glory

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With a tradition that started with endeavours such as Just For Laugh Gags, Chupa Rustam and MTV Bakra, the culture of pranks is something we all love! However, have you met the serial pranksters of Delhi? TroubleSeekerTeam, a group of five popularly known as TST, make hidden camera prank videos in the city and upload them on their YouTube channel.

Wondering what we are talking about? Here is an example!

We caught up with Rahul Sharma, the founder of TST to know more about the ordeal of putting common people in possible awkward situations and capturing their reactions.

When and how was TroubleSeekerTeam formed?

I loved watching funny prank videos on YouTube. What started from Just for Laugh Gags, went on to pranksters like JackValeFilms and Edbassmaster. I was almost certain that when I would type “Pranks in India” there would be a long list of videos. To my utter surprise, the only videos I found were the videos by American pranksters in which they used to prank people at WalMart or McDonalds while talking in a funny Indian Accent. I was really shocked that no one ever tried this kind of stuff in India. It didn’t look that difficult and it was entertaining as hell.

Then and there I thought I could be the one to do this. After doing some research online and I decided that the first one would be the Farting Prank because I thought it was funny and Indian people would definitely give some weird reactions to it (laughs). So I ordered “The Pooter” online, a rubber device that can make farting sounds when you squeeze it. Meanwhile when I told my friends about my intentions they agreed to company me too.

We were waiting for the pooter to arrive and when it did, we went to shoot the very next day and came up with our first 2 videos on 24th of May 2012.

How many people are there in the TroubleSeekerTeam?

After the idea was conceptualised, I was joined by my friends Deepak Chaudhary, Rishabh Sharma, Prince Thareja and my brother Ankit Sharma. So majorly, we are a team of five. We also keep trying to make different videos, for which we often invite our other friends or fans to be a part of. For example for the “Awkward Beat Box Dance Prank and Taking Pictures of Strangers” we invited two of our top fans – Ekansh Pilani and Meher Talwar.

What was the mission behind such an initiative?

What started out as a way to have some fun is now a Brand. We always loved making people smile and we want to do it for the rest of our lives. We want to make TroubleSeekerTeam the No.1 Indian YouTube Channel. The idea was to prank Indian people and see how they react. We always were the “funny guys” of our school. The ones who could make even the strictest teachers laugh. We never knew that we would be making people laugh for a living one day.

What was the reason behind keeping this name?

I was sure that the name must be unique. I am a fan of Harry Potter and he was the seeker in Quidditch, I got seeker from there and what we seek isn’t a magic flying golden snitch but ‘Trouble’. We seek trouble – that’s how we came up with TroubleSeekerTeam.

Have you ever been caught by someone while playing pranks ?

Yeah! Sometimes, people who have already seen us playing prank somewhere earlier make it out. And then they tell us “bhaiya mujhe pata hai aap bakra bana rahe ho”. And we laugh it off.

Have you ever pranked Delhi University students? How was your experience?

A: Yes, the ‘Document drop and go’ was done at Vishwavidyalaya metro station. They are easy going and every person involved in the making was a good sport. Further, we have plans to shoot pranks specific to students.

Which of your pranks you find the funniest and unforgettable?

It was definitely ‘the twins teleport’ prank. It is one of the best pranks where we used twins, the reactions were priceless. It is indeed the most viewed video on our channel. It was my dream to recreate this prank, as it was originally done by ‘Just For Laugh Gags’.

Any future plans to cover cities other than Delhi?

Yes definitely, we don’t just want to end up being the Delhi Pranksters on YouTube. We want to take pranks to every state in India! Perhaps, in the future we might just be able to do so.

How can interested people join TST?

Anyone interested can drop us a message on Facebook or Google+.

Editor adds: Thanks to our reader Firdosh Khan for the heads up! Had a great time laughing? We leave you with one of our favourites.

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News

Student feedback on FYUP reflects disappointment

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The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) held a press conference at their office on Monday in order to make public the feedback they received from students of Miranda House College, St. Stephen’s College, SRCC, Dyal Singh College and the Germanic and Romance Study with regard to the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). Initially DUTA President Nandita Narain drew attention to the AISA referendum conducted earlier this year. This referendum in overwhelming numbers of student votes rejected the FYUP. She then went on to attack the official feedback survey undertaken by the University officials and called it a skewed exercise as it did not give the student any real scope to express opinion against the FYUP. Moreover the feedback was never made public, which makes it safe to assume that the students still went on to out rightly reject the FYUP. The DUTA in its attempt to conduct a fair survey devised its own questionnaire and received feedback from a total of 930 students out of which 570 belong to Miranda House, 212 students are from St Stephens and 148 from SRCC. The data collected from Dyal Singh College and from the students studying in the Faculty of Germanic and Romance Studies was not available as all feedback forms had not been returned, but the data shall be available soon was the reassurance.

The students of the above mentioned colleges rejected the University’s claim of increased employability under the new system. 88% students from Miranda House and 73% from SRCC believed that the Foundation Courses (FCs) were nothing but a refurbished format of what was already taught in school. This led to 86% of Miranda students and 89% of SRCC students saying that there was no use of the FCs in the course of learning. Students also voiced their concerns about how the FCs gave them no time or scope to study the DC I courses- the ones they had actually opted for in college. The question of striking a balance between studies and extracurricular activities also seemed like a ‘dream’ to many students present. Meriam from St. Stephens said that due to long hours of classes under the FYUP they were left with little to no time to take part in the co- curricular activities that they liked.

Feedback

Dr. Renu Arora and Dr. Abha Dev Habib- professors from Miranda House along with Arini Kar and Deepika Bisht from Miranda voiced the many concerns of teachers and students. The system of having about 55 marks out of 75 as internal assessment was questioned again. With an average of 100 students on roll in a class, the teacher would only be toying with the student’s result in case he or she is unable to recall the class performance of each and every student. It was also told how the lack of proper study/ research material made project work nothing but a sham. The laptops distribution exercise was mocked by calling it ‘a pacifier to a crying baby’ by Alisha from Dyal Singh College.

Other concerns raised were that from the point of view of outstation students. Given that the cost of living in Delhi averages out to be 1 to 1.5 lakhs a year for an outstation student. The additional 4th year would doubly burden these students and their families, it must be noted that this sample is made up by students coming from varying social and economic abilities. Dr. Virat and Dr. Vikas, professors from Dyal Singh college chipped in by saying that the teachers also reject the FYUP alongside the students. Moreover they turned their attention to the problems faced by differently abled students, especially those who are visually challenged. They said that there was a lack of accessibility to the new study material and teachers of FCs were not given any special training in order to deal with such challenges. Dr. Vikas said that this system should have been reconsidered instead of it being imposed in a top down manner. Adding to this, Dr. Virat told us how the voices of the real stakeholders- students and teachers- is to be taken into account.

The DUTA in this situation proposes the following things. First of all a full roll back of the FYUP and a complete U- turn to the Annual system. This is proposed for the next batch of students, that is the incoming batch of 2014- 15. For the current batch that is already in this system, DUTA suggests that the number of FCs to be cut down considerably if not removed and the course be restructured to make DC I and DC II courses more dominant. Also, the fourth year should be made optional covering more ‘applied and hands on courses in the 4th year.’ The DUTA also criticized the mid course exit points option by calling it a farce, their demand is that even this should be done away with.

The DUTA reassured students and teachers by saying that even though the University administration refused to acknowledge its mistakes, the DUTA shall constantly intensify its efforts in reversing these wrongdoings, its aim is to ultimately do away with the FYUP and bring back the 3 year Annual System, with retention of B. A., B. Com. And B. Sc. Programme courses.

DUTA’s suggestion for the current batch of the FYUP, they hope to get implemented by the 2nd year that is 3rd semester of the current batch:

DC- I

DC- II

First Year

2+2

—

Second Year

3+3

2+2

Third Year

4+4

1+1

Total

18

6

Fourth Year

Applied/ Research Courses- optional.
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News

DUTA alleges Delhi University with lack of infrastructure for security guards

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Recently, the University of Delhi ordained that the security guards employed by it would not be given any infrastructural aid while they would be on duty. As a matter of fact even chairs are not being provided by DU and it has closed down all the guard rooms.

Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) in its press release has categorically condemned such a decision and has called it savage. The reasons behind this order are still unknown, although there are some speculations. According to DUTA, when they asked for a reply for the same, the university did not give satisfactory responses. It transfered the burden on the contracting agencies and said that it has nothing to do with same and is only plying to the rules given to it by the agencies.

When DUTA posed more questions to DU, one of them being, “Why aren’t the guards who are employed by DU without a contractual agreement not being provided with infrastructural facilities?”, the University had no answers for the same.

“Such a mandate is outrageous and barbarous”, said Nandita Narain, president of DUTA. “University must give clear answers for the same.”, she added.

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Humouroscope

Humouroscope: 15th-21st December

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Aries Your partner might not approve of your love of smelling petrol.

Taurus If you’re gay, the Supreme Court of India is not compatible with you. It will tend to go yes and no.

Gemini It’s imperative that you attend all the weddings this season.

Cancer If you keep your eyes open, you might just land a job as the tandoor-wala at a wedding.

Leo To win back your girlfriend, you need to out-do Howard Wolowitz’s song for Bernadette in BBT Season 7.

Virgo Wearing a sweatshirt with shorts and bathroom chappals does not make you look like a shareef ghar ka bachcha. Please follow your Mum’s advice and refrain.

Libra Yo Yo Honey Singh was inspired to write Blue Eyez after seeing your drunken eyes at a bar. Congratulations!

Scorpio Having two equally talkative girls sitting on your left and right is not a good idea.

Sagittarius It isn’t socially acceptable to go to Dilli Haat and buy posters from the stall at the gate, and nothing from the inside.

Capricorn If you’re a girl, it’s possible you’ve helped your Mum wear sarees a hundred times already in the last month 

Aquarius Now would be a good time to pour whiskey in your glass and pass it off as Appy if questioned by your parents, quite a reversal from your childhood days when Appy was the coolest thing to drink in a glass.

Pisces  Now that Koffee with  Karan is back, you might just be the new guest.

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News

Delhi University launches creative writing online journal

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Delhi University launched its creative writing e-journal- DU Vidha on Friday, 13th December 2013. The proceedings started at 3:30 at the University Conference Centre, North Campus. Accompanying the issue were ‘Iqbal, the humanist’ a talk by Prof. Abdul Haq , Professor Emeritus, Department of Urdu, University of Delhi and a book release- TAZKIRA-E-ILAHI a rare 17th century Persian text by Prof. Abdul  Haq. The first issue of DU Vidha, which is a half-yearly journal, was launched by Prof. Harish Trivedi, Advisor, Academic Publications and the editor of DU Vidha. This journal is a bi-lingual (English and Hindi) issue with “free open-access online”. Vidha in the name of the journal bespeaks the literary forms of writings.

The editorial board consists of Prof. Harish Trivedi, the Editor, Dr Sunita Paul Kumar, Ms Ruchi Kaushik and Mr Vasant K. Sharma as Editorial Co-coordinators and the Student Editor, Paromita Patranobish. The contributions for the journal are invited by email or snail mail in the form of short stories, poems, paintings, sketches, photographs and other literary genres in both Hindi and English. The pieces in the current issue are contributed by students from all corners of the University, be it first year students or those pursuing PhD, with colleges ranging from SRCC to Non-Collegiate Women’s Education’s Board. The contributions are mainly from the students but the faculty and staff members are also free to give their entries.

There were more than 500 entries by the students from all over the university, of which 32 were shortlisted for the issue. The short listing has been a rigorous process of selection. The entries were collected using three ways; direct submission by email, entries that were collected at Antardhvani, the cultural fest of the university and contributions from two colleges- SRCC and DCAC through the literary fests.

“The contributions for the journal are from the young minds which are still shaping up their talent. While short listing we could find some pieces of perfection and were outstanding. Students are really enthusiastic about this initiative and I hope that this gets better and better” said Prof. Harish Trivedi.

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Offbeat

Off Beat: Perfumer

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Did your dream job as a child involve donning a mad scientist-y attire and blissfully mixing seemingly potent bubbly solutions in test tubes?  Are you now a bored and over- worked science student who fancies himself/ herself as a bit of an artist at heart? Don’t let the lackluster reality of a dull college lab break your dreams. Explore a career where your scientific background supports your creative ability, like molecular gastronomy, chocolatiering, and many more.

One such career option is that of a perfumer. If you’re a person who can, in just a whiff, identify fragrances ranging from a popular Davidoff perfume to a rudimentary essential oil scent, then your strong olfactory senses and a creative disposition coupled with the knowledge of chemistry can make you the perfect perfumer.

A perfumer, in simple terms, is person who combines various scents and designs new ones. The job is like that of an alchemist and painter combined, you work with existing materials to come up with something truly unique. As exciting as this sounds, the science/ art of devising new scents requires immense patience, and the knack for understanding and correctly deciphering the briefs provided by customers. One person’s ‘fresh’ may be another person’s ‘fruity’. Getting the right blend could take hundreds of tries. Creating a new perfume has also been compared to making music. Anybody can pound on a piano, but it takes practice and passion to know which notes to put together to form a beautiful symphony.

For entry into the field, a degree in chemistry or cosmetic science is most relevant, and a specialized course in being a perfumer follows. Apprenticeship is one of the most important steps in learning the tricks of the trade in this case. Aggressive interning is a sensible way to form a career as a perfumer. Perfumers find employment at all levels of the production chain, From laboratories to big organizations that develop scents for consumer products like shampoos, lotions etc or small businesses which deal with customers directly.

Image: http://www.lorenzodanteferro.it

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