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Rajib Ray of DTF Elected as New DUTA President

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On Thursday, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) conducted its elections for the post of President and fifteen Executive Committee members. Rajib Ray, a professor of Philosophy from Kirori Mal College and the leftist Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), was named the President of DUTA on Friday morning by scoring 2636 votes.

The elections were held in Arts Faculty, North Campus. Teachers from colleges across Delhi came to cast their votes from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday evening. This year, the voter turnout was massive as it amassed to an estimate of 7,200 members.

Rajib Ray told The Hindu, “We are looking forward to fighting against the failures of the government and other authorities. Timely disbursement of pension and setting up of a review committee are our top priorities.”

In his manifesto, Ray questioned the prevalent education policies and raised important issues such as those of privatisation and autonomy of DU colleges. He said “Education policy is currently being dictated by the NITI Aayog, whose CEO recently proclaimed that the government should “hand over schools, colleges, jails to the private sector”. Its Draft Action Plan is being pushed through various UGC Regulations. The Draft on Graded Autonomy defines three categories of universities based on NAAC scores and NIRF rank.” He even criticised the DU administration by saying that “The DU administration has been deaf to the denial of promotion to thousands of teachers and forced them to go to the Court. It has surrendered to the Ministry of Human Resources Development directive to appeal against the positive Court order on pensions.”

His main motto is to defend public education. With such a win, a lot is expected from his tenure as the new President of DUTA.

 

Feature Image Credits: Democratic Teachers’ Front

Bhavya Banerjee
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Cluster Innovation Centre

Miscreants Stalk Female Students, Try to Beat up a Faculty Member who Comes to Their Defence at Cluster Innovation Centre

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In another incident of hooliganism on the University campus, miscreants tried to beat up a female faculty member who came to the defence of her students.

On 30th August 2017, two female students complained about constant harassment and gawking they were being subjected to by an outsider, who was coming to the Cluster Innovation Centre’s canteen for the last couple of weeks. After getting a complaint, one of the faculty member confronted the guy and asked him to not to avail canteen services on the grounds of the complaint and the fact that canteen is open only for CIC students, faculty and workers. The accused apologized and left the CIC premises.

Next day, on 1st September, a group of 7-8 people barged in the canteen despite clear restrictions of no outsider entry. When they didn’t leave after over an hour and intimidated the canteen workers, the canteen worker complained to the faculty. The faculty member, who confronted them a day before, asked them to leave again and within minutes the encounter became violent. The miscreants boasted about their authority aggressively and insulted the professor.

The miscreants also tried to beat up a student who tried to record the entire incident on his phone. “They were speaking to the professor very disrespectfully, so I stepped in and told them to tone down. They didn’t stop so I sneakily started recording them. One of the guys noticed and they came after me, started pulling my collar,” says the student who was assaulted by the miscreants. “Later the guys closed the canteen door and threatened the workers to not serve anyone,” says Lalit Bod, a student who was an eye witness to the incident.

The security guards who tried to save the student were also roughed up in the process of protecting the student. The miscreants left the spot after the incident and later returned with canes and lathis and tried to beat up the teacher. They were stopped by the students who were present at the spot and intervened to protect their teacher from getting beaten up. “While I was standing near the lobby, I saw these miscreants coming towards the teacher with lathis. Immediately I and some of my friends rushed towards him and overpowered him. Then we took him away from the teacher”, says Siddharth Nandan, one of the students who intervened to save their teacher. Later all the miscreants fled from the spot.

Delhi Police has taken cognizance of the offence and registered a FIR for the case. “A case has been registered and we are investigating the matter,” said Pradeep Narwal, DCP of North Delhi.

After the incident, the CIC administration has put up a notice banning everyone from the campus after 7 PM. This notice has put many students who used to stay till late evening to work on various projects and assignments at a problem. “We used to watch lectures and use internet facilities for our academic work. Now sadly, we have to suffer for the work of miscreants,” said one of the final-year students who did not wish to be named. “The administration should not restrict the students, it should rather curb the illegal entry of outsiders,” he said.

Meanwhile, teachers and students are hopeful that the administration will take up the issue with police, and ensure that the safety of the students is maintained on the campus. Prof. H.P Singh, the director of the centre, refused to comment on the issue.

Image credits: DU Beat

Srivedant Kar

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Niharika Dabral

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Aryabhatta College

Resolution to Affiliate with DUSU Fails in Aryabhatta College

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On 1st September 2017, a referendum titled “Should Aryabhatta College be affiliated to Delhi University Student’s Union (DUSU)?” was held. The students of Aryabhatta College voted for the motion. Out of the 733 votes that were polled, 583 were for the motion, 140 against the motion, and 10 votes were regarded as invalid. The DUSU Constitution requires an absolute majority of the total number of students to support the motion for affiliation. As per clause 6(ii) of the DUSU Constitution, “Students of a College/Institution may become members of the Union by a resolution passed by absolute majority of the total number of students on rolls of the College/Institution concerned on the last working day of July of that year”. So even if most of the students voted in favour of being affiliated with DUSU, since a majority of the collective student body did not turn up for the polling, the resolution failed.

A strong reason for the less-than-ideal turnout could be because the 31st of August was a holiday in most colleges due to the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) elections. The vote was scheduled on the 1st of September, with 2nd September being a Saturday and the 3rd being a Sunday. If students skipped college on 1st, they would end up having a four-day weekend. Some students believe that the college authorities had intentionally scheduled the voting on a date that would result in a low turnout. Yashank Bhutani, a third-year B.Com student from Aryabhatta College, said, “I think that this was a perfect plan made by our college authorities to get rid of DUSU from our college. As per the referendum schedule, 31st was the DUTA elections, 1st was the day of referendum, and the following days were Saturday and Sunday. College authorities knew well that students won’t turn up on this day due to which we got the following results. The main incentive behind not allowing DUSU in our college is that the authorities will form a dictatorship where teachers would rule like in a school.”

Being associated with DUSU for a lot of colleges means being involved with student politics and activism at a greater level. While DUSU does not come without its own baggage, it is undeniable that it plays a highly relevant role in shaping college life for a lot of institutions. DUSU affiliation means access to a platform to air one’s grievances, access to better fests and cultural events, and a the prospect of engaging on a wide platform of student politics.

In response to the failed referendum, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is currently in power in DUSU, alleged that the referendum was illegal on the grounds that voting in DUSU elections had been happening in the college when it was Ram Lal Anand Evening College until a few years ago.

 

 

Feature Image Credits: Edunuts

Kinjal Pandey
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Arts & Culture

Play Review: Appointment with Death

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Agatha Christie’s Appointment with Death, directed by Sohaila Kapur is a two hour and twenty-five-minute-long theatrical delight that unfortunately falls short on the direction and script.

I don’t usually plan on watching theater (that too when it’s not free), but when I stumbled upon the advertisement of a play based on one of my favorite Agatha Christie novels, I decided to go. So on the evening of August 15th, I watched Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts Repertory’s production Appointment with Death directed by renowned actress and playwright, Sohaila Kapur.

 

The play opens in the lounge of the King Solomon Hotel, as one by one the characters are introduced. Soon the focus shifts to the Boyntons, an unusual American family who’ve come on a trip to Jerusalem. The audience from the first scene itself establishes that Mrs. Boynton, an old wheelchair bound lady, is sadistic and domineering. She psychologically manipulates her family to keep them unnaturally devoted to her, so much so; that her children have no agency of their own. However, the resentment rises against Mrs. Boynton and her children start striving for independence after they develop romantic feelings for the hotel guests. Dr. Sarah King and Dr. Gerard (a psychiatrist) do their best to pull the younger Boyntons from Mrs. Boynton’s control. The second half of the story develops when Mrs. Boynton is found dead and the investigation of her death takes place. Unlike the original story, the Murderer and the characters are different in the play. So, even if you have read the novel, the play still offers intrigue.

 

Like all Agatha Christie plays the onus of engagement is not so much on the story line but on the script and direction. It is the writing that ensures to sustain the suspense by crafting dialogues which should strengthen the motives of characters, that may or may not have committed murder, however, Sohaila Kapur’s directorial falls short in engagement; except for the comic scenes which are hilarious. There are a few segments that are cleverly done, for example, right before the intermission takes place a spectacular scene between Dr. Sarah King (played by Sugandha Srivastava) and Mrs. Boynton (played by Saksham Shukla) where the latter is informed of her impending death in a manner that sets  motion for rest of the play, and also justifies why the play is titled Appointment with Death. However, all interesting tidbits are sparse and spaced far apart which make the two hours and twenty-five-minute-long production tedious.

 

The cast consisted of seasoned actors who arrested the attention of audience despite the shaky script. Exchanges between Lady Westholme (played by Surbhi Verma) and Alderman Higgs (played Ashutosh Singh Rathore) were delightful. Smita Singh made a very convincing and vulnerable Ginevra Boynton, while Saksham Shukla impersonated Mrs. Boynton with perfection.

 

The picturesque set, designed by Sohaila Kapur herself, is formed against two backdrops: the lounge of the King Solomon Hotel, and the Travellers’ Camp at Petra. The stage formation rightly captures the essence of the story and adds to the drama. Entr’acte music by Arun Nayak and lighting direction by Himanshu Joshi is also on point.

 

 

Picture Credits: Niharika Dabral

Niharika Dabral

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Uncategorized

The University of Delhi Issues a Stern Warning Against Littering

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DU election office issues warning to the political parties against the littering of the campus and allows a deadline of 36 hours to get the campus cleaned or threatens consequences

With DUSU elections knocking at the door, the campus has been bombarded with posters and pamphlets. A large scale of littering and cavalcades of vehicles has been witnessed in and around the campus area. The entire campus- from walls to roads, from advertising spaces at bus shelters to market places – is covered with posters, pamphlets, and graffiti, mostly from candidates inviting students to “join them”. The university has already issued notifications and guidelines against littering but there is little adherence to the rules set.

Such campaigning from political parties has caused havoc on the campus and has been instrumental in being an obstacle for student activities. A lot of students expressed their resentment and concern over wastage of huge resources.

Waking up to this, The University of Delhi election office on Thursday issued a stern warning to the student groups indulging in littering and vandalising of the premises, asking them to clean the campus in 36 hours or face action.

“The DUSU election committee directs the stakeholders to immediately stop all these activities and remove the posters or banners and clean the defaced walls within 36 hours of this notification, failing which action will be taken as per the extant rules, including non-acceptance of candidature, cancellation of nominations or even countermanding of elections,” said a letter issued by Chief Election Officer (CEO) S.B. Babbar.

He acknowledged the state of the campus roads which are buried under campaign paraphernalia and defaced properties and called it a “gross violations of the code of conduct for DUSU elections, Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, and National Green Tribunal order”.

DUSU elections have been scheduled to be held on 12th of September. Parties are gearing up for the big time fight ahead. Although the groups will not announce their nominations before September 6, the entire campus, including the adjoining areas, is smeared with graffiti and posters bearing several possible candidates’ names.

Sandeep Samal

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Uncategorized

Show Cause Notice to 11 KMC Students for ‘Protesting Without Informing the Hostel Warden.’

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Eleven students of Kirori Mal College (KMC) were issued a show cause notice by the college authorities for protesting outside Maurice Nagar Police Station without ‘the knowledge of the hostel warden’.

On August 19, almost 50 to 60 students from KMC reached the Maurice Nagar Police Station after a fight broke out between two student groups who were contesting for the hostel elections. Students, meanwhile, claimed that the warden’s ‘inaction’ to stop the fight made them approach the police. Only 11 out of the 50-60 students have been served  notices and were asked to explain, “Why should your admission to the hostel not be terminated due to your misconduct?”

One of the students claimed,” After a fight between two student groups, we called our warden. He was out and would not be able to address the issue that very moment. So we went to the police demanding action.” The matter has already gone to the proctorial committee.

The recently elected hostel President, Prabhat Kumar, who has also received the show cause notice, alleged that only students from UP and Bihar were served notices, sparing other people from other places who were also at the station.  Kumar said, “If this is not discrimination, then what is it?”

The officiating principal of KMC, Dinesh Khattar said,” The students did not approach the authorities and instead went to the police which affects the image of the college. ” He asked the students to tell the names of the other involved students before the proctorial committee, saying, “All will be treated equally”. The inquiry committee will now look into the matter and recommend necessary action.

Image credits- aajtak.intoday.in

Oorja Tapan

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Arts & Culture

Vayam Performing Arts Society Conducts ‘The White Saree’

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Vayam started off as the theatre society of Shivaji College, University of Delhi in 2006 when a handful of like-minded and creative students decided to form a dramatics society in their college. The society that was formed on the ideals of unity, togetherness, and creativity, grew bigger and better by each passing year. Gradually, Vayam started making a mark in the DU theatre circuit by winning many laurels and praises. Today, the organisation has ventured into the era of performing arts and boasts of a strong foothold in Mumbai and Delhi with several professional performances under its credit.

With a total of 26 proscenium and street plays based on various social issues that have won many accolades on competitive and non-competitive platforms across India including National School of Drama, National Centre for Performing Arts, Prithvi Theatre, Jana Natya Manch, Kamani, Sirifort, India Habitat Center, Shri Ram Centre, Sahitya Kala Parishad, FICCI Auditorium, Hindi Sahitya Academy (Indore), IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay, IIT-Kanpur, IIM-Ahmedabad, and the like, Vayam is constantly growing. The society comprises of a group of hardworking, talented, and driven individuals consisting of actors, directors, scriptwriters, technicians, and working professionals.

This year’s production, ‘The White Saree’, has been a remarkable achievement for our team here at Vayam. It was scripted, designed, and directed by Amit Tiwari. Aishwarya Hasija was the Assistant Director while Damini and Gaurashree were the choreographers for the performance. The play venued at LTG Auditorium on a Sunday evening with a full house, an enthusiastic cast, and an energetic team. The drama unfolded the many glitches of society, including the society’s hunger to influence the decisions of a woman regarding her wishes, needs, and desires. The play chose to express its emotions in the form of a musical dance drama, an amalgamation that awed the audience with a gush of different emotions that could be felt as the play progressed. The central plot was about a woman’s dilemma about her own feelings and her deepest and darkest desires. It cast light upon how women are under obligations of maintaining the supposed ‘dignity’ of the society, thus in the process killing their own progress along with the loss of self-love.

‘The White Saree’ is a production that is bound to challenge viewers’ mindsets and societal norms. It is a play which provokes a series of thoughts on issues such as love, stress, and relationships and how the society inclines to perceive these relationships. The performance of this acclaimed production at LTG Auditorium on Sunday, August 27, 2017 saw a healthy turnout of the audience from different walks of life. The play rendered an extended portrayal of the vicious cycle of societal judgement, regret, depression, and a feeling of self consciousness guided by the convention of the mass. The drama laid emphasis on the many decisions that women have to make each day in the hope that none of them defy the standard of the society. It proceeded to raise relevant issues on sexual orientation, desires, and dreams of a woman that are butchered by the people as the story progresses. The audience could be seen experiencing different emotions of love, compassion, sorrow, and regret throughout the performance. The superlative direction and powerful script kept the audience glued to the scenes on stage. The experienced cast and crew of ‘The White Saree’ delivered a memorable performance which was praised by the viewers, senior team members, and the management alike. Also, Love in Frames was present at the venue to cover the event. In summary, the event turned out to be a success for the organisation as promotion of theatre and social service were well accomplished by the dedicated team of Vayam Performing Arts Society.

Rahul Garg: +91 9873 889 919
Amit Tiwari: +91 9718 358 345
Rahul Saini: +91 9968 997 049

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Events

Hansraj College Inaugurates its First Sports Council

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The Department of Sports and Physical Sciences of Hansraj College organised a Sports Orientation on 29 August 2017. The event also marked the 102nd birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand, a day which is celebrated as National Sports Day. The highlight of the event was the felicitation of the Sports Council which came into being for the first time in the history of Hansraj College.
The Principal, Ms. Rama, inaugurated the event with the lighting of a lamp with Dr. M.P. Sharma, Head of Hansraj Sports Department. This was followed by speeches by the two professors. The Principal, along with the Sports Department, felicitated the first Sports Council of the college.
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The Sports Council will seek to organise and regulate several sports-related events for the college throughout the academic year. This will include organising an annual Sports Day in the college and several sports meets and interactions. Events like circuit training, boot camps, and walkers groups are also a part of the Council’s vision.
Along the lines of their motto, “Come and Play”, the Council hopes to facilitate student participation in different sports. The Council also announced that an annual Hansraj Sports Magazine will be published by the its editorial board.
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Campus Central

Did you know: there exists a DUSU Constitution

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A constitution is ideally supposed to be a set of laws and principles laid down by those with authority, as the basis for governing a group of people. We know how important the Constitution is in a civilised society, especially with regards to the fact that previous week that saw the ruling on whether privacy is a fundamental right. Even though ground realities may take time to align with the lofty ideals written in a constitution, having high standards of ideals helps in aspiring for a more just world and providing legal recourse.

But what about an institution which is driven by ideas, like the University? Did you know that the Delhi University Students’ Union also has a constitution of its own? It’s a rhetorical question, because why would anybody know that? Unless, you’re writing an article about it – which is one of the more interesting ways of spending your weekend mass bunk due to the unthinking violent actions of the supporters of a certain amino acid-acronym Guru.

The Delhi University website has a link to the Constitution on it. Upon clicking on it, one is directed to a 16 page, 8 chapter PDF document. For those uninitiated in the ways of DUSU (which I’m sure is quite a lot of us given the recent years’ voter turnout), a lot of the clauses are new information. For instance, the source of DUSU funds is 20 rupees from each student who is a part of colleges affiliated to DUSU. It is apparently included in the college fees given by the students. Think of those sweet 20 rupees that you haggle over with rickshaw-wallahs for. The 20 rupees you can use for 2-3 cups of chai, depending on the generosity of your college canteen. A minute’s silence for those brave, invaluable (not literally) 20 rupees should be observed. So selfless, that they are someone else’s chai or someone else’s rickshaw fare to beat up the nearest leftist event’s organisers. It depends on you that which cause you’d rather have your money go to, if at all.

Under ‘Aims and Objects’ (not objectives, and I am not linguistically qualified enough to make a joke on that), there is the real substance – the meat of the Constitution. Among other things, “a democratic outlook”, “intellectual development” and “a sense of unity among students” is to be achieved, along with “harmonious relations” among the student community. That has definitely been achieved, no doubt. There is absolutely no irony in the Student Union demanding unity in a university where it doesn’t even serve a good number of colleges. Nope.

DUSU also has the power to organise events, debates, cultural and social service events under ‘Activities’. It can also publish magazines, journals and “wall newspapers”, whose existence had been unknown to me till now but as per Google Images it looks quite hipster, so I approve. There’s also some interesting organisational information: The Vice-Chancellor (currently Yogesh Tyagi, thank you Google) serves as the patron of DUSU, the hierarchy of the Council from top to bottom is President, Secretary, Vice President, and Joint Secretary; a student having been a part of the University for more than seven years cannot be an Executive Council member, and that a notice for an emergency meeting must be served by a telegram (Isn’t telegram dead yet?) Yes. “Why?” you ask? “Why not” is my response.

Regardless, it turns out that there are quite a few things to learn about DUSU and its functioning. We’re blessed enough to have an easily accessible Constitution that neatly mentions its aims, meetings’ procedures, structures and information on telegraph-usage. So go through it because it’s interesting, the 20 rupees trivia is definitely a great icebreaker for a date, and with the rains all around you have nowhere to go.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Rishika Singh
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DUSU Elections 2017

Students from RLA, Rajdhani stand against the litter caused because of DUSU elections

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With DUSU elections looming around the corner, students from various colleges of the University of Delhi have pledged to not vote for any party that partakes in the littering or vandalising of its college premises.
An unnamed notice at Ram Lal Anand College campus read, “We the voters of Ram Lal Anand College pledge to not vote for any candidate or a party whose supporters are found defacing or damaging the property of our college.” Similar notices from colleges like Kirori Mal College and Rajdhani College have begun doing the rounds in social media, and petitions which condemn wastage of paper are being signed. According to Vaibhav Bansal, a 3rd-year Political Science(H) student at Rajdhani College, “We are not planning on boycotting elections, we just demand a cleaner and violence-free campus. If a record of the campaigners could be maintained at the college gate and their number limited to 5, there won’t be as many problems. It’s our campus that is being defaced, not theirs.”
Akankshya Mohanty, a second-year Statistics(H) student at Ram Lal Anand College feels that the situation at her college is grim and severe. She said, “College just got renovated and many processes are underway as well. These campaigners are causing just too much destruction, with flyers and posters everywhere in and around the college.” She went on to describe her first-hand account of campaigners involved in a scuffle with the police at her college, and how quickly the fight turned violent.
A complete boycott is extremely far-fetched, but this new initiative to deter campaigners from defacing college property is gaining huge traction. Hopefully, more colleges will jump on the bandwagon and challenge authorities to take action against the wrongdoers.
Image Credits: RLA.in
Vijeata Balani
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