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Global Bubble Parade: Breaking Beauty Stereotypes

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Those In Need and You Are Beautiful Project collaborated to bring ‘Global Bubble Parade’ for the second time in New Delhi yesterday, 28th May, 2017.

Through this event, they intended to stop society from defining people by the way they look, dress up, their gender and even their sexual preferences. The theme that they stood for was “Break Beauty Stereotypes”.

Bubble Parade witnessed a large crowd enjoying themselves with bubbles, spreading the message of being comfortable and being ‘WHO YOU ARE’.

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The event started with a massive registration for the events. After everyone got their bubble machines, Rangbaaz performed a 20-minute Nukkad Naatak, ‘Shareer’, addressing the issue on body shaming and insecurities, with the crowd cheering them on. After the wonderful performance, Clownsellors, and its volunteers performed many fun activities, which enthralled the audience. Afterwards, the participants performed a 100 meter parade from the dharna point in Jantar Mantar, dancing and laughing, blowing the bubbles all around.

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Global Bubble witnessed a lot of communities ranging from North-Easterners, LGBTQ, differently-abled, Africans, most of which have faced the scrutiny because of their appearances and preferences and the event’s motive was to bring people from other parts of the country together, all standing together in solidarity for a tolerable society and to end ‘definitions’ and ‘labels’.

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After the event, participants shared their own experiences with everyone and talked about how a positive change is coming gradually but steadily. The crowd around was brimming with happiness and positive vibes to see an event like this happening in Delhi. They were appreciative to see the beauty of non-stereotypical colors and diversity.

Shreya Bhatia, Co-founder of Lending Hands Foundation said, “By bringing Global Bubble parade to New Delhi we wanted to give a message of an inclusive society where we respect each other and find happiness in others’ smile. We find a way to make people happy and make a positive difference in their lives.”

“We really need to stop the society from judging us and defining us by one’s physical appearance – by one’s face, their body, their height; by the way they dress up, by their gender and even by their sexual preferences. This can only be achieved once we start feeling comfortable by the way we are and our preferences. I strongly feel we spread this message through Global bubble Parade this year. It is about bursting those beauty myths set up by the society.” says Aashima Taneja, Founder of You Are Beautiful Project.

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Admissions 2017

How to apply for Colleges under Sikh Minority Quota

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As the admission season is approaching and with the 12th standard board results declared, lives of Delhi University aspirants will revolve around the cut offs and the modalities of the admission process. While the major part of the admission procedure remains consistent and central, students applying under Sikh Minority quota have to go through some additional formalities in order to apply under the minority quota, being offered at several colleges of Delhi University which are managed by Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC).

Presently there are four colleges in Delhi University that offers reservation to students belonging to the sikh minority namely Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa and Mata Sundri College for Women. These colleges were established and/or are maintained by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee, a statutory body, constituted under an Act of Parliament and were given minority status with 50 per cent quota in 2011.

Given below are the guidelines for admission under the ‘Sikh Minority Quota’

  • Applicants are supposed to have Sikh Minority Certificate made from the office of Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC).
  • Once that is done, applicants are supposed to first register themselves for undergraduate admissions at the main website of Delhi University.
  • After getting the confirmation reciept, it is necessary to register yourself at the Khalsa Colleges portal for admissions under the Sikh Minority quota.
  • When the cutoffs are declared, applicants are supposed to carry their Sikh Minority Certificate as well as the receipt of the aforementioned registrations along with the other regular documents.

Here is the website of Khalsa Colleges common registration : http://dukhalsacolleges.com/

If you are still confused of what all documents you would need for the admissions, you can check the lists of documents required here. 

Meanwhile, this is only applicable for students who wish to claim the minority quota. For general students who wish to apply to these colleges can do so by just filling the common admission form of the University.

Image Credits: DU Beat

Aditya Narang

[email protected]

 

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DUB News

Clash of Titans – Debate on Free Speech and Social Media

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With 3 May 2017 being declared as World Press Freedom Day by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the American Center, New Delhi celebrated the month of May to raise awareness about freedom of speech. On the last day of the month, an event was conducted jointly by DU Beat and the American Center – Debate on Free Speech and Social Media – How much is too much? The event brought together debaters from the University of Delhi and the National Law University to speak in support of and against absolute freedom of speech on social media. The debate took place at the American Center, with an interactive audience and listeners who even stood at the back, surpassing seating capacity.

The debate was moderated and judged by Karnika Kohli, Social Media Editor of The Wire, Craig L. Dicker, Cultural Affairs Officer at the Embassy of the United States of America, and Richard E. Pinkham, Director of Programs, North India Office at the Embassy of the United States of America.

The speakers covered a wide range of ideas and topics to support their stance, from allusions to Reliance JIO to details of legal cases. They were asked challenging questions by Ms. Kohli in response to their statements. Additionally, the engaged audience members also gave their inputs and asked the debaters to flesh out their arguments. The passionate speeches left the audience, as well as the judges, in a dilemma with regard to which side to support. As Mr. Dicker stated, he felt “like a ping pong ball” which bounced from side to side with each speech.

At the end of all the speeches, the judges deliberated to announce Abhinav Hansa Raman and Bhishm Khanna of the National Law University as the winners, who argued for and against the motion respectively. The conclusion of the event was followed by a high tea. The entire debate was live-streamed on Facebook and garnered thousands of views.

“It was immensely gratifying to welcome such intelligent students to the American Center so they might contest the appropriate limits of free expression in the realm of social media. I will not be surprised if sometime before long our participants are ?debating the same issue as part of a policy-making exercise. For now, our audience was very fortunate to be able to hear such bright minds argue both sides of this most topical issue. Our thanks to partner DU Beat for organising this excellent session.”
– Richard E. Pinkham

As DU Beat is a platform that has fiercely supported freedom of expression for a decade, it was a privilege to be able to conduct this debate, especially in the current political environment. With mainstream Indian thought becoming increasingly homogenised and peripheral voices being silenced, the debate offered a broader look into the idea of freedom of speech and expression as a whole. A similar scenario is visible in the US, where occurrences of hate speech have become more numerous since the Trump administration came into power. Therefore, this debate could not have been held at a more apt time about such a pertinent subject. We are certain that the event offered food for thought to everyone present and forced them to re-evaluate their presence on social media.

 

Feature Image Credits: Alex Arthur for DU Beat

Vineeta Rana
[email protected]

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Features

‘Characterless’: The word you’d probably use to describe a sex worker

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With an estimated figure of 20 million sex workers in the nation, prostitues are no longer treated with the royalty that they used to be in the past.

Once a theme for literature and art, with the likes of Mricchkatika and Menaka, prositution is now a profession that has become synonymous with illegality, trafficking and sex slavery. Where rape, poverty, divorce are the main reasons that force (yes, force) women into this profession, pleasure is the last thing on their minds. Prostitutes in India have up to an average clientele of 4 men a day, and the use of protection is absent only so that the women can earn a few extra bucks. Many sex workers suffer from STDs, including fatal ones like HIV/AIDs (almost 50% of the sex workers in Mumbai are HIV positive), and have to take care of unplanned children. Even though maintaining a brothel and pimping is illegal in India, many young children are kidnapped or sold by their own parents and are introduced to the sex trade industry when they are only minors. These are just some of the facts that anyone can Google and get to know of. Yet, we forget about the conditions that they barely survive in when we talk about them.

Why is it important to talk about sex workers?

India has one of the biggest sex trade industries in Asia and metropolitan cities like Mumbai and Kolkata are the biggest markets in the nation. Even though it is illegal, brothels and pimping continues to happen out in the open and many young girls are forced into the profession without their consent. This profession contributes to the larger picture in many ways and it is important we address that, and question the government. Do we have enough policies for the protection of sex workers? Do we have enough NGOs that work towards spreading awareness about STDs? Do we know enough about this profession to adequately help them? These are the questions that have remained unasked for many, many years.

Like any other humans, sex workers do as well deserve basic rights and to live their lives with dignity. But with a profession that runs of being termed as ‘nasty’, it is impossible for prostitutes to seek help of the authorities either due to fear or shame. The “oldest profession in the world” and sex workers are barely treated as humans. It is time we question, what’s so ‘characterless’ about a profession that has such a huge clientele.

 

Image credits: huffingtonpost.com

Anagha Rakta
[email protected]

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News

Hurdles in the Delhi University online registration process fixed

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With the Open House over and technical glitches plaguing the online registration process, DU faces a massive uphill task from the start of the admission season itself. 

With the University of Delhi’s (DU) admission season already underway, technical glitches in the functioning of the official DU portal have left several students and parents worried or stranded. On 31st May, 2017 (Wednesday), all the tabs for online registration of merit-based courses were activated. However, several of them refused to become operational in time. The tab on academic details was activated after much delay, causing panic. Added to the confusion is the fact that the admission guidelines, which would have helped the candidates accurately calculate their aggregate while filling up the online form, have still not been posted. What was to be done at the beginning of the admission season has become another task on the ‘to-do’ list for the authorities managing the portal.

The delay in activation of tabs left several minority colleges, such as St. Stephens and Khalsa, with incomplete registrations. This comes even after DU witnessed a record 3,500 applications being registered within two hours of the activation of the online form. Also, since Wednesday was the last day of the Open House, the schedule and guidelines for the entrance tests are expected to be delayed by another week. With the Open House over and the online preparation still underway, DU faces an uphill task in managing and resolving the queries of the candidates. Clearly, the university’s centralised registration process has much to improve upon while facing a massive time-crunch, as both the candidates’ and parents’ enquiries mount with each passing day.

However, the glitches in the process was fixed recently and aspirants can now complete their applications smoothly. “The admission web portal for the undergraduate (merit based) programs is working efficiently and all the tabs are active and within two hours of opening all the tabs, more than 3,500 applicants completed their registration,” the university said in a statement.

 

Image credits: du.ac.in

 

Deepannita Misra

[email protected]

 

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News

E-Rickshaw driver killed near Delhi University over apprehending public urination

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A 31-year-old e-rickshaw driver was beaten to death after he stopped two people from urinating in public near GTB Nagar Metro Station.

On Saturday, 27th May, a 31-year-old e-rickshaw driver was beaten to death after he stopped two people from urinating in public near GTB Nagar Metro Station. It has been reported that the victim, Ravindra Kumar, had objected to the men urinating outside Gate number 4 of the GTB Nagar Metro station and asked them to use the public restroom which was located five metres away from the spot. The police reports that the students took offence to this and came back seven hours later with 20 men and assaulted him. This assault led to the death of Kumar.

Following this event, on Monday, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu visited the family of the deceased e-rickshaw driver. The Ministry also gave a cheque of Rs 50,000 to the family. Meanwhile, the Delhi government also announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for them as compensation. Venkiah Naidu also stated that the death of the e-rickshaw driver is condemnable as the driver was trying to promote the Prime Minister’s initiative of Swach Bharat Abhiyan. He also spoke to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik and has asked him to take “strongest action possible” against the culprits.

Further developments suggested that the culprits, reportedly students of Delhi University, were intoxicated. CCTV footage showed the culprits purchasing alcohol from a nearby shop and consuming it. On Wednesday, the 19-year-old BA second-year student of Sri Aurobindo College was arrested and a minor boy was apprehended over the murder of e-rickshaw driver Ravinder Kumar. Rajesh Khurana, joint commissioner of police (North Delhi), said the student, identified as Shekhar Kapasia, was arrested from his native home in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. The interrogation led to the apprehension of the 17-year-old boy from Delhi University’s North Campus area. Shekhar was preparing for Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exams from a private institute in Mukherjee Nagar. “We have identified five more people, who were involved in the blind murder case. Raids are being conducted by our teams to nab the absconding attackers,” said Rajesh Khurana.

Joyee Bhattacharya

([email protected])

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Admissions 2017

School of Open Learning starts its Admissions Process

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After a delay of over weeks, the admission process to distance learning courses of Delhi University has finally kickstarted with School of Open Learning (SOL) opening its registrations for its undergraduate courses.

The School of Open Learning is a trailblazer in the field of distance learning. Last year some 49,000 students had applied online to SOL by 21st July, 2016. The institution has also seen a steady rise in the number of applications each year.

Below is a step by step guide which will help you in the process of the admissions a more smooth one.

Step 1 – Registration.

Open: https://sol.du.ac.in/admission/LoginRegistration.aspx

Fill in your working email and mobile number. Then you will get a password on yor mail and mobile.

Step 2- Login

Open: https://sol.du.ac.in/admission/

Enter your user id and password. Click submit. 

Step 3- Course Details

Please enter the course details and click “Save”. Proceed to “Next” button. If you are a CBSE/ICSC/NOS student, fill in your year of passing and exam roll number. Then click on Check button.

Step 4- Personal Details.

Fill in the demographic details. Click “Save” and proceed to “Next” button

Step 5- Subject Details.

Plaese choose the subjects from drop down list. Click “Save” and proceed to “Next” button.

Step 6- Document Details

Upload the required documents. Click “Save” and proceed to “Next” button.

Step 7- Enrollment and verification .

Please verify all the details before proceeding for payment.  Read the declaration form and tick the “Check Box”. After verification click “Verify”.

Step 8- Select payment method.

Step 9- After the payment you’ll get your Roll no. and Fee receipt number.

Step 10- Click on “Print fee receipt” to view and download.

Step 11– Click on “Print ID Card” to view and download.

For any problem related to Online Registration / Admission, you can mail to [email protected].in 

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Earlier the admissions to the regular courses saw a change in its schedule, while the School of Open Learning has managed to stick to its earlier notice of starting its registrations on June 1st.

 

Image Credits: www.sol.du.ac.in

Niharika Dabral

[email protected]

 

 

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Admissions 2017

Delhi University to provide free coaching for students of weaker sections for PG programs

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Amidst all the admission hustle, University of Delhi(DU) has released the news of the programme of preparatory classes for the students of the economically weaker sections. With this second consecutive year of the program, it seems like the University is giving all attentions to  the academic empowerment of students from all backgrounds. In this program, free classes will be held for the students who wish to apply for the entrance examinations for post-graduate courses in DU.

Coaching will be provided in English, Law, Mathematics, Physics and Zoology. Application forms will be accepted outside SGTB Khalsa College between Wednesday May 31 to Monday June 5 from 02:00 pm to 05:00 pm (Sunday Closed).  A fee of Rs. 100 will be charged for registration. The duration of the classes will be about two weeks. The list of the selected candidates will be out on June 6. As seats are limited, admission will be on the first come, first serve basis.

Applications are for Pre-Entrance Summer School 2017, for postgraduate admission tests for Economically Weaker Section (EWS/BPL,) SC, ST, OBC (Non-Creamy Layer), Minorities, PwD (EWS/BPL only). The candidates will be provisionally admitted to the ‘DU Pre-Entrance Summer School 2017’  till they complete the application procedure by applying online for the PG Entrance Examination at University of Delhi website, www.du.ac.in. Application Form for ‘DU Pre-Entrance summer School 2017’ may be downloaded from the same website. Tentative dates of start of the classes: 07.06.2017 for English and Law and 09.06.2017 for Mathematics, Physics and Zoology. The Pre-Entrance classes for all the disciplines will be held in the DU North Campus. And the time & venues will be notified in due course.

 

Image Credits: DU Beat

Radhika Boruah

[email protected]

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Admissions 2017

Just before the action day, Delhi University revises its Admissions Schedule for PG and Entrance based UG Courses

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Just before the day of action, Delhi University has delayed the date of online registration of its Postgraduate, M.Phil and PhD courses. In a recent press release, the university has declared a new revised admissions schedule for its Ph.D, M.Phil , Postgraduate and Undergraduate (entrance based) Programmes for the academic session 2017-18.

The online registrations for Postgraduate, M.Phil and Ph.D programs which were to begin tomorrow will now begin from 7th June, 2017.  The process of registrations for the admissions will be entirely online. The details of the registration process and other details will be published in the bulletin of admissions which will be uploaded in the website soon. The registrations will go on till 20th June, 2017.

Meanwhile, the date for the Undergraduate entrance based courses will be announced later. The online entrance for these nine courses will be held across eighteen cities across the country.

The offline entrance for postgraduate courses will be held across in six centres across the country. They would be held in Delhi, Kolkata, Varanasi, Guwahati and Nagpur while in South India, the centre would either be in Bangalore or Chennai.

Image Credits: www.du.ac.in

 

Srivedant Kar

[email protected]

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Delhi School of Economics

DU students’ organisation seeks apology from Republic TV

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On Sunday, May 28, Republic TV ran a story about pro-ISIS and pro-Maoist slogans being scribbled on the walls of Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University. However, the visuals used in the backdrop while running the story were posters made by students from Disha, a Delhi University students’ organisation.

Republic TV’s broadcast can be seen here.

In response to this, the outfit has written a letter to Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV condemning the irresponsible act of journalism. In the letter, Simran – convener of Disha Student Organisation – alleges that Mr Goswami’s channel has falsely used their posters to cover the pro-ISIS news when they had nothing to do with the alleged ISIS slogans. She further asserts that the pictures contextualised the news piece in a way that wrongly insinuated and defamed their democratic organisation.

The association has since issued an official statement and sought an apology from the channel by asserting, “We strongly condemn this pitiable act of irresponsible journalism. We ask that you run an apology clarifying this on your channel and everywhere where you have run this video story (facebook, youtube, twitter etc). In the event of failing to do so by your channel we will be forced to file a defamation suit against your channel and send you a show cause notice.” (sic)

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Taking their opposition further, the organisation has now planned a protest demonstration against Republic TV on 31st May, Wednesday, at Arts Faculty, North Campus.

It will be interesting to see how this tussle unfolds. Whether Republic TV will apologise or failing which Disha Student Organisation will go ahead with the defamation suit – only time can tell.

 

Feature Image Credits: Ultra News

Niharika Dabral
[email protected]

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