Delhi University celebrated its 95th foundation day today at the convention hall of the historical vice-regal lodge. The celebrations which marked the birth of the University 95 years from today saw Dr. Karan Singh, Member of Parliament, Dr. Swapan Dasgupta, MP- Rajya Sabha, Ambassador Shri Jayant Prasad and Mr. Rajat Sharma as distinguished guests among others.
The celebrations begun with the unfurling of the University flag at the ‘Gulab Vatika’ premises by the guests which was followed by the lighting of the ceremonial lamp. Then the guests of the occasion were felicitated by the Vice Chancellor of the University which was followed by the addresses by guests to the gathering. Dr. Karan Singh’s speech focused on the need of a changing education to meet the changing demands of the time. He also reiterated the long pending issue of new education policy. He ended his address by asking everyone to remember their fundamental duties when they talk of fundamental rights.
This was followed by address of Mr. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee and then followed by Mr. Jayant Prasad. Being the alumni of St. Stephens College, both of them shared their memories related to Rohtas Samosa and the Woodehouse society of the college. They also mentioned about the growing Naxal movement in the university during their period. This was followed by address of Rajat Sharma, the editor-in-chief of India TV and the host of the popular ‘Aap ki Adalat’ show. Sharma remembered how Delhi University taught him to dream and also how to turn the dream into reality.
This was followed by the presenting of several distinguished service awards to retired teachers, non-teaching staff and teachers with exceptional achievements. After the felicitation ceremony, Prof. Yogesh Tyagi, the vice-chancellor of the University addressed the gathering asking everyone to send in their suggestions on how to make University a better place.
The program drew its curtains with vote of thanks by Prof. Pami Dua, Dean of academics which was followed by high tea. The entire ceremony was also translated into sign language by the interpreters on the stage which made the proceedings accessible to the deaf and mute community as well.
Students at Sharda University were denied their admit card for their examinations due to low attendance, this led to a campus wide protest of the students against the staff. Over the past week, Sharda University had disbarred around 100 students from appearing for the upcoming examinations on the provision that they had failed to fulfil the necessary criteria of 65% attendance. Under this provision, students with 50%-65% attendance will be able to appear for examinations if they sign an undertaking/bond promising that they would improve their attendance next semester. Hence, in the following semesters the necessary attendance becomes 75%.
On Saturday, around 150 students got into a fight with the security personnel while entering the campus. The university authorities called the police helpline for immediate assistance, but failed in lodging a complaint against the students. The students also say that the university had allegedly created a ‘student benefit fund’ clause to the undertaking due to which all erring students have to pay Rs.10,000-Rs.30,000. The welfare fund will receive this amount if the student fails to acquire the necessary attendance. The fund is meant to cultivate welfare within the students and the staff. Due to which, the students allege that the university management extorts them unwillingly.
Many students say that their low attendance was due to genuine problems, such as suffering from illnesses and attending to urgent and unavoidable family matters. They were also willing to show their medical prescriptions to the management, but the authorities did not agree. Even those who have 63% attendance are being asked to pay Rs.10,000 along with the undertaking. Following these events, the management said that students will be fined only if they fail to attain necessary attendance in the next semester. Late in the evening, the management decided to let erring students appear for the exams from Monday by making them sign an undertaking, without the deposit.
The issue of attendance has become a rising concern within all Universities, including the colleges in DU. Different colleges undertake different mechanisms for dealing with low attendance, due to which there is a lack of uniformity within the administration of all colleges. Some colleges are lenient with their attendance policies and do not create a fuss regarding low attendance, but certain colleges are very strict regarding their attendance policies, due to which their students are made to sign undertakings. These increasing cases of attendance mishaps across colleges and universities call for a necessary change in the system, it seems.
I still remember the day when I was called for my DU Beat interview. After 3 continuous rejections, it actually happened. But why did I so badly want to get into DUB? Because I used to think that this organisation has rockstars in its team and damn, I was right!
Had it not been for DU Beat it might have taken me a lot more time to discover what I love doing. Thank you DUB for making my college life a beautiful journey and giving me a bunch of amazing people as friends who are passionate about what they do. Each moment spent here will be missed :’)
According to a notice put up at Delhi School of Social Work on April 27th, 2017, the residents of the hostel are advised to “dress up properly”, while leaving the definition of “proper” open ended and undefined.
The notice has, however, not been received very well by the students, calling the ruling “patriarchal” and the advice “disgraceful”. In response to which, another notice was put up on April 29th, 2017 by DSW hostel’s warden explaining the context of the complaint. The notice read, “The advice regarding dress was made in context of complaint from some female residents of the hostel with regard to certain male residents sleeping in common room in inappropriate night dress, which was curbing their use of common room.” The hostel, providing accommodation to both female and male students separately while making the common room available to all students, allegedly, led to the ruling by the hostel warden.
As per Professor Neera Agnimitra, the head of DSW and provost of the hostel the notice had been put up in response to certain complaints by some girl students about some male students making use of the common study room while being improperly dressed, making it uncomfortable for them to study or watch television in the room. The professor also told that the notice was temporary and would have been removed after discussion with the students on the matter. A general body meeting regarding this had already been conducted on Thursday. Additionally, the notice also prohibited eating, sleeping, bullying or any other indecent behaviour in the common room, and warned of disciplinary action against those violating the rules.
On one hand where it is extremely heartbreaking to get myself acquainted to the fact that I’d never be a part of the Sunday brain storming sessions with the brightest minds from across the university or single-handedly going for meetings with top notch executives from brilliantly huge firms, it also makes me hugely satisfied to see a set of immensely talented juniors who have put in all their effort to make DUB reach new heights this year. My college life, in a nutshell, has been DU Beat. As I sign off as the Marketing Head, I look back in retrospection, at the two year amazing stint that I’ve had at this organisation with the most lovely people that I can, now, proudly proclaim as family.
Thank you, DUB. You’re one college memory I’ll cherish forever.
Writing is liberating, empowering and a life changing experience but not many get the opportunity to showcase the same to the world. Presently working at McKisney & Company, Abhishek Gupta is an Economics major from Kirori Mal College who stands as a young example of how to make one’s dreams come true via writing. Author of India’s first ever travel photo-poetry collection – ‘Iridescence’, we got an opportunity to have an enlightening conversation with him about his dreams, aspirations and his current calling. Excerpts:
Q1. Being an Economics Major from Kirori Mal College, how did the idea of penning down a book come up?
Abhishek: Every person has this childhood fantasy, mine was to grow up and write a book. So as soon as I found an idea which could make a difference to Indian Literature, the first thing I did was to write the book.
India’s first travel photo poetry collection, ‘Iridescence’
Q2. The title of the book – ‘Iridescence’ literally means a lustrous or attractive quality that changes with the change in the angle of view. Metaphorically, why did you choose this title and no other?
Abhishek: Travel changes you. It makes you look at things differently. In Iridescence, I have tried to voice and give vision to different junctures of my journey of self discovery and my discovery of the world. This book would mean different things to different people. It may make you reflect, introspect, awaken, love, invigorate and hope. It may make you look at the same poem differently as you read it at different points of your life. This is a book to tuck under your pillow on cold lonely nights and it is also a book to flip through on a fresh refreshing morning.
Your perspective will define what Iridescence ends up meaning to you. And thus, what better way to sum this photo-poetry book than to call it ‘Iridescence’?
Q3. How did the idea of juxtaposing photography and poetry in a single book come to your mind?
Abhishek: I had been an avid writer since school. In my first year college I started doing photography. I was away to Africa for an internship around that time where sitting by the beach I was writing poetry. That’s when it struck me that it would be a great idea to combine photos and poetry in a book. It took me 3 years since then to materialise the book.
Q4. Most of your poems are an inspiration picked up directly from nature. Any story behind this you’d like to share with us?
Abhishek:When I started with photography, I clicked nothing but flora, and then slowly started clicking landscapes. Nature inspires me the most, and I particularly write the most when I am travelling. I strongly believe that nature has the power to amaze you and has a lot of wisdom to impart to you about life.
Q5.What motivated you to travel and pen down your thoughts in the form of poetry?
Abhishek:My primary motivation to travel was to get out of my comfort zone and to experience life and different ways of living beyond my confines. I wanted to breathe the air of new places and collect moments worth reliving. Photography was also one of the major reasons triggering all my travel.
Soon after, I discovered, Photo-poetry was the perfect medium to make a picture and moment eternal for myself and as well as for the readers. And then the camera didn’t stop clicking and the pen kept scribbling onto the pages of my travel journal.
Q6.Do you think poetry as a form of writing needs a new lease of life? What are your comments about the culture of poetry that we have in the country today?
Abhishek: I think we are at a very unique point in the history of literature where we are heading towards digitalisation and experimenting more than ever before. Poetry in India too needs innovation to enhance its market and appeal. It no longer needs to be about being free verse or sonnet or a haiku. It could be in different patterns, in various styles, lengths and on any particular theme.
I think the poetry scenario in India is reforming and broadening its horizons. There are slam poetry sessions every weekend, blogs and Instagram flooding with new budding Indian poets more than ever before and a wider acceptance of new forms of poetry. It is a privilege to witness such a rich growing poetry culture in our country.
Q7.Being a young author, you must have faced many unprecedentedchallenges and obstacles in the path of getting yourself published. Any anecdotes or important advice you wish to pass on to our young readers and aspiring authors?
Abhishek:Poetry is something that is very close to the writer, so I think the first obstacle is making peace with the fact that you are opening yourself to the entire world. So don’t be afraid to opening yourself up to the world.
And then the second obstacle is apparently finding a publisher. So all I would say is that if you reach out to 50 publishers, only 5 would respond back and 1 will for sure accept your idea, and that is all that will make a difference.
Q8. In a collection of more than 30 poems, which poem is very close to you or has a special place among the plethora of experiences that helped you collate this book?
Abhishek:Each poem is very close to my heart, so it would be very unfair if I choose one. But if I have to choose, then it would be ‘Probably Exuberance’. Because that was the first photo-poetry I wrote, and that’s where Iridescence started.
Abhishek’s book has been received very well and has also become a top-seller on Amazon in its genre. We wish Abhishek all the very best for all his future endeavours!
Upholding the pomp and glamour of the fest season, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College celebrated its annual cultural fest, Lashkara, from February 22nd to 25th, 2017. The four-day show presented a motley of events to be experienced and enjoyed by the student community.
The first day of the fest kicked off with the inauguration ceremony, officially drawing the curtains open to the festivities of Lashkara. The initial two days witnessed a myriad of departments, including political science, mathematics, history, botany, English, Punjabi, BBE, Hindi, economics, commerce, electronics, and B.A. Programme putting on display a diversity of intriguing and enthralling competitions for the participants to devour their interests in. The competitions were a mixture of department-oriented quizzes, contemporary topics, and fun activities.
Ankur, the theatre society of Khalsa College, organised Pratyaksh, a stage play competition, with Shunya of Ramjas College securing the first place. Due to the volatile political environment in the North Campus, the second day of Pratyaksh was postponed to a later date. The poetry society, Acrostics, celebrated the magic of words with Shabdotsav, a slam poetry competition, and Epiphany, an English poetry competition. The western dance society organised Meraki, with Gargi College’s Enliven bagging the first place followed by Sri Venkateswara College’s Verve. Swarang, the music society of Khalsa College, organised Antara, Taal Mel, Swarsagam, and Bandish on the two days to invigourate the music chords of the hearts. Enactus Khalsa, the fine arts society, and the photography society also conjured captivating exhibitions of the work of their members, enhancing the cultural ambience of the fest.
The last day of the fest commenced with the enthralling folk dance performance, attracting the audience with foot-tapping rhythms and enthused souls. The crowd poured in with the anticipation of witnessing the star performance of Guru Randhawa. The Punjabi singer of ‘Suit’ and ‘Patola’ fame invigourated the crowd with contemporary hits, concluding the eventful fest on a merry musical note.
The much celebrated fest season of Delhi University has almost come to an end. Most of the colleges have had their annual cultural fests with spectacular performances in the competitive events, and to the amazing EDM and Star Nights. With the tribal theme on point, Daulat Ram College successfully organised its two-day fest Manjari’17 on the 22nd and 23rd of March. The pots painted with warli paintings and tribal masks: everything was splendidly placed, decorating the entire college premises beautifully.
The audience relished the amazing performances of different colleges in the western dance competition Laasya, folk dance competition Ulhaas, classical dance competiton Yogya, and semi classical face-off Darpan organised by Zenith, the western dance society of DRC and Annhad, the Indian dance society of DRC respectively. Alahyaa, the Indian Music Society of DRC held its annual music fest Aaroh’17 where the leading music societies competed in the different events like Sur Sangam, Jugalbandi and Annhad. Memesis, the theatre society of DRC organised Adakari’17- the theatre festival of DRC which saw a vast multitude of spectators pulled towards the amazing annual productions of the different theatre societies. Annual exhibition Taabeer’17 was organised by Sepia, the film and photography society of DRC. ‘Shades’ was organised by Spectra– the fine arts society of DRC. Tajagna, the quizzing society of DRC hosted Big Fact Hunt- a general quiz. All India Mushairah was also organised. A talent hunt competition was held for the visually challenged students. Events like Promenade by Debonair, the fashion society of DRC and Zaahir-e-Hunar, the open talent hunt, had immense spectation.
Superstar singer Guru Randhawa of Suit, Patola, Yaar Mod Do fame ignited the evening with his peppy numbers, making the crowd dance on their toes. The two-day celebration was drawn to a close with Bollywood hits like Pee Loon, Tere Sang which are credited to the name of the soulful singer Tulsi Kumar.
Over 200 ad-hoc faculty members of University of Delhi observed a day-long hunger strike on Friday, April, 28th, 2017. The strike was observed in order to press their demand to be absorbed as permanent faculty by the University.
The hunger-strike was organised at the Delhi University Arts’ Faculty premises where the ad-hoc faculty members from across the University discussed the problems and irregularities they are subject to by the University. According to Himanshu Singh, an Assistant Professor (ad-hoc) at Satyawati College (Evening), these teachers are not being made permanent for a long time, and are forced to enjoy a sub-par status, which does not allow them to enjoy the privileges/facilities the permanent members get. He also added while in conversation with IANS, “Some of us have been teaching us for more than ten years, some even more. Why are we not good enough for permanent status, when the university can trust us with teaching students, their evaluation, and their careers?”
The Assistant Professor also told that the ad-hoc teachers are hired through the same selection process as permanent teachers.
According to another ad-hoc teacher from Satyawati College, they will also march to the Vice-Chancellor’s office and present him with a charter on their demands. The Delhi University Teachers’ Association extended its complete support to the protesting teachers in their bid to earn a permanent faculty status in the University.
A research was conducted by the Innovation Project team of Ramanujan College, titled “Designing Distribution Channel Strategy: Forging Consumer and Product Synchrony” under the Project code “RNC- 302”.
The research conducted by the Innovation Project team of Ramanujan College, University of Delhi, titled “Designing Distribution Channel Strategy: Forging Consumer and Product Synchrony” under the Project code “RNC- 302” dealt with drawing a relationship between consumer preferences and distribution channel preferred (local kirana, malls or online) for a particular type of commodity for a given city, under various parameters. The 3 principal operators of this project were Dr. K. Latha, Ms. Isha Gupta and Mr. Rakesh Singh, accompanied by Mr. Pulkit Garg (Country Head of Operations) Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd.) as mentor. The student members were Aakar Mangla, Akshit Kakkar, Aditya Sharma, Bharat Anand, Jamaaluddin, Jyoti Tyagi, Kanak Bohra, Pragya Parashar, Ranjeeta Sharma and Saurabh Singh. The team compiled 4 research papers, out of which 3 were focused on individual cities and the 4th one was a joint study of all the cities.
The study aimed to understand the quantitative and qualitative horizons of consumer behavior in different tiers of Indian cities like, Delhi- a metropolitan, Panipat- a developing business hub and Mussoorie- a tourist destination. The results of the study were based on primary data collected by conducting a survey of 600 individuals (200 in each city) of diverse ages, in the selected cities. The sample in each city was stratified and random, and components of study considered only Groceries (oil, grains, confectionery, etc.) and Electronics (Mobile handsets, refrigerators, computers, etc.), which were judged on following parameters-seller’s goodwill, price, product quality, availability, convenience, discount, packaging, timely delivery and payment security.
The outcome of the study showed that even with the recent expansion of online portals and malls, local kirana stores remain to be a prominent feature of Indian shopping experience in most cities. The reasons being: convenient, ready availability, product quality, and seller’s goodwill. However, offering discounts, attractive prices, and providing honest reviews proves to be a setback for local kiranas. The outcome was reached upon after an extensive and comprehensive study of these cities. Various innovations and business ideas are given in the research papers compiled by the team which would prove to be of enormous help to new entrepreneurs trying to step into this arena. With online portals growing at this pace, local kiranas and malls are required to undergo a makeover to recapture the customer base they have been losing. Hence, any innovation which could bring this revolution would be more than welcomed.
For more information, watch the short film about their project here.
