That time of the year, when colleges have just begun, students are in the beginning throes of the wispy seriousness that makes them attend classes, when all of DU is virtually asleep, comes this one brilliant idea, to hold the biggest Youth Fest of all times, a Fest that will create an unprecedented impact on the DU fest scene which is comatose at the moment, the Fest that is guaranteed to knock your socks off. AIESEC in Delhi University and RC Cola bring to you the “YouTH FESTIVAL” on the 1st of September at Cambridge School, Rajouri Gardens from 12pm onwards. The Youth Carnival, is an initiative of AIESEC in Delhi University to celebrate the unfathomable Power of the Youth and showcase the culture of AIESEC and the love for what we do being an AIESEC-er. AIESEC is the world’s largest entirely youth run organization present in over 110 countries and territories, 2,100 colleges and universities with a strong membership base of over 6,000 members globally. AIESEC services 4000 clients from Corporate and Development sector with 16,000 exchange based internships. We aim to impact the society through its youth and that is the crux of this mega event. We anticipate a footfall of more than 7 thousand students from more than 30 top colleges in and around Delhi. This event will serve as a platform for International Interns from 20 different countries and AIESEC-ers from more than 20 cities in India through various competitions and performances reflecting on AIESEC values and goals celebrating YOUTH. There will be a concert performance by Parikrama, the celebrated Indian Rock band, as well as a Global Village, where there will be an array of stalls put up by our interns as a way of sharing their culture and tradition with us, and taking a bit of ours in return. Preceding this event, AIESEC DU hosted two extremely successful pre-events- Empower, coupled with the YOUth night; a musical evening hosted at Manajsa, Hauz Khas, on the 19th , starring the band “Colossal Figures’’; serve as pre-events to the incoming giant. The motto of the entire series of events is to “RAISE HELL AND STAY YOUNG”, revolving around dignitaries like Raghav Mandava, a renowned jounalist and comedian, Safia, an RJ with Radio Mirchi and many others who spoke at Empower. Backed by our very impressive local and national board of advisors, the upcoming YouTH Carnival is going to be a force to reckon with.]]>
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Today on Tuesday, 28 August 2012 the permanent teachers of DU went on a strike protesting against the “non-cooperative attitude of the Vice Chancellor and the Delhi University administration”. DUTA (Delhi University Teachers Association) declared that the strike, which also included hunger strike, will be on even after the letter of the registrar arrived stating the Dean and the principal of colleges must ensure the teachers are taking regular lectures. The letter also stated that all the leaves on Tuesday shall stand cancelled.
“We are not supposed to come and teach today, but the university administration is acting in the most arbitrary manner. Their “no work, no pay” order is stifling our right to strike and protest”, says a DUTA member. “Yes we will give lectures but support DUTA side by side, all our demands are fair and justified” adds another. DUTA demands “filling up of 4000 teaching posts and the other vacant non-teaching posts as was promised by the vice chancellor, implementation of UGC guidelines of 2006 regarding reservation, expeditious process of promotion and withdrawal of negative service conditions”.
The DUTA also alleges that the VC is making a continuous attack on their right to protest and is not meeting the DUTA and the DUCKU, the Delhi University and College Karamchari Union. While in colleges like SRCC, Daulat Ram and Hindu students had their usual lectures, in Hansraj classes were suspended. “If teachers go on a hunger strike they will be going against the orders of high court. It will affect their service record”, says Alka Sharma, the registrar, DU. The DUTA however is not intimidated. “This high handed attitude of administration has to be done away with, we will not give up” concludes a DUTA member. However, the no work no pay strategy of DU authorities proved successful in bringing the teaching staff to college thus reducing the strength of the protest.
Aishwarya Chaurasia
[email protected]
Hello Amma,
I am doing my B.A (Hons.) first year from an All Girls Colleges of the University.
I am a Lesbian, and although I make no efforts to hide it, I haven’t really ‘come out’ to my classmates. My classmates, atleast most of them are pretty open-minded and accepting when it comes to homosexuality, but inspite of that I don’t know how to let everyone (or at least those who are chill with it) know I am a Lesbian. I am single, so I can’t use the ‘I-was-talking-to-my-girlfriend’ trick either.
Could you tell me how to come out, without really having to shout it out? Or should I just let it be?
Before coming to your query let Amma show you the bright side in your life: you are in an all girl’s college. A place full of ripe coconuts for you to tap, secondly and more importantly the open minded people around you. Now macchhi shouldn’t you capitalize on these things!
Well before coming out of the closet you must be confident in yourself, and should have made peace with the fact that you are attracted to the same sex. The key is to choose the right person to begin with. If this target fish of yours is hooked well, the rest of the sea shall be a piece of banana cake with filter coffee. And since you can’t slip it in casually, do go through a sort of script or be confident and careful with the words and tone you use. Once you have your close friends taken care of, go on further and let others or more casual friends know, this will help with your self confidence.
You will also have to brace yourself for awkward questions or homophobic behaviour. Girls’ colleges usually have some separate group or society to help and counsel the baffled macchiis like you, so if not in your college do get in touch with such a group.
So once you have let the people (those who matter) know Amma would love to hear from you and your girlfriend. Do make sure you let Amma know how your curry is boiling and buzz me anytime you want help in spicing it up!
You could mail Amma your queries on the ‘hush hush’ topic at [email protected].
First aid facilities in most colleges belonging to one of the most prestigious universities in the country seem to be in a state of apathy. Most colleges in Delhi University lack basic first aid provisions, giving an impression of utter callousness on their part.
Students of most colleges seem unaware of any such facilities even if they do exist. “I have no idea about it. I don’t think anybody would know”, says Parth, a student of Kirori Mal College. The story seems to be no different in Sri Venkateswara College. “I don’t even know if we have a medical room. I’m just glad I’ve never had to use it”, says Aniruddh, a 3rd year Economics student from Sri Venkateswara.
However, this is only one end of the spectrum. The other end has colleges like St. Stephen’s where the facilities provided are reportedly top notch. “We have proper medical facilities and a very approachable medical staff”, Vatsal, a student of St. Stephen’s was quoted as saying.
Interestingly, the girls’ colleges of Delhi University seem to fare much better in this regard. Colleges like Lady Sri Ram, Gargi and Jesus and Mary have a well equipped infirmary. “We have a well equipped infirmary and a stationed nurse, and from what I’ve heard, it’s quite adequate”, says Tanya, an LSR-ite. “The first aid facilities in our college are pretty good and the nurse is friendly. Since it’s a girls college, we have provisions for every possible thing”, says Nandita, a student of Gargi college.
It seems that the co-ed colleges of Delhi University need to take a lesson or two from the girls’ colleges and provide adequate provisions to its students and make them aware of such facilities being provided to them in college.
Surya Rajappan
[email protected]
Migration, the process by which a student can change his/her college within the University while not having to repeat a year of education, is a boon for meritorious students who might have not made it to their college of choice initially. Before 2011, migration was a clearly stated policy in most college brochures/handbooks and the practice was fairly common.
Come 2011 and enter the semester system. The migration policies suddenly go off the records; it does not find a mention in any college prospectus. The reasons offered in hushed tones is that colleges doesn’t want to complicate an already complex scenario by working out how a student would migrate through semesters, and how marks would be carried forward and how the conflicting optional-papers system would be worked out.
This however, does not imply that migrations are disallowed. There exists a file in the DU website, a file record of an amendment to Ordinance IV, relating to migrations. It clearly states that migrations are still allowed, and can now even occur across universities (as per new rules)! The rules more or less remain the same as before.
The policy change has puts questions before us : why is migrations being down-played by the University? Why is it so that our correspondent, who visited the SOL for migration, is told “There are no migrations allowed as of date, we shall let you know if there is a change in policies.” Why is so that staff members in various North Campus colleges where we reached out either refuse to comment or state that migrations are disallowed?
The dean’s office at the University says that the website needs to be updated and that colleges do allow migrations. This statement comes amidst reports that the last date to apply for migrations (as found out from college sources directly) at Hindu College and GGS College are already past. For the immediate attention of interested students, Khalsa College, among a possibly larger list, is still accepting applications!
Being a government-funded university, it is of paramount importance that transparency is followed at all levels. Delhi University should take steps to make information available at all levels. Migrations are an across-the-University issue and require immediate attention as far as updating the website is concerned. Colleges also need to work keeping student’s welfare in mind. Difficulty faced by colleges in admitting migration students indicates a flaw in the system for which a meritorious student should not be penalized.
Arnav Das
[email protected]
Photo credits: Additi Seth
SIFE, which stands for Students in Free Enterprise, is an international non-profit organisation and was incepted in 1975. It began its organisation in the United States. Today, in India SIFE operates as a subsidiary of SIFE worldwide and is one of the 39 countries around the world that comprises SIFE’s premier business and higher education network.
SIFE came to SRCC in the year 2007 and since then it is one of the most active and well known society of the college. Its basic work is to bring together a diverse network of university students and create a better and more sustainable world through the positive power of business. Well-known companies like Boston Consulting Group, The Times of India, FDCI, Punjab National Bank, Max India foundation are its partners. This society finds underprivileged communities and develops a business model for them. It has a team consisting of students from all the three years – the third year students act as advisory members and students from first and second year are allocated duties and responsibilities for completion of their undertaken projects. Till date SIFE SRCC has undertaken 10 projects out of which 4 are still continuing.
The 4 on-going projects namely, Life on Wheels, Kayakalp, Azmat and Aahar have proved to be quite a success. Under project Life on Wheels, SIFE empowers the rickshaw puller community by facilitating ownership of rickshaws. This is done by getting loans sanctioned for the rickshaw pullers from Punjab National Bank and then ensuring successful repayment of the loan amount. At present SIFE has 100 rickshaw pullers and 61 percent loan repayment. Project Kayakalp (meaning rejuvenation) attempts to preserve India’s ancient culture of puppetry while providing the poor artists an opportunity to earn livelihood by showcasing their art to the community. Under project Azmat (meaning dignity), SIFE SRCC identified the existence of manual scavengers in Nekpur near Ghaziabad. The caste system, there, dictates that those belonging to Dalit sub-caste should engage in cleaning dry latrines (non-flush toilets) and carrying human excreta on their heads to disposal grounds. Azmat seeks to rehabilitate these underprivileged people and provide them an alternative source of income. Project Aahar is engaged in providing sustainable source of income to girls rescued from trafficking and helping them to develop culinary skills by providing proper training thus making them independent.
With these projects SIFE SRCC is easily one of the best in DU. It was awarded the second place in the SIFE National Competition in 2011 and third place in 2012. This year (2011-2012) it is working with 57 members and impacting 750 people both directly and indirectly. These figures indicate that SIFE SRCC has huge potential and it will, in near future, bring a significant change in our community.
Aishwarya Chaurasia
[email protected]
Image source: The Times of India
Being Indian never meant easy answers. Not for the ancient people who lived in their little kingdoms and certainly not for us; the twenty-first century web-savvy young Indian who thinks the world could not have been better. A few weeks ago as the violence broke out in my home district and its adjoining areas I received calls from my panicking friends and even seniors. Then we started talking about it. It seemed to me there and then that no one had ever come up with the definition of an Indian for a very good reason: there isn’t one.
The identity of the Indian here is not to be confused with any historical truths or claims. The idea here is to explore the fragile bond that we share in this nation where the diversity often translates into pure ignorance and indifference that borders upon insensitivity. I remember a minister in Punjab coming up with the ingenious idea of solving the problem of too many stray dogs by sending them to the Northeast while in the Northeast, the people of ‘mainland’ India often feel ‘different’. My friend’s father who often travels there tells me that people there call her dad ‘Indian’. How strange the ideas must be on both sides of the spectrum. To add to this is the insecurity regarding some illegal immigrants from faraway Bangladesh coming to take away economic opportunities. Is it any wonder that violence is still considered one of the best examples of defence mechanism? Certainly not.
Even though many have characterized the violence in Assam as communal, it couldn’t have been farther from the truth. The fact is, this violence broke out as a turf war to be precise. The Bodo community felt that Bangladeshi migrants were taking their lands and this is where the insecurity built up to an unfortunate climax of inhuman violence. To be very honest here, those who were showing this to be the ‘second Godhra’ or something similar in the national media, forgot that a considerable number of the Bodos are actually Christian. So, where does the question of communal violence come from? And the amusing scenario that unfolded was more or less tragic. The people, notably public figures in Lower Assam, promptly ‘supported’ the violence as a ‘defence mechanism’. Perhaps this is where the question of humanity comes up in this case. Does the fact that they are allegedly ‘illegal’ take away their basic human right to stay alive? The haunting pictures of displaced figures from both sides in the aftermath loom like long shadows on the famed pillars of the fragile Indian democracy.
There are no direct answers to what the government should do or should not do. As an Indian, the evidence that rumors of communal violence can result in a mass exodus makes me question the basis on which the identity of ‘being’ an Indian start. It does not matter from where the rumor started and banning SMSs can hardly answer that major question for us. For north easterns who live away from home, this becomes a conflict of relating to the larger issue, I think. On one hand we are always classed as the ‘other’ type of Indians. On the other hand when violence like this breaks out, we become figures who either receive pity or looked upon as the persecuted. The issues that came out with this violent outbreak in lower Assam can be categorized as:
- A question of basic identities. Who is what ‘type’ of Indian? Isn’t it surprising that when violence breaks out in Assam, the entire Northeastern community goes through a phase of uncertainty?
- A question of existence. If a simple rumor mill has resulted in an exodus of people from one part of the country to another, how much faith should one have regarding the nation’s integrity?
We have long roads to cover before we answer these questions. For now, as the violence stops we too stop questioning. But till what time shall that happen?
Priyam Goswami
In what comes across as a rather deplorable episode, a third-year student of Mathematics Honors from St. Stephen’s college was allegedly abducted on August 15 by her 24-year-old boyfriend who held her in custody at a hotel in Paharganj area of Central Delhi before police extricated her the following day.
Apparently, the accused, identified as Abhishek Deep, a journalism graduate from IP University, had called the girl to the Shastri Nagar Metro station, subsequent to which he took her to Hotel Ashoka in Paharganj. There he had already reserved two rooms, one of which was in the name of the victim. After forcefully locking her in one of the rooms, he made a call from her mobile to her father and demanded ransom of Rs. 1.5 crore.
However, his plans met with a disaster when the girl’s father, who is a consultant at an iron ore firm in Bangalore, informed the police and after registering a case, a rigorous interrogation kick started. It was actually through phone surveillance that the location of the number was unearthed following which the victim was rescued. At the same time, the police also collared Abhishek and arrested him on the grounds of kidnapping a girl.
During the aftermath interrogations, it was garnered that the accused, a native of Chattisgarh, was in desperate need of money and hence concocted this entire conspiracy. In fact, he was unemployed but had a longing to lead a prolific lifestyle and had earlier taken a handsome amount of money from his previous girlfriend as well. The two met at a fest in January this year and were in association since then.
Reportedly, the girl in question did a year of her graduation in United States before migrating to India three years back. She was now putting up in a flat in Kingsway camp near North Campus. According to some of her acquaintances who refused to be quoted or named, she didn’t share an emotional bond with her parents and their relationship was more or less confined to matters related to finances. She had also flunked in her second year exams, the result of which came on the day of this incident. She has now gone back to Bangalore and is perhaps planning to shift to United Stated again.
Vatsal Verma
[email protected]
There will be a time in the not to distant future that a student getting a 99% in his boards would look forward to the DU cut off list with genuine trepidation. It begs the question whether using standard 12 results as a measure of merit for admissions in DU are still viable given that even average students are securing 90 plus scores.
This week Juxtapose asks you to debate whether the introduction of entrance exams for admission into DU in place of the current cut off system is the way forward.
Please leave your argument in the comment box .
Results :-
