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Janki Devi Memorial College Organises Symphony 2018

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Symphony, the annual cultural festival of Janki Devi Memorial College, started with a bang on 10th January 2018. The festival started with the inaugural ceremony, where the Chief guest, Vidya Rao and the Guest of honor Pandit Abhay Rustum Sopuri enlightened the students with their speech on the importance of education and culture. The lamp for auspiciousness was lit by the college Principal declaring the inauguration of the annual fest.

The three days fest had 25 events that were to take place, including Munadi, the annual Street play competition which was the highlight of day one. Day two was a beautiful amalgamation of 13 power packed events going on side by side and unanimously served the magnificent platter of Symphony’18. Various competitions like Jabberwocky, Business plan, Let’s Dance, The Quiz show, Ragini, Paper Mania, Footloose, among others brought the finest talents imbibed by the young artists to the forefront. The day was filled with amazing performances and the excitement of the results in every event kept the attention of the audiences gripping. Too many teams, too many eliminations, and the audience just couldn’t keep calm. All in all, within these competitions, performances and the get together there was beauty in the madness.

Day 3 took off from the same peak, right where day two left. A plethora of events and a rock show proved that nothing else could have been better to conclude the ravaging fest that symphony was.

With more than 50 teams competing and showcasing their talents, symphony day 3 ended with a bang! True to the name, the fest felt like a symphony of talent and passion that flows in the veins of these performers.

The fest started with full zest and the energy only grew towards the end. The three-day extravaganza finally came to an end with a powerful rock show which was a star-studded event with performers like Astitva, the band and DJ A Sen* and DJ Revoic. The audience had a great time dancing to the songs and the EDM beats. With thousands tapping their feet and singing along, the conclusion to this fest was a fulfilling reward. Symphony 2018 was a huge success which truly held its Essence in accordance with its name.

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Biblio

Four Must Read Science Books

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Science has always been about quenching the curiosity and putting the derived knowledge into applications. This dynamic field of study has limitless boundaries. The more knowledge we get, the more ignorant we feel. The process of acquiring scientific knowledge goes beyond the limit of four walls of our classrooms and beyond the scope of limited syllabi. To augment the scientific knowledge, a science student must go out of his syllabus and read more books authored by acclaimed scientists.

It’s hard to say what anyone shouldn’t read, but the following books are the most recommended books of all time.

  1. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes: Authored by British Physicist, Stephen Hawkings,  this is the most popular science book of all time. Hawkings simplifies cosmology, which includes the structure, origin, development, and eventual fate of the universe using non-technical terms. The book gives an insight into mysterious cosmological phenomena like Black holes and the Big Bang. It tries to explain the Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity. “How did the universe begin—and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending?” – all your questions will be answered.
  2. On the Origin of Species: This is one of the most engrossing and controversial science book ever published. Written by Charles Darwin in 1859, this book laid the foundation of evolutionary biology. It presented a body of evidence gathered during his voyage of Beagle and proved that the diversity of life arose by a common descent through the branching pattern of evolution. He established that  Natural Selection is the force behind the evolution. This book revolutionised the course of science.
  3. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark: In this book author Carl Sagan tried to ingrain a habit of questioning the scientific theories in the common man. The author explained the way of establishing the difference between myths of pseudoscience and testable hypotheses of valid science. The author very surgically busted the myth revolving around science. This 1995 book propagated that any new idea should be treated with skepticism and should be grilled with vigorous rounds of questioning.
  4. Physics of the Impossible: Here theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku, demonstrated what our current understanding of the universe’s physical laws may allow in the near future.  The book dealt with the scope of time travel, invisibility, and lasers.  It also explained the obstacles and technical issues in realising these science fiction concepts as reality.

Feature Image Credits: AZ Quotes

Sandeep Samal

[email protected]

 

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DUB Speak

A Note to All Final Year Students

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It is official that the even semester has begun with the countdown for your last semester tucked into your timetables. With this clock ticking away in our minds and amidst all the entrance examination pressure, feel the last moments of DU for one last semester as final year students.

Time is round, and it rolls quickly. This Nikos Kazantzakis reference is apt for all the third year students out there. It feels like only yesterday when we were slogging through day and night to make it into the esteemed University of Delhi. It’s a classic déjà vu now we are in the same mental space in which we had been during our class 12th board exam preparations and at the same time, leaving our friends, our school, and family behind. This sixth semester fits well into that same mind frame, with the only difference being that we are older and wiser (well, maybe). Many of us will have our own set of grudges, disappointments, musings, fun, and frolic in our respective colleges with our mates, peers, and teachers while blaming our rent-seeking-hostel owners, wardens, horrifying internal assessments, Snapchat and Instagram buddies, meme-partners, crushes, societies, and college lawns and corridors for that matter. Some of us may wish to pack up our bags quickly and leave the campus premises as soon as possible to venture out into a new university abroad or take that gap year to prepare well for civil services or MBA or to gain work experience into our newly achieved placement opportunities. Others are too nostalgic for their own good, capturing all those last moments spent in classrooms and the canteen onto their phones. A few may act as hard nuts who couldn’t care less that one more chapter is coming to an end. Almost all of us, however, are trying to balance the ping-pong of emotions that we feel with the wrapping up of our penultimate semester now that we have to gear up for our future with all sorts of entrances nearing and getting our grade-point average one notch higher.

I am writing this to ask all the graduates-to-be to stroll through all those Hudson Lane cafes and Lajpat Nagar and Kamla Nagar markets for one last time, to sip chai at the nearest tea stall for another time musing and chatting with our peers, to walk to the nearest metro station one more time (and please do click pictures if you are one of those hard nuts), and to try attending those 8:30 a.m. lectures again for the last days  because trust me, these days of struggle, stress, and serenity will never come back. Somewhere along the line, you will look back with nostalgia and longing (or maybe even loathing). As much as you would like to believe otherwise, Delhi University will stay imprinted in your memory, while the new thongs of freshers will continue to occupy the space in the corridors and classrooms that were once yours. Delhi University may forget you, but you won’t forget Delhi University.

 

Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

Oorja Tapan
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

The Charm of Writing Letters

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We belong to the times of text messages, instant replies, and e-mails. Sometimes we don’t even need to construct a sentence to convey our emotions. The emoticons and GIF’s do it for us. In this tech- savvy world, we somewhere have lost the charm of writing letters to each other.

Letters unlike text messages are deeply personal and give us an insight into our personality. There is a deep sense of care and love when we write letters because a lot of thought has to be put into the words that we choose, our handwriting, the texture of the paper etc. When such amount of efforts are put into writing a letter, the other person undoubtedly feels special. A well-crafted letter is a creative act. The person who is writing it is at his most vulnerable moment because he is trying to put into words his raw emotions. The letters open a window to the soul in a way which technology might not ever be able to achieve.

Especially, considering that our entire communication has been reduced to like or love reacts and emoticons.
The nuances of human behaviour and communication are lost when we try to boil it down to some pre set responses. Moreover, there is a certain nostalgia attached to reading and writing letters. It is like the music of lost times that leaves you with a lingering scent.

There is an immense sense of satisfaction in waiting for a reply to your letters. We belong to a time when we know the exact time someone else has read our letter. We know when the other person is typing a response to it. In such a case, not knowing when you will receive a reply to your letter renders to life a certain romance.
Maybe in years to come we will pick this creative mode of communicating again. With this hope, I sign off.

 

Feature Image Credits: Pixabay

Anukriti Mishra
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

How Did India Fare in 2017?

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2017 has come to a close and as we welcome 2018. On this occasion let us look at some facts, figures, and statistics regarding  India’s performance in the past year and think about what could have been done to raise India’s position on the ladder.

While India’s economic growth rate has attracted attention across the world, its recent slowdown has raised the eyebrows of analysts and economists. Despite growth in the business and investment sectors, India continues to grapple with the long-drawn and basic problems of hunger, poverty, corruption, climate change, and poor levels of human capital. The credit rating company, Moody’s Investors Services, upgraded India’s investment ranking from the lowest to one notch up. In the ‘ease-of-doing-business’ rankings, India witnessed a 30-spot rise from 130 to 100. Some analysts have called these improvements long overdue while others have credited  Prime Minister Modi’s concerted action on the structural front in the economy for these recent developments. Due to various reforms in the audit and banking sector and the introduction of the  Goods and Services Tax (GST), bill the economy is undergoing various upturns which are expected to lead to a stronger and well-integrated economy. Modi’s initiatives, like Startup India, Digital India, MakeinIndia etc., are also credited for India’s better performance in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and innovation and competitiveness indices overall. There still persist the overwhelming problems of red-tapism, infrastructural bottlenecks, overregulation, and implementation issues for which immediate reforms must be undertaken by the government. On the other hand, what these business rankings overshadowed were India’s downslide in gender equality, hunger, press freedom, and inequality reports.

India slipped 21 places in the Global Gender Gap ranking for 2017. The Global Hunger Index ranked India 100 out of the 119 countries listed, behind North Korea, Bangladesh, and Iraq but ahead of Pakistan. A paper by Thomas Piketty and Lucas Chancel titled Indian Income Inequality 1922-2014 — From British Raj to Billionaire Raj? pointed out the widening income disparities which endanger social stability. These reports did not invite many hues and cry from the analysts as they show India’s status on fairness, equity, and empowerment rather than the ease of doing business which shows direct consequences for India’s growth and material welfare. Without a healthy, better-fed, and egalitarian society, such strides in development are of little consequence. The real development comes with the enhanced capabilities of the human capital, as pointed out by Amartya Sen. India has set ambitious targets for itself while ratifying the Paris Climate Deal and is taking several measures to ensure increased use of renewable energy. However, it is failing miserably on the front of reducing emission targets and needs to address sustainable development challenges with immediate effort.

Women’s contribution to economic development cannot be neglected. Other South Asian nations like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka perform better than India in areas of health, human development, and gender equality. India can learn from its own in-house examples of Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu; traditionally poor and caste-based societies – on how to develop human capital and assure equity by ensuring universal education and improved social security systems to make sure that the fruits of economic growth trickle down to the last man and woman. Instead of debating over whether a movie should be released or not or why a national leader went to watch a movie after defeat in elections, or whether Christmas should be celebrated or not in some schools, we need to talk about why India has not fared well in 2017 and how we can make  2018 a fairer and more equitable year.

The rankings given below are for referential purposes, sourced from Byju’s.

Index  Published by India’s rank  What it measures
World Investment Report 2017 UNCTAD 9 FDI inflow into the country
Global Competitiveness Index 2017 World Economic Forum 40 Assesses the competitiveness landscape of an economy
Global Innovation Index 2017 Cornell University, INSEAD and World Intellectual Property Organization 60 Innovation performance
Corruption Perception Index 2016 Transparency International 79 Corruption (Rank 1 is the least corrupt)
Global Hunger Index 2016 International Food Policy Research Institute 97 Measures a country’s hunger situation
Global Human Capital Report 2017 World Economic Forum 103 Measures how a country develops its human capital
Sustainable Development Goal Index 2017 Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Bertelsmann Stiftung 116 Assesses the performance of countries towards achieving the sustainable development goals
Ease of Doing Business Index 2017 World Bank 130 Ease of doing business
World Press Freedom Index 2017 Reporters Without Borders 136 Press freedom (Rank 1 is the freest press)
Climate Change Performance Index 2017 Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe 20 Measure of a country’s efforts in combating climate change
Human Development Index 2016 United Nations Development Programme 131 Measure of human development

 

 

Feature Image Credits: IndiaSpend

Oorja Tapan
[email protected]

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Exams

Question Paper Pattern Failure to Evolve Negative Impact on Students

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The University of Delhi conducts semester exams twice a year that puts the student in an exhaustive procedure of gathering information, scribbling notes, and remembering it in an unthinking fashion. This habit of mindless rote learning is being subconsciously promoted by the question paper framework and pattern set by the committee. The long questions demanding long answers underpins the act of students of not delving into the meaty parts of a concept and getting engaged in the gross lengthening of an answer.

Moreover, the repetitive nature of particular questions every year makes the question paper very predictable and further adds to the scenario. Such medieval predictable pattern of question paper encourages the student to employ the very controversial  ‘Guidebooks’ reference to sail through the semester which has always been deemed as an unhealthy practice.

With an increasing demand for skillful students in job sectors, DU’s question paper pattern fails to meet the required standards and this calls for a sharp revision in the methodology of testing in the current scenario. DU examination committee should evaluate the loopholes and try covering it in the subsequent terms.

Instead of few long questions, the question paper must comprise of relatively more short questions covering a greater span of the syllabus. Short question ensures that students are thoroughly going through the given readings as a short question demands a to-the-point answer. An ideal question paper should have more realistic questions where a student can connect the theory into practical applications and realities. This would develop intellect in students’ mind. Largely, a question paper should have more of conceptual questions than the long questions. This would inculcate a habit of active and associative learning among students at all levels.

Its high time that the authorities of the University of Delhi should come together and take the onus to bring about a revolution and overthrow this age-old method of taking an examination and instill a more scientific way of testing knowledge and skills.

 

Feature Image Credits: Matchboard.co 

Sandeep Samal

[email protected]   

 

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Uncategorized

Incredible Internships

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Today, millennials are determined to get their first taste of work-life before they turn 21. At the same time, there are hundreds of startups hungry for raw talent. Internships fit the startup business model well since young companies have an uncertain future and a low paying capacity. This has had a spillover effect, with established brands now competing with startups to attract fresh talent, and stepping up their internship programmes.

In the last four years, the internship market in India has undergone a quiet revolution—fuelled by the internet economy. Gone are the days when an internship was the privilege of those from a few top colleges. Gone are the days when internships had to be facilitated by colleges’ placement cells. And, also, gone are the days when internships meant slogging for free.
Even though the demand for internships far outstrips the supply, here is a list of a few companies that are offering winter internships for undergraduates starting from December/January, in the Delhi-NCR region.
For your convenience, attached to the list is also the email IDs/application portal links to the companies. But mind you, employers generally complain that new hires don’t know how to draft professional emails. So before you apply, ask someone in your family to advise you on email etiquette or follow the advice given on several online blogs. You could also use some of the customised cover letter services available on the internet.
Philips

With a legacy of over 126 years, Philips employs around 105,000 people across over 60 countries in the world. At Philips, you gain exposure to technology and business both, which coupled with your passion and ambition gives rise to an enriching internship experience.

As an intern in Philips India, you might get a chance to work in on the three R&D centers of the company: Philips Research Institutes in New Delhi, Noida, and Gurugram. You will get chance to work on real projects and enjoy some amazing perks and benefits including a good stipend amount. Mail your CVs to [email protected]
SAP

SAP makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. With customer base across 180 countries, SAP has offices in more than 130 countries worldwide.
Interns get access free food & fully stocked micro-kitchen with free cookies and popular drinks, free gym membership, phone and data reimbursements. Internship at SAP India is generally for a duration of 2 months. You can apply for an internship through company’s official page as well as through reference.
You can spend as many months interning with SAP as you want if you are able to show real growth and learning. From coding internship to internship on Big Data, IoT, marketing and many more, there is no dearth of choices regarding the kind of internship you want to do.

Rather than just enquiring about the internship through an email or through phone call, you can visit the office itself since it is so close to the University Campus: 89, FF, Main Road Kingsway Camp, Delhi, 110009

Internship helpline number: 097116 68396

JUNIPER

Juniper is a company which develops and markets networking products. Its products include routers, switches, network management software, and network security products.
Unlike other companies where internship starts during summer, an internship at Juniper begins in January every year and has a duration of 6 months. The company is very particular about the skill set they look for in an intern and hence they encourage you to apply for an internship only through their official website. The perks at Juniper are surely great with highly interacting social events to tons of options for the game and fully loaded snack room.

Juniper India internship helpline number: 011 3092 2900
BRITTANIA

The Indian food-product corporation has its head office in Bengaluru. It is the leading food company in India with Rs 8500 crores in revenue. Britannia Dairy is one of the largest divisions of the food corporation and it accounts for 10% of the company’s total revenue.

Apply for an internship with the ‘Biscuit King’ with their summer internship program. Every year during December, Brittania rolls out hundreds of internship position in different steps. Applicants have to fill out an online form and they get graded on their general cognitive ability and roll-related knowledge. Whats more? Britannia also gives a ‘Best Summer Project’ award where the best intern will be given a sizeable cash award. Contact number of the HR associate in charge of internships is
011 3078 8000
Zomato

Zomato is India’s first restaurant search and directory service that currently operates in 23 countries. It serves The Web and mobile users by providing information, menus, and ratings related to various restaurants, taking away the hassle of dining out, ordering food or food takeaways.
Starting from the first week of January up to mid-Jan, Zomato is offering internship opportunities in the disciplines such as data collection, sales, support and software development. Whereas they provide excellent exposure to the interns by helping them contribute to the products that are serving the community, they find the right talent and assess them on the parameters required for the job before offering them an internship opportunity. In addition to working on the technology products, interns are paid a good stipend and given the opportunity to learn from the best in the industry.
Internship helpline: 91 8375 073452

Ernst & Young

EY finds it place on the 100 best companies to work for. Their internships-mostly provided only in the field on consulting rather than the technical aspects of work-are usually for 4 months to 6 months for students, although a number of part-time and short duration of internships are also available.
The internship assignments make you work on the real projects and give you the opportunity to share the stage with the experts from the industry. In addition to experiencing a world-class work culture at EY, you also get an opportunity to qualify for the EY International intern Leadership conference, held at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, USA.

apply athttps://webforms.ey.com/Content/DContactus_New?Openform&EmailId=IN%20Webmaster&Indx=&site=IN_en_ContactUs&URL=http://www.ey.com/in/en/careers/students

Tata Steel

A part of the Tata Group, Tata Steel is a legendary name in the history of Indian industry. Tata Steel runs an internship program called, Parikshan, where they put you on assignments that revolve around patents and innovations in the field of material sciences.
From 2-weeks internships to full-time intern, there are many different types of an internship opportunity at Tata Steel.
In an environment where ethics and culture plays an important role in the everyday lives of employees, the interns learn the nuances of the trade from the veterans of the company. In addition to a great stipend, interns get access to all the amenities available to the full-time employees at a minimal cost.

You can find out more about the internships on offer at the http://www.tatasteel.com/careers/
or you can also call the internship helpline number: 011 2334 2636.
Siemens

As a great first step into the world of professionalism, you learn to apply your knowledge to the day-to-day work at Siemens. Having a legacy of nearly three centuries, Siemens operates in a variety of industry domains, including Industry, Energy, Healthcare and Infrastructure & Cities. The company is a prominent maker of medical diagnostics equipment and provides healthcare products to almost every country in the world, with their cutting-edge technology and a sound understanding of the trade. Putting your skills into action on real projects directly gives you a competitive edge over the industry peers. Siemens is currently offering winter internships for the Gurugram office.

Siemems internship helpline: 1800 209 1800

VMware

A subsidiary of Dell Technologies, the prime business of VMware is in cloud computing and platform visualization software and services.
Just like its diverse range of product base, different kinds of internship opportunities are also available with VMware. Since the bar of standards is quite high at VMware, this option is restricted to those with interning experience in at least two organisations. In the internship, you get an opportunity to work on real-projects under the supervision of higher authorities. You are accessed not only for your technical skills but for your analytical thinking and ability to take initiatives, excelling in which will land you a full-time position with this business giant.
Choose your internship field area at https://careers.vmware.com

Very few students who apply for internships ever follow-up with the employer on the status of their application. As a result, they naturally have an edge over the 98% who don’t. Following-up indicates sincerity and a genuine desire to do the internship. You can send the first follow-up email four or five days after your first email, and another email about a week after the first follow-up. If you still don’t get a reply, keep calm and carry on—with another application elsewhere.

Feature Image credits: biz_intern
Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

Human Rights Day 2017: How Far Have We Come?

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It has been 69 years since the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights on 10 December 1948. It is high time we realise that all human beings are entitled to protection from violation of their human rights and we need to extend this protection to the last individual. Every day should be celebrated as Human Rights Day.

On December 10, 2017, we celebrate the World Human Rights Day. Universal suffrage, liberty, equality and equity, equal representation before law, right to education, access to information, the abolition of bonded labour, slavery and protection from human trafficking, and gender equality are only some of the examples of human rights. We have come far but there is a great deal left to do. Several new challenges have cropped up to universal principles of human rights. Several violations have already been committed in the past when the human rights commissions and governments across the world failed to protect them.

Be it China’s authoritarian pushback against human rights in Tiananmen Square in 1989, the manipulation of basic freedom in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the introduction of Sharia law in Brunei, Myanmar’s military’s ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas, or rising conservatism with regard to gay rights in Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe, India, or Saudi Arabia- one of the most systematic abusers of human rights, especially of women’s rights of equality of status. Even the United States, who once used to be the champion of world peace and liberal democratic values, is not far behind in violating the basic principles of human rights, as can be seen in various cases like Guantanamo, torture of so-called ‘al-Qaeda suspects’, drone programmes or ‘democratic’ invasion in Iraq. The rise of right-wing extremism in Europe, North America and East and South East Asia make the defenders of human rights all the more sceptical.

The language of human rights is slowly translating into a language of discrimination, authority, and resistance. We are nowhere close to achieving the socio-economic rights and now are also losing our grip on the civil and political aspects of human rights that once the world triumphed over. The human rights organisations, human rights commissions, non- profit and non-governmental organisations have to pull up their socks to enhance people-to-people contact on the vitality of human rights across the world. Moreover, we as human beings need to rise above petty partisan interests and majoritarian politics and strive towards a more unified, global outlook becoming ‘world-citizens’ who are patrons of liberal and secular ideas.

Feature Image Credits: The Atlantic

Oorja Tapan

[email protected]

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News

Steep Increase in Delhi Metro’s Fares, Has Hit the Students Hard

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delhi metro

Over two months into the new set of fares, it is imperative to scrutinise the kind of impact it has had on the students of the University of Delhi.

Barring the minimum fare of Rs. 10 for a distance of 0-2 km, which has remained the same, fares have been raised for all other slabs. This has evoked mostly negative responses for student commuters and has caused chaos all over Delhi-NCR. The central question being asked by Delhi-NCR students with limited spending money is- why the Delhi Metro can’t have a student pass system, as there is for DTC buses?

How much does it pinch one’s pocket if one has to pay Rs 10 more per ride on Delhi Metro? The fare hike, which came into effect on October 10, 2017, looks moderate at first glance. But for those Delhi college-goers who take the Metro everywhere, this has been a pain in the last two months.

It used to cost the average South Delhi-ite Rs. 40 to travel from South Delhi to the North Campus earlier. After the two price hikes in Delhi Metro this year, they now have to spend over Rs. 100 on their daily travel.

While this move to hike the metro rates has attracted mounting criticism towards the Delhi government and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation over the last two months, it is not the DMRC which is to blame. As per the provision of Delhi Metro Rail (Operation & Maintenance) Act, 2002, the Metro fares are fixed and revised by a regulatory authority (fare fixation committee) constituted by the Government of India. Under Section 37 of the Act, the recommendations of the FFC are binding on the Metro Rail authority. DMRC does not have any power in this regard.

Nevertheless, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has defended the fare hike, saying it was needed to “maintain a world-class service”. But what good is a world-class service if the common man finds it unaffordable?

The Delhi Metro had made it possible for students to cut down on commute time and attend college far away from home. Following the hike in rates, it has become taxing for them to go back to sitting on a bus stuck in a jam, spending 90 minutes each way on the commute. Auto-rickshaws and taxis haven’t been a viable option either, being too expensive for the student pocket.

Apart from this effect on students, the fare-hike hasn’t “fared” well for the DMRC either. It has in fact led to reduced ridership and subsequent loss to DMRC. The move has also resulted in traffic congestion and increased pollution levels in the national capital. (Remember, remember the fifth of November?)

For others, while a hike of Rs. 10 per ride has not been too much, has that led to better services? It goes without saying that there is a lack of clean toilets at Delhi Metro stations — in fact, few Delhi Metro stations have any toilets, clean or otherwise. While some students wouldn’t mind paying an increased fare, they had expected better facilities to supplement the hike.

Unfortunately, the fare hike hasn’t witnessed a corresponding hike in improved crowd management during peak hours. The case is worse for women students. The fare hike has forced them to adopt less safe modes of transportation or has forced some of them to attend college less frequently.

But things aren’t going downhill for everyone. While the move has certainly benefitted cab operators, it has favoured the e-rickshaw drivers operating near the campus colleges.

Two months down, it is widely felt that the Centre did not assess the ground reality. It is pinching the pockets of students to an extent that it has taken a toll in their attendance, in some cases.

At a time when six rapes and several cases of eve-teasing and harassment are reported each day, the Metro fare hike needs serious reconsideration.

When the government says that it’s trying to give us world-class services, it must also keep in mind that many countries allow discounted rates of metro travel for students. Why is it that the Delhi Metro doesn’t?

 

Feature Image Credits: The Times of India

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak

[email protected]

 

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