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DUSU Elections 2017

NSUI’s Presidential Candidate’s Nomination Cancelled, Party Gets a New Face

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The National Students Union of India(NSUI), the student wing of the Indian National Congress(INC) got a rude shock when it discovered that its presidential candidate for DUSU Elections, Rocky Tuseed was missing from the final list of candidates released by the Cheif Election Office(CEO) office. Rocky Tuseed’s name was missing from the list released by CEO’s office which comprised of six other presidential candidates including Rajat Choudhary of ABVP and Parul Chauhan of AISA.
The cancellation of nomination was on the grounds of “disciplinary actions” based on an incident that happened during Tuseed’s time at Shivaji College.
NSUI called for a press conference this afternoon at Arts faculty to express resentment about the scenario. Ruchi Gupta, National In-charge of NSUI alleges that no certain definition of ‘disciplinary action’ has been defined by the Election Commission of DU. She further adds “ Without a clear definition, there is bound to be arbitrary applications of a standard which are bad in law.” Tuseed has contested and won as president in departmental elections (also under DUSU) last year. Ruchi Gupta told DU beat that “DU election commission can’t apply differential standards in two separate academic years.”
Mr Tuseed showed a copy of his character certificate issued to him by his college to DU beat. The principal of Shivaji college, however, denied that they had issued a good conduct certificate to him, while also refusing to comment on the actual details of the incident.
Mr Tuseed alleges ABVP for pressurizing the authorities for cancellation of his candidature. He informed that a case has been filed in this regard and he will be going on a hunger strike until justice is delivered.
Meanwhile, the party has convinced an independent candidate, Alka of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (evening), to contest on their behalf.
DUSU Polls are scheduled for September 12.

Image credits: Sandeep Samal for DU Beat

Sandeep Samal

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Campus Central

University Teachers Bodies Court Arrest on the Teachers’ Day

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The All India Federation of University & College Teachers’ Organisations (AIFUCTO) and Federation of Central Universities’ Teachers’ Associations (FEDCUTA) held a protest and courted arrest at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, on 5th September against the nondisclosure of the Chouhan Committee Report for 7th Pay Review Committee (PRC) and raised other demands regarding public higher education institutions in the country.
As per the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA)’s press release of the protest, “Pay Review Committee Report was submitted to MHRD more than six months ago. The PRC, that deals not only with pay revision but with all aspects of teachers’ service conditions, including permanent recruitment, promotions and pension, is expected to have made positive recommendations to address the grievances of teachers regarding contractualisation and adhocism of services.” AIFUCTO also sent a letter to the Prime Minister to intervene and implement the PRC recommendations, saying “We have repeatedly written to MHRD and UGC to share the content of the 7th Pay Review Committee Recommendations, a practice that has been followed by all previous governments because AIFUCTO is the apex organization representing the university and college teachers in the country”. Despite meeting with Human Resources Development Minister Mr Prakash Javadekar in May this year and being assured of the report’s release in a month, there are no signs of action regarding the same. Along with the PRC report declaration, the protesting teachers also raised demands of increasing the education allocation to 10% of the GDP, 100% funding of Government State and Central Universities and resisting the privatisation of Universities via granting autonomous status.
Rajya Sabha MP, D. Raja(CPI) also led a delegation of AIFUCTO and FEDCUTA Office Bearers to meet the HRD Minister on the day of the protest. The delegation also included the newly elected President of DUTA and FEDCUTA, Dr Rajib Ray, who said that the Minister assured of the disclosure of the PRC recommendations soon, but could not explain the delay. Mr Ray also said that such a move has been unprecedented because the PRC recommendations are to be made public every time. He also stressed the importance of a written document rather than verbal assurances, and that equal assistance must be provided to Central and State Universities.

 

Image Credits: National Herald

Rishika Singh

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DUSU Elections 2017

National Green Tribunal issues notices to DU, DUSU and UGC over paper ban

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The National Green Tribunal is strongly set against the blatant use of paper in the DUSU elections in violation of its order abstaining the students’ body from using pamphlets and splattering the walls of the varsity campus with posters. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued contempt notices to Delhi University Students’ Union, Delhi University and University Grants Commission on the issue of wastage of paper during students’ union polls and sought responses. They were asked to appear on Wednesday. The tribunal in 2016 had asked the university and the student’s groups that participate in the elections to go paperless during the canvassing.
The directions came on a plea by Delhi University law student Nithin Chandran, who had approached NGT against indiscriminate wastage of paper during the students’ body elections. “On every election, tonnes of paper are wasted for canvassing by the candidates and their supporters. Wherein, there is no accountability for usage of paper and neither there is any norm or procedure for recycling of this waste paper,” the plea had said.
It had has also cited the Supreme Courts 2006 order directing universities to implement the recommendations of the JM Lyngdoh committee in their students’ union elections.

The NGT Act 2010 has provisions for a penalty under section 26 of the act in case of failure to comply with orders of the tribunal. Maximum punishment of three years imprisonment and Rs 10 crore as fine.

DUSU elections are scheduled to be held on 12th of September.

Image credits: DU Beat archives

Sandeep Samal

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DUSU Elections 2017

A Peek Into AISA’s Manifesto for DUSU Elections

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The student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, a prominent leftist party on the campus of Delhi University and a staunch opponent of the party politics of DUSU’s ruling party’s muscle-power and money, All India Students’ Association (AISA) recently released a press release prior to upcoming DUSU elections.
The press release acts as an announcement by its candidates their unambiguous stand on ABVP’s alleged violence during the Ramjas College protests earlier this year in the month of February. 

The Ramjas College protests transpired on a fateful Wednesday afternoon when ABVP members arrived within the college premises to disrupt a literary event which invited speakers like Umar Khaled and Shehla Rashid.
Parties like AISA and SFI (The Students’ Federation of India) were in the forefront protesting against ABVP’s alleged hooliganism-turned-violent activities.

Since then, AISA has been campaigning for a freer and safer, non-violent campus which provides a space for uninterrupted discourse of ideas, however controversial it be.

The party claims, if in power it will address issues of
-Affordable accommodation
-Affordable transportation
-Violence free campus

Parul Chauhan, a third year student from Satyawati College (Evening) contesting for the post of president said that “This DUSU election is being fought in the backdrop of Ramjas Incident in which the goons of ABVP assaulted both students and teachers. Instead of working for the benefit of students the ABVP has only perpetuated violence in the campus. They have repeatedly failed in their promises of building hostel and in fact have ended up promoting PG’s.

If AISA is elected to union, we will ensure that the DUSU election post 2017 will be free from all malpractices and even common students like me will have a fair chance of contesting DUSU elections against the money muscle power of ABVP”.

Akash Gupta a student of Law Faculty and former student of Deshbandhu College contesting for the post of Joint Secretary said that “the biggest issue Delhi University is facing right now is that of campus violence which is single handedly perpetuated by ABVP across Delhi University. He recounted how ABVP tried to disrupt seminar on Ambedkar in Deshbandhu college, beat up activists in Shaheed Bhagat Singh and PGDAV college. He also said that the incidences of Violence by ABVP is not only limited to North Campus, but also in almost all colleges of Delhi University, because of which common students live in perpetual terror of ABVP goons.  

“We have seen how for the last 40 years the DUSU has been made a launch pad for the ABVP/NSUI goons who invest huge sum of money just to win DUSU elections and launch their political career. Our objective is to reclaim the DUSU from the hands of castiest, feudal, communalist ABVP and give it back to the common students. We aim to make DUSU a platform of struggle instead of a platform for enjoyment where last DUSU office bearers ate tea and snacks of 21 lakhs ” said Kawalpreet Kaur President of DU AISA.

Ankita Dhar Karmakar

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Events

Book Launch: Rashi Shrivastava debuts with ‘Sojourn, A Woman in Exile’

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Rashi Shrivastava’s Debut novel, ‘Sojourn, A Woman in Exile’ was launched at Oxford Bookstore on Saturday, 2nd September 2017. The Shrivastava family was accompanied by friends and colleagues in the grand event.

Rashi was touched by everyone’s generosity and love at the launch. Everyone present bought copies and encouraged her. The book trailer played in the beginning of the launch captivated the audience by showing them a visual teaser of what the novel consists of and soon after Rashi read a few excerpts from her novel trying her best to not give away the entire plot.

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The Q&A round was one of the most intriguing parts of the night as everybody present was extremely keen to know about Rashi’s journey as a debut author. She spoke about the struggles she faced after she finished writing her book to get it published and also gave a detailed description of her writing process.

Her English Professor, Dr Anubha Sen Mukherjee spoke highly of her and mentioned how she always loved writing even when she was pursuing her Bachelor’s in English Literature from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, DU.  After the book signing, everybody dispersed for tea and snacks. Oxford Bookstore offered some yummy delights and refreshing drinks. Rashi posed for pictures with friends and family on the special day so that she could remember the beautiful evening forever. She thanked BecomeShakespeare.com for publishing her novel, Oxford Bookstore, CP for being such good hosts and Madpro Media, her PR Agency for helping her get through with the entire process.

Her debut novel, Sojourn: A Woman in Exile is a psychedelic intrusion into the mind of a thirty six year old single woman, Mira, who reminiscences of her past life in a span of twenty-four hours, is culminated into an awaiting surprise at her doorstep. One day out of her monotonous life has been chosen by the author to delve into the deeper recesses of her mind that harbour childhood pains, a distorted parent-child relationship and an overarching love relationship that paved the way for a dreamy future but was put to halt in between. The novel explores the beauty of nature up close and intersperses the feeling and emotion of experiencing tranquillity with the turmoil of our hearts. This is a narrative that explores the past, present and future. There is never a moment that passes for Mira without thinking of Veer. The end of the novel helps you as a reader take a call for yourself and decide, based on your understanding of life and love, if the end is a happy one or not. The novel is not prescriptive and gives the reader the right to discover.

Grab your copy of Sojourn, A Woman in Exile by clicking on the below mentioned links:

Indian Readers can purchase their copy at Amazon by clicking here or at Flipkart by clicking here. For readers across the globe, you can get the novel here.

 

For more details about the author and her novel you can visit: http://rashishrivastava.in/

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DUB Speak

Godmen like Gurmeet Ram Rahim: A disappointing trend in India

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India witnessed yet another consequence of placing faith in humans, pedestalising flesh and bones to the level of what we usually know of as “godly”. Our society is obsessed with living in a utopian world with immense belief in the idea of Godmen. The past turn of events has proved yet again that it’s not one individual who is to be blamed; instead blame it on our obsessive need to raise men to the stature of the divine. It’s like 33,00,00,000 deities are not enough for us – we might as well add a million more names to that list.

Time and again we are shown that Godmen in our country just use the façade of people’s faith to get away with things that they wouldn’t be able to get away with otherwise. These crimes go unnoticed in our country anyway. The likes of Gurmeet Ram Rahim have yet again declared to the world that it’s not reasonable to worship a man and hold him in unquestionable faith. What’s worse is that, we as a society remain blind to it, and ignorant (the one thing that we know best). What I fail to understand is how people can turn a blind eye to all the whims and fancies these so called

the mob, the bhakts that follow these self-proclaimed Godmen are ready to kill, ready to destroy public property in his name.  Recent events should definitely bean eye opener, a scary warning that its high time we stop placing our faith in illiterate, self-proclaimed gurus that are just there to exploit people’s naivety and a compulsive need to depend on humans to fulfill their addiction for faith.

It is time we learn a lesson this time before another greater baba comes and causes more colossal damage than this one.  It’s high time we realise that our faith shouldn’t be so cheap that it can be swayed easily and placed in criminals who claim to be the messiah of our realm. Ram Rahim came to tell us that not all caves narrate stories of the First Men, some are meant as the dungeons of those who disguise themselves as protectors only to commit the most heinous crimes. He isn’t to be blamed for those deaths; he isn’t the cause of their bandages. It’s us, who are solely responsible for letting these gurus rise above from dust and acquire immense power. It’s our misplaced faith that has led to a chaotic series of events and a history of blood soaked riotous years. I’m pretty sure, God, will not send a messiah to our rescue that hums to the beats of Love Charger.

We, as a society, should stir up to this wakeup call by Ram Rahim and realise that we will continued to be abused, assaulted, cheated, harassed, and violated, as long these babas exist and we encourage their existence. We need to stop trying to embolden these gurus and equipping them with power that will be purely misused without an alternative.

 

Feature Image Credits: Zee News

Rashim Bagga

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Fandom

A Two Year Long Winter?

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The Game of Thrones season 7 finale has left us intrigued and wanting for more. The wait for season 8 seems too long as the show, most probably, is not going to return before 2019. However many theories and speculations have been floating around about the fate of the characters. The finale has raised many questions which have been left unanswered. While the winter seems to be two years long, I, have tried to deconstruct some of the most popular theories. Hopefully, they will provide you with a warmth while you bide your time.

1) The mysterious look of Tyrion Lannister
George R. Martin sent a three-page letter to Harper Collins in 1993 in which he outlined his plans for the series. The letter hinted about a romantic interest between Tyrion and Arya which would result in a rivalry between the former and Jon Snow. This letter recently surfaced on the internet and has left the fans speculating whether Tyrion instead of being in love with Arya is in love with Daenerys. If yes, this would lead to conflict between Tyrion and Jon Snow.
Another theory suggests that maybe Tyrion has betrayed Danny and has formed a secret alliance with his sister because the audience was not made privy to the entire conversation that took place between Cersei and him. We are well aware of Tyrion’s love for his sister’s children and as Cersei is pregnant, this theory certainly seems plausible.
Are any of these theories reasonable or is Tyrion just concerned about what will happen if two most powerful people come together? It is true that the power dynamics are going to change in future and, thus, his concern over their relationship seems genuine. However, these questions are going to be left unanswered at least for now.

2) Is Bran Stark the Night King?
Many Game of Thrones fans are convinced that Bran Stark is the Night King. According to this theory, Bran continuously travelled to the past to warn the mankind about White Walkers. In one of this attempt, he ends up getting stuck inside the Night King.
After many failed attempts, Bran went way back into the past to inhabit the body of the First Man who was turned into a White Walker by the Children of the Forest. But Bran was continuously warned by Three Eyed Raven that if he remained in past for too long he might get trapped there. Thus, Bran is stuck inside Night King. Many people have tried to find proof to support this claim. However, if this is true one can only wonder why the show has sidelined such an important claim as he does not get enough screen space.

3) Is Daenerys going to die?
George R. Martin has said that the ending of the show is going to be bittersweet. Almost everyone is sure that Daenerys is going to capture the throne. Her immense strength and the power of dragons make it seem that the alternative is impossible. But if nothing else Game of Thrones is notorious to kill its popular and main characters. No sooner the audience gets attached to a character that he or she gets killed. Moreover, the uni-dimensional arc that Daenerys’s story follows puts her at grave risk. However one can only speculate.

Image credits: HBO

Anukriti Mishra
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DUB Speak

Internal Assessments: The Underappreciated Semester Saviours

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They say conditioning takes time to wear off, especially so when it has been for as long as fourteen years. But this hardly ever holds true when faced with collegiate novelty immediately after a decade and a half of stylised educational habituation in school. It takes a couple of months or a year, in worst cases, for a student to calibrate himself to the newness and surprisingly, the adaptation in most cases is flawless.

Once through the strait-laced academic architecture of a school, the relatively amenable ambiance of a college is easy to conform to. However, in the midst of this seemingly opportune transition, it is likely for a student to be led astray, in the face of fast pacing, unprecedented freedom.

One characteristic trait common to both college and school is the dreaded tests, known as internals in the former and formative assessment in the latter. While both cater to the same purpose on different levels, their psychic interpretation is somewhat different. In school, the fear of failing in one was remarkably upsetting and brought with itself shame and disappointment but on the contrary, performing miserably in a college test garners close to no remorse from the student because the programming is such that it ceases to attach due to relevance to score cards at the bachelors level.

It is not entirely wrong to suggest that marks are, in fact, not an accurate representation of an individual’s potential and knowledge is not the freehold of institutional grading methods, but insinuating a complete detachment from the same and nurturing an indifferent attitude towards internals cannot be a strait-jacket solution to everything that we feel is wrong with our education system.

It takes a lot more than a few bad remarks by the professor for a college student to realise the importance of internal examination, and it is usually much later in the semester that they realise their folly.

Back during the time when their minds are muddled in the murky waters of a couple hundred assignments and society commitments, the added responsibility of studying for an internal naturally weighs them down. But as college students, almost standing on the threshold of this unrelenting world, it is absolutely necessary to be able to know how to effectively manage the available resources and put them to their best possible use.

Internals help in fulfilling the requisites of the final examination by providing the students with an established reason to familiarise themselves with a part of the entire text for the purpose of instilling in them the habit of routine study. Equipping them with the needful well in advance helps in progressively building a sound ground for preparation during the semester-end exams.

The announcement of a formal test never ceases to entrench a certain degree of anticipation in an individual and if this likely expectation is provided with a sound breeding ground consisting of the willing attitude of a student and his undying effort, it will ensure steady gains in the future. However, if this is not put to regular practice, it will only result in repeated failure.

A paper specific internal helps in inculcating a sense of completion with regards to particular topic(s) and imparts confidence. Also, a well-practiced portion of the study material stays with the student for a relatively long period of time and rids him of unwarranted anxiety a week prior to the final examination.

Nobody wants a four-month heavy academic baggage to hang like an albatross around one’s neck and to ensure that it does not, it is imperative to provide for ample time and effort to internal tests and assignments.

 

Image Credits: DNA India

 

Lakshita Arora

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Aryabhatta College

Resolution to Affiliate with DUSU Fails in Aryabhatta College

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

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

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

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

 

 

Feature Image Credits: Edunuts

Kinjal Pandey
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Campus Central

Did you know: there exists a DUSU Constitution

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

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

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

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

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

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

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Rishika Singh
[email protected]

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