Anoushka Sharma, Author at DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

Surprisingly, it is the only college in the North Campus that is yet to be accredited by the Council.

Despite lack of funds, Ramjas has decided to apply for the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) this year. Extensive renovation work is underway, but the college has taken up ‘sustainable renovation’, implying the reuse and recycling of building materials.

Over 35 Delhi University (DU) affiliated colleges have been graded by NAAC, with Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), and Hindu College topping the list. The university, as a whole, has been graded A+.“To manage the resources, most of the work in Ramjas has been done internally, using waste material from the college itself to cut down on the cost,” Principal, Dr. Manoj Khanna said.

The stone slabs, which were otherwise rendered useless after being discarded from other parts of the campus have been put to use in making pathways. Besides, new railings are being built out of underground water pipes.In works is also a rainwater harvesting unit, the covers of which have been made out of the tops of the college’s out-of-use water coolers.

Other reforms in the run-up to the accreditation bid are creation of a ‘purchasing committee’ and formulation of a standard operating procedure for college-related expenditure. “The aim is to try and move towards improved transparency. We are also going to move our attendance mechanism online. The majority of effort is going into collecting and organising records from all departments and societies for the last five years — financial records, student records, teachers’ publication records, etc.,” Khanna added.

The quality status score is given by the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC), an autonomous body of University Grants Commission (UGC).These scores are valid for five years after which the colleges will again have to apply for accreditation.It is still debatable why Ramjas never applied for NAAC accreditation, because it was in 2012 that UGC made accreditation compulsory for higher educational institutions, and DU executive council adopted the decision in 2014.

Once an institution applies for the accreditation, a peer team from NAAC visits the colleges for 3-4 days and interacts with teachers, students, alumni and all stakeholders of the institution. “It is a very systematic process which is comprehensive and some of which is even video recorded,” said a teacher at SRCC. (paragraph source: Hindustan Times)

Image Caption: Ramjas College to apply for NAAC

Image Credits: DU Beat

Maumil Mehraj

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The Fore Challengers of North Campus

By Anoushka Sharma January 22, 2019

Every sport event is more than just a contest for the testing of physical fitness. Each player represents his or her own dedicated effort and expectations in the act of living their favourite sport. Stories of the following sports teams and societies go on to show just how passion drives human endeavor.

Image Credits:Surbhit Rastogi for DU Beat. — Image Credits: Surbhit Rastogi for DU Beat.

Winning their first match in an official tournament, the Girls’ Basketball Team of Hindu College defeated a presumptuous patriarchy. Being the first team of its kind in more than two decades, a team with minimum amenities, these self-trained ‘underdogs’ thrive on passionate interest and intoxicating energy for their game.

Championing the second most expensive sport, the Ramjas Archery Team has registered itself as a leading team in the varsity. The girls’ team has won gold for four consecutive years. Playing at the national and inter-college level, the team is expecting even brighter prospects in the upcoming Nationals; for which, two women archers of the team have already qualified.

Image Credits: Aakarsh Gupta for DU Beat.

Defined for its individuality, the game of Shooting tests every player’s talent to add up to the team’s overall performance. Four members of the team have been selected for the World University Trials. With the vision of representing India in Olympics, every shooter plays importantly for a sense of gratification and satisfaction. Hansraj College is known for its excellent produce of opportunities for these young shooters.

With the background score of players indulging in a game of Cricket, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College’s cricket team’s coach recounted countless achievements of the team. The team won Lala Raghubir Singh Tournament this season. Looking forward to a better and more rewarding season ahead, the team exudes dedication.

The housing of agile talent in University’s North Campus is only a fraction of the vast multitude of achievers and to-be olympians in the varsity. DU Beat wishes all of them luck.

Feature Image Credits: Surbhit Rastogi for DU Beat.

Kartik Chauhan

Mahi Panchal

Surbhit Rastogi

Aakarsh Gupta

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Sex Amma On Polyamorous Relationships

By Anoushka Sharma January 20, 2019

” How do I know whether I can deal with a polyamorous relationship or not?” is a million-dollar question which young and curious munchkins wonder and write to Amma about! Fret not, Amma is here to answer it.

Dear Macchi,
To be polyamorous means to have sexual and romantic relationships with more than one partner at the same time. People who are polyamorous can be heterosexual, lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and relationships between polyamorous people can include combinations of people of different sexual orientations. Oh, the possibilities are endless!

My dear idli, get it out of your head that it’s cheating. If your partner doesn’t wish to include other people in the relationship and isn’t aware that you’re seeing other people, then it is cheating. In polyamory, all the partners are aware of the existence of each other.

Being in a polyamorous relationship doesn’t mean that you can sleep with whomever you want. It is extremely important to have honest and open communication in polyamorous relationships. It is not to be confused with open relationships as well. In open relationships, people seek partners to just have consensual sex with, but in polyamorous relationships, they have romantic relationships with multiple partners too, other than just sex.

Let Amma tell you the many advantages of being in a polyamorous relationships. You can love as many people as you
want to without worrying about breaking someone’s heart. Having multiple partners will reward you with many new sexual experiences which Amma can totally vouch for. However, it has its downsides too. Practicing polyamory is considered a taboo that persists, since polyamory is not socially acceptable yet. If one of your partners is monogamous, there is a high chance that they might feel a tinge of jealousy. Amma herself had a tough time balancing the schedules and needs of different partners. But when she did manage to do it, she had some of the best
sexual experiences of her life.

It depends on you, my munchkin. If you are unsure whether polyamory might suit you, ask yourself whether you would be okay with having romantic relationships with multiple people at the same time. Contemplate whether the polyamorous relationship is meeting your needs of closeness and intimacy.

As you go ahead in your sexual adventures and experiment with different chutneys to have with your idli, don’t forget to keep Amma posted about the same!

Sex Amma
[email protected]
(Write to sex Amma at [email protected] to get all your queries about sex answered)

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DUTA Strikes: Still A Bleak Situation

By Anoushka Sharma January 20, 2019

The recent strikes by the University ad hoc teachers still go unheard as the University approves contract hiring of teachers for vacancies.

The 17 th January march by Delhi University Teachers’ Association(DUTA) at Ram Lila grounds sems to turn unfruitful as the University approves the contractual hiring of teachers after introducing ordinance XII E, enabling the hiring of contract-based lecturers who will be employed for vacancies spanning one year. This was passed with a provision to have 10 percent of the permanent positions as contractual appointments.

DUTA conducted a long march on the 17th January 2019 from Ramleela Maidan to Parliament Street in lieu of the several demands placed by them, including the proper absorption of the ad hoc and temporary teachers through a one-time regulation into the university, the resolution of the reservation issue through an ordinance and the restoration of the 200 point roster which the Supreme Court set in July 2018 which treats university/college as a unit. This became necessary after the recruitment policy in the University observed a halt on account of a letter drafted by the University Grants Commission, dated 5th March 2018 which asked the colleges to implement reservations by considering the subject as a unit, resulting in a significant reduction in the jobs for the reserved castes.

The DUTA strikes have been an ongoing struggle as protests began on 2nd January 2019, when the professors across Delhi University agitated against the unavailability of permanent positions, pensions, and maternity leaves for the ad hoc teachers. Such demonstrations and protests have been witnessed in the past too, but to no avail. The strike had more than five thousand people, including the teachers and students as active participants. The march was initiated from Zakir Hussain College at 11 AM and continued to Ramleela Maidan and Parliament Street. The protestors were detained by the police and lathi charge was issued on them, leading to many teachers and students suffered injuries.

The introduction of the contractual appointment as a response to the Ministry of Human Resources Development in these teaching positions will not lead to any substantial benefi, as it will create a feeling of insecurity among the ad hoc teachers who are already agitating against their lack of employment privileges.

In response to the past happenings, Professor Rajib Ray, President of DUTA, in his interview to The Tribune commented, “We hold the Vice-Chancellor squarely responsible for the complete administrative paralysis and subversion of the statutory bodies in the University and demand that he should act or go.”

The present situation still does not have any tangible outcomes, despite the active protests. The University has not issued any recent statement on the same issue, providing a bleak future to the entire agitation.

Feature Image Credits: Aakarsh Gupta for DU Beat.

Avnika Chhikara

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Uncategorized

Students to Organise ‘Chalo Delhi’ March in February

By Anoushka Sharma January 20, 2019

The Left student organisations to march to Parliament over communalism,privatisation of education on 18th February 2019.

After the protest march for farmers, the students plan to march in protest against the Modi- government on higher education and its anti-student policies on 18th February 2019 to Parliament of India. The march is part of a Pan-India campaign that is being organised by several student organisations including the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO), Progressive Students’ Union (PSU), All India Students’ Bloc (AISB), and All IndiaStudents’ Federation (AISF) with the slogan ‘Save Education, Save Democracy,
Save Nation’. Students have been one of the worst affected sections in the country under the NDA regime, according to the organisations’ Press Release.There have been a series of attacks, on multiple levels and character, which have
resulted in weakening of Indian education system on one hand and sabotaging the very idea of education and its social responsibility, on the other.
The main demands of the ‘Chalo Delhi’ march is to establish a nation-wide, fully state-funded, and free Common Education System from kindergarten to Post Graduation, government spending to at least 6% of the GDP and 10% of the central budget on education, and guaranteed employment to all. The students also aim to stop communalisation of education, implement the existing reservations properly, and ensure social justice in government as well as private
institutions. The protest will also highlight the need to release money for all pending scholarships immediately, establish more fellowships for research scholars from deprived and underprivileged background, protect federal
character of education, and stop gender discrimination and atrocities on girl students. The student organisations have said in a statement, “There is also a serious threat of unemployment before the youth in the country. Rate of unemployment has been the highest in 20 years. The promise of creating two crore job opportunities every year was forgotten immediately after Modi came to power, and the educated youth live in a condition of disarray. No rhetoric can mask the truth, India lives in a dangerous reality.”
Neelanjita Biswas, a member of SFI, in conversation with the DU Beat correspondent said, “The Leftist student organisations have planned a march on 18th February 2019 to save education. There is a nationwide attack on education and unfair budget allotment in the education sector. It seems as if the nation is frustrated by the current government policies- kisans (farmers), karamcharis (the working class), and now the students. It is high time that students fight for their rights.”

Image Credits: Neelanjita Biswas

Anoushka Sharma
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Auburn Umbrella: Lohri and Makar Sankranti Outfits

By Anoushka Sharma January 13, 2019

Fashion knows no weather! Here are a few ideas for the upcoming January festivities.

Every year, 13^th of January brings with it the excitement of the Lohri with bonfire, songs, mouthfuls of gajak and rewaris. It is followed by the festival that celebrates the solar cycle, Makar Sankranti. This winters, don’t let the cold be an excuse to run away from fashion.

Here are a few outfit ideas to have glamorous and fun filled festivities:

Patiala Suit

Nothing speaks finer Punjabi than a gorgeous Patiala salwar. Ranging from heavy work to solid statements, there are so many varieties to choose from. Complete your look with a beautiful phulkari dupatta, juttis, and a long braid to add a more traditional flair.

Kurta and Palazzo

It’s a simple look, but it looks chic and is very comfortable. Complete the look with a shawl or a phulkari dupatta, and some statement earrings. Add a bindi for a more desi and complete look. Dhoti pants are the new rage. For a little deviation from the palazzos, you can try them for a more daring look.

Pakistani Suits

They define elegance and are such a glamorous choice of outfit. Incorporate a Pakistani style suit with ankle length pants. It’s a modern affair, and it will definitely earn you the perfect outfit appreciation. Style them with stud earrings, and open hairstyles for a sophisticated look.

Swivel with the Sharara and Gharara

They’ve been in fashion for a long time now and they are still a charmer. It’s better to opt for a dark colour for the night time as opposed to the pastel hues for the daytime. Choose wisely, and live this royal look. Opt for an impressive eye makeup to make it an ethereal combination.

The Bohemian festive

We all from time to time have the surge to go ahead and do something creative with our outfits. Mix and match! It’s the perfect way to ensure there is no monotony in your outfits and that you can create as many outfits as possible. Indo-western is a popular look. A solid black maxi skirt with a heavy work kurta or formal pants with desi kurtis are an eye catcher. Keep in mind that simplicity is the key. Do not get over-dressy.

Accessorize

Accessorize what suits your outfit the best. If you desire to keep it traditional, then stick to jhumkas, bracelets and beautfil anklets to complete the look. Style your hair open and add a maang tikka to it or simply tie them up in a French braid. To add a more modern effect, you can incorporate choker, bohemian necklaces or even stud earrings to your outfit. A nose pin is also a stylish must!

Hence we wish you a happy Lohri and Makar Sankranti and hope you enjoy the festivities to its finest!

Feature Image credits: Pinterest

Avnika Chhikara

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DUB Speak

Why New Year Resolutions Don’t Always Work

By Anoushka Sharma January 6, 2019

Everybody wants to work on themselves and be a better version of them. However, it is really difficult to let go of old, bad habits, and form new ones, especially on New Year since the expectations from oneself is tremendously high at the start of the year.

It’s the last week of December and you thought that this year would be different. This year, you would not slack and procrastinate to the point of self-sabotage. You make new resolutions, maybe not publicly, maybe in your mind, and decide to stick to achieving it by putting in the work required. It can be anything ranging from paying more attention to your academics, being more kind or as cliché as going to the gym regularly.

Cut to the New Year and it’s the third day of the year and you find yourself staring at the ceiling giving up the resolutions you made, the promises you made to yourself. Is there a reason why nobody seems to stick up to their resolutions, except for those highly- motivated and high functioning adults? Maybe we give up too easily, maybe we never really wanted it that much, maybe we have accepted that New Year resolutions are bound to fail and that everyone fails and you’re not alone. Now, this aim of yours ends up staying on that resolution list with no physical evidence.

You don’t need to wait till the end of December to make yourself better, but sometimes New Year can be a great way to push yourself to make better, smarter goals for yourself. Here are a couple of tips for your new year’s resolutions:

Be specific: Don’t say I want to ‘get fit’. Let’s make it a quantifiable goal – I want to weigh 5 kilos more or 5 kilos less by this date.

Be reasonable: Don’t take too much into your plate. You won’t magically be an Olympic athlete by December, and you won’t suddenly have no urge to smoke if you’ve been smoking for a while. Old habits die hard. So, keep your goals attainable.

Plan your journey: You won’t suddenly know what the right steps are into being a happy, healthy person in 2019. Unfortunately, there’s no manual. You have to know yourself, and plan out what steps you wish to take along the way. Make weekly and monthly sub-goals.

Expect rough patches: You won’t have great workout days all year round. You won’t succeed all the time when you’re trying to manage your anger. Sometimes you will slip, and smoke one cigarette, or eat a packet of cookies. Expect setbacks, and learn to bounce back from them.

Expect demotivation: This is the part where we all seem to hit a major roadblock. What do I do when I just don’t feel like it? The trick is to preempt your brain’s lazy response. Make a plan for exactly what to do, when you don’t feel like it, and how you can push yourself.

Reward yourself: You’re doing a lot of work, mentally and physically, in just trying to work on your goals. No matter how small or trivial your task seems to be, reward yourself! Remind yourself of how far you’ve come, and how much you’ve accomplished!

Guilt is bad for you: Feeling guilty about not doing as much as you had hoped, having a setback, and general deviations from your plan can actually be counterproductive. If you obsess over just how much you’ve failed, and not your wins, you’ll have a hard time progressing.

Hopefully, at the end of the year you find yourself satisfied with all the hard work you did to achieve that goal of yours and make new resolutions to make yourself even a better person.

Feature Image Credits: Naijaloaded

Disha Saxena

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DUB Speak

Women are Not Responsible to Make Men Better Beings

By Anoushka Sharma January 5, 2019

Many New Year resolutions constitute cutting toxic people out of our lives. Maybe it’s time for women to cut off those relationships in their lives which demand too much emotional labor, and is not reciprocated.

People are a product of their past, their circumstances, and how they deal with them. To say that everybody should see a therapist when they become an adult is a privileged statement. Not everyone has access to therapy, maybe because of their social status in the society or the general lack of resources. However, if we look at heterosexual relationships, it is clear that women are treated as therapists and it becomes their job to ‘fix’ the man in their life.

Women who stay with men during their troubled years are seen as loyal and are highly romanticized. One might have heard, men discover themselves while staying in relationship with women who do all the emotional labor to deal with their man’s trauma, and try to stick by their side throughout. Women are encouraged to stay through a man’s financial troubles, mental health issues, physical and verbal abuse, and violence so that she is there to help him to take control of his life. They are ‘broken’; they need help to keep it together. If these women choose to take an exit, they are often made to feel guilty for being selfish, and for choosing not to nurture the man. We need to stop blaming women for a man’s inability to take control of his life.

Ladies, you know what I’m talking about. You know what they say in the popular culture, right? Take a broken man, fix him, and he will love you forever, but you know what is the actual truth? You take a broken man, try to fix him but instead you break yourself in the process. Men, women are not your emotional caretakers or rehabilitation centers. They can stay beside you and support you but it’s not their job to ‘fix’ you. You need to work on yourself. You should be willing to improve. She’s not meant to heal your wounds. The amount of emotional labor it takes to be a person’s entire support system and a therapist to deal with their trauma is too much, and women, historically have been doing so. When a man chooses his romantic partner, he ideally look for a mother in the woman. In 2019, we’re here for emotional vulnerability that is reciprocated in a healthy relationship, not men who use women to confront their trauma. It’s a patriarchal idea that needs to go away and the balance of power in romantic, heterosexual relationships needs to be restored.

Feature Image Credits: The Meaningful Life Centre

Disha Saxena

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DUB Speak

New Year, New You: Why Change is Important

By Anoushka Sharma December 29, 2018

They say change is the only constant, but ever wondered why change is so integral in our lives? Let us figure out how 2019 brings in the change for us!

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”- Socrates.

Every day and every hour, every moment in our lives we come across situations which stay embedded in our minds forever. How to grow from it, how to incorporate lessons learnt and how to develop a more positive attitude towards life, that remains the real challenge. Change is subjective. To each their own journey. But what is important to learn is that each year demands a new you. By that being said, it means every year will have in store their own share of experiences for you to unravel and accustom to. Each year is a beautiful journey of three hundred and sixty five days waiting for you and testing you at every minute.

In The Greatest Salesman on Earth, OG Mandino said, “I will live this day as if it is my last. …I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes, Yesterday’s defeats, yesterday’s aches of the heart, for why should I throw good after bad?’’. There is always a hesitancy to adapt to something new. Think of it like a small child meeting a stranger and feeling somewhat scared. We are so accustomed to depend upon and live in the past that it entrusts us into a sense of complacency.

The beauty of change lies in the parallel beauty of unpredictability. We cannot always be assured of what the future holds in for us. We ‘invest’ in our future through the actions of the present and the past. So, what or how exactly can we bring change? The answer is simple, but requires determination. The answer is introspection. Reflect on the actions; see how this year went by. You will feel gushes of love, hatred, regrets, and all a stew of different but normal emotions. How to amalgamate and take the best actions forward to the next year, while promising to improve the mistakes of the past year is how you really experience change. Change is a constant learning. Change does not always have to be associated with something grand. Exhibit change in small actions. For example, you smile more, you cry more, you laugh more, you hurt less, you listen more, you stress less and the train of list goes on.

Let change be the vocabulary of the soul. Let it garner what you wish to be. And so, as humans, in our mortal life, every year, in fact every day presents us a new chance. It lets us make mistakes but only at the chance of learning from them. You know what you need to do once the clock strikes twelve and your phone is buzzing with New Year messages. You sit back, close your eyes and rewind 2018. The good and the bad. Be vulnerable, as that is how you can be intimate to your feelings. Be very honest to yourself. Keep it as personal as you wish, because it is your journey and you are the sculptor, design it, break it, mold it and reconstruct as long as you reach the finale or the end.

Hence, here’s to wishing you a new year and with a high hope the year presents beautiful opportunities for personal growth!

Feature image credits: livemint

Avnika Chhikara

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DUB Speak

Expectations of Freshers on College Festivals

By Anoushka Sharma December 29, 2018

With many new things that one gets to experience in their college life is cultural festivals. While it obviously generates excitement amongst all students, it does hold a special charm for first years by virtue of it being a novel experience for them. They harbour certain expectations and have certain ideas about festivals. Some of them are met some aren’t.

Good Food
This expectation of yours is sure to be met no matter how high the bar you set. With sponsorship teams working throughout the year to bring in the best Delhi has to offer. There’s a mind blowing variety of food, stalls and chained to chose from. From high end chains like Brown Sugar to street food legends from old Delhi like Karims, a fest has it all. It would be a good idea to save and work on your budgets because food during the fest season sometimes does stress your pocket.

Performance societies
It is hard to understand in colleges why no one from the dance societies or drama societies attends classes or what are they in general up to. All of it makes sense ultimately on the fest day. Watching performance societies from your college perform their act puts you in awe of them and makes you proud to be from your college. You truly understand and value the sweat, hard work and, time they invest. You also feel sorry to have harboured the belief that they just fool around. The first time one watches their college perform is truly a memorable day for every fresher and the start of you harbouring respect for these societies.

Star Night or Concerts
Another highlight of every fest that catches the imagination of every fresher is the star night. While one expects to have a great time with friends while grooving to the beats of your favourite stars. It’s not as pretty as you might think it to be especially if you are a person who can’t tolerate crowded places. With the dancing and fun, one really can’t turn a blind eye to all the sweating, grinding, lack of space, lack of air to breathe and, the suffocation around. While it has a charm of its own there are certain downsides and a need to be vary and cautious of your surroundings.

Dressing up
It’s so easy to spot a fresher in the crowd of a fest, because the poor chap is extremely overdressed compared to his seniors who have stopped caring. For every fresher a fest is a huge party with all eyes on him and therefore the need to dress well often makes him or her the extra person in the crowd. On the flip side, because of your amazing outfit you might get the real deal since you stand out and all eyes would be on you.

Finding Love
Expectation : Blame it on popular culture! We have all seen infinite number of movies and serials where love starts and blossoms at college parties, gatherings and fests. The innocent fresher harbours similar sort of expectation. Girl meets boy , boy meets girl, boy meets boy, girl meets girl and a lifetime of romance blossoms . As beautiful and fairylike it sounds, we are sorry to break your bubble- it’s not really happening .
With all the commotion, activities and, hustle, you’ll barely be able to tread your way across the fest let alone find love . In fact it just might be easier to pick up a fight on a fest which is on the opposite end of your imagination spectrum. But, there is nothing wrong with keeping up the hope!

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Bhavika Behal

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