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Hans Raj College

Anurag Kashyap Opens Day-1 of Confluence’19

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Confluence’19 kickstarted with a plethora of events across different venues around the campus.

On Saturday, 9th March 2019, the auditorium of Hansraj College saw back-to-back dance competitions organised by the dance societies of the host institute.

Choreo’19- the choreography competition organised by Terpsi Chorean saw participation from five teams. The competition, adjudged by Mr. Batra, Artistic Director and Co-founder “Right Moves Academy of Dance”, saw mesmerising and meaningful performances by each team. LSR Dancesoc’s annual production- Trans bagged the first position while, Srijya’s Valiant from Hindu College came second. Sparx from Gargi College was given a special mention.

Oorja, the western dance society of Hansraj College organised Groove, a western dance competition. The event clashed with SRCC’s western dance competition hence saw slotting issues, where performances happened according to their designated slots at SRCC. The competition saw 10 teams perform with great gusto and zeal. The event was adjudged by Mr. Ravi Verma, founder of United Grooves.

Crunk from Aurobindo College came first while Spardha from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College came second. The crowd cheered in excitement for the winners.

After all the performances, Anurag Kashyap, Director and Producer came to light the inaugural diya, and had a brief interaction with the audience.

Con Qurso 2019, the annual two-day quiz competition was organized by Illuminati, the quizzing society of the college. On the first day of the fest, the students were quizzed on their knowledge of the topics- ‘India’ and ‘Sports’. This competition was met with much fervour and participation as over 100 students took part in the quiz and put their knowledge on the test. In the ‘India’ quiz, Nayan Kashyap from Kirorimal College and Pragati Nautiyal from Miranda House bagged the first position, while Ashish Singh from Ramjas College and Kanika Yadav from Miranda were given the second position. Trailing a little behind, Basab Ranjan Dahal and Amlan Sarkar from Ramjas College got the third position. Gokul S from Delhi School of Economics won the first prize in the ‘Sports’ quiz. Ravtej Singh from IIM-B and Harshit Sachdeva from Hansraj College bagged the second position, while Kartikay Chadha and Arunesh Gupta from Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology grabbed the third position.

The annual event of the college’s NSS, Utsav ’19 splashed vibrancy and colours of Bollywood all around. The LP of the college reverberated with enthusiasm as students actively took part in various fun games organized by the NSS team adhering to their theme, ‘Bollywood’. On spot dance competition ‘Let’s Nacho’, C.D. painting competition, treasure hunt among others kept the students hooked. NSS, through it’s display board and various stalls highlighted the sundry humanitarian projects which they have undertaken over the years. These included the likes of Project Jugnu Stall, project Aahar and others.

Taal Tarang, folk dance competition organised by Kavyaakriti saw glorious performances by 11 teams from across different colleges. The first position was bagged by Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, while the second position was shared by Shri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College and Nrityakriti from Maitreyi College.

Jashn-e-Hansraj came to an end with a soulful performance by popular Sufi music artiste group- Nizami Brothers. The group sang famous qawwalis like Sufi Rashq-e-kamar, Khwaja mere khwaja, Bhar do jholi meri, among others. Their playful recitation of shayaris (poetic lines) in between the songs added a flavour of humourous connection for the audience. The night closed on the raga of enthusiasm and joy with their enthralling music.

 

Feature Image Credits: Namrata Randhawa

Sakshi Arora
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Anushree Joshi
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Shreya Agarwal

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Stephen Mathew
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Campus Central

Highlights of Reverie 2019 Organised by Gargi College

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The opening day of Reverie 2019 commenced with the lighting of the lamp by the chief guest and actor, Sushma Seth, followed by her speech. Performances by Professor Ruchika Sharma, Euphony – Western Music Society, and Enliven – Western Group Dance Society ensured of the fun that is to follow at Gargi College’s Annual Cultural Fest, Reverie. The theme of the fest: “A brave new world; an ode to Diversity” works on the basis of 3 C’s- Choice, Consent, and Conservation. These cover broad topics like LGBTQ empowerment, sexual harassment, female empowerment, equality, wildlife preservation, and protection.

 


 

Dhanak, India Group Folk dance competition organized by Nazakat saw a participation by 11 teams who had cleared their online prelims. The event was judged by Mrs. Swagata Sen Pillai, who gave the third position to Delhi Technical University, 2nd position to the Bhangra Society Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, and Annhad, Daulat Ram College came 1st .

 

 

The day came to a magnificent close with The Local Train’s performance, which swept the crowd off its feet. With songs like Choo Lo, Dil Mere, Aaoge Tum Kabhi the band ensured that the crowd didn’t lose their energy.

 

Day two of Reverie 2019, the annual cultural festival had an enthralling start. Aabhas, the street play competition was organised by Khistij, the street play society of Gargi College. The event witnessed 11 teams delivering power-packed performances. Kunal Arora and Pallav Kumar judged the event.

 


 

The second day at Reverie 2019 ended with an enthralling and euphoric showcase by DJ Zaeden. Students from across SU, DTU, and IIT came to enjoy the DJ night and were seen dancing to the tunes of DJ’s famous remixes of  Magic, Animals, Don’t Wanna Know, and Love Yourself. It was a glorious close to an eventful day full of soaring talents and dreams.

 


 

The day three of Reverie’19 witnessed eight western dance societies which cleared the prelims on 24th January performed with great enthusiasm and set the stage on fire at Zenith, the western dance competition organised by Enliven, the western dance society of Gargi College. Adjudged by Mr Anand Singh the event saw powerpack performances in which Crunk from Sri Aurobindo College was awarded the first position. Vdefyne of IIT Delhi came second, while Electra of Motilal Nehru College came third.

 


 

The last day of Reverie 2019 came to an end with a melodic and beautiful performance by Prateek Kuhad. The over-enthusiastic crowd went silent and enjoyed his soulful love ballads. He sang some of his famous songs like Tum Jab Paas, Tune Kaha, and 100 Words and ended his enthralling performance with his most loved song ‘cold/mess’.

 

 

Stay tuned for the fest season has just begun, DU Beat will go on to cover the largest fests of Delhi University.

 

Feature Image Credits: Adithya Khanna for DU Beat

Anoushka Sharma

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Avnika Chhikara

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Maumil Mehraj

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Sakshi Arora

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Haris Khan

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Campus Central

A Detailed Account of Hindu College’s V-Tree Pooja Row

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Hailstones and rain weren’t enough to dent the spirits of the protestors and the supporters of the ‘Virgin Tree Pooja’ in their respective efforts to advocate their causes.

The Hindu College’s ‘ritual’ or ‘tradition’ of worshipping the Virgin Tree aka V-tree every Valentine’s Day in hopes of losing one’s virginity was met with huge protests this year. Women’s Development Cells and gender forums of colleges across Delhi University stood in solidarity against the tradition, which is widely held as being sexist. This year there were slight modifications to the ceremony – instead of posters of one male and one female celebrity, a poster of a married couple of Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma was put up, along with a poster that read ‘love has no gender’.

The hostel union modified the ceremony by using new posters.
The hostel union modified the ceremony by using new posters.

On the eve of Valentine’s Day, Pinjra Tod protested against the ceremony, demanding its cancellation this year. Protesters from various student organisations and Pinjra Tod gathered at and tried entering from gate number four of the college. The group was met with resistance and counter-sloganeering from the Hindu College boys’ hostel. Both parties claimed to have received threats from each other.

Around midnight, the residents of the girls’ hostel managed to break the curfew and joined the protest against the tradition. According to a Facebook post by Pinjra Tod, Dr Anju Srivastava, the Principal of the college, attempted to enter the college premises around 3 a.m.; she later congratulated the residents of the boys’ hostel for ‘keeping the tradition alive’ while threatening the residents of the women’s hostel for breaking the curfew.  Police present at the time of the incident tried controlling the situation.

Police was present even at the night of Valentine's Day eve, when the first round of protests began.
Police was present even at the night of Valentine’s Day eve, when the first round of protests began.

The first round of the ritual was conducted at 6 a.m. on 14th of February fearing backlash and protests later. As the hours passed and the weather turned worse, Hindu College saw dissenters and supporters gathering around the Virgin Tree. The Hindu College Progressive Front (HCPF) got in a heated argument with members from the boys hostel. Students from Pinjra Tod and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) also turned up in protest. Clashing slogans of ‘azadi’, ‘puja ho ke rahegi!’, ‘nahi sahenge’ echoed through the college.

The views of the crowds were split. On one hand there were clear advocates of the pooja, while on the other there were fierce protestors. Even among those who were opposed  to the pooja, some didn’t appreciate the involvement of non-Hinduite protestors, while others objected to the manner in which the protests turned out to be.

Student bodies like Pinjra Tod and SFI were a part of the protest.
Student bodies like Pinjra Tod and SFI were a part of the protest.

The aarti was performed in a hurry while some men encircled the tree, preventing any protesters from barging in as the Mr. Fresher of the hostel, Shaurya Pratap Singh  performed the rituals. “This V-Tree pooja became the grandest in the history of Hindu College”, said Shaurya Pratap Singh, the boys’ hostel Mr Fresher who did the pooja. “We decided to modify the pooja, but despite us cooperating, Pinjra Tod came last night and started sloganeering,” he said. Singh alleged that some students from the boys’ hostel who were defending the pooja were “beaten up” and “harassed”. Allegations of intimidation and confrontation were mutual between the opposing parties. Instances of fist fights were also seen during the ritual.

The situation turned dangerous when some students tried grappling for one of the posters.
The situation turned dangerous when some students tried grappling for one of the posters.

Ananya Bhardwaj, who led the HCPF during the college parliamentary elections and was on the forefront of the day’s protest, said, “Today is a victory because just the symbolic act of men leaving a public space and going back to their private space is a victory today we reclaimed the public space”. Asked about what was the objective they wanted to achieve, she said, “We just had to create a fear in these men that you cannot lay claim to our bodies and lay claim to spaces which also belong to us, which we did.” Diya, a student representing Pinjra Tod told us about similar objectives, saying that the idea was to not let the pooja go unchallenged and uninterrupted. The Prime Minister of the college Parliament, Shreyash Mishra, commented that the original intention of the pooja was to break the taboo towards condoms, which he appreciated, along with the modifications brought in to the ceremony this time by the hostel union.

Moral victories were claimed by both sides. Both ended up celebrating by dancing to dhols and shouting slogans of their preference. The police stood on standby as students celebrated.

As the dust settled and normalcy is restored, a few questions still hang in the air. Does merely adding a rainbow heart to a sexist ritual make it acceptable? Do Hindu College boys’ hostel union claim to be truly progressive only because they include a “Love Guru” in addition to “Damdami Mata”, but stay absent when the girls’ hostel in their own college fights against curfew? Should a decade’s old unique ritual, that adds vibrancy and character to a place, be completely removed instead of being reformed? What modifications are needed and should be accepted? What can be the correct ways of protesting and initiating dialoge? Who decides what’s correct?

Image Credits:  Pinjra Tod, unknown sources, and Prateek Pankaj for DU Beat

Feature Image Credits: Prateek Pankaj for DU Beat

Jaishree Kumar
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Prateek Pankaj

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Societies’ Posters Vandalised at Miranda House

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Several incidents of the posters of various societies being tampered with have come up at Miranda House. Catching the offender(s) is difficult.

On Monday, 11th February 2019, the North East Society of Miranda House put up a notice on their society board, stating “vandalism won’t be tolerated.” This came following the putting up of posters of Delhi Technological University (DTU) on their society board, which were then taken down by the General Secretary of the society, Kholneikim Cindy Haokip as they were “not where they are supposed to be.”

The notice by the North East Society of Miranda House came following the latest incident of tampering of society posters in the college. Image Credits: The North East Cell, Miranda House
The notice by the North East Society of Miranda House came following the latest incident of tampering of society posters in the college.
Image Credits: The North East Cell, Miranda House

The issue, however, is reflective of a larger problem of vandalism in the college, which has affected the posters and charts of various societies.This is the third time the posters put up by the North East Society have been damaged or interfered with in some way. The first incident occurred last year when the notices regarding some information were taken down. The second time it happened was in the last week of January when society posters were stripped off and those from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and Jaypee Institute of Information Technology put up on the society board.

 

Following yesterday’s incident, some WhatsApp messages were forwarded in various groups, stating “A few guys from Delhi Technological University (DTU) came and ripped up the North Eastern Society’s board and pinned their posters on it instead”, and requested others to forward the same.

The official message circulated by the society. Image Credits: The North East Cell, Miranda House
The official message circulated by the society.
Image Credits: The North East Cell, Miranda House

However, in an official message, the society council made it clear that they did not have any part in the circulation of that message, while also stating “DTU is not responsible for this as this has been happening for quite some time. This is purely an internal matter and this is to clarify that DTU cannot be blamed for this.”

The North East Society isn’t the only one who has faced this problem. Nityah Wahi, the President of Enactus, the social entrepreneurship cell of the college, told us that their board was damaged during the recruitment season in August last year. “We had recently re-done our board to update it with new information relating to the past year’s activities and achievements and within a few days it was completely removed and thrown in the dustbin”, said Nityah.

“It’s happened a few times”, remarked Anoushka Parija, the President of the Women’s Development Cell (WDC) of the college. She also explained that after a few incidents of charts and pictures being tampered with, the WDC stopped putting them on the board.

Problems of identifying the person(s) behind this also exist. “It’s hard to think of a particular person because there’s no vendetta. But yes, it’s surely someone from college. In fact, it happens every year. So, it’s never the same person”, commented Anoushka. Nityah and Risa told us that since the CCTV didn’t cover the part of the corridor where the society boards are located, it became even more difficult to identify the doer.

The societies are trying to deal with the issue in various ways. “Social media presence against vandalism is being created. We try to encourage online dispersal of information as much as possible”, says Nityah. We learnt from Anoushka that the WDC also seems to be adopting other ways of disseminating information by using printable posters instead of handmade society charts.

Risa held the view that presidents of various societies should approach the Principal of the college to ask for installation of more CCTV cameras in that area. “We have requested the admin to look into this matter”, the official statement of the North East Society read.

 

Prateek Pankaj

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Arts & Culture

Prateek Kuhad Lives Upto the Hype and Closes Reverie’19!

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From niche events like Sanskrit singing contest and crowd favourites like western dance, the last day of Reverie 2019 had something for everyone.

The day three of Reverie’19 witnessed the Sanskrit singing and speech competition Sangchhadhwam conducted by the Sanskrit Department. It was divided into two segments. The singing and speech competition. Sonali from Gargi College bagged the first position in the singing competition followed by Vrishabh and Bharati from Janaki Devi Memorial College. The Speech competition saw Ambrish Gupta from Rajdhani college secure the first prize, followed by Reenu from Gargi College and Sohan Arya from Ramjas College, who got the second prize.

Eight western dance societies which cleared the prelims on 24th January performed with great enthusiasm and set the stage on fire at Zenith, the western dance competition organised by Enliven, the western dance society of Gargi College. Adjudged by Mr Anand Singh the event saw powerpack performances in which Crunk from Sri Aurobindo College was awarded the first position. Vdfyne of IIT Delhi came second, while Electra of Motilal Nehru College came third.

Glass Eye, the film making society of Gargi College, organised a 48-hr film making competition and a Cine Quiz. For the 48-hour film making an event, themes were sent to eight teams across colleges who had to submit their short films within a deadline of two days. Three shortlisted films were screened and were announced winners. The first position was bagged by First Cut, film making society Ramanujan College. Xposure of Dyal Singh College came second and 35mm of Amity University came third. Cine Quiz saw on spot registrations of cross-college teams. Cinephiles came first, Buddies came second, and Go Glass Eye came third.

Rangchunaav, the open theme mix media painting competition, witnessed participation from 17 painters. The event was adjudged by Mr Avinash Gautam.  As many as 40 contestants participated in Reverie’s T-shirt painting competition. Archana Jaideep, a freelance artist, who has put up exhibitions in London, and also serves in the ECA committee of Delhi University was the judge. The contestants were given a plain white T-shirt, which acted as a canvas for their artistic talent.

The last day of Reverie 2019 came to an end with a melodic and beautiful performance by Prateek Kuhad. The over-enthusiastic crowd went silent and enjoyed his soulful love ballads. He sang some of his famous songs like Tum Jab Paas, Tune Kaha, and 100 Words and ended his enthralling performance with his most loved song ‘cold/mess’. The student Union followed with a vote of thanks and the crowd dispersed peacefully. Reverie was all the beauty and grace it had promised to be and was a prestigious platform for young and upcoming talent. Stay tuned for the fest season has just begun, DU Beat will go on to cover the largest fests of Delhi University.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Anoushka Sharma

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Avnika Chhikara

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Maumil Mehraj

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Sakshi Arora

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Hindu College

‘Casual Sexism’ Discussion at Hindu Gives Us Something to Think About

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The nearly two-hour discussion on ‘Casual Sexism’ organised by the Women’s Development Cell (WDC) of Hindu College following some sexist comments made on Facebook by a cabinet member of the college did more than just holding the said person accountable – it raised larger principled questions.

Does a person making casual sexist comments deserve the same platform as the victim to voice their side of the story? Is it right to target the perpetrator in such cases? Who or what should even be targeted – the act or the doer? Is the public complicit, to what extent?

No dirt was swept under the rug when some time back, a student of Hindu College, Sachin Gupta, wrote a sexist post on Facebook, which was then followed by further sexist comments by the PWD Secretary of the College Parliament, Devashish Singh. Social media outrage erupted. DU Beat covered the story and more and more people became aware of the story.

Perhaps when the Hindu College WDC decided to have the discussion, the idea was to focus on these particular incidents, to facilitate dialogue and to hold people accountable. However, in retrospect, it raised some thought-provoking questions.

 

Let’s get some perspective. When senior journalist Seema Mustafa wrote about her reservations against the #MeToo on The Citizen, saying “…these campaigns have become more about social media lynching of those who dare disagree with even one aspect of it, than about the campaign itself”, she wasn’t opposing the movement but pointing to a trend, which she saw as self-harming – the trend of not giving space to dissenting voices, such as hers and perhaps those of the accused.

Of course, Devashish didn’t sexually harass someone. A sexist comment and an incident of sexual harassment aren’t of the same severity, and thus the type or extent of platform given to the respective offenders in either of those incidents can’t be compared either. But, the principle remains the same – who should be given the platform?

This becomes more important considering the existence of a unique situation, wherein, on the one hand, victims are blamed and on the other, dissenting voices are not given enough space for expression on certain platforms.

In this regard, the WDC managed to do a commendable job. Not only was the discussion open to all Hinduites, but the cabinet was also invited, along with Devashish and Sachin (the latter didn’t turn up). Devashish was given a chance to explain his actions and was equally subjected to questions by the audience.

Hence, when Sakshi, the Vice President of the WDC told me that “not giving Devashish an equal opportunity to speak is wrong because…the main motive of this discussion was to make him understand”, or when a student in the audience urged others not to villainise him, the idea was to encourage dialectics over vilification; to tackle the larger issue of the mindset and culture over a particular individual. Else, essentially only echo-chambers are created on either side of the fence, rather than uprooting the fence itself.

Many people got the chances to speak,
Many people got the chances to speak.

However, problems exist. Yes, Devashish apologised – even though it didn’t seem very convincing. So, when asked what his mindset was while writing that comment, his response was essentially that if something was illogical, then why not just ignore it – drawing a rather weak analogy that if someone said something illogical like “two plus two equals five”, then why even bother. Or when Sakshi asked, who according to him could be called a ‘whore’, his answer was dodgy and rhetorical. He answered that while short clothes didn’t make someone a whore, one could just google the meaning of the word. He also said that since he had accepted his mistake, perhaps others should accept his apology too.

Sure, maybe he isn’t the most articulate person around, and clearly, tried dodging questions. But the problem here isn’t one individual. Such responses are also perhaps symptomatic of a tendency to deny the responsibility of your actions simply because you “accepted the mistake”, especially when even that acceptance is often a mere formality.

But the problem also lies in how we approach these issues. Since a mindset like this exists in people around us, cornering them can’t be a wise solution as it simply excludes them, without addressing the root cause of their action. Not only would that leave the larger problem untouched, but also potentially cause more hostility among both sides – creating conditions for the possible repetition of these incidents.

Yes, the burden shouldn’t lie on the victim. But the responsibility does lie on the community as a whole. For the people are complicit both, when they do not actively oppose particular incidents, and also when they fail to address larger issues.

These are complicated questions.

 
Image Credits – Prateek Pankaj and WDC, Hindu College

Prateek Pankaj

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Tough Questions Raised Amidst Loud Applause at Stephen’s Dialog 2019

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Comprising of Mrs, Anjana Om Kashyap, Mr. Vikram Chandra, and Mr. Saurabh Dwivedi, the panel discussing ‘Lok Sabha Elections: Mahakumbh of Indian Journalism’ was subjected to some pressing and thought-provoking questions at the Q&A session at St. Stephen’s College on 23rd January.

Moderated by Dr. Amna Mirza, Associate Professor at the University of Delhi (DU), the panel first invited Mrs. Anjana Om Kashyap, Executive Editor at Aaj Tak, to speak about television rating points (TRPs) and political bias in journalism, among other issues. After Mrs. Kashyap’s presentation, Mr. Vikram Chandra-Founder, Editorji Technologies, and Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), NDTV– shared his insight on the changing face of journalism and transmission of news, while emphasising a solution through his news app Editorji. Mr. Saurabh Dwivedi, Founding Editor of The Lallantop, was subsequently started on a rather humorous note, and then delved into rural issues which have often been overlooked by mainstream media.

In the Q&A session, students from various colleges raised a plethora of socially and politically charged questions for the panellists. On being questioned by Honey, a Kirori Mal College student, about the intervention and regulation of news broadcasted by mass media channels like Aaj Tak by their top advertisement-providers that were companies like Patanjali, Mrs. Kashyap stated, “Aapka sawaal mujhe out kar gaya (Your question has stumped me).” She maintained that news channels had to work the best from within the system. “News is what someone wants to suppress; rest is all advertisement,” she said. Mr. Chandra and Mr. Dwivedi further added that no advertiser directly called shots on the content of reputed news channels.

The second part of Honey’s question dealt with representation in the newsrooms. To this, Mr. Dwivedi responded by highlighting the lack of representation of journalists, especially from areas like Manipur and Kashmir. In the same breath, he added that journalists tended to overlook caste and socio-economic backgrounds during recruitment, which might be the reason for such disparities in number.

“Kaunsa mudda, kiska mudda, woh koi nahi poochta (Which issue it is, whose issue it is- nobody asks that),”said Shorya, a student from the PWD category, emphasising how national issues do not matter much to common people, for ground-level issues like the absence of ramps in colleges for PWD students are not even covered by mainstream media. His concerns evoked a massive emotional response not only among the panellists but the audience as well. While no one from the panel was able to offer a concrete solution, they all agreed to his concerns, offering to help him run a Twitter campaign for the same.

The next question raised to baffle the panellists was about Kashmir. A student asked the panel about why the stories based on Kashmir began with a metaphorical full-stop. In response to the one-line question, Mrs. Kashyap responded with a one-line answer-“…because Kashmir is an ongoing story”. However, all the panellists agreed, without saying much that the sentiments in Kashmir were often different from the versions presented on TV. Mr. Chandra went on to state that certain sections of media should be ashamed of how they had covered Kashmir.

Another student enquired how anonymity could be a useful tool especially in the present-day society where one was easily labelled as an ‘anti-national’ for speaking up against the government. Mr. Chandra responded by saying that the day one feared to speak in a free country, it would not be free at all. Mrs. Kashyap then encouraged the student to not hide behind anonymity and to stand up for her views.

A student from Ramjas College requested Mrs. Kashyap to comment on the alleged misrepresentation of information reported by an Aaj Tak anchor regarding an ABVP rally during Republic Day last year, asking whether the channel should be held responsible for the same. She responded by saying that due action had been taken against the anchor and that Aaj Tak had employed an exclusive fact-checking team to avoid such incidents in the future.

Evidently dissatisfied, the student further followed up by commenting that the anchor in question had also allegedly misreported about a chip being present in the INR2,000 notes post-demonetisation. At this stage, Mrs Kashyap refused to answer, saying that she couldn’t comment on someone else’s behalf. On the other hand, Mr. Dwivedi said that mistakes often happen, and he himself had misrepresented information at times but believed that journalists should own up to such mistakes.

Despite being difficulty they may present in resolution, the need for asking tough questions was recognised and appreciated by all present at the event. As the guests departed, the students applauded and cheered with their ideas regarding journalism-its challenges, economics, and politics- appearing to be stronger.

Feature Image Credits: Leadership Cell, St. Stephen’s College.

Prateek Pankaj
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Sakshi Arora
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Pinjra Tod Accuses Cops of Stopping Film Screening; Cops Deny

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On 25th January,2019, the Delhi Police shut down the screening of Father, Son And Holy War, organised by Pinjra Tod as a part of its ‘Humara Mohalla’ initiative.

Pinjra Tod, organised a screening of the documentary ‘Father, Son And Holy War’ directed by Anand Partwardhan on 25th January from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in D.D.A Market, Hudson Lane.‘Father, Son, and Holy War’ is a 1994 film made in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition, which explores the links between toxic masculinity, nationalism and religious violence.

Halfway through the screening, the police arrived, forcefully cutting off the electricity supply, stopping the screening, and coerced all the shops to shut down. They stated that they received a complaint that the film encircled on the lines of ‘deshdroh’. The girls showed immense resistance and still continued to watch the screen the film on laptop.

Subhashini, a member of the organisation who attended the screening said,  “The film dealt with the relationship between right wing ultra-nationalism, the patriarchal fervour, and models of hyper-masculinity that it both uses and propagates. However, a few policemen started gathered around during the screening, later followed by a van.” She informed that the organisation had already submitted an information letter at the Police Station, yet they were forced to shut down the film.

According to The Indian Express, Additional DCP, A K Lal, denied the allegations. “We received a call from a local that some documentary on religious clashes was being screened. We went, saw what was happening and returned without stopping the screening,” Lal said. However, some reports claim that the screening was being carried without any prior permission.The police claim that they stopped the screening, but deny cutting off the electricity supply.

 


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ABVP USES STATE MACHINERY AND POLICE TO SHUT DOWN PINJRA TOD FILM SCREENING While we were half way through the screening of Father, Son and The Holy War as part of Pinjra Tod’s Humara Mohalla initiative in Hudson Lane, the police arrived to stop the screening claiming they had received a complaint as apparently we were screening a ‘deshdroh’ film, even though we had provided them all the required information in advance. The police forcefully cut off our electricity supply and shut down all the shops in the area. We have refused to move and are continuing to watch the film on a laptop. On the eve of Republic Day, this is the state of our democracy, where the police exactly demonstrates what the film also shows us, how the state police machinery is complicit in the perpetuation of this violent masculinist Hindutva ideology that is built on the oppression of women and marginalised and minority communities. We are not going to be scared, we will continue to collectivise, continue to fight and resist for our freedom, for the values and dreams that this constitution stands for. RSS, ABVP, POLICE KHABARDAR, MAHILAYEIN HAI TAIYYAR! bharat ki mata nahi banenge. saare pinjro ko todenge, itihas ki dhara modenge. ABVP called the police to stop the screening of this ‘deshdroh’ wala film, they did not even know the name of the film. The police forced shopkeepers to close down the shops in the market. SANGH PARIVAR KHABARDAR, MAHILAYEIN HAI TAIYYAR! hindu rashtra ko todenge, itihas ki dhara modenge! bharat ki mata nahi banenge, sangh parivar khabardar! #pinjratod Despite all the threats from the police, we refused to move, we successfully finished our screening on the laptop with our mic, and also had a discussion. woh darte hai itihas seh, woh darte hai inquilab seh! #WAR(Women Against the Right)

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A bunch of young men tried to record the representatives of the organisation. During a confrontation, a stone was thrown at the students, against which no action was taken by the authorities. The men also shouted, “Hindu-Muslim ke baare mein baat karna is a law and order issue”.

DU Beat spoke to Paroma Ray, co-ordinator of the Humara Mohalla initiative. She  said,“The Police blocked the screen, but we managed to push them away and continued with the screening. Seeing this, they shut down all the stores and dispersed the crowd. They also shut down the power supply to the projectors.” Paroma further informs that Pinjra Tod has conducted many such screenings in the past.

It is to be noted that Pinjra Tod has alleged Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP) called the police to stop the screening. Despite this, the girls were successfully able to complete the movie screening on their laptop. Slogans such as ‘Naari-Shakti Zindabaad’ and ‘ABVP khabardaar’ could be heard post the screening of the film.

Feature Image Credits: Pinjra Tod

 

Sakshi Arora

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Lady Shri Ram College for Women

Campus Placement Drive 2019: LSR Graduate Bags a Whopping 38 Lakh Package

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DU has seen tremendous growth in placements this year, with LSR, SRCC, and St. Stephen’s coming out at the top.
The Placement drives in most University of Delhi Colleges for undergraduate students passing out in 2019 are slowly coming to an end. Students from Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR), St. Stephen’s College and Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) are usually the top performers, with respect to packages offered. B.A. Economics (Hons), B.Com. (Hons) and B.A. Statistics (Hons) continue to be the most sought after degrees by companies. Highest offers have increased, and so have the average salaries offered.
This year, the highest package was provided to a student of B.A. Economics (Hons) from LSR. The student received an offer of Rs. 38 Lakh per annum, which is a Rs. 1 lakh per annum increase from last year’s highest package offered, which was Rs. 37 Lakh per annum.
A B.A. Economics (Hons) student from St. Stephen’s, Nitish Korada bagged a packge of Rs. 31 Lakh per annum, from consultation firm Ernst and Young-Parthenon. St Stephen’s College has seen an increase of 12 Lakh per annum, from the highest salary being 19 Lakh per annum last year. At SRCC, a B.Com. (Hons) student has been offered a package of Rs 31 Lakh per annnum from EY-Parthenon. At Hindu College, the highest offer witnessed an increase from Rs 29 lakh last year to Rs 31 lakh this year. It is observed the most generous packages have been offered in the consultation field, which attracts many young students aspiring to carve a niche for themselves in the corporate world.
Average packages at St Stephen’s have increased from 8 Lakh p/a last year to 8.9 Lakh p/a this year. At Hindu College, the gross offer has increased from Rs 2.9 crore last year to Rs 3.2 crore this year. A marginal increase was observed all over, and can be attributed to the success of placement cells in coordinating and organizing the placement drives, as well as to the qualifications of the aspirant.
Top Companies look for Extra Curricular activities, Social Work, Analytical and Logical abilities and communication skills, apart from good grades.
DU Beat congratulates all students for their extraordinary achievements.

Feature Image Credits: The Millennial Post

Nikita Bhatia
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Beyond the Obvious of Delhi University Colleges

A Transition Against the Trans Bill: Inside the Jantar Mantar Protest

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An account of a widespread protest against the parliamentary Trans Bill 2018 which would have a negative impact on the transgender community if passed.

Amidst posters and hoardings criticising the controversial Trans Bill, a corner of Jantar Mantar was filled with a crowd, a crowd questioning parliamentary amendments and personal stereotypes. They were the trans-people from all over the country, proud of their identity and raging at the proposal of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill. And not only members of the transgender community, college students, activist, laypersons also joined the procession. Some of the provisions of this Bill which are cited as “biased” and “unfair” are that members of the transgender community would be subjected to a screening committee to have their gender assessed and it also reduces the punishment of convicts in sexual crimes against them, among other things. South India Transgender Federation had a major presence in the protest but activists from other states like Manipur, Maharashtra, and Haryana were also present.

Jatin, an alumnus of the University of Delhi says, “As a theatre actor, I have often worked on productions that revolve around queer issues, but after some point, you realise that theatre is just talking. By coming here, I am trying to show the little support that I can from my own side. It’s important to be physically present for the protests about which you preach via your art form.” Jatin’s point gets clearer in the face of a need for students to get educated and know more about the issues that ostracised groups face in their city, in their country. “The problem lies in the education. It’s like we are brought up to mock transgender people or just look at them as if they’re criminals even if they are just earning their living”, another college student remarked.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’ Brien also attended the protest and used it as an opportunity to show his support for the cause, while also pushing for the political agenda of his party. Image Credits: Shaurya Thapa
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’ Brien also attended the protest and used it as an opportunity to show his support for the cause, while also pushing for the political agenda of his party.
Image Credits: Shaurya Thapa

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’ Brien highlighted how the Mamta Bannerjee government in Bengal is working towards the betterment of trans persons and guaranteed that this controversial Bill would definitely not be passed at Rajya Sabha (receiving several cheers). His monologue ended with “Do hazaar unees, BJP finish!” (BJP’s rule over in 2019!).

Politics aside, this protest represented a struggle for personal rights. Radhika Naik from Tamil Nadu questioned how the government can impose a Bill on determining trans identity without consulting transgender people. “The police beats us if we beg and sometimes for just wandering. Tell me isn’t this harassment? And if someone really harms us, how can we even go to the police? We live in troubled times. The government gives us a ration card and voter ID card but that’s just equality for the namesake. You give us cards but what about our basic rights, what about our roti (food), kapda (clothing), and makaan (shelter),?” Radhika said on an emotional note. “More than the government’s perspective, it’s the people’s perspective that matters and this will ultimately influence the government,” Selvi Naik, Radhika’s friend added.

sdr
The protesters claim that the Bill has been made without any community consultation, lacks accountability measures, and doesn’t have provisions for reservation. Image Credits: Shaurya Singh Thapa

Radha Chatterjee from West Bengal complained about how the government can’t as much as make separate seats or washrooms for the third gender, leave alone other facilities. Still, on an optimistic note, Radha added how the revolution will live on and these protests will turn nationwide. “They’ll call us chutiyas, but if you think of us as chutiyas then let us be chutiyas! We will still fight. You see even though we have faced atrocities, we are still surviving. My guru survives as a trans, I have survived as a trans since a teen, and we all will live on no matter what,” this statement probably captures the optimism that everyone felt in this protest.

On a pavement, photographs from the ongoing protest were exhibited and sold by a middle-aged photographer who has been covering sit-ins, campaigns, and dharnas in Delhi for quite some time (even if he himself didn’t seem to show that much of interest in the movement). "I have been covering protests around Jantar Mantar for the past 15 years. I participated in the 2012 protests about the Nirbhaya rape case, but all other protests feel like a routine and a business opportunity," he added honestly as people bought their pictures. Image Credits: Shaurya Singh Thapa
On a pavement, photographs from the ongoing protest were exhibited and sold by a middle-aged photographer who has been covering sit-ins, campaigns, and dharnas in Delhi for quite some time (even if he himself didn’t seem to show that much of interest in the movement). “I have been covering protests around Jantar Mantar for the past 15 years. I participated in the 2012 protests about the Nirbhaya rape case, but all other protests feel like a routine and business opportunity,” he added honestly as people bought their pictures.
Image Credits: Shaurya Singh Thapa

After shouting slogans and singing rebel songs, the mood turned light as several drum players arrived at the scene. And for a brief moment, many joined from the crowd dancing merrily on the beats of the drums, melting the anger into a celebration of collective struggle and hope for a better future.

Feature Image Credits: Shaurya Singh Thapa for DU Beat.

Shaurya Singh Thapa
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