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DUTA Suggests Series of Measures to be Undertaken Amidst Covid-19 Lockdown

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Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) in recent administrative feedback has released a series of suggestive measures for the Delhi University (DU) administration to consider while tackling the academic hurdles brought on by the global pandemic.

On 14th April 2020, DUTA released an administrative feedback to DU regarding the handling of the global pandemic situation of COVID-19. In the released statement, DUTA points out the faults in the university’s semester and examination schedule, pointing out how neither was well-equipped to handle a crisis as such, leading to a collapse in the teaching semester. “The pandemic has also exposed the failure of the semester system with its tight teaching-learning and examination schedule to be able to weather any crisis such as the present.”

DUTA pointed out the problems with the online classes and e-resources provided by the university and how lacking the method is and definitely not at a capacity to replace or make up for in-class lectures any time soon. Given our student demography, it is important to recognize that a large section of students come from outside Delhi and that an equally significant number comes from underprivileged backgrounds, and the environment at their homes is unlikely to be conducive for learning. The University and colleges have so far not been able to collect data on how many students have accessibility to the e-resources and lectures shared by teachers. Given the diverse population of students to whom the University of Delhi caters to and the student strength, the means and modes of assessment and examination adopted in the context of the lockdown should ensure that the solutions offered do not further marginalize the already marginalized sections of students or create a situation where large sections of students lose out due to the circumstances they face,” the feedback statement read. They also pointed out the fact that most students who had gone back home during the mid-semester break (which had included Holi) had not carried their textbooks and reading materials with them.

DUTA, therefore, concluded that online examinations for the university would not be viable options, owing to the lack of resources and inaccessibility to many students of the university.

DUTA has offered the following suggestions to the administration:

  • Examinations to be held only after teaching days lost during quarantine period are recovered, with priority being given to final year students. DUTA suggested readjusting the holidays for summer accordingly.
  • Final year students should be provided with provisional certificates with details of their SGPA and CGPA.
  • If opened in a phased manner, colleges should give priority to final year students with exams being held 15 days after re-opening.
  • Schedule of the new academic year be adjusted according to the course requirements of current batches.
  • Considering shifting the examinations of UG level courses to an annual mode, in order to properly equip the administration for a similar crisis in the future.
  • Universities should hold meetings of all statutory bodies in order to prepare for dealing with the situation. Students should be kept informed of all measures being taken, even if they’re temporary.

“In the case of the University of Delhi, which caters to lakhs of students, we firmly believe that attempts must be made to ensure that (i) students enrolled in regular programmes be taught and evaluated as per the laid down framework (ii) essential classroom teaching to SOL and NCWEB be completed as per the requirements and commitment of these programmes and (iii) conduct of online centralized examinations be ruled out completely as the University neither has the infrastructure nor the capability of providing/ensuring level playing field in terms of accessibility and ease to the diverse student population it caters to,” the feedback read.

Feature Image Credits: Niharika Dabral for DU Beat

Shreya Juyal

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Campus Central

Online Lectures: Boon Or Bane?

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Shutting down of educational institutions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has necessitated the need for teachers to shift their lectures to the web.

“XYZ is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting” sliding into my mail whenever my professors wish to take a lecture is a notification that never fails to abruptly remind me of how much the world has changed and that I have been under quarantine, along with the whole country, for the past three weeks, something which I tend to forget from time to time having become so accustomed to it already, though in my defence, there is nothing very memorable about the quarantine or the “entity” that made it necessary, the coronavirus pandemic.

Infecting more than a million people across the world, and taking the lives of more than a hundred thousand, the coronavirus pandemic can be considered one of the most devastating and unfortunate events in human history. With lockdowns being announced, almost all corporate offices, private and public sector companies and educational institutions have been forced to pull down their shutters. 

Consequently, most official enterprises, be it meetings or seminars, have moved to online platforms, with teleconferencing applications like Skype and Zoom experiencing a swarm of new users. These new “migrants” also include university professors and school teachers, along with their students. 

While the idea of online teaching is not new, with many online educational platforms having been in existence for the past few years, the manner and the magnitude at which colleges and schools have unanimously adopted it recently is unprecedented. There are mainly two modes of transmission – sharing pre-recorded videos of the teacher with students or the teacher video-conferencing simultaneously with every student. The latter tends to get preferred over the former as it allows students to put forth their doubts there and then, along with the fact that the teacher can change the direction of teaching according to the prevailing line of thought going around his/her class.

Online teaching has its benefits. Since it allows the teacher and the student to be a part of the classroom from the comfort of their homes, it cuts the time and financial costs of house-to-school or house-to-college commute, as well as allowing sick students to attend their classes, which they otherwise wouldn’t have. “I was bedridden due to a minor surgery for a few days last week but I still didn’t miss any teaching as all my classes were being held online”, said a University Of Delhi student, on the condition of anonymity.

Commuting to one’s college or school everyday and staying there for 5-6 hours undoubtedly causes fatigue which hinders one’s attention during offline lectures, something which doesn’t happen in the case of online ones. 

“Zoom goes from conferencing app to the pandemic’s social network”, reads the headline of an article by Drake Bennett in the Bloomberg Business Week. The application is one of the biggest gainers of the sudden surge in online lectures, with downloads experiencing a boom from a mere 10 million to a whopping 200 million across devices. Being easy to operate and handle, it has even been patronized by the older not-so-tech-savvy generation of university professors.

But the problems of online lectures also start with Zoom. It has come under immense scrutiny for its relatively lax security systems, especially the absence of end-to-end encryption, which makes it prey to possible data theft. Since public zoom meetings can be accessed by merely opening the link for it, there have been numerous cases where hackers and mischief-mongers have hijacked meetings and lectures armed with offensive slogans, inappropriate images, abusive texts and racial slurs. “Zoombombing”, as this act is commonly known as, has forced many companies like Google and SpaceX to ban the usage of the application in its offices. Schools in Singapore and Taiwan have followed suit.

In fact, the application has been accused of spying on and recording personal user data, as well as tinkering with the in-built software of computers. Brian Feldman, in an article for the New York Magazine rubbished these claims and claimed that the problems were “sloppy rather than malicious”, though he sharply criticized the application, writing “..a billion dollar company seems to be held together with a duct tape and string.” Zoom’s CEO, Eric Yuan apologized for the glitches and attributed them to the company not having been prepared for such an enormous boom in its user base while also assuring implementation of stronger security measures in the coming weeks.

Besides Zoom’s complications, the most prominent drawback of an online lecture is the shunting out of students without internet access or electronic device access, especially in India where a large chunk of students come from rural backgrounds or poor families. This goes against the principles of government institutions which were established to provide equal education to all. 

Additionally, in case of some components of subjects composed of a considerable amount of quantitative analysis or those containing figures and graphs, say Economics or Physics, it gets a tad difficult to comprehensively  expound the learning matter through mere audio explanation or by writing on a notebook. Though this problem can be solved by the use of slideshow presentations. Ethically, there also tends to a lack of seriousness in the case of an online class when compared to an offline one since there is an absence of a disciplined classroom atmosphere. “I often end up browsing through my phone or laptop during lectures, or sometimes even worse, I turn off my video and leave to do something else.”, said a student of Daulat Ram College, on the condition of anonymity.

Nevertheless, the world was not prepared for these recent unfortunate developments, and adult office-goers and college students alike, and the Zoom application, despite its complications, have done a commendable job in keeping the show running partially. And with doctors and nurses across the world volunteering for the treatment of infected patients, medical experts and scientists working day and night for a cure or a vaccine, governments introducing strict movement restrictions and responsible citizens complying to these restrictions, one can hope that by the end of this year, professors and their students shall return to their classrooms.

 

 

Featured Image Credits : Anukriti Mudgil for DU Beat

Araba Kongbam

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Admissions

DU Buckles Up for 2020-21 Admissions Amidst Coronavirus Pandemic

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As the nation rages its battle on COVID-19, the Delhi University Admissions Branch has also come into action. These actions relate to easing the admission process for students during this pandemic. 

The Admissions Branch of the University has issued a formal letter to all the college principals. This letter mentions the measures that all 91 colleges under the varsity have to abide by in order to, ‘ensure smooth conduct of DUET 2020 and for student friendly merit-based admissions in the university.’

The colleges would have to upload all necessary information pertaining to the college and its admission process on the college website. Additionally the colleges have to form an Admission team that will have to ensure a smooth admission process. Apart from this the colleges have to prepare a comprehensive list of FAQs related to the various courses offered by the college to help the students choose their desirable course.

The list of the Generic Elective subjects or the compulsory inter-disciplinary subjects according to each will also be uploaded by the colleges on their website. The branch has also directed the colleges to deploy student volunteers to help the fresher.

Furthermore the varsity will be increasing the number of EWS or Economically Weaker Section seats from 10% to 15% this academic year in accordance to the 2nd phase of expansion of EWS. The colleges will have to mention the number of EWS seats in their respective websites.

Following the government’s national lockdown directive, the Admissions Branch has also advised the colleges to minimize the physical verification of the mandatory documents during the admission process. 

The University, during the 2019-20 admission, had sought to largely make the admission process online and was successful to a great extent. The registration process is done online to a full extent, however, the physical verification which needs the students to go the respective colleges isn’t. It is yet to be seen as how the administration will handle this. Last year alone more than 3,00,000 students had applied in various courses and thus it remains a mammoth task for the university officials to conduct the admissions process successfully.

Featured Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Aniket Singh Chauhan

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Campus Central

UGC Likely to Extend Deadline for Research

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With libraries and educational institutions shutting down across the country due to Covid-19, the University Grants Commission (UGC) is expected to extend the submission deadlines for research work by six months.

Keeping in mind the problems faced by research scholars in undertaking research work in the ongoing pandemic and lockdowns, former Executive Council members of University of Delhi (DU) have appealed to the UGC to postpone the research submission date by at least six months. “In the current extraordinary situation of crisis, it is not possible to carry out research work since consultation of an expert is required and library resources are essential as all references/books are not available as e-resources”, they added.

Most of the research scholars were expected to submit their thesis in a stipulated time as set up by the Ordinance of the University and was due in March-April. However in the second week of March during the semester break, the university was declared closed till 31st March followed by a complete lockdown in the country.

The Federation of Central Universities’ Teachers’ Association (FEDCUTA) in a letter to the UGC Chairman, D P Singh wrote, “Many PhD and MPhil research scholars have been enabled to conduct research in this period. Absence of laboratory and library facilities except for select few e-resources have left scholars largely resourceless. They have not been able to do any field work too.” They also pointed out that the pandemic has affected the mind frame of the research scholars and disrupted the pace of their work.

“We request you to take cognizance of the difficult circumstances and issue instructions to universities to give an extension of six months to all scholars across the country who were due to submit their thesis/dissertations or hold their pre-submission seminars,” they added.

With multiple requests being made for the extension, the UGC Chairman stated that a seven-member committee had been formed to discuss changes in the academic calendar due to the lockdown and that the next session would be started right after it is lifted. He asserted on avoiding any delays thereafter in the examinations as well.

Taking into account the uncertainty in the current situation, UGC is likely to extend the research deadlines and an official announcement is expected to be made soon.

Feature Image Credits: Zee News
Feature Image Caption: DU appeals to UGC for extending the deadline for submitting research by 6 months.

Aishwaryaa Kunwar

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Coronavirus

Baisakhi in the Time of Coronavirus

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What normally would have been a time for celebration for the Indian farmers has now posed an uncertainty in their survival itself. But, despite everything, the Indian Farmer toils away.

Baisakhi has traditionally been a time of celebration for Indian farmers- it marks the end of the Rabi Season and the day when their crops are ready for harvest. It is also the Sikh New Year and the Hindu Solar New Year, and thus has great religious significance to it as well.

However, this year, the Indian agricultural industry faces an unprecedented challenge. The Coronavirus pandemic has brought the country to a standstill and is possibly our worst economic emergency, ever. The lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the virus has caused a huge disruption in the agricultural supply chains, leading to problems for tge producers, transporters and consumers.

Firstly, to harvest a crop, the sector needs labour, who mostly hail from states like Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar. Due to the lockdown, most of them have resorted back to their villages, where a necessary sense of comfort and belongingness will be duly provided. Due to this, farmers are unable to harvest the crop mechanically or even hand pluck it, something that will lead to late harvests, which coupled with a lower yield and a shorter window to plant the next season’s crop aggravates the problems. Even in a situation where the harvesting is done, things like packaging the produce, transporting it the mandis and then to storage facilities will remain a challenge without the required labour.

The second major issue currently is the problem with distribution. Even after the Government of India has declared agriculture as an essential (which was done on 27th March, the country went into lockdown on the 24th of March) and allowed repair and supply shops toremain functional, distribution remains a major challenge. This too is heavily linked to the lack of availability of labour and the medium that can make the produce reach from the farms to the markets. Fears about a rush to the mandis the moment the harvest takes place cannot be ignored either, leading to panic selling and a further drop in prices, negatively impacting more what is already an economically unviable activity for most farmers.

Image Caption: Transportation of Crops remains a major problem for the Agriculture Industry Image Credits: Getty Images
Image Caption: Transportation of Crops remains a major problem for the Agriculture Industry
Image Credits: Getty Images

The governments at both centre and state levels have tried to counter these problems. The Central Government has released an advance of Rs. 2000 to 7.92 Crore farmers on the PM-KISAN payments while also releasing funds for states to buy the crop at Minimum Support Price (MSP). Apart from that, the Market Intervention Scheme, which reimburses farmers of perishable crops in case of low prices, has also been implemented and governmental agencies have been asked to increase obtaining of produce from these farmers at MSP. The Haryana Government has guaranteed purchase of entire stocks of mustard and wheat and increased the number of markets so that there is one market to every three villages, while also ensuring the measures to contain the spread of Coronavirus in these markets. Telangana has announced a token system for the farmers to go to the mandi and a complete decentralisation in procurement, whereby the purchases will be made through respective Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies in every village to cut down on the need for transport.

However, a lack of a coordinated policy at the national level is likely to hurt the farmers. The Centre needs to work with the State Government(s) and implement a strategy that enables the farmer to sell their wheat or other crops without having to arrange for transport. The Government can also try and get labourers to come and work if they’re willing to, perhaps taking a page out of Germany’s book, who flew in labourers from countries like Romania and Bulgaria to pick the agricultural produce. The railway network should be utilised effectively to ensure supplies reach where they’re needed and the Haryana and Telangana models should be implemented throughout the country so that the produce reaches the proper channels.

A lack of supply isn’t the problem- the winter crop this season has been bountiful. Matching the supply with the demand and getting it to where it is needed is an urgent problem that needs to be tackled on a war footing. The government needs to be proactive in its approach. While our flour mills cry out for wheat, the Food Corporation of India (FCI)is sitting on 27 million tonnes of wheat from the previous Rabi season, with a record 110 million tonnes estimated to be harvested this season.

While most of us sit in the comfort of our homes, the farmers toil daily to ensure our meals. As we clap for our doctors, this Baisakhi, we should also celebrate the farmers and express our gratitude by not indulging in hoarding of food items, wastage of any kind and use our privilege wisely to impact those who are struggling to meet their ends in such circumstances. This is the time for us to translate our solidarity into action.

Featured Image Credits: The Hindu Business Line

Khush Vardhan Dembla

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Features

Jug Baba: Lockdown Woes

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Baba I can’t do it anymore. I am an extrovert and being trapped like this for more than two weeks now, during the lockdown, is suffocating me inside the walls of my own house. My anxiety is rising with each passing day, please help me out.

Oh! My vada don’t worry. Jug Bbaba is there for you just like Sex Amma, and will sort your worries in a jiffy. Quarantine is difficult for all of us whether it’s the inability to go out, or the uncontrollable daily cravings of those momos you kids eat these days, everything is difficult about it. But, you should remember my vada you are not alone in this Sambhar of the Coronavirus outbreak. We are all in this together.

Not paying much heed to the negatives and diverting our attention towards the positives is something that can help us all. For example, can you think of any other instance before this quarantine when you and your Amma, Appa, Aakka and all the rest of your family members spent such a long time together? In today’s world, not just you, we all spend a major part of our day either earning money or preparing ourselves to be able to earn it in the future, amidst which we often forget, our near and dear ones.

Hence, instead of sitting all alone in your room, binge watching the entire day, try to strengthen your family bonds by talking to your Akka or playing with your Thambi or just help your Amma out. Another efficient remedy to anxiety can be meditation. Even your Sex Amma is a big fan of it. Simply closing your eyes and getting rid of all the unwanted thoughts which clinging to your mind does wonders. In fact you can try out the many apps that provide guided meditation to beginners.

So, my Medu, plan every day, learn a new skill, and utilise this time to do what you wanted to do for a long time but were always inhibited by the shortage of time.

Hope this helps!


Your mental health companion, 
Jug Baba

 

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Admissions

NTA Postpones Delhi University Entrance Test Indefinitely

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In the list of the things cancelled due to the novel Coronavirus, joining the merit-based form for Delhi University, up next is the Delhi University Entrance Test (DUET 2020).

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has postponed the registrations for DUET 2020 at a time when some of the to-be first-year students are still left with board exams amidst the Coronavirus nationwide lock down. The NTA has been known to conduct various national level entrance exams like Joint Entrance Examinations (Mains), Jawaharlal Nehru University Entrance Exam, etc. DUET used to be conducted internally by the varsity, until last year when the onus was given to NTA.

NTA brought along itself a lot of relief for the aspirants in terms of facilities and ease of conduct of the exams. Some of the popular courses for which this exam is conducted are B.A(Hons.) Humanities and Social Sciences, B.A (Hons) Multimedia and Mass Communication, B.Tech, M.Phil and Ph.D courses. The varsity had promised more student-friendly measures such as a single form admission process; details of which would be more clear once the lock down is lifted and the schedule for the year 2020-21 is announced.

This year, the registration process was supposed to begin from 2nd April 2020 and the exams were to be conducted from 2nd to 9th June 2020. Since the varsity is closed till 14 April as of now, a Press Release on 3rd April 2020 announced the registration to be “postponed till further notice” as well.

Image Credits: Official website, Delhi University
Image Credits: Official website, Delhi University

Jahnvi Mishra, an aspiring DU student, said “I am stressed about the admission season but I am much more worried about the last board exam I have left”

With everything being postponed right now, whether it be the board exams or the entrance exam schedules all across the globe, it would be interesting to note the steps that the varsity takes in the coming few months to cause minimal loss to the current students as well as the to-be first year students in the university.

Feature Image Credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat

Akshat Arora

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Features

E-learning: Woes of Students in Kashmir

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Read about the problems faced by students residing in Kashmir in accessing e-learning resources online due to low-speed internet.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration said that only 2G internet will be available to residents till April 3rd amid calls for restoration of high speed 4G internet in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

This poses a grave concern for students – as the world resorts to online classes for regular classes and lectures, students residing in Kashmir are troubled by frequent disruptions and delays in their educational pursuits. The learning process isn’t facilitated well, because the streaming quality is often poor due to low-speed internet. The union territory of J&K has over 15,000 schools and colleges catering to tens of thousands of students.

Bareen, a student of Jesus and Mary College, explains how difficult it is to continue and keep up the pace with everyone residing in the rest of the country when it comes to even basic tasks, “We are often not able to access video lectures, apart from this; National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) aspirants are facing problems in filling up forms and studying without able internet. Internet Banking has been absolutely crippled, failed transactions is the norm now due to slow net. Basic communication through mediums like WhatsApp is hard; downloading audios, videos and documents has become a huge problem. There is no question of even accessing other websites like Netflix, YouTube and social media for recreation and leisure.”

“Restore 4G internet services to help student learn from home,” an association of private schools in the valley has said in a message. The association said the ban on high speed 4G internet services has been preventing schools from offering Google classroom teaching to students in the region. “While private schools show their readiness to shift to online lesson plans, they’re running into limitations of our broadband networks,” said G N Var, president of the Kashmir Private School Association.

Feature Image Credits: Instagram / Stand with Kashmir Feature Image Caption: A letter written by a 5th grade student to address his lack of access to online classes.
Image Credits: Instagram / Stand with Kashmir
 Image Caption: A letter written by a 5th grade student to address his lack of access to online classes.

Doctors and other health care personnel have also faced significant predicaments. With concerns arising over the coronavirus pandemic, the risks to life and lungs have increased. A Kashmiri doctor recently tweeted his frustration over not being able to download the ICU guidelines for COVID-19 even after an hour of trying, due to the low-speed internet.

Feature Image Credits: The Hindu

 

Paridhi Puri

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Banerjee’s Devi: Absolute truth, Obsolete future

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Devi is a representation of absolute truth and an obsolete future, presented through nine women who share one common thread of past.

Priyanka Banerjee’s creation- Devi, is not a story, but truth brought into broad daylight. The film brings forth a shared truth of nine women from different walks of life. The setting is simple- a room filled with women. All seem to have engaged themselves- offering prayers, engrossing oneself in books, playing cards, trying to fix the television. The characters show the grim situation which is nothing but absolute truth. They seem to be engulfed in their respective coping mechanisms.

Bairi (Yashaswini Dayama)  switches on the television- a popular song plays on the screen- Jiya Jaaye Naa. but contrary to the romantic overtones of the song, it seems to be a statement- Jiya Jaaye Naa (unable to live). Absence of life seems to resonate through the chorus of the song. Whether it is the living condition inside the room or the past of the characters, both signify the inability to live.

Before the plot unfolds, the room itself reflects a rhetoric value. The characters repeatedly ask about the number of people to be accommodated in the room, they feel suffocated, indicating that the room has finite space. The electricity fluctuation further raises the issue of burden. The room can hence be seen as a concrete translation of an abstract concept- tolerance. The ability to tolerate is finite, just like the capacity of the room. Patience and tolerance seem to be at a tipping end as the doorbell rings.

The channel suddenly changes to a news channel wherein a case of sexual assault is embossed on the headlines of the television, however, before the details are revealed, signal is lost. The headlines create tension in the room but before the viewers can know further the doorbell rings.

Four minutes into the short film, the viewers realise that there are skirmishes sparking off between the women inside the room as the doorbell rings repeatedly. Shivani Raghuvanshi’s character proposes the need for a proper system, this is where viewers’ curiosities are dissolved as it is revealed that the women are rape victims and have met death. At the end of the discussion no conclusion seems to arrive. This reflects another reality- rape is rape, a criminal offence that cannot be measured or compared.

There is an unusual relation between the women- forced sisterhood that does not come natural but is forced through the past. They know the gruesome truth but fail to empathise. Banerjee draws a parallel here- between the characters in the room and those in the society. The lacking empathy mirrors the society- a society which is unable to realise the ‘lopsided’ side.

At the end, Kajol’s character has to remind the other women of the day they entered to sensitise them as she walks to open the door.

“Yaad hai jab hum aaye the toh kitne darein huye the. (remember how scared we were when we first came here)”

A child enters, barely five or seven. As she enters the room, a state of speechlessness engulfs the room, a state of speechlessness engulfs the space that has a deafening effect. Devi ends in a complete circle. When Bairi switches the television a reporter asks concerning questions and as Devi ends, there are equally concerning truths.

Watch Priyanka Banerjee’s Devi here

Although Devi is gut-wrenching, it has uncanny resemblance to Abhishek Rai’s Four, a 2018 short film. The concept of both the films are identical. The parallels are heightened at the end as the endings are nearly the same.

Watch Abhishek Rai’s Four here

Feature Image Credits: YouTube

Priyanshi Banerjee

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Vithalbhai Patel: The Forgotten Indian Leader

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The Indian National struggle for Independence was filled with illustrious, intelligent and astounding leaders. While history has been kind to some who are well known with a legacy of their own, unfortunately there are plenty who haven’t received the praise and recognition they rightfully deserve.

Among many such towering leaders and social reformers was Vithalbhai Patel, one of the most prominent and esteemed champions of the Indian freedom struggle whose contributions are forgotten and also have been unjustly overlooked by historians.
Born in Nadiad, in the Indian state of Gujarat, Vithalbhai was third of 5 Patel Brothers. Vithalbhai entered the Middle Temple Inn in London. Returning to Gujarat in 1913, Vithalbhai became an important barrister in the courts of Bombay and Ahmadabad. Despite the fact that he seldom truly accepted Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy and leadership, Patel joined the Congress and the freedom struggle.

He didn’t have any specific regional base for support but was a greatly influential leader who fuelled in the nationalist struggle by his fiery speeches and publications. Patel grew immensely popular and respected by his oratorical mastery and scintillating wit, both of which enabled him to belittle the British officials. He was an astute and practical leader throughout his life.

In a short span of 60 years of his life, Vithalbhai rose to become the first elected President of the Central Legislative Assembly in India (chamber of elected and appointed Indian and British representatives with limited legislative powers). As the President, he set established practices and stratagems for conducting business in the assembly. Apart from this, he also had won a seat in the Bombay Legislative Council and as the member of the council he played a crucial role in drafting 2 bills before the council- the Bombay District Municipal Act Amendment Bill and the Town Planning Bill. Patel, initially a powerful Congress pioneer who became the Chairman of the Reception Committee of the Special Session of the Congress held in Bombay in August 1918, contributed greatly in the proceedings of legislative affairs for the welfare and wellbeing of Indians, even under the British rule.
Vithalbhai’s approach to politics was simple. He had no demur to the use of any means provided the end goal was achieved. Only the objective and the goal remained constant and that was India’s freedom. On the other hand Gandhi Ji’s approach was more spiritual and moral.
Hence, when Gandhi Ji had prematurely aborted the Non-Cooperation movement due to the Chauri- Chaura incident, Patel left the Congress and formed his own “Swaraj” party with leaders like Chittaranjan Das and others who were unhappy over the abandonment of the Non-Cooperation movement by Gandhi Ji. The Swaraj Party sought to thwart the British rule by crippling the government after gaining entry in the councils. There was also a salient polarity between Vithalbhai and Vallabhbhai. Vithalbhai was inclined towards arriving on conclusions based on his own analysis and didn’t ever let anyone influence his judgments, however Vallabhbhai devotedly followed the advice of his “guru” Mahatma Gandhi; mostly without questioning their rationale. Later on, Vithalbhai traveled to various places in the United States of America and Europe where mayors of important cities usually received him. When he was in London, the relations between the British and Ireland began to deteriorate and the Irish leader Eamon De Valera who came into power wanted Patel to act as an arbitrator between Ireland and the British Empire.

Patel’s health began to worsen in Europe and as his last political move before passing away in Geneva, Switzerland, he signed a statement composed by Subhash Chandra Bose which declared Gandhi as a failed leader and called for a militant form of non-cooperation. On his deathbed, he left a will in which he gave away 3 quarters of his money to Bose for promoting India’s militant struggle. However, Vallabhbhai had questioned the veracity of Vithalbhai’s signature on this will when he saw one of the copies. As a result there was a case, which went on for a year leading to the courts judgment that his legal heirs could only inherit Vithalbhai’s property.

Image Credits: News 18 (Hindi)

Abhinandan Kaul

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