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Ishani Rajkhowa

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Priety Kumari, a first year B.A. Programme student from Sri Venkateswara College, may not be a popular name in DU yet, but she definitely has achievements worth a mention. After having made a name for herself in the field of sports in her hometown of Gajipur in Uttar Pradesh, Priety moved to Delhi in search of better opportunities like many other aspiring youngsters. She has played basketball with different teams at national and even international levels and owns a host of medals. However, it is probably the unpopularity of her chosen sport in the country that has stopped her from gaining the kind of attention she rightly deserves. DU Beat brings to you an exclusive interview with Miss Kumari.

Would you give us a brief account of your background as a basketball player?

I took up the sport in 6th grade. Starting initially at school level, I gradually excelled to national and international level under-16 tournaments. The latest match that I played was with my college team on the 29th of December, 2014. It was of the senior national level and garnered us a silver medal.

How well does the college facilitate the sport? Are you satisfied with the efforts of the college?

Sri Venkateswara lacks even a basic basketball court due to which the players are compelled to practice at a rented ground in Vinay Marg. However, the college does arrange for international coaches from Spain, U.S.A., etc. for our training.

Do you wish to take up basketball as a career? Since India does not have any prominent names in the field of basketball as it does in sports like, say, cricket or hockey, who has been your inspiration?

Yes, absolutely. My seniors whom I have played with in my school years are my inspiration. There is one girl, Renu, who has touched my life in particular.

It is sort of a stereotype that popular sportspersons often lag behind in academics. What would you say about it and have you defied that trend?

I do believe that I have managed to strike a balance between academics and my sport.  It is very rare that sports alone prove enough to take you places. Normally, a basic graduate degree is at least required in whichever field one pursues. Moreover, you never know where your knowledge might come in handy.

What is your plan ahead?

I have been selected for the post of a clerk in Indian Railways, the appointment letter for which is still awaited. Once I receive it, I will join the basketball team there and play for the country.

 

The Bar Council of India (BCI), the apex regulatory body for legal education and legal profession in India, has sought the closure of the law centres under Delhi University’s Faculty of Law. Faculty of Law has been the alma-mater of eminent personalities like Mr. Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister, Mr. Kapil Sibal, former HRD minister and Rohinton Nariman, Supreme Court Judge.

It came as a consequence of an inspection by BCI in October last year after which it released a 127-page report stating 17 conditions for the Law Faculty to comply with. These included limiting the class hours to daytime, cutting down class size, increase in the share of permanent faculty members, provision of a moot court hall, a library, certain electronic equipments and inclusion of clinical papers and internships in the curriculum.

Read more: De-recognition of DU law course by the BCI worries students

The BCI had earlier barred recent graduates (post 2010 batch) of DU’s Campus Law Centre, Law Centre- 1 and Law Centre- 2 from enrolling as advocates and disaffiliated the centres citing non-adherence to its new rules that came into force in 2010. However, following the inspection, it approved affiliation of the centres till the session 2014-15 and allowed graduates to enrol provisionally. Ultimately, due to lack of progress on part of the University till the given time and its failure to seek an extension, BCI directed the closure of the Campus Law Centre.

The inspection committee comprised of 7 members including Mr. Ranbir Singh, Vice Chancellor of the National Law University, Mr. Manoj Kumar Sinha, Director of the Indian Law Institute and members of BCI and Delhi Bar Council while it was headed by retired Rajasthan High Court Judge, V.S. Dave.

The post inspection report revealed that CLC, originally built to accommodate 250 students, is now being used to accommodate over 4000 in its 57 rooms out of which 9 are classrooms for the LLB course and 5 for LLM. The number of students in each class exceeds the permitted limit issued under the UGC and BCI. The report further stated that the campus lacks the basic amenity of a canteen and more than 60 percent of the faculty members are on ad-hoc basis while 4 are guest lecturers.

The BCI claims that the University Vice Chancellor, Mr. Dinesh Singh, was uninformed of the deteriorating conditions at its law centres and blames the dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof. Ashwini Bansal, for the same. Prof. Bansal, however, firmly refutes the claim and says, “The faculty of law as the other institutions under the university are under the supervision of VC and there has been no miscommunication or lack of communication for that matter. As for the report, we are working on the two issues from the list that we feel needs urgent attention. The ad-hoc teachers, although too many in number, are as qualified as the permanent ones (if not more) of any other law institution in the country because of which the students are not being deprived of quality education. I assure the students that we will resort the issue with the BCI for which we have already sent a response and we will continue with our LLB and LLM courses smoothly.”

On being asked if he agrees with the inspection report, Sougat Mishra, a student of 1st year (LLB) at the Faculty of Law says, “The facts are unfortunately true to an extent. I feel our syllabus is not as good as that of the NLUs and we lack adequate infrastructure. Classrooms are definitely overcrowded and I am not aware of any legal internship organised by the institution. They are always on voluntary basis by students”. When asked if he would reappear for law entrance in case the centre does close down, he recalls the proverb “Once bitten, twice shy” and says he would rather appear for civil services or pursue economics this time.

 

Featured image credits: www.indiatvnews.com

Wirtschaft, the economics society of Motilal Nehru College, held the 8th edition of its annual economics fest, Ecoverve, on the 18th and 19th of February 2015. We bring you a summary of the festivities of the two days.
DAY 1

Ecoverve was inaugurated with an opening ceremony graced by chief guest Dr. Praveen Jha who is the chairperson of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning and also the Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. The ceremony was followed by the three consecutive events on the 1st day and four on the 2nd:

Quiz-Bee: It was divided into two rounds, Preliminary and Mains, the latter of which was further subdivided in 5 rounds at the end of which College of Vocational Studies took away the winner’s title. The quizmaster, Mr. Amit Poddar (senior regional head of the prestigious T.I.M.E institute) conducted the quiz with immense zeal and zest leading to the same sort of response from the participants as well. The questions were General Knowledge based and included many visuals as well.

 
Young managers: It included a quick aptitude test, a round called ‘Strategies’ to test the participants’ managerial mindset and concluded in ‘Beg, Borrow, Steal’. The host college itself outshone to become the winners. The competition was ‘fun and fair’ according to a participant.
Fantasy Cricket League: This event was an innovation to test participants on their cricket quotient through a series of question-answers and a fantasy auction where participants had to bid for their favourite international cricketers (much like IPL) within a given budget. The team from Deen Dayal Upadhaya, with the best eleven cricketers bagged the winner’s title. Wirtschaft somewhat fulfilled every cricketer fan’s dream through this round.
DAY 2
Group Discussion: GD included three rounds with thought provoking topics, the one for the final round being, ‘Criminal abilities of women have always been underestimated’. MLNC won the title prize.
DEBATE: Motion of the house was ‘Freedom of speech is a myth in India’. Titles won were as follows-
Best speaker from HMITM (IP University)
Best team from Venkateshwara and Kamla Nehru College.
Best Interjector from Zakir Hussain College
treasure Hunt: This event broke records with around 200 registrations, participants were divided into teams of 2-3 players each. They went through four impressive rounds of energy, entertainment and excitement.
Ad-Mad: It made the final leg of Ecoverve utmost fascinating with its first round judging teams on their knowledge of various brands and their advertisements while the second made them present short innovative gags to market their allotted products. Products included items like “lipstick’, dantmanjan’ and ‘love guru institute’.
Apart from these, there were also filler events like 7 Up 7 Down, Bulls Eye and Fancy Photos.
“The fest concluded smoothly without any ruckus and was a huge success in my opinion. We highlighted events which were both innovative and engaging due to which the level of enthusiasm was high from organisers as well as participants. We have certainly set an enviable bar for others at the beginning of the fest season”, says Vikram Khanna, Vice President, Wirtschaft.

There are ample ‘University of Delhi’ related pages on Facebook and the numbers are increasing day by day. From official updates to candid (and often silly) confessions, you name it and you get it through these pages. Here, we would like to list a few:

 

University Of Delhi (Official Page)

It is the official page with all the official details for the students, staff, alumni and prospective students of DU. It provides the links to the website and information centre as well. Furthermore, with 705,837 FB likes, this page proves that you definitely earn brownie points for authenticity.

 

University of Delhi Central Placement Cell

As the name suggests, this page is meant for the placement seekers of DU. Companies which visit the campus for recruitment purposes are advertised on this page with the details of desired qualifications from candidates and specifications of the selection process. Since its inception on 17 September 2008, this page has gathered 12,176 likes so far. A rare feature is that it provides a telephone number for the placement cell as well.

 

University Of Delhi South Campus

Similar to the estrangement of the South Campus colleges from the University’s clustered North Campus ones is the separate and independent webpage of the South Campus. Although its popularity may be judged from the 3,050 FB likes that it has accumulated, we doubt its cognizance amongst the University’s students.

University of Delhi Students and Confessions Page/ Delhi University Confessions

Right after the inception of the Delhi Metro Confessions page, Facebook witnessed a tsunami of such confessions pages for every random institution imaginable. Why then should our prestigious Delhi University not live up to the trend? DU has numerous (obviously unofficial) confessions pages for students to publicise their embarrassments (and historic love affairs) on. We stumbled upon two such pages with secret admins, around 3000 likes each and a lot of hilarious confessions.

DU Confessions

This page is worth a separate mention due to its astounding lack of popularity of only 9 likes on Facebook.

DU Beat

With 140,034 FB likes, yes, we are definitely popular. Apart from providing titbits about every nook and cranny of DU, we connect with the students on the personal level through our column Around The Campus where our photographers move around the campus to capture views and moments of students on campus life.

Delhi University Tips

This page caters to school students who aspire to be a part of the University.

 

Apart from university centric pages, there are a few Facebook pages devoted to the concept of the popular ‘Humans Of New York’ page by Brandon Stanton. Two such Indian adaptations are Humans of Delhi, being the most popular with 26, 228 likes and Humans of Delhi with a contrasting mere 54 likes.

The Central Placement Cell of the University of Delhi acts as the middleman between the industry with its wide variety of job opportunities and the University students with their wide range of academic and extra-curricular qualifications. On one hand it aids the recruiting companies with logistics and the selection process while on the other it keeps the registered students informed about the placement opportunities.

The CPC organized a placement drive on the 28 & 29 of January, 2015 at the Conference Hall, North Campus wherein two companies came each day in pursuit of suitable staff. Wipro Technologies and Genpact India were the ones on the first day while Creative Artist Private Limited and ChikiWeb Private Limited were those on the second.

27.01.2015

Wipro Technologies

This Bangalore based IT services, consulting, system and outsourcing company was in search of undergraduates from the science stream to work in the field of IT while pursuing their post graduation fully sponsored by Wipro in their own campus. The two academies involved were WiSTA (Wipro Software Technology Academy) and WASE (Wipro Academy of Software Excellence. The stipend offered was in increasing order with the academic year starting with rupees 11,500.

Selection: List of selected candidates has not been revealed yet.

Genpact India

Genpact, shorthand for “generating business impact”, started in 1997 as a unit of the giant General Electric and is now working independently as a multinational business process outsourcing and IT services company. It was in pursuit of students in their final year or passouts for the departments of Finance & Accounting, Banking & Insurance and Accounting services. Salary offered being rupees 10,000 along with other benefits and incentives.

Selection:List of selected candidates not revealed yet.

28.01.2015

Creative Artist Private Limited

This company was in pursuit of candidates for three different job categories, namely, ‘Job Analyst’, ‘Talent Explorer’ and ‘Key Alliances’. The package offered was a standard Rupees 2.40 Lakh per annum for each post while the required qualifications varied according to the job profile.

Selection: 8 students have been selected and 4 are on the wait list.

Chiki Web Private Limited

Chikiweb is a start up registered on 30 May 2013. Based in Delhi, this company specializes in consulting, technology, online marketing and content solutions, website designing, domain registration, web development and web hosting. It offered a package of Rupees 1.44 Lakhs per annum for the post of a content writer for candidates with a Bachelors degree in English Literature or Journalism & Mass Communication and a package of Rupees 1.20 Lakhs for the post of Sales Executive, the minimum requirement for which is basic graduation with a sales aptitude.

Selection: 6 candidates have been selected.

For further details, visit www.placement.du.ac.in

 

ABVP recently held a protest in front of the VC’s office for the implementation of special chance, supplementary exam for final year students and AICTE approval for DU’s B.Tech courses. All three were agendas included in the student party’s manifesto while contesting DUSU elections. Now that they have assumed office, DU Beat talks to Mohit Nagar (DUSU President) about their plans for the current semester. The demand for revaluation, also mentioned in the manifesto of current DUSU officeholders, has already been accepted by the University.

Q. The inclusion of the issue of supplementary exams in the protest held on January 21 seems to be an after-effect of the petition filed. Do you agree?

A. We have been working on the matter of supplementary exam ever since we became office bearers. We have resorted to protest now due to lack of response from the University and the urgency of the situation. The timing has only accidentally coincided with that of the petition.

Q. Which are the issues that you can guarantee will be taken care of during the current semester by DUSU?

A. During this particular semester, we can guarantee the achievement of approval for supplementary exams and special chance. Although we are working on other issues as well, these two are the grass root level problems that need to be dealt with immediately. We will expand our plans to more complex issues like hostels and accommodation shortly after these.

Q. One promise that each party makes before DUSU elections year after year but fails to fulfill is that of University special buses. What has been the progress in that area?

A. We are collecting information on the number of ‘U’ Special buses plying as per records and the number actually available on the roads. We plan to assess the requirement of buses as per areas in order to put forward an exact demand in front of the officials.

Q. What about the metro passes ABVP had talked about before the DUSU elections?

A. The issue of concessional pass for students in the Delhi Metro has encountered a roadblock due to certain complications. We will not be able to deliver on it as of now.

Q. A unique point in ABVP’s manifesto was that of a compulsory self defence course in colleges. When can we expect to enjoy the benefit of that?

There are random inspections being conducted in colleges for the safety of girls. We have met our agenda of deploying at least one lady guard at each college’s gate. Furthermore, our investigation has revealed the presence of Women Development Cell (WDC’s) in many colleges although they have been inactive for a long time due to negligence. We have instructed the colleges to make them visible through seminars and workshops. The effect will be seen shortly. We will come to the issue of implementation of the compulsory self-defence course too.

Q. Can you give us a tentative date for any of the other plans?

A. It is currently difficult to give any dates for other plans except the ones mentioned earlier.

th semester too faces the one year long unfortunate wait to attain their degree. While Delhi University provides 2 opportunities to students of first and second year to clear their backlog (odd semester back in the forthcoming odd semesters and even semester ones in the future even semesters), that is not the case with final year students who have to wait for 6 more months (in case of 5th semester) and one more year (for 6th semester) after completion of their three years in college. This issue, although unnoticed yet, has now become the subject of a petition to the University Vice Chancellor  Dinesh Singh. The petition has been filed by two students from Mata Sundri College, both fifth semester students with backlogs. They have demanded supplementary exams to be conducted within the successive semester for 5th semester students and within a month itself for 6th semester.

“We had included the issues of revaluation, special chance and supplementary exams in our agenda during the DUSU elections 2014-15 itself,  out of which work has begun on the matter of revaluation.  Although the other two demands were earlier refused by the university, we plan to organize a number of protests to achieve a green signal for the same in case of a negative verdict or lack of response to our letters. We assure the students our full support for the cause”, said Saket Bahuguna State Secretary, ABVP, Delhi and Navdeep Choudhary State Joint Secretary, ABVP, Delhi.
According to Shradha Chawla, Mr. Prashant Nagar, Assistant  Controller of Exams has refused to make any changes in the existing system. The reaction of the Vice Chancellor on the issue is still awaited. The petition can be found on the internet and is being signed by thousands of students to support the cause. “Studying in a premier institution such as Delhi University brings upon a lot of pride for students to pursue further studies abroad or in various other renowned institutions. However, a backlog in even one subject not only wastes a year but also puts an end to or delays the scope of such future prospects that can channel their lives for a better tomorrow. Thereby I strongly speak for the petition to allow supplementary exams and rid the final year students of such adverse circumstances”, said Aanchal Jain from 6th semester, Motilal Nehru College.  ]]>

For most of the movie buffs, arrival of the New Year brings new hope and thrill looking forward to the much awaited movies be it to see their favourite actors or an adaptation of their favourite novel on the big screen. As far as anticipations from Hollywood this year is concerned, the impending releases seem to be fresh in concept as well as well scripted additions to the series which have already done wonders for the audience.

Let’s have a look at some major releases of Hollywood in 2015 which are keenly awaited by people all over the world-

 Jan 16   American Sniper

Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, this movie is an action-drama based on the autobiography of U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle who was killed on 2 February 2013. Bradley Cooper plays Kyle who is sent on a mission to Iraq and finds himself at a grave situation in the battle field as well as the family-front.

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Feb 13   50 Shades Of Grey

It is an adaption of E.L. James’ erotic novel by the same name. The story revolves around Ana and Christian as they engage in a BDSM relationship.

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April 3   Fast and the Furious 7

It is a continuation of its precedent in the Fast and Furious series wherein Ian Shaw plots his revenge against Dominic for his brother’s death. It is the last film appearance of Paul Walker.

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Jun 12   Jurassic World (3D)

Steven Speilberg returns with the long-awaited addition to his Jurassic Park franchise. The     film features a dinosaur adventure park, Jurassic World, at Isla Nublar as envisioned by John Hammond. However, things backfire and havoc follows.

jw

Nov 20  The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2

The movie revolves around the rebel Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) as she leads the districts of Panem in a war against the tyrannical Capitol. In the process, everything she loves is at stake and their fate depends on her judgement.

 

mj

 

2014 is almost out of sight and we are busy enjoying the last and coldest days of the year. What better way to spend the chilly days than staying under the blanket watching TV. Let us look back at some of the best and worst commercials of Indian television.

Here are some of the best commercials of 2014:

Hero Indian Super League

This commercial successfully delivers the message of ISL that is to unite the diverse culture of India through the medium of football and to create a platform for the younger generations which will trap and polish their potential in the game. Don’t miss the climax of the ad!

CEAT Bike Tyres
This commercial speaks the mind of every individual who drives a vehicle on the Indian roads. We certainly agree that such tyres will be immensely helpful. We sincerely await the invention of CEAT Car Tyres as well.

Bournvita – Tayyari Jeet Ki
An intelligent take to advertising which will make us ponder on an aspect of parenthood. This commercial is engrossing as well as appropriate for a health drink.

ENVY 1000 Deodorant
A spray here, a spray there and girls falling in from all directions! We all know that stuff is not real and yet this formula is used by almost all deodorants for advertising. Envy 1000, along with the humorous Irrfan Khan has used the same formula to speak the truth behind it.

Idea 3G
This commercial provides a technological solution to the problem of overpopulation. Don’t start thinking yet! It is actually one of the funniest ads on Indian television.

Five Star
They are popularly known as the “Ramesh-Suresh” ads. They are so funny you would not even care about it being unrealistic. Here is the latest addition.

The lamest ones:

Kinley
However cute the sentiments may seem, they definitely cannot be arisen by the consumption of mineral water, whichever brand it is! Also, be prepared for house-arrest if any of you out there plan to give it a shot.

Rupa Frontline Vest
A vest can take you ahead of a minister (even on the road)? Seriously? Need I say more?

Snickers
This commercial alleges that hunger causes heroine-like tantrums in humans which can be subdued by consumption of a particular chocolate bar. While researchers are busy finding scientific evidence for the theory, you can test it for yourself through a day long hunger strike. Do grab a ‘Snickers’ after it!

Dove
In a country struggling with issues of hunger and poverty and animal rights activists pleading for Veganism, why should someone waste milk for bathing?

MDH Masale
After Canada, US and the Gulf countries, MDH masale has made it to our list as well, purely due to the bad animation.

Honda Mobilio
The car may be good but the ultra-cool family in this ad is enough to make the sales go in losses.

Sign languages are considered means to communicate with people devoid of the ability to hear (the deaf) or by those who can hear but are unable to speak (the dumb). A sign language makes use of visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning by simultaneously combining hand shapes, facial expressions, orientation and movement of hands, arms, or body to express the speaker’s thoughts. Each country generally has its own sign language or languages, which might share similarities with another country.

In India, 63 million people suffer from significant auditory loss. Delhi University, as part of a project of Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC), has trained over 2000 police personnel in an attempt to sensitise them about the problems faced by the deaf in communicating with the police. The effort now extends towards training nursing staff in hospitals across Delhi in the use of Indian Sign Language (ISL) to aid communication between the hearing-impaired patients and the staff.

On 26 September, CIC observed “Deaf Day” by holding an interactive workshop “Hear to Heal: Learning to Speak With The Deaf” in which Dr. Satbir Silas Bedi, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Social Welfare was the chief guest.

[caption id="attachment_28193" align="aligncenter" width="829"]Hospital staff being trained to help deaf and dumb Hospital staff being trained to help deaf and dumb[/caption]

Dr. Hina Nandrajog, Associate Professor at Vivekananda College, along with six students of Delhi University from B.A. Hons. (Humanities & Social Sciences) has been working on the project since August 2014. Dr. Nandrajog has also worked at CIC on deputation.

Training sessions have been conducted for the nursing staff in collaboration with the National Association of Deaf, Noida Deaf Society, Abled&Heard and SPARSH. The sessions have been conducted in Hindu Rao and Kasturba hospitals. AIIMS and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital are the probable venues for the next session. The next phase of the project has been already sketched and will be conducted by a different team.

“Youth has the power to transform the society. Therefore we are getting in touch with college students who can in turn find diverse, innovative ways to create awareness about ISL and the need for its popularisation”, Dr. Hina told DU Beat.

Ishani Rajkhowa [email protected]

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