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Shaily Sharma

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The increasing role of social networking sites in the lives of college students can’t be undermined. It is of utmost importance to remember that the content on the social media can profile other’s opinion and perception of you. Don’t assume that an employer will only be checking you out on LinkedIn. Potential employers keep track of your online persona, be it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+.

Social media sites become a key factor in the job search process by allowing the employers to get a peep of who the candidate is outside the boundaries of a resume or a cover letter. Even the employers provide crucial information about the companies that a job seeker should be aware of, the opportunity to connect with the other employees of the company. Also, one gets to know about the job openings right away from the profiles of these companies.

Half of all job seekers are active on social media sites on a daily basis, and more than a third of all employers make use of these sites in their hiring process. If you’re among the 89% of job seekers that use social networking sites, you’ll obviously want to be updated.

The optimistic part is that the hiring professionals are not just vetting your profiles online to find out the negative in you but they also look around for information that could give you a lead over others. Disappearing from the social networking sites by deleting all your accounts or setting extreme privacy settings may create an image that you have something to veil. Your profiles should give an precise depiction of who you are.

Deactivate your accounts from the sites that are not used frequently and are no longer useful

Ever so often, the employers choose to hire because the candidate’s profile conveys a professional image or the employer sees a positive attitude in the candidate’s personality depicted by his profile. Also, other people posting great references about the candidate help in making a positive image. While, some of the reasons why the employer decided not to offer the job may be because the candidate bad mouthed previous employers, lied about his /her qualifications or the profile showed poor communication skills.
Consider what social networking sites you use regularly and are necessary indeed! All I want to say is that you should create an affirmative and professional online presence by modifying your accounts on the social networking sites.

IIT Kanpur wrapped up this year’s edition of Antaragni, the college’s annual cultural fest, on Sunday with many star performances and grilling competitions. The fest had something for everybody what with Agnee performing live at Coke Studio, Sunburn Campus with Dualist Inquiry and Lost Stories for EDM lovers and the duo Vishal and Shekhar performing on the last night of the fest!

 

Apart from the performances, the competitions too, saw colleges from across the country putting their best foot forward in every field from street plays to photography! Given the rich talent in Delhi University, it came as no surprise that colleges and societies from DU emerged as winners. Here’s the comprehensive winner’s tally:

Dramatics

I. Nukkad Natak

1. Gargi College
2. Punjab Engineering College
3. Jesus and Mary College

II. Stage play

1. Hindu College
2. Shaheed Bhagat Singh College
3. Indraprastha College for Women

Fine Arts

Quilling:
1.Kamal Deep & Gurvir Singh : G.Z.S. PTO Campus,Bhatinda
2.Tanmay Maji & Shamik Ghosh : IIT Kanpur
3. Karan Dhawan & Avinash Bhagat : BITS Mesra

Consolation:

Kunal Singh & Vishal Puri: Shaheed Bhagat Singh College
Kritika & Aneesha : Indraprastha College for Women

Dance

I. Jitterbug

1. Indraprastha College for Women – enacted Oye lucky lucky oye
2. Jesus and Mary College – enacted Heyy baby
3.IIT Kanpur- enacted Besharam

II. Lavolta

1. Kritika Ahuja and Ananya Priyadarshni (Ramjas College)
and Roshan Singh and Yuki Bhatnagar (ARSD College)
3. Kritika Uppal and Rhea mahajan (Gargi College)

Judges- Paritosh Parmar, Vikalp Dwivedi, Himanshu Kataria

III. Hero Live Off the Edge Perfromer Award– Kritika Ahuja (Ramjas College), Harshit Khaitan (IIT Kanpur), Yukti Bhatnagar (ARSD College)

IV. Choreo Nite Winners– Kirori Mal College

Music

I. SANGAM:

1. Kirorimal College
2. Lady Shri Ram College
3. Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies

II. SYMPHONY:

1. B. Manohar (Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies)
2. Kartikeya Vashist (Kirorimal College)
3. Shubham Sarkar (Hindu College)

III. PAIR ON STAGE:

1. Shankar Rawlley (Shaheed Bhagat Singh Evening College)
Vishal Patil (Shaheed Bhagat Singh Evening College)
2. Kartikeya Vashist (Kirori Mal College)
Shymak Lamba (Khalsa College)
3. Namrata Natarajan (Hindu College)
Asif Khan (Hindu College)

Photography

I. Impetus

1)Maulik Sharma (Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies)
2)Achal Mishra (Kirori Mal College)
3)Ayush Yadav (Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies)

II. Ritambhara

1) NIFT Delhi
2) Lady Irwin College

English Literary Events

I. Just A Minute

1- Adhiraj Arora(IIT Kanpur)
2- Massand Sagar Sunil(IIT Kanpur)
3-Chandra Gupta(IIM Indore)

II. Word Games

1-Govind Gopakumar(IIT Kanpur)
2-Anurag Sahay(IIT Kanpur)
3-Vaidehi Menon(IIT Kanpur)

III. DumbC

1-Anurag Sahay(IIT Kanpur)
2-Sarthak Chandra(IIT Kanpur)
3-Siddharth Vishwanath(IIT Kanpur)

Hindi Literary Events

I. Kirdar

1) Vishal (IIT Kanpur)
and Aditya Raj Somani (IIT Kanpur)
3) Archana (Gargi College)

II. Pratya

1) Aditya Raj Somani (IIT Kanpur)
2) Khujur (Gargi College)
3) Ravi Meena (IIT Kanpur)

III. Aamne Saamne

1) Rahul+Nishant
2) Aditya

IV. Synchronicity

1) Red Shots-Ramjas College
2) Serenade
3) Elemental… call

 

Featured image credits: Antaragni’s official Facebook page

Beginning his aesthetic and creative journey in the competitive world of theatre and drama, Vishesh Arora, Director of The CurtainCall Productions, started with Hindi theatre in the winters of 2008. An alumnus of Ramjas College, Delhi University, Vishesh, with a vision and planning of creative upliftment, designed a label of trust and appeal under his own banner. The CurtainCall Productions that was founded in November 2011, started with the execution of various theatre workshops for the children of marginalized section on purely pro-bono basis.

In the last one year, CurtainCall Productions has transformed from a family of zealous youngsters into a true and faithful platform for events, stand-up comedy shows and most importantly, stage productions. Mr. Arora, while venturing into direction consequently produced successful productions like Candida (2013), Dasmukha(2014),Plaza Suite(2014), California Suite(2014) and many more, which saw massive participation of actors from the Delhi theatre circuit as well as from the audience and also respectable coverage in all the national dailies on a regular basis.

[caption id="attachment_26621" align="aligncenter" width="960"]The CurtainCall Productions during one of their performances in Delhi The CurtainCall Productions during one of their performances in Delhi[/caption]

While this all was successfully amusing the world in length, Vishesh Arora multiplied and expanded to a new and colorful genre of entertainment with musical and comedy shows. To mention a little of it “Aisi Taisi Democracy”, a new kind of standup comedy show featured ace Indian Ocean musician, Rahul Ram and popular lyricist of Bollywood, Varun Grover who has given hits like Gangs of Wasseypur and recently Aankho Dekhi.

Apart from it, standup comedy shows like “Professional Locha” and “Quickie Jar” saw a humungous response from the audience. In addition to that, Vishesh Arora has successfully organized, managed and contributed to acting workshops for theatre and camera in association with Oxford Book Store, Imatter Institute and many other venues in Delhi & NCR, which again received a huge response from aspiring actors and acting enthusiasts.

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The Sports Union of Gargi College organized Gargi Olympiad 2014-15 with the theme as ‘Olympics’ from 21st August to 17th September. The Olympiad included a total of 10 inter stream sports competitions held at the sports ground everyday from 12.25 to 1:25pm.

Gargi Olympiad is an annually organized sports league. Till last year, the Olympiad consisted of major sports competitions like Football, Basketball and many more but this year the Olympiad had events like Pithugram, Vigoro, Dodge Ball, Frisbee, Langadi, Chase-her, Sports-Quiz, Rangoli and Collage Making and Athletics. Opponent teams were selected by drawing chits and each round of the games was for an average of 15mins.

Riya Sinha, Vice-President of Sports Union said “Registrations for all events were invited before hand and the competitions saw huge response from the students, both in terms of participation and volunteering. Our main motive behind orgainising such an event was to give the ‘General’ students chance to bring out their talent and give them the experience of what we have being in the sports teams of the College”.

 

Image credits: Shaily Sharma

In the present world, changes are inevitable, some of which are conventional while others are dreadful and unacceptable. In a corresponding way, the relationship between students and teachers has changed to a great extent when compared to guru-shishya relationship of the olden days.

In this day and age, the approach towards gaining knowledge and information takes different paths altogether, when compared to the yesteryears. Students, now have access to all the requisite information at the click of a button. When we want to clear our doubts, a Google search is all we need. Students often crosscheck and confirm what a teacher speaks in the class from the information available on the internet, which may, at times, lead them to suppose that the teachers are not-so-required. The place of a teacher is replaced by Google, in the minds of the students, and this motorized system has substituted human conduct.

However, changes have taken place, but I suppose that a lot of them are constructive ones. We have moved on to a more rational and curious atmosphere from an utter and tight-lipped approach. Today’s generation greets teachers with a ‘Hi’ instead of greeting them with a ‘Good morning’. The student-teacher relationship is not characterized by compliance and acceptance, but by questioning and scrutiny, acceptance may or may not follow depending upon the student’s analysis.

The prevailing situation has more teachers who have money-making and impersonal approaches and for whom teaching isn’t a vocation but a means of livelihood. There is a need of more teachers who join the profession by preference rather than by unconcern. To understand and come to terms with each other’s expectations is what this relationship should be all about. It is about having a very comprehensive rapport.

The inculcation of values that are considered as ancient, in the whole system, is necessary. On the other hand, no one can fail to notice the undying job of a teacher as a counsellor and guide in transporting and familiarizing information to a student. The restoration of the guru-shishya traditional relationship, with a contemporary tinge, is the need of the hour.

Image source: www.examiner.com

Shaily Sharma
[email protected]

Team Defianz Racing, a formula student team of Delhi Technological University (DTU) , fresh from their successful return from IMechE Formula Student event at Silverstone Circuit UK, is rearing to go for the inaugural FS India at Kari Motor Speedway, Chettipalayam.

Formula Student or FSAE is the biggest engineering competition in the world at the undergraduate and graduate level with partners such as Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team, Shell and Jaguar Land Rover. In a country where engineering academic programs do not offer nearly enough practical experience to students, a student team which designs, builds, tests, and races a small-scale formula style racing car at an international competition with teams from over 38 countries, is a breath of fresh air.

After an impressive showing at the UK event, the team is looking forward to the next competition which is FS India while simultaneously planning ahead for the next UK event too.

The team presently comprises 13 students from Mechanical and Automotive Engineering disciplines, who work tirelessly, often over 10 hours a day to make the project a success. The project is funded partly by the University and the sponsors.

DR14, the car made by the team for 2014 has a Power to weight ratio of 240bhp/tonne, 4 cylinder 600cc honda cbr600f4i engine, 0-100 in less than 5.0 seconds which compares to supercars such as an Audi R8. Various adjustable suspension settings (camber, toe, steering ackermann), engine (mapping) and vehicle (brake bias, pedal carriage, etc). Stringent safety measures include front attenuator, side crash protection inbuilt to the mild-steel tubular frame, a rapid prototyped engine air intake tuned and heavily CFD tested.

Madhur, a senior member of the team says, “Most of us, in our team are crazy about automobiles, they are already in our nerves. Ours is one of the oldest teams in India and we are hoping to be among the top two or three positions in FS India.”

University Gigs with the tagline ‘Gig unto eternity’ is a theatre group based out of students from various colleges across Delhi who wish to perform arts on stages.

Akhil and Pallav met in January 2014 for a stage play to be held in February. They were given subsidiary roles for that play, were unsatisfied and realized they could do a lot better if they come along and that is how this idea came into being. Akhil Vishnu Nair, Pallav Kumar and Arpan Molri formed a group, bringing together nine Rookie Thespians from colleges across Delhi including College of Vocational Studies, Gargi College and Shri Venkateswara College. This group started off their journey on the 20th of March 2014.

They intent to blur the existing demarcation of college, bring the aspirants under one umbrella and give them the exposure to outcast their talent. ‘University’ in the name is representative of Delhi University, the common connect for the members and ‘Gigs’is reflective of their attitude towards artists and their renditions, combining the two, they came out with their identity as University Gigs.

When asked about where they got inspiration from, Pallav, one of the Co-founders said, “I was really bored while I was doing my masters and out of boredom, I decided to do something creative. We starting working on the script, started looking for members and sponsors (which are hard to find, when you are a start-up). For the first play to come we have invested our own money because honestly, making profit is not our motive, it’s all out of our love for theatre.”

With their first production- Perfect Wedding (An indianised adaptation of Robin Hawdon’s Perfect Wedding) directed by Pallav and Akhil, coming out on Saturday, 9th of August, they wish to bring out many more art forms like dance, film making, stand up acts and street plays in future.

We wish them good luck in all their future endeavors!

 Image Credits: www.getyourlogo.in

On July 21, the Delhi University (DU) colleges were sent instructions by the University Grants Commission (UGC) asking them to‘re-engage’ the ad hoc teachers on the first day of the new academic session who fulfilled the conditions laid by the commission.

“The transition from the FYUP to three year course has disappointed us a lot. We are not happy of the fact that we have become jobless. The university should progress in such a way that the cushion of ad hoc remains unaffected” said a professor appointed on ad hoc basis.

On an average over 4,500 teachers are employed on ad hoc basis by the university and with the scrapping of Four Year Undergraduate Program (FYUP), not only students but also these ad hoc teachers are suffering due to lack of vacancies. The letter sent to the principals of colleges asks them to ‘re-engage those ad hoc teachers on the opening day of the academic session who fulfill the conditions laid down by the UGC and who were in place till the last working day of the previous academic session’.

Nandita Narain, President of Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) says that on the whole, the workload has been stabilized with the scrapping off of FYUP. Ad hoc teachers are in a way happy because they now know that they’ll be teaching valuable subjects. “Although a total of 50 complaints have been received by DUTA regarding the displacement of ad hoc teachers and have been forwarded to UGC. University will soon come out with a notice for introduction of Environmental Studies as a subject to retain the ad hoc teachers”, Nandita Narain added.

th and 12th  of June. The inaugural ceremony started at 10 am on June 11 with Dr. C.P. Thakur, National Vice- President (Bhartiya Janata Party) and M.P (Rajya Sabha) and Ch. Krishan Pal Gujjar, Minister of State (Transport, Govt. of India) as the Chief Guests for the event. The Job Fair was largely seen as an important initiative taken up by the University. “It is a perfect step towards change”, said Dr. Thakur.  Krishan Pal assured that any help in the future regarding such an initiative will be provided by the government if the university somehow fails to do the same. After the inauguration, students headed up to the various stalls allotted to the companies for submitting applications and registration. A total of 42 companies including Times Pro, NIIT IFBI, HT Media, Whirlpool, Convergys, CITI Bank came for recruitment, with around 15000 registrations for placements. The average salary offered was 1.5 Lakhs to 1.6 Lakhs per annum and the highest being 4.6 Lakhs per annum. 460 students got placed and over 13000 students got internships with various companies. The various job positions offered by the companies were in sales, customer care execution, management, content writing, finance, banking and teaching. The closing ceremony on 2nd June saw Meenakshi Lekhi, MP (Lok Sabha) and Spokesperson (BJP) and Chaitanya Mahajan, Yuva Morcha. Utkarsh Chaudhary, DUSU Vice-President said “So far, the university has been taking decisions that are against the students, but now against this dictatorship, it has done something very significant for the students”.]]>

On Wednesday, 21st May, 2014, the University Grant Commission (UGC) sent letters to many colleges and departments of Delhi University, asking not to appoint ad hoc teachers since the salary of these teachers is not pertinent according to the commission’s guidelines.

As per the letter, the vacant posts those are presently filled by the ad hoc teachers should be allotted to contract or substitute teachers and these appointed teachers will be given full salary except allowances, gratuity and increment. Guest or part time teachers may be appointed against the posts falling vacant due to retirement, death or resignation. There is an approximate of 5000 ad hoc teachers appointed in the university who are being affected by this change.

“All ad hoc teachers arein state of panic and this process that UGC is asking for is completely illegal. According to the UGC, the ad hoc teachers will get full salary except the allowances which almost halves their salary. This is very disadvantageous” says Nandita Narain, President of DUTA. Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) had asked for the withdrawal of the letter and a clarification to be issued respectively. The executive committee of DUTA also called emergency meetings on 22nd and 23rd of May to delve into the matter in detail.

“We want to know the grounds on which UGC has sent these letters to the colleges because there is no transparency. There is huge contradiction between what UGC says and what is being done by university. We have written to UGC, the university and various colleges. UGC is ready to give the clarification in written form, most probably on Tuesday, 27th of May,” she added.