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Shivani Dadhwal

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This festival season, opt for outfits that do not compromise your comfort for style. 

From Durga Pujo to Diwali, October remains a month of celebration, of sweets, of lights and beautifully dressed people. From the bold sarees and big bindis to ghagra-choli and stilettoes, it is the month where everyone goes all-out to show their best fashion game.

However, when you are visiting your fifth relative of the night, and have to laugh through the pain of your tightly tied lehenga, you cannot help but wish that you were at home, in your comfiest pair of pyjamas instead.

Since fashion gets a little overbearing and tiring in the season, here are a few tips for you to look your best with comfort:

Lighter Fabrics 

Opt for lighter fabrics like chiffon, linen and cotton-silk, instead of your usual heavier silks. Kurtis and sarees in linen and chiffon are the epitome of being breezy with style. Lehengas and kurtis paired with statement accessories and a catchy hairdo make your outfit different and your day a lot better.

Drop thrints instead of embellishments 

Look for clothes that are heavy in print instead of one with embellishments, such as sequins or embroidery. this not only makes your outfit softer to wear but also makes it eye catching. You can choose from prints such as kalamkari, batik, indigo and ikat. Batik sarees and skirts, indigo kurtis with palazzos, kalamkari kurtas with churidars and ikat shirts are some of the most popular outfit choices. The best way to style them is to let your print stand out on their own.

Go wild with accessories

Choose outfits that are simpler on clothes and heavier on accessories. You can pair plain white or coloured kurtis with big earrings, or a simple saree with a statement necklace. Nose rings have also become a popular accessory these says as hey can help enhance your face. Whatever you choose, let your accessories become the highlight of the outfit.

Drop the chunni

This Diwali, style your salwar kurtas and lehenga cholis without the dupattas and let your hand be free for that extra gol gappa or diya. In most cases, dupatta becomes a burden to carry and does not adsd alot to ones outfit. Outfits sans chunnis has become a a popular choice esp among the younger crowd.

So this October, bring out your festive spirit in outfits that don’t make you lose out on your comfort. Experiment with your looks, enjoy your celebrations in a better oood and let your body and feet thank you later.

Featured Image Credits: Maumil Mehraj

Satviki Sanjay 

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This petition had been filed against the order, on 11th July, by a single judge dismissing the plea of the professors, challenging inclusion of Supreme Council members in the admission process.

The bench consisting of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued a notice to the Delhi University (DU), St Stephen’s College, its Supreme Council, its Principal and the University Grants Commission seeking their stand by 16th October. This comes after three professors filed a complaint against the inclusion of a member of the Supreme Council in the matters of selection of Christian students.

The Supreme Council is much more powerful than the governing body. It comprises of the clergy and members of Church of North India and also includes its nominees.

The petitioners — N P Ashley, Abhishek Singh and Nandita Narain — who are members of the college’s governing body were opposed to the alleged “interference” of the church in the admission process, claiming it was against the norms of the institute.

Including the Supreme Council would make the decisions of the governing body invalid, as it hold greater power and including its member into the selection committee could mean an unfair analysis of students who are selected. Merit would end up becoming secondary and faculty would have very limited say in the admission process.

The college that takes up its students through a rigorous entrance and interview engages in the same to filter out the most deserving candidates for the seat. This would not be possible if a Supreme Council member becomes a part as it would directly affect this process of selection.

According to their petition before the single judge, the Supreme Council, in a meeting held on 12th March, had decided to have an additional Christian member, nominated by it or the governing body, to be part of the interview panel.

(Extracts from Hindustan Times)

 

Featured Image Credits: Shawn Wilson

By Stephen Mathew

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School of Open Learning plans to have new centres after several students complaint about distance and accommodation facilities.

University of Delhi’s School of Open Learning (SOL) has decided to open a new building in Tahirpur, East Delhi. The tentative structure would be a seven storey long building on a 2,100 square metre land at Dilshad Garden. The varsity is also planning to open two other centres in Rohini and Uttam Nagar, to cater students from North West and West Delhi. Around 20,000 students from the area adjoining  Loni in Tahirpur, Rohini and Uttam Nagar are  enrolled for different courses at SOL.

A new examination branch will also be built to avoid delays in conduction of exams and declaration of results. This decision came after first year students protested against the implementation of Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) in SOL after it got approval from Executive Council. The students complained that the current Centre in North Campus did not have enough space to accommodate students who came for the Personal Contact Programme, which endeavoured to equip students with the required infrastructure.

Ramesh Bharadwaj, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), informed the Times of India that SOL will streamline the system. The college has available land in Tahirpur area and it will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Central Public Works departments (CPWD) to erect a seven storey building. He advocated for the implementation of CBCS in SOL as the institute was not recognized by Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Open and Distance Learning for it used to follow the Three Year Undergraduate Programme system that has been revoked from almost all the colleges of Delhi University.

Moreover, he added, “More than 90% study materials have been published and we are inviting students daily in batches of 3,000 to collect it. We have already provided soft copies since 25th August, a week before classes started on 1st September.”

The University Grant Commission launched the CBCS system in 2016 for Delhi University but SOL adhered to the old Three Year Undergraduate Programme till August 2018 when it along with NCWEB switched to CBCS to pace up with other colleges of varsity.

Prior to this, SOL had only 20 classes in a year but now the institute can easily hold 17-20 classes, per semester at 42 centers.

 

Featured Image Credits: India Today

Priyanshu

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ABVP protests against fraud and nepotism in the admission process of a Ph.D./M.Phil. student and violation of UGC regulations by the Department of Political Science of the University of Delhi (DU).

Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) volunteers gathered at the Faculty of Arts and marched to the Department of Political Science on 18th October, 2019, for the second day of their protest against the administration of Political Science Department for the ongoing corruption, nepotism and violation of University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines in the admission process.

The Department of Political Science has allegedly conducted its Ph.D./ M.Phil. admissions without adherence to UGC regulations and University of Delhi statutes, resulting in favouritism and negligence of merit. ABVP has been protesting since the 17th October, 2019 against the fraud in the admission process in the Ph.D. of this Department, violation of rules and regulations of University Grant Commission, and favouritism in the admission process. According to the Press Release issued by ABVP, a group of Professors, who are ideologically intolerant of liberal ideas, they are denying admission to the meritorious students.

This protest has come after discrepancies in the 2019 admissions. Apparently, on 7th October, the list of the selected candidates was published. However, after two hours, it was removed and a new list was published. The only difference, it no longer had the name of a girl belonging to the Scheduled Castes category. The administration of the Department has not given the reasons for the removal of the name yet. Moreover, only 13 seats out of the 18 available seats were opened for admission.

Ashutosh Singh, State Media In-charge for ABVP, said to DU Beat, “We came to know through the students that the professors tend to give preference to their favourite students in the viva for the entrance exam, neglecting the ones who are also deserving. Last year it came to our notice that even the top ranking students of the entrance exam were not able to get admission after the viva. How is it possible for the top rankers to completely fail in viva?”

ABVP has asked the administration of Political Science Department seven questions regarding the inconsistencies in the admission process and has given the administration an ultimatum to answer their queries by Monday. ABVP claims to also have written letters to the Dean of Political Science Department, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi and Vice President of India for this purpose. Apart from this, the ABVP volunteers have also placed the following demands:

  1. Make admission process to M.Phil./Ph.D. fair and transparent.
  2. The admission process must be centralized and time-bound.
  3. Admission must be conducted in adherence to UGC regulations and the University of Delhi statutes.
  4. All the seats offered by DU prospectus for Ph.D. intake should be fulfilled at the earliest by all the Departments.
  5. The number of seats for the research must be increased.
  6. Social Justice must be implemented in all its constitutional and legal dimensions.
  7. The UGC prescribed 70:30 ratio of written exam to viva-voce must be implemented with all its transparency.
  8. The examination process must be student-friendly and the bureaucratic red-tapism must be curbed.
  9. Steps must be taken to curtail the influence of Teachers’ politics on the admission process.
  10. Address the grievances of those students who have been denied admission on fraudulent grounds.

Siddharth Yadav, State Secretary, ABVP Delhi, said in the Press Release, “Administration of Political Science Department should not think that yesterday we were here only for a symbolic protest, we will continue our protest till the student interests are not secured. Our protest will turn into a revolution if the administration will not listen to our demands.”

 

Featured Image Credits: University of Delhi 

Satviki Sanjay

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The status of Eminence raises apprehensions towards the future and functioning of Delhi University (DU) under the threats of disintegration, privatization and excessive surveillance.

Just a month after the University of Delhi (DU) along with four other institutes, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, Banaras Hindi University and Hyderabad University, was granted the status of Institute of Eminence (IoE) with the objective of achieving the stature of world class institute. The next step in ensuring this initiative was the signing of the trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the University of Delhi, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry of Human Resource & Development (MHRD), which was duly completed the previous day.

But this further aggravates the skepticism regarding the University getting under the purview of an irrevocable authorization which substantially raises concerns of disintegration, excessive surveillance and privatization of the University, in the name of ‘Autonomy’, ‘Eminence’ and ‘Increased Government Amenities’ in this status provided.

Further the implementation of the Draft New Education Policy (DNEP) timeline of 2020 in October 2019 itself by the University is concerning in itself, the timeline which has to do with the abolition of statutory bodies like Executive Council, Academic Council and Departmental Council / College Staff Council by the constitution of all powerful Board of Governors (BOGs).

This BOGs will also be unaccountable to the Academic Council or Executive Council and hence, will come directly under the Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (RSA). To add on to this, the elected component will be terminated and will be replaced by nominated members from stakeholders, abroad the University with the provision of weeding out inconvenient element periodically.

The One Thousand Crore Rupees grant, which is to be sanctioned over a  period of ten years from the Central government comes at an expense of new jurisdictions under the BOGs and their matters which will also  be devoid of any critical scrutiny of Executive Council (EC), Academic Council (AC) and Finance Committee (FC). Interestingly, the IITs which are receiving grants under this scheme have till now received only Rs 48 crores in the last two years out of the total Rs 1000 crores sanctioned.

The crisis does not ends here, the creation of such a system under the status of Eminence, has severe repercussions for academia and academics as well. Apart from the BOG and RSA surveillance which will be left on its own terms of grants and maintenance very soon, this status will confine the parallel structure for DU when it is ought to receive the entire limelight and government patronage and expected reverse adulation.

The system will even make the institution appear as a worthless vestigial organ from which the government can turn its face anytime for its inevitable signing up MoUs with backed up private institutions to sustain itself. This autonomous parallel structure of Eminence will also legitimize the infiltration of faculties from outside the DU, by relegating the existing academics and professoriate to back benches or a second and third class citizenship in terms of employment and salary structure, as this all falls under the power of BOGs.

The BOGs will also have the power to decide differential salaries and individual compensation for its faculty within the same rank and scale, thereby cultivating an atmosphere of hegemony and prejudice. The variable pay structure and the non-accountability of the Board of Governors to Academic Council and Executive Council will turn this institution into a tyranny, with the Centre laden with the power.

Undoubtedly, the status of eminence can act as an instrument of decadence for the country’s prime public university, erasing the gap between the corporate funded educational institutions and government institutions that bear the charge of promotion of the marginalized communities.

It is even more disheartening to see that after hundred years of hard work, efforts and the ever growing prominence round the world, the status of Eminence rather than a helping tool of promotion & growth, is used to hinder the University’s growth, when the upliftment of young minds should be the government’s priority. It becomes really essential for the present authorities to stress on this matter and look for the most judicious alternative that suits the university, its students and faculty and administration themselves.

 

Featured Image Credits: DU Beat

Faizan Salik

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