The official voice of the students, the DUSU (Delhi University Students’ Union), appears to be a house divided on the issue of the semester system. This emerged after the Delhi High Court had decided that the students’ union needed to be asked for its opinion on the contentious issue.
The Delhi High Court had on July 27 2010 asked both DU and DUTA (Delhi University Teachers’ Association) to consult DUSU and had also asked the two to not “play with the life of the students”.
In response, DUSU president Manoj Choudhary stated that he supported the implementation of the semester system and that he was also concerned about teachers who had refused to take classes over the issue.
The other three office bearers, Kirti Wadhera, Arshdeep Kaur and Anupriya Tyagi, expressed sentiments just the opposite, in a letter asking for a debate on the issue, to the Vice Chancellor. The letter states that they find it “unfortunate that students have not been called for any serious academic discussion” and that the proposed changes do not provide the time and space for extra-curricular activities. The letter also states their objection to the absence of students in the academic council.
With the office-bearers of DUSU airing such glaring contradictions, the question arises if their views will be taken seriously or will the differences result in the students’ opinion being sidelined.
DU Beat gets you the first impressions of some fachchas from Delhi University.
Step one – Look Straight, Step two – Walk straight, Strep Three – Be confident. Step four – Forget it all and simply enjoy the experience.
Despite my apprehensions, we were not ragged. As boring as it may sound, it was a better way to have ourselves introduced to an entirely new world.
Within few days the misinterpretations and hesitations of an all girls’ college have been dumped out of my mind. Where I thought I’ll witness a world taking care of what they need to wear, all that I’ve seen in the genesis is a world which believes in being themselves. I dare deny that I don’t have inhibitions since I have come across exceptional talent in the very beginning, yet I have also come across highly encouraging teachers who appreciate learning and suggestions.
As for the butterflies in the tummy are concerned, I am already craving the infamous Kathi Rolls served in our Café’.
Vanshika Singh
BA (Hons) English
LSR
‘College is a new beginning, a fresh start, back to zero’.
Agreed.
Though I expected my first day of college to be vastly different from school, I’m glad that I can say that in its essence- it wasn’t. Coming from DPS Mathura Road, I have spent years being fiercely independent and gaining appreciation for the same. I still maintain that it is the hardest school to survive in, one which prepares its students for everything. At LSR, I saw that what the institution expects out of its girls is that they have the courage to change into women. That courage lies within me because of my school but I trust my college life to probe it out and teach me how it is to be used. A short day, but power packed- the twenty first of July 2010 was one day that I know I will remember for years to come. But what the spirit of LSR has really inspired me to do is look back after three years and see how far I’ve come. Because right now, life has just begun.
Shirin Rai Gupta
BA (Hons) English
LSR
Assembly (yes, Assembly, just like school, except without the uniforms) was at 9.05AM precisely and I skidded into the hall four minutes to it. The lights went out just as it started, so I don’t remember much besides gasping for breath and fanning myself with my phone cover. The professor for our first class didn’t show up, so after 20 minutes of waiting for him, a few of us dared to venture out of the building and into the cafe (with an accent, but my keyboard doesn’t allow that. Sorry SSC), where the seniors were. As it turns out, having family in the same college means nothing- she turned me over to the third years as soon as she saw me.
After the last class, a bunch of us History and Philosophy students hung around Kamla Nagar for a while- because as we’ve been told, ‘first years always think they own the place when they get into North Campus’. We were just living up to our reputation. Also, we were hungry. My first day, that.
Esther Anne Victoria Moraes
B.A. (Hons) History
St. Stephens
DU, especially CBS, was always a dream but the clack hole in this big dream of mine was the fear of ragging. My first day at college was all but what I had dreaded it to be. Amicable seniors, concerned teachers and festivity welcomed me. New, unknown faces dressed in their best, stared right into my eyes saying, “Hi, I am XYZ.” Life seemed brand new after 14 years of school. And I thought, “This should be good.”
I am glad where I am today. Because it is showing signs of being absolutely brilliant.
Shubhda Hirawat
BBS
SS College of Business Studies
1. DU revamps website
For those who’ve been DU students for a while would know the drastic change brought about in the revamped and improvised website of DU. The students joining university for this year are warmly welcomed by a new and fresh look of the Delhi University website- www.du.ac.in. Till the last academic year, students had to visit separate websites for North and South campus to check their results and for university details, however from now all details are available on the same website.
2. DU introduces course on Research Competency
Institute of Lifelong Learning & Delhi University Library System introduces short term course on “Information Literacy for Research Competency” (ILRC). The students of the University of Delhi fulfilling the eligibility criteria mentioned in the official website of DU may apply for the short term course on ILRC. The application details are also available. The course aims to impart information literacy skills among the participants making them information literate. A certificate will be awarded to the participants on successful completion of the course.
3. Campus Bus Service
A feeder bus service has been started in the North Campus, charging Rs. 5 only. The buses will ply from Monday to Saturday betweek 08:00 am to 06:00 pm with a frequency of 10 minutes every bus. There are 3 main routes: Ramjas- Khalsa College, St. Stephens’- DSW, FMS- Hansraj College.
4. Perfect Gift to DU
A new swanky Delhi University Stadium, a Commonwealth Games venue for rugby, was inaugurated on Thursday by Sports Minister MS Gill, who described it as a ‘gift’ to Delhi University. It took almost 2 years to build.
A few controversies, dozens of protests and several meetings later Delhi University has implemented 12 semester-based Under Graduate courses for Science from the academic year 2010-2011.
The initial sign of change was a letter sent from University Grants Commission (UGC) suggesting academic reforms in early 2008. A subsequent proposal to introduce a semester system was sent to faculty of DU by the Vice Chancellor. Blueprint of implementation and syllabi was finalised on May 13, 2010 and conveyed to principals of all colleges by May 25. The inspiration of this development came from successful models of higher education in America and Europe.
Courses of Science like Physics, Chemistry, Statistics, Botany, Zoology, Anthropology, Geology, Bio-Chemistry, Microbiology, Anthropology, Bio-Medical Science, Nursing, Electronics, B.Sc Programme of Life Sciences and Physical Sciences will commence the bi-annual examinations with 24 papers in total, four every semester. The syllabus previously included 60 hours of lectures per subject per semester, but after much discord, it was reduced to 48 plus 12 hours of tutorials.
The new academic schedule has a 16-week long semester with mid-break from 4th to 15th October, 2010. However, preparation period and conducting examinations has been significantly reduced to 20 days starting from 20th November till 10th December. The second semester will begin from 3rd Jan, 2011 and go on uninterrupted till 16th April.
Meanwhile, sources in administration confirm that preparation of syllabus regarding semester system for the Commerce Department is in its finishing stages. This will be approved by the Academic Council. Future students of B.Com, academic session 2011-12 can expect a semester based course. As for Social Science, nothing can be ascertained as the faculty has strongly been opposing it. They question the practicality of reforms unless proper infrastructure is in place with appropriate efficiency.
Devansh Dwivedi studying Computer Science (which runs on semester system) feels keeping aside the factor of preparation, the course is quite manageable. “We have sufficient time on our hands in comparison to the students in the annual mode who cram last minute and pass even when they have a reasonably longer prep period. The syllabus is well structured for semesters and papers are well divided, even though the course is quite intensive”, he says.
Institutions such as IIT and JNU have been successfully operating on semester system while Bombay University has experimented with it in post-graduate courses.
The first week of recruitment at Central Placement Cell is completed with 371 students receiving final offers. A total of 6200 students from Delhi University have appeared for recruitment interviews so far. Genpact has made final recruitment offers to 131 students, Tech Mahindra to 68 students and HDFC Standard Life to 84 students. The highest package offered is Rs. 5.8 LPA by Akash Educational Services; 8 students have been short listed for the same. Other processes of companies like NDPL, Capital IQ, ATS, Wipro Technologies and BPO are in the offing. The placement process will resume from 8 Febuary 2010.
The work profiles offered are mostly of BPO, direct insurance or sales development but there is mass recruitment by these companies. Students, especially of colleges who do not have active placement cells, are benefiting immensely. The CPC is headed by Dr. Seema M Parihar, assisted by DU staff and volunteers from colleges such as KMC, CBS, Khalsa and KMV.
Ila Reddy is a 2nd Year, Political Science student at Hindu College, and is also the Project Coordinator of the Right to Information Branch at The YP Foundation. We caught up with her on the eve of the commencement of workshops on the RTI Act in colleges at DU.
1. Does it bother you sometimes that the youth of this county are completely apathetic towards civil and political issues?
I wouldn’t like to generalize the youth like that. There are some who are apathetic, some who are ignorant, some who just like to complain, while a lot of others who care about such issues but don’t know what they can do about them, or even what they want to do.
2. How does the RTI Branch help in creating awareness about the same?
The Right to Information Branch develops young people’s engagement with legislative research, increased awareness on laws in India and their application to our daily lives. Our most recent initiative, the “What Does Your Vote Want?” campaign is a non political, non partisan project both initiated and run by young people in 2008 that aimed at sensitizing young voters and helping them register for voter ID cards. Last year, the project successfully helped register more than 4000 people in Delhi and Raipur. Post elections 2009, the project launched a platform for young people to explore governance accountability and for direct dialogue between the youth and the public sector to discuss their key issues and concerns and clarify their questions regarding governance mechanisms and accountability. We have picked the RTI Act as our focus for the year. The first open forum in this series was held in July in the form of an interactive discussion, where we were joined by Mr. Wajahat Habibullah, Mr. Salman Khurshid, Mr. Shekhar Singh, Ms. Maja Daruwala and other eminent people from the RTI world. Through this discussion, we aimed at generating awareness around how young people can utilize the act, as well as how it can be made more accessible to young people through incorporating the inputs of key stakeholders, experts, and the youth, aiming to promote the concept of active citizenship and accountability amongst young people and the government.
We now plan to do workshops in colleges to further raise awareness amongst students about the Act, while equipping them with the tools to utilize it as a medium of accountability from public authorities. Our workshop series start from the 11th of December at Hindu College, Delhi University, followed by one at Hansraj College on the 14th of December. Four more workshops are lined up at other colleges in January end.
3. Why did you choose the RTI Act as an area to work on?
The Right to Information Act was passed in 2005 and grants citizens the right to ask for and be provided with information about the work of government-run and supported bodies. The essence of the Act was to provide citizens with a tool to combat corruption and ensure transparency in matters of governance.
However, a recent study by Mr. Shekhar Singh, champion of the RTI and part of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, revealed that only 33% of the urban population is aware of the RTI Act, out of which only 2% are students.
The Act is a provision made by the government to encourage transparency as well as people’s participation, but the key to the Act’s success lies in the hands of the people for whom it has been enacted.
We all keep criticizing public authorities for being corrupt and not transparent in their functioning, but seldom use a provision like the RTI to actually find out about the work being done/not done.
It’s a tool provided by the government itself, so why not utilize it to keep check on public authorities, instead of just sitting at home and complaining about them, without really knowing the exact details?
4. Can you throw some light on how a student of DU can use the act to his/her benefit?
Whether you want information about the status of the roads outside your house or the criteria of your internal assessment in college. Whether it’s the allocation of money towards different departments by your local MP/MLA that you want to know about, or merely the status of your passport. You have a right to ask the concerned public authority for necessary information.
Information can be in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law and is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days.
5. You are holding workshops in DU colleges, what are these workshops about? What can one expect in them?
Our workshops would be about the basic provisions under the RTI Act, what issues RTI applications can be filed on, real-life stories of both successes and failures, provision for appeals and complaints, loopholes in its implementation and finally, how to draft an application. This would be done through innovative mediums like facilitative group discussions involving different activities like ‘myths and realities’ and mock-filing of applications.
6. You are a college student. How do you manage with college and The YP, which must take a lot of your time?
It does get taxing at times. Juggling between classes, pending assignments and projects, team trainings, staff meetings, on-ground events and the like. But somewhere down the line I feel its all worth it. I always wanted to DO something but didn’t know what it was. Now that I know what it is, I’m trying to figure out different ways of doing it. There’s so much work involved in running a project like this. Right from training a team of volunteers to failed attempts at fundraising to writing scary partnership proposals. It’s the process that makes it fun and the way you do it. We all work our asses off to make our events work, but we also make sure we’re enjoying whatever it is that we’re doing.
(As told to Rajneil Kamath)
25 years after she was assassinated by her security guards on 31st October 1984, DUB brings to you a special fact file of the life of the daughter of India, the Iron Lady- Indira Gandhi.
19 Nov 1917- Born to Kamala and Jawaharlal Nehru
1941- Returns from Somerville College, Oxford University
1950- Serves her father unofficially as a personal assistant during his tenure as the first Prime Minister of India.
1966 – Becomes Prime Minister after Shahstri’s death for 3 consecutive terms
1971-72 Overwhelming electoral victories
1971- India defeats Pakistan and helps Bangladesh achieve independence.
June, 1975- Indira Gandhi found guilty of illegal practices during the 1971 campaign. She refuses to resign and declares a state of emergency.
1977 – Her faction, New Congress loses the parliamentary elections. She loses her seat.
1980 – Wins the elections, back to power as PM
June 1984 – Orders Operation Blue Star in the golden Temple in response to Sikh separatists
1984- Wins the Lenin Peace Prize Award
31 Oct 1984- Assassinated by Sikh security guards; her death followed by massive riots in and around Delhi
AIESEC is a non-political, not-for-profit, independent and entirely youth-run organization. The 60 year old organization takes pride in being regarded as the international platform which enables young people to explore and develop their leadership potential for them to have a positive impact in society.
The 27th of this month saw people of assorted age groups, colleges and organizations stream into the India Habitat Centre, dressed in formals, to attend the Delhi University’s Youth to Business Forum 2009 organized by AISEC. The event acted as a meeting ground for students and professionals to share ideas and perspectives regarding the role of young leaders in India Inc.
The session commenced with the speech of the Key Note speaker Mr.Salman Khurshid, Honorable Minister for Corporate Affairs. He spoke at length about the scour of the business profession, namely corporate greed, and how greed was causing any number of disasters on this planet, be it depleting natural resources, climate change, receding glaciers or the Economic Recession. He reiterated that in spite of measures to raise awareness society keeps repeating its mistakes, and hence as the youth, the progressive generation of 2010, it falls upon us to make a difference. ‘Every time one thinks of change, one thinks of youth, and globally we are ironically becoming the young nation,’ Mr. Khurshid said. He stressed on the importance of the role played by young people in India and stated that he and the government had high hopes of our young and enthusiastic generation.
This rousing speech was followed by a panel discussion on “Young Leaders of India Inc.” moderated by Mr.Suresh Rajpal, CEO of Visnova Solutions. The panel consisted of Mr. Pradeep Gupta, President of TiE; Mr. Ajay Mehta, CEO of Interactive Television; Mr. Pranay Das, Marketing Professional for Ernst and Young; and Mr Anupam Yog, Founder and Managing Director of Mirabilis Advisory. Mr. Gupta spoke about the three things they expect to see in the youth today: Insight, expectations and responsibility. On the subject of insight, Mr Gupta said that corporate India is always on the lookout for fresh new ideas and innovations because there’s a ‘completely new world out there.’ Mr. Ajay Mehta, tackled the three characteristics that the youth should work on developing, namely the desire to remain ambitious, hungry and foolish, to be driven by one’s passion and to refuse to let others order your life. ‘An entrepreneur’s highs are higher and lows are lower than that of most people,’ he said as he explained that entrepreneurs often meet with failure and must not let the fact daunt them.
The third speaker, Mr Pranay Das presented a slideshow at the outset of his speech, addressing topics such as the Hindu rate of growth, Domestic consumption and Economic overviews. Mr. Das raised some very important questions, one of them being, ‘How short sighted is corporate India?’ According to him it is rather worrying that corporate India never cares to think more than thirty years into the future. Indeed this lack of futuristic insight makes the Indian Corporate Sector rather short sighted and inefficient.
The session was concluded by Mr. R. Sreenivasan, co-founder of Career Launcher, who ended the discussion on a very inspiring note by saying, ‘Pursue what you are passionate about, and be passionate about what you pursue’
If the fizzled out university elections deflated your spirits, the storm filled intra-college politics ought to give you a new high. Lady Shri Ram College, which made the news the last academic year with their email campaigns organizing corridor blocking dharnas have decided to add a new chapter to DU online politics: Blogging.
A mass email announced the setting up of the LSR political blog: lsrkiawaaz.wordpress.com. The blog is moderated by an anonymous group which calls itself LsrKiAwaaz. The purpose of the blog is apparently to “create a mature ground for political contestations and reasoned discussions on issues that have anything to do with college.” With an invitation extended to students, alumni, professors and principal alike the blog aims at bringling up old allegedly unresolved issues such as inflated café prices, semester system etc. as well as tackling some new ones such as the commercialization and privatization of higher education and the rather politically charged question of whether LSR should join the Delhi University Students Union. The last of the listed issued was one which saw great contention in the form of heated debates and discussions with a number of students demanding an alternate students union or an initiation to DUSU politics. The reason for this demand, according to one comment on the blog, is “not because the university student politics is any better, indeed it is much worse, but because they at least have complete and utter autonomy and can take up student causes without fear, even if they be against college administration”.
With just a single post up the blog has already roused great interest and is sure to see much political action in the near future. In any case it has proved once again how politics is slowly acquiring a whole new quite virtual dimension. The group LsrKiAwaaz quaintly declares as much in its little attempt at self justification:
“We believe that a consolidated effort at re-opening democratic spaces is the need of the hour. And because this space is not easily accessible to us in the real world, LSR KI AWAAZ is an attempt at creating it in the virtual world.”
Some Comments on the Blog:
neha says:
This is amazing. Yes, I do think it’s time that we started debating issues. When was the last time we were allowed to say something without being told that we are being disloyal to college? Sure hope those are not charges made against us this time. Well done guys. Way to go.
TBR says:
We cannot begin to congratulate you for this effort. It
is difficult to start something new. It’s sometimes even tougher to
pick up the pieces left over from a pretty ruthless clamp-down and
start something up again — that requires, often, more courage, more
resilience, for you are working with the knowledge of what
repercussions this might have. As far as TBR was concerned, we knew
things would never be easy or cordial, but we had not anticipated the
extent of the backlash. You witnessed it, experienced it, and have
returned. Hats off to you people.
Ex-Exec says:
[The college authorities] do it because they can, of course. They have the power, and they can therefore, manipulate. However, the fact that they had to resort to such persecution not only exposes the falsity of their outwardly calm, articulate and democratic appearance; it also tells you something about how intensely insecure and hollowed out their control is.
crazyblacklab says:
The problem as I see it is that our own elected union has no power to operate. We apparently have student representatives there to voice our problems and treat us fairly but inevitably they get cowed down by the rather dictatorial college administration.
Take a certain Staff Adviser of the (… …) societies for example who arbitrarily decides on who to send for prestigious inter college competitions without either holding a fair audition or even consulting the society unions. If the student representative in this case who supposedly has complete authority finds herself dictated to by a Staff ‘Adviser’, it shows the small measure of control students are allowed over their own college life.
Delhi university, in a recently established agreement with a non profit organization, Dhriti has introduced an entrepreneurship course in certain colleges across the varsity. A three-month entrepreneurship course was initiated in SRCC, and then went on to be conducted in Ramjas, Gargi and Miranda House. The specialty of this course is that instead of just sticking to conventional theoretical practice and guest lectures; it encourages the students to initiate their own venture with the help of a live project. Dhriiti is a unique organisation that promotes and protects Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and helps build and create a spirit of entrepreneurship amongst the next generation of Indians, the youth.
How do I make money out of my passion? What if I start my own business? But how? What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? Who’ll support me?
If these are the questions which come into your mind every now and then and if you think you have the aptitude to start your own venture, then you don’t need to stop on these questions anymore, for all you wanted to know about entrepreneurship is now be available to you in Delhi University.
The concept of entrepreneurship among the youth is a highly new concept in India while it has been going on successfully in the US and its counterparts since a long period, and this course is here to promote just that.
The next session starts in the third week of October in LSR. Colleges like Miranda House and LSR have also started their own entrepreneurship cell to promote entrepreneurship among its students. Ambika Ghughe, President of the Entrepreneurship Cell in Miranda House states, “Academic inclination in Delhi University is high, but not directly in tune with what is required in the real world. Students, through this initiative, get the feel of how initiatives are taken in a corporate world, and view the same not from the point of view of an employee but an employer.” The cell has also recently collaborated with the Miranda House Vatavaran Project dealing with recycling and plans to take it on a higher level.
The students also get the opportunity to interact with prospective funders based on the credibility of their project via the course. The course is also supplemented with an exposure trip to study the working of an enterprise. Last year the students were taken to the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). All that the students require to be a part of this course is to have the attitude, aptitude, an idea, and the zeal to bring it to life.