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DU Beat 21 Under 21: Trailblazers of Tomorrow (2024)

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From time to time, we come across talented and awe-inspiring individuals who deserve their stories to be told. So, here is to 21 such amazing individuals who have achieved great feats in their lives before even tasting the 21st year of their life.

Tarun Jindal

Hailing from Chandigarh, Tarun Jindal is a B.Com. Honours student, CA Finalist, and President of 180 Degrees Consulting Club at Hindu College, University of Delhi. Having worked with esteemed organisations such as Dhwani Rural Information Systems, UNDP Malaysia, India Accelerator, and Infolso, Tarun is a high-impact achiever and go-getter, who believes in seeing every hardship as a source of inner fortitude and every failure as a test of perseverance. Their consistent commitment to making a difference in the lives of those around them has resulted in tangible social impact, particularly in the fields of healthcare, gender justice, and education.

Kartik Chauhan

A driven start-up enthusiast, Kartik Chauhan is a student at Hindu College and founding member of Delhi Smart Protein Project (DSPP), a project under the aegis of the Good Food Institute to stimulate open-access research, entrepreneurship and climate action through food technology. Recently, he received a full-coverage scholarship to attend the Good Food Conference in San Francisco, USA in recognition of his achievements and contributions. At Hindu College, he in also the President of the Entrepreneurship Cell, leading a 50 member team, and conceptualising, and spearheading the rebranding of the Cell to encourage a ‘builder-centric’ approach to innovation. His other achievements include being a part of Ripen’s first invite-only Entrepreneur in-Residence program, and having built a ‘feedback marketplace’ that was selected in the W22 Batch of GSF Accelerator. With their passion for technology, he are looking forward to turning his own project into an actual start-up soon.

G Brinda

A third-year History Honours student at Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR), G Brinda has a passion for policy-making, social work, consumer behaviour, and research. They serve as the General Secretary of Youth India Foundation (YIF), leading 50+ interns at state level and guiding 250+ college chapter members, having founded the LSR, Gargi, IITM (IPU), and Hindu College Chapters of the social entrepreneurship platform. They are a compassionate and empathetic leader, who imbibes this ethos in every position of responsibility that they diligently pursue, including but not limited to State President at the Kerala Impact Consulting Council under WICCI, Content Head at the Global Youth India-Israel Forum, and Editorial Head at Prakriti LSR.

Anshu Narwal

A research-enthusiast and dedicated social volunteer, Anshu Narwal is a student of economics and mathematics at Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR). A district-topper and school-topper since their school years, Anshu has furthered their interest in academia by undertaking two impressive research projects in collaboration with professors from esteemed institutions such as IIM Kashipur and IIT Delhi. Their research interests lie in the critical topic of ICT Adoption and Inclusive Growth, addressing issues that are fundamental to our society’s development. Additionally, they are passionate about the fields of psychology and social work, serving as the Project Director for Project AASHA, facilitating workshops on hygiene, unsafe touch, and mental health.

Nirmanyu Chouhan

A Hindu College alum from the Batch of 2023, Nirmanyu Chouhan is a Programme Coordinator at Lokniti, Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), and former research intern at Newslaundry. Fascinated by the intricate interplay between politics and society, they are a honed researcher and journalist striving towards a more informed citizenry through their work. Beginning their journey within the staff writing rooms of the Hindu College Gazette, Nirmanyu’s experience with media houses such as DU Beat and Newslaundry have allowed them to engage with topics across politics, economy, society, and pop-culture. Their present work at Lokniti-CSDS centres the field of psephology, the study of elections and voting behaviour, which allows them to analyzing voter patterns and understand the pulse of the electorate.

Pulkit Sehgal

A 2023 Management Studies graduate from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (SSCBS), Pulkit Sehgal is a driven consulting and finance enthusiast, who has been recognised as an ‘Emerging Leader’ by FinOak, India’s largest student-run finance community. They are the co-founder of Makes Sense, a mental health non-profit aimed at providing social and psychological support to university students. The initiative has impacted 450+  students through free therapy, and catapulted fruitful collaborations with Mindpeers, a Shark Tank-funded and Asia’s fastest growing mental-health platform. Furthermore, they are an Incoming Associate at Boston Consulting Group, and served as the President of 180 Degrees Consulting SSCBS during their college tenure.

Molina Singh

An english literature and history afficionado, Molina Singh is a 2023 alum of Gargi College and founder of Delhi Reads, a 1500+ member citywide book club that has secured successful partnerships with popular coffee chains, bookstores, and publication companies. During their college tenure, they held the position of President of the English Creative Writing Society and spearheaded the organisation of 4 varsity-level fests at Gargi College, a feat of uncprcedented calibre and visionary execution. Their staunch commitment to social-political principles and impact-led community service have made them one who is not afraid to voice their opinions, whether it be in expressing solidarity with the IPCW Fest victims or in their capacity as a student-journalist at DU Beat.

Pranjal Jain

In 2023, Pranjal Jain graduated and immediately embarked on a journey to catalyze positive change. This drive motivated them to pioneer the establishment of India’s inaugural Bridges for Enterprise (BfE) chapter at SSCBS, a milestone aimed at fostering entrepreneurial endeavors with a societal impact. Alongside, they engaged in two consulting and financial advisory projects with socially conscious startups in Nigeria and the Philippines, demonstrating the tangible real-world impact achievable through collaborative initiatives. Moreover, recognizing the pressing need for mental health support among college students, they co-founded Makes Sense, a nurturing and inclusive platform dedicated to destigmatizing mental health discussions and providing essential assistance to those in need.

Manvi Bhatt

Having graduated in 2023, Manvi Bhatt was honored to receive the distinguished Sultan Chand Memorial Scholarship Award, recognizing their exceptional academic achievements. Fueled by their entrepreneurial spirit, they actively participated in the development of Mark & Tonic, a digital marketing startup venture, where they served as a founding member. In this role, they led the integration of live projects to address strategic consulting and digital marketing needs. One of their accomplishments is winning the BrAINWARS undergraduate case study competition, a prestigious event hosted by Bain and Company.

Jayesh Rungta

A 20-year-old from Kolkata, Jayesh Rungta recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Hansraj College, University of Delhi. Securing a position as a Business Analyst at the prestigious management consulting firm Kearney, they stand out as the sole and first undergraduate hire for a front-desk consulting role from their college and one of only three selected across the University of Delhi. Demonstrating their commitment to social impact, they served as the Convener and Founding Member of Project Parivartan from January 2021 to March 2023, overseeing a yearly Financial Literacy Drive that reached over 10,000 individuals across three editions.

Anjana Jose

As a current psychology student at Jesus and Mary College, Anjana Jose wears multiple hats as an entrepreneur and podcast host. Since June 2023, they have served as the Founder and CEO of BooKing, a platform dedicated to promoting sustainability through the use of second-hand books. Simultaneously, they also host the OnlyGeeks Podcast, a show tailored for college students, which has garnered a listenership of over 100 individuals from diverse backgrounds since its inception in June 2023.

Gavish Lohat

Currently enrolled as a political science student at Hindu College, Gavish Lohat stands as the 1st Raj Bhargava Foundation Scholar, an honor bestowed upon them in 2022. This prestigious scholarship provides them with ₹75,000 annually throughout the duration of his undergraduate studies, along with a tablet. In addition to their academic pursuits, they are also the founder and host of ‘The Skeptical Student Show’ Podcast in collaboration with India Film Project, where they engage in thought-provoking discussions.

Punya Malhotra

As a final year Economics student at Hansraj College, Punya Malhotra stands as the lone Indian fellow selected for the fully-funded Young Leader’s Fellowship program in 2023 by MCW Global, USA. Their previous roles include working at the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI). Additionally, they were featured in the Voices of the Young series by Dr. Subodh Mathur, where they shared insights on optimizing the college experience. As part of their research endeavors, they authored a quantitative paper titled ‘Urban Planning and Gender Inclusivity.’

Apoorva Rathore

Having graduated from Lady Shri Ram College with a degree in B.Com, Apoorva achieved remarkable success by emerging as the National Winner of the EY NextGen Women India competition. This accomplishment propelled them to represent both India and their university at the Global EY NextGen Women Competition held in London. Following their academic achievements, they ventured into the professional realm as a Research Analyst at the Indian Institute of Science. Here, they dedicated over a year to working within the Strategy Team, focused on developing a robust business model for an in-house eVTOL (electric air taxi) project.

Pratham Changoiwala

Pratham Changoiwala is a third-year student of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, currently pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce. He is interning as an executive assistant at Niamh Ventures, an investment banking firm based out of Gurgaon, Haryana. Alongside that, he is the youngest speaker shareholder of HDFC Bank’s AGM and his experiences were shared as a part of Hindustan Times’ Live Mint as a part of their Gen Z interview series. He has been selected as a delegate for Harvard’s prestigious HPAIR Conference. He was also part of the Sustainable Stories Project, which involved interacting with eco-friendly brand manufacturing units and their business founders. He is also Operations head of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College’s Entrepreneurship Cell.

Bhavika Dabur

Bhavika Dabur is a third-year student at Sri Venkateswara College, pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce. They are currently working as a training manager and social media advisor at Aspirant Learning. Previously, they had experience in educational consultancy and soft skills training.

Falguni Mahajan

Falguni Mahajan was a political science student at Lady Shri Ram College. Currently, they are the founder of Mandonna Research Consultants, which focuses on the promotion of gender equity through academia and research work. Previously, they had interned as a researcher at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Policy, Politics and Government Foundation as well as with the Aam Aadmi Party. They hold C1 level certification in the French language as well.

Bhavya Sood

Bhavya Sood was a student at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, having completed their BBA in Financial Investment Analysis. They are the co-founder of Project Bridgeway which aims to democratize access to education and guide students, through consulting, which has assisted over 10,000 students across several colleges. They have also served as the first elected deputy chair of IFSA’s Indian wing.

Anjali Batra

Anjali Batra is a political science student at IPCW, Delhi University, who is also pursuing a diploma in Psychology. She is the founder and president of Project Mehviyat, which focuses on empowering victims of abuse in South Asia. She was also recognised as a U21 Global citizen, due to her advocacy for Sustainable Development Goals and is serving as the deputy chairperson of the SDG Council, Global Youth India.

Tanusha Arora

Tanusha Arora is currently in the final year of Bachelor of Management Studies at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies. Arora has interned at Havells India, in the field of e-commerce as well as a research and market intelligence intern at EXL. She secured a placement in the capacity of an Associate at Samagra | Transforming Governance. She was selected under India Top 14 CEO for One Month Challenge by the Adecco Group. She has recently been felicitated with the coveted Linkedin Top Voice (blue badge) for her insights on marketing, communication and adulting. Moreover, she has been featured in Top 29 Leading Voices of India 2024 by BTalkz. She has a growing community of 7000+ followers and over 6 lakh+ impressions as yet.

Parv Jindal

Parv Jindal is a student of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, completing their Bachelor of Management Studies. They founded the India chapter of Bridges for Enterprise, an international impact consulting organization. They have also interned with companies like Blinkit, MakemyTrip, Zomato etc. Jindal is acting Vice President of SSCBS’ Student Council.

Read Also: DU Beat 21 Under 21: Of Dreams and Determination (2023)

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Arts & Culture

The Untimely Demise of Creativity in the Youth

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The antidote to our pre assignment submission anxiety has been discovered in our increasing reliance on AI tools and real time chatbots. The contemporary scenario of everything being fast-paced continues to alienate people from critical creative skills, Artificial Intelligence compounds the menace at hand.

Gone are the days when young students would sit with their parents, and draft, and then redraft scripts for the speech for their morning assembly. Be it a declamation, or a debate, or an MUN, ready-made material is made available at everyone’s disposal. Research papers requiring several weeks worth of research can now be complied in a few hours altogether.  Extremism has been witnessed to the extent that birthday wishes, congratulatory messages – are all being composed, start to end, by AI tools. This lethargic approach is breeding a generation of individuals with stunted innovation, depreciating creativity and sluggish habits. The justification provided for this shift in the nature of retrieving information is the growing competition, and the need to save up time and expend it on ‘more important’ things. Conformists, in the name of academic students will be produced, destined and dedicated to lead a mundane life plagued by the race of placements and abnormally competitive exams. The pressure from these takes away any remnant will to indulge in anything remotely creative.

Heavy dependence on AI for not just academia, but absolutely anything is churning our individuals depleted of the critical ability to, bereft of perspective. Informative is directly consumed from what is vomited out by AI tools without the bare minimum efforts to relook things. People need to realize that Open AI tools are meant to make one’s work easier, not do one’s whole work.  AI bots lack the basic human intelligentsia to produce the kind of work us individuals can. Majority of the output is highly generic, and vastly derivative of the already existing information. No new thought, no new ideas, personal anecdotes comprise a part of the output generated.

One thing guaranteed is the fact that AI can never replace humans, or match the potential of human creativity. It will never kill creative roles, but has a disgustingly high propensity to severely damage the potential of creativity by making humans increasingly dependent. These tendencies also pose a grave threat to the genuine and honest appreciation of real art. With AI sites, capable of producing summaries of entire books, seminal research pieces, stellar pedagogical specimens, one fails to appreciate the artistic nuances and the rigorous research of a creative piece. There is a looming danger of a possible deterioration of the spirit of art appreciation.

Jane Austen didn’t write “Pride and Prejudice” in a hurry, Amrita Pritam didn’t draw inspiration from summaries of anthologies of Sheikh Farid, Shah Husain, Waris Shah, Hasham. Without the inner burning desire to create and introspect, Van Gogh’s melancholic “The Starry Night” would have never existed. Creativity is God’s gift to very few people, don’t let the abundance inside you deplete by giving into the lures of mundanity and convenience.

Image Credits: BYJUs

Rubani Sandhu

[email protected]

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Campus Central

DU Invites Applications for Second Edition of Vice Chancellor Internship Scheme

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Delhi University opens online applications for paid internship opportunities at its departments and centres for summer 2023. Last date of applying on the university website is May 17, 2023.

Dean Students’ Welfare Office, Delhi University has launched the second iteration of the Vice Chancellor Internship Scheme – Summer Internship 2023 on its official portal. Undergraduate and Postgraduate students of the university are invited to apply for a multitude of paid opportunities. Applications are open till May 17, 2023, on the university website.

All regular bonafide students of DU, irrespective of their course or stream – excluding First Year and Semester 2 students, are eligible to apply for the Summer Internship 2023 program. This opportunity can be availed by students only once during their course of study at DU, therefore, students who had already availed VCIS-2022 cannot apply for this edition of VCIS: Summer Internship 2023.

The internship demands a flexible time commitment of 15-20 hours per week. The program will run over a period of two months – tentatively June and July 2023. It has also been informed that the attendance requirement in the candidate’s enrolled UG/PG course will not be relaxed during the internship tenure. The university is offering a stipend of Rs.10,000 per month, drawn from the University Student Welfare Fund.  Students completing the internship tenure will be awarded an experience certificate from the Dean of Students’ Welfare, subject to an appraisal report from the concerned employing department, centre, or institution.

All university institutions, departments, and centres, including the VC’s office, Office of Dean of Colleges, Registrar’s Office, the central reference library, departmental libraries, departmental labs, the admissions branch, and the Equal Opportunity Cell, will be covered by the program. The selection process involves filling up an application form, stating three domains of interest, uploading a letter of recommendation (LOR) and no objection certificate (NOC) from their head of department/college, and an interview round.

VCIS was launched in the 2022-23 academic year with the objective to “impart training on soft and hard skills by integrating cognitive knowledge with experiential learning”. The program is said to achieve the objectives of “Samagra Shiksha” (holistic education) as enlisted in NEP 2020. For the 110 openings in its paid internship program last year, the university got more than 3,800 applications from undergraduate and postgraduate students. All further information will be shared on the DSW website.

Read Also: What To Expect From Your First Internship

Featured Image Credits: Anshika for DU Beat

Bhavya Nayak

[email protected]

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Interviews

Katihar To Kennedy: The Road Less Travelled with Dr. Sanjay Kumar

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DU Beat engaged in a conversation with Dr. Sanjay Kumar, India Country Director, The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University.

Priyanshu: Many students come from small towns and villages with dreams to pursue something big in life. But due to lack of exposure and good role models, they get stuck preparing for Government jobs or follow the conventional career path. As an academician and a social activist who went all the way from a small town in Bihar, Katihar, to Harvard Kennedy School, what can you suggest to these young minds?

Dr. Kumar: To begin with, it comes from parents initially. They try to condition you in a way that you should take up a particular line of action. To the students, I would like to suggest that each student is different and each human being has unique potential and, thus, they should explore that unique potential. Somehow, we believe that if the neighbour’s son is doing this, you should also be following the same. I faced this a lot. Even with my cousin brother my father used to say, “Yeh dekho CA ki padhai kar raha hai. Woh padhaai kar raha hai, usme bhi usko CA bana dete the. (Look at him, he is preparing to become a Chartered Accountant. If he is simply studying as well, then too they would make him a CA.)” It’s a wrong approach and every human being has a separate talent; and following the conventional path you do not get an opportunity to explore thing which you can explore as an individual. You don’t want to take chances in your life. At this age, I think one can definitely take chances. It is after midage that one requires security in life but early in life, one should try to discover what they are looking for. And nowadays, I am very happy to see that a few students from Delhi University are taking a break after their undergrad to explore themselves, which is a very Western concept. So, my answer to your question is: young students should explore various career paths, and career is not the end. Unfortunately, in our country everyone thinks that UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) is the goal. I am sorry to say but this is a big misconception. Being a civil servant can be a means to serve the end, but it cannot be the end. I would strongly suggest (that) the students should identify the purpose in life as early as possible. And purposes can be changed as well. It can be edited and altered. But then one can accordingly find means to serve the purpose.

Priyanshu: What opportunities does the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University, provide to young students who come from underprivileged backgrounds?

Dr. Kumar: So, since last two years, Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University India office is the connector and convenor of the Harvard Programme in South Asia and it has a number of programmes but for youngsters we have a specific programme called ‘Crossroads’ where two of the Harvard faculties from Harvard Business School have come up with this idea of bringing youngsters from all over the world (it started from south Asia but now it’s all over the world) and we organise this in Dubai. It’s a fully funded programme. There are donors based out of Dubai. It’s a one-week training for students around leadership and exposing them towards the Harvard method of education and teaching. This is only for students who are first in their family to go to college. In a way, the programme is targeting underprivileged youngsters and the best thing about the programme is that all of them fly to Dubai and meet other students and teachers. (The link to apply for the programme is: https://mittalsouthasiainstitute. harvard.edu/crossroads/)

Priyanshu: You have talked about this in your book too and this concerns the nation at large as well. The decline of public education in our country is quite worrisome. Who do you blame for this? The Government or the private education ecosystem? How do you perceive this and what has your organisation, Edjustice, achieved in resolving this issue?

Dr. Kumar: It’s definitely the Government! Because the idea of privatisation comes from the Government, and the market always sees the opportunity. You cannot blame the private educators. If they see the opportunity, they will come forward. I don’t think it’s (privatisation) a good idea. For a country like India, we still need to continue with public education for 30 to 40 years, because a lot of people are still lagging behind in education and they can’t afford costly private education. The indicators are not good, and the kind of fees that the private universities charge – I am not taking about quality – not everyone can afford. What stops us to strengthen our public education system which can provide quality education? If you see, 20 years ago, all the big names were coming from public colleges. Even now, some of the big names are coming from public universities only. So, it’s just that the Government doesn’t wish to put attention on public colleges. I don’t blame the private players. I blame the Government. And, people also need to be blamed. We are not talking or protesting about it. We want the good pie in everything. For health, we want five star health-care. Our aim is to earn good money, so that we can avail good facilities and our children can go to good schools. Our aim is not to fix the system which used to exist. Take an example: when we talk about quality of air, we know that it is affecting everyone – the rich, the poor, and the middle class – everyone is harassed by air pollution. So, everyone is talking about the air pollution, but education is something which is not bothering them; no one is talking about that. So, if public education is not affecting my kid or my family, then I am not going to talk about it. But I am talking about air as it used to be very good. But then our public education also used to be very good. If we are taking about reviving or cleaning the air, why can’t we talk about reviving the public education system? So, the public is also responsible. I also wonder why students studying in DU colleges and the students’ unions do not raise the issue of high-quality teaching in colleges? Since you mentioned about my book, I would encourage students to read my book, Katihar To Kennedy: The Road Less Travelled. It depicts my life at DU and what all I gained being a DU student. It’s available on Amazon.

Priyanshu: A lot of students dream to pursue higher education from Ivy League or Russell group colleges after their graduation. The exorbitant fee and sustaining in foreign countries make scholarships a viable option. As a student who has fetched a scholarship to study in Harvard Kennedy School, can you suggest how an average student can grab one for themselves?

Dr. Kumar: For that, I think these universities look (at) leadership skills in you, how good you are at extracurricular activities, how good you are in the field you are pursuing, and what leadership role you have played. And it’s also important to let them know how your learning is going to help the humanity, at large. So, when you are writing your SOP (statement of purpose), these things matter a lot and it should come naturally. You can’t decide today that you want to apply for Harvard or Princeton, and someone suggest that you have to write an SOP and you start writing . That’s not a good thing to do. You need to start as early as possible. I don’t mean you have to start writing as early as possible, but you have to build your personality like that. You have to build your profile like that. There are a lot of scholarships available. One thing that I have observed is that if you have to go to foreign counties for higher studies and if you have the right intent, then nobody can stop you.

Priyanshu: How can a student be a part of your Edjustice People’s Campaign and contribute to the development of underprivileged children?

Dr. Kumar: So, Edjustice is a campaign to rejuvenate public education system in India. It’s an all-volunteer run campaign, so it’s quite unique. The campaign started from Bihar, but the model is quite relicable and scalable, hence we will move to other states next year. So, any student from Delhi University who wants to be a part of this education camping and believes in strengthening and rejuvenating the public education system is very much welcome to join us. For more information, one can visit www.edjustice.in and the Facebook page is @edjusticeindia and if you want to write, the e-mail ID is [email protected]. With the active volunteers, the campaign expects eight hours per week, which is mostly off-site and we have meetings every week, and that too in the evening so that it suits everyone. The volunteers also travel to field areas like Bihar once in a while, but they also support us with designing the campaign and various programmes. Volunteers can join for one year and they can always renew after that. This is a very good opportunity for young students, especially for DU students and since I come from this varsity, I feel that students are very bright in DU and they can contribute a lot. Many students from LSR (Lady Shri Ram), Hindu, and Venkateswara College are a part of this campaign.

Feature Image Credits: Mr. Sanjay Kumar

Interviewed by Priyanshu and Maumil Mehraj for DU Beat

[email protected] [email protected]

Interview transcribed by Priyanshu for DU Beat

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