University of Delhi (DU), in collaboration with the Dean of Students’ Welfare Office, organised an interactive counselling session for this year’s undergraduate admissions at Conference Centre, North Campus today. Similar sessions will be held on the 3rd and 8th of June in North Campus and 4th to 10th June in South Campus colleges.
A panel consisting of Dr Manoj Kumar Khanna, Principal of Ramjas College, Jaswinder Singh, Principal of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, Keval Arora, Professor of English at Kirori Mal College, few members from the Grievance and Admissions Committees, among others, was present at Conference Centre, North Campus today for an interactive question-answer session. The aim of this conference was to acquaint the aspiring students with the admission procedure, and also to address their queries.
The programme was scheduled to be held between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; however, owing to the large number of students, it went on till almost 2:30 p.m. An enormous number of students flocked to the Centre today – so much so – that all of them could not be accommodated in the auditorium and had to be addressed to in shifts.
Among the congregation were parents of the aspirants, eager to get their doubts cleared. Arushi Gupta, an aspiring student, and her mother said they were satisfied with the answers that the panel provided them with.
Helping the panel was a group of 15 volunteers from various colleges across DU. They estimated to have answered as many as 400 questions collectively during the session, and were willing to sacrifice their break for the same. According to Varun Pradhan, a volunteer and student of Motilal Nehru College (Evening), the most common question was regarding the calculation of Best of Four percentage.
When asked about how the overall increase in 12th class percentage would affect the DU admissions this year, the answer from the volunteers was that they expected higher cut-offs. Interestingly, Pradhan also suggested that the number of registrations is expected to be lesser since the registration began much after the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) announced the results. He argued that the students who scored below a certain percentage might not apply in the first place.
The panel and volunteers alike also had to answer a new set of queries due to the changes that will be implemented from this year. These include DU’s affiliation with CBSE in getting the mark sheets, consideration of Modern Indian Languages as academic subjects, Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota, etc.
Also seen at Gate number 4 were members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), including Sidharth Yadav, the State Secretary of the students’ party. They were providing information in terms of the changes that the admin has come up with, water and chairs, etc. to those who had come to the conference.
It would be safe to say that the session accomplished much of what it had aimed to. The only dissent perhaps would be the fact that it was accessible to mostly students from Delhi and the NCR because it is highly improbable for outstation students to come to the national capital before the announcement of the first cut-off.
Image Credits: Maumil Mehraj for DU Beat
Maumil Mehraj
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“The executive board members were really good and highly experienced , which took the level of debate to a new high. Everyone in the committee was very well researched and this was a fact well acknowledged by the executive board too.” said Tanya Kak, a participating delegate.
The MUN was organized by Caucus, the Group Discussion and Model United Nations society of Hindu College, that aims to promote formal panel discussions in order to increase awareness amongst the youth on important socio-political issues.]]> 
Wayne Dyer once said, ‘When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change’. This was the fundamental idea behind the organisation of the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College Model United Nations 2012(DDUCMUN 2012). Held on the 1st and 2nd of September, 2012 at the Conference Centre in North Campus, this event saw participation from more than 300 students from 200 schools and colleges in 25 cities.
The MUN committees included the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Human Rights Council and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries which had their respective agendas as reforms in UN peace keeping missions, impact of climate change on Statehood, security and migration, upholding human rights in prisons and response to new sources of energy while maintaining petroleum energy viability.
The first day kicked off with one round of committee session after registrations followed by the inauguration ceremony. It started off with the lighting of the lamp by the Principal of DDUC, Dr. S K Garg, the Chief Guest for the event Dr. Sanjay Chopra, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, the Guest of Honour, Shri Tom Vadakkan, Secretary of the All India Congress Committee and the Convener of the MUN Club, Dr. Nisha Rana. The proceedings of the ceremony included addresses by Dr. Nisha Rana and the Secretary General Srishti Kapoor who declared the conference open. In the Chief Guest’s speech, Dr Sanjay Chopra spoke about his personal experiences at UN conferences with a pinch of humour while the Shri Tom Vadakkan spoke about the impact of policies formulated by one country on the rest of the world.
After a short refreshments break, the delegates were back at their committees to discuss the thought provoking agendas, through a structure that mirrored the rules followed at actual UN meets. Under the observation of the Executive Board which comprised experienced MUNers, delegates made their points backed up by thorough research and debated with representatives from other countries by raising points of inquiry and information. The committee sessions and moderated caucuses continued for the rest of the day with a lunch break in between.
The second day saw participants looking at effective solutions to address the issues in front of them. This was done through unmoderated caucuses, writing papers, drafting of resolutions and then suggesting amendments, followed by voting by the countries, interspersed with breaks in between. The evening of 2nd September saw the delegates and organising committee gather at the Main Hall for the closing ceremony of the event. To get things started, the band Autumn Home got the audience singing along as they covered popular songs like Yellow by Coldplay. After that the President, Vice President and Rapporteur of each committee announced the Best Delegate, High Commendation and Special Mention awards. “Last year DDUCMUN was a brilliant event, and they have been able to maintain the high standard once again, which is very tough to do. It is my privilege to have been associated with the DDUCMUN Club since its inception”, said Shirin Rai Gupta, a student of LSR and President of the Human Rights Council. The audience cheered for the winners enthusiastically and some even received standing ovations by fellow committee members. The evening came to a close with the Deputy Secretary General, Meenal Narula’s speech and vote of thanks.
DDUCMUN 2012 saw a huge participation of first timers. As Delegate of Netherlands in the General assembly, Akashita Sareen said, ‘DDUCMUN was the first MUN that I attended, and I was surprised at how productive the conference turned out to be. It was well organised which made the experience, for a first timer like me, extremely palpable and fun’. Her thoughts were shared by Vrinda Uppal, Delegate of Slovakia. ‘I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with fellow delegates and engaging in fruitful debating. Looking forward to the next edition!’, she said.]]>