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On the last Wednesday of June, tensions rose and confusion ensued as the police was called in to Daulat Ram College to assuage the worried applicants. June 28th marked the last day for applicants to enrol in college under the first cut-off list, and some candidates were denied admission to the college due to a lack of availability of seats.

Admission denied

According to some student testimonials, applicants wishing to pursue B.A. Programme were prohibited from entering the college as the authorities claimed that the seats were full. These candidates had cleared the cut-off and fulfilled all eligibility requirements, and as per the varsity’s rule, were entitled to secure a seat in the college.

While the University has a prescribed number of seats for admission into various courses, there is no bar on the number of students who actually register and confirm admission under a certain list. Moreover, as the undergraduate portal was riddled with technical glitches, several students were unable to obtain the acknowledgment slip of a college on the first day. Students also often wait till the last day of a cut-off list to weigh in the college options available to them, and to clarify the Best of Four requirements. The time frame allocated to a cut-off list allows every student who meets the criteria to secure a seat in a given college, without any counter policy.

Intervention by ABVP and DUSU

The situation scaled when volunteers of the RSS-affiliated student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), intervened on behalf of the aggrieved students. The Delhi University Students’ Union’s President Amit Tanwar expressed his dismay at the erroneous decision on the college’s part. He said, “According to the University rules, all students who clear the cut-offs are to be admitted. There is no first come, first serve policy. Several applicants had come to seek admission today [on Wednesday] as it was the last day to do so under the first cut-off list. They were, however, told that the seats were full. This caused panic.” As the agitation transferred from the applicants to the student leaders, the police were asked to step in.

The college has lodged a complaint at the Maurice Nagar police station against the ABVP, DUSU, and parents who allegedly manhandled the Principal, along with vandalising her office. The Principal, Ms Savita Roy, claimed that the ABVP and DUSU members entered her office without permission and misbehaved with her. The complaint filed proclaimed that, “They used abusive language, manhandled me, and threatened me with dire consequences if I did not admit the students.” She also added that the crowd refused to send a representation of two people despite her request. An FIR has been filed against six persons who were involved in the scene, and the Principal has requested police protection to continue with the admission process.

However, these allegations have been refuted by the ABVP as an “excuse” by the administration, and are being labelled as an “arbitrary denial.” Tanwar adds, “The parents of students, who were confused after being denied admission even after the verification of documents, approached the ABVP and DUSU members. All of them went to the administration to ask why were they denied admission.” A student from DRC spoke to DU Beat and confirmed the refusal of admission, and also added that the teacher coordinators for the admission process refused to allow a student to opt for B.A. Programme on account of the lack of seats, and continued to “misguide” her by advising her to enrol in other courses. She said that the ABVP proceeded to help the student who had to bear the brunt of the commotion. However, she claimed that members of the ABVP and DUSU barged in the college and misbehaved with the officials.

Authorities’ stance

A senior member of the administration said that the college complied with the admission process of all candidates who met the cut-off requirements after the ABVP volunteers barged in. However, the number of seats would act as a hindrance for them to undertake the subject-combination of their choice.

According to sources, a committee was set up to look into this issue.

Daulat Ram has set the cut-off for B.A. Programme at 91% this year, a lower number as compared to other North Campus colleges. An all girls’ college, it offers 169 seats for the course. The next cut-off list is scheduled to be announced by the midnight of June 30th.

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Saumya Kalia
[email protected]

 

Many students studying Journalism Honours and Psychology Honours under CBCS guidelines received information about the Skill Enhancement Course’s external and internal assessments’ final marks distribution from their college’s faculty members close to the date of their final examination. With the dates of receiving this information varying in different colleges, students from Journalism Honours in Kamala Nehru College (KNC) learnt about the same from their teachers hours before their examination. Interestingly, the confusion of the Psychology Honours’ batch of Daulat Ram College (DRC) was clarified only upon receiving the question paper.

The discrepancy was found out in various colleges upon receiving the admit card. Students of Journalism Honours in KNC and Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) found a 50-50 marks distribution for external and practical assessment for SEC in their admit cards. While KNC students had been studying the course keeping the 50-50 distribution in mind, LSR students were uncertain as they had been following the 75-25 marks distribution, with 25 being allotted for internal assessment. Students from other colleges also underwent similar confusion. “Our admit cards said that the SEC paper that was documentary production would be of 50 marks. But the paper actually was for 75 marks.”, said Aditya, a Journalism Honours student from DCAC.

The situation varied across different colleges and different departments. In certain colleges, the final distribution came to the students’ knowledge quite late, while in certain colleges like Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW), there had been no discrepancy about the same neither in the admit cards, nor with the faculty.

The entire situation around the distribution of marks created confusion and hustle among students. “We were pretty confused since we didn’t know how the marks would be divided and how we are supposed to answer had it been for 50 marks.”, said Utkarsha, a Psychology Honours student from Daulat Ram College, where no clarification from the faculty had been received regarding the SEC Emotional Intelligence paper.

DU Beat reached out to faculty members, but received no comments from their end. There is still uncertainty whether the discrepancy had been for the Journalism Honours and Psychology Honours courses only.

Such action by the college administration as well as the faculty members makes us question whether the students’ best interests are really at heart. After all the formalities and unnecessary steps the students are forced to go through to receive their admit cards, such a massive error with regards to the marks distribution is a careless mistake by the authorities. Students who prepared accordingly, having faith in the college administration and the teachers, were shocked on the day of the examination. With all the buzz around exams and the pressure on students, why was this matter handled so inadequately by the authorities?

 

Priyal Mahtta
[email protected]

Every Academic Year, the University of Delhi witnesses a multitude of events, including those that add glory to its name through the students’ or educators’ outstanding achievements, and those, that probably lead us to question the existing status. Having their own significance, here are the Proud and Dark moments of Delhi University, which added stars to the University’s glory, and brought our focus to the issues that urgently need to be addressed.

Proud Moments of Delhi University 2016-2017

  • DU ALUMNUS ANKIT KAWATRA, SLECETED AS ONE OF THE 17TH “UN YOUNG LEADERS” IN THE WORLD

 

Ankit Kawatra, an alumnus of DU’s Keshav Mahavidyalaya College, also the founder of the NGO, Feeding India was selected by the United Nations (UN) as one of the “UN Young Leaders” at the Social Good Summit. Ankit quit his corporate job at the age of 22 to lay the foundation of his NGO, which has now expanded to feed over 1 million people across the country.

Read the whole article here

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Ankit Kawatra making DU proud internationally

  • DU’S HIMADRISH SUWAN HONOURED WITH SWACHHTA WARRIORS AWARD – 2016

Delhi University’s Himadrish Suwan, was honored by Shri Narendra Modi on the succesful completion of two years of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. Suwan is the convener of Mission-E-Safai, an initiative by students for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan through which he connected universities & their student’s group under one umbrella to function as clusters to spread awareness about cleanliness.

Read the whole article here

  •  DELHI UNIVERSITY STUDENT WINS DOUBLE GOLD AT WORLD UNIVERSITY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Akhil Sheoran, a graduate of Delhi University brought laurels for the nation at the sixth International University Sports Federation’s (FISU) World University Shooting Championships, held at Bydgoszcz, Poland. A part of the 34 member contingent from India, Sheoran bagged two medals in Men’s Air Rifle Events and made the country proud.

Read the whole article here 

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Akhil Sheoran with his accolades

  • DELHI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS CREATE NEW WORLD RECORD

An enterprising group of Delhi University students made headlines by creating a new world record of making the Largest plastic cup pyramid by using 5 7,000 plastic cups at Thyagraj Sports complex on September 21st, 2016 . The contingent of 22 students led by Kushagra Tayal, an Economics Hons student of Hansraj College, took 3 days to accomplish the feat. The group broke the existing world record from Mexico, where 42,935 plastic cups were used for creating the pyramid.

Read the whole article here

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The largest plastic cups pyramid made by DU students

  •  DU SHINES AT PARALYMPICS TOO

Apart from representing India in Olympics, a student of Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, also represented India at the Rio Paraolympics 2017. Sharad also broke a 12 year old record in the men’s high jump category and joined the league of Apurvi Chandela, Lalit Mathur in representing the country at the international level.

Read the whole article here

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Sharad at the Paralympics

Dark Moments of Delhi University 2016-2017

  •  MIRANDA HOUSE STUDENT SEXUALLY HARASSED AT SRCC’S FEST

A student of Miranda House faced sexual harassment during KK’s concert at SRCC’s Crossroads. Identifying herself as Meghna, the victim described the event of a man masturbating on her while she was attending the concert, through a Facebook post. She, however, had to face mockery at a public platform due to the audience’s dismissal of the post as an attempt to seek attention.

Read the whole article here

  •  DU TENSE WITH STIFLED PROTESTS; PROTESTORS ASSAULTED AND DETAINED

 

Tension arose in the north campus due to violent protests between members of Ramjas College’s

English Literary Society and ABVP activists on February 22. The tension arose due to the violent intervention of ABVP activists in a conference organised by the college’s LitSoc where JNU’s Umar Khalid was invited to present a paper. A large number of protestors were assaulted and detained during the tussle.

Read the whole article here

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Tension and protests at North Campus

  •  A DAULAT RAM COLLEGE STUDENT SEXUALLY ASSAULTED BY BANK EMPLOYEE

A student of Daulat Ram College was sexually assaulted by a male employee of the Indian Overseas Bank branch inside the college on January 18, 2017. The victim lodged a complaint against the accused at Maurice Nagar Police Station where the latter confessed to molesting the student.

Read the whole article here

Picture Credits: DU Beat Archives

 

Priyal Mahtta

[email protected]

The much celebrated fest season of Delhi University has almost come to an end. Most of the colleges have had their annual cultural fests with spectacular performances in the competitive events, and to the amazing EDM and Star Nights. With the tribal theme on point, Daulat Ram College successfully organised its two-day fest Manjari’17 on the 22nd and 23rd of March. The pots painted with warli paintings and tribal masks: everything was splendidly placed, decorating the entire college premises beautifully.

The audience relished the amazing performances of different colleges in the western dance competition Laasya, folk dance competition Ulhaas, classical dance competiton Yogya, and semi classical face-off Darpan organised by Zenith, the western dance society of DRC and Annhad, the Indian dance society of DRC respectively. Alahyaa, the Indian Music Society of DRC held its annual music fest Aaroh’17 where the leading music societies competed in the different events like Sur Sangam, Jugalbandi and Annhad. Memesis, the theatre society of DRC organised Adakari’17- the theatre festival of DRC which saw a vast multitude of spectators pulled towards the amazing annual productions of the different theatre societies. Annual exhibition Taabeer’17 was organised by Sepia, the film and photography society of DRC. ‘Shades’ was organised by Spectra– the fine arts society of DRC. Tajagna, the quizzing society of DRC hosted Big Fact Hunt- a general quiz. All India Mushairah was also organised. A talent hunt competition was held for the visually challenged students. Events like Promenade by Debonair, the fashion society of DRC and Zaahir-e-Hunar, the open talent hunt, had immense spectation.

Superstar singer Guru Randhawa of Suit, Patola, Yaar Mod Do fame ignited the evening with his peppy numbers, making the crowd dance on their toes. The two-day celebration was drawn to a close with Bollywood hits like Pee Loon, Tere Sang which are credited to the name of the soulful singer Tulsi Kumar.

 

Feature Image Credits: Pinterest

Radhika Boruah
[email protected]

The day before Manjari, the annual cultural fest of Daulat Ram College, saw a Sports Day be conducted. It started off with the entry of the chief guest, Dr. Kuljeet Kaur, who is an athletics champion and alumni of the college, and the Principal, Ms Savita Roy. A round of felicitations then took place, with the chief guest, the Principal, and the organising teachers being recognised. This was followed by recognition and appreciation of the students who excelled in the previous Sports Day. Their hard work was applauded while they were received by a warm welcome from the crowd.

The actual event was an exciting affair, with wide participation from not only the students, but also the teachers. Most surprisingly, even the Principal took part in a couple informal events, which truly lent an element of fun to the occasion. Some of the races included classic favourites such as frog race, spoon race, and three-legged race. Such events brought everyone back to their elementary school days, when these races were the highlight of the school year. Apart from this, there were the usual formal sports events. These included distance races such as the 100m race, long jump, and so on.

Once the competitive events were concluded, there was an awards ceremony where all the winners were presented with their prizes. All in all, the day concluded on a note of laughter and excitement, and got both the students and teachers all hyped up for Manjari in the consequent days. It was a successful event that left everyone with a high.

Feature Image: Daulat Ram College Cricket Team

Vineeta Rana
[email protected]

On 11 and 12 February 2017, the debating society of Daulat Ram College organised Vichaar, an Indian youth parliament. This was the inaugural edition of the conference, which took place after nearly four months of intense planning and commitment.

The conference simulated a number of committees, from conventional ones like the Lok Sabha, the Chamber of Princes, and the Research and Analysis Wing, to the highly specialised and unexpected Akbar’s Court of Navratnas. The esteemed executive board that conducted the discussions in the committees allowed both experienced debaters as well as newcomers to learn more about contemporary issues and find viable solutions to them. The various agendas that were the points of deliberation were in reference to sedition, the integration of India at the time of Independence, terrorist attacks, and unified religion. The variety of opinions and the characterisation of delegates as parliamentarians truly added to the dramatic and enjoyable nature of the conference.

The weekend was vibrant with delegates dressed up as their portfolios in traditional Indian attire. While the college buzzed with excitement and anticipation for the beginning of the event, the opening ceremony gave everyone a glimpse of the executive board and the organising committee. As the Founding Secretary General, Shubhi Vadehra, stated, “The motivation to organise the simulation of Indian committees came from our daily lives being hugely impacted by national issues. Any law that is passed by the government affects an affluent businessman as well as a village farmer immensely. We plan to provide the participants with the ability to work on such issues and respond to national concerns.”

This goal was duly achieved as both delegates and the executive board agreed that the committees were prolific and the conference was a rewarding experience. The end of the event saw resolutions passed in committees as solutions to the concerns that were raised. The closing ceremony included prizes being given out to the best delegates as well as the executive board being recognised. The heads all talked about the conference being a success and about fruitful debate taking place. Finally, the debating society as a whole surprised the Secretary General, who is also the society President, with a small memento. The two-day extravaganza concluded with a sense of accomplishment and fulfilment for all parties involved. The first edition of Vichaar is only the beginning of a legacy for the debating society of Daulat Ram College.

Image Credits: Indian Press, Vichaar

Vineeta Rana

[email protected]

On January 18, 2017, at the onset of a new semester, a first year student of Daulat Ram College was sexually assaulted by an employee of the Indian Overseas Bank that is inside the college. The incident came to light after the victim decided to share it with an ABVP activist in her college. “She came to me to ask whether she could leave the college. She was shivering. When I asked her why she wanted to leave, she broke down and told me that the man had unzipped her jacket and touched her inappropriately,” said Priya Sharma, the activist with whom the incident was first shared.

The 52 year old accused, Devinder Kumar, had apparently helped out the victim when she needed funds for her mother’s treatment. She lost her father a few years back and stays with her mother and an uncle in the Moti Nagar area. The accused also offered her a ride to college, claiming to live in the same area, which she accepted. The victim said he had made her uncomfortable prior to the incident as well, touching her under the pretense of changing gears while driving, but she put it down as an accident and chose to ignore it. She was traumatised when it happened again on their commute to college. Before she shared her plight with Priya Sharma, she had decided to not report it and instead drop out of college. The college authorities were made aware of the case after a few other college students wrote a letter to the Principal, who then reported it to the police. The Prinicipal of Daulat Ram College, Savita Rai, said that the incident took place around 11:45 a.m., and even though it didn’t take place inside the college, it was reported to the police as soon as it was brought to their notice.

An FIR was lodged at the Maurice Nagar Police Station, where the accused confessed to the crime and was charged under section 354 for molestation, which is a non-bailable offence. Reportedly, the court was supposed to proceed with the hearing for the case from January 19 onwards. The victim is currently undergoing counseling.

Feature Image: wired.com

Radhika Boruah

[email protected]

 

The student union elections were finally held in Daulat Ram College (DRC) after being delayed by a month due to protests and renovations. On 26th October, 2016, thousands of DRC students went on to cast their votes to elect the Student Union for the year 2016-17. Most posts saw close competition between the contenders, especially for the posts of general secretary and cultural secretary. The option of NOTA (none of the above) was also a popular choice, with a count of 103 for the post of treasurer.

The results were announced around three hours after the voting ended. The newly elected union celebrated their victory with music and dancing in the college premises. The Student Union for the year 2016-17 is:

President – Nishita Narwal

Vice President – Rajni Upadhyay

Treasurer – Tamanna Chaudhary

Proctor – Prachi Goswami

General Secretary – Surbhi Hooda

Cultural Secretary – Rakshanda Bhat

Joint Secretary – Sanchita Jain

Image Credits: Bhavesh Bellani

Vineeta Rana

[email protected]

With climate change and their impact being a much debatable topic nowadays, one of the major culprits for our degrading environmental quality is considered to be air pollution. Thus, it is a matter of deep concern for all developing as well as developed nations to take concrete action towards it, and create a center stage of all challenges particularly by developing nations. Recognizing the urgency of this issue, a team of students and teachers from Daulat Ram College undertook Project Urban Air (DR-309) under the University of Delhi Innovation Project Scheme 2015-16. The aim of the study was to identify the monetary benefits that can be reaped by the citizens of Delhi along with health benefits as a result of reduction in air pollution.

The project was initiated under the guidance of Prof. M.N Murty, and headed by Mrs. Pooja Sharma, Mrs. Prarthna Aggarwal Goel and Mrs. Pooja Jain.

The team of students comprised of the following:  Rupeesha Galhotra, Srishti Gupta, Drishti Narula, Phalguni Sanghi, Juhi Dugar, Chitranshi Singh, Pragati, Mansi Goyal and Bhoomi Aggarwal.

The study has been based on primary data collected through extensive surveys across various localities of Delhi. The questionnaire covered various socio-economic and health aspects of the households. Data regarding pollution levels across seasons was also collected from various monitoring stations of CPCB and DPCC. Hence, the results have been formulated to evaluate people’s willingness to pay to reduce air pollution, household production of indoor pollution, health expenditure and the noxious substances like CO, NO2, SO2, PM2.5 and PM10 released in the air, thereby worsening the air quality.

Project surveys undertaken by the team
Project surveys undertaken by the team

Through the project, the students aim to impart awareness concerning various determinants of air pollution and highlight not only the health impact but also the monetary gain derived from a reduction in pollution. Through this study, the students hope to make a positive impact in the fight against the deteriorating air pollution by making the problem more understandable to the layperson; and also appeal to the relevant authorities to take effective, concrete and long term actions to combat the rising menace.

As a part of the project, on 19th March, 2016 the team organized a seminar on the topic – Air Pollution and Health: Issues, Challenges and Policy – which brought together eminent scholars in the field of health and economics to engage in an enlightening discussion with the students about the given topic. The panel included the project mentor, Prof. M.N Murty (visiting Prof. at Teri University), Dr. Dipankar Saha (Senior Director at CPCB), Chirashree Ghosh (Associate Professor at Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi) and Surender Kumar (Professor at Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics).

Team Urban Air with eminent scholars invited at the seminar
Team Urban Air with eminent scholars invited at the seminar

The team has also published its findings in the DU journal of Undergraduate Research and Innovation titled ‘Air Pollution Reduction and Health Impact Analysis’ (ISSN no: 2395-2334) and presented a paper in the First International conference organised by Academic Fora on the theme ‘Medical, Medicine and Health Sciences’. They will present once again in Jawaharlal Nehru University, in the near future.

Team presenting its paper at International Conference organized by Academic Fora.
Team presenting its paper at International Conference organized by Academic Fora.

 

In recent times, the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Youtube etc has become an integral part of our lives. The new technological developments have made internet an innovative way of communication. Under the University of Delhi Innovation Project Scheme 2015-16, Daulat Ram College undertook Project 307, “An Empirical Study of Using Social Media for Facilitating Effective Students’ Learning”.  The objective of this innovation project is to examine how incorporating social media into teaching process can contribute to students’ learning, engagement, and their academic performance.

TEAM:

Principal Investigators- Ms. Malini Sharma, Ms. Pooja Khanna, Ms. Divya Gupta, Mr. Naresh

Student Members- Akshita Nidhi, Bharti Sharma, Bhavya Gupta, Gunjita Dhingra, Harshita Wadhwa, Hiya Saharia, Shaivya Gupta, Smriti Banati, Snigdha Sharma, Vaishnavi V.G.

In this project, primary data has been collected through an online pre-test and post-test survey administered to a sample of Daulat Ram College students (in the experimental group and the control group). With the experimental group, social media has been used for various types of academic and co-curricular discussions. The two group’s differences in engagement and marks are analyzed using statistical software SPSS. This study investigates the acceptability of social media for collaborative learning and the possibility of using it as an effective teaching tool.

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This project also supports the ‘Digital India Initiative’ of the Government. Incorporating social media in higher studies will have a beneficial effect on both students as well as the teachers. Teachers and students would be able to communicate even after the classes. Teachers would be able to stimulate the thought process of the students by launching dialogs. Through social media we can reach out to the students in remote areas and improve the educational system of the country.

Various workshops and seminars have been conducted under this project to spread awareness regarding positive impact of using media in higher studies. Also extensive surveys have been conducted in schools across Delhi and Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) to analyse the impact the media clubs on students.

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The team has presented papers in various conferences and has also won the best paper award. They have presented papers at International Conference of Women Empowerment in Digital India supported by M.P Govt, International Conference at Daulat Ram College sponsored by ICPR, International Conference held at Indian Federation of United Nations Association (IFUNA) and International Conference on Business Management and Social Innovation.