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Students of Hindu College Protest Against New Hostel Criteria

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Hostel dwellers of Hindu College protested in front of the Principal’s office against the new stricter criteria of attendance and GPA to be maintained to retain hostel accommodation in the second and third year by residents.

Recently, the newly-elected Students’ Union of Hindu College, led the protest against the hostel administration, as allegedly the college administration was threatening them by making calls to their families, and disciplinary action in terms of electricity cuts was imposed on the students.

The Union claims this was a protest to demand their rights. It was also said that these stricter rules were just to discourage the students to avail hostel facilities. The students also believe that the increase in fees of hostel facilities is just to pave way for privatisation of hostel in the coming years.

Delhi University (DU) Hostel for outstation students, who cannot afford the expensive PG life that Delhi has to offer, works as a suitable alternative. However, one must question the relevance of this protest.

Two years ago, the College Hostel administration had decided that only those who get above 6.0 CGPA in the Arts stream and 6.5 in the Science stream and who have above 67 per cent attendance will be able to retain their hostel accommodation.

Last year the it had been increased from 6 to 6.5 for the Arts stream and from 6.5 to 7.0 for science stream and the attendance criteria had also been increased to 75 per cent.

Many students were affected by this criterion, as it was stricter and student weren’t made aware of this earlier. However, no immediate protest took place.

There are few arguments that show this protest as a political move than a liberal one.

A Hindu College student who lives in the boys’ hostel, under conditions of anonymity told DU Beat, “The protest is not for the rights of the students. As the students of this year were well aware of the new rules as mentioned in our undertaking. The GPA and attendance criteria were mentioned.”

The Statement of undertaking is a legal binding document that is made signed by each hostel dweller. It is done so to make the students accountable for the conditions they have agreed on to avail hostel facilities.

As all the students had signed the undertaking in their complete senses, without any use of force, their right to protest against the rules is invalid legally.

Other than this, what is more astounding is the fact that when these rules were first implemented a year back, no protest or resistance took place, neither by the hostel dwellers nor the student union. The sudden need for protest raises questions of the intention of the protest.

Whether the protest was necessary or not, one must not forget that the hostel facility is the only way many outstation students can afford to study in DU.

For the update on the protest that took place, another student in anonymity told DU Beat, “There was only one protest by the newly elected Students’ Union and the other inmates. It was just really a one-evening-thing, and was resolved (called off) when they finally discussed the issue with the Principal.”

 

 

Feature Image Credits:  Yaksh Handa for DU beat

 

Chhavi Bahmba 

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Student-Teacher Relations in College vs School

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The adrenalin rush on the first day of college, to the jitters on the first day of fests, college gives you a taste of it all. But how different is the teacher-student equation in college from the equation in school? Let’s find out.

For most of us, the transition from school to colleges has been fascinating at the very least, as we learn to navigate through the freedom in the college corridors. After twelve years of getting discipline ingrained into every cell of our body, college sweeps in like fresh air. This evolution from schools to colleges impacts our relationships too- be it friendships, or teacher-student relationships. While our friendships also change as we enter the Delhi University (DU), there is a stark difference in the way our relationships build with professors in DU.

In schools, we were used to the everyday prayers and good morning greetings as soon as the teacher entered the class. In DU, though, the obligatory “good morning, ma’am/sir” rituals bid you farewell.

A prime characteristic of the teacher-student relationship in school life was the presence of this teachers’ pet, no matter the school or the subject. The child who would always butter up the teacher and volunteer for all the work (and who we all were secretly annoyed with) to get those extra two marks in exams. However, in college, barely any of that works. “Forget favouritism from professors, they teach and that’s it. That buttering doesn’t work here,” says Leha Biswas, a student at Lady Shri Ram College.

In schools, we always had this one teacher who would make it their mission to personally be updated with what is happening in their students’ lives. Through summons to the staff room to hushed conversations in the class, this teacher knew more about you than your classmates did. At the same time, you could somehow always count on them to get you out of those principal’s detentions. In college, though, the relationship cools down. “I have the coolest teachers, so we have a professor who would be leaving soon, we told him that we would miss him. His response was the best – “Oh come on, it’s too soon to miss me.”

We all were also very used to the teachers scolding us for not finishing our classwork, for not submitting our assignments, for not faring well in exams, for not being quiet in class, for not… you get the point! School was indeed a second home where sometimes the only right way to behave was how your superiors wanted you to. Coming to college did make us all realise it is okay to let go sometimes. Moreover, the professors don’t mind a few mass bunks, which was a sin back in school. Harsh Singh, a first-year student at Shri Ram College of Commerce said, “In just the first week of college we bunked a class, casually walked our way to Hudson lane for lunch! I guess this sounds quite normal, but for people coming fresh from school where all sorts of fire alarms would go off and the school would come charging at you with tear gas bombs, lasers, and tranquillising darts, even if you step out of your classroom in a free period, I must say that there is definitely some contrast here”.

Teachers at DU have an ornamented CV, jewelled with achievements and degrees. Well, it would be tough to generalise them, but, if you love your course then they would make you sing. Nevertheless, they would make you yawn as well! They don’t restrict you to be glued to your books – they want you to participate (but not too much!). They address every taboo for which you were shush-ed in school. They know that their students are adults and dialogues form a part eventually. Be it the menace of the education system or random talks, casual to heated discussions are pretty usual.

And let’s address the elephant in the room; they do know your craze for the much-awaited fests. And hold on for a second, brushing off the dust from books ten days before semester examinations, well that is not a secret, professors know that deal! The attendance fiasco, although, remains a challenge as getting their sympathy over Extra Curricular Activities is a hard nut to crack.

Where school provided comfort, college provides novelty. Nighat, a first-year student at  Aryabhatta College says, “In school, we were attached to the teachers on an emotional level. In college, we can relate to our professors on a spiritual level.”

Both relationships have their own charms. Familiarising ourselves with the new environment should not make us forget our roots. And as students, it is for us to cherish our school teachers and look forward to our college professors!

 

Feature Image Credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat

 

Priyanshi Banerjee

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Satviki Sanjay

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DU Employees Suffer As the Delhi Government Fails to Pay Salaries

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Over 2,700 teaching and non-teaching staff of 12 Delhi University (DU) colleges did not get salaries for the last two months as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government continues to withhold release of funds over non-formation of Governing Bodies (GB).

Out of the 28 DU colleges, 16 get only 5% of their funds from the Delhi Government while 12 receive 100% funding.

The GBs, comprising members nominated by the university and the Delhi Government, take all decisions for the smooth functioning of a college, including the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff.

Some Principals of various colleges across DU wondered why the GB term could not be extended. “In the past, the term has been extended for almost six months. It can also be done now until the process of formation of the Governing Body is completed,” said a Principal whose college receives 100% funding. “The government should understand that we have to pay salary to the staff and their arrears.”

Dhananjoy Shaw, Principal of Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences (IGIPESS), said the fund crunch has affected student activities as well. “We haven’t been able to pay salaries to our staff for two months. Since some student activities had been planned before, we are executing them at the lowest possible cost,” he said, adding that managing day-to-day expenses will be difficult from October.

A contrary argument came to the fore when an official in the Delhi Government said that DU is insisting on not forming GBs in these colleges. “It is clear that there is an attempt to shield colleges from accountability and intent to continue corruption,” the official said.

“I am able to manage our daily expenditure somehow as this is not my only income source. But there are many employees whose day-to-day expenditures depend completely on their salary. Due to the ego clashes between the Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi, and the AAP Government, it is the employee who is suffering.” another DU official grieves. 

In a protest organised by Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), outside Vidhan Sabha on Friday, staff members said that “uncertainty in getting salaries has led to crisis” in these 12 colleges. “The worst-hit are the teaching and non-teaching staff working on ad hoc or contract basis,” DUTA said in a statement.

Delhi University College Karamchari Union (DUCKU) plan to sit on strike on 1st and 3rd October. 

The Vice-Chancellor and Arvind Kejriwal did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Feature Image Credits: DNA India

 

Bhagyashree Chatterjee 

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Delhi University Stands Against Climate Change

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Under the shadow of the Global Climate Strike and the increasingly popular students’ movement, Fridays for Future, the Delhi-based revolutionary student group, COLLECTIVE organized a discussion on the climate crisis at the Faculty of Arts on the 20th September.

The slogan of the event was “System change not Climate change” and through the discussion, the group sought to educate and invite people to join the movement against climate change.

The event saw speeches from students and professors from various departments of Delhi University. The range was incredible, mostly because it was a very free and organic discussion. Everybody was encouraged to speak about their understanding of climate change and their battles with it. It was littered with informative statistics and unsettling personal experiences. The event was organized with the immediate goal of highlighting the United Nations Conference on Climate Change which is to be held on the 23rd September. Sourya, a member of COLLECTIVE, said, “If this conference happens like its predecessors, then we’re well aware of the positions that will be taken. Profit-making multi-national corporations are given leeway to abuse the resources in the name of development. Strong statements are never made and they continue to be pardoned”. He also stressed on the need for radical change in the way governments and citizens approached climate change. “Personal lifestyle changes are important, but when the situation is so grave that every year Chennai sees a severe water shortage, Mumbai sees forest fires and more of Assam continues to go underwater, radical systematic changes have to be made”, he added.

A thread connecting all these different speeches was about the importance of recognizing the politics of climate change. The issue can no longer be viewed in isolation, it’s marred with the politics of inequality. The first speaker introduced this by speaking of the Carbon Credit System, “the developed countries have devised this innocuous-looking and a very mischievous tool called carbon credit system. Instead of reducing their carbon emissions, they buy carbon credits from poorer countries which naturally do not release as much carbon. In this way, they technically exceed their emission limit and with the help of money, they pass on the worst effects of global warming to poorer countries. They bypass their own commitments to the international committee.” Richer nations and rich individuals even within poorer countries have massive carbon footprints, but ultimately they also have the resources to protect themselves from the effects of climate change. The brunt of higher temperatures and polluted water bodies is faced by the poor and the marginalized. “Social justice is inherently linked to aspects like these”, he added.

Only the rich can protect themselves in the war against climate change, the poor inevitably become casualties. To illustrate, Professor Debjani, from Indraprastha College for Women, spoke to the crowd about climate refugees. In her home state, West Bengal, the Sunderbans are increasingly being submerged due to rising sea levels. “These are people like us, ordinary people, thousands of people whose livelihoods and homes are being destroyed due to some effect of climate change”, she said. “If someone is doing something in North America, it affects all of us.”

The lack of Government interest in Climate Change was also pointed to. “The only thing our government has done to acknowledge climate change is to change the name of the Environment Ministry to ‘The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change’. Every year we witness the same events, water shortages and floods in the country, but we normalize it. It is never discussed in Parliament, we will not stop until the Prime Minister takes notice and makes climate change a national issue. In western countries, citizens are threatening to occupy Parliament if leaders do not introduce effective legislation, we need to do the same”, a speaker added. Statistics were discussed highlighting that India’s major cities like Delhi and Bangalore will become uninhabitable by 2030 because of zero groundwater levels and the quality of air.

While legislation points towards trying to bring change within the capitalist and neo-liberal global framework, some speakers spoke about a more radical change. Professor Sudha from Delhi School of Economics defined climate change differently. “Climate change is the inevitable outcome of capitalism. The essence of capitalism is to keep growing and keep increasing profits. This can only happen at the cost of resources. It’s contradictory to discuss a movement against climate change within the capitalist framework. We cannot be concerned about climate change without being concerned about capitalism. The system of production and consumption has to change.” She urged listeners to separate their ideas of happiness from that of materialistic joy. She left the crowd with a million-dollar question, “Is it better to live a life with more things or with more time?”

In that context, speakers also spoke about not letting corporations fool you. “The solution to climate change isn’t green finance or green economy. These are just more products created by the capitalist to sink us deeper into capitalism. The problem is with commodifying natural resources. Climate capitalism is about generating crisis to make more profit”, a speaker added.

A very powerful speech was made by a student who lives in Jim Corbett. He spoke about how capitalism is destroying his home. “Growth is a capitalist conspiracy. They pollute the planet, you get sick. You go to their hospitals and contribute to their profits. Cities become unbearable and they lure you out for a well-needed vacation. You leave Delhi and go to my hometown and stay at their resorts. We are hostages of this conspiracy and we are making them rich at every step while they destroy the planet.” He also spoke of a possible solution, “If each of you speaks to a few of your friends, in the next two years we can have a climate army. An Army so powerful that no politician would dare tread on this road in front of Arts Faculty.”

After the speeches, the organizers conducted a postcard campaign where all the attendees addressed the Prime Minister about the crisis of Climate Change. This event bought forth multiple important viewpoints and quietly but effectively spoke about the urgency of change. “Do we just want to preserve the status quo or do we want to change the system?”

Feature Image Credits: Noihrit Gogoi for DU Beat

Pragati Thapa

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Reality Check: Mental Health Care in the University of Delhi

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The state of mental health care is in dire need of improvement so that it can cater to what is now emerging as one of the leading problems among students.

College life is perhaps the most unique part of a person’s life. It is a world away from the idiosyncrasies of the school. It is the beginning of a new life; a life which brings joy, ambition, and freedom. A life which also brings in stress, and anxiety. The stress of living away from home for the first time, the stress of becoming productive, the stress of getting into new relationships, and the stress of internals. As we find ourselves in this whirlpool of emotions, it gets very easy to lose track of ourselves.

“When we enter college life, it is drastically different from school, you leave your protected bubble and enter the real world. You do things you have never done before. And all that takes a toll on you, especially adjusting to a new life when you barely know anyone around you. A counsellor is a really good buffer zone to help you adjust to the new life and even deal with the great academic pressure,” said Nighat, a student of Psychology from Aryabhatta College.

This is where a college counsellor comes in. A counsellor is a professional designated by the institution to help students deal with their problems — be it mental, psychological, academic, social, or economic — in a productive and effective manner. While some colleges like Hindu College, Miranda House, and Daulat Ram provide a counsellor, there are many colleges without the provision for one. Even when colleges do provide a counsellor, they are often inaccessible to the students. On speaking to a number of students, we found that most were not aware of the presence of a counsellor on campus.

“It is very important to normalise and remove the stigma around seeking a counsellor. Sometimes, just talking to friends does not work. A counsellor is someone who can guide you better. It is only recently that I have seen changes in the perception regarding mental health. I have been working here since 2014. Earlier, the students used to come with hushed voices and quiet footsteps, to not alert anyone else. It is only now that I’m seeing a change where students come in more freely,” said a counsellor from a University of Delhi (DU) college.

With the increase of awareness, there has been a surge in the mental health events or workshops being conducted during “Mental Health Awareness Week” by the Psychology Departments of various colleges. These workshops are usually in collaboration with mental health organisations, where several University students also volunteer. These organisations have become very popular among young college students as they organise poetry sessions, anxiety management activities, and much more. Apart from the college counsellors, there is also the Delhi University Women’s Association which offers counselling services at nominal charges.

What should be noted is that the onus to work for better mental health should not begin and end in a designated mental health week. It should also not be restricted to departments. There should be a regular availability of a skilled counsellor, authorities should take the onus to ensure interactions between the counsellor and the students, and basic facilities should be provided for the same. Few college societies have worked towards this, by using peer mentoring and understanding the importance of catharsis through sharing.

The counsellors should be more involved within the fabric of the college, since becoming a familiar and approachable face is of utmost importance. For a long while now the importance of mental health has been undermined, and it is time that it gains the momentum it deserves.

 

Feature Image Credits: Friends’ Corner via Facebook

 

Satviki Sanjay

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Shivani Dadhwal

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Bazinga: Issue of New ID Cards for All Students of the University

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The University of Delhi (DU) has decided to introduce common ID cards for students in order to lessen the biasing which exists within the colleges and promote the university as a whole on a new front. 


The layout of the new id cards have been finalized and approved by the an Academic committee comprising of seven current Principals and three retired Principals of DU.

Several politicians have approved of this move as an attempt to bring the University under one common umbrella as this will allow students to access various resources of the University easily, without being restricted by the ‘college’ barrier in order to avail the facilities the University provides. The common ID cards will also terminate the existence of the ‘Library Cards’ thereby effectively bringing forth the idea of having one common pass for accessing all what DU has to offer.

Although the decision comes at an odd time, with the new session already in swing, Prof. Kamlesh from the committee quotes, “Having a common ID card is a decision with the ultimate objective of benefitting the students. It will remove the barriers and segregations and allow the University to be seen as one whole sphere.”

The Vice Chancellor has also given a green flag to the decision. 

The decision has roped in both positive and negative feedbacks from the student.

Shreeja Sharma, second-year student from Kalindi College quotes, “Having common ID cards would allow us to freely access the large libraries of various colleges, like IPCW. This will allow us to expand our knowledge base and expose ourselves to more avenues.”

The students from sports quota said this will allow them to train in the best facilities offered by the colleges. Shekhar Vats, a third-year Economics Honours student from sports quota says, “This is a great decision on the part of the University. Now we can have access to great sports complexes like the one of Shri Ram College of Commerce for our practices. With great places to practice, our efforts will get enhanced and we’ll bring more laurels to the University.”

Despite the positive changes it hopes to bring in, there has been discontent voiced against the move of having common ID cards.

Annanya Sharma from St. Stephen’s College has said, “Allowing ID Cards without the name of college would allow student politicians from ABVP and NSUI to disrupt the academic atmosphere of non-affiliated (to DUSU) colleges. We strongly condemn this move and will ask other non-DUSU colleges to join us.” (sic.)

The issue has been seriously taken up by the non-affiliated colleges and they have decided to protest against this sudden move in front of the Law Faculty the next Monday, on 23rd September. The fact that no student representation has been there in the committee before bringing in this change will also be voiced during the protest.

A sample template has been created by the committee and is out for comments on improvements and suggestions till 30th September, 2019. This is also present on the University web portal for public scrutiny.

Disclaimer: Bazinga is our weekly coloumn of almost believable fake news. It is not to be accepted, but only appreciated.

Feature Image Design Credits: Amrashree Mishra

Amrashree Mishra

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Arts & Culture

The FOMO of Not Living on Campus

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Early morning classes can kill you on the inside, and the weariness from attending five back-to-back lectures is enough for you to consider dropping out. But, the real heartbreak happens when your friends, who live on campus, make plans to go out at 8 p.m., and you can’t join in because travelling back home takes you two hours alone. In this moment, you truly feel the FOMO of not staying on campus.

Fresh out of the cages of you school life, college becomes synonymous to freedom and fun- to hours of hanging out with friends, to shop, and to go out to drink or eat. You feel unstoppable, the life at Delhi University is famously known for its leisure and easy accessibility to a number of trendy and hip hang-out spots.

And then you receive a churlish reality-check when you realise that travelling to college from places away from campus buries your dreams to the ground. By the time your friends make a plan to go out to eat at someplace you’ve all been dying to go to, you’re halfway across the city at Rajiv Chowk, suffocating with everybody else on the Blue-Line, making to your way to back to Noida, or getting off at IFFCO Chowk after hours of weary travel in a cramped metro with busted air conditioning. Even if plans are made when you’re in attendance, you are unable to join them because that going out with everybody at 6 p.m. means getting done by 8, which inevitable means  reaching home by 9. Assuming you don’t have a curfew, you still say no because boarding the metro during office hours is a person’s worst nightmare.

It is then that you realise that you’ll forever be the “responsible friend” when everyone is drinking, not because you do it out of the goodness of your heart, but because you have to. You know you have no other option- there’s no way you can travel in the metro while you’re wasted, and there’s no way your mother won’t call you once the clock strikes 7, if you decide to stay back and recuperate. It is always missing out on society meets, and then feeling like a slacker when you can’t attend impromptu training sessions because boarding the metro after 4 means hell. You will have to miss out on seminars and unpremeditated extra classes by professors who keep last minute extra classes, and don’t take into consideration that not everybody lives 20 minutes away from college. It is coming to terms that you’ll always, always be tired no matter how much you sleep and that you will need an entire Sunday to catch up on your week’s sleep.

You understand after the first week that your happening school-schedule of falling asleep at 2 a.m. will be going down the drain because you will start falling asleep at 10 p.m.- even before your parents-to wake up at 6 a.m. and feel like an old person. And lastly, it’s the feeling of wanting to abandon your ancestral roots of being non-violent and floor a person the moment they say, “just shift to campus na, yaar!”

Feature Image Credit: Ivy Marketing

Shreya Juyal

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Ram ke Naam: ABVP and SFI Clash in Ambedkar University

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Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP) and Students Federation of India(SFI) had a violent conflict due to the screening of the documentary Ram Ke Naam in the Kashmere Gate campus of Ambedkar University Delhi(AUD). 

 

On the 30th August, Ambedkar University Delhi(AUD) branch of the Students Federation of India(SFI) organised the screening of the documentary Ram Ke Naam by Anant Patwardhan in their Kashmere gate campus when they were disrupted by members of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP) and were asked to stop the screening. The screening was organized in solidarity with the students of the University of Hyderabad who were recently detained by the police for organizing a screening of the same.

 

The documentary explores the campaign waged by the Hindu-nationalist Vishva Hindu Parishad to build a Ram temple at the site of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, as well as the communal violence that it triggered.

 

The representatives of the ABVP claimed that the SFI did not have proper permission and they should’ve sought permission beforehand. They said that the SFI intimidated the administration and gathered last-minute permission.

 

However, SFI denied all these claims stating they took all measures beforehand.

 

According to the SFI, The screening started at 2:45 and a few minutes into it, a few men barged into the room and turned on the lights. They began speaking about how their caste sentiments were being hurt by the screening of the movie. “Main brahman hoon and meri sentiments ko hurt karti hai yeh,” said one of the men present.

 

Mr. Siddharth Yadav, State Secretary for the ABVP Delhi, told DU Beat ” the ideological issue that they (SFI) were polluting the mind and not giving enough free space for students to judge for themselves whatever they were trying to show is not correct. They can have their version of whatever idea they were trying to represent, but space must be left for the students to judge for themselves. So it was a very biased and propaganda-based presentation that they were trying to make.”

 

Eventually, Dean of Student Services and the Pro Vice-Chancellor had to get involved. A representative of the students’ union asked the officials to ensure that these people leave and the screening continues. When they weren’t able to do so, so the guards had to drag them out.

 

When diplomacy did not work, the goons resorted to violence and tried breaking the projector. They went outside and tried manhandling the guards and throwing tables. Within a few minutes, the power supply was cut off for the entire campus.

 

In conversation with DU Beat, Ms. Shruti M D, Secretary of the Kashmere gate unit of SFI-AUD, said, “There were eight disruptions. The movie is one hour fifteen minutes long but the screening took two and a half hours two complete. We took a laptop and Bluetooth speakers and continued the screening of the movie inside while these people continued their ruckus outside… There were only 50 people in the beginning, but the screening finished with about 200 people who had come. The ABVP guys were less than 10 people.”

 

Utkarsh, another member of the SFI elaborated saying, “about 200-300 AUD students came to resist the 10 goons from ABVP, most of which were not students of AUD. common Ambedkar students spontaneously mobilized. It was a historic moment for AUD”

 

Later during the day, videos of goons vandalizing the campus and protesting the screening spread around Facebook. In one video, a man, who the SFI identified as Rahul Tiwari from ABVP, could be seen throwing a table. In another, members of both parties along with the other students of AUD could be seen in conflict.

 

When asked about the vandalism and destruction of property, Mr. Yadav said, “If there is a video of ABVP throwing tables, it will be headline news. Generally, ABVP is shown as vandalizing but if you investigate more into it, the administration would tell you how intimidating these SFI members were there to attain permissions for the screening…  The person in the video is not an ABVP member but a student activist. Turns out that normal students had also protested independently.”

 

The protest gathered attention and both the faculty and the students of AUD were present trying to make sense of the situation. “I was in my music society meeting when the power broke out. We thought it would be a normal power cut but someone came in and said that the SFI and ABVP were fighting so we tried to rush out of the college. There was a huge crowd and the police were there. I got out of there since I didn’t want to be involved but it was pretty violent.” said a student present.

 

Amidst political differences, accusations of vandalism and destruction of property emerge in a crucial time for ABVP with the DUSU elections just around the corner. This year, other student parties have also raised voice against the gundagardi in the North Campus.

 

SFI in their official statement wrote that they will continue waging a fight in defense of the secular and pluralistic ethos of our nation.

 

Featured Image Credits- AUD

 

Satviki Sanjay

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Rajib Ray Elected As DUTA President For Second Term

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Rajib Ray, on Friday, was elected as the president of DUTA for the second term, defeating AK Bhagi by 269 votes.

Rajib Ray was elected as the president of Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) for the second term, on Friday.

Ray, belonging to Left-affiliated Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) defeated right-affiliated National Democratic Teachers’ Front’s (NDTF) candidate AK Bhagi by a margin of 269 votes.

Elections took place on Thursday with a turnout of 82.36 per cent where Ray managed to win 3,750 votes in comparison to Bhagi’s 3,481 votes. 518 votes were found to be invalid, according to officials.

Speaking on his victory, the second time DUTA president said, “It’s a significant win for me and the DUTA because, despite getting little relief in the last two years, teachers have kept faith on the Union.”

Ray elaborated upon the issues faced by teachers of the varsity and laid out his plan for the tenure as he said, “I have to enable all DUTA Executive members, regardless of their political or ideological affiliations, the most confident and conducive ground to fearlessly raise issues and work for teachers.”

“The union and this University owe a lot to the contribution of our colleagues who have been working on a temporary and ad-hoc basis. They deserve to be absorbed in permanent jobs. DU teachers also need time-bound promotions and seniority restored to them. That is non-negotiable. DUTA will put a focused effort in this direction”, he further added.

Further augmenting his vision for the teachers, he said, “Teachers are extremely unhappy with the NEP in its present form. We will continue to put pressure on the Government to be more open-minded about the policy framework and make changes that are genuinely pro-teacher. The educational policy must strengthen the public-funded system rather instead of weakening its foundations.”

Rajib Ray was elected as DUTA president in 2017 as well. The tenure of a president lasts for two years.

 

Featured Image Credits- Democratic Accent

Image Caption- Rajib Ray belongs to left-affiliated Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF).

 

Shreya Agrawal

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Fit India Movement Launch in Delhi University

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The convention hall of the Delhi University (DU) saw students from all across the university attending the live screening of the launch of The Fit India Campaign by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on the occasion of National Sports day.

 

“I want to see you fit and make you fitness-conscious”, said PM Narendra Modi in his last

Mann Ki Baat session. This planted the seeds for the Fit India campaign, a nationwide movement which aims to encourage people to inculcate physical activity and sports in their everyday lives. The campaign is launched on National Sports Day which is celebrated on 29 August every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of the hockey legend, Major Dhyan Chand.

 

A live screening of the launch event of the Fit India Campaign was organized by the Sports Council of the University of Delhi at the Convention Hall, Viceregal Lodge on 29 August 2019. The event which began at 9:30 am saw Dr. Benu Gupta, associate professor, Kirori Mal College deliver the welcoming address to the students.

 

It was followed by the lighting of the lamp ceremony by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Yogesh K Tyagi. To amplify the event, the students of the Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies performed the Sarasvati Vandana.

 

A fitness video was then played which talked about Yoga Day, mental illnesses and the importance of sports in our lives. It delivered the message that the Fit India Campaign is meant to inspire the nation to become more active and take care of themselves. Vinita, a student of Kirori Mal college affirmed saying, “This movement is a very nice initiative, especially for the students, as we feel like our life is just going to college and coming back and sleeping and eating. Through this movement, we can all pledge to be more active.”

 

The live session of the launch of the campaign by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi was then screened at the hall. The program saw a cultural display by the students showcasing different sports followed by an address delivered by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister, in his speech, addressed everyone as students since everyone had been a student at some point in their lives and urged everyone to walk 10,000 steps each day to remain fit. Aditya Malik, a student from Ramjas, commented on the movement and said,” It is a new start of our prime minister so it could lead India to a new stage where we can perform well. In my village, we are not aware of yoga due to illiteracy but efforts by all of us will lead India to a new level.”

 

“I feel that we all should have a routine which keeps us fit. I plan to follow PM Modi’s words and walk 10,000 steps daily.”, said Simran Arora, another student from Kirori Mal College.

 

This event saw students taking a pledge to strive to be more active and making India more fit, a step a day.

 

Featured Image Credits- Rishabh Chauhan for DU Beat

 

Satviki sanjay 

[email protected]

 

Priya Chauhan

[email protected]

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