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Things to Keep in Mind Before Taking Admission in DU

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Dear Aspiring Students,

Here is a list of things I feel you should keep in mind before taking admission into the University of Delhi (DU).

  • ADMISSION PROCESS

The admission process for DU seems tiring, laborious, and everlasting. Trust me, it is. After carefully filling in the forms, wait and have the patience for the cut-offs to come out. Keep in mind your favorable course and calculate the Best of Four (BoF) percentage accordingly. Keep all your documents ready and extra photocopies as well. Upload all essential documents on your Email ID’s and Google Drive for it to be easily accessible in case you forget something. Keep extra passport size photos and Aadhar-card copies of your parents and yourself. Read the UG Bulletin of information available on the website and check if you are applicable for any of the quotas. Keep dates in check (I had marked my calendars), stay in touch with your friends and peers, help each other and support each other.

(Read the DU UG Bulletin 2019-20 here: Click) 

  • EXPLORE

Going for admission procedure to colleges once the cut-offs come out takes time. It might take you a whole day, in the Dilli ki Garmi to get your admission done, and you might have to do this more than once, after subsequent cut-offs come out and you upgrade to different courses and colleges (I did it thrice). You might get tired, but don’t sit in one corner waiting, scared and anxious. The college you go and visit will most probably end up being your home for the next three years. So, explore the canteens, the gardens, the classrooms, the staircases, the markets nearby, the metro stations and bus stands. Familiarise yourself with the environment. It helps in the long run. Take a good company with you, take friends and family, take loads of food and make a picnic out of your admission visit. Make it as fun as you can, as it will be your first experience of being inside the college you will call your own for the next three years.

  • COURSE VS COLLEGE

Many of us don’t score high enough to get our favourite courses and colleges. So, once the cut-off comes out, it becomes a hysterical decision, to chose which course to pursue, and from which college. It will end up in a series of heated discussions between you, your family members, and your well-wishers, and constant visits to websites like collegedunia to read about the ‘scope’ of different courses. Your father will suggest one course, your mother will suggest another college, while you will be at the center of this dilemma, choosing your career just after finishing off with boards (I felt like taking a year-long vacation to decide my college). But in the midst of all this, keep in mind that while making this choice, you might end up losing your preferred course or college or even both, but in the end it won’t matter because once in college, you can helm the journey of your college years to follow the awaited dream you had. You can take your preferred course as an elective and earn a minor degree and participate in different colleges all over the DU circuit to make friends in your favourite college. Although, this decision should be taken with the utmost care, but in the end, you will never regret giving up on one particular thing, because the college life will reward you with so many others that you will be filled up to the brim with happiness and satisfaction.

  • LIFE AT DU

The life at the University is not what you might be envisioning right now, it is not all fun and games, but it is so much more. It is exposure and experience, new friends and families, perspectives and politics, fests and euphoria, academics and attendance, and crowds and metro. It is the flavour of chai that burns at your tongue, and sleepless nights you pull off to finish that one academic paper. It is commuting in an empty metro early in the morning to reach your college on time for an extra class, for it to get cancelled. It is crying, curled up in your bed missing your families, small events and birthday celebrations back home. It is managing the month end with minimal finances asking for udhaar because you are broke. It is also listening to your favourite songs non-stop in the long metro rides, reading your favourite authors or academic papers, it is also celebrating the small festivals you miss back home with your newfound family at college, it is also the breath of relief when you see your parents face to face on a skype call and it is also filling your tummy up with freshly-made Maggi on days you don’t like the PG food. It is a rollercoaster of freshness and it is going to be a beautiful journey!

All the best, students! Make a good choice without any regrets, and enjoy this time to the fullest, you will surely miss it once it is over.

Regards,

Sakshi Arora

 

Feature Image Credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat

 

Sakshi Arora

s[email protected]

 

 

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Campus Central

Concern Over Unfinished, Dusty Road in Front of Ramjas College

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The construction work in front of Ramjas college, which started a month ago to install sewage lines has been creating problems for the daily commuters. The roads were demolished in order to build proper sewage lines, and were hastily and temporarily repaired recently.  

This temporary and haphazard work done by the authorities is creating problems for the students and teachers alike. All the people suffering from breathing problems such as asthma find it difficult to breathe in the air, which is rife with dust particles. It not only aggravates their breathing, but also adversely affects their health.
Archit Singh, a student from the college suffering from asthma said, “I live in the hostel and I fear to go out of the college because the air is full of dust particles.”
Both asthmatic students and professors faced problems as they were unable to attend lectures resulting in huge loss to academics.

The road is not well-developed and is causing problems for the daily commuters. Veethi Khare, first year student of the college says, “I come to college on foot and the damaged footpath is run all over by the vehicles. This makes it quite difficult for the pedestrians to walk as they have no space left.”

It is also a major concern for the disabled people who face problems in crossing the road.
A PwD student Sumer Ram said, “The authorities are not making the road due to which so many PwD students refrain from coming to college. Blind students face problems in crossing the road.”

A student of Ramjas College, Udbhav Sharma wrote an application to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and highlighted the major concerns pertaining to this issue. He said, “Ramjas is a big college of Delhi University and such broken condition of road does not reflect good on the ambience of the college itself.” He also laid emphasis on the problems that the freshers will face, if the road is not constructed well within time.

 

 

Priya Sharma, a first year history student said, “It’s a shame that the administration has not shown any concern towards this. Even around this time, I didn’t come across any signs of improvement. The road is still in the same old condition. Moreover everybody is supposed to go from the main gate, I mean it’d be nice if they can allow people to enter from the other gates.”

Faculty members of the college appealed to the concerned authorities to take the requisite action. Talking to DU Beat, Principal Manoj Khanna questioned the Delhi Jalboard’s inefficiencies in completing the task on time.

Feature Image Credits: Ramjas College on Instagram (@ramjascollege)

Antriksha Pathania
[email protected]

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Admissions

Sports Trial Guide

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The admission process of University of Delhi for the academic session of 2019 has begun. With this, candidates applying for sports quota have the coveted seats up for  grabs. The process is tedious and long, and requires the candidates to go through the requisite trials in their preferred discipline.

Here we will breakdown the whole process into concise steps:

REGISTRATION

The process begins with candidates registering themselves by filling up the online application forms available on the DU University of Delhi (DU)  Undergraduate (UG) portal. They can apply for a maximum number of three games/sport(s). The candidates have to submit an additional fee of Rs. 100 to apply in the sports category. 

The admission is based on two categories 

       1. Direct admission without Sports Trial

The candidate should have represented India in — Olympic Games (IOC), World championship or World Cup by International Sports Federation (ISF), Commonwealth Games by Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Asian Games by Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Asian Championships (ISF), South Asian Games (SAG) by South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC) and/or Paralympic Games by International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to be eligible for this category. They should be recognized and funded by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS).  

  1. Admission On the Basis Of Sports Trial

The admission process under this category requires candidates to go through two stages:

  1. Merit/Participation Sports certificate for 40 marks

The candidates can upload their self-attested copies of three merit sports certificate. However, only the highest value certificate will be considered for the marking. The certificate should fall between the timeline of 01st May 2016 to 30th April 2019 to be considered. The minimum marks required to be eligible for the sports trial is 04.

       2. Sports Trial for 60 marks

The three broad categories of sports in which participants can apply are: team games, dual and combat sports, and individual sports.  The team games include Baseball, Basketball, Cricket, Football, Handball, Hockey, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Netball, Softball, and Volleyball. The dual and combat sports include badminton, boxing, Judo, squash, table-tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis and wrestling. The individual sports include Archery, Athletics, Chess, Diving, Gymnastics, shooting, swimming and weight-lifting.

 

The sports trials will be held in the last week of June. The venue and the timings will be uploaded on the DU website.

The participant can only appear in one event/position/weight category and they should secure a minimum of 30 marks in the sports trials to be eligible for consideration in sports merit list, which will be further forwarded to the colleges.

RESULTS
The list of finally selected applicants will be displayed on the college website for three days. The marks of the sports certificates and sports trials will be displayed on the dashboard of the applicants as well. It is also mandatory for the candidates to submit an undertaking on Non-judicial Stamp paper of INR 100/- stating that he/she will play for the college and University during the course of three years.

Points to be noted:

  • Admission of candidate is solely based on the availability of seats in a course in the college.
  • An applicant’s name appearing in the sports merit list doesn’t guarantee admission in a college.
  • Any grievances pertaining to the marks shall be addressed by the UG Sports Grievance Committee.
  • Any injury/casualty suffered by the applicant during trial will be their sole responsibility.  

Feature Image Credits: Akarsh Mathur for DU Beat

 

Antriksha Pathania
[email protected]

 

 

 

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Around the Campus

Crazy Ideas for Romantic Dates in North Campus

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Being in love at many times leads to a big hole in your pocket. Eating at lavish restaurants and going for fancy dinner dates can only be done at the starting of the month when you’ve just got the pocket money, since by the end of the month we all tend to be broke. But ‘no money’ doesn’t mean ‘no date’. So to solve your problem, we’ve got a list of romantic and budget-friendly places to visit, and things to do with your sweetheart in north campus.

College memories stay with us for life, and so do the memories of college dates. A perfect date, however, doesn’t strictly mean candlelit dinner at a 5-star restaurant. A perfect date is anything that gives you such memories as you will cherish for life. After all, 20 years down the line you will not remember which restaurant you went to, but you will remember if you did anything special with your beloved. You will remember all your crazy dates. So spend your hard earned money on the most attractive luxuries later in life. And for now, enjoy the smaller joys of life with your partner.

Here is a  list that offers you a variety of options, which you can consider for a memorable and romantic date.

  1.    Crazy E-rickshaw experience

North campus and E-rickshaws go hand in hand. But have you ever thought that E- rickshaw rides can be romantic as well? Take an E-rickshaw to any place and be your weird selves on the ride. Or sit at the back of the motor rickshaw, crack jokes, laugh together, and hold on to each other’s hands tightly when you get scared of the vehicles coming in your direction.

  1.    Sudama ki Chai

North campus has various places to visit — from Kamla Nagar to Hudson Lane to Majnu ka Tila. One such place amongst these is Sudama Tea Stall located on the road between Kirorimal and Ramjas college. This place is perfect if you are on a stroll with your better-half and want to stop for some chai. Sudamaji has been serving tea for the last 24 years, and it remains open till midnight because it is visited by an enormous number of people. It is the best and the cheapest place for a nice session of chatting and laughing over steaming cups of tea.

  1.    A Romantic Bicycle Ride

Bicycle rides can never be boring. When you have nothing to do on a pleasant evening, then take your partner on a bicycle ride. You can lend bicycles from Vishwavidyalaya metro station at Rs 10 per hour, and go to Kamla Nagar for food-stall hopping; enjoying each other’s company and some good food. Visit random lanes, have ice-creams from the street vendors, and remember to enjoy yourselves.

  1.    A walk around the campus

The campus has a lot to offer and the best thing that two people can do is go on a walk hand in hand through the campus exploring different places like arts faculty, science faculty and the road near Kamla Nehru Ridge. You can go college hopping and click selfies in front of the colleges, exploring the various regions in the campus.

  1.    A Lazy Evening at the Ridge

If you and your partner are history geeks or heritage lovers – and are not afraid of monkeys – then going to the Ridge is a good idea. Exploring history together and getting cosy in the desolate place can be a fun experience. Also go there only if you are not afraid of the haunted stories that revolve around the khooni jheel. This date might turn out to be the most adventurous one!

  1.    What is better than college canteens?

Being a north campus student gives you the best experience of the campus life because of the proximity of all the colleges. Another perfect idea for a romantic, yet simple date is to go and visit the canteens of all the colleges and try some special dishes everywhere. You might remember what you ate where, and laugh about how you convinced the security guards to let you in, a few years down the line.

Suggestion: Do not miss out on D-School’s canteen.

  1.   A Walk through VC Lawns

The Vice Chancellor’s garden in North Campus is a great place to spend your evenings. Long walks in pretty lawns are always a perfect idea for two people who are in love, as this gives you some quality time with each other, away from the hustle-bustle of your lives. So the next time when you both feel that you do not have anything to do, then buy some snacks for yourself from the vendors there, and go for a walk hand in hand; striking some romantic conversations.

  1.    Shopping at Kamla Nagar

We all shop at high-end malls as a habit. To make your shopping experiences more memorable, take your date for shopping in the streets of Kamla Nagar market and enjoy bargaining with the shopkeepers there, who are easily annoyed and annoying, but always entertaining.

 

The campus also has a range of restaurants and pretty cafes that one can always go to. But the lunch dates at expensive cafes are never going to be like the conversations you strike while strolling through VC lawns. So go and create some crazy memories with your sweetheart that you will cherish for life.

 

Feature Image Credits: Tripoto

 

Priya Chauhan

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DUB News

Retirement Row: High Court Grants Interim Protection of Services to DU Professor

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A month after Professor Meera Sood’s enforced retirement by the Principal of Vivekananda College, the High Court (HC) has granted her interim protection of services.

Dr (Professor) Meera Sood, an Assistant Professor of Physical Education at Vivekananda College, received an order by the college Principal stating her retirement age to be 62 years; the stipulated retirement age for professors being 65 years. As reported by DU Beat earlier last month, the order derived its authority from rejecting Sood’s position as a Teaching Assistant Professor, and instead, classifying her as Director of Physical Education.

However, as clarified by Sood herself, a resolution passed in 1991, which determined that physical education teachers should be placed on the faculty roster, allowed redesignation of Directors of Physical Education as Professors.

Sood also mentioned that since the resolution’s implementation, Professors of Directorate Education have retired only after reaching the stipulated age of retirement, i.e., 65.

A Division Bench of the Delhi HC, comprising of Justices Sistani and Jyoti Singh, after a comprehensive hour-long hearing, granted interim protection to Dr Meera Sood. Sood had challenged the alleged illegal and “unreasonable” action of the college Principal.

Sunil Mathews and Sabah Iqbal Siddiqui, Sood’s Legal Counselors argued before the HC that the University Grants Commission (UGC) had stated in Right to Information (RTI) replies and clarifications issued that the retirement age of Associate Professors of Physical education was 65 years, and not 62. The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) also released a statement in this regard, “It was also contended on her behalf that the University of Delhi (DU) had in the case of several other colleges, taken the position that the retirement age of such associate professors of Physical Education was 65 years.”

DUTA’s month-long dharna and relay hunger strike on the issue came to fruition in the form of HC’s judgement. The judgement has been hailed by teachers across the varsity and DUTA.

DUTA President, Rajib Ray said, “DUTA condemns the dishonest and negative role played by the counsels for DU and UGC, and demands their removal, as well that of the Officiating Principal of Vivekanand College, Dr Hina Nandrajog.”

Interestingly, the Division Bench also considered the fact that the Governing Body of Vivekananda College had itself taken the position that the retirement age of Dr Sood was 65 years. Despite this, the Principal of the said college issued a letter that Dr Sood’s tenure as a college teacher would come to an end on May 31, 2019; clearly establishing a case of discriminatory authority.

“Her plea was strongly opposed by Legal Counsel appearing for Vivekananda College, as well as the counsels appearing for DU and UGC,” said the DUTA statement. It also added, “Dr Sood had not obtained any interim protection of her service from the learned Single Bench and therefore was constrained to approach the Division Bench. The Division Bench while granting protection of service till the next date also recorded an undertaking that Dr Sood would return salaries paid if she was unsuccessful in her case and the retirement age was to be held at 62.”

Unfortunately, Dr Sood refused to comment on the issue.

 

Feature Image Credits: The Print

 

Kartik Chauhan

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Admissions

DU to Include MILs in the Academic List for the Upcoming Admission Session

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The University of Delhi (DU) has modified its list of academic subjects to include all 21 Modern Indian Languages (MILs) mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. These languages are Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

The Admission Committee of DU has decided to relieve the students who have an MIL as one of their main subjects by forgoing the deduction in their percentage. Previously, there was a subtraction of 2.5% from the aggregate Best of Four (BoF) if the student had an MIL because these languages were not mentioned in DU’s academic subjects list.

The University’s Standing Committee of the Academic Council wanted to make the admission process more inclusive for the students who generally take the language they speak as an elective subject in class 12th. “This move would be advantageous to the state board students,” says Rasal Singh, a member of the committee as reported by Hindustan Times.

The Committee also decided to include a few state education board subjects, such as those of Uttar Pradesh (UP) Board, Maharashtra Board, Andhra Pradesh Board, and Jammu and Kashmir Board, in the academic list. Till last year, only those subjects which were taught in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) were included in the list. However, this move will bring state board subjects such as Biochemistry from the J&K Board, Civics from the UP Board and Statistics from the Maharashtra Board, etc. under this list. These subjects were treated as vocational subjects and now are considered main subjects.

The students can now consider their state board subjects, which were previously not included, in their BoF and this will not result in any reduction in their overall aggregate. The colleges, till now, were known to provide relaxation in cut-offs only when the candidates took up MILs as a subject while taking admission in B.A. or B. Com. (Programme).

The University has also directed the state board students to get an attested letter from their school in case their class 12th subjects are missing from DU’s academic list. Hence, this ensures that these subjects also get priority as given by the constitution.

 

Image Credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat

Antriksha Pathania
[email protected]

 

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Arts & Culture

How real is virtual reality?

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With new developments in technology, there are lot of speculations and hype surrounding immersive reality and artificial intelligence considering these were the highly sophisticated tech that we used to see in sci-fi movies and now are becoming quite real.

Virtual reality uses all of our senses to create a perception of real world. It engages all our senses in a computer generated simulation which feels quite real. The amount of money that people are investing on this upcoming technology confirms that virtual reality would define the way we perceive our future world. In gaming and entertainment world, virtual reality gives the user a more immersive experience of being part of the simulation. It can provide even an inanimate object life and a world of its own.

Even Facebook is developing Facebook Reality Labs which utilizes virtual reality to create lifelike avatars that will help the users to establish social connections with other people. They give the argument that VR would help people to establish meaningful connections with people living far away from each other.

For someone who wants to recreate a particular nostalgic childhood moment, hang out with friends that are in different parts of world, take virtual tours of cities that you plan to visit and virtually construct buildings, monuments or houses virtual reality would help you to do all this and more.

Technology is fascinating and it has not only captured our imagination but also given us an escape. You can be present in one place physically but mentally you might be immersed in your phone and your own virtual world. This escapist tendencies are highlighted by VR which gives you an immersive alternative world to escape the real life situations and become the part of virtual reality. While it can be argued that escapism is provided by other media as well such as movies, TV, books, etc. we need to keep in mind that none of them involves engaging all of our senses as VR does.

While living a virtual life might be exciting, it needs to be acknowledged that our body is not made for long hours of extensive use of this technology. Our body cannot withstand long hours of VR and experiences cybersickness which can last for hours after continual use of VR.

Virtual reality will also impact the behaviour of humans which will be in contrast to what they portray in reality. Virtual reality will not be bound by societal constraints and limitations, it will have its own environment where people can behave in harmful ways. This can already be seen in social media where people behave in certain way which is quite opposite to their character in real life. This has led to cases of cybercrime which are quite shocking.  Such legitimate concerns can also be applied to virtual reality where the human use of it will determine its impact.

Even though the virtual reality tries to bridge the distance between people and brings them close in a simulated environment there is also a nagging question of what about the real world.? The real concern is what would be the psychological impacts of VR on the humans: would they disassociate from their reality completely or will it help them to overcome their anxiety, depression, etc.
All these questions will be answered when the virtual reality pervades every household and becomes intrinsic part of our lives the way internet did.

Image credits:  J. M. Eddins Jr/US Air Force

Antriksha Pathania
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News

Vivekananda College Denies Admit Cards to Students with Low Attendance; Clashes follow

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Clashes between the students and administration broke out at Vivekananda College Friday as students with low attendance were denied admit cards. The administration is allegedly manhandling the students, the teachers not signing the medical certificates, and the Students’ Union, too, is being uncooperative. 

 Violence broke out in Vivekananda College on Monday when the students whose attendance fell short were not given admit cards. These students also went on a hunger strike from the 30th April to the 1st May.

On 25th April, a list had been circulated, which mentioned the names of students whose attendance was lower than 67%. It also said that these students were not applicable for receiving admit cards unless they presented a medical certificate. The students’ pleas to the administration went unanswered, so they resorted to violence, breaking the windows etc. of the college.

The strike finally came to a halt when the officiating Principal, Dr Hina Nandrajog, met the students. Priyanka, the President of the Students’ Union, said that the Principal agreed to accept medical certificates for the fifth and the sixth semesters. According to our sources, many teachers have refused to sign the medical certificates saying that it is ‘unethical’ and they might lose their jobs if they do.

The detained students haven’t been allowed to enter the college in the last two days, security forces have been deployed to stop them from coming in. A new rule dictates that the students must be accompanied by teachers in order to enter college premises. According to the protesters, the teachers have stopped answering their phone calls.

“Students have protested and a hunger strike also happened but the admin remains unshaken. Now she (the Principal) has banned our entry in the college and there is police force to stop us from entering our own college. We are the ID card holders of the college and still, we are not allowed to enter…(sic) So, I guess that isn’t fair. Though we have short attendance, I guess the principal should listen to us and provide us with a solution rather than just declaring that we need to repeat the session,” said a detained student who wished to stay anonymous.

For many students, the semester exam begins on the 6th of May, and for some, the looming fear of repeating the session hangs in the air. “Some people could have genuine issues and some students have financial issues and cannot repeat the session at any cost. What about them? I do understand the rules of the college but there is a solution if the principal is fair enough,” added another student.

Priyanka denied the allegation that students couldn’t get their medical certificate signed. “They stirred up violence in the college, they protested, I asked them to calm down but they didn’t listen. They must be polite with the teachers and respect them; nothing can move forward otherwise.”

The protesters, on the other hand, claim that the Students’ Union has barely shown any support.

“They didn’t work for us all year, they don’t even come to college these days, they told us that they need to study for their exams and stayed home while we were being manhandled by the administration and the police. How do we trust them?” added another detained student.

“I waited outside the college gate in this heat for hours today, they wouldn’t let me in,” said a detained student “I don’t know what options do we have left anymore, we wrote applications to the principal, Dean of social welfare and the Vice Chancellor of the university. We are awaiting their response.”

Speaking to DU Beat, Sidharth Yadav, State Secretary, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) Delhi said, “Students from various colleges are suffering because the university is strictly imposing the requirement for minimum attendance but have ignored the prerequisite condition of the minimum number of classes in an academic year. ABVP has taken up the issue in various colleges like Vivekanand, Ram Lal Anand, Ramanujan, Janaki Devi Memorial College, Jesus and Mary College, amongst others and we are fighting so that students don’t suffer. The strike by the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) had suspended the classes for a long time and so the students are at the suffering end. Few colleges are even not accepting medical certificates or are not acknowledging ECA certificates. This is a sad state. We demand that either university should have organised tutorial/remedial classes or there should be relaxation to the criteria.

In a video posted online, protesters are seen banging against the big black metal college gate in a fit of rage, they swing it around in hopes to break it open. In light of the same, many from both the teacher and the student community are of the opinion that it was the protesting students who were in the wrong. “These students have very low attendance,” says Bhavya, a student of Vivekananda College. “After being denied the admit card, they resorted to violence. Windows were shattered and they were abusing our principal, after which the principal decided to call the police. A friend told me that the protesters tried to disrupt the practical exams last week. Their behaviour towards the administration was completely unacceptable and wrong.”

The President ensures that most of the students will get their admit cards by Monday; however, the protesters remain doubtful, their future uncertain.

Shakti Singh came to the college on 7th May, broke open the gates along with the protesters and barged into the Principal’s office. Even after repeated pleas of the students, Nandrajog refused to budge from her decision to not grant admit cards to students with attendance of less than 67%.
The protesters even sat in front of her car to block the way, but were forcibly removed by the police. They are thinking of moving to the HC with a case against her.
Today, 8th May, parents of the students will come to the college to have a word with the Principal.

Image Credits: DU Beat

 

 

Jaishree Kumar

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Campus Central

Editorial: Delhi University, It Is Time to Pull Up Your Socks

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To stay relevant in the 21st century – the University of Delhi (DU) needs to let go of its laissez-faire attitude. Read our Editor’s take on why DU is trapped in its own history.

Making it into DU was a dream for so many of us. We battled the unpredictable and exhausting board examinations, obsessed over  cut-off lists, and withstood the impossibly frustrating admission process to finally make it here. Once here, all the effort seemed worth it. To study with the brightest people in our generation, participate in DU’s competitive society culture, absorb its active protest culture, and learn under its brilliant faculty, made it a one of a kind experience. This, coupled with a relatively relaxed attendance policy and reasonable fee, was enough to make this place a dream come true.

However, three years in the University and my rose-coloured glasses have finally worn off. What I saw as the culture of protest is actually teachers and students demanding basic resources and rights. What was seen as thriving society culture is the students’ way to keep themselves occupied and challenged since the varsity offers few opportunities to do so. The affordability of DU is constantly at threat, with newly established schools like Delhi School of Journalism charging a hefty fee and offering sub par education in return. With the Higher Education Funding Agency and the current government’s obsession with privatisation, DU’s accessibility is historically most vulnerable right now.

However, this is not all. The bigger problems with DU are related to its academic rigour. The truth is, towards the end of our three years, there is very little that the institution has taught us.

This facade of DU’s reputation has limited influence; recruiters and major corporations are distinctly aware of how little a DU degree teaches you, which is perhaps why they avoid us like the plague. Navigating the process of landing your first job on your own is chaotic and most people seek the security of campus placements. However, in DU, the word ‘placement’ is reserved for commerce students from the five top – ranked colleges in the varsity. It’s not as if commerce students or those in top colleges are necessarily more skilled than the rest of us but selective elitism goes a long way. The rest, pursuing other “non-employable” degrees in the remaining colleges, cannot aspire to be recruited in any capacity.

Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful to DU for the exposure and experiences but they were by and large the product of the hard work of the students who made societies their life and gave them their competitive edge. Apart from its reputation, there is very little that DU offers us. My resentment stems from the fact that I, like my peers, am horribly under-prepared for the real world. It is responsible to revive the curriculum to make it competitive with other universities, and it is their responsibility to realise that their job does not end by offering students mere theoretical knowledge.

Sports facilities in DU are underwhelming and most sports’ quota students find their own way of training themselves independently. Certainly, there is a funding crisis that the varsity is experiencing and the threat of a bigger impending crisis looms above the surface, but even existing funds aren’t appropriately utilised. For example, in 2017, the varsity returned 108 crores to the University Grants Commission (UGC) because it could not find an avenue to spend it. Three crore rupees allocated by the UGC remained under-utilised and had to be returned as well.

As I reflect upon my three years in DU, I am grateful for the creative minds I got the opportunity to interact with. However, nostalgia has not clouded my judgment and I know that there was so much more that DU could have offered and so much more that I deserved. The only people who graduate from DU and make it in life should not be B.Com. students, IAS officers, rich kids whose resources get them into an Ivy – league college for Master’s or those studying in Hindu, Lady Shri Ram, Stephen’s, and Hansraj. The rest of us also deserve access to an education that teaches us the required skills, has a curriculum abreast with top international universities, and offers us the opportunity that allows us to get employed if we wish to be. Like an egocentric, ageing actor who cannot get over their glory days, DU is iconic but stuck in the past. It needs to catch up with the times and enter the 21st century. After all, reputations alone can only last so long.  

Kinjal Pandey
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

DU Students Speak on Youth and Politics, What is Missing from Political Culture

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In the last part of DU Beat‘s analysis, we look at what the respondents have to say about the role of youth in politics, elements missing from our political culture and some other conclusions.

 After having analysed what the University of Delhi (DU) students, mostly first-time voters, had to say about the government, the opposition, the electoral possibilities and what matters to them as voters, our attention is now turned to questions that aim to understand their views about the larger political sphere.

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When asked about whether they thought if the youth could influence the politics of the country, almost all respondents answered affirmatively – 71.7 per cent saying “yes, in a major way” and 26.4 per cent selected “yes, but in a limited way”.

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A second and related question was whether the respondents had been politically active themselves. Ironically, 49 per cent said they had not.

To give space to respondents to express what they felt about the larger political culture, we asked them what they thought was one major element missing from politics. The responses were not only highly varied, but also threw light on a rather sad state of affairs as brought about by the plethora of shortcomings as perceived by the voter. A majority of them focussed around ideas of accountability, morality and integrity, lack of emphasis on “real issues”, and incompetent leadership and opposition, while some others touched upon the need for a free and strong media and tolerance for dissent. Yet others felt the need for parties to show unity in international matters and put India first.

“Dharm ke sthaan par dharmikta ka chalan,” (The replacement of righteousness by religiosity) wrote Amit Kumar, a student of Shyam Lal College. Shankar Tripathi of Hindu College answered that a “greater acceptance” of student movements, and a safer and workable environment for the same was a missing element. “People take themselves as a subject of government they do not take themselves as a participant in politics,” said Praveen from Dyal Singh College. Some views were rather curious. A student from Kalindi College, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, “Too many rights to common people, they oppose almost every step taken by the government.”

Interesting and varied answers were also given, wherein respondents expressed their general views about the upcoming elections or the political trends – from singular remarks like “NDA>36o”, “Save democracy” and “India should not invite Indira Gandhi Part-2” to lengthy comments.

Namit from Dyal Singh College wrote, “Upcoming elections will be a watershed moment, which will make the picture clear where the country would go in the next 10-15 years. Also, it will be the most difficult election for the grand old party, the Indian National Congress. Eager to see how Rahul Gandhi leads them.”

“The upcoming elections are very crucial not because it is Modi vs rest but because it is choosing between becoming a developed nation or still remain developing. Yes, India is still developing but the pace of development that we have seen in BJP led NDA government is so fast – be it the area of national security, health, education or roads and railways. If now at this point this government is stopped then I believe our graph of development would come down,” wrote Aayushi Agarwal from Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women.

A student from Hansraj College wrote, on conditions of anonymity, “I don’t know if there has been any work done or not. But one thing’s for sure – I don’t feel secure voicing my opinions now as I did before. And no, I am not anti-nationalist, neither a fan of Congress.”

 

Conclusions

 To conclude, it is quite clear that everyone feels a lot is riding on this election. For some, it is about deciding what and how India and its democracy would be going forward; for others, it has got to do with sustaining what has been done in the past five years. In any case, the election is important.
There is also a near-universal realisation that voting based on caste and religion or emotive issues isn’t desirable and that greater emphasis on more pressing issues is necessary. At the same time, there is also an acknowledgement of the absence of that tendency in the current political and electoral scenario.

 

 

Image credits-
1. Cover- DU Beat archives
2. Graphs-  Palak Mittal for DU Beat

 

 

Prateek Pankaj
prateekp@dubeat.com 

 

 

 

 

 

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