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Skills To Acquire By The End Of College

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Whether you’re about to complete your first semester or have started to fill out forms for postgraduate courses, it’s a good idea to begin working towards mastering a few basic skills before you leave college.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single college student in the duration of their undergraduate degree must be in want of the answer to “what am I doing with my life?” Initially, the refrain is followed by a small laugh or dramatic eye-rolling; it is meant to illicit chuckles. However, with time, it takes on darker connotations. The future seems daunting and it hits you that simply misquoting dialogues or lines from books and making pointless, movie-related similes do not qualify as skills. Hence, you should work towards mastering at least a few basic skills before leaving college, in order to qualify not just legally, but also mentally, as an adult.

  1. Cooking

I’m unsure of most things in life, but the fact that I will need food to survive is not one of them. Once you leave the world of hostel/PGs/tiffin services, you’ll need to know how to cook beyond making variations of Maggi and eggs, regardless of your gender.

  1. Sewing

Again, buttons coming out of your shirts or dresses, or those embarrassing tears in your clothes are not gender-specific. Life is also not a Bollywood movie so you can’t rely on your mother/female partner to do it for you. It’s quite easy to learn, really.

  1. Driving

Whether it’s a motorbike, scooty, or a car, you should have mastery over at least one form of transport besides the Metro, even if you don’t own a car. Also, use the bicycle. Don’t feel smug; there may be some people who can’t even cycle to work, though they may be skilled at pointing out how cooking and sewing are their forte.

  1. Performing Basic First-Aid

It will always be useful to know about the basics like bandaging and cleaning of wounds, and if you want to be more advanced, things like Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) as well. You should have some knowledge of medicines and home remedies for basic ailments like cold, cough, stomach problems, body aches, etc. One can’t rely on the internet always, for it can pull a Peter Pettigrew and abandon you when you need it the most. (See what I meant by pointless similes?)

  1. Money Management

If you’re a day scholar, this is especially important, as one becomes complacent with money in the presence of biased human ATMs, better known as ‘parents’.  Learn to make a budget at the beginning of the month, and most importantly, cultivate the habit of saving. It is extremely helpful to have savings for times of emergency.

 

Feature Image Credits: I Will Teach You

 

Rishika Singh

[email protected]

 

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DUB Speak

A Glimpse in the Life of an Off-Campus Student

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Out of 60 colleges that fall under the University of Delhi, at least 20 colleges are not located in ‘primal’ locations – the North and South Campus. Despite forming a decent share of the total students studying in DU, these colleges are often overlooked and their worries not given equal impetus compared to fellow north and south campus colleges.

In light of the recent news reports citing safety concerns for female students of Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, we must address the issues that an off-campus student generally faces. After interacting with several students from the aforementioned category, the following is an attempt to point out the mutual problems and arrive at hopeful solutions-

  1. Hostel/PG Facilities – Out of the 15 Delhi University Colleges that offer hostel facilities, only 2 are off-campus colleges: Maharaja Agrasen College and Keshav Mahavidyalya. Both colleges offer hostels only for girls that too with a very limited capacity. It becomes a daunting task to find PGs especially when the college is in a relatively secluded area. Famous PGs in Kamala Nagar are a go-to for most students in the North Campus, but off-campus students don’t enjoy a similar structure. A lot of times, students rent flats with fellow batch mates where may end up paying higher. There are steps being taken to fulfill the lack of such facilities, as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College and Shaheed Sukhdev College for Business Studies are in the process of building hostels which would be open soon.
  2. Limited reach of on-campus events – Any organiser of an event or a quiz would agree that gathering footfall for society events is a herculean task. Since many colleges are in far-flung areas, students think twice before attending that college’s event in comparison to a North-Campus College where one can miss a couple of lectures and attend the rest. Consequently, finding sponsors for societies is extremely taxing as most sponsors consider an event’s footfall before investing money in the society. A few colleges which enjoy famous reputation may not face this problem, but many which are comparatively newer and not as well-known have to go through a struggle to raise funds.
  3. Lack of University-wide Facilities – Every north campus student can avail the benefits of centralised photocopy shops, university special buses, and has easy access to the parts of Delhi University that are relatively unknown to most off-campus students. Vice Chancellor’s Lawns, DUSU office, Mind and Body Centre, Conference Centre are at the threshold of every North Campus student. To top it, protests and marches are a regular thing in North Campus, and many students are yet to experience the power of dissenting voices through this wonderful medium. Moreover, any news of relevance to the student community reaches late to a student who isn’t in those extreme directions.
  4. Fewer student-centric hangout spots – While north campus has Hudson Lane and Kamla Nagar, south campus has Satya Niketan, off-campus college students end up in varied places each time. Depending on the location, the surrounding locality of the college can either be lackluster, with very few areas of interest or with extremely pricey restaurants that primarily cater to families, barring a few outlets opened for students. College canteen becomes the last resort especially when breaks between classes are of a shorter duration.

In addition to the above, the newer off-campus colleges have to face the brunt of being new.  Students there have complained about lack of exposure in comparison to other colleges with established Placement Cells and decades-old society culture. The management doesn’t entirely trust students and many college rules digress from commonplace practices eg. the system of ECA or Pink Slips is not prevalent in many newer colleges where the management repudiates the students’ requests. An implication of this system of long procedures is heavy focus on academics and figuratively no co-curriculars to participate in. Connectivity is another major problem for students of Maharaja Agrasen College, as the nearest metro station isn’t exactly near to their college.

Regardless of everything mentioned, there are several bonus points of being an off-campus college student. The infrastructure of some off-campus colleges is better than many of its extreme counterparts, DDUC, MAC, and SSCBS being great examples of that. The students who disdain the heavily politicised atmosphere during elections season do not need to fall prey to unnecessary harangues. Opportunities to start new societies tend to be on the higher side, and ways to escape droning lectures are always innumerable. Specialised courses, sprawling campuses, hi-tech facilities, and immense focus on academics steal the spotlight from north and south.

 

Feature Image Credits: So Delhi

 

Vijeata Balani

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DUB News

Delhi HC asks DU Law Faculty to absorb students for the 301 vacant seats

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The Delhi High Court, on Wednesday, asked the Law Faculty of the University of Delhi (DU) to scrap its policy of clubbing two categories.

 

Delhi High Court, on Wednesday, ordered the Law Faculty of the University of Delhi (DU) to fill the vacant 301 seats for the LLB course, based on the petition filed by a group of students who failed to get admission in the last academic year (2016-17), due to the varsity’s step of clubbing the 2,310 seats with 301 seats that are actually meant for the “supernumerary candidates”.

On 28th June, the court had passed an order permitting the admission of the 2,310 students, oblivious of the fact that the university had “erroneously included” the reserved seats as well.

The “supernumerary candidates” fall under a third category that includes Persons with Disabilities (PWD), Children and Widows of Armed Forces (CW) and the Foreign Nationals (FN). As reported to The Indian Express, the bench consisting of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar were quoted saying, “It is submitted that DU was required to admit 301 candidates in the reserved categories as supernumeraries over and above 2,310 seats”. It also came to their notice that this admission process has been in existence and in practice since the year 2008.

“It appears that this submission is incomplete….as the undisputed factual position placed before us is that since 2008 till 2015-16, DU was admitting 2,310 students as well as additional supernumerary candidates for the PWD/CW/FN”, the bench noted.

Furthermore, according to report, the cut-off date of 31st of August will not come as a restriction to the admission of the concerned candidates.

Feature Image Credit- The Indian Express

 

Shrija Ganguly

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DUB News

Audit Report On DU Irregularities

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An audit report was done by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), University of Delhi reveal irregularities regarding appointments, land acquisition, income tax etc. They assessed several financial and administrative irregularities in its audit report of DU. These irregularities were assessed earlier this year. A lot of questions were raised on the university’s alleged “adventurous expenditure”. The document was titled “Inspection report on the accounts of University of Delhi for the year 2014-16”. It was compiled by the Director General of Audit, Central Expenditure and highlighted various irregularities in appointments, land acquisitions, income tax etc.

For 2014-16 audit, CAG gave 11 inspection reports and 60 outstanding paragraphs which were struck down to eight inspection reports and 34 outstanding paragraphs after due process of explanation. Sources say, when the audit was closed, there were only 20 or so paragraphs left outstanding. These outstanding paragraphs, too, are being worked on by the university. Earlier, in transactional audits, at times, the university used to have around 200 outstanding paragraphs.

A law student along with an advocate, Mohit K. Gupta, had filed an RTI with the CAG in July this year. The audit includes 16 faculties and 77 colleges. The audit has questioned the treatment of the post of registrar on deputation basis and termed purchase of iMac computers for routine work in South Campus as “unauthorized expenditure” worth Rs 24.95 lakhs. The report also highlighted that the University press had been under-utilized and incurred losses from 2009-15. It showed that the press had not paid expenses amounting to Rs 1.30 crore and had idle equipments worth Rs 36 lakhs. The non-payment resulted in the outsourcing of the work causing losses amounting to Rs 1.40 crores to the Faculty of Law.

Not only this, the report also revealed that the university had incurred heavy losses due to the parallel running of feeder buses along with campus bus services without any feasibility analysis. A source in the Vice-Chancellor’s office said that the University was working on the outstanding paragraphs and would respond any further queries by the CAG.

Image Credits: CAG

 

Karan Singhania

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DUB News

Leaders For Tomorrow (LFT) takes a stand against ragging and drug abuse

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After the anti-drug campaign in Ambedkar University, we trace the origins of a similar campaign in the University of Delhi (DU), through the lens of the Leaders For Tomorrow (LFT) organisation.

 

A couple of days ago, the Social Welfare Department of the government of Delhi launched an anti-drug program, named ‘Khwahishen Udaan Ki’, at Ambedkar University. Having boarded the same train of thought, the colleges of DU, in collaboration with the Leaders For Tomorrow (LFT) – a non-profit youth organization – have carried out campaigns pertaining to drug abuse as well as ragging.

The Anti-Drug and Anti Ragging (ADAR) campaign has been carried out in several DU colleges. With the University welcoming several outstation students every year, it becomes imperative to talk about these issues on an individual level. Problems usually germinate and cultivate themselves through the irrigation of peer pressure, as has been witnessed in most of the cases. The ADAR is specifically oriented towards the freshers and making them aware of the menace that occasionally tends to take a toll on the campus. The necessary measures to be taken and the need to make them feel the presence of a helping hand are some of the other areas which ADAR focuses upon.

While the presence of the LFT is quite evident, it is important to note that it is independent of college societies and holds campaigns in campuses all across the country. Although the menace of ragging has taken a back seat in recent years, considering the legal action taken in the form of the anti-ragging forms collected from students during admissions every year, the problem of drug and substance abuse still persists. Rohit Tomar, a third year B.Com (Programme) student of Aryabhatta College, who is a member of the LFT as well, feels that “[t]he University can keep a check on substance abuse by restricting the sale of drugs to a particular area outside the campus, say 1 kilometre away”.

In Sri Venkateswara College, all the students who registered with ADAR pledged to fight against the looming menace in campus. Jatin Swami, a third year student having pledged for the same, and the former head of LFT in the institution, shares: “Since the programme is centric to the freshers, there is the development of a sense of safety as well as the courage to come up and report cases, which becomes impossible otherwise, due to the communication gap”. He further adds, “The environment of a college is decided by its authorities. Just filling forms never helps”.

There are Anti-Ragging Committees present in most of the colleges with the college authorities having an upper-hand. They are responsible for taking action if the situation demands it.

Being a youth organization, they have an all-encompassing hand that overarches other issues, including a plantation drive (Adopt A Plant-ADAPT), cleanliness drive, collection drive, Visits for Compassion and other red-letter day events, all pertaining to particular social issues, in order to make the youth aware of the menace in our society, and how to tackle it. Their efforts prove that after all, as Mahatma Gandhi once said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”.

 

Feature Image Credit: The Millenium Post

 

Shrija Ganguly

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Campus Central

Delhi School of Journalism begins its classes, VC says the centre will become better than Columbia School of Journalism

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The Delhi School of Journalism (DSJ) kicked off its journey with an orientation programme in seminar hall of Cluster Innovation Centre on 26th September. The event which marked the beginning of DSJ saw Prof. Yogesh Tyagi, Vice-Chancellor of the University; Prof. Devesh Kumar Sinha, Dean of Colleges; Prof J.P Dubey, Dean of Faculty of Social Science as the guests of the occasion.
The celebration began with a customary welcome song which was followed by the ceremonial lighting of the lamp. Dr.Manaswani Tyagi, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of DSJ paid her tributes to the Chairman of Syllabus Committee, Dr Savita Dutta. This was followed by the address of Prof. J.P Dubey who said, “Resources and the potential available in and around Delhi will be sufficient to nourish the students” and encouraged students to work hard and reach the zenith of their careers. His address was followed by the address of Prof. Devesh Sinha who in his speech urged students to put efforts to achieve their goals. Stating a popular Sanskrit quote he said, “No deer enters the mouth of the Lion who is sleeping”.

This was followed by a speech by Prof. Tarun Das, the registrar of the University who congratulated and welcomed the students and parents to the University of Delhi. Highlighting the auspiciousness of the occasion, he said that it is a holy coincidence that the opening of the occasion is on the same day as Durgasthami.
This was followed by an address of Dr M.K. Pandit, the chairman of the admissions committee who spoke about the  power of the pen and said, “ I wish that students at DSJ write stories that would inspire generations to come.”

This was followed by the much awaited inaugural lecture by Prof. Yogesh Tyagi who started his lecture by paying homage to Dr Savita Dutta.  He said, “ Students sitting here today are making history”. Speaking about his dream project he said that he believes that the new school is going to revolutionize the education of Journalism in the country. ” I want the Delhi School of Journalism to become even a better centre than the famous Columbia School of Journalism” and urged the students to resolute to be best human beings and the best journalists in the world.

The program drew its curtain with everyone singing the National Anthem and distribution of refreshment packets later.

Image Credits: Sandeep Samal and Srivedant Kar for DU Beat
Sandeep Samal
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Events

Hindu College hosts Tale Talk with Imtiaz Ali

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Imtiaz Ali, an alumnus of Hindu College, was seen interacting with the students of the English department on Monday, 20th September. He was there to talk about his life and career, his passions, film-making, and theatre.

The event, which was named Tale Talk with Imtiaz Ali was organised by the English department, Hindu College, where one of the senior-most professors, Mrs. Swaroopa Mukherjee, who also happened to have known Ali from his college days, took the role of the speaker. This event was able to draw out from Ali a lot of his adventures during his college days, some of which even led to inspirations for the plot of his films such as Rockstar. When asked about the sources of ideas for his films, Imtiaz said, ‘Stories have just been in side me. For the ones like Highway, I didn’t have to think out of the box. It is the story of a simple girl in the most ordinary situations that anyone can be caught in. For the ones like Rockstar, I never needed to have an idea. I guess I’ve had enough idea about Hindu and Stephen’s during my time here!’

What was interesting was the fact that he revealed how he never really liked most of the titles of his movies. ‘I never wanted Jab We Met to be Jab We Met’, he said. ‘As a matter of fact, Jab Harry met Sejal was suggested by Ranbir to Anushka and neither Shahrukh nor I liked it. But I still approved these titles because I want to keep myself away from the naming business. I feel I’m not great at it.’

He was also very excited to meet Ibtida, the Dramatics Society of Hindu College, of which he happens to be the founder. He narrated tales of how even before coming to college he had planned on joining the Dramatics Society. The dilemma after coming was that there wasn’t any such society in Hindu at that time. ‘It was time that Ibtiba needed to come into being. And it did.’, he said.

The students seemed really delighted to meet him. One of the third years said, ‘He is so relatable. He is still as clueless about what he is going to do next as we are!’

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Events

Gender and Media: From Margins to Mainstream

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The Women’s Development Cell (WDC) of Shivaji College, in its efforts to generate awareness about gender equality, organized a workshop entitled ‘Gender and Media: From Margins to Mainstream ‘ on September 19, 2017, in collaboration with Breakthrough and Alliance India. 
Ms. Simran Sheikh representing  Alliance India, a not-for-profit Indian organisation with expertise in a range of disciplines including HIV, sexual & reproductive health, human rights, resource mobilisation, and advocacy to name a few, enlightened the students with her words. She engrossed the audience in her interactive session, starting with a question – “Who am I?”
Pointing towards the society and their acceptance of the ‘other gender’, she said that they can call her ‘A woman with a Man’s voice’, and also said, “Just because I am wearing a sari does not mean I am a woman.” She continued with the idea that in their community, their identity is expressed by their claps or plating. “Meri pehchan tali hai,” she said. She pondered over the idea of this identity in a society. She also elaborated how culture,  traditions, family, and neighbours bind us in some specific roles, admitting “although it’s  not bad to follow them,” their imposition certainly becomes a problem. She reinforced the fact that one must not be judgmental on seeing another person’s appearance. Her community, she believes, is “visible yet invisible”. In the end, she concluded with a trio vision of “Inclusion, Humanity, and Justice”.
The other guests, Mr. Pavel Sagolsem and Ms. Priyanka Sinha from Breakthrough, enlightened the students about the role of media in gender discrimination in India. They explained how a non-profit organisation challenges the status quo and takes bold action for the dignity, equality, and justice of all. The interactive session also included a bunch of videos explaining the audience how advertisements can bring a change in the outlook of the society towards many orthodox norms. Ring the bell, Titan Raga, and many other ad campaigns which have been seen on television over the years, were shown. In this session, the speakers also took inputs from the audience about their thoughts on these videos, and how they felt about the ads. Few volunteers from the audience weredivided into groups and were asked to prepare an advertisement on gender equality. The volunteers took up the task with great enthusiasm and witnessed great work from young creative minds. The speakers ended their session with a hope thatwould help the young minds change to a path of equality and justice to all.
The interactive session brought a change in the vision of the students,inclining them to mull over the mainstream norms.
Image credits: Team WDC, Shivaji College
Team WDC, Shivaji College
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DUB Speak

Tips To Navigate Through Internals

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With the internals’ season here, we present to you the various sources to gather in-depth, reliable information related to your papers.

It’s the internals’ season! I must point out that the exclamation mark is sarcastic because this season comes with non-stop projects, assignments, tests, and presentations, thereby creating a very big Yang to the week-long Yin of the mid-semester relaxation. Still, certain resources can help you get through this period with minimum amount of cursing and frustration. Often, readings and course material aren’t enough to form a detailed project or presentation and gain information for that class which you only attended thrice. So, here are some sources that will help you get the extra information you require:

  1. Current Affairs

Gone are the days when you were in 7th grade and ripped off of Wikipedia without any shame. Researching topics is tough not only because of the depth of material available online and elsewhere, but also because it’s difficult to find accurate sources. When looking for news items, it is preferable to look for renowned sites like the BBC and Al-Jazeera for international news, and The Hindu and India Today for Indian news, as they boast of well-researched information.

  1. Researching Facts

In the realm of subjects like History and Political Science, there often arises a need to find the compact history of a particular country or area. The BBC website has a timeline feature that does exactly that. CIA’s World Factbook also provides the economic, social, geographical and other kinds of data for countries, in a brief manner. Britannica, too, is a good source and a trustworthy online encyclopaedia which gives information on most topics.

  1. Multi-Media Sources

YouTube has a treasure trove of videos on various topics. The problem with these, however, is that their quantity doesn’t translate to quality – especially when there’s no authority verifying these videos. Certain channels, however, have large fan-bases due to their high quality content. ASAPScience, HowStuffWorks, and VSauce make easily understandable videos on Science, while Vox, School of Life, and Crash Course have videos explaining various facets of the social sciences, including Philosophy and Psychology.

  1. Previous Years’ Question Papers

For tests, there is always a set pattern of achieving high scores. It can also depend on the grading style of your particular professor (Yay for the Humanities!). The best way to navigate through their tests is to pester your seniors for their question papers and answer scripts. Resurrect the confidence of your 7th-grade-Wikipedia-thief self while doing so. Additionally, old question papers are available in college libraries and in the School of Open Learning’s  (SOL) web archives.

 

 

Feature image credits: DU Beat

 

Rishika Singh

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

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DUB Speak

NOTA: Third Most Popular Choice of Vote in the DUSU Elections Last Year

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‘None Of The Above’ (NOTA) was introduced in DUSU elections last year. Since then, it has gained popularity as represented by the number of voters opting for it. Here is a look at why this is happening.                                          

Three years and four rounds of national assembly elections ago, the ‘None Of The Above’ (NOTA) option was inducted into the Indian electoral system. It was only in 2016 that the Delhi University Student’s Union (DUSU) election followed this trend. The concept of NOTA is democratic, as it gives the voter an option to reject an electoral candidate. It represents dissent and showcases that the voters are not satisfied with the particular candidates representing a specific manifesto in an election.

However, the question then arises: Is NOTA really influential practically? In our electoral system, NOTA in status quo, has no electoral value. Even if the situation emerges where NOTA gets more votes than any candidate in the elections, the candidate who has secured the highest number of votes after NOTA will still hold office. This expression of rejection through casting your vote guarantees no accountability, since it does not constitute a re-election or change in candidacy. The very fact that NOTA is emblematic is the dreadful reason why it cannot be successful in an illiterate and puerile democracy like ours, where charisma and ascendancy are given more significance than one’s ability to introduce and implement affirmative policies.

The foundation year for NOTA in the University of Delhi (DU) saw more than 16,000 votes being cast in its favour. This year, the number skyrocketed to a total of more than 29,000 votes. Even though NOTA is heavily symbolic, the fact that it is gaining traction within the university means that the students are getting tired of the aggressive and “rowdy” behaviour of the supporters of DUSU candidates. The students have finally been given a platform to express their dissent through the same. Across the university, students have often complained about their classes getting disrupted during campaigning, bribes in terms of free movies, trips and meals being offered to students living in Paying-Guest accommodations and so on. Political parties, allegedly, go as far as to distribute alcohol and chocolates to students one day before the elections. Many female students have come up and voiced their opinion about feeling unsafe in the campus during the time of elections, despite the tag of ‘women empowerment’ being included in every party’s manifesto. Repeated promises, no implementation and the ongoing tiff between the two leading parties (ABVP and NSUI) often create chaos in the university. It has affected the peaceful functioning of the University, and these thoughts of the students are very well resonated with the rise in the popularity of NOTA. Despite its shortcomings, NOTA, in theory, is imperative in terms of facilitating and allowing an expression of dissent; however, it still requires severe changes in its actual implementation.

 

Feature Image Credits: Anagha Rakta for DU Beat

Bhavya Banerjee
[email protected]

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