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Life At Delhi University: The Debating Society

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Christopher Hitchens once remarked, “Time spent arguing is, oddly enough, almost never wasted.”
And rightly so, for debating in DU is one of the most gratifying and fruitful activities. In school, debating is one of those things that students pursue outside their curriculum, as a leisure activity. In college however, debating is more than just a hobby. For many, debating becomes life itself. That, in a nutshell, highlights the intensity and passion with which people debate in DU; the colossal time that it consumes; and the euphoria of achievement that it is capable of bringing to the winners.

Ignorant freshers often believe that their experiences from MUNs and school level debating are sufficient for conquering the DU debating scene. But such complacency is the biggest myth attached to the DebSoc. Firstly, every college debating society conducts trials for freshers, where the main criteria for selection is a person’s ability to reason, articulate and argue.  So no fresher will ever be prejudiced against the lack of prior debating experience.  Secondly, every society invests at least a month in training their newest members in different forms and styles, indoctrinating nuanced arguments and holding mock debates. This training period goes a long way in prepping the rookie debaters for their initial tournaments (eg: Fresher tournaments).Thereafter, the credentials of a debater will solely depend on his participation, potential and growth.

There are several reasons why you should consider taking up debating in college. Debating will help rid you of your inhibitions, make you more knowledgeable, teach you how to cajole people in the cleverest of ways, widen your ability to reason with logic and give you a college life worth experiencing.

But before you immerse yourself in the world of DU Debating, here are five things to know about the Debsoc ethos:

A. Killer Kompetition
The circuit doesn’t have an age bar and quite often, you might land up in a sticky situation where you, as team of fucchas, are debating against stalwarts from Law Faculty and DSE, people who are almost three years greater than you in age and experience. This can be extremely intimidating, especially if the seniors take you as a joke. Winning in such scenarios is almost next to impossible. The best thing to do then is to take the debate as a learning experience. Instead of getting discouraged by failure, keep up the perseverance and debate with panache! Who knows, maybe a couple of months later, when faced with the same team of titans, you cream your opponents. Or more realistically, at least manage to put up a decent fight!

B. Break Night Parties
When you’re in the debating society, exciting break night lore will form a substantial part of the legacy that you will receive from your seniors. Break night parties are one of the two (the other being the hefty cash prizes) things that draw senior debaters to a tournament. Senior participation decides the reputation of a tournament, and thus it is absolutely essential to host an extravagant break night party. Debaters are hedonists; that is the crooked truth.

Break night parties are like after parties: exclusive and lavish, anything and everything worth talking about happens here! Debaters let loose and enjoy the music, food and other gifts of Dionysius. After attending a break night party, you will realise (and possibly relish) that you belong to an elite society of people who are smart, yet know how to enjoy the finer things in life. Your first break night party will become a defining moment in your debating life and certainly a memory that you will cherish otherwise as well.

C.  The freaky outstations
For a debater, outstation tournaments are equally, if not more, important than DU tournaments and your seniors in the society will insist that your participation is well rounded. But getting permission from your parents, making arrangements for transportation and accommodation and saving for expected expenses are arduous tasks. Missing out on such tournaments can put you legions behind and hurt your growth. Outstations are usually a big no for debaters from conservative families. But those who have attended outstation tournaments will unanimously agree that an outstation tournament is like a never ending break night party: a perfect balance between work and play!

D. My way or the Highway
To survive in the circuit, you must be adept in one of the following two things: A. You must either possess tremendous knowledge about several issues like International Relations (IR), Economics, Third Gender Rights, Feminism etc OR B.You must make the other person believe that you possess in depth knowledge about these things. Not that you can faff your way to the finals. But a decent level of knowledge, complemented by a receptive mind, quick thinking and cocky smartness, can help you argue your way through the toughest and slimiest of motions. When all else fails, smartness will double up as a reliable weapon.

E. Family, not society
Most tournaments happen over a span of three to four days and take up almost six to seven hours per day. On non-tournament days, most debaters spend their time in intra and inter societal mock debates. Some others can be found in their groups, discussing raging issues in the library or just chilling in the college canteen. When you spend so much time with your society, members become the best of friends in no time. The bond that you share with your fellow debaters is inexplicable.It’s so tight and lasting that you might as well be a part of a family. Truly, DebSoc Bonhomie is a thing of legends.

I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I were to say that the debating society is the object of desire of every fresher. The glamour, the talent and the intellect are sure to lure you right in!

But a word of caution: Join the DebSoc,but join it for keeps. Invest your effort if you intend on staying; don’t join the society if you want instant results and lack patience. Debating requires time and commitment, because you’ll take at least a year to learn the tricks of the trade, another year to establish yourself in the circuit, and if you’re one of those bright bulbs, then you’ll finally come around to shining in your third year.

So, if you’re one of those toughies who have mastered the art of determination and perseverance, join the debating society to develop a skill set that will help you in every phase of your life.

Kriti Sharma
[email protected]

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DUB News

Revolutionising football: North Campus Football League (NCFL)

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Seldom do we see initiatives arising at college level that promise to leave a benchmark in their respective field. One such initiative, taken up by the students of North Campus certainly promises to leave an impact and bring a change in the game of football as it is currently practiced at the university level. NCFL, acronym for North Campus Football League, is that dream tournament being planned by a bunch of young talented football players and is scheduled to launch next year in January. The preparations though have already begun. The layout of the whole tournament seems promising enough to ensure an unprecedented sports league, something which the university has never seen.

The tournament will see 7 football teams of different north campus colleges. The franchisee for the teams will be auctioned for a 5 year term, preferably to the alumni of these colleges and the entire event will be webcasted live. The matches have been scheduled at the iconic Delhi University stadium which is also situated in North Campus.

The tournament assures to alleviate budding talent in the game of football not only in the colleges of North Campus but from other university colleges as well since the franchisees will be able to take in players from other colleges of DU. So the tournament will be limited in its reach at the team participation level but not when it will come to the participation of players, something which will ensure the rise of latent talent in football players from different colleges. That being said, the professional players will be allowed to participate up to a certain limit.

Promising in its nature, the initiative is still going through the early stage of clearances and is getting a satisfying response from authorities both at college and university level. Once having all the clearances, the event will be slated to finally transpire into a reality and embark on a journey to revolutionise the game of football at the university level in India.

Image Credits- ncfl.in

Brij Pahwa
[email protected]

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Admissions 2015

A guide for the GD and PI round of BMS/BBA(FIA) Courses

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Now that the shortlisted candidates for the group discussion and personal interview round for BMS and BBA(FIA) have been announced, it’s time to prepare for the next stage. Both the GD and PI are quite easy if tackled properly, here are a few guidelines to follow which will help you to prepare for the same:

Pre-requisite

– Carrying your personal documents is extremely necessary. Check the documents required here.

– Reporting one hour before your scheduled time is necessary.

– While it’s not a mentioned requirement, but it’s best to stick to formals. Remember to dress smartly. For guys, this means an ironed pair of trousers and crisp shirt. For girls, a shirt with a pair of pants or a skirt will do.

For the Group Discussion round
  •  The discussion will likely be on a relevant current topic, mostly related to Business or Economics. It is quite possible that you won’t know a lot about the topic. In this case, start first and wait for the discussion to pick up pace and you can respond accordingly.
  • If you have absolutely no idea about the topic, listen carefully to what others say and try to modify and mould something of your own. Don’t be repetitive, make your own stand.
  • Don’t be hostile. There might be times when the discussion gets a little heated. Maintain your calm.
  • Don’t pull out made-up facts to prove your stand.
  • The GD round has not been conducted for the past 2 years, so no one can predict a topic at this point. But researching certain topics won’t hurt – EU Free Trade, Make in India etc.
For the Interview Round
  •  Prepare an introduction and a proper one, which you can speak for at least 60-90 seconds.
  • Sit and make a list of your hobbies and what you can say about them. Don’t stick to simplistic one liners. Reading books could be your hobby, but you can’t just finish your answer at that. What genre of books? Which author? How many of these books you’ve read?
  • Be careful of what you say, the interviewer always looks for another question in your answer. Try not to lie or exaggerate.
  • Why do you want to take BMS or BBA(FIA)? Prepare a detailed answer for this question.
  • Make a list of your weaknesses and strength. Prepare something relevant to say something about them as well. (P.S: Please don’t say my weaknesses are my strength, just don’t. Please.)
  • Don’t be fidgety. Sit straight. Smile.
  • Don’t be rude to the interviewer and do not cross question them.

All the best!

Image Credits- voivoblog.files.wordpress.com

Kartikeya Bhatotia
[email protected]

 

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Admissions 2015

DU Admission statistics: English Hons. the most preferred course, 36000 applicants with 90% or above

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Admission process for undergraduate courses at University of Delhi closed on the 15th June 2015. Varsity invited applications for around 54000 seats for the upcoming session of 2015-16 and application forms were accepted both online and offline. Total registrations received by students of all categories via both the modes were recorded at 291817. This data excludes the applicants for BMS/BBA/BBE and B.El.Ed. Programme.

Find out our report for the details on individual categories, here.

Office of Dean of Students’ Welfare released the compiled report for the statistics on Admission today on the 19th June 2015. According to the statistics, 122020 female candidates have applied in comparison to 169731 male students. ‘Other’ category for third gender students was introduced for the first time in undergraduate admission applications and 66 students have applied under the same.

For the percentage-wise statistics, around 36000 applicants have secured 90% or above in their Class 12 Board Examinations. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has given University of Delhi the maximum number of aspirants with the number standing at 218872. Other applicants are from ISC or other state boards like UP, Bihar, Rajasthan etc.

Find out the full statistics, here:

TotalApplications 291817
Total applicants(Female) 122020
Total applicants(Male) 169731
Total applicants (Other) 66
Gen 178419
OBC 68867
SC 37085
ST 6270
Pwd1 460
Pwd2 137
Pwd3 434

Top 10 choices for Course

CourseOpted Total
B.A(Hons)English 90331
B.Com 71505
B.Com(Hons.) 68866
B.Sc(Hons)Chemistry 66987
B.Sc(Hons)Mathematics 66586
B.A(Hons)Economics 63264
B.Sc(Hons)Physics 62585
B.A(Hons) PoliticalScience 56408
B.Sc(Hons) ComputerScience 50317
B.A(Hons)History 47088

 

Board Wise Applicants

Category Total
CBSE 218872
ISC(AllIndia) 8311
UP 8293
Bihar 12705
Haryana 3332
Rajasthan 26693
OpenSchool 3763
Other 9846
GrandTotal 291815

 

Year of Passing

PassingYear Total
2015 246548
2014 35146
2013 6753
Before2013 3337
GrandTotal 291784

 

Status of Result

ResultStatus Total
Passed 287279
Awaited 995
Compartment 3438
GrandTotal 291712

 

 

Percentage Wise Applicants

Percentage Range Total
0-45 8106
45.01-50 10101
50.01-55 15674
55.01-60 21403
60.01-65 28082
65.01-70 32580
70.01-75 35268
75.01-80 35195
80.01-85 35597
85.01-90 33791
90.01-95 28999
95.01-100 6850
Grand Total 291646

 

School-Wise Applicants

School Total
Government 93692
Public 123398
Govt. Aided 16328
Other 33411

 

Study Medium Wise Applicants

Study Medium Total
English 163098
Hindi 48660
Other 1384

Information Source: Dean of Students’ Welfare

Feature Image Credits: The Hindu

Iresh Gupta
[email protected]

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Uncategorized

Accommodation Woes at Delhi University

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Delhi University’s admissions began from 28th May 2015. Every year these admissions with their mind boggling cut off lists determine lives of scores of students. There are over 54,000 seats in DU and people from all over the country come to Delhi to get admitted in the most prestigious and the only central university the nation has!

These dates are full of anxiety and excitement amongst parents and students alike. While which college you end up going to and which course you end up pursuing now solely depends on the kind of marks you have secured in your boards (unless you are talented and ECA admissions help you sail through – more about that later), where you live for the next three years, or well at least the next one year is in your hands-still.

The PG and flat renting business around the university – both North Campus and South Campus – is thriving. Why shouldn’t it? The classroom demographics for almost every course in every college, as you will see once you start, is dominated by outstation students. The number of college and university hostels fall very short of the accommodation that these student people required.

So, it is only inevitable that people flock to these PGs and flats. Rent Mafias are pretty common here. The exorbitant rent is unaffordable to many. The living conditions are pitiable for others. However, if you look real carefully, you will find something that suits your budget and gives you the facilities that you require.

But when outstation people come for admissions, after the tiring haul of choosing a course, college, submitting documents, getting them verified, depositing fees, opening new bank accounts – and all in the not so friendly Delhi heat, mind you – it’s only very rare to have the energy to find a good PG on your own.

The easiest way, it seems, is to go via a broker. But the brokers are involved in the crazy Rent Mafia system that has developed here, and hence you’ll end up paying much more if not as much to the broker as you pay for a semester’s fees at DU!

That needn’t be the case of course. There is an alternative available.

Zocalo.in with its easy user friendly interface helps you find broker-free, authentic and verified PGs all over Delhi! Not just that, they have reviews of every PG listed on their website – the reviews are written by people who have lived in these PGs, so you will know the truth like it is and not just how the owner wants you to know it! This is a gem when it comes to finding the right accommodation. You don’t have to pay a thing to Zocalo.in and also you don’t need to bear the Delhi heat. Download them on your Android Phone (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.queppelin.zocalo) and find a PG on the go!

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Bazinga

Bazinga: Delhi University all set to throw an after-exam party

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Disclaimer: Bazinga is DU Beat’s weekly column of almost believable fake news!

In this exam season, students are flipping with exam phobia. Students take to unhealthy living and unhealthy food. They run around while sleeping for 2-3 hours every day or not sleeping at all! Everyone feels the exam heat, and teachers are no exception. Their workload increases and the process of allotting marks and distributing copies can be a tedious one. So this year the Varsity has decided to give a post exam party of sorts where all the teachers, as well as the students can celebrate the end of the exam maha yuddh. The varsity this year had appointed additional squad members to keep an eye on invigilators and supervisors, alike. So with more than required number of teachers in every room no one time had time for breaks, courtesy of exam-malpractices. “Exam time brings with it increased workload for us as well, and this year it was even more so. A party like that would be welcome refreshment”, said a senior official sharing her views on this.

Even more unexpected was where this idea came from which was, if reports are to be believed, from VC Dinesh Singh. Apparently the VC knows when to throw a party. Calling it ‘Exam ke Baad‘ they are planning to have games and few local DJs to turn it up, adding to the fun. The cost for all this is surprisingly economical. The university has tie ups with numerous local ventures and for a contract they have agreed to sponsor the event allowing DU to go forward with negligible cost. Also with most students leaving home for the summer, less turn ups are expected from outstation students. The venue for this has yet to be decided, but it will happen in three or four campuses simultaneously, both South and North. No more details have been given.

Bazinga is DU Beat’s weekly column of almost-believable fake news!

Feature image source: globe-views.com

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DUB Speak

5 Bollywood movies based out of Delhi University

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Bollywood has its own share of glamorizing the college life in our minds. The campus, the college students, the song and dance routine – are some regular contents of a college based Bollywood movie. In fact, Bollywood has a handful of directors who are pass-outs from Delhi University and they often keep coming back to the memory lanes of the University campus to shoot their movies.

Imtiaz Ali, Maneesh Sharma, Parvin Dabas have all returned to their respective alumnus to shoot the college scenes for their big ventures.

Here are five movies which feature Delhi University colleges –

1. Rockstar

Imtiaz Ali directed and Ranbir Kapoor starrer super hit movie Rockstar was shot in Hindu College and St. Stephen’s College. Ranbir played the character of Janardhan Jhakar, the Jat boy from Hindu College who falls for the beautiful Stephanian Heer Kaul ( Nargis Fakhri).

Rockstar was shot extensively in the campus during the summer break of 2011.

Rockstar

2. Fukrey

2013’s sleeper hit Fukrey features Delhi University’s Miranda House College. The movie was supposedly going to be shot in Shri Ram College of Commerce but ended up getting shot in Miranda House instead. However, the movie features the women’s college as co-educational institution.

 

fukrey

 

3. Do Dooni Chaar

This family flick had some scenes shot in Kirori Mal College. The fest scene in the college of Rishi Kapoor’s daughter, in the movie was shot in KMC.

do dooni chaar

 

4. Band Baaja Baaraat

This 2010 blockbuster and Ranveer Singh’s debut film, has one of its popular songs Tarkeebein entirely shot in Hans Raj College. The song captures the campus roads, the college’s boys’ hostel and the classroom. A few shots are also taken in Ramjas College’s gallery.

band baaja baaraat

  1. Akaash Vani

This movie was again shot in St. Stephen’s College. The leads Kartik Tiwari and Nushrat Bharucha played the hostellers-in-love.

akaash vani

These movies are just to name a few while the list goes on!

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DUB Speak

India Today- Nielsen Survey: Of unclear methodology and perfect scores

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It is possibly one of India Today’s most awaited issues, the Best Colleges Survey undertaken in a joint effort by India Today and AC Nielsen is a yearly feature released weeks, if not days, before most colleges in the country open admissions for the new academic session.

Here, we bring to your attention the methodology to point to how these rankings may be optimal in relative terms but not necessarily so in absolute terms. This is not to discredit the colleges that featured on the various lists.
Other publications like Outlook also publish an annual survey and it is more or less the same colleges that feature at the top; clearly, the rankings is based on substantive data. But focusing on the colleges in the Arts, Science and Commerce streams, each of which is topped by a Delhi University college with a 100/100 score, we try to understand the methodology that goes into the score calculation and whether, in spite of the rankings in the different parameters and the overall ranking of 1st position, a full score is suitable or not.

According to the methodology followed for Arts, Science and Commerce colleges, a list of colleges was drawn up  from 17 cities across the country and this list sent to ‘experts’ in those 17 cities along with a standard questionnaire. This was the procedure followed for city-wise rankings. In the second stage, the ranking was done for the nation-wide list, this time by a panel of experts at the national level. By experts, the survey means Principals, Vice-Principals, HODs and Deans and to eliminate bias, they were asked to not rate their respective colleges. Over 1250 expert opinions were taken overall.

The various parameters like reputation, academic input, student care, infrastructure, placement, perceptual rank are then supplemented by a factual rank.  In the case of Arts colleges, it is interesting to note that Lady Shri Ram College has a full score of 100 and Loyola College which is ranked second has a score of 91.8 but in terms of parameter-wise ranking, Loyola is ranked 1st in all parameters except factual rank where it stands 17th and LSR stands 1st. Similarly, amongst the Science colleges, St. Stephen’s College has a score of 100 which is closely followed by Loyola at 99.26 but again, Loyola is ranked 1st in all parameters but the factual ranking where it stands 15th and Stephen’s 8th. It is Ramjas College from DU which has a factual rank of 1 and is in the 5th position with a score of 83.63. In Commerce, we have a neat case of SRCC  having been ranked 1st across all parameters with a score of 100 and LSR follows with an 87.30 and 2nd position in all parameters except factual ranking where it stands 3rd and Christ University, Bangalore stands 1st. Clearly, the system of parameters and the concept of perceptual and factual rank need to be explained better to allow for a more informed analysis of the rankings and the scores.

Lady Shri Ram College, St. Stephen’s College and Shri Ram College of Commerce have scored an outstanding 100 out of 100 in Arts, Science and Commerce respectively. While these are known to be the ‘top’ colleges, and are almost certainly so in relation to the other colleges surveyed, two things need to be considered- the ambiguity of the parameter-wise ranking system and the credibility of the full scores. Surely, even students from these colleges would admit that the institutes (like all institutes all over the world), have scope for improvement. Again, this is not to discredit the colleges ranked at the top but to question the process by which the scores were arrived at.

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Campus Central

AISA holds meeting to demand roll back of FYUP

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Amid raised slogans seeking the newly elected BJP government to roll back FYUP as promised in their manifesto, an AISA member criticized FYUP saying, ” The time isn’t the real concern, but the subjects are. The teachers aren’t trained well to be able to teach these subjects. At places, Political science teachers are expected to be teaching Mathematics related courses.”
The representatives of AISA are of the view that the second time elected Padma Shri awardee Vice Chancellor Prof.  Dinesh Singh has not been able to justify neither the introduction of FYUP nor as to why it is a better structure.
The AISA has been previously involved in making endeavors to facilitate the roll back of FYUP. It conducted a referendum  dated August 22nd, 2013, wherein more than 90 percent of Delhi University students had voted against the motion of four year under graduation, foundation courses and the idea of multiple exits. ( See here.)
The new BJP government at centre has given everyone high hopes of promising change courtesy the Achche din aane waale hain slogans. It’ll be interesting to see if Delhi University students too, get their share of happiness from the supposed revolutionary government.
By Bharat Mohindru with inputs from Ishaan Gambhir
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News

Delhi Students Meet Dr. Harshwardhan to demand quota in Delhi University

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On Tuesday, a delegation of students raising their demand to get quota for Delhiites in Delhi University met the Union Minister of Health- Dr. Harshwardhan to address the issue. Dr. Harshwarshan had reportedly assured the students to take up the matter with Mrs. Smriti Irani, Union Minister for Human Resource Development.

The argument for reservation of Delhi students in Delhi University traces its roots back to when AAP and BJP promised state wise quota in their manifestos for elections of Delhi Legislative Assembly. The students of Delhi are demanding 85% quota since every other state university provides for students of their state.

“I strongly believe that it is the need of the hour. Delhi students are forced to migrate to other universities due to rising cut offs. Other universities do have state quotas so why not in DU where there are many 100% state funded colleges”, said Vijay Kapoor, a resident of Delhi and a student of Economics Honours in Delhi University, in support of the quota. However, not all students favour this proposition.  “A child’s future should not be decided on the basis of the state he belongs to but on his credentials. Since there is a similar level exam by CBSE then there is no need of partiality to students of the native state. It is quite irrelevant as it is not uplifting the deprived section of the society but giving priority to a population on the basis of region in which they live which is unfair”, said Rahul Anand, a B. com Hons student in DU from Kota.

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