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The National Sports Organization (NSO) of LSR organized its Annual Cross Country run on September 21, 2012 under the theme, ‘Run for solidarity with the people of North East’, in light of the recent violence in Assam between the Boro community and the Muslim community. The registration for the run began at 5.30 am, with hundreds of girls huddling around the Union members and other team members for attendance. One could feel the enthusiasm in the air, with excited girls all around looking forward to running for a cause. “The Cross Country run is a special event for it is one of the very few occasions when the entire LSR community comes together, and participates for a cause”, stated Ms. Meenakshi Pahuja, Head of the Department of Physical Education of LSR. The sponsor for the event was UniStyle Image, an eminent clothing brand that has been associated with the LSR NSO for almost ten years. All the participants were given t- shirts from USI before the run, and one could see enthusiastic participants in colourful t- shirts, waiting for the event to flag off.

 

The event began with a speech by the guest of honour, Ms. Shweta Choudhary, who is an international level shooter, and won a silver medal at the Doha Asian Games, 2006. She is also an ex- alumnus of LSR, belonging to the 2007 batch of B.A program. Accompanying her was Mr. Abhijit Bhattacharya, captain of the Indian volleyball team, who is also a very ardent promoter of sports in his home state, Assam. Both of them urged the students to work hard towards their goals to achieve success, and have an unfailing determination. After their speech, Suparna Sinha, a third year Sociology student of LSR, addressed the crowd, and spoke to them about the situation in Assam. Suparna, who originally hails from Assam decreed the massacre of innocent people in Assam as not a political issue, but a breach of solidarity. “We should help overcome this imbalance. This is a cause I really feel about, and it is something that the youth should tackle with in order to bridge the gap between different communities”, stated Suparna, whose words set the crowd thinking about the true cause of their desire to run in a marathon, thousands of kilometres away from North East India, yet bound by sentiment and understanding.

The run was flagged off by the Vice Principal of LSR, Dr. Priti Dhawan. Within less than ten minutes of the run being flagged off, the first winner, Aanchal Bohra came to the finishing point effortlessly and her win wasn’t a surprise for anybody for Aanchal is a national level runner, a silver medallist at the CBSE championships, and the pride of the Athletics team of LSR. An Economics student, Aanchal described her win as a step towards her goal of running for India at the international level in the future. “I wish to represent LSR in the Commonwealth Games in the future, and I dream of competing in the Olympics too someday,” stated the enthusiastic second year student. The run was highly successful and enjoyable for all the

students, and one could see the really satisfied students at the refreshment counter. The run went off without any glitches, all thanks to a brilliant Union, comprising of Pratibha the President, Shivangi, the Vice President, Saumya, the Secretary, and Somya the treasurer. They were assisted by a huge volunteer team that provided water and first aid to all the participants, diligently waiting at different locations to help.

‘It is our privilege to be associated with the LSR NSO, and we wish to see the Cross country run bigger and better in the future,” said Mr. Ashwinder, part of the sponsorship team of USI. The Cross country run ended on a bright note, with all participants and volunteers receiving refreshments, and enthusiastically clicking photographs. It is hoped that the LSR NSO continues conducting such events which bind the LSR community together, and create such a vibrant atmosphere.

On 18th September, Google organized its pre-placement talk in LSR. Being one of the most sought after and innovative companies, Google had ‘do cool things that matter’ as its theme this year to attract prospective applicants in their pre- placement talk. The talk was led by Ms. Shwetambari, a senior executive at Google, India, and the talk began with a little quiz on Google and its products, to see how ‘Googly’ the LSR girls were. The ones who gave the correct answers received goodies from Google, and with a brilliant start, Google managed to capture the attention of all the girls from the various departments of LSR, sitting in that small room, dreaming about working for a company like Google in the future. Apart from departments like Economics and B.com, which are standard departments sitting for placements, the Google pre-placement talk saw students ranging from departments like English to Political science. The job profile offered was the business analyst program, which entailed tasks like reviewing Google advertisements, servicing global small and medium business customers, etc. Apart from these, the program also trained the employee in selling skills and business management. The employee would also learn how to use the Google Adwords product. The pay package offered was good, considering the fact that a company like Google was employing fresh graduates. The employees would have to work and learn with Google for two years, before they could move on to other job profiles. One thing extremely special about Google was- its emphasis on employee satisfaction, and Ms. Shwetambari kept stating throughout the presentation that Google did not believe in binding unhappy employees to the company, and if an employee wished to leave, they could do so, without facing any penalty. In fact, they could also keep the ‘gift’ stocks that they are given at the beginning of their tenure in office (considering the fact that Google stocks currently value at around 270$!). Google also seemed like a really ‘cool’ place to work in, with parties being thrown at the end of every week, and guest speakers like Lady Gaga coming to sing and speak to the employees. The office would be located in Hyderabad and Gurgaon, and Google also offered free accommodation for two weeks in a guesthouse, to give time to the employee to settle in the new city. The facilities and bonuses offered by Google were also very lucrative, and after the talk, the first round of the placement process was held. It was a written round, in which all the candidates had to complete a quantitative and verbal analysis test in 40 minutes, and a writing test in 30 minutes. The test by and large tested the aptitude of the students, and there was a round of positive feedback after the entire session got over. The results are now eagerly awaited for the girls who managed to crack the test and move towards the next round of placement in the ‘cool’ place to be: Google. Do cool things that matter.  ]]>

A deputation comprising of all the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) office bearers met the President of India, Hon’ble Shri Pranab Mukherjee, on September 21 to inform him of the widespread administrative vacuum and sedition of the varsity’s autonomy affected by the dysfunctional and autocratic Vice Chancellor of the University from the time he took over in November 2010.

In it’s press release for the same, DUTA has stated that the lapses on the VC’s part includes ‘series of violations of the University Act, its Statutes and Ordinances, the brazen misuse of Emergency Powers to bring in courses and start new Centers like the Cluster Innovation Center, the manner in which he has forced the AC to pass plagiarized courses under the B. Tech in Innovation programme, as well as his culpability and lack of accountability in the widely reported ‘Marks Scam’ in the first semester results’. This all, they alleged, have led to the embarrasment and dishonor of the Unversity.

Moreover, the delegation reportedly acquainted the President about the apparent impunity with which the ‘Vice Chancellor has attempted to stonewall any possibility of dialogue with the democratic organs of the University’. They especially drew attention to the fact that despite DUTA constantly raising the issues of four thousand teaching vacancies in the University, the constitutional need to immediately implement the UGC’s Reservation Policy of 2006 and start the process of long-due promotions at the earliest, Dinesh Singh responded with hostility and never made an endeavour to meet the DUTA. They also alleged him of ‘making slanderous remarks against DUTA and threatening teachers against participating in the activities of their Association’.

Apparently, the members also claimed that Singh also tried using ‘cheap and cowardly tactic’ in the sense that he tried putting pressure on the Principals of SRCC and Ramjas College in order to deny their organization a space to conduct its annual general body meeting on September 22. However, according to the them, the tactic was finally withdrawn as he realized that the President had agreed to meet the DUTA.

Urging the President to intervene, the delegation expressed its concern that ‘if the VC is allowed to carry on functioning in the present manner, he will push the University towards a catastrophe’. Reportedly, the President has promised that he will ensure the answerability of the VC, and the restoration of administrative delivery and the University’s prestige to the satisfaction of the teachers.

 

Vatsal Verma
[email protected] 

 

Picture source:  www.business2community.com

 

Think about the last time you read an important piece of information. More often than not, it comes from the status updates of your numerous friends on Facebook. When you put forward an opinion, a lot of it might have drawn inspiration from your favourite tweets on the same subject. Instead of flipping through the pages of your neatly organised notebook, you would rather zoom into the picture you saved of your college timetable on your phone. Information is now merely a click away, giving people from even the most remote corners of the world an opportunity to communicate easily and efficiently. However, a majority of us are now crippled by our continuous dependency on these virtual crutches.

In the light of the latest crackdown on social connectivity, consisting of the government restricting messaging to a meagre 5 per day due to the threat towards people from the North-East did not sit too well with a society that is completely in sync with the social networking era. Thus, what actually began as a somewhat reasonable ban to prevent rumours spreading on a wide scale is now being seen as another excuse by our country’s leaders to crack the whip on our freedom of expression, be it through the SMS or the more dangerous threat of control over sites like Facebook and Twitter. Agreed, a simple ban on texting will in no way stop malicious stories leaking into the public domain. However, what is also evident is the fact that the lack of proper texting facilities didn’t lead to the end of the world a good four months before December 21st, 2012. Life continued in the same fashion as it did when the rights of texting were more liberal. When the Telecom Authority of India had declared a ban of 100 SMSs a day, so many users received a reality check when they learnt of their addiction to a piece of electronic genius. However, just as we gradually got accustomed to this new regulation and our tired fingers were fortunate enough to be subjected to marginally less typing, the new ban for a short period of only 12 days is too insignificant a sacrifice being paid for the uproar it has caused.

With the messaging limit being later extended from 5 to 20, and finally the lift of the ban, social networking sites immediately saw the appearance of memes and statuses proclaiming happiness almost equal to a nation winning its first world cup. The excitement of being able to send 15 more messages a day seemed palpable as almost everyone had their phones out the next day, furiously typing as they stared into a mini screen that flickered with notifications received from their equally enthusiastic recipients. However, the comment that made me stop and re-evaluate how dependant we really have become to these social platforms was when someone casually remarked, “I don’t know about people with those outdated phones, but almost everyone has a Blackberry or a smart phone now. That keeps us connected through BBM, Whatsapp and Facebook. This ban on texts is just a minor glitch,” said one such addict with a beeping Blackberry in hand.

The number of times we refrain from using our electronic gadgets for practically everything can be counted off our fingers. When you start working on your super important project one day before the deadline, you thank the Google and Wikipedia gods for showering their blessings on you. Our internalisation of technology is evident from the use of phases like ‘I googled that information’ or ‘I saw that on her wall last week,’ while only a couple of decades ago, walls referred to those rectangular combinations of cement and plaster of Paris that form the outline of every structure. As for the future, this incessant need to be constantly linked to everyone around only seems to be growing as social media spreads its branches and reaches out to every single entity within and beyond its periphery. Social networking and technology provide us with an easier and more efficient lifestyle, but that doesn’t alter the reality that if our parasitic existence continues, we might just be witness to the dawn of a Matrix-inspired end to our civilisation.

 

Hello! Hello! Hello!

What with the excessive heat that has transformed the city into a shimmering mirage a party seems to be exactly what we need. DU Beat invites you to celebrate Summer with NUN.

A party meant for you to jump into the twilight zone and find your rhythm on the dance floor. Sink into that favorite drink of yours as the beautiful hues of the evening are expressed in what promises to be a night of absolute euphoria .

Here is telling every hot Delhi belle to rebelle. This is an invitation you to let lose the wild child inside of you and get into those hot summer dresses! NUN is a lifestyle brand with a Cheeky Edge that lets every girl strut her stuff! NUN is our Associate for “Summer”.

The party starts at Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 9:00pm and goes on till the wee hours of the morning. And its happening at f Bar Gurgaon, Cyber City Bldg 9-A,Grd Flr, PH-3.

Entry is absolutely free and there will be a special 25% discount on all drinks. Rights of Admission Reserved.

For further details contact: 9811325443 (Danny)

Thanking You
DU Beat