DU Beat Archives - Page 6 of 12 - DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

Delhi University intends to replace the current B.El.Ed. degree with an integrated course for teachers’ education in compliance with NEP 2020. The move, which is expected to be implemented from July 2023 onward, has been met with opposition from faculty members who have questioned the reasoning behind it.

The Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed.) degree at Delhi University is due to be replaced with a new programme beginning this year, the Integrated Teacher’s Education Programme (ITEP), a new four-year course that is expected to commence in July. It will offer the B.A.B.Ed., B.Sc.B.Ed., and B.Com. courses. Foundational, Preparatory, Middle, and Secondary (5+3+3+4): the new school structure laid out in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 will be followed to train teachers henceforth.

We will be scrapping B.El.Ed. and bringing in ITEP. For this year, we will run both programmes parallelly. Both can’t run together because teachers are limited; we are not getting new teachers from the government. We are looking at starting ITEP this July, and if there is a positive response, B.El.Ed will be automatically scrapped.

-DU registrar Vikas Gupta, in conversation with The Indian Express

Four colleges under the University of Delhi have applied for the programme. Three of them—Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College, Jesus and Mary College, and Mata Sundri College—will launch the new programme this year following approval from the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). The rationale given behind the scrapping of the B.El.Ed. programme is the implementation of NEP and the objective of transformational improvements in the education system.

Every course has its durability. For instance, now that NEP has come into effect, the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) has automatically ended. Existing teachers are qualified; they will teach the new course. Colleges have provided a list of teachers, post which the NCTE has given its approval.

-DU registrar Vikas Gupta, in conversation with The Indian Express

According to a statement by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), a flagship programme of NCTE under NEP 2020, the ITEP will be launched in 57 Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) from the academic session 2023–24.

This integrated course will benefit students since they will save one year by finishing the course in 4 years rather than the customary 5 years required by the present B.Ed. plan… The course will contribute substantially to the revitalization of the whole teacher education sector.

– statement issued by PBI on March 4, 2023

Reportedly, teachers have expressed concern about the decision and questioned the need for its scrapping considering it is a “popular course with a high placement record.” The Department of Elementary Education hosted a meeting last week wherein faculty members urged the University and the governing board to reconsider the decision. Teachers agreed with the implementation of ITEP in light of more extensive reforms to teacher education in accordance with the NEP. However, they insisted that it should be an addition rather than a replacement to the existing curriculum. According to The Indian Express, teachers and educationists at the meeting called the ITEP a “pedagogically and academically flawed programme.”

What is the rationale for removing one course to start another? B.EL.Ed. is the first and only professional degree programme that prepares teachers for elementary classes (I-VIII), mandated under the Right to Education Act. It weaves together general and professional education. ITEP, on the other hand, is designed as a 3+1 programme, where 3 years is focused on general education and one year for professional training.

-Prof. Maya John, a member of DU’s academic council, in conversation with The Quint

The B.El.Ed. programme was launched in 1994 by Delhi University and is currently offered in eight colleges. It was the first integrated teacher programme for elementary education that an Indian university had ever provided.

The B.El.Ed. programme, with its interdisciplinary approach and integration of general and professional education, has successfully trained over 8,000 teachers, in consonance with the Constitutionally mandated Right to Education Act.

-Prof. Poonam Batra, a retired DU professor who co-created the B.El.Ed. programme

Teachers have questioned the justification for the implementation of ITEP, claiming it is “inadequate” to provide the requisite skills.

The ITEP programme provides only one-year professional training following three years of general education (BA/BSc), which is inadequate to equip teachers with the necessary knowledge and capacities for teaching diverse levels and classrooms. Imposition of ITEP goes against university statutes that protect the university’s autonomy to design curricula.

-Prof. Poonam Batra added

Pankaj Arora, Dean of the Department of Education, disagreed with this assertion and claimed that the “new course caters to the needs of the new structure as envisaged by NEP.”

The new course is a dual degree course. This will allow vertical mobility because it has multiple entry and exit points. This means that if students complete three years and leave, they will still get their degrees. Moreover, they go on to pursue their Masters and will even be eligible for Ph.D. under the new Ph.D. regulations.

-Dr. Pankaj Arora, Dean of the Department of Education

Featured Image Credits : The Indian Express

Manvi Goel
[email protected]

Keep Reading

Campus Central

Keshav Mahavidyalaya’s Non-Teaching Staff on Month-Long Protest

By Sanika Singh May 12, 2023

For the past month, the non-teaching staff of Keshav Mahavidyalaya have been protesting in a sit-in dharna for demands such as pending promotions and timely payment of dues. The administration has allegedly not relented to any requests as of yet.

In an exclusive conversation with DU Beat, a member of the Karamchari Union of Keshav Mahavidyalaya alleged that promotions of the college’s non-teaching staff have been halted since 2009. Instead, they accused, the appointment of retired individuals has been extended to fill up the posts that were supposed to be taken up via promotions. This has led to serious concerns about financial security and workers’ rights, given that 30-32 members of the Keshav Mahavidyalaya Non-Teaching Staff Union have been protesting in the college since April 12, 2023.

Jo jahan pe hai wo vahin hai. Job kisiliye karta hai aadmi? Isiliye ki jisse uski koi growth ho, wo zindagi mein kuch achieve kar paye… 17-26 saal ho gaye hain logon ko kaam karte hue. Mehangai badh rahi hai, par us hisaab se aapki salary nahi increase ho rahi. Aadmi apni zaruratein nahi puri kar paata, apne parivaar ke kharche nahi utha pata.

(Everyone is stuck where they are. Why does someone work at a job? So that they can achieve something in life and for growth… It’s been 17–26 years since we have been working. Prices have been rising, but our salaries have not been increasing in proportion. One is not able to fulfil their needs and fend for their family.)

– Anonymous member of Keshav Mahavidyalaya Non-Teaching Staff Union

Even though the number of students being admitted to the college has increased over the years, our sources claimed that the number of posts for non-teaching staff has not increased in proportion to the increasing workload. Reportedly, posts such as lab assistant, library assistant, gardener, etc. are vacant and awaiting promotions.

Additionally, our sources alleged that the college has not been adhering to the reservation policy; posts reserved for SC, ST, and OBC categories have allegedly been allotted to unreserved candidates. In another instance, they accused the college of allotting examination duties to “near and dear ones” instead of the existing college staff.

Our sources retold a particular instance of pending promotions which arose in the case of the post of Senior Assistant in the Administration department. According to the post-based promotion roster available on the college website, there are two posts in the cadre. However, our sources informed us that the same was reduced to 1 post in subsequent rosters. A plea filed in 2011 under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, once again revealed that there were two posts present of Senior Assistant in the college.

Alleging “a blame game on Dilli sarkar (Delhi government)”, they reported that inquiries with the administration were met with the response that Delhi government has not sanctioned or approved those posts and that the college lacks adequate funding. Letters and mails to the administration have allegedly not yielded much positive response either.

Admin se jo ek-do baar baat hui hai, tab unhone humein pressurize karne ki neeti apnai hai. Ki aap apne kaam pe laut jao. Darane-dhamkane ka bhi unka raha hai.

(In the one or two times that we have talked to the administration, they have adopted the strategy of trying to pressurize us. That we should return to work. They have tried to intimidate and threaten us.)

– Anonymous member of Keshav Mahavidyalaya Non-Teaching Staff Union

While headlines of fund-crunch in the 12 DU colleges that come under the purview of the Delhi government have surfaced before, our source reported that, as per their knowledge, the teaching staff of the college hasn’t faced any issue with promotion or dues. If the issue is reportedly limited only to the non-teaching staff, they raised questions about the validity of the fund shortage reasoning.

The protesting workers and non-teaching staff have pleaded for immediate redressal of their “long-overdue demands” and inquiry into all cases of alleged maladministration.

Featured Image Credits: Sourabh for DU Beat

Sanika Singh

[email protected]

Keep Reading

Campus Central

DU Professor S.D. Biju Named Harvard-Radcliffe Fellow

By DU Beat May 9, 2023

University of Delhi professor Sathyabhama Das Biju, also popularly known as the “Frogman of India,” has been named among the fifty worldwide Radcliffe Fellows at Harvard University for 2023-2024. This fellowship will allow him to extend his research on the conservation of amphibian species in the Indian subcontinent at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in the upcoming academic year.

The Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University is a highly prestigious research institution that selects fifty fellows each academic year who “demonstrate an extraordinary level of accomplishment in their work” and grants them a year-long stipend to fulfil their respective projects amidst an interdisciplinary setup and the immense resources of Harvard. It is a highly competitive fellowship, with acceptance rates falling as low as three percent. Amidst this statistic, the University of Delhi professor, Sathyabhama Das Biju, who is currently the head of the Systematic Labs at the Department of Environmental Studies, has been named for the award for the academic year 2023-2024.

It can be noted that this year’s Radcliffe cohort is highly diverse and involves talented minds from around the globe, with one fellow from India in Biological Sciences, Professor Biju. With an interdisciplinary focus, the Fellowship Programme brings together scholars from a range of fields such as the humanities, arts, sciences, and even writers and journalists to pursue their work in a concentrated way amidst the intellectual and resource-rich, vibrant environment of the Harvard-Radcliffe community. Past fellows have included intellectuals and academicians like Jill Lepore, Samantha Power, Zadie Smith, Elizabeth Warren, and the Nobel laureate Michael Kremer.

After kick-starting his career as a plant systematist at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute in 1992, Professor Biju quickly shifted to amphibian research in 2000 and joined Franky Bossuyt at the Amphibian Evolution Lab in Brussels. From then on, his career faced an upward progression, with him discovering 100 new species and formally describing 96 new species, eight new genera, and two new families of amphibians in the span of a decade. His work came into international limelight with the creation of his conservation projects, namely, the Western Ghats Network of Protected Areas of Threatened Amphibians (WNPATA) and the Lost Amphibians of India (LAI), to save rapidly vanishing amphibians in the South Asian subcontinent. Moreover, his works were advanced in terms of collaborating molecular techniques with traditional methods, thus coinciding with international practise in amphibian research. His efforts have also resolved long-standing taxonomic issues in difficult amphibian groups like those of frogs.

At Harvard, Prof. Biju will be able to pursue his work on species conservation and identify further amphibian biodiversity hotspots in the Indian subcontinent while engaging in on-site collaboration with Harvard faculty, postdocs, and students and exploring the Museum of Comparative Zoology in the upcoming year.

Professor Biju is the sixtieth fellow representing Biological Sciences in the 23 years of this programme and only the second fellow in this discipline from India, a reflection of his vast contribution to the arena of amphibian research and exploration and his immense passion and potential to save India’s shrinking amphibian biodiversity in the future.

Featured Image Credits: tn.com.ar

Priyanka Mukherjee

[email protected]m

Keep Reading

Campus Central

LSR Hostel Student Suffers Injuries After Ceiling Collapse

By DU Beat April 30, 2023

A first-year resident of the LSR hostel suffered major injuries when the ceiling of a bathroom stall collapsed. Students raised concern over the safety measures of the hostel and expressed their frustrations over the college’s lack of accountability. The incident occurred among previous allegations against the functionality of the hostel, such as food poisoning, irregular water supply, obsolete infrastructure, and a lack of air conditioning facilities.

On March 27, at around 8:15 in the morning, a first-year resident at the Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) hostel was severely injured when the ceiling of the bathroom stall disintegrated and collapsed on top of her. The student was immediately hospitalised due to debilitating injuries to her arms and legs. The incident has raised several concerns regarding the safety precautions and the obsolete infrastructure of the hostel.

When the incident occurred, the students heard a loud crashing noise emerging from the bathroom cubicles and a screaming noise. The injured student was trapped inside the bathroom and was unable to unlock the bathroom door due to her injuries. The nearby students immediately notified the superintendent of the hostel, who lives right opposite the bathroom and allegedly had not heard the collapse of the ceiling or the wailing of the injured student.

The superintendent was unable to push through the bathroom door without further injuring the student. Immediately, four men were called, and they assisted the student and accompanied her to her room. However, adequate support was delayed, and the student did not receive immediate care due to the technicalities of the hostel administration.

“They had first taken the student to her room and offered her tea. She did not get medical attention immediately, which is very weird, and they were saying that they needed a legal guardian for her to be taken to the hospital, which did not happen eventually. They ended up taking her themselves to the Moolchand Hospital. The hostel did pay for her because it was the hostel’s fault that this happened.” – A student and resident of the LSR hostel

The bathroom stall had been immediately closed and placed under supervision for further maintenance. Later, at 7 p.m., the head and assistant warden of the hostel organised a meeting to discuss the incident. They blamed the occurrence of the accident on the debilitating infrastructure of the hostel. Apparently, the hostel required constant maintenance, and the most recent repairs were made around September 2022. However, several students raised concerns regarding the quality of such renovations.

“Renovation of the building is not enough because the foundation of the building itself is not concrete. The architecture is very old, and the pipelines are iron, so they have rusted. The ceilings also have issues. It’s a problem with the infrastructure. Whenever we tell the warden, we are given the same response: that the hostel is a very old building, and Delhi University (DU) does not give any funds. To fully renovate the hostel, at least a year is required, and in that case, they cannot offer the facilities of the hostel for an entire year.” – LSR student and hostel resident who was present in the meeting

In the meeting, it was also stated that starting the following day, checks will be administered in all the bathrooms to ensure safety precautions. However, students are raising concerns over the safety measures of the hostel, as the bathroom stall where the incident occurred is considered to be one of the “safe” stalls. When the students expressed their frustrations over the lack of accountability on behalf of the college, the administration warned the students to vacate the hostel if they were dissatisfied with the facilities offered by the hostel.

“It felt like they were threatening us by saying they will close the hostel. They were saying that if we want proper renovations, they will need to tear down the building and the students will be required to vacate the hostel. This is, of course, not feasible for many students, who will not be able to find such accommodations on such short notice. They also said that if we want renovations with more qualified people, they will increase our fees, and the next year students will blame us for the increase in fees.” – LSR student and hostel resident

The parents of the injured student visited the premises to accompany their daughter to their hometown. The student will remain in her hometown for a few weeks to recover from her injuries.

Featured Image Credits: Lady Shri Ram College Website

Keep Reading

DUB News

DU Students Must Now Take Additional Classes to Clear Practical Exams

By DU Beat April 26, 2023

According to officials, Delhi University has declared that students who do not pass their practical exams will be mandated to attend additional classes. Such students will need to retake their classes for a complete semester before they can be deemed to have passed, the University announced.

The University of Delhi has made it mandatory for students who fail their practical exams to attend additional classes, according to officials. Students will have to retake their classes for an entire semester before they can be declared passed. This decision came into effect in the academic session of 2022–2023 after the University adopted the new continuous evaluation scheme in 2020.

“The practical examination requires continuous evaluation and hence calls for students to attend continuous classes.” – Delhi University official

To give greater importance to continuous evaluation and tutorials, the University has updated its assessment structure for undergraduate students. Under the new assessment system, the internal assessment ratio has been modified to 30:70, and the theoretical examination ratio has been modified to 45:55. The activities conducted under this approach will be evaluated for 30 marks for continuous assessment and 10 marks for internal assessment.

For continuous evaluation, a student must have at least 66 percent attendance. If a student fails the practical exam or does not meet the required attendance, they will need to take admission again to appear for the classes and pass the course. The previous system allowed failing students to register as ‘ex-students’ to reappear for the exams. However, the new system requires students to attend classes and pass the practical exams to move forward.

The University has, therefore, decided that students who fail the practical exam need to retake their classes for one semester to pass. Additionally, those who fail practical exams through continuous evaluation will only be eligible for readmission to retake that practical examination.

An example cited by officials was of an M.Sc. student who was unable to attend a class for a particular subject due to illness but still took the exam. The student’s mark sheet would show an ‘Essential Repeat’ in the practical section. However, a practical examination cannot be cleared without attending regular laboratory classes.

“Consider an M.Sc. student who couldn’t attend his classes for a particular subject because he fell ill but still took the examination. His mark sheet would show ER (Essential repeat) in the practical section.” – Delhi University official

Thus, the University has made it clear that students who fail their practical exams under the new assessment structure will have to reappear for additional lab classes. The new assessment scheme places greater emphasis on continuous evaluation and tutorials, with modifications made to the internal and theoretical examination ratios.

Featured image credits: DU Beat Archives

Aryan Vats
[email protected]

Keep Reading

DUB News

DU Faculty of Technology to Inaugurate Soon

By DU Beat April 26, 2023

Delhi University is all set to inaugurate its Faculty of Technology, which is expected to commence admissions to three engineering courses from this year onwards.

Delhi University’s senior officials stated that with official clearances now in place, the University’s eagerly anticipated Faculty of Technology is ready to start accepting students for the upcoming academic session. DU’s statutory authority had approved three engineering courses—B. Tech. in Computer Science, Electronics and Communication, and Electrical Engineering—in December 2021. However, because of pending approvals on staffing, funding, and other elements, the University had been unable to launch the programmes. Now, admission to the programmes will be based on the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) Mains. According to the current plans, each engineering branch will have around 120 students. These will be further divided into two sections.

Vice-Chancellor Prof. Yogesh Singh reportedly told the Times of India that the central government has sanctioned both teaching and non-teaching roles. These sanctions, he continued, have come after nearly two decades.

“The government has approved the posts that the University had sought. Around 72 teaching posts and 48 non-teaching posts have been sanctioned by the Centre. Admissions to the three programmes will start from the upcoming academic session as all the required approvals, including those from the University Grants Commission, are now in place.” – DU Vice Chancellor Prof. Yogesh Singh

The Vice Chancellor added that despite the finalization of the land for construction of the new building for the faculty of technology, construction has not started yet. Therefore, initially, the University will look for an alternative building to hold classes. In a couple of years, these will be moved to the new building on the North Campus itself.

A senior official added that the University is currently in the process of introducing multiple new centres and programmes, but the Faculty of Technology is a priority.

“The building plans, layout structure and location for the new building have all been approved. We are waiting for financial assistance from the HEFA (Higher Education Funding Agency) and are hopeful that a number of things will materialise by May. The target set for completing the new building is two years.” – a senior official at DU

A new medical college is another project the university is considering, in addition to a variety of other programmes like a five-year LLB programme.

“While the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute is already there, we are exploring the possibility of opening a new medical college under DU. This is at a nascent stage. Initially, discussions need to be held with the Centre and especially the ministry of health.”- DU Registrar Vikas Gupta

With the report for the five-year LLB programme likely to be submitted to the University next week, the Vice Chancellor also commented on the varsity’s plans to construct law campuses at Surajmal Vihar and Dwarka in the near future.

Featured Image Credits: DU Beat

Manvi Goel
[email protected]

Keep Reading

Features

DU Beat 21 Under 21: Of Dreams and Determination

By DU Beat March 3, 2023

From time to time, we come across talented and awe-inspiring individuals who deserve their stories to be told. So here is to 21 such amazing individuals who have achieved great feats in their lives before even tasting the 21st year of their life.

Ankita Singh Gujjar

Ankita is a 2022 graduate of Lady Shri Ram College for Women. She was selected for the Harvard US- India Conference 2021 and has been a research intern at the Asian Institute for Diplomacy and International Affairs, Foreign Policy Research Centre, and Centre for Land Warfare Studies. She is also serving as the council president of WICCI India France Council and has published multiple papers.

Vikramaditya Kumar Taneja, Founder of DU Connect and Blue-Leaves Community

Vikramaditya is an economics student at Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and is the founder of DU Connect and Blue-Leaves Community— platforms that aim to help out students. He has also interned at NITI Aayog, Nykaa, and Ernst & Young, and has been recognised by the CSO at Ogilvy for his contribution and by IIM Shillong for the acceptance of 2+ papers in International journals.

Paridhi Puri, Diana Award Winner

Paridhi Puri, who recently graduated from Jesus and Mary College, has been awarded the Student of the Year award, TIMES NIE (2017-18); World Enterprising Student award (2018); and the Diana award (2021). She has also interned with AVPN, Invest India, Central Square Foundation, and UNICEF India (National representative at G20 World Summit 2018).

Naman Khanna, Magician and Mind Reader

Naman Khanna is a Political Science Honours Student from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College. A winner of the Idol Hunt India 2020, he has been invited to perform by SpideyHypnosis twice. He has also collaborated with YouTubers such as Karan Singh Magic, Gamerfleet, The Jhumroo Tal Entertainer, Payal Gaming, etc., and has performed in numerous colleges and events.

Uttkarsh Sachdeva, Co-founder of eduPaper

Uttkarsh Sachdeva is a 2022 graduated B.Sc. Honours student from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, who is also the co-founder of eduPaper. In addition, he has also interned with various names such as Invest India, NITI Aayog, India Today Group, Concord Collective, and Ernst & Young.

Himanshu K

Himanshu is an EY scholarship winner (2021-22). He also received a 100% scholarship to attend Sakura High School Program in Japan in 2018. In addition, he was a winner at the International Robotronics Competition (IRC) held at Singapore University of Technology and Design in 2017 and qualified for IRC in 2016 and 2018 as well.

Ishita Arora, Founder of HOPE

Ishita Arora is pursuing B.Com (Hons.) in Hindu College and is the founder of HOPE, a mental health project which aims to make help more accessible. She is also a founding member of Paalan Foundation and the Entrepreneurship Student Council, and has authored the book ‘The Unspoken: A Romance Novella’.

Sanya Gupta, Aspiring Journalist

An aspiring journalist looking to explore and experiment with the different shades of the media industry, Sanya is a final-year student studying Journalism at Kamla Nehru College. Sanya has interned with industry big-guns including Times Now, Outlook India and is a staunch believer in journalism for a cause.

Soniyal Bajaj

Soniyal is a final year undergraduate political science honours student at SGTB Khalsa College. A true-blue believer in empathy-backed courage leading to revolutionary changes, Soniyal has contributed significantly in different capacities to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Project and has been a leading voice in the mission to better healthcare.

Palak Verma

Palak is a student of English at Kalindi College and a content creator and writer for formidable organisations like POPxo and LinkedIn. Palak has worked extensively with Social Media and Content Management throughout her time in college. She is also The Community Services Director of the Rotaract Club of D-town.

Samya Verma

An international diplomacy and foreign affairs enthusiast, Samya is a student of History at Hindu College. With prominent institutions like Harvard and Kootneeti to her name, she has been an active writer on Asia’s relations with the world at various forums. Samya’s interests include women’s history and international relations.

Lubna Malhotra

Lubna is an Economics Hons. graduate from Lady Shri Ram College for Women. With a 31000-strong profile on LinkedIn and internship experience at BW Business World and Meesho to her name, Lubna’s primary interests lie in product, finance, and marketing. She was also one of the founding members of Aghaaz, NSS LSR.

Abhinav Sardesai

A third-year student studying Commerce at Hindu College, Abhinav’s experience on the global stage includes working closely with a UN-constituted team for a Lebanese client. He describes himself as a passionate finance and consulting enthusiast with a penchant for problem-solving in the economics and corporate sector.

Surbhi Siwach, Intern at Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GOI

Surbhi is a recent graduate of DU with a degree in Economics and Commerce. Currently completing her time as a research intern at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Surbhi is better known for her workshops on Canva and for helping students find their footing in the world of startups and entrepreneurship.

Ridhima Singh

Ridhima Singh, an LSR alumnus, co-wrote India’s first comic book on child rights. She has worked extensively in the field of social work through co-founding ImpactEd, a social leadership academy focused on enabling student changemakers, and UN Youth Action Hub India, which became the largest hub across 36 nations. They will be joining McKinsey and Company this year as a business analyst.

Aastha Mohapatra, First Opera Singer of Odisha

Aastha Mohapatra , alumnus of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, is the first opera singer from Odisha. They have devoted their life to the art form by performing and winning over 50 accolades in the field of opera. Their journey has been covered by reputed media channels like Odisha TV and Geo TV.

Priyanshi Chawrasiya, Content Creator

Priyanshi Chawrasiya is student of Gargi college. They are a content creator who use their platform to spread awareness about health and fitness. They have also worked with Media Monks as a chef and hand model on set for creating recipes for Cadbury.

Siddhi Joshi

Siddhi is currently the President of Global Youth Miranda House and is representing India in the Global Village on The Move Program by Lehigh University in collaboration with the US DOS and the American Council. An alumnus of the Kennedy Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program, she is a cultural exchange and social-impact activist. She has won the Dr. Kamala Prasad Pathak Memorial National Fellowship for Peace and Learning 2022 and Best Speaker and All-Rounder Award at the Global Peace Youth Summit. A certified tutor under the Global Competency Certificate by AFS India and Global Peace Institute, UK, she is an active social worker and conducts sessions for school students along with heading developmental projects. An award-winning poet and writer, her works have been featured in The Remnant Archive, Headcanon Magazine, The Pinnacle Palette, and others.

Shanya Das, Director of Writers Community Freelancers Private Limited

Shanya Das is a Gargi student who owns a company as a director named Writers Community Freelancers Private Limited, an indian freelance marketplace that supports freelancers to get freelance work opportunities. They are passionate about writing and have worked with many news sites as well.

Laqshay Gupta and Harivansh Gahlot, Founders of Baywise

Laqshay Gupta and Harivansh Gahlot are students from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies who have founded together a revolutionary startup called Baywise, an ed-tech startup created with the aim of providing students with the professional skills and advice they need to have successful careers. Baywise had featured on the social media handles of Bloombuzz, garnering a reach of 15000+.

Muskan Sabharwal and Kanika Chauhan, Started Social Alliance for Impact Research (SAIR)

Muskan Sabharwal and Kanika Chauhan are students from the College of Vocational Studies and Dyal Singh College respectively. Together, they have started the outstanding project of Social Alliance for Impact Research (SAIR), which aims to give every undergraduate student exposure in research and consulting irrespective of their course and college. SAIR continues to grow and build its community of pan-Indian students.

DU Beat would like to congratulate everyone who made it to the list. For the ones who didn’t, this list is not exhaustive. You are a star as well.

Keep Reading

alumni

My City: An Open Art Gallery

By Anwesh Banerjee October 15, 2022

The festival of Durga Puja is not just a celebration of the homecoming of the goddess but also a cultural bonhomie, celebrating art of all sorts. Read on for more.

Durga Puja or as we bengalis fondly call it pujo, is probably the greatest celebration of art Calcutta sees on an annual basis. There might be special art drives in the Lake area where people end up drawing twelve feet long alponas (the bengali version of rangoli but done with ground rice paste traditionally) and bizarrely absurd, politically provocative graffitis on walls along the Jadavpur campus and other upcoming up-market cafe areas. There is also the latest mandatory tourist spot – the Old Currency Building, now turned into a three floor specially curated celebration of the Bengal School of Art – from colonial times to independent India. But none of these sporadic clusters exemplify the community euphoria in viewing and consuming art the way pujo does.

It is a cultural whirlpool. Turn a corner and you will see an entire alley, otherwise dingily darkened – now turned bright and dreamy with a canopy of yellow fairy lights hanging overhead. A few more turns and you will see a variation of the same display of luminosity in terms of a street where the lights are now multi-coloured and are strung together vertically, on either side of the road. As you make your way through, it is not just a simple lane you are walking through any more. It is like walking into the dreamscape of your unposted letters of love, now strung together in the form of a million glistening light orbs. But the magicality of the moment I described – nowhere near the actual experience because pujo as a festival can only be felt – is exemplified further in areas with the bigger pandals and celebrations where the canopy is no longer just strings of light bound together. But an entire canopy put together in glorious designs and colours. You are no longer in a street you have traversed all year round. It is a tunnel of a fantasy land from another world, which self activates every year briefly and disappears – only to appear bigger and brighter the next year.

Who is the sculptor of this figure? Did this club change their usual guy? Is Sanantan Dinda doing Naktala this year or did Chetla Agrani buy him out? Why did they have to distort the face thus? Doesn’t she look too angry in this one?

A cacophony of voices asking the same questions together. Having spent so many years in the city and vehemently holding my ground before parents who would have much preferred to go on a holiday – far removed from the nauseating sweat and crowd infestations of the festival – I like many others have become quite familiar with the varied sculptural styles we see our idols built in. Kumortuli or the Potter’s Colony is the stuff of absolute photo stories across the world.

But the potters or sculptors as I prefer calling them, who spend their many years under makeshift shacks in the midst of floodwater and mud, have their own distinctive styles and contributions to the evolution of the festival as a whole. The traditional yellow face of the goddess with long draw, darkly lined eyes is still to be seen in many places, but in the larger discourse of the creation of idols, it has give way to the more humanist thickly eyelash-ed faces of the Rudra Pal brothers – who now are at the receiving end of commissions from the biggest clubs in the city.

Thousands of people flock every year to see these idols, which although unchanged in their style have served to give vision to the popular imagination of what the goddess looks like. Their figures are adorned in the traditional golden foil called the daaker shaaj or the ornament that came by post (the foil used to be imported from Germany at one point) or the pristine white of the sholaar shaaj or the ornamentation made from thermocol. Art historians will never consider this but the potters of Calcutta are the true holders of the legacy of Ravi Varma, the first Indian to give face to our gods. But even beyond these traditional portrayals there are daring artists like Bhashkar Sur and Sanatan Dinda, all exemplary modern artists in their own right who come up with visualisations of the goddess figure in accordance with the theme of the club they are hired by that year.

Which brings me to the next big thing about pujo in my city – the theme. Much before people even start their shopping for the festival, posters and advertisements proudly announcing the themes for each individual club go around the city. People sitting huddled in autos are found discussing-

Did you hear Chetla Agrani is going to be doing something based on Kalidasa? But I really liked what Bosepukur did last year- though I am not sure if I completely understood it – did you? I do not know about the rest but I am most definitely going to go to Sreebhumi first – haven’t you heard they are doing Burj Khalifa this year?

I have been to galleries and seen art installations and then I have attended Durga Pujo in my city. If cities could be works of art then the thousand and more pujos spread across the length and breadth of the city are the many brush strokes and colour splashes on its expanding canvas. I have seen, within two months or sometimes three, artists and workers make an entire temple structure out of steel utensils. Award winning clubs which have conjured simply out of nowhere temple structures out of – wait for it- knit grass blades. But this is not just a celebration of empty art. This art is deeply political too. Many high concept pujos find people crowding the exit area poring over long standees explaining the concept of the theme and the decoration people just saw. For there are clubs standing in solidarity with the farmer’s protest – with massive installations of feet joined together and the blisters resembling melting faces of the heroes we will never know. Some turn an entire lane into a brothel with extra figures of women waiting for customers and finally leading upto the room of the brothel madame who sits there protecting them all – envisioned in the form of the goddess. But sometimes in the hands of a different artist, she takes the shape of a migrant woman – carrying her four children sitting on the back of a truck, her third eye glaring at you in the face.

During Durga Pujo, my city is an open art gallery with its people turning from one lane to another partaking in and bringing to life the glorious art on display.

Anwesh Banerjee
[email protected]

Keep Reading

Features

Is the Counsel Innocent or Guilty?: The Lawyer’s Conundrum

By Naina Priyadarshi September 7, 2022

Can we ever ascertain if a lawyer defending someone who is guilty is a greedy, cold, criminal or just another person doing their job? It seems impossible because, well, it probably is.

You can never truly anticipate what seemingly mundane events of a regular Wednesday will end up leaving a profound impact on you, which is why it feels strange to write this knowing the inspiration comes from a fight I had with my father. He was just making conversation, getting ready to leave for work when he just happened to say that he had been offered the case of man accused of fowl, inappropriate behaviour. To his surprise, and mine, this somehow sent me into an existential frenzy. Suddenly, I was living a life where my father (a criminal lawyer) was defending, well, criminals. I could not reconcile with the duality of his existence, as my father and as a person who (sometimes) defends bad people. What followed was an argument that fizzled out after the client backed out (and subsequently restored peace in our household). However, this moment of doubt about whether or not my father’s job was morally unobjectionable made me take a rather hard look at the field of law in its entirety. Are lawyers good people? Is law ethical?

After quite a bit of research, I still have not arrived at a conclusive answer. Ethics are principles that distinguish the good, the bad and the ugly. Laws are, supposedly, enforced to maintain goodwill. Violating a law will land you in jail, which indicate a slender grasp on the whole concept of ethics and good moral values, etc. And yet, in their day-to-day execution and application, law practioners end up at odds with what is ethical and right. As a person on the outside looking in, anyone who is knowingly and willingly defending the honor of a guilty person is clearly in the wrong.

“Presumed innocent until proven guilty”

-Sir William Garrow, 1791

And this is where all the lines start to blur up, because, the undeniable fault of anyone defending someone of a crime they did, in fact, commit, and the right to counsel being universally essential are both simultaneously true. Without a trial, neither innocence nor guilt can be proved and this requires lawyers to rely more on detached pragmatism and professionalism and less on moral ethos. But does that make them bad people?

“The whole foundation of our legal structure is based on the maxim that ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ An advocate, as an officer of the court is bound not only by this but also by the Advocates Act which states that without justifiable cause a counsel shall not refuse brief of any client/litigants/accused on the presumption of him being guilty. Even article 21 of our constitution provides that no person shall be denied right to life or personal freedom with due procedure of law.”

-Adv. Naman Mishra, practicing criminal lawyer, Courts of Delhi

“Public prosecutors are public authorities who, on behalf of society and in the public interest, ensure the application of the law where the breach of the law carries a criminal sanction, taking into account both the rights of the individual and the necessary effectiveness of the criminal justice system”

To counter the actions of a criminal defendant, we have public prosecutors. Once again, from an outsider’s point of view, someone fighting to attempt the to prove the guilt of someone who could very well be guilty, seems to be the bigger, better person. But this scenario, too, flips, in the case of someone who turns out to have been wrongly accused. Here, our good ol’ criminal lawyer emerges a hero. Neither party can seem to stick to any status for long, and end up oscillating between both.

“As an agent of the judicial process, ensuring that those deserving punishment don’t go scot-free definitely makes you feel empowered and on a higher moral plank but in reality, both me and the defence lawyer are just following what is right and clearly defined in the Advocates’ Act as to what is the role and responsibility of a counsel. This image that a defence lawyer is attempting to prove innocence of the guilty strips away a lot of depth and dynamic from the situation and should be avoided”

-A public prosecutor from Patiala House Court, Delhi, who requested anonymity

While criminal lawyers are the most frequently topics discussions like this, legal players of the corporate should not be overlooked. More often than not, a crime involves two parties. On the other hand, the sheer magnitude of the ramifications of a financial misdemeanour blankets so many parties, it is almost impossible to keep count. The verdicts of such cases tends to put into effect a cycle of betterment or ruination. And again, the character on any lawyer involved gets drenched in a big question mark.

“It is natural to be curious of whether people like me feel guilty at times while defending corporate moneybags who have been accused of crimes like tax evasion, bank loan default, which essentially is public money, and other scams. Well…..a corporate client is just like any other client be it from a civil dispute or a criminal charge or even family discord. Like all other accused he/she deserves able representing in court of law and all other attributes of a fair trial. To presume that somebody is guilty by virtue of being rich is turning the essence of law upside down and doing grave injustice to this hallowed institution of justice. Yes, as lawyers, we do need to see that we don’t become an instrument in the hands of an accused and an accomplice in any injustice committed but then our education and our training has equipped us with the necessary weaponry to negotiation our way without compromising on professional ethics”

-Sanjay Batra, corporate lawyer, High Court of Delhi

Being a good lawyer demands detachment from any emotive motivations. Being a good lawyer demands that, unless and until you are in a situation where you cannot objectively devote yourself fully to the matter at hand, you cannot refuse someone who approaches you. Being a good lawyer demands that you defend bad people. The only inference that can be derived from this is that for there to be an overlap between good lawyers and good people, the parameters need to be slightly altered.

The primary context of whatever has been said so far is an outsider’s perspective, people for whom incidents like these are mere headlines. When you stand to lose or gain from the verdict of a trial, who is the underdog you root for? Is the person on the stand an innocent victim of circumstance? Or is it someone for whom ‘consequence’ has been interchangeable with ‘money’? Is the public prosecutor truly representing the everyday man, attempting to correct imbalance caused by skewed resources? Or is the criminal lawyer a vigilante of sorts, striving to protect the innocence of an innocent?

“I remember reading about some popular criminal case, people were taking sides and the majority had made up their mind that the defending party is guilty. The outcome of the case was not guilty. Does that mean the defendant was really not guilty or were they just rich enough to afford the best counsel and walk away without a scratch despite being guilty? While we do know that it is a lawyer’s job to provide the right counsel to their client and do their best to prove their innocence, would it be wise for a lawyer to represent a client who they know might be guilty. I am not saying that the lawyers shouldn’t provide representation to people who “seem guilty”, because there might be a chance that they are in fact innocent. Our constitution works on the presumption of innocence, “innocent until proven guilty”, so it is up to the prosecution to prove the defendant’s crime and the defence to prove their client’s innocence. (Something about burden of proof.) There is a very fine line that the lawyer has to tread in this case, and whatever they choose to do, in my opinion, does not say anything about them as an individual as they are just doing their job.”

-A second year DU student who requested to remain anonymous

So far, it seems, any lawyer who is true to his profession cannot remain true to his moral values. Then, ideally, the second-best option is to be an ethical lawyer (not person, lawyer). For once, we can consult the conventional mandates of right and wrong without ending ourselves up in an eternal conundrum. The only way someone fighting against the very fundamental of right and wrong can strive for redemption is to be honest in the process. Deal with witnesses fairly, do not tamper with evidence, ensure in any way you can that the integrity of the trial and the investigation isn’t compromised.

While all this would certainly exempt a person from any ethical misdeed on paper, the question of whether lawyers are, in essence, truly good people or instruments of crime and societal menace is something we will continue to wrestle with, at least for the foreseeable future.

Naina Priyadarshi Mishra

Keep Reading

alumni

Learning To Speak Truth To Power

By Anwesh Banerjee July 15, 2022

A deeply personal essay on the degree about to be gone past, and a final attempt at courting the essay form and being the Joan Didion of DU Beat one last time.

It has been three years. Let that sink in first.

Three years ago the world around us was struck by what will go down in history as a life-halting and soul-sucking pandemic. Freshly off my board examinations, like all students from my batch, I had dreams of making it big in this world. I too thought a liberal arts degree would equip me with words that would have the power to change the world around me and albeit propel me eventually towards a career in the liberal arts. However, the sudden imposition of the pandemic which immediately drove us within the four walls of our house seemed to indicate that I need to reconsider these choices.

At a time when my family was mourning for loved ones lost to the pandemic and finances seemed precariously perched, the obvious decision for me would have been to stick to a college in Kolkata, my hometown – and why not? There was an entire pool of prestigious institutions for me to choose from and one could always pick up the dream of moving out of your hometown for one’s postgraduate studies. To avoid giving my parents and family members weekly bouts of anxiety I even enrolled in a Kolkata college but everyone around me knew that my heart was not there. After a six month long wait that felt like an eternity when I got the merit list making it evident that I had indeed made it to one of the leading North Campus colleges in a degree I have wanted to pursue from the day I could think, I knew this was a decision I had to make. Back then, everyone around me seemed hesitant – is it really necessary? What was I trying to prove? But my guts said otherwise.

A year of online classes and two years of being in Delhi later, I am glad I stood my ground that night. Coming to the University of Delhi has not been the sweetest of experiences, but the bitterness that underlines this has now started lifting its head up in the form of a sweet melancholic nostalgia. With thirty days left for this degree to end, I look back on the years gone by and the moments of euphoria and heartbreak. I then look at the mirror (and trust me as a literature student freshly off Lacan that is difficult) and realise the person, or subject (yes I will crack Literature major jokes) is barely the lanky, long-haired boy who stepped into this institution so many moons back.

For one, this University puts you in place. And for good. Especially for a city-bred, English-educated man like me, buzz words like “Unity in Diversity” and “caste masquerading as class” became stark realities. Thrown into a liminal campus space where people of a host of disparate cultures not only lived together but often came into violent conflict with each other was a lesson in life. The spurious nature of identity politics left a stark impression upon me and while multiple friends and lovers became alien overnight, in the by-lanes of Gupta Chowk and Jawahar Nagar, I found my greatest lessons in kindness and empathy. You could be sharing a small plate of Malabar Biryani in Cafe Lucid all by yourself and the person sharing the table with you, suddenly strikes up a conversation and before you know it you have made a friend for the next set of semesters to come. You might be strolling down the ridge on a sultry evening and you will chance upon the sight of two lovers stealing moment, and you silently smile to yourself for this moment of rare affection that wasn’t yours to begin with you — but now is, because moments are meant to be borrowed and loaned, till you find yours.

During my tenure as an author for DU Beat, I have written on a wide range of subjects – ranging from student politics to cinema. But the one thing that I have continued advocating for and writing about relentlessly is issues pertaining to queerness and the queer experience. And on that note, in this final piece of mine, I wish to mention something. Loneliness is one of the biggest problems plaguing every student who lives on this campus on a daily basis. It is divorced from alone-ness and it is something that operates at a structural level. Its violence is less performative from the stone-pelting in protest marches and its cure amorphous. In fleeting moments it buries itself in the fists raised to the chant of azaadi and under the varying colours of the Pride flag. But it raises its uncanny head on metro rides where you see a stranger taking glitter off their jaws with tears in eyes and the person in tattered cargos as they scour your canteen for the millionth time with pamphlets people will stamp over in seconds.

The University of Delhi, and I never thought I would say this, is a family. Yes, because families are spaces with imbalance power dynamics. If there is anything I have learnt from these three arduous years it is this, there is nothing greater in this world than your truth and you alone and speak the same (Foucault says hello at this point) . If you choose to let this university teach you anything then let it be the urgent need and the requisite power required to speak this truth and claim your space. Be it a battle of queering the space, or gendering the discourse, or dismantling caste hierarchies. This is a place, and you belong, let no one tell you otherwise. For the ones who think the reality of the world begins when you step out of the bubble of your college, you are wrong. Aren’t you the real world in all earnest?

Anwesh Banerjee

[email protected]

Keep Reading