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The Central Board of School Education (CBSE) has decided to begin its procedure of re-evaluating the class XII board examination marks of students from 24th May. On the other hand, the University of Delhi (DU) is expected to begin its admission procedure soon, thereby creating misalignment in the two schedules.

Media house NDTV reported yesterday that the CBSE had written a letter to Professor Tarun Kumar Das, Registrar, DU, to align its undergraduate admission procedure according to the CBSE’s own re-evaluation schedule in order to avoid hassles for the applicants.

This year, the CBSE had announced the class XII results on 2nd May, which is much earlier than it usually does. In fact, just 28 days after the exams got over. This was following a Delhi High Court order. According to the report, the results came around three weeks ahead of the usual schedule, and even prior to the Indian Certificate for Secondary Education (ICSE) exam results.

NDTV quoted a board official as saying, “The Delhi High Court had asked all the boards to finish the result process before the undergraduate admissions begin so there is no hassle about pending results and students being stuck.”

It also quoted a statement of the Board, “CBSE will be completing its re-evaluation process also at the earliest. Now, the University of Delhi has to fix the last date of submission of application in such a manner that the work of re-evaluation is over prior to the last date of the admission process.”

The directive of the High Court, acting on which the CBSE had declared its results earlier this time, came after a student was denied admission to Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) last year because of delayed re-evaluation by the board, despite scoring the requisite marks to get admission through the first cut-off list, Indian Express had reported. “The student, who had originally secured 95.25%, qualified for admission in the college’s BA (Honours) History programme after her score was increased to 96.5% post-re-evaluation. However, her re-evaluation was completed by the CBSE, two weeks after admission to the course was closed”, the report said.

A clash between the dates of DU undergraduate applications and CBSE re-evaluation schedule could affect students who wish to apply to the university with their re-evaluated marks.

Feature Image credits- Telegraph India

Prateek Pankaj
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News

Unidentified Men Attack SFI Activists at the Faculty of Arts

By DU Beat May 19, 2019

On 17th May, three activists from the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) were allegedly attacked with lathis by unidentified men at the Faculty of Arts after they were protesting along with the St. Stephen’s College Staff Association. They blamed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for the attack.

Three SFI activists, who wish to remain anonymous, were allegedly attacked by goons when they were resting after a protest by the St. Stephen’s College Staff Association. One of the activists suffered head injuries.

An activist recalls the ordeal, “It was raining, suddenly almost five people with faces covered with handkerchief came and asked whether we were from SFI. When our answer was affirmative, they first abused us and then attacked us with the lathis they had with them.” He added that one of them tried to attack the female activist, but she was standing far away and started calling for help. “After seeing people coming towards us, the attackers fled.”

In the social media posts, SFI has blamed ABVP for the attack. “Yes, it can’t be proved, but it is obvious,” claims one of the activists. “They first identified us as members of SFI and then attacked us. It is a sheer display of their money and muscle power.”

A police complaint has been filed at the Maurice Nagar Police Station in lieu of the incident, however, the activists don’t have a lot of faith in the authorities either. “We were attacked after the Virgin Tree protests at Hindu College, we have been attacked at the Vishwavidyala metro station, we had photos, videos and even CCTV footage of the incident. Yet, the police failed to take action.”

Refuting allegations, Sidharth Yadav, Delhi State Secretary of ABVP denies allegations. “Time and again they come out with their own thought-out incidents followed by tagging ABVP as goons. It is an old tactic, but whatsoever it may be, it must be thoroughly inquired. The allegations must also be investigated and any perpetrator must also be caught.” He added that a police complaint is a must and if anything comes up in the investigation or any name from ABVP comes up, strict action should be taken. “But I don’t think that would be required, it is just their old style of propagating false news against us. Their previous allegations, too, have failed to furnish any material evidence, despite them beating our members at Hindu College and walking away scot-free.”

Feature Image Credits: Students’ Federation of India

Jaishree Kumar

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Admissions

DU to Release a Separate List for Non-CBSE Subjects

By DU Beat May 16, 2019

From the academic session 2019-2020, a separate list for non-CBSE subjects will be released to aid admissions for students in other boards.

On 2nd May 2019, the standing committee of the Academic Council of the University of Delhi (DU) passed the recommendation to include academic subjects from other non-CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) realms in a separate list of subjects.

This move was proposed after the committee scrutinised papers and subjects followed roughly in the twenty-eight State Boards, three National Boards, and three Sanskrit Boards for class 12 and then weighed those against their CBSE counterparts.

This proposal caters to academic subjects like anthropology, biochemistry, civics, logic, philosophy, among others. Rasal Singh, a member of the Academic Committee, on speaking to a national daily, commented how these subjects currently fall under the separate vocational subjects’ list despite having course structure and content along similar lines as the CBSE subjects.

Vocational subjects, currently include Food Production, Painting, Hindustani Music (Vocal), Beauty and Wellness, and several others. These subjects, if included in the best of four, would incur a disadvantage of 2% deduction during admissions before 2019.

Rasal Singh went on to explain that biochemistry, taught in the State board of Jammu and Kashmir, will be treated as an equivalent to biology or biotechnology. Similarly, a combination of Maths A from Andhra Pradesh and Maths B from Telangana State Boards will be considered as equivalents of CBSE mathematics. The statistics paper of Maharashtra State board will also be seen as a counterpart of CBSE mathematics.

Other changes proposed to the committee in the meeting include an increase in ward quota for teaching and non-teaching staff, one percent relaxation of cut-offs for students from government schools and rural backgrounds, and the conduction of entrance examinations for colleges, in Hindi and English. The varsity, according to sources, is also planning on adding 6000 seats this year and 9000 in 2020. These have just been proposed and need approval before being passed and applied during the admission season of 2019.

Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

Shivani Dadhwal

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News

Supreme Council to Sit for Interviews at St. Stephen’s College as Opposed to their Constitutional Clauses

By DU Beat May 15, 2019

On 13^th May 2019, in a meeting of Staff Council, John Varghese, the Principal of St. Stephen’s College announced that the interview panel for selection of students for admission will include a member of the Supreme Council (SC).

Admissions 2019 are around the corner and in the midst of all the preparation John Varghese, the Principal, St. Stephen’s College announced a decision increasing the involvement of Church of North India (CNI) in the admission process.

The SC of the college includes six members from CNI. The Chairperson of both the Governing Body (GB) and SC is the Bishop of Diocese of Delhi, CNI, Warris Masih, and the Member Secretary of both these committees is the Principal, Professor John Varghese. According to the statement released by the representatives of the GB, Nandita Narain (Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics), N.P. Ashley (Assistant Professor, Department of English), and Abhishek Singh (Assistant Professor, Department of Economics), this decision is directly against Clauses 4 and 5 of the College Constitution which read as follows:

The SC of the college shall have the control of the religious and moral instruction of students of the college and of all matters affecting its religious character as a Christian College of the Church of North India; and, in addition, shall appoint, after proper advertisement, the Principal of the College who shall be a member of the CNI or of a church that is in communion with the CNI.
The SC of the college shall have no jurisdiction over the administration of the college.

The statement also stated that all the teachers present at the meeting protested against the unilateral announcement. As stated by them, this decision is not only in violation of College Constitution but also the 1992 judgement of the Supreme Court of India that upheld the Minority status of the college according to which, the college was allowed to have “a separate admission process including an interview with 15% weightage only because the interviews were conducted solely by the teachers.” If this decision comes through, then it will be the first time that a non-academic person from outside the faculty of St. Stephen’s College will sit in the admission interviews.

The governing body has also called out a conflict of interest in the Principal bringing in another member of SC into the interview panel, as it is, the SC that selects the Principal, and will also take the decision about the renewal of his appointment for another term of five years.

On the other hand, Bishop Warris K Masih of CNI told the Indian Express, “It doesn’t matter if it has never happened before. The college belongs to us. The teacher representatives have no right to object.” When asked about the violation of College Constitution, he stated, “We just felt like that. We are concerned about the 50% Christian students; the other students will go as always.”

The aforementioned representatives of the Governing Body, in response to this decision, have called out for support from its students to participate in a protest on 17^th May at 12:30 p.m. near the Main Portico in the Campus and demand its rollback. The statement also calls this decision ‘illegal and unacademic’ and according to them, this decision could compromise the integrity of the admission process.

Speaking to DU Beat, Sidharth Yadav, State Secretary, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) said, “The decision of including Fathers from Church (Members of the SC) to the admission committee is arbitrary and condemnable. This would weaken the secular fabric of the university. This is not only against the constitution of the college but also against the principles laid down in India’s constitution.” He further added that if the decision is not withdrawn, the ABVP would be forced to mobilise the student community to raise their voice against this autocratic decision.

Image Credits: Surbhit Rastogi for DU Beat

Sakshi Arora

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Campus Central

Young DU Voters Stuck with Semester Exams

By DU Beat May 6, 2019

As the election season draws towards a close, we take a look at the votes lost due to engagement in academics and end semester exams.

Shoonya is a young 20-year-old pursuing her Bachelor’s in Economics hons. from a college in Delhi University. Shoonya is politically opinionated and keeps an eye on every new political development that happens nowadays, owing to an environment stimulated by the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. She is predetermined to use her voting rights in order to impact the elections. But Shoonya comes from Varanasi, which will go for polls on May 19. Unfortunately, she has a core paper a day later, which she can’t afford to miss. Shoonya inadvertently has to sacrifice his vote for exams.

Thousands on eligible young voters have to let their precious votes go in vain owing to a bigger priority. This overlapping acts as a predicament to the spirit of our democracy. A huge chunk of votes, not only from the University of Delhi but from all other higher education institutions get lost every time elections and exams coincide.

The 17^th Lok Sabha elections started on April 11 and will end on May 23 in 7 phases all across the country. Most of the students currently in their under-graduation years will be eligible for voting in the 17^th Lok Sabha Elections. These first-time voters constitute 1.66% of the total voters registered for 2019 Lok Sabha. Out of the 900 million voters, 15 million falls in the age group of 18-19. This percentage is detrimental to a huge extend because voter turnout doesn’t exceed 60-65% and formation of a government happens at mere 30-35%. Many of these 15 million are those who have turned 18 on January 1 2019. This translates to the fact that a bunch of these students are currently pursuing their bachelor’s or will enrol in a under graduation programme in the coming academic year.

In January 2019, The Times of India came up with a fascinating drive to acknowledge the votes that are lost during elections. The campaign known as “Lost Votes” was meant to instigate a conversation on people who sacrifice their votes in order to prioritize their studies or jobs. In many countries, right to vote is a fundamental right but in India, we treat it as a legal right. This stagnates the voter turnout every time and in case of first-time voters, it becomes lower.

“I want to vote but travelling back to Jamshedpur is tedious and hectic. And exams have made it impossible for me to go back and cast my ballot.” says Deepak Singh, a third-year student at Aryabhatta College. Many like Deepak and Shoonya or will lose an important milestone of their lives, the first indelible ink on their fingers, their first votes.

Image credits- Zee News

Priyanshu

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News

Protests for Rights of Safaikaramcharis Held at Arts Faculty on May Day

By DU Beat May 1, 2019

University of Delhi (DU) saw an assembly of professors and teachers standing in solidarity with the safaikaramcharis who faced a threat of losing their jobs.

On the occasion of May Day, gate number four of the Arts Faculty of DU saw hundreds of safaikaramcharis (sanitation workers), professors and students assemble today in a protest to fight for the rights of the contract sanitation workers of the varsity who, working for over a decade, were now in a position to lose their jobs.

The protest saw active participation from various student organisations like Parivartankami Chhatra Sangathana (Pachhas), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), Pinjra Tod and others.

Various student organisations and sanitation workers protested on May Day.

Since 2005, the safaikaramcharis had been contracted by the University administration – the principal employer – through a company called Sulabh International. However, the company, branded as a ‘social service organisation’, had allegedly not provided fair wages, bonuses and payments to savings and social security schemes like Provident Fund (PF) and Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) of the workers.

Moreover, with a shift of tender to a new company, Nexgen Manpower Services Pvt Ltd, a large number of safaikaramcharis were said to be in the danger of having their jobs laid off from 1st May onwards without any prior notice.

We were also told by Sumit Kataria, Vice President of SFI Delhi State, that some safaikaramcharis who had filed a labour court case against Sulabh International were being specifically targeted and denied jobs.

In light of all this, the protesters put forth the following demands: one, immediate reinstatement of jobs; two, permanent jobs for permanent work; three, payment of pending PF and ESI amounts.

The protesters gathered in front of the Arts Faculty building, where slogans were shouted, speeches were delivered and voices were raised. A memorandum, addressed to the Vice Chancellor, was submitted to the Deputy Proctor. The memorandum stated the aforementioned demands along with asking for payment of amount deducted from the salaries of the workers from August to October 2018.

Memorandum submitted by the safaikaramcharis to the University administration.

However, as told to DU Beat by Sumit Kataria, no firm response or assurance was given to the protesters by the administration. The administration supposedly told the protesters that they could only request both the companies to come to some form of agreement to provide jobs to the workers on ‘humanitarian’ grounds.

This was also reflected in a press release issued by Pinjra Tod today, which also read, “The workers made it clear that their struggle against the administration as the Principal Employer will continue and only intensify”. According to the press release, the protesters have also planned a signature campaign and a hunger strike in order to keep raising their demands.

Another statement by SFI read, “This struggle is also in order for the university to take back the 100 workers who were fired this year due to the changing of the contractor. It is also a struggle to realise the necessity and importance of the work done by the safaikarmacharis. It is the legal responsibility of the university to provide a stable workspace that provides financial security to its workers.”

Deepak, a member of Pachhas, said, “Poore desh ke andar thekedari ka kaam karaya ja raha hai, basically theke ki system ke khilaf ladai hai” (contractual work is prevalent across the country, this is a larger fight against contract-based work).

Image credits – Various

Prateek Pankaj

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Smart ID Cards Proposed for DU Students

By Maumil Mehraj April 28, 2019

The standing council of the admissions committee of Delhi University (DU) made a proposal for issuing ‘smart’ identity cards to the students in the coming academic session.

Dean of Student Welfare, Rajeev Gupta, chairperson of the committee, said that such cards, once approved, would help bring uniformity and was an attempt at improving the overall infrastructure of the university. The cards are said to be integrated with health centres to help students avail their facilities. They might also help in keeping real-time record of the entry and exit of students from colleges.

As the cards would become operational only in July when the new academic session for 2019-20 starts, the University can have sufficient time to set up the necessary infrastructure required for its implementation, The Hindu quoted Rajiv Gupta, Dean of Student Welfare and Chairperson of the committee as saying.

DU Beat spoke to Rasal Singh, Professor at Kirori Mal College and member of the committees. He gave us some insight into the same.

Objectives: The card is expected to bring uniformity. It will have the DU logo on one side and the college logo on the other. It will also carry the University registration number which is given to every student when they apply to DU.

Features: The nitty-gritties have not been finalised but some of the ideas include integration with the libraries to keep a record of books issued by students. It may also serve as an identification card that can be used to rent bicycles from metro stations and be integrated with metro or bus passes. Apart from this, it will serve as a regular college ID card.

Challenges: Whenever there’s a new policy or idea, some difficulties do arise. That might be the case here also, but that can be managed.

Current Status: The meeting took place on 18th April. There is consensus on the card. It is expected to be rolled out from the next academic session.

Image credits – DU Beat Archives

Prateek Pankaj

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Admissions

DU to Reach Out to Transgender Students During Admissions

By DU Beat April 27, 2019

The University of Delhi is aiming to include more transgender students during the University admission process, but given the archaic thoughts in Indian society, will this lead to positive consequences or their further isolation?

In 2015, the University of Delhi (DU) introduced the option of a ‘third gender’ to its admission forms. But for the next three years no admission was taken under this category. To improve this, in 2018, DU further established a Transgender Resource Center to reach out to more transgender students but the authorities met the same fate.

The authorities have now decided to reach out to encourage more admissions of transgender students. The process will involve reaching out to neighbourhoods, organising camps and sessions, spreading information about the admission process, and requirements regarding the same. Student volunteers and NGOs working for the welfare of the community will be actively involved in the process. The centre would also engage in dialogues with female professors and students to remove the restrictions related to the admission of transgenders in all women colleges.The University authorities have also collaborated with National AIDS Control Organisation, Delhi and Haryana state AIDS control societies for the same.

A number of harassment cases have also been noticed in the past. A student’s petition led to the Article 354(A) under the Indian Penal Code which allowed transgender individuals to complain against harassment. Another transgender student on speaking to a national daily spoke how they were called a chakka on the day of admissions itself. The problem also extends to lack of washrooms and other provisions for these students.

Transgender students have appealed to the court to allow them to change their name and gender in forms. However, this can be allowed only if they change it on their school certificates. The High Court ordered the officials from Central Board of Secondary Education to meet the University authorities and take a decision on the same. This is also because 80% of the applicants are from CBSE. For now, these students are only applying to the School of Open Learning.

Devyani Arora of Kamala Nehru College provided a positive view on the same. She said, “For any sort of inclusivity, there would be certain barriers, but the idea of starting something like this becomes extremely important. The inclusion of transgenders is not just needed, but also a great step for their upliftment.”

For the community to gain acceptance, it needs access to education which can further lead to their emancipation.

Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

(With inputs from The Times of India)

Shivani Dadhwal

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Campus Central

Modern Indian Language courses to get 10% cap on enrolments by Delhi University

By Avnika Chhikara April 24, 2019

The Delhi University has decided to bring out a proposal where a 10% cap will be put on the number of students opting for Modern Indian Language (MIL) as optional subject at the undergraduate level.

Various colleges of the varsity provides students with different Modern Indian Languages such as Sanskrit, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Punjabi as an optional subject to students of BA programme and B Com programme courses which when opted are compulsory for the students to study in the first two years as a core course.

The decision taken by the DU’s Academic Council (AC) aims at equally distributing students in each of these languages in every college. The committee is also contemplating introducing a uniform relaxation policy for all the colleges who awards 4% to 10% relaxation in marks to the students who take up these languages while taking admissions.

The standing committee passed the agenda items during its meeting last week which states, “The admission committee felt the need to relook the eligibility criteria related to MIL having a uniform policy of awarding advantages to students who wish to pursue languages in higher studies for all colleges.”

This move also reduces the burden on colleges which are offering more than one language courses as an optional subject. All the language courses would be able to draw students and not only a select few will get precedence over others.

According to a B.A. programme student from Gargi, “Fixing the number of students for language is beneficial for students as some colleges do not have infrastructure to accommodate too many students in one class, that leads to the division of sections and many times a complex time table not suitable to all. Above all, if a student is really willing to study a particular language allotment needs to be done on the basis of merit or any other fair procedure”

This move might also reduce preferability for only one or two languages and complete neglect of others which often results in colleges to stop offering them to the students not only affecting the students but also the teachers.

According to Hindustan Time’s unnamed source from the standing committee, “This has happened in many colleges, they have stopped offering many languages eventually. The idea behind fixing the number of enrolments is to encourage regular admissions in all languages.”

Image credits: Adithya Khanna for DU Beat

Antriksha Pathania
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Arts & Culture

Riding up to Paigaam: Natuve and their Theatre Productions this year

By Nikhil Kumar March 31, 2019

As Natuve, The Theatre Society of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College comes up with its annual street play fest, Paigaam ’19, the showstopper to the University fest season, our correspondent traces their success journey through the fabled hippodromes of the capital this far.

A typical day at Safdar Hashmi Theater. Delhi’s play going coterie, an endangered species, the entire crowd, standing on their feet, clapping, like a part of them knew that they hadn’t seen anything of this warmth for a time. A mere college theatre society, Natuve’s original production Mx. Mute had just got over.

There are many words which come to mind when one tracks the progress of this theatre society over the last four years. If you happened to take a walk down the left wing of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, any day of the year, the weather bleak or rosy, the sun on your shoulders or shying away from your eyes, you can count on finding the kids from Natuve, drifting in their black kurtas. Right from the soul scorching heat of the Delhi summer to the glorious winters, the society works to bring out the best in themselves, and magically makes their very own amateur effort, with a world of experiments, imperfections, and innocence, rise and shine.

Natuve came up with two plays this year. Mx. Mute and Vyavsaaya Me Tarakki Paane Ke Chamatkaari Totke. While the formeer gave a subtle spin to the issue of assimilation of the LGBTQIA+ identity in the society, standing out particularly for the phenomenal work of the chorus to showcase genders, characters and societal reactions, Vyavsaaya, on the other hand was a hilarious musical comedy, keeping the audience at the edge of the seat at all times, not missing to prickle, however, with its sharp, nuanced satire.

The plays had many an innocent flaws. A few hiccups in transition, a tad too overexcited lightwork, a few rookie mistake in the sounds, and a few mis-directed laughs, yes. Nevertheless, what stood out was the hard work of every last person, what won hearts was their sisyphean desire to make their play the best it could be. The constant fire to give as much life to the art as possible. This won them awards, yes, the most in the college circuit this year, but more importantly, they continued the meteoric rise of Natuve. Yes, that’s the word we were looking for. Natuve continues to be a beloved.

Join them at their fest tomorrow. With Natuve, you have my word, the sun would be a bit kinder to you.