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Videos of Misconduct in the DUSU Office

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Two videos showing people dancing and playing Ludo, respectively, in the DUSU office have gone viral on social media platforms. Baisoya and ABVP denied knowledge of the incident and of the people in the videos.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has landed in a precarious position another time after Ankiv Baisoya has taken charge of the office as the President of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU). This time two videos are the cause behind the situation, where one has been doing rounds across social media platforms and the other was originally uploaded to Facebook- on the profile of an individual named ‘ViNii Nam Bardar Abvp’.

As per the videos, the setting has been recognised to be the DUSU Office, presided over by Ankiv Baisoya. The first video shows three men dancing to a song in a regional language in front of the board displaying the DUSU Presidents’ names. The person who shot the video remains unidentified. The second video has people playing the game Ludo in the DUSU Vice-Presidential Office, with conversations amongst the men continuing in Hindi. One person in the video is also shown to tell over a phone conversation to somebody, “Main yahin hoon abhi(I am here only right now)”. Baisoya himself is not present in any of the videos. One of the three men dancing around the Presidential chair has been identified as Vinit Bansal who, according to his profile on Facebook, affiliates himself as a member of the ABVP. The profile also claims him to be a student of BA Programme at Kirori Mal College of the University of Delhi.

As reported by The Quint, members of the ABVP have stated sternly against the knowledge of any such incident while it was ongoing. DU Beat contacted Ankiv Baisoya who went on record to state the following- “Jo log thee us video mein vo mere jankar nahi hai, nahi vo ABVP se belong karte hai (The people who were present in the video are not known to me, nor do they belong to ABVP). They were present in the office during my absence, and I have told my office staff that these things should not happen, and if someone is forcefully trying to do this then tell me, I will take strict actions against them. I am even planning to file a complaint against these people, who forcefully entered my room when I was not present.” When questioned further about the affiliations of Vinit Bansal with ABVP, Baisoya did not respond.

According to the report published in The Quint, there has been a consensus of disapproval by the student leaders in the university, who are sternly against the lack of appropriate conduct and an insult of the decorum expected in the office of the student leaders. Saimon Farooqui, the National Secretary and Media In-Charge of the majority opposition party- National Students’ Union of India, went on record to state, “Ankiv Baisoya and the ABVP have continuously been mocking the whole DUSU Elections by contesting election by means of fake documents, and then slowing down the investigation process through bigotry. NSUI demands action on these three students and on Ankiv Baisoya as well for letting down the prestige of the office.”

 

Feature Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Anushree Joshi
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An Obvious Case of DUSU and the Fake Degrees

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The recent unwrapping of the Ankiv Baisoya’s fake degree case brings with it harsh truths about elections and raises a question on the trustworthiness of nomination credentials.

On the 13th of September 2018, Ankiv Baisoya was appointed as the President of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU). Recently, his college degree has been put to the question, accusing him of providing the authorities with a fake one. He is currently pursuing Masters in the Buddhist Studies program from the Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi (DU). It would’ve been surprising if such a case happened for the first time, but the Rocky Tuseed case had already paved a way for expecting more such instances.

Ankiv Basisoya won with total votes of 20,467, marking a clear difference of 2000 votes from his opponent. The whole faith and belief that people as voters have on their leaders stand in question when one gets to know that their preferred candidate has based himself on false foundations. As a voter, one invests a lot of time and effort during the whole process of elections.

The public’s support towards any leader is based on the promises that they make in their manifestos or other public gatherings. We are offered what the leaders want us to know and that’s about it. These promises, however, turn out mostly to be hollow and fake. During the DUSU Elections, people were being offered movie tickets, free food, etc, The voters, at times get blinded by the misty fog of sweetness and pretentiousness that hides dark and unlawful secrets. All the assurances of a “better tomorrow” or “bright future” that seemed promising and fancy at first, slowly lose its charm.

Of course, in a democratic system (India, being one of the largest democracies in the world), the public is the one who has an upper hand and can elect the leaders of their choice. But when the public itself falls into the ditches of fake promises or indifference, or the chosen leader turns out to be a bad choice, the belief system lays tarnished on the grounds of false pretences. And most importantly, puts a big question mark on the honesty and authenticity of the political party as a whole. In Rocky Tuseed’s case, for example, since his criminal records came forward and he was exposed openly in front of the public. The party that he was representing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) had to bear the effect of his actions in the DUSU Elections of 2018, by winning only one post (that of the Joint Secretary) out of four.

Amidst all the uncertainty surrounding this kind of a condition, the most certain idea that takes birth is – that if such a situation can arise during the election procedure in one of the best universities of the country, why can’t it happen in the national elections? Already, our current Prime Minister is embroiled in controversies surrounding his educational qualifications.

Maxwell’s saying that “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way” will lie somewhere deep, buried inside the earth if such an event ever unfolds in the national election. Because then, an inevitable question will present itself: What even is the ‘way’?

Image Credits: Ankiv Basoya, Facebook

Akshada Shrotryia

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NSUI Alleges Ankiv Baisoya Submitted Fake Documents for University Admission

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The newly-elected DUSU President, Ankiv Baisoya of ABVP has been accused of furnishing a fake certificate from Thiruvalluvar University for securing admission in MA in Buddhist Studies in Delhi University.

Ankiv ABVP
Ankiv Baisoya, DUSU President 2018-19. Image Credits – Jagran Josh

 

On Tuesday, 18th September 2018, National Students Union of India(NSUI) questioned the admission of the newly elected Delhi University Student’s Union (DUSU) President, Ankiv Bisoya of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). It was alleged that Ankiv submitted fake documents to get admission in the University of Delhi.

Certificate
Letter released by Thiruvalluvar University. Image Credits – NSUI

NSUI released a letter from the Controller of Examinations of Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore. The letter stated that Ankiv’s BA certificate is fake and not genuine. According to NSUI, they received the letter from internal sources. The NSUI said that Baisoya had presented a mark sheet for admission to the MA (Buddhist Studies) course, but Thiruvalluvar University clearly refused they had enrolled a student of such name, and a mark sheet of that serial number was not in their records.

On contacting NSUI regarding the same, Saimon Farooqui, National Secretary of NSUI said, “We got hold of this document through internal sources. The State President of Tamil Nadu NSUI helped us to procure the document. It’s not surprising to see ABVP get into such dirty politics, the same is the case with their parent party (Bhartiya Janta Party-BJP). We will be seeking legal advice and also plan to meet the Delhi University officials regarding the same.” Lairab Neyazi, National Media Co-coordinator of NSUI added that this is a huge matter of concern. He said, “How can he become the DUSU President when the certificates are not authentic? We will file a complaint on this.”

Marksheet
Marksheet released by Thiruvalluvar University. Image credits – NSUI

However, ABVP refutes any such allegation. They term this as propaganda of NSUI. DU Beat contacted Monika Chaudhary, National Media Convener of ABVP. She said, “ NSUI is not able to digest the fact that they have lost the DUSU elections, they are spreading propaganda’s every other day like the Electronic Voting Machine issue and now questioning Ankiv’s degree. Delhi University gave admission to Ankiv Baisoya after due verification of its documents. It’s the process of DU. Even today DU has all the right to verify documents of any student enrolled in university. But it’s not the job of NSUI to provide certificates to any person. DU has all the right to verify documents of not only Ankiv but all DUSU office bearers to stop rumors in future.”

Speaking to DU Beat, Baisoya said, “The allegations are all false. NSUI is finding new ways since they could not achieve success with the EVMs. Also, the letter is dated 7th September 2018 and elections took place on 12th September 2018. Why did NSUI take so much time to disclose the document? I have reservations on the language used in the document. This letter released by them is fake and I would just like to tell everyone that I am the DUSU President.”

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NSUI tried to further legitimise their claim by sharing a photo of the envelope, with the University stamp clearly visible. Image Credits – NSUI

On questioning NSUI as to why the document was released 11 days after procurement from Thiruvalluvar University, they said that they received the letter by post and therefore it took time to disclose the fake degree. They also provided DU Beat with a photograph of the envelope that apparently contained the letter, which has a prominent stamp from the University. 

 

Update:

Earlier the Controller of Thiruvalluvar University clarified promptly on the fake degree of Ankiv Baisoya, followed by the cross-checking by reputed media houses. Saimon Farooqui, National Secretary of the NSUI, commented on the matter saying, “Today, the Registrar of Thiruvalluvar University has again clarified to the deaf and dumb DU Administration about the fake degree of Ankiv Baisoya. Despite of this, the DU Administration is acting in a biased manner on purpose by removing Admission officer and delaying the process by different means to slow down the course of action, hence favouring ABVP.

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Image Credits – NSUI

 

The NSUI came out with the following demands;
1. The Declaration of  Sunny Chhillar as the DUSU President with immediate effect.

2. The Arrest of Ankiv Baisoya for deceiving the students of DU and DU administration by means of misrepresentation and fraud.

DU Beat is attempting to contact ABVP representatives for their comment on the matter, Updates will be posted promptly.

Feature Image Credits: Jagran Josh

Anoushka Sharma

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Plea Challenging DUSU Election Results Moves to High Court

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Three candidates from NSUI filed a plea in the Delhi High Court on how privately procured EVMs were used in the DUSU elections held on 12th September 2018.

On 17th September 2018, three candidates of National Students’ Union of India had moved the High Court challenging the elections on the grounds that voting machines were allegedly tampered with. The candidates were Sunny Chillar, Leena, and Saurabh Yadav who contested for the post of President, Vice President and Joint Secretary respectively in the Delhi University Students Union(DUSU) Elections 2018. The candidates questioned how privately procured Electronic Voting Machines(EVM) were used in the DUSU elections and how data from seven EVMs had allegedly gone missing.

NSUI Protest Sunday
Plea Moved in High Court Challenging Results of DUSU Elections

The counting of votes was stopped on 13th September 2018 for an hour when there were allegations of faulty EVMs. However, following the protests on the same day the counting was suspended. But it resumed in the evening after an elaborate discussion and agreement by the candidates.  A statement was issued by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Delhi. It said that the EVMs used in the DUSU elections were not issued to University of Delhi by them. The State Election Commission also clarified that they did not allot any EVMs to the University. It was said that the University had privately procured the EVMs.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal questioned the Election Commission over the privately sourced EVMs used in the DUSU elections. Taking it to the micro-blogging site Twitter, he tweeted, “From where can you procure EVMs privately? Doesn’t ECI claim that no one can manufacture or buy or sell EVMs privately? Isn’t anyone found in possession of EVMs without EC’s permission guilty of the criminal offence?” NSUI also staged a protest regarding the same on 15th September 2018 in the Arts Faculty, University of Delhi.

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Letter issued by the office of Chief Election Officer, Delhi. Source – Twitter

Responding to this, the High Court judge Justice Siddharth Mridul has directed the University of Delhi to keep secure the EVMs used in the DUSU elections along with paper trial and other documentation.

DU Beat contacted Sunny Chillar, NSUI candidate who stood for the post of President in DUSU elections. He said, “The High Court agreed to what we said and has given a stay on the same. Whatever happened on the day of vote counting was wrong and should not have happened. The choice of the students was different- It was Sunny Chillar from the beginning. We stand against the wrong and the fraud that took place. We will stand for the students and their rights irrespective of the fact that we win or lose in the elections.”

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Anoushka Sharma

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Violence breaks out in ZHDC (Evening) on Monday

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Members of ABVP allegedly assaulted students and staff and vandalised property in Zakir Hussain Delhi College  (Evening) on Monday.

On Monday, September 10th, 2018, the last day of campaigning for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU), members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) allegedly vandalised property at Zakir Hussain Delhi College (Evening) and assaulted the students and staff.

In a letter to the chairman of the Grievance Redressal cell DUSU 2018, condemning the vandalism, Akshay Lakra, President of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) demanded the cancellation of the nomination of the ABVP Vice Presidential Candidate, Shakti Singh, who had gone to ZHC for campaigning when the violence broke out.

“This is a calculated attempt by ABVP to intimidate students through violence in the run up to the DUSU polls. The ABVP nominee for DUSU’s Vice President’s post entered the campus with a group of outsiders and terrorised the entire college by going on a rampage with blades, hockey sticks, and rocks,” wrote Lakra in the letter.

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Image credits – Indian Express

College principal Masroor Ahmad Baig was quoted by the Indian Express as saying,”I don’t know how it started, but I was shocked to hear the commotion. They vandalised college property, broke chairs and threw flower pots. It was ABVP activists who beat up students; they even hit girls and staff.”

DCP (central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa, said, “Police personnel were present at the spot when the incident took place and they controlled the crowd. No complaint has been received from the college administration.” The violence was condemned by other student outfits contesting the polls and police action was demanded. An anonymous letter to the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kamla Nagar claims that the main motive behind the incident was to insight and arise violence in the premises in the name of campaigning.

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Image credits – NSUI

A student of the college claimed Singh was stopped when he tried to enter with a large group of supporters. “He was told that he could take a few supporters for campaigning. They got angry and started breaking college property, and passed lewd comments,” alleged the student, who did not want to be identified. “The whole incident was so scary. I try to avoid college at this time of the year and I’m glad that I took a leave that day,” says a second year student of ZHC who wished to remain anonymous.

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Image credits – NSUI

Indian Express quoted the ABVP national media convenor Monika Chaudhary as, “We have not been able to communicate with Singh. But the ones indulging in violence are not ABVP activists. Singh had gone to campaign in the college… what we know is that fight broke out between two student groups.”

Feature Image Credits: Anonymous

Muskan Sethi

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DUSU Elections 2018

Tete-a-tete with NSUI’s Presidential Candidate Sunny Chillar

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On Monday, 10th September 2018, DU Beat conducted an interview with the Presidential candidate of the National Students’ Union of India in context to the Delhi University Student Union Elections to be held on the 12th of September 2018.
Here are some excerpts from the interview.
Question: What is your plan for establishing accountability in the Delhi University Students’ Union?
Sunny: I will do my best to get the tag of ‘Institute of Eminence’ to DU so that we become entitled to get INR 1000 crores from which each college will be entitled to get INR 8 crores, and each student will, in turn,
be entitled to INR 75,000. The second thing on the agenda is a subsidised ‘chattra canteen’, a ten-rupee thali. The third thing on the agenda is to bring back the 62,600 laptops that were issued during the four-year programmes. These laptops should be re-issued to the students. Even if we don’t win the elections, we will continue to work
on these issues.
Question: How do you plan to provide a thali for a mere price of INR 10 to the students?
Sunny: Taking example from Amma Canteen of Tamil Nadu, NSUI has decided to provide the students with a INR 10 thali. The Amma Canteen offers more variety in terms of food than we are planning to. The subsidy will come from the INR 1000 crore budget which we hope to get after getting the tag of Institute of Eminence. A thali at such a low price is required because students from different backgrounds study in DU and it is important to provide them with equal opportunities.

Question: What is your take on the issue of the privatisation of higher educational institutions, especially the University of Delhi?
Sunny: The fee structure in DU is not transparent. I am a student pursuing B.A. (Hons.) Sanskrit from Shivaji College. The fee structure of any two colleges of the University is not similar, there is always some disparity.
For example, the fee structure of Shivaji College and Dyal Singh College for the same course is different. These are some indicators that show that the University is moving towards privatisation but we are making efforts to bring transparency in the fee structure.
Question: How inclusive is your party politics in terms of minority representation?
Sunny: We have ensured representation from the Scheduled Caste category in our panel. Leena is contesting from this category for the post of Vice President. In the coming years, we will be focusing on the representation of the minorities from regions like the Northeastern region of the country. We do not wish to make DUSU all about ‘jaat-gujjar’ elections. We wish to create an environment where each and every community is equally represented and enjoy equal rights.
Question: Which trick enabled you to campaign within a mere budget of INR 5000, the maximum that a candidate is allowed to spend on campaigning as per the Lyngdoh Committee?
Sunny: We are getting help from our family, friends, and relatives. The cars which you see on the road are of our friends, supporters, and family. No extra money is spent on all this. It’s within the budget.
Question: Littering in the campus has become a trend in DUSU elections. Manifestos of political parties and pamphlets are seen everywhere, on the roads, in the college campus and also on the walls.
What would you like to say on this issue?

Sunny: The paper used in printing the pamphlets is recyclable paper. We are controlling the wastage of paper. We are not pasting any posters, hoardings because six democracy goals have been assigned by DU and based on them, we are pasting our posters. It’s just the beginning. By next year, we hope to control all the waste created during the elections.
Question: Since the last three years, the None Of The Above (NOTA) option has gained attraction among DU voters. Why do you think this is happening?
Sunny: The main problem is the fight between the Left and the Right. They are not fighting for the issues of the students. Student issues should be taken care of, but when this doesn’t happen, students prefer the NOTA option.
Question: The tiff between Mahamedhaa Nagar and Kunal Sehrawat on the installation of sanitary pad vending machines was in news recently. What is your take on this?
Sunny: The DUSU office works on the collective decision-making process of the four office bearers. Even if a single person denies or objects to a certain decision, everything is re-worked again. It’s like the Parliament where everyone gets an equal say. The initiative of installing machines was mentioned in our manifesto last year. Mahamedhaa took a certain advantage of this. Though she worked hard for the installation, the credit cannot only be showered on her. Kunal Sehrawat has played a very important role in bringing this change. We fulfilled our promises we had made to the students.

Question: Miranda House saw buses outside the college gate today. On enquiring, we got to know that they have been arranged by NSUI for a movie screening. So don’t you think this is unethical when it comes to campaigning?
Sunny: No, I don’t think it’s unethical. Even as kids, we used to go on school picnics. We are not doing it for votes. This is just like a picnic for the students so that they can get a day off from their busy and hectic schedule. Not only this, we have noticed that the students are also interested in going out to have fun.
Question: What are the achievements of the NSUI led DUSU in the year 2017-18?
Sunny: We completed most of the promises we made to the students like installation of sanitary pad vending machines, and access to the library 24*7. We also put a stop to the metro fare hike till 2020. We also
fought for concessional metro passes for students studying in DU. So, yes, it was a fruitful year.
Question: Which element differentiates you from the other contenders for the post of President?
Sunny: I am not comparing myself with others. I am just focusing on trying to improve myself every day. I am not sure whether I will become the President or not, but one thing I am sure of is that I will work for student welfare and improve myself.

Feature Image Credits: The National Students’ Union of India

Anoushka Sharma
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DUSU Elections 2018

Girls’ Colleges in South Campus and Their Exclusion from DUSU Elections

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In the year 1973, the University of Delhi (DU) expanded in order to keep up with the ever-increasing number of students and, therefore, the South Campus was established.

The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) is a body that represents the concerns of enrolled students in front of the administration and also has the job of organising cultural activities for the colleges it is affiliated with. Every year, the parties like the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad amongst others, contest elections. However, there are many colleges that have their own internal students’ unions and are not affiliated with DUSU at all. In the North Campus, colleges like St. Stephen’s College, Indraprastha College for Women, and Daulat Ram College are a part of that group. Despite not being affiliated with DUSU, they get to witness the best and worst of the elections season, by virtue of being in the campus.

This becomes all the more evident in the South Campus, particularly in girls’ colleges like Jesus and Mary College, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, and Maitreyi College, which do not have any involvement with the DU students’ politics and their first-year students, often, have no idea about these parties.

Lyngdoh Committee guidelines were issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2006 in accordance with the direction of the Supreme Court to reform students’ union elections. The section 6.1.7(f) states, “Subject to the autonomy of the universities in respect of the choice of the mode of election, all universities and institute must have an apex student representative body that represents all students, colleges, and departments coming under the particular university.”

In the event that the university is geographically widespread, individual colleges may constitute their own representative bodies, which would further elect representatives for the apex university body. Such colleges feel like their internal students’ body does a much better job at representing the problems of the students because they are a part of that college themselves and the process of elections is less complicated. Ironically, the section 6.3 of the Lyngdoh Committee also states that there must be disassociation of student elections and student representation from political parties. This section has been outrageously neglected as all the DUSU parties are college-level counterparts of national political parties. The implementation of these recommendations is highly questionable when it comes to DU politics. Besides, there are also recommendations like INR 5000 being the maximum expenditure per candidate and there should be no disturbance of academic and non-academic activities of the university.

The election campaigning, in reality, sees all manners of over-budgeting. Be it fancy cars, free meals, or the sea of flyers, these candidates leave no stone unturned to ensure victory. North Campus students often complain of classes being disrupted, harassment by party members, or supporters and other forms of unpleasant incidents during elections, but the South Campus girls’ colleges are far from it.

We, as South Campus students, are saved from all of this trouble. But in the end, the question remains: are we missing out on an integral part of the DU experience?

Feature Image Credits: The Hindu

Maumil Mehraj

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NSUI Alleges that ABVP Copied their Manifesto ahead of DUSU Elections

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ABVP, in its defense, claims that NSUI has done no work in the past year, and is therefore looking for ways to demean the party.

With Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections just a couple of days away, major party National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) alleged that rival Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) stole their election manifesto.

NSUI’s manifesto had the proposition of subsidized food for DU students, which promised a complete meal thali at the meagre amount of Rs. 10. The same was allegedly seen on ABVP’s manifesto.

Saimon Farooqi, National Media Secretary of NSUI, said that their national handle has some posters and their corresponding dates are given. He added that on checking ABVP’s posters, the same designs and points can be seen, but with a later date.

What is also a shared point between the two parties is ‘the Institute of Eminence’, wherein, if a university is chosen, added funds of Rs. 1000 crore are allocated to them. Had DU been given these funds, the current budget of Rs 1100 crore would almost be doubled and would amount to Rs. 75,000 extra spent per student. This would ensure better facilities for them. Both the manifestos claimed to make DU the next Institute of Eminence. NSUI also says that there have been reports of the Prime Minister’s Office’s (PMO’s) involvement in the decision.

According to NSUI, ABVP’s manifesto has given themselves credit for writing off GST on sanitary pads, but a change petition was run by Sushmita Dev, National President of Mahila Congress on which she got half a million signatures. The petition was handed over to Arun Jaitley, the Minister of Finance and was thereby written off.

“ABVP is following Copy-cat politics. They are copying NSUI, whether it is about the points in our manifesto or the design of our poster”, told Farooqi to a DU Beat correspondent.

Jyoti Chaudhary, Joint Secretary ABVP, said that the work for writing off GST on sanitary napkins was done by Mahameda Nagar. When asked about the thaali, she said that it was never included in ABVP manifesto because it is not possible to provide food on such low rates. ‘Only the manifesto of those who have actually done work is stolen,’ Chaudhary said. ‘What will we do with the manifesto of those who have done nothing in the past year?’

Besides these, the shared points include fee reduction, provision of hostels for all colleges in vacant lands around the campuses, Delhi metro and DTDC student passes, study room facilities, etc.  However, it can also be argued, that issues like these are universal to the students of the Delhi University and not limited to one party.

Feature Image Credits – DU Beat
Maumil Mehraj

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ABVP’s Election Manifesto Reading in Miranda House ends in a Debacle

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Yesterday, the ABVP read out its election manifesto in Miranda House. However, they had to leave soon as they were shamed off the stage by the audience.

In what was a short session for the representatives of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), there was huge uproar in Miranda House today over their manifesto reading for the DUSU elections. The manifesto reading started with a representative of ABVP who initially claimed that he was Ankiv Baisoya, the Presidential candidate of the ABVP. However, when it was found out that he wasn’t Ankiv Baisoya, the Students’ Union of Miranda House admonished the ABVP for lying about their candidate. The representative, whose name we couldn’t find, gave the justification that he was representing Ankiv Baisoya. However, the students refused to listen to him after that, even when he attempted to argue that free speech should be protected especially in Miranda House.

Sudhir Dedha, the ABVP’s candidate for the post of General Secretary, started campaigning by mentioning his ballot numbers, although due to the booing that happened, he was soon cut off. A student asked him about the recent comments made by Shri Niwas, the National Joint Organising Secretary, in a rally about the colleges of Ramjas College, Hindu College, Miranda House, and Kirori Mal College being ’hubs of Naxalism’ to which Mr. Dedha replied, “We won’t tolerate those who say Bharat ke tukde honge, inshallah! (Bharat will be broken up, inshallah)”. This generated even more uproar in the auditorium.

Mr. Dedha was also asked about the recent ban in two books by Nandini Sundar and Archana Prasad on the charges that these had “sympathy towards the Naxalite movement”. He replied, “If any book is claiming that Bhagat Singh is a terrorist, we don’t think such books should be there (in the syllabus).”

Notably, Archana Prasad’s book is called “Against Ecological Romanticism: Verrier Elwin and the Making of an Anti-modern Tribal identity” while Nandini Sundar’s book is called “Subalterns and Sovereigns: An Anthropological History of Bastar”. Neither of the books mention anything about Bhagat Singh.

Sudhir Dedha remained unavailable for comment when DU Beat attempted to contact him.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Sara Sohail

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Admissions 2018

Admission Gets Cancelled Due to College’s Negligence

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Getting merit-based admissions in Delhi University is the dream that every student in the country nurtures. The candidates and their parents heave sighs of relief once the formalities are finalised, and the acknowledgment slip is procured. But, that’s not what happened with Lariba Ashfaq Ahmed, an aspiring Literature student at Sri Venkateswara College.

It can be agreed that procuring admission in a reputed college can be a tricky business, but for Lariba, it turned out to be a nightmare altogether. On the last day of admissions in the 10th Cut-Off list, Lariba reached Venkateswara College, to inquire about the vacant seats in the Department of English, and procure one, if available. Subsequent to her arrival at the college, she happened to bump into a lady staff, Ms. Nidhi, who directed her to the Head of the Department, of English for clarifications and attaining information about the vacancies. Having obtained a nod of approval from the Head, Lariba rushed to Kamla Nehru College, (where she had already taken admission in a prior list), to cancel her admission and migrate to Venkateswara.

After the admission formalities were over, the college administration handed over an “acknowledgment slip”, bearing Roll Number- 21083 to her, which she accepted, preserved, and left for her home. But this was hardly any cause of rejoicing for her. As soon as she reached her home, she received a call on her mother’s phone, over which the caller alleged that there had been some issues with the verification of her documents, and hence, she should pay a visit to the college in the company of her father the next day.

Upon her visit to the college the next day, she was exposed to the cunning of the college administration. The college staff, somehow caught hold of the acknowledgment slip from her, and, having done that, slammed her documents on her face, stating that she couldn’t be admitted into the college.

This left the student in the doldrums. Having cancelled her admission in KNC and been cunningly struck off the rolls at Venkateswara, she had nowhere to go to. Even though she tried to procure legal help from the police, but all that she could get was the mere fulfillment of formalities. The PCR simply took her statement, making their evergreen promise to “Look into the matter and carry out a thorough investigation”. Meanwhile, the concoction of the administration staff at Venkateswara brought dark clouds over the candidate’s future.

However, Kamla Nehru College came to her timely aid. The college, considering her ordeal, gave her admission in the same cut-off, and the process was glitch and tension free. This entire chain of events brings to the limelight the disheartening treatment the candidates are exposed to at the hands of the unruly administration staff at colleges. Not only is their future played with, there’s no acceptance of the deed or an apology from the college’s end.

Interestingly, students at Venkateswara had remained oblivious to the incident, until an FB post and a YouTube video went viral. According to the students, the college has been manipulative enough to ensure that the incident doesn’t come out to the reach of the public spectrum, because they think that the college is already acquainted with the fact that the students are not in favor of the administration staff.

The students have shown a marked resentment against this agitating incident and expect a proper explanation and solution to such problems. Even though they request that their identities are kept hidden, their words will surely shine bright like the moon on the full moon night, through DU Beat.  Their thoughts are fraught with resilience and expect a concrete solution from the varsity’s end regarding behaviour of the administration staff, rather than the college’s end, because this is more or less the story of every college.

“If the candidate wasn’t eligible for admissions, why wasn’t she told that in the first place? Why did the college play with an innocent student’s career?”, said a student of Venkasteswara College, on anonymity..

“The problem is, the administrative staff does not care about the future of the students. They have a gala time in their A/C offices sipping tea, while the students suffer”, mentioned another student from the same college.

If things continue this way, the students are afraid that the college will lose the reputation that it enjoys, which shall pose serious detrimental effects to the interests of the students. This was more or less a case of infringement of the student’s right to education, and it must be looked at with profound gravity.

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Aashish Jain
[email protected]

 

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