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VC’s First Durbar Evokes Mixed Response

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Many students and teachers marked their presence outside Gandhi Bhavan in the North Campus on Thursday to put forward their complaints and grievances. Delhi University Vice Chancellor, Dinesh Singh, organised a public meeting in the midst of protests by students and teachers against rejection of 32 applications for special chance and evaluation system.

Grievances of students and teachers were heard by the VC and Singh also promised to resolve attendance-related issues of a batch of students from Dyal Singh College who, after being allowed to write three semester exams, were suddenly detained from writing the fourth due to lack of attendance. He also heard another student who was detained from writing her law exam for lack of attendance due to pregnancy

Later DUSU brought the protest to the door of Gandhi Bhawan. “Vice-Chancellor hai, hai,” said a group of students holding black flags. After about half-an-hour of negotiations between the students and the Proctor, the Students Union’s office-bearers were allowed inside. Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) President Arun Hooda argued why they were not informed about the durbar and why they needed to fight to get inside and participate in durbar.

The Union also questioned the decision of denial of special chance to students which allows them to take exams they earlier could not during the time of their graduation due to any emergency, in reply to which Mr. Sigh said that special chance placed a tremendous amount of pressure on the exam branch. He also added that  such a provision could be allowed again if the students could give him in writing that they will have no objections to the results of those currently studying in DU being delayed because of special chance. Singh’s team explained that the provision was withdrawn to give “relief to exam branch”. To accommodate re-testing of students who took admission years ago the university has to dig up years-old syllabus, set question papers and then find people to evaluate them accordingly.

Anger burst out after Academic Council’s standing committee rejected all 25 cases of “special chances” which the Delhi High Court earlier this week had recommended to the panel to be “reconsidered”. The Vice Chancellor later assured that the 25 cases were rejected in their present form as the documents were insufficient and will be reconsidered later.

VC called this meeting a bit of success and said that “this is not a one-off public discussion, but will be happening every Thursday whenever I am in the city.” He further added that everybody was welcome and no prior appointment was needed.

However Saikat Ghosh, a DUTA member said, “Having a cup of tea with us will not make everything alright, we will soften our stand only if he is genuinely interested in sensitively addressing our concerns”.

Image source: The Hindu

Sakshi Gupta
[email protected]

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Campus Central

Change in Course Completion Guidelines: DUSU Threatens Mass protest

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The future of thousands of students are at risk because of a capricious decision of doing away with the special chance given to students who could not finish their course within the specific period due to inescapable circumstances. Special chances are given to ex-students of the university to finish their degree.

The university administration via a notification notified that the extension of the course period or special chance to students who could not complete their course on time would no longer be available.

The administration took the decision without any discussions within the Academic Council and student community and that too after the students were assured by the college authorities and the university examination branch that they may apply for special chance for the year 2012

DUSU in a statement alleged that even the Vice Chancellor refused to meet Hooda in this regard and is unwilling to take into consideration of the plights of thousand students to be affected by this decision. This will adversely affect careers and lives of thousands of students as they failed to complete their courses due to unforeseen circumstances such as life threatening illness, family difficulties, socio-economic conditions of being the only bread earner and occupational hazards.

DUSU threatens mass protest if the decision of doing away with the ‘span period extension’ and ‘special chance’ is not taken back.

Demanding the withdrawal of the notification, DUSU officials said that what’s even worse is that the notification stated that applications already submitted would not be further processed. This shows a level of callousness and complete disregard for the welfare of the students and any principles of natural justice. Any new rule imposed should take effect after a prior notification. Any rule must take a prospective effect and it should apply to the future” said DUSU president, Arun Hooda.

“The administration has replied to our pleas with callous indifference. When we approached DU officials we were physically manhandled and were asked to get out of the office,” said a student.

The question is after more than 60 years of granting special chance why has it been cancelled now? Why has this facility been cancelled unexpectedly without any prior notification? Under which authority and university provision has this rule been passed to delete the special chance, henceforth? Why were the old students not intimated prior to the annual examinations 2012 by the college authorities, who instead supplied them with the special chance forms?“asked DUSU.

Sakshi Gupta
[email protected] 

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Campus Central

ABVP’s Reaction to Defeat in Elections

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Ritu Rana from ABVP who stood for the post of President giving an interview accusing NSUI of foul play soon after the results were out

“ABVP calls Delhi University to be closed on Monday, 17th September because of unfair means in calculation of votes in DUSU elections”. This is the message that was widely circulated on Sunday nights, causing wide absenteeism in colleges on Monday.

In what is being regarded as a highly imprudent move, the ABVP is busy garnering attention and public support because they feel that the DUSU elections vote counting process was rigged.

‘I think they are being too egoistic, they should just accept that they have lost and move on”, says Professor Prachi, of the English Department, Hansraj College.

As commonly known by now, ABVP lost the elections as NSUI sweeped the polls to victory. Subsequently, the former accused DU of using unfair means to calculate votes but strangely did not file an application requesting a re-counting of votes. “It’s stupid, if they so strongly believe that the elections were rigged, they should have filed an application immediately, rather than engaging in hooliganism”, says Vaishali, a student of Hansraj college.

This move by the ABVP was also not very successful as classes went on as usual in most colleges, where no reports of ABVP stalling classes was reported. However, the ABVP activists were able to make their presence felt in colleges like KMC and Ramjas, where the activists stormed into classrooms and demanded that the students leave the classrooms, thereby disrupting normal college routine.

“They just entered into our classes even when our professors protested. They did not let the class continue.”, says Nupur, a student of Ramjas college.

While no new move has been introduced on part of ABVP, speculations are that they will not raise this issue further, because of lack of evidence and also since they don’t want to spoil their party image.

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Campus Central

The Plight of a Student of a College Not Affiliated to DUSU

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Last year was my first year in college and as the elections approached, I started to root for that holiday that all my friends were getting. The election day holiday. But my bubble burst when I realized that my college is not a part of Delhi University Student Union (DUSU). I study in Indraprastha College for Women, yet another all-girls college which is not a part of Delhi University Student Union (DUSU). So election time for us is just like any other time, dull and drab with no new excitement. It’s the same old life of everyday. In spite of being located in North Campus, all we get to do is hear about how alive other colleges are- campaigning, rallies and demonstrations- and not get to see it. Nobody is shouting slogans or bribing us to vote for them, no graffitis and no agenda fliers littered all over, nothing.  We completely miss the election hullabaloo that happens in most other colleges. We’re never a part of any election scandal! No candidate barges into to our college and (to our major disappointment) disrupt our classes or create a commotion! And the worst part, we do not get a holiday on the election date. We have regular classes throughout the day since we don’t have to go and vote. We miss being a part of one of those DU cults that define it.

What we don’t miss is well the hooliganism that is rampant during this time, mobs, fights, eve teasing and the likes of these. We all saw the extremities it could go to when a girl was molested during a rally. I guess this is why all girl colleges abstain from being a part of DUSU. Better safe than sorry, but safe is sure boring! We feel rather left out and it’s not like people spend that holiday voting, they have fun, we don’t even get to do that. So it’s just really sad! There are too many disadvantages and not enough advantages to balance it out. But let me make one thing clear, it is not about who wins to represent us; it’s the whole experience that is worth having which we are deprived of.

So, where is the democracy which everyone claims to live in and how come we don’t get our adult suffrage rights?

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Campus Central

Celebrations Result in Lathi Charge

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Congress’ student wing NSUI (National Students’ Union of India) made a clean sweep at the DUSU polls on Saturday 15th September by winning all three top posts of President, Vice-President and Secretary. After the results were announced, the losing side (ABVP activists) started pelting stones at the ABVP office, broke through the tight security and barricades. Subsequently, Delhi Police had to lathi charge the gathered ABVP activists while they shouted anti-Congress slogans and demanded the recounting of votes. ABVP suspects something fishy behind the counting of votes.

ABVP isn’t satisfied behind the counting process as they alleged rigging in the elections and staged protest at the DUSU Office breaking the windows and destroying the DUSU Office property. “Everything was done with calculated planning and even the DUSU officials made sure that NSUI wins. Congress MPs Depender and Bhupender Singh Hooda were seen at 6 am on campus. We were even given a deaf ear and thrown out of the DUSU Office when we demanded recounting” said Rohit Chahal, regional leader, ABVP.

Some students who were injured were taken to Hindu Rao hospital while some students who were critically injured were taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre. “It’s not about winning or losing the polls. It’s about the way Delhi Police reacted when our students demanded recounting of votes. I hope DUSU officials look into the matter and do the needful.” said a disappointed Vijay Goyal, BJP Leader.

The ABVP has also called for a bandh across the University to protest against these alleged malpractices during  counting of votes.

 

Picture credits: Sawdha Singh and Aishwarya Chaurasia

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Arts Faculty

Nowhere to Go

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The office of The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) on Chhatra Marg in North Campus is under lock and key and is awaiting demolition to make way for new lecture halls for students following post graduate courses in Delhi University. This is being done due to the dearth of space in the Arts Faculty to hold these classes.  The four member DUSU panel has, quite literally, nowhere to go.

Following the implementation of the reservation of seats for OBC candidates, DU has had to increase the number of seats it offers. However there is not sufficient space in the existing faculties of DU to accommodate these students. Therefore, a new faculty is being constructed for these students in place of the erstwhile DUSU office. The four member DUSU panel has temporarily taken up office in a few rooms of the Proctor’s Office. The new DUSU office is supposed to be built in between the Arts Faculty and the Campus Law Centre on Chhatra Marg in North Campus.

Says Kriti Wadhera, Vice President of DUSU, “Our basic aim is to work for the welfare of the students of Delhi University. Therefore, we have agreed to shift our office from the old one to the new one, when it is completed, even though it is less accessible and smaller as the students’ interests are paramount.” However, it seems that this new office that is being built is also temporary as there are talks of a Secretariat being built for DU which will reportedly house not only the DUSU office, but that of the Dean, the Proctor, Delhi University Teachers’ Association and so on as several other official buildings of DU are also slated for demolition.

However, the construction of the new office and the demolition of the old office was to be completed by the 15th of October so that DUSU could finally take up office at one place after Diwali, but these commitments have not been met, much to the displeasure of DUSU. Says Manoj Chaudhary, President of DUSU, “We were promised that we would be able to commence our affairs from the new office after Diwali, but the construction is nowhere near completion even now (16th October). So we will hold a meeting on the 20th to deliberate on the current state of affairs. If things continue this way, we will start a protest to get the old office reopened, probably from the 21st.”

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Uncategorized

The Politician in Us

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Politics and politicians- we all love to hate them. Be it at the national level or the Delhi University Students’ Union or our respective college student unions- we love to heap scorn on the nature of politics and raise our noses in disdain. The politicians don’t care about us, they are all just driven by their own personal agenda and just further them under the garb of doing acts for public welfare, we say. And an obvious consequence of this derision is considering our selves above this very popularly considered immoral, ignoble and unscrupulous activity. However, it is extremely hypocritical of us as we politicize almost every aspect of our own lives.

Basically the popular perception of a politician is a person who influences group opinion in his or her favor, irrespective of whether it will be beneficial for the group as a whole. Now, don’t we all do that? Except for the few people who are the epitomes of selflessness or are exceptionally blunt, we all engage in the very act that we all deride. Of course it is at a personal level. Various examples can be given on this count. Like scheduling a mass bunk on a day you really can’t come to college. Now why should everyone else not come if one person cannot? Why should everybody else suffer the missed attendances and the unfinished syllabus? But many a time we try really hard for this to happen. Of course to do this, you wouldn’t go about telling your classmates not to come because you have to get your hair dyed. You would go about lying, trying to give them to reason to not come when there really isn’t a reason. It would involve cooking up a story, which could be anything from a terrorist threat to calling an innocuous sneeze a definite symptom of impending death, depending upon the gullibility of your classmates, of course. Now, isn’t this wrong, immoral and unscrupulous in the very way politicians are infamous of being?

Another thing politicians are notorious for is doing whatever is possible and being in the good books of the people who can pull a few strings here and there, or somebody who could help you out. Well don’t we like to appease the people in the administrative offices of our colleges? Don’t we try very hard not to miff the person who makes really good notes? Don’t we all suck up to our teachers because they control our internals’ marks? Of course we will be bitching about them behind their backs, but as long as the sugary sweet façade is in place, the show goes on.

So, on the whole, we shouldn’t really just blame our politicians for being politicians. We all have a Machiavelli in us too and I think that’s what spices up our otherwise mundane routine. Acknowledge that politician in you and keep up the politics!

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News

The time to vote

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The campus is yet again preparing itself for another round of elections. This time, it is the annual elections of Delhi University Students Union, which are expected to be held on September 4. However, contrary to the usual pattern, the varsity, which is extremely cluttered with flyers during peak election season, has witnessed very little canvassing this year around.

This can be attributed to the code of conduct set by the varsity on the lines of the Supreme Court judgment and stringent reinforcing of the recommendations of the Lyngdoh reforms.

As per this code of conduct, candidates are prohibited from using printed posters, printed pamphlet, or any other printed material for the purpose of canvassing.  Only handmade posters can be utilised for this purpose, provided their cost it is within the allocated budget of Rs 5000.To avoid disturbance around the campus  and avoid wastage of resources, the use of vehicles or loudspeakers too is not permitted . Hostels, usually the prime ground for canvassing, are off limits for campaigning post 10 p.m.

However, authorities have come up with alternate arrangements so that candidates can familiarize voters with their agenda without disturbing the regular functioning of the university.

A Website has been hosted by Delhi University Computer Centre to upload the propaganda material.  The candidates shall be allowed a fixed time on DU Community Radio 100.4 for campaigning post August 27. However the material to be put on the website and on air has to be checked and approved by the chief election officer to avoid any objectionable content.

The publication of the final list of candidates is to be announced on the 27th of August.

Polling will take place 8 days afterwards.

Students attending morning classes can cast their vote anytime between 8 30 a.m. to 12: 30 p.m. Those students attending evening classes can do the same from 3 p.m to 7 p.m.

In light of this situation, students generally felt that the strict implementation of the prescribed code of conduct is a positive step towards a more systematic and transparent election and may encourage a greater voter turn out this year.

The campus is yet again preparing itself for another round of elections. This time, it is the annual elections of Delhi University Students Union, which are expected to be held on September 4. However, contrary to the usual pattern, the varsity, which is extremely cluttered with flyers during peak election season, has witnessed very little canvassing this year around.

This can be attributed to the code of conduct set by the varsity on the lines of the Supreme Court judgment and stringent reinforcing of the recommendations of the Lyngdoh reforms.

As per this code of conduct, candidates are prohibited from using printed posters, printed pamphlet, or any other printed material for the purpose of canvassing. Only handmade posters can be utilised for this purpose, provided their cost it is within the allocated budget of Rs 5000.To avoid disturbance around the campus and avoid wastage of resources, the use of vehicles or loudspeakers too is not permitted . Hostels, usually the prime ground for canvassing, are off limits for campaigning post 10 p.m.

However, authorities have come up with alternate arrangements so that candidates can familiarize voters with their agenda without disturbing the regular functioning of the university.

A Website has been hosted by Delhi University Computer Centre to upload the propaganda material. The candidates shall be allowed a fixed time on DU Community Radio 100.4 for campaigning post August 27. However the material to be put on the website and on air has to be checked and approved by the chief election officer to avoid any objectionable content.

The publication of the final list of candidates is to be announced on the 27th of August.

Polling will take place 8 days afterwards.

Students attending morning classes can cast their vote anytime between 8 30 a.m. to 12: 30 p.m. Those students attending evening classes can do the same from 3 p.m to 7 p.m.

In light of this situation, students generally felt that the strict implementation of the prescribed code of conduct is a positive step towards a more systematic and transparent election and may encourage a greater voter turn out this year.

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