Latest
DU Beat – Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper
Tag

economics

Browsing
Miranda House

The optimistic reality of social welfare schemes revealed at Vishleshan

By

Vishleshan, the official discussion forum of Arthashastra, the Economics Society of Miranda House college hosted Dr. Reetika Khera, an eminent developmental economist and social activist, for their first seminar of the session, titled “Doles, Freebies, Handouts: A Right(s) Approach to Populism”, on 26th August.

Dr. Reetika Khera, associated with institutions like Delhi School of Economics, IIT-Delhi, Centre for Economic Development and the Planning Unit at the Indian Statistical Institute, was actively involved with the implementation of the National Rural Employment Generation Act (NREGA) scheme and champions the cause of social welfare schemes.

The Seminar was preceded by a short reading group, where students discussed Dr. Khera’s work and talked about relevant issues, like the situation of public welfare schemes in India-the benefits they provide to people on a daily basis versus the expenditure on them. At 1.30 p.m, Dr. Khera took the stage after being welcomed warmly by Ananya Goyal and Arushi Gupta, Co-Heads of Vishleshan.

During the course of the seminar, which lasted for around an hour, Dr. Khera successfully broke down the concept of social welfare schemes and put forth her stance of supporting their expansion and upkeep. She mentioned how there had been recent talks about India’s social welfare policies being too “populist” when in actuality, we are a “world champion in social underspending”. Dr. Khera broke down the stigma against social welfare schemes by tackling the often-repeated issues like how expenditure on them adds to the fiscal deficit and how India cannot afford to fund these schemes anymore. She took on another major issue against schemes like The Public Distribution System, which are thought to be riddled with corruption and hence inherently ineffective.

In reality, statistics show that there have been considerable improvements in the PDS, with states like Bihar seeing a turnaround in their effectiveness. Dr. Khera also criticised the use of obsolete data from 1997-2001 which have been cited by columnists of leading newspapers to speak out against NREGA and other such social welfare measures. She ended her lively session by stating, “It just takes political will and basic technological intervention to run welfare schemes”, which was followed by an interaction session where attendees commented on and brought forth other relevant observations.

“In our quest for stimulating discussion on matters of importance in Economics, I believe that we are on a good start with the lecture by Dr. Khera. Her passion for her work, particularly for raising standards of living across the board by constitution of Rights for Necessities was inspiring for the entire lot of young economists in the audience,” said Ananya Goyal, the Co-Head of Vishleshan.

For more updates on Vishleshan events, visit their Facebook Page here.

Image Credits: Niketa Singh, Arthashastra (The Economics Society of Miranda House)

Shubham Kaushik

[email protected]

Keep Reading
By
Admissions 2015

The B.Com. vs Economics debate

By

One of the biggest bafflement a commerce student faces, during admission time, is whether to pursue B.Com. or Economics. To begin with, you are spoilt for choice since you’ve got the option of choosing between two of the most prestigious subjects that DU offers.

A lot of people decide between the two courses based on their interest/marks in class 12th in Accounts and Economics. Just to make things very clear, there is a lot of difference between what you study in college and what you studied in school. Speak to college students, teachers and the Internet.

The popular notion of B.Com. and Economics having similar topics is false; there is vast difference in the courses. B.Com. is a generalised course which combines accountancy, economics and business studies. Economics, on the other hand, is a specialised course which deals with rational behavior and making the best choice with limited resources.

B.Com. opens up avenues for the field of Chartered Accountancy, Finance, Business Entrepreneurship, Company Secretaryship and Law. It also gives you a boast to look into management, IT and academics. Economics is a builder for jobs in the policy making, corporate sector, developmental sector and key specialized areas. It also allows you to take up IES services after post-graduation in the subject.
Economics requires a lot of usage of maths and statistics. So if you are not big fans of these subjects, three years of graduation can be very tough with them. Commerce, on the other hand, is 60% theoretical, give or take.

Commerce comprises of trading commodities of economic value such as goods, services, information or money between two or more entities. Commerce works as the mechanism which drives capitalism and certain other economic systems. Economics is the branch of social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

Do your homework before deciding because this shall affect your future. Chalk out a list of your interests and compare it with the subjects offered by the two courses. Get hold of the Under-Graduation syllabus to get a better view.

Important Links

Commerce

Course content: http://goo.gl/8aygAA

Unconventional further study options: https://dubeat.com/?p=26724

Economics

Course content: http://goo.gl/arDd4e

Unconventional further study options: https://dubeat.com/?p=27081

 

All the best for the admission season!

Ishita Sharma

[email protected]

Keep Reading
By
Hans Raj College

App races and development studies dominate Hansraj Eco fest

By

Ecolloquium, the Economics Fest of Hansraj College, took place on 18th February, 2014. 1500 hundred students registered for the six competitions which were held during the fest.

An Android app was developed for India’s first app based race, Illuminati, which witnessed a participation of 400 people. A cash prize of Rs.25,000 was credited to the winner.

Question Hour, a research event in association with The Centre for Civil Society, an independent think tank ranked in top 50 in the world by a UPenn study, delighted the participants by promising goodies from Centre for Civil Society and career services from eCV to the winner. The cash prize was split between two teams, consisting of Ananya Goyal and Anupama Maheshwari, and Shriyam Gupta and Rishab Dhall.

facebook_340737552

Bizz Gram, a rural development case study event in association with Connecting Dreams Foundation(CDF), made the participants think about solving problems in the villages of NaglaGajju and Naglakashi under three heads- livelihood, education and entrepreneurship. Krishni Miglani and Taanumanshya Bhandari emerged victorious amongst the 77 teams which registered for this event and bagged a cash prize of Rs.25,000.

Long Short, The Mock Stock, encountered registration by 210 teams. A cash prize of Rs.20,000 was ascribed to Aashna Jain and Radhika Garodia.

Young Democrats, a school event for the students of classes 9th, 10th and 11th, had 75 participants and 25 faculty members from schools all over Delhi. The teams consisted of three members with two members as presentation members and a media representative. Top three teams and two best media representatives were selected. There was special acknowledgment for media representatives. Modern Public School, Bal Bharati Public School, Ganga Ram Marg and SR DAV School were declared as the winners.

Paint the Canvas, a creative event in association with Artists at Work Productions, was the sixth competition that took place.

Keep Reading
By
Hindu College

Hindu Economics department conducts annual fest

By

L’economiste, the annual festival of The Deparment of Economics, Hindu College, kicked off on the 3rd of February with the inauguration by Dr. Praduman Kumar, the Principal of Hindu College.

The first event of L’economiste was the Paper presentation. A team from LSR won the 1st prize, presenting on the topic “M-Paisa”.
The event “The Bluechips – the Stock Challenge” imitated the stock trading of the real world, to reward the best young investors who made maximum profits. After the prelims round of business and finance quiz, 23 teams were shortlisted from about 50 participants. In the next two rounds of stock trading, the participants were given a list of company shares, their prices and relevant news pertaining to company performance. Priyansh Jain and Rahul Mantri of Hansraj College received the 1st prize.

Policy auction, a new of its kind, was a 2 day event. 8 teams were selected from a total of 32 teams from the first round of Eco & Finance Quiz. The second round was Pictionary, whereby the 8 teams were allotted budget according the correct answers given by them. 5 teams went into the finals whereby they were allotted virtual countries. Then they had to analyse a case study, formulate policies and auction them. Rhea and Atul from SRCC bagged the 1st prize.

1800423_10151981284557333_108038170_n

Eco-say had 12 participants from the first round (Pictionary round) being selected for the second round, whereby they had to venture far and wide to relate economics to everyday life things and institutions. The last round was a rapid fire quiz with an activity. Akansha of SRCC received the first prize.

The second day of the fest saw the event “Fifa Manager”. The 1st elimination round was a quiz round. 11 teams were selected for the finals. Details of various football players and virtual money were given to the teams. They had to make a team of 6 football players via bidding. Samiul and Shashak of Hindu College bagged the top position.

The star event of L’economiste was the Ranjan Roy Memorial Debate. It was a parliamentary form of debate. Some of the premier debators of the country faced off against each other on a variety of motions. Aashay Sahay and Prasun (both ex-RVCE) defeated Saad Uzzamann and Shobhit Nanda (both ex-Ramjas, now Law Faculty) opposing the motions “This house believes that maximum wage should be imposed”. It was a day-long event on the 4th February.

The events ended with the “Scavenger Hunt” with around 50 teams running helter-skelter to find several objects. The fest formally ended with the guest lecture on “Land Acquisition” by Ms. Manika Bora

Image Credits: Madhurima Kundu

Keep Reading
By
Lady Shri Ram College for Women

Economics Department of LSR concludes Econvista

By

Econvista, the National Students Symposium of the Economics department of Lady Shri Ram College for Women concluded last week on 25th January, Saturday. The Symposium was subtitled India at the Crossroads, and took place on the 24th and the 25th of January, with some fantastic guest lectures taking place as a prelude to the same. These included lectures by eminent personalities like Isher Judge Alhuwalia (Chairperson, ICRIER) Ashok Gulati (Chairperson, Commission of Agriculture Costs and Prices) and Smita Mitra (UN Women). Dr. Isher Judge Alhuwalia was also the Chief Guest of the event. The theme that the symposium followed this year was Political Economy in the wake of the coming National general election and to reflect how economics is invariably linked with politics.

The flagship events of Econvista this year were the Eco Trials, Dr. Saroj Gupta Memorial Paper Presentation, The Economist, The Policy Dilemma, Eco Journalism, Eco-Know-me and Eco Matters. The interaticve, informal events were called Thinkonomics, Economystery and The Animated Economy. The prestigious Dr. Saroj Gupta Memorial Paper Presentation was won by Sambodhi Sarkar of St. Stephens College for his paper titled “The real estate sector in India: Curbing black money flows and increasing tax revenues”. The second position was bagged by the team from IIT Kanpur and the third position went to the LSR team.

Possibly the most distinctive feature of Econvista, however, was the record response that the event received. Says Charvi Kain, the President of the Department of Economics, LSR, ‘’ This year, we have seven outstation contingents participating in Econvista, making it a truly remarkable national event.’’

Keep Reading
By
News

DU Faculty of Law organises lecture by Dr. Subramanian Swamy

By

Dr. Subramanian Swamy entered the Convention Centre of Delhi University to the chants of ‘Modi, Modi…’ on 29th January during a lecture being organised by Delhi University’s Faculty of Law. The BJP leader arrived almost 4 hours after the scheduled time because of the Supreme Court proceedings over one of his petitions. He was accompanied by Ashwani Kumar Bansal, Dean, Faculty of Law and his wife, Roxna Swamy.

Dr. Swamy was scheduled to speak on the topic- ‘Indian Taxation Laws and Economic Reforms’. He started his address without adhering much to the topic and speaking on general issues like economic growth and the need for a more liberalised economic reforms. Pressing over the point of free market, he said that democracy and market economy are twins. He advocated for globalisation in agriculture and appreciated the Hindu religion and its relevance around the world.

Initially, he took care as to not relate his address to politics. But, he could not help bantering his political opponents like Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and Kapil Sibal. Gradually, he delved into the politics of market economy in India since his early days in politics, citing an example as to how Indira Gandhi dismissed him once, when he proposed a liberal economic policy in the parliament. He cited various examples of Indians excelling around the world and the Indian products at par with the best in the world. He added it was to encourage the young audience listening to him. He recalled as to how he was not allowed to become a professor at the Delhi School of Economics and was removed from the post at IIT-Delhi because of political conspiracy by his opponents. Later, coming back to the designated topic, he told amid thumping claps that income tax should be abolished. He added that 2G scam and the black money stashed outside the country could more than cover up for the income tax. At some instances, he used the terms- ‘Tommy Gandhi’ and ‘Buddhu’, clarifying that he was not referring to any particular person.

20140129_181523

Ashwani Kumar in his addresses recalled his college days when they used to hear about his stories during the emergency, described by him as the ‘legends’ of Dr. Swamy. In the end as well, there were conspicuous shouts of ‘Modi’. Dr. Swamy left the hall saying, “Modi hi aayenge”.

Other BJP leaders have also visited the Faculty of Law Campus in the recent past. Leader of Opposition, Sushma Swaraj visited the institution last year in August, while Rajnath Singh spoke to students on 28th January, a day before Dr. Swamy’s address.

Keep Reading
By
News

Economics delegation from Delhi University attends SAESM in Lahore

By

A group of twelve students and five professors from the University of Delhi attended the 10th South Asian Economics Students Meet (SAESM) held at Lahore, Pakistan from 23rd to 30th December. This economic meet had an undergraduate students representation from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The entire event was divided into two halves. The conference and various competitions were held on the first three days, followed by a retreat on the next three. Political Economy in South Asia was the overall theme for this meet, conversely, there were six sub-themes. University of Delhi, Lahore University of Management Sciences, University of Kabul, Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and many more attended this event.

The students stayed in the Lahore University campus. The first day commenced with the national anthems of the seven South Asian countries being represented, which was followed by the opening ceremony- finally unraveling the 10th Annual Meet. Charvi Kain, LSR and Sambodhi Sarkar, St. Stephen’s College stood second in the quiz; Palaash Bhargava, KMC stood third in the Budding Economist and Chhavi Miglani from SRCC reached the final round for the Budding Economist.

Apart from leading the Indian delegation, Sambodhi Sarkar also won the Amartya Sen-Mehboob ul Haq Award. His paper on The Political Economy of Public Finance was deemed the best overall paper during the conference. Miranda House’s Amrita Garai won laurels for her paper on The Political Economy of International Trade as well.

Other students who represented the University of Delhi were Ishneet Kaur from KMC, Anuvinda PS from LSR, Manas Pathak and Jatin Bavishi of Ramjas College, Karan Kumar from DCAC, Stuti Oberoi of Miranda House and Ishita Asija representing IP College for Women.

After the hectic meet the students were taken for a day trip to Islamabad and for a short visit to the Harappan Valley. A professor of Lahore University also invited all students for lunch at his farmhouse.

The overall feeling by the students of India was that their image of Pakistan had changed and changed for the better. Charvi Kain said, “I felt as though Lahore was quite similar to New Delhi, the people were very warm and the experience had been quite enriching.” Whereas, Palaash Bharagava mentioned that he got to understand Political Economy way beyond the Indian way of learning. He even said that as Economics has various schools of thought, this event proved to be quite successful in making him understand different perspectives of Economics.

Keep Reading
By
Admissions 2013

Economics under FYUP: Course analysis

By

eco-wp

With gallons of expectations and raging curiosity, prospective students are soon to set into the new academic environment of Delhi University that has swept amass every single person of this country with its mystified character. While dreamy eyed school pass-outs gallop their way into a luscious arena of modified milieu, here is a keynote to the economics four year undergraduate program at a glance.

The four year undergraduate program has adopted an application based analytical setting, that aims to provide students with skill based knowledge of the economic scenario along with striving to form a firm rooting conceptually of the subject.

The Course:

The first year accommodates two subjects, principles of economics and mathematical methods for economics-I. The former subject is structured to explore the subject matter of economics, the basics of demand and supply and an introduction to macroeconomics. The second semester shall continue to hone mathematical skills through knowledge of the second part of mathematical methods for economics along with introduction to statistics. The third semester shall introduce the first applied course being game theory, along with strengthening statistical roots and exploring subjects like microeconomics and introductory economics. Likewise in the fourth and fifth semester, students shall acquire knowledge of applied courses such as financial economics and public finance alongside study of the discipline courses that aim to develop practical and application skills of students. The sixth semester shall introduce in perspective the economic scenario that has prevailed in India and an applied course of environmental economics. The last two semesters are intended to refine the research skills of students. The students are envisioned to submit a dissertation in the final year which will carry 75 per cent of the weightage of marks.

(Economics 2013 cut-offs)

Co Curricular Activities:

The spread of the courses in the four years is a harmonious mix of aligned subjects that render scope for students to pursue co-curricular activities as well. In depth knowledge and scope for absorptive study is in fact an advantage of the change.

“I personally feel that the four year undergraduate program is a great opportunity for us as it enables us to explore other areas of interests through the system of applied courses and minor subjects while adding to our future prospects. Apart from that it provides us with 4 years of education which is an essential requirement to apply for higher studies in many countries” says Aakash Sahai, a contented prospective applicant for the course.

Employability:

The program essentially claims to improve employability through imparting skill based knowledge and an option to leave the course after two years with a diploma and after three years with a bachelor’s degree, but whether these can be competent enough compared to an honours degree when it comes to employability, is still a matter in disputed territory.

Nevertheless, the holistic approach adopted by the program is certainly a step in the right direction.

(For analysis of other courses click here)

Keep Reading
By
Campus Central

Gear up everybody, elections are here!

By

Lady Shri Ram College is one of the first colleges in DU to hold its college elections, and this year, the elections began in a hurry as the date for the college day was declared late. The department elections began on Monday, 1st April with the candidates submitting their nomination forms. Elections for some departments were held on 2nd; whereas other departments had their election on 3rd. Strict rules for elections were laid down. According to the rules, any candidate found campaigning through internet or SMS would be immediately disqualified from the elections. On the 2nd History Department held their elections, whereas other departments like Political Science, Statistics, Philosophy, Economics, etc. held their elections the next day. All candidates needed a third year and a second year to nominate them, and one could see frantic first years running around asking seniors to nominate them and read their agenda. According to a first year candidate running for the post of Department Treasurer, ‘contesting the elections has been a whole new experience for me altogether. I have learnt through my research about so many problems that the students are facing, especially when it comes to accounts, and I hope I can create a more transparent accounts system for my department in case I get elected.’ The following candidates were declared Presidents of their respective department Unions: Amanjit Kaur: Sociology Vaishnavi Singh: History Srujana Yadav: Political Science Prerna Kannan: Statistics Charvi Kain: Economics Gurman Bhatia: Journalism Image: Sapna Mathur ([email protected])   ]]>

Keep Reading
By