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DUB interviews SFI-AISA candidate for DUSU secretary

By DU Beat September 26, 2024

We spoke to Sneha Aggarwal, a recent graduate from Ramjas College, who is currently a student at Law Faculty, DU. Aggarwal is the candidate of the left-wing alliance between AISA and SFI. She is an SFI member.

Interview took place on September 18, 2024

Question: What motivated you to run for the position, knowing the degree of money-muscle politics?

Sneha Aggarwal: Everyone has to face this, those who have any ideological bearings. Money and muscle power have always been a part of student politics but as DU deteriorates and students don’t have any alternatives other than ABVP and NSUI – it shows the need for someone to step up. Being a part of SFI has shown me that you need to be present.

Question: How do you plan on keeping students informed about the union, and taking feedback?

Sneha Aggarwal: SFI has always managed to do so with its mass presence and membership with units across 20 colleges. We also don’t use ideology as a filter for members. Our social media presence, and GBMs or general boarding meetings across colleges is how we communicate.

Question: What is the biggest challenge students are facing?

Sneha Aggarwal: There are several: fee hike, [lack of] hostel facilities, women’s safety – Union is not representing students’ issues. DU is a central university and a public school, it must continue to financially alleviate those who cannot afford to do so themselves, DU cannot just be for day-scholar students and the financially privileged

Question: How will you measure the success of your manifesto’s initiatives, if elected?

Sneha Aggarwal: If elected, we have a formal platform to put pressure on and communicate with the administration as seen from JNU where we got hostels made and metro paths created

Question: Why did you decide to create an alliance [with AISA] this time?

Sneha Aggarwal: We saw a similar model of left unity being followed in JNU as well, given the need to contest the right-wing influence. The same process is underway in DU – the ABVP has risen because members of the Sangh have entered the administration due to the government’s favour, even the faculty has been affected – SFI and AISA have lean to the left, we have a shared ideology, shared goals, and more importantly – a need to counter muscle and money.

Question: NSUI also has a parent national party, the Congress which recently formed the INDIA alliance. Why was the national model of alliance-making not enacted at the university-level?

Sneha Aggarwal: NSUI is already in the union so it has already had an opportunity to represent, which has been inadequate. The use of caste politics or muscle power isn’t just limited to the ABVP, NSUI too is becoming similar. We cannot ally with someone simply on the basis of their national party.

Question: How do you strive to ensure that the students’ demands for hostels are fulfilled without conflict?

Sneha Aggarwal: Being in the Union gives formal channels of communication as well as the ability to put pressure [granted student legitimacy]. We intend on pointing out that there is space for expensive student centres and Nescafe kiosks but not for hostels. There is a need to better utilise space and resources. Like the promise of university special buses is only mentioned during elections, citing that there was an unused COVID fund, misuse of money should not happen, there should be a common student union fund.

Question: How does SFI plan to make campus more inclusive for all marginalised groups?

Sneha Aggarwal: There are already many SC/ST cells, WDC, queer cells in DU but the issue is functioning. In my alma mater itself, the SC/ST cells were headed by professors who’d make distinctions according to class. Only Miranda’s [College] queer cell is officially recognised. The Union must get these cells recognised and function effectively. Even with the functioning of CASH committees and ICC, they’re responsible for more than just complaints and cases but also effective sensitisation of the student body towards the issue.

Question: Why is your stance anti-FYUP and what alternatives do you propose?

Sneha Aggarwal: There are many issues with the implementation of NEP and the four-year programme – they’re imposing the American which only caters to a few who can afford higher education abroad so why four years? Eventually, they’re trying to make it almost compulsory[B.A. programme requirement to qualify for an Honours degree] yet there are multiple entry and exit – this is simply education commercialised. UGC scrapped education loans and moved towards privatisation as seen with Hindu’s College, where hostels have been leased out to private contractors. We suggest a survey across the country and especially DU, to see which students are dropping out the most and then implement, in order to encourage these communities to finish their degrees. There is also the SFI policy of NEP 2.0.

Question: Parties like ASA and Fraternity all support identity politics yet they do it as a means of representation and criticise left for fielding mostly upper class candidates, how do we make a choice?

Sneha Aggarwal: Many of our left leaders themselves are from marginalised groups – this time there’s many women on the panel from varying backgrounds. But on the matter of identity, there are many such who do contest. Left believes in overall emancipation, not just that of a singular identity.

Question: Was there an attempt to ally with these parties like in JNU?

Sneha Aggarwal: We don’t believe in this, this is not our politics. In JNU, there was a need for the SFI-BAPSA alliance given the right-wing turn.

Question: Is the alliance anti-ABVP or ideologically driven?

Sneha Aggarwal: We are driven by our goals — for the students’ needs to be fulfilled, that is our common ground. Our functioning remains different.

Question: The Left is criticised for themselves being hypocritical with their stances, particularly when it comes to internal misogyny? How will you fight these forces?

Sneha Aggarwal: Simply being a communist doesn’t erase patriarchy, given the way society functions and shapes us. This is reality, simply to “de-class” oneself isn’t enough but must also sensitise oneself. If we make it to the Union, we can only try to self-correct through [constructive] measures but not by boycotting or “cancelling”. The aim is to support growth.

Image credits: DUB Archive

Interviewed by Bhavana and Vedant

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The success paradox and the death of our passions

By DU Beat September 14, 2024

‘The College Experience,’ as it were, does not assume the shape of a romanticised campus and campus romances for most. For some, within the thousands of searing red bricks that make the buildings, lie dreams—scores and scores of dreams. Do they drop into our hands, or do we catch them?

In a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and of light, man feels a stranger. His is an irremediable exile…This divorce between man and his life, the actor and the setting, truly constitutes the feeling of absurdity.” – Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus.

Entering through my college gates as a freshman, I had no hopes from the campus. I did not hope to fall in love, I did not hope to reminisce when I graduated, and I did not hope to forge long-lasting friendships. I might have had some of these in high school, or I think I did. It did not matter then. It does not matter now. To tell the truth, I did not know what to expect. I had thought too far ahead, and planned my life out rather prematurely. My first year was largely spent manacled to the bed, counting in torturous wakefulness, the hours as they pooled on the wall and melted away.

In the second year, the exertion feels Sisyphian. The same routine repeats, and the first chunk of hours are eaten out of my plate by useless classes in college. I want to read, I tell myself. I want to write; I shake myself. Languor weighs my eyelids down as I ponder in inaction. I wake up the next day, and the cycle repeats. Time outruns me horribly. I remember having asked one of my professors back in the second semester, referring to the few enthusiastic students in our batch, “If we were students in your class, sir, would we be among the good ones?” “You would be decent,” he said. It broke my heart.

He also said that the days were indeed longer then.

The days were longer then. When summer afternoons were spacious, and the clock ticked slowly in the winter evenings.”

Eliot would agree. He would return from college and ask himself, “What now?” When his floor echoed no answer in response, he would read. He would think. We have forgotten how to think. We have not even begun to think.

From the second our eyelids are estranged from each other to the moment they are reunited, we forget that we had been breathing the entire time and that if we hadn’t, we wouldn’t have another sun to wake up to. All days escape notice. Therefore, we are ceaselessly working through ourselves in a pendent acceptance of livelihood. It is a morbid revelation. Nothing is enough. What meaning lies in prolonging a life signed away to an inhumane consumerist trap hole that ceaselessly and effortlessly renews itself? We are entrusted to think that we are a race that is dying.

The current generation wails at the thought of reading beyond a page. Our jaws start to rot past the second syllable in the word, and therefore we must shorten them. We have trained our brains to consume audio-visual media without restraint, and we remain content in a vacuous state of being. Our generation does not question, simply processes and moves on. We do not criticise, for we like to tell ourselves that we have not the time for it. It is the pedantic’s errand. Could a worldwide pandemic have so immoderately flipped our lifestyles? One is left grappling with unsubstantial prospects. The resolution too seems elusive.

I’m uncertain what to call this disease, but what I am certain of is that this will make possible the emergence of a world that is capricious, unambitious, and uncritical. The death most hazardous is the death of our passions. When we stand astride the line between meaning and meaningless, an absurdist world is conjured where our discernible identities no longer matter. Perhaps the medicine for the restitution of sensibility lies in the denial of sensibility itself; we might never know. The question itself remains unclear; whether we should attempt a recognition of ourselves in the first place. Now, we might seek solace in this idea, for when our identities no longer amount to concrete vision, a lifeless body and a passionless body are no different.

What of success? Our dreams? What of ourselves? Slow down, I say. Herein lies the paradox of success and the paradox of failure as well. The more successful one becomes, the more set up for failure they are. The more one fails, the more they may rule out what not to do, and therein, climb a step closer to success.

The words ‘probable’ and ‘improbable’ are essentially the same, and not antonyms, as we present them, for both the words contain a certain degree of probability; the flavour of the nuance lies in the degree of the probability. Otherwise, that which is probable has a degree of improbability. They are both parts of one whole; that is ‘possible’. Similarly, the words ‘success’ and ‘failure’ are a part of one whole; ‘progress’. In success, we make progress towards the next failure, and in failure, we make progress towards the next success. Slow down, I repeat. Breathe. Think. You shall get there. Where you want to be.

Slow down you crazy child

You’re so ambitious for a juvenile…

Slow down you’re doing fine

You can’t be everything you want to be before your time…” – Billy Joel.

Featured Image Credits : Pinterest

Aayudh Pramanik

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1000 Days in Detention: No Defender for Kashmiri Human Rights Activist Khurram Parvez

By DU Beat August 31, 2024

The ongoing incarceration of human rights defender Khurram Parvez for over 1,000 days under UAPA charges showcases the severe crackdown on human rights advocacy in Jammu and Kashmir.

The abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution on 5 August, 2019 served as a medium to trample down the civil society and human rights defenders in Jammu and Kashmir. While the region has never been a haven for independent, unbiased journalism, the repression of media and civil society has only gotten more brazen after stripping the state of its special status and downgrading it into a Union Territory.

Khurram Parvez, the most prominent human rights defender, has time and again been targeted and silenced by the Indian government for documenting human rights violations in the region and seeking accountability for the said violations. He is the founding member of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and the chairman of the Philippine-based Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance, an international organisation that looks into forced disappearance in Kashmir and elsewhere in Asia. Parvez received the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Award and the 2023 Martin Ennals Award. He has also been named one of the 100 most influential people of 2022 by Time magazine. However, all of the accolades and international recognition could not stop Parvez from being incarcerated at the Rohini High Security Prison, New Delhi, for 1000 days and counting.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered a case against Parvez in October 2020. On 22 November, 2021, the JKCCS office in Srinagar was raided, and Parvez was arrested on charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, (UAPA) 1967.

The most astounding fact about the case is the chargesheet, which cites two of the reports produced by his civil society organisation. The chargesheet claims the reports to be “false and fabricated” and tarnishing India’s image at the international level. By using the reports as evidence for the arbitrary detention of Parvez, the NIA criminalised human rights research and fact-finding, which otherwise is internationally recognised work. This can have alarming consequences for human rights organisations doing similar work elsewhere.

Whether any particular incident in the report is wrong, I don’t know. If you don’t agree with a particular incident, you give your alternate argument. But you can’t criminalise fact-finding as a whole

-Mihir Desai, senior counsel in the High Court of Bombay and Supreme Court of India.

While the region continues to be suppressed and the voices clamped down, the veil of normalcy is being propagated all over the mainstream media. Instead of taking accountability and investigating the claims of human rights violations, the authorities have arrested, manhandled, and intimidated those who have voiced their findings and sought justice. The press and civil society organisations in the region for decades have been the cornerstone of the Kashmiri public sphere and their pleas. The large-scale crackdown on these organisations has left the people of the region helpless and their atrocities quashed.

The fact of the matter is that human rights violations at the hands of security forces have been rampant in Kashmir for the past 30 years. That’s a fact. AFSPA and PSA have been used in a very discriminatory manner. People have been tortured. People have been encountered.

said Desai

One of the JKCCS reports, used as evidence for Parvez’s detention, was published in 2015. It aimed to investigate the role of the state in Jammu and Kashmir, which had resulted in more than 8,000 disappearances, 70,000 deaths, 6,000 unmarked mass graves, and countless cases of torture and sexual violence. NIA claimed that the said report was fabricated and gave away sensitive details regarding the military deployment. However, the report has been readily available on the internet since it was published. Instead of communicating with the organisation regarding the sensitive material back then, it is being used in a supposed terrorism case after nine years.

It is not the only time Parvez has been incarcerated. In 2016, one day after Parvez was impeded from travelling to Switzerland to attend the 33rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, he was arrested and charged under the Public Safety Act (PSA). Besides Parvez, several other Kahmiri journalists and human rights activists have abstained from travelling and collecting their awards.

Asif Sultan was unable to collect his Press Freedom Award from the American National Press Club in 2019 due to being imprisoned. Sanna Irshad Mattoo also could not collect her Pulitzer Prize due to the administrative orders restricting her from leaving Delhi in 2022. Further, Irfan Mehraj recently won the Human Rights and Religious Freedom Journalism Award while incarcerated with Khurram Parvez.

The systematic use of UAPA allows the Indian administration to chase down human rights defenders by mobilising the anti-terrorism discourse. This impunity, harnessed by the UAPA, has accelerated the demise of human rights in India, which can only be reversed with the amendment of the said law.

Khurram Parvez being arbitrarily detained for more than 1000 days and any voice of “dissent” being trampled before it is even heard is a testament to a flawed democracy. How normal is the normalcy when you have to silence the voices of people from within?

Featured Image Credits: The Leaflet

Reeba Khan

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Unveiling Freedom Behind the Veils

By DU Beat August 25, 2024

The crowded lanes near NG Acharya and DK Marathe College in Mumbai saw a flashback of the memories of 2023. Students took to protests after the college released a notice prohibiting women from wearing burqa/niqab/hijab and ‘revealing’ dresses to maintain uniformity and give them ‘a taste of corporate life’. As the institutional regulation of women’s clothes continues, can we ever be free?

NG Acharya and DK Marathe College, Mumbai banned the students from wearing a hijab or revealing clothes, through a circular released on June 27, 2024. The proposed action by the college administration included prohibiting students from wearing burqas, niqabs, hijab, badges, caps and stoles that could reveal their religious identity. The decision was justified by the authorities on the grounds of abolishing all sorts of discrimination and ensuring uniformity and discipline among them. The step was taken to imbibe professionalism in the students, also forbidding them from wearing ‘revealing and indecent clothes.’ Nine students were particularly dismayed, they challenged the decision and filed a petition which led the Supreme Court to stay the order.

Dress codes in educational institutions have always been a source of conflict. Imposing restrictions and setting a code of conduct regarding dresses to be worn have challenged the basic right of students to wear an attire of their choice. A dialogue with the students of Kamala Nehru College gave a clear image of the importance of this freedom.

It’s liberating for the students, particularly for women, as they can wear what they are comfortable in and create an environment that fosters a broad thinking of the worldview,

mentioned a student.

Another student considered it a privilege to be a part of DU, saying,

I have the liberty to choose clothes according to my body shape and size without being conscious about it. School uniforms were usually uncomfortable.

In conversation with DU Beat, Adv. Nivedita Pandit suggested,

Hijab ban is not the solution. Rather, at the college level, it should be a choice and not a compulsion. To deal with the issue of non-college students entering the college, it must have proper security checks and student IDs. Moreover in today’s high-tech time, one should incorporate a thumbprint scanner, still, if someone is found without an ID on college premises, then strict action should be taken against them.

There has been a constant assumption by authorities and administrations that making women wear non-revealing clothes can ensure safety and security while on their own or traveling. While they claim to empower women, these restrictions actually stand as an obstacle in their lives. In the past, women’s actions have been dictated by men, considered to be the breadwinners of their families. They made decisions for the women, thus restricting their agency over their own lives. This is the reality of many women even today, and these institutional authorities are equally guilty in perpetuating the same.

DU professors shared their opinions on the steps taken by the college. In conversation with DU Beat, a journalism professor from Kamala Nehru College completely disagreed with the decision and mentioned,

These are contradictory statements given by the college where students are prohibited from wearing revealing clothes and at the same time covering their head. Their definition of ‘decent dressing’ isn’t correct.

Another professor commented,

Students must enjoy the freedom they get in college after high school and all kinds of restrictions they go through in school life. Self-discipline must be imparted in students instead of dictating rules for them.

Minisha Afroz, a student of Kamala Nehru College expressed her disappointment by saying,

I am proud to be a part of this unbiased institution where we practice inclusivity and I get to wear a hijab without thinking twice. We take pride in each other’s culture and don’t have norms to hold us back. Providing education to students irrespective of what they wear and their religious identities should be the top priority of a college.

In 2023, a similar incident had occurred in several medical colleges in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, particularly Gandhi Medical College, Andhra Medical College, and Osmania Medical College. Students were made to follow strict dress codes including prohibition of tights and sleeveless dresses for women. Meanwhile, male students were asked to wear formal clothing and black leather shoes.

In medical institutions, students are required to follow the norm to uphold the professionalism demanded by their field. But arbitrary dress-codes challenge women’s decision-making power over the kind of clothes they wear. The authorities have always been a legislative body for school and college-going women. If not the authorities, the school/college administration takes up the role.

It’s hard to believe that it has been decades and not a single place has witnessed all the women being confident about what they wear, without being conscious of their skirts or backless tops. Every year, while the country celebrates independence, women are yet to find their freedom.

Featured Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Taruni Banerjee

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Can I Count on you?

By Ankita Baidya April 21, 2022

A teacher-student relationship is one of a kind. We look upto them for every hiccup and every smile. However, as we grow up, are they still there?

Reminiscing the bygone days, I remember the jitters I used to get on the first day of any session. Who will be our class teacher? Will she be strict? While these questions made circles in our mind, our teacher used to enter with a big and bright smile and that was the point where we realised that it is the right and the safest place to be. Her charm worked as a soothing balm for all our pain and emotions and her words of wisdom made us able enough to be where we are at the moment. Reeling back to the school days, our teacher meant the world to us. She became the parent figure that we never anticipated.

I still remember the time when I messed up with the answer script back in class 10th. It was late at night, around 11pm, when my phone rang. The next thing I know that my teacher was giving me an earful and to be honest, I deserved it. Had it not been for my teacher’s support, my paper would definitely have been cancelled. Not only for this instance, but she was my anchor throughout my school life. Never had I anticipated that a teacher at my school would become such an integral part of my life, to whom I would turn for every minute thing. She was always there through all my highs and lows. She believed in me and helped me nurture and identify my potential. She looked out for me as any parent would do. The connection I had with her and the bond I shared was one of a kind and as I moved to college, I did not anticipate such a thing but yearned for it to happen.

College in its full glory is all good and hearty. Undoubtedly, new friends and a new environment induces some other level of excitement but what about the perpetual connection with the professors? Or is it only a give and take relationship for notes and lectures? I never thought I would long for such a bonding that I shared in my school days but sometimes it makes me wonder if I would ever get a chance to become a little kid for them. It would have been my sheer honour to share something special with them, something that would spell wisdom and guidance. Not disagreeing with the fact that they are there if we need them but it just has some missing links which makes me come back to my question, whether I can count on them as more than a teacher?

Nevertheless, it startles me to see how every time a student messes up, the teachers stand in unison to take up the role of their protector. This very feeling makes each of us feel safe and secure and that’s something we as students never want to lose. At the end, all I can say is no matter how many transitions we go through, the love and respect for our teachers remain constant.

Image Caption: Teacher, will you be there even when I grow up?

Image Credits: Tuio

Ankita Baidya

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iPhone 5- You Like it, But Should You Buy it?

By DU Beat September 16, 2012

Low and behold! The iphone 5 is finally here, a device that’s thinner, lighter, faster and taller than its predecessor.
“This is the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since the iPhone,” said Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller. But is it really worth a buy? Let’s find out.

Firstly here are some significant and interesting features worth noting:

Taller, thinner, and a metal back

The iPhone 5 features a 4-inch display (i.e. it’s larger than the iPhone 4S) and an aluminum and glass body that weighs 112 g and is 7.6 mm thick, making it 20 percent lighter and 18 percent thinner than the iPhone 4S. Touch sensors are now built into the display itself, which makes it 30 percent thinner as a result and less prone to glare.

The phones will be two toned, coming in either black and slate or white and silver. Apple iPhone 4S was given a glass back which got cracked by accidental falls frequently. Fortunately Apple has learnt their lesson from iPhone 4S and has provided a metal back this time, which is sure to play in their favor as far as durability of the body is concerned.

You won’t have to scroll that much because the larger screen will allow a fifth row of icons .On the down side most of the applications you have will not utilize all the space on the screen and will show black borders on the top and bottom of the application. The fate of this extra space will be decided by the application developers, whether to provide the customers with a better application experience or exploit the space by advertisements.

2. LTE (Long Term Evolution) and carriers

The iPhone 5 will run on 4G LTE networks. That’s in addition to the current support for GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, and HSPA data networks. iPhone 5 has an inbuilt dynamic antenna which allows you to switch among these networks smoothly. The 4G connection will double the speed internet browsing and downloading content.

Taking in account the Indian disputes over 3G, it might take some time before the 4G internet service is started in India. In the absence of a suitable 4G connection the network will run on 3G connection and HSPA data network

3. A faster chip (A6 Chip)

The iPhone 5 is also powered by a faster A6 processor. According to Apple’s specialists, users will see Web pages load 2.1 times faster, and the Music app with songs will load 1.9 times faster. Combining both the 4G LTE and A6 chip the entire iPhone’s operating speed and internet speed is bound to impress many iphone4S users.

4. Battery life and Audio

Phone calls (the reason we bought phones for once upon a time) will be better and have three microphones and a noise-canceling earpiece, in addition to Apple’s new “wideband” audio that promises to deliver more natural sounding voice. Apple claims a longer batter backup with 8 hours of 3G talk time, 8 hours of 3G browsing, 8 hours of LTE browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music playback, and 225 hours of standby time.

5. Camera

It comes with a spiffier camera, front and back facing cameras have each been upgraded (they’ll be 720p and 1080p, respectively) and users will be able to take much larger photos thanks to the new Panorama feature. There also a new image signaling mechanism within the A6 chip, which will bring spatial noise reduction and a “smart filter” that, produces better low-light performance and captures photos faster. Finally, there’s a built-in panorama mode that stitches shots together for one large 28-megapixel photo.

6. Lightning Power connector

The traditional 30-pin power connector has been replaced with much smaller one called Lightning is in. According to Apple, lightning is only 20 percent the size of the previous one. That means your iPod and iPad chargers won’t be charging your phone anymore. The various audio partners of apple which include BOSE will be coming up with new devices which will be compatible with the new connector.

Pricing for the different configurations is as follows: $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB. It will be launched in India at sometime in early November this year. Also, note that the price of the iPhone 5 16 GB is same as the price of iPhone 4S 16 GB .For those who were hoping to buy a buy an iPhone 4S should definitely wait for the launch of iPhone 5 in India .

The Verdict: Should you buy it ?

Yes, the iPhone5 is definitely worth buying but unfortunately without a decent 4G connection it will not be performing at its maximum potential. The new design will adversely affect the view of the old applications and upcoming applications which should be solved in a few months. But the increase in battery life and the A6 chip alone make this iPhone a must buy.

Pinakita Gupta & Arjun Khosla
[email protected] ; [email protected]

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