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Last week, Hans Raj College, University of Delhi appointed Dr. Rama as the new Acting Principal after the successful tenure of Dr. V.K. Khwatra, the outgoing Principal. It’s the first time in the 67-year history of Hans Raj College that the command of the institution has been handed over to a female.

Dr. Rama had taken over as an Assistant Professor for Hindi at the college in August 1991. She is also the first ever-appointed Principal from the Hindi Department at the college. Dr. Rama is an alumnus of Delhi University with her degree in M.A. and M. Phil. (TV Media) from the University. She also has completed her Ph.D. in Journalism and Magazine Media from here. Dr. Rama also has a Post M.A. Diploma in Translations and Linguistics. Her diploma in Journalism from Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) is widely recognised. She also holds a degree from Kota Open University in BJMC. Apart from various academic achievements to her credit, Dr. Rama has also written nine books out of which five pertained to the studies of mass communication and others were taken up for literature and related subjects. . Her book, ‘Women and Print Media’ received an award by India Map magazine and it also got accolades from all its readers. She was also conferred with various ‘Best Teacher’ awards during her teaching career.

Dr. Rama told DU Beat that she will work in cohesion with the faculty and students and cooperate well to take the college to new heights. The students have already begun to feel the change under her tenure with the tightening of rules.

Image Credits- Principal’s Office, Hans Raj College

Iresh Gupta
[email protected]

Enactus has been a pioneer in changing the lives of students and communities all around the world. But what makes it so special?

Last month, Enactus conducted its national competition which saw a participation from 60+ college teams from across the country. While all of the teams had projects which made a difference for a different community, teams from Hans Raj College, Ramjas College, and IIT-Delhi stole the show.

Here is a list of projects that were run by the winning teams, each including their impact and sustainability figures:

  1. Enactus Hansraj had two major projects- Project Boond and Project Mithaas

Hansraj

Project Boond

Venture – Providing unprivileged masses an access to clean drinking water through production of low cost water purifiers that run without electricity.

Producers – Intellectually challenged individuals from NGO Samvedna.

People directly impacted – 6

People indirectly impacted – 440

Project Mithaas

Venture – The project aims at encouraging the farmers to take up the highly profitable business of beekeeping.

Producers – Farmers

Direct Impact – 6 farmers

Indirect Impact – 95 farmers

 

  1. Enactus Ramjas portrayed 3 major projects and came first runners up –

Ramjas

Project Transcreations

Venture – Aims at financial, educational and societal inclusiveness benefits of members of the Transgender community by teaching arts of jewellery making, soft skills and many more

Producers – Transgenders

People directly impacted – 22
People indirectly impacted – 2580

Project Aradhaga

Venture – Project Aradhaga aims at the social and financial upliftment of the unemployed women of the slums of Jahangirpuri and JJ Basti areas of Delhi by teaching them accessory making.

Producers – Unemployed Women

People directly impacted – 15
People indirectly impacted – 1550

They have another project named Project Amlaan which has just started.

 

  1. Enactus IIT Delhi, the winners of the competition presented 2 projects –

IIT D

Project Exelsior India

Venture – Teaching kabadiwaalas the art of managing money, eliminating middlemen, providing them with microfinance opportunities and finally making recycled notebooks with the material picked up by kabadiwaalas. Under the project, they also created cardboard tables with solar lamps for students.

Producers – Kabadiwaalas
People directly impacted – 31,514
People indirectly impacted – 1,57,570

Project Aanch

Venture – Creating a stove which was eco friendly and trained women to produce them. It provides women highly cost-effective alternatives for cooking and reduces pollution.

Producers – Rural women
People directly impacted – 2312

People indirectly impacted – 1,35,000

Feature Image Credits: htcampus.com

Ishaan Sengupta

[email protected]

Some 13 years ago, when Prabhat was eating at Nirulas, one of his favorite food joints at North Campus, University of Delhi, little would’ve he known that he would end up marketing films of Bollywood big shots like Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Yash Raj Chopra. Prabhat Choudhary is the founder cum face behind Spice, a Bollywood PR agency responsible for successful marketing of movies like 3 Idiots, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Gangs of Wasseypur, Dhoom, Zindagi na Milegi Dobaara and recently released PK. Spice has carved a place for itself in the education curriculum in India with IIM Bangalore formulating a special case study on this film promotion and publicity firm.

Prabhat Choudhary, an English (Honors) graduate from Hans Raj College (Class of 2001) recently got into a conversation with DU Beat. Here are certain excerpts from our conversation with the alumnus of Hans Raj College and DPS, Mathura Road, Delhi:


Iresh: So Prabhat would you like to tell us something about your days in college and Delhi University as a student.

Prabhat: University has had a profound impact on me in many ways. The kind of environment that the University and campus gave is very special. It was not just about learning or the courses you do. It was not only about friends and the people you meet, but was about being in that space. It was relaxed and outside influences did not reach you inside the campus as it was itself the self-sustaining ecosystem.

Cliched things, nukkads and the happening student life will be cherished forever as we have a lot of memories there. Nobody can ever forget the time spent in and around Kamla Nagar Market. In our times, Nirulas was also famous.


Iresh: How did the University culture affect you both personally and professionally?

Prabhat: It gave me some kind of global perspective. University wasn’t immune to what happened at societal or global level. It always had students who have strong social conscious. They read newspapers, social affairs influence them and they have a voice. There is also little bit of political awareness which is missing in students of Bombay or other cities. Delhi is such a city where people voice their opinions and it is important for student community as well to have that kind of approach. This lays foundation for them to be aware citizens of the country and it helps professionally too because prospects are better.


Iresh: On the academic front what is that one thing at DU, which is different from other educational institutions across the country?

Prabhat: There was difference of focus on academics. When you do general courses (not technical or professional courses) like Humanities for simple graduation, one generally tends to take things for granted but in the University, that was not the case. Students took some sort of pride in the course like English Honours and in the marks that they got. This was one difference between Delhi University and other places.


Iresh: While in college, did you ever think about Bollywood or marketing in general?

Prabhat: In DU, people generally don’t think about profession that you will join, or the money you will make. This is something that is not on their horizon and it was neither on mine. Time spent at University was not an intermediary phase or stop gap arrangement. Over there for those three years, I was not desperate to get out of it. Those years were aimless and were like a discovery for us where University was our only destination. So I had never thought of marketing or movies.


Iresh: So what stopped you for pursuing further studies in Delhi and encouraged you to move to Bombay?

Prabhat: I knew if I linger in Delhi or DU, it would be four or five more years. The next step then would have been Law Faculty or Arts Faculty. It was a dangerous thing to do (laughs). Nothing was pre planned but I had to give myself a different environment and a more work-oriented place. Therefore, I didn’t sit for any competitive exams and didn’t study further to prepare for FMS. All I knew was that I had to get out of there and try something in TV because movies were not on my horizon then.


Iresh: Go on and tell something about your journey thereon.

Prabhat: After graduation, I came to Bombay and I started working with Star in 2002-2003. I had not thought of getting into Bollywood Marketing or marketing in general. I was able to discover later that Marketing interests me as an exercise. After a year of working with Star, I wanted to come out of my job because day in and day out, we were doing the same thing. It was one of the temporary feelings where I desired to be ejected out of one system and get into something else.

Before taking my next job, I thought of trying Bollywood Marketing. I had no background in movies, media or PR. I gave it a shot by approaching Yash Raj and for some strange reason they took us on for Hum Tum. That was the first movie we did and hence Spice was born.


Iresh: Tell us something about your operations at Spice?

Prabhat: Spice includes sub projects like Spice Bhasha and Spice One. While Spice Bhasha is about taking movies to small towns and connecting Bollywood to the heartland of India where culture and audience’s mindset is different, Spice One involves handling of largest bouquet of celebrities in India like Aditya Roy Kapur, Sidharth Malhotra and Shraddha Kapoor in terms of imaging and persona.

 

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Iresh: You have worked for both TV and movies. How does marketing differ for both?

Prabhat: There is fundamental difference between the two. While marketing is similar for both, but the difference is the product life. If you are marketing a serial, the average self life ranges from 6 months to 2 years. On the other hand, a movie gives you three weeks at maximum and primarily just three days of the weekend. Therefore, you market to fill those three days and its either you succeed or do not succeed.


Iresh: Do you see publicity or promotional marketing as part of the educational curriculum in India?

Prabhat: It is interesting to note that this has already started, Iresh. IIM Bangalore has formulated a case study on film promotion and publicity efforts of Spice. The is the first time that management gurus have invested in gaining insights in this segment of marketing. The case study highlights the fact that positioning decision and communication strategy not only helps to attract pre-release audience attention but is also used to put a film together and not just sell it.


Iresh: How important is the role of youth when we talk about your business as a PR agency?

Prabhat: It is very important. We have been making this attempt towards the University and other colleges lately. We recognize the fact that primary and flagship consumers are the youth. They give the movie its bread and butter. They are the first audience as they watch it in the opening weekend itself. It is also important what opinion they form because they spread the word. Entertainment and celebrity marketing becoming more relevant slowly and slowly in India and it is and will be driven by the young sector more or less.


To know more about him and Spice, visit: www.spicepr.net 

https://www.scoopwhoop.com/entertainment/prabhat-choudhary-tells-us-what-makes-him-bollywood-s-most-influential-publicist/

Along with formal competitive events, several informal events such as Paper dance and Pictionary were also a part of Confluence. Swati and Neha from Hansraj won the Paper dance competition with a cash prize of Rs. 1000/- and coupons and vouchers worth the same amount. 20-25 teams participated in Scavenger Hunt where participants had to solve maximum clues in one hour time. Khushboo and Shivani from Hansraj won the competition with prize worth of Rs. 3000/-, both in cash and kind.

paper dance-1
Paper Dance

Other filler and fun events were organised for the festival visitors as well like Pictionary which was held in 3 rounds and teams had to solve maximum clues in the least time. Bollywood Tambola required the partners to be well aware about full names of all the bollywood actors and the event was held in various slots where small prizes were given out but participants had a lot of fun.

An evening of music and dance

dhruv
Dhruv Vishwanath takes the stage.

The performance stage was all set in the morning with police security in the area for the DJ evening. Before the DJ’s arrival, Dhruv Vishwanath, a famous performer in the DU circuit sang some romantic numbers. He had also opened for Junkyard Groove, recently at Venky’s Nexus.

dj

 

In the evening, Confluence attracted a good crowd when the DJs took on to the floor. DJ BLING and DJ Vij were an hour late. Everyone moved on the famous dance numbers played by the DJ duo. Manav Malhotra, a DU student said, “The DJ is decent but the crowd is not. We expect Bohemia’s star night on the last day brings great crowd.”

Eclat – the annual theatre festival by the Hansraj Dramatics Society on Day 2 had remaining stage performances for Rangmanchiyata (the stage play competition). Judges for Day 1, Mr. Sanjeev Saluja and Mr. Pranay Manchanda judged the event for this day as well. Shri Ram College of Commerce performed their annual production Black Comedy. The results were scheduled to be disclosed later in the day along with the street results. But according to the judges all teams were equally good, so it was decided to celebrate Rangmanchiyata just as a festival and not a competition. Rs. 2500/- was declared to be given to each team as a token of appreciation.

dtu performing kya dilli kya lahore
DTU performing Kya Dilli, Kya Lahore.

Best actors were adjudged for the stage play competition. Best Actor(Female) was bagged by Vidushi Chadda from SRCC for Black Comedy and Best Actor(Male) was also given from the same production to Kabir Sethi. Both the actors were awarded 100% scholarship for a theatre training programme by Actor Factor Theatre Company worth Rs. 23500/- each. The second position for best actor was won by Arpit Sharma from Delhi Technical University for Kya Dilli, Kya Lahore! Arpit was awarded with 25% scholarship for the same theatre training programme.

Day 2 of Eclat also witnessed the street play competition – “Bolbala Badlav Ka” with the theme “Legacy of Campus theatre.” For the same purpose, the performance area for street theatre was set up in a way that each performing team had a separate booth where the picture gallery of each team for the past 5 years was displayed. Other participants and viewers had an option to provide their feedback for the teams and well at these personalized team booths.

Mr. Vineet Trikha and Mr. Siddharth Singh came over as judges for Bolbola, who are both experienced theatre activists for Pandies Theatre Group. Mr. Singh – an ex president of Hansraj dramatics society and a graduate from Hansraj and presently organizes theatre training for youngsters inside and outside Delhi. Mr. Trikha with almost 15 years of experience has performed many plays in India and abroad.

eclat - sana. best actress street
Sana – Winner of the Best Actress

A total of nine teams performed for Bolbala on social topics like premature puberty, rapes in India which come with no action thereafter, women rights and politics.

Siddharth Singh said, “Teams should be very careful while choosing the themes for street plays. Street theatre is a risky form of dramatic art. A social issue which may appeal to you, may not work with the audience.”

Team from Jesus and Mary College, Kehkasha stole the show at Bolbala. They bagged the prize of best team and best music for their production “Gunah Hai, Par Saza Nahi” and won the cash prize of Rs. 5000/- and Rs. 1000/- respectively. First runners-up position was shared by Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce (GGSCC) and Indraprastha College for Women SRand they were awarded Rs. 3000/- in total. Taking home the title of second runner up team and Rs. 1500/- cash was S.G.T.B Khalsa College for “We, The People”

Best actors were bagged by Sana from Jesus and Mary College and Akhil Sachdeva of GGSCC for their respective productions. They both were awarded the 25% TIP 16 PLUS scholarships by Actor Factor Theatre company.

Confluence – the annual cultural festival of Hans Raj College was set open on 2nd March 2014 by the Principal of the college, Mr. V.K Khwatra. The event started with a brief introduction about the festival and how in the past Confluence has been able to receive tremendous appreciation. Mr. VK Khwatra along with other dignitaries and guests, Mr Bijendra Singh (Hostel Warden) and Mrs. Sonal Gupta (ECA Convener) lighted the holy lamp. Mr. Mohit Saini, the newly elected President of Hans Raj College also joined the lamp lighting ceremony.

Saptak Chattopadhyay, member of Swaranjali (Music Society of the college) created an aura in the auditorium by singing the Durga Stuti and Guru Vandana. The Principal then addressed the students and said, “Extra Curricular Activities are the most important part for both interpersonal and intra-personal development. Confluence, I hope, will bring a lot of learning and experience to each one of you in this regard.” He wished luck to all the participants and organizers and declared Confluence 2014 open!

The festival, later in day, witnessed various cultural competitions being organized by different societies of Hans Raj College. Rachnotsav – the Music Festival by Swaranjali, the Music Society of the college, was a tribute and homage to Late. Rachna Sharma, ECA convenor of college who passed away last year. She was a mentor to many students and inspired each member of the society to do his or her best. The Music Festival that would go on for all three days had two solo competitions on the first day.

Mr. Nilotpal Sinha, Director of House of Symphony and Ms. Grace, a well-known vocalist judged the competition. Indian Solo competition witnessed healthy spirit between the participants and the Western solo competition attracted 16 singers from all over the circuit. In the Indian (Solo) Singing event, the 1st prize was won by Digvijay Singh from Kirori Mal College in the Semi Classical category and the 1st prize in the Classical category went to Bineet Singh from Music Faculty. The Western (Solo) Singing event saw Fiona Lalmalsawmi from Miranda House being awarded the first position while Hanita Bhambri from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies bagged the second position.

In their feedback, the judges mentioned that the contestants should focus on the song selection. They pointed that there were two ways to go about this – one is to choose a complex song and perform it in the simplest way and the other is to choose a simple song and perform it in a complex manner to impress the judges.

decoration

Alongside, Pixels, the Photography Society of the college was organizing photography competition called Plickture. The event had a photography exhibition put up in the college with the 100 photographs clicked by the members of society. The visitors had an option to paste their comment there. Also, “Photon on the Spot” was organised with theme – Irony – separately for DSLR and mobile phone users. Battle of Events will also be organized by the society where different photography societies from various colleges will be battling over 5 events in 2 days to win the TITLE OF SOCIETIES, a trophy and Rs. 10000  cash prize. Pithvi Kakkar, President of Pixels told DU Beat that results of all the events of Plickture will be declared on Day 2 of the fest.

In addition, four stage theatre performances were held as part of the college’s annual dramatics fest – Eclat.

Rangmanchiyata (The Stage Play Competition) with the theme “Tribute to Campus Theatre” was held on Day 1 as part of Eclat – The theatre festival organised by the Hans Raj Dramatics Society. The competition commenced in Auditorium right after the inaugural ceremony. Judges for the event were Mr. Sanjeev Saluja, experienced theatre actor and director and also the member of Board of National Committee of Satya Sai Organisation and Mr. Pranay Manchanda, a young graduate from London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and an actor and director with experience of 16 years.

the private ear by ramjas
The Private Ear by Ramjas College

6 top teams from the theatre circuit were selected for the main event after the screening process. Day 1 of Rangmanchiyata has 4 teams presenting their productions. The other 2 teams will be performing on Day 2 and results will be declared on Day 2 of Eclat along with the street play results, also scheduled to be held on the second day. The productions presented were Mamtaz Bhai Patang Waale by Dyal Singh College, The Private Ear by Ramjas College, Batch 2002 by Hindu college and Delhi Technical University performed Kya Dilli, Kya Lahore!

The auditorium was jampacked for all 4 performances and they ended with an individual team feedback from both the judges. Mr. Manchanda said, “I look at plays not as judge but as someone from audience who may have paid 500 bucks to watch the play. Today I saw amazing performances from the campus circuit but teams need to focus more on story and one should understand the character well before portraying it up on the stage”

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.

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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.

On the 15th of January, the Hostel Manager of Hansraj College was temporarily suspended owing to charges of mismanagement of the hostel funds. The charges however, have not been proved yet and the enquiry is in process.

While going through the hostel accounts book, the hostel union found certain errors that could not be explained. This led to the suspicion that there is a discrepancy with the written records.  It is reported that a shifting of around Rs. 2 lakhs has happened in this process.

As a result, the students began to protest against the Manager and the protests went on from 3 pm in the afternoon to around 11 pm at night. The students demanded that an enquiry be set up and necessary action be taken against the culprits. It was later decided that the Manager should be suspended till any charges are made against him and the enquiry is complete.

The hostel staff was unavailable to make any comments.

The 7th Annual Shanti Narayan Memorial Parliamentary Debate played host to some of the strongest institutional and cross teams of the circuit. The annual debate organized by the Hansraj College Debating Society was an open tournament and hence allowed any three individuals to form a team and allowed for independent adjudicators as well. A total of 40 teams participated in the four day event held between 18th and 21st January 2014.

This year Shanti followed the 3 on 3 Asians’ parliamentary debate format. The tournament also had a strict policy of finishing all rounds on team. The tabs team worked efficiently to ensure that there was no delay. Another plus was the free pizza for all participating teams and adjudicators courtesy Rossa.

The chief adjudicator of the tournament was Aashay Sahay. Reputed alumni of the Hans Raj Debating Society such as Anirudh Raghavan, Vibhor Jain and Abeer Sharma formed the organizing committee of the tournament. The tournament introduced new ideas like the ‘Chaimpiyan’ speaker and the compulsory point of information called ‘sosaje’.

The final was a duel between Kirori Mal College and the cross team Cold on the motion “This house rejects homework .” The winning team was Cold comprising of Karandeep Aazaan Khanna, Karthik Sivaram and Prasun Bhaiya. The best adjudicator of the tournament was Ankit (Ex-Ramjas).

After the conclusion of the debate, Shaurya Upadhyay of the Hansraj College Debating Society had the following to say-

“There was intense competition with the adjudication pool comprising veterans from the Indian Debating Circuit. It was overall a very successfully run tournament, with high level of competition, stellar adjudicators, and efficiently functioning organising committee.”