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On 12th September, while the University of Delhi (DU) was getting ready to elect their new Students’ Union, the Shri Ram Memorial Girls’ Hostel was trespassed into by a stranger who went on to steal money and debit cards from the rooms.

The incident came into light when a first-year student realised that her debit card had gone missing. Subsequently, she received messages informing her that an amount of INR 50,000 had already been withdrawn from her account. In addition to this, a cash amount of INR 2000 was missing from her room and her roommate also lost an amount of INR 1000. A resident from another room also reported her debit card to be missing.

When the residents realised the gravity of the theft, the warden was approached on the 12th itself for permission to access the CCTV footage. However, neither the warden nor the assistant warden approached the students until two days after the theft on 14th September.

The footage showed a stranger entering the hostel at 1:40 p.m. which falls within the lunch hour for the residents. The stranger is said to have confidently walked past the guard stationed at the gate and into the hostel. They then checked every room on the ground floor of the hostel and finally, on finding an empty room, went in and stole students’ belongings. A few students noticed the stranger in the hallway but didn’t find cause to worry as they did not seem lost. They assumed it was a relative of the warden or someone who was let in with permission due to their confidence.

A student also remembers walking into the washroom to find the stranger there. They behaved very casually and mentioned that they would be out in a minute. The stranger then walked upstairs to the first floor and followed the same process of entering all the rooms, possibly looking for something else to steal. Finally, only when the stranger was leaving the hostel did the guard notice them. When questioned by the guard, the stranger quickly ran out of the gate. The guard did not follow the stranger despite the incriminating run and did not make any effort to alert the students or the warden’s office of what he had seen.

Although the stranger was dressed as a woman, the students were subsequently informed that the stranger had previously allegedly entered the college three times. A worker in the college canteen mentioned that he had noticed a similar-looking man.

On viewing the footage, a third-year student claims to have seen the stranger enter the college premises with a campaigning group for the Delhi University Students’ Union elections.

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Reaction of the authorities:

The guard on duty, when confronted regarding the incident, apologised and mentioned that he was asleep when the stranger entered the hostel. It is also important to mention that the two male guards appointed as security in the hostel do not belong to a formal security service.

When the local guardian of the aggrieved student approached the warden’s office, he was informed that the college would file a First Information Report (FIR) on Monday, four days after the theft. The Principal also assured the students’ parents that required actions would be taken. The only step taken to reassure the students regarding their safety was a meeting where the warden reminded the students to be responsible for their belongings. She also requested the third-year students to pacify the juniors and try to contain their fear related to the incident. “This was an accident. It’s a simple matter, no need to worry,” she added.

The incident has not been reported to a higher authority and no immediate changes have been pursued to make the hostel safer for the female students.

Impending fear among the students

The ease with which a complete stranger could enter their private space has shocked all of the residents of the hostel. There is a growing concern that the security currently present is not effective enough. “It is very shocking to acknowledge the fact that a college hostel with two security filters witnessed such an incident. The hostel is supposed to be one of the safest and most secure places in the campus and most of us are afraid to roam around freely in this building now,” a senior student said. The students are additionally very disheartened with the reaction of the hostel authorities, “Safety for the girls here is just limited to locking us within the hostel at 8:30 p.m. Rest anything else is considered to be an “accident” or an “issue being created unnecessarily.” If this is the condition of the hyped premium hostel of an equally hyped institute then I dread the future of women safety.”

The students have since been organising meetings within themselves so they can suggest constructive measures for their safety to the administration. However, they doubt whether the administration will take this matter seriously.

The SRCC Girls Hostel has been plagued with problems and arbitrary decision making since the beginning of the year. To accommodate the increase of student intake due to the Economically Weaker Section quota, the college turned their hostel dining hall into two classrooms without providing them with another alternative. The girls temporarily make use of one of the rooms for meals but due to lack of space, it gets extremely crowded and some of them do not get a seat during the meals.  The administration has not specified when they intend to make an eating space available for the residents.

This absolute ignorance on the part of the administration is grossly unjustified. The girls hostel of SRCC is deeply problematic, housing half the number of students as compared to the boys hostel. I’m addition to this, students lack proper dining facilities. As if this weren’t enough, they now have to worry about their safety living inside the campus. The purpose of such a hostel then comes to question as it fails to provide all of the necessary services.

 

Feature Image Credits: Shri Ram College of Commerce

 

Pragati Thapa

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The student body of Aam Aadmi Party, Chatra Yuva Sangharsh Samithi ( CYSS) has been on an indefinite hunger strike.

 

The hunger strike that started on the 27th of this month, outside the Arts Faculty has been continuing for the last 48 hours. It is being organised with respect to demanding the fulfilment of various needs put up by the Student wing.

The demands being

1. Hostels for all students

2.Equal fees for all colleges in the university

3.Re-examination for students in the same year if failed.

4.A 24-hour library facility

5.Elections through ballot paper.

DU Beat was able to speak to Mr Chandramani Dev who is the state committee Vice President of CYSS. He had this to say, ” The re-examination of students who are not able to clear their examinations used to happen the same year earlier. This system was later changed. It puts a lot of pressure on the students. Thus it’s important that this system is brought back so that the students do not have to waste a year”.

He also started the reasons for demanding ballot based vote ” Last year I had contested to be the joint secretary of DUSU, I was winning till the sixth round after which there was a five-hour-long electricity cut. When the results were announced I had lost. The voting machines were tampered with and that clearly cancels out the spirit of DU elections. Thus we have been demanding to bring back ballot system.”

Politicians like Mr Harsh Bansal also came to Arts Faculty to meet the students.

CYSS had decided to not participate in the elections for DUSU this year stating that they will only participate if the ballot term is brought back.

 


 

Stephen Mathew

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The Delhi High Court refused to consider a petition which sought University of Delhi to take responsibility for providing all regular college students with hostel accommodation on Wednesday.

The High Court bench comprising of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C. Hari Shankar gave unanimous decision on the aforementioned matter, and also said that the varsity was not under any statutory obligation to provide hostel accommodation to all students.

The petitioner Parveen Kumar Singh invoked section 33 of the Delhi University Act of 1922, which states that every student of the University shall reside in the College Hall or under such circumstances as prescribed by the Ordinances. This plea furthered that the regular students who were unable to secure a hostel seat should get a monthly stipend of INR 10,000.

The court was of the view that this interpretation of the section 33 was not economically viable as it would cost the University crores of rupees.

The petition which is filed through advocate Kamlesh Kumar Mishra further stated that of the 1,84,668 students enrolled in DU as per an RTI reply, only 6,235 or 3.37% have hostel accommodation.

Accomodation crunch in the University has been an issue for a long time. Due to lack of subsidised accomodation facilities, students have to give in to privatised facilities. The students who do not get the hostel accommodation are exploited by the landlords and property dealers who charge excessive amounts of money for accommodation.

The previously mentioned plea also sought to declare the area in and around the 5-kilometres radius of Delhi University’s South and North Campus as a “Special Students Zone”. It was suggested that this zone should have a fixed minimum rent for the accommodations.

The same plea also sought to end the inequal rates of departmental canteen food for staff members and canteen food for students. It stated that the prices of both should be harmonised, and operate on a break-even basis.  

On this matter, court pointed out that it is not incumbent upon the present judicial body to regulate prices in the University canteen. It is a policy issue that has to be looked at by the competent authority itself.

Advocate Mishra said that he would now move the higher court against the decision of High Court.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat archives.

Antriksha Pathania
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In a move to include OBC candidates into the hostel facility, the governing body has decided to make the college’s hostel an all first-year accommodation.

The governing body of Lady Shri Ram College (LSR)  has decided to convert their college hostel into an all first-year students’ hostel. This decision has been taken after several demands were made by the student union for reservations to OBC students in the college hostel space. It seems that implementing this decision comes at the cost of removing all the second and third years from the hostel facility.  The decision has been justified by the governing body as a step taken due to the lack of enough rooms.

This reservation policy comes at a heavy cost for the students. The reservation would mean that every other student, who is not a first-year, loses the eligibility to apply for the college’s hostel.

In a statement released by the Student Union, this action has been condemned by referring to it as “absurd” and “a calculated attempt to polarise the student body sentiment along already existing fissures in the society.”

While the student body welcomed the administration’s attempts to promote inclusivity by implementing constitutional reservation—that is, providing 27% hostel seats for OBC candidates. It is a move made after several protests. The union responded by stating that the way it is being implemented needs to be spoken against and criticised.

This decision forces the first-year students to look for accommodation facilities outside the college premises. That is, to seek refuge in flats and PGs once they finish their first-year at LSR. It would happen irrespective of their reservation and economic or social standing. This move is not only an economic burden on the students, but also forces them to be subjected to harassment, discrimination, and moral policing at the hands of PG owners and landlords. The housing economy makes students vulnerable, with little bargaining power at their disposal. Shelter being a primal need, students are often coerced to accept the terms of the owners, be it paying a high rent for a small room or accepting being monitored and controlled.

“South Delhi is a very expensive area, especially the locations near colleges. It’s not a feasible option for many of us. This move would lead to the college becoming an elite space, that is simply destroying class inclusivity,” a member of the hostel union said.

Further, this move affects all students, whether they belong to the SC, ST or OBC community. Reportedly, the decision includes “chances” of exemptions for PwD students. Many of the students cannot afford other housing facilities as the college hostel is the most affordable option for them.

This move would also mean that there would not be any Hostel Union from the successive academic sessions as the first-years would have to be removed annually; further curbing any voice that the Hostel Union holds. “This is an absolute form of harassment that the Governing body has decided to engage in,  under the disguise of inclusivity,” the statement by the Union pointed out.

This move would not affect the second and third years in the hostel as of now, but from the next semester. Only first-years would be eligible to apply for the hostel from the next academic session. This would mean that the first years would have to evacuate as they get promoted. The same set of students who are provided with this so-called privilege in one year, are then left to fend for their own, in the immense instability where they are forced to begin the hunt for shelter from scratch. “The students would thus be walking into a huge economic crisis. Parents in the coming years would be compelled to not send their children here. This step is a violation of the right to education itself,” a Student Union member, who did not wish to be named, stated.

This decision has been questioned for a length of time now. The Union had in many instances, written letters against the same to both the principal and the warden.  However, no response was received from the authorities. The Union also went to meet the college principal in person. The principal was not present in the college during office timings. The union has been constantly trying to  convey their disregard. “We have also been trying to gather the faculty’s support,” a Union member said.

The college has been under scrutiny for a long time with its inability to construct more hostels in the campus to accommodate students. The Union reminded the administration that providing shelter to the students was the utmost responsibility of the governing body, and that this facility cannot be served to the students as a privilege. According to the University of Delhi Act, “All colleges are to have hostel spaces for all their students, exempting those acquiring distant education.” (1922, section 33). The college is clearly violating this act. “The college is justifying this by stating that the hostel comes under a Trust. There is no transparency, nor legal documents that back their claim,” the Union member added.

“The admin wishes students to become mere customers; enjoy the hostel services for a year and then get out, go figure the money to be able to afford the ‘magic of LSR’,” the statement pointed out.

The atmosphere certainly is tense between the students and the administration. The Student Union hopes to be able to make negotiations in the coming days before the semester begins.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat archives.

Stephen Mathew

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University of Delhi is set to get a new hostel, as a proposal by the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) President Shakti Singh is approved by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to allocate funds of INR 48 crore.

According to a press release by the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister (CM) of Uttar Pradesh is set to provide INR 48 crore for a new University of Delhi’s (DU) Hostel.

A proposal by Shakti Singh dated the 10th of June was approved by CM Yogi Adityanath the same day. The proposal addresses the difficulties faced by DU students while looking for student accommodation. The proposal also highlights that only 1-2% of students from Uttar Pradesh get hostel accommodation.

The new hostel requires approximately 3 acres of land to be built. The hostel is said to have 500 seats, and sports facilities over INR 3 crore. The total cost, including overhead charges amounts to INR 48 crore. The hostel is set to be constructed on the Uttar Pradesh government’s land in Delhi.

DUSU President Shakti Singh said on Twitter, “A big thank you to CM Yogi Adityanath Ji. I am highly thankful to you for the assurance of sanction of (INR) 48 Crore for the budget to build hostels for students of Uttar Pradesh in Delhi-NCR. It would be one major step towards accommodation.”

The promise of a new hostel brings relief to students even though the dates of construction and its unveiling remain unclear.  Finding cheap accommodation on campus, or in Delhi is not easy for the regular DU student. With rising costs of commercial accomodations (Paying Guests), and limited number of seats in the hostel, students are left with no choice but to opt for private accommodation which usually burns a hole in their pocket. In some cases, students are also subjected to harassment by brokers and landlords.

The move sounds promising, as currently, the University hostels lack various facilities, and the number of seats remains low. The University also has a history of protests related to the hostels, with the recent ones being the Hindu College hostel and the Daulat Ram College hostel rows. This move also leaves one wondering if the implementation of the new hostel would mean a revision in the current hostel rules and guidelines.

Feature Image Credits: Shakti Singh on Twitter

Jaishree Kumar

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Last minute revision and examination stress becomes overwhelming. This often leads to skipping some of the vital things of our daily routine, breakfast being the simplest option. Breakfast is the most important meal and is very essential to get ready to write exams. It can even help you improve your grades by increasing concentration and giving energy for this mental marathon.

We all have been gripped by the exam fever and the last moment preparation is almost inevitable. Getting ready for the exam at 9 A.M, and fretting over the last minute revision, feeding our body would be the last thing that would cross our minds. But you can increase your endurance for this mental marathon and in turn stand a fair chance to improve your grades through a simple way- by not skipping breakfast on the exam day.

Breakfast comes as the meal after the longest interval without food; therefore, breakfast seems to influence metabolism more strongly than lunch or dinner. Failing to break your fast with a meal shortly after rising might strain your body. Hence, the right food and drink can energise your system, improve your alertness, and sustain you through the long exam hours.

According to a research conducted by Harvard Medical School, breakfast is the best time to get complex carbohydrates and fibre. In fact, if you don’t start out right at breakfast, you will find it hard or even impossible to get the fibre you need.

An equally important thing is to stay hydrated to maximise concentration. Dehydration can make you feel drowsy and can reduce your attentiveness in the examination hall. Drink plenty of liquids before appearing for the exam.

Breakfast on exam day becomes pivotal as you need your concentration on your exam and not your hunger. Risking your breakfast just for the two minutes of extra revision can result in fatigue and have adverse consequences.

Now, for students living in PG and hostels, skipping breakfast is prudence, rather than waiting in the line to get it.  Some quick fixes in such situation can be to have some brain boosting food which includes food high in protein and whole-grain cereal.  Fruit platter, milk, boiled eggs, etc. are easy solutions.

The right food at the right time will prove to be the best tonic to handle anxiety and nervousness. To avoid the last minute hassle, plan your meals beforehand and don’t miss the morning breakfast. The right choices you make and some steps towards healthy lifestyle practices will surely help you perform better and, as a consequence, will improve your grades.

Feature Image Credits: Rishabh Gogoi for DU Beat

Sriya Rane

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The Daulat Ram College hostel residents continue to suffer at the hands of their matron as the HC Inspection is underway.

Unhygienic toilets, walls crawling with roaches and semi-cooked food, the tyranny of the Daulat Ram College hostel towards its residents continues.The residents of Daulat Ram College hostel have been protesting for months against the warden and the matron. Facilities in the hostel are in deplorable condition along with incessant moral policing and sexist comments.


In February residents of the hostel marched to the Vice Chancellors office and staged a sit down, demanding their rights. The Delhi High Court, finally intervened in the matter.During the inspection by court commissioners, allegations of harassment over social media posts and usage of makeup were reported.

In the detailed report by Nandita Rao and Shubham Mahajan, acute shortage of toilets and it’s facilities were reported. The rooms too were found to be in dilapidated condition.

An aura of fear and hatred surrounds the hostel, “The condition of the hostel is terrible. What is really disheartening is that one can bear the effect of the lack of infrastructure to some extent but the fact that there is nothing space for even mental relaxation is traumatizing. Several students are having anxiety issues and the matron doesn’t seem to care even a tad bit.” said, a second year resident of the hostel.

Another resident who chose to stay anonymous elaborates on the moral policing and harassment, “the matron takes printouts of social media pages like Instagram and shames the women. Her sexist remarks are nothing new.”

“It’s almost like she’s taking revenge” continued another student, “the washrooms were filthy before the protests and HC inspection, now they are worse. The food has affected my health. I can’t go back to the hostel, it’s a horrific place. It has affected my mental and physical health”.

The matron, Dr. Sushma Tandon has been the hostel matron for over 40 years has had compliance against her earlier as well. The tumultuous and tyrannical atmosphere has barely given students space to breathe.  

“The HC inspection took place about a month ago, and the commissioners who came were really helpful and sweet, and more than that understanding. But between the inspection, and the submission of this report, the SC gave a stay order to the current warden, which made the students lose all hope.” The matron has now reportedly resorted back to harassing students and students are forced to pay the mess fee which they had boycotted during the protests. The verbal abuse too, has ensued.

Students regret ending the protest too soon. “We had help from Pinjra Tod too however, we ended the protests too soon. Maybe that gave them an excuse to treat us this way”

The High Court has now directed the report should be placed before the Supreme court, which is hearing the matter relating to appointment of the girls hostel warden.

Image credits: DU Beat archives

Jaishree Kumar

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Read on to find out about problems like curfew timings, degrading remarks on clothing, character questioning by wardens and so on in DU hostels.

Currently, the fight against hostel administrations is on its peak. From Lady Shri Ram College in the South Campus to Daulat Ram College in the North, many colleges in the prestigious University of Delhi (DU) are witnessing protests.

The on-going protest by the students of Daulat Ram College is against the harsh treatment and derogatory language by the hostel administration. On several instances of seeing students wear clothes or make up which the administration does not approve of, comments like, “Dhanda karne ja rahi hai kya?” or “boyfriend se milne jaa hai hai kya? have been made. A student on reaching five minutes after the curfew timings was made to stand outside the gate for hours. Insensitive comments have been passed at a visually impaired resident of the DRC hostel on simply leaving her hair open.

Presently, no heed was paid when the students protesting outside from 7:30 PM to 5 AM were puking and fainting and were even refused water. Furthermore, the students left inside the hostel were ordered to be locked in their rooms by male security guards at 2 AM. What happens to the slogan of safety that the administration chants?.

In another college in DU the curfew timings are only enforced for the girls and simply forgiven for the boys. Even the security guards taunt the female residents by saying, “Late nahi ho gaya?” despite them taking permissions and following due process to stay out.

In Lady Shri Ram College, the passing of judgement on character continues but beyond that, extension of the unacceptable curfew timing of 7:30 pm is not acceptable under the grounds of safety and logistical limitations. As a result of the Pinjra Tod protests, certain changes and improvements have been made such as removing a cap on the number of monthly late nights, other goals of the protests still need to be met.

The pattern in all these cases and many more is how under the garb of ‘safety’ hostel administrations are perpetuating sexist mindset. Slut shaming for wearing skin-showing clothes, character questioning for returning at a time considered late, insensitive remarks have created a toxic environment.

This issue is not restricted to DU colleges only, but also to colleges outside Delhi. In the case of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), the curfew for girls is thirty minutes prior to that of boys’ and in case of leaving the college an Akka ‘checks’ every girl’s clothing to be modest.

The same rules are not applied in the case of boys’ hostels. Moral policing of girls is not a solution to the problem of the unsafe environment but rather a means of instilling fear. The students of the University are giving a powerful response to break this cage.

Image credits: New Indian Express

Shivani Dadhwal

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“If you’re here to save me, then I’m not interested to work with you. But, if you understand that your freedom is intricately connected to mine, then let’s work together.”

On 20th February 2019, an article titled “Why we decided to leave Pinjra Tod” was published on the website Roundtable India. This was a detailed statement chronicling the experiences of nine former members of the collective who belonged to historically marginalized communities (SC/ST/OBC/Islamic) and provided a deep insight into their decision to leave Pinjra Tod.

Only four years into its existence, Pinjra Tod has already been extremely successful in fighting oppressive forms of patriarchal protectionism that have been intricately sewn into the rulebooks of Universities. Their success in Jamia Milla Islamia and the persistent nature of their questioning and protests have been a source of inspiration to Universities across the country leading to a mushrooming of similar units in places such as Banaras Hindu University, Punjab University and smaller towns like Thrissur, Cuttack and Raipur. This collective now holds a very important position in the feminist discourse within University spaces, being one of a kind; it has immense bargaining power as compared to smaller student groups.

For fear of weakening this very position, the signatories of the statement were extremely hesitant to publicly express their concerns. “In anxiety that future generations from our backgrounds need not go through what we did”, they decided to publish their experiences. This group of women belong to marginalized ethnic, religious and caste groups and have been active members of the organization. Their decision to quit as evidenced by the statement is fuelled by the superficial intersectionality that Pinjra Tod credits itself with. They have allegedly experienced a lack of concern for their issues and a systematic marginalization of their voices in the decision making process.

The primary concern reveals itself as a fundamental difference between what calls for protest for the privileged upper caste Hindu women and the rest. This was on display during the LSR protests last year wherein the collective pushed harder for the abolition of curfews whereas the OBC reservation was not prioritized by the movement. Many women felt that the reservation should have been their primary agenda as they represented a movement that fought for social justice and equality.

The statement points to the unsuccessful creation of a space where voices of other women hold equal prominence as that of upper caste women. In meetings, because of the dominance of upper caste voices, they expressed ” we have felt anxious, nervous to raise our concerns which were different from theirs and thus most of us have hardly spoken in any of these meetings.” The control of the social media handles also lay with the upper caste women and other women were only consulted when religion or caste specific statements were to be made (Hadiya, Delta, Jisha etc). They felt that these activities revealed a very tokenistic approach in dealing with their voices.
The collective’s position on religion is also a dominant theme explored in the statement.

A Kashmiri member of the movement says that she often felt like the predominantly held idea was that “religion was something that needed to be shrug off in order to attain ‘freedom’”. However, for women from the marginalized groups’ “religion has been an emancipatory force, a means of survival and a source of strength as well.” In one such instance, a few core members agitated against the fact that some posters included quotes by Prophet Mohammed and called these posters ‘regressive.’ This collective rejection of faith served to alienate and isolate women who value religion.

The statement also speaks of the confused politics of Pinjra Tod which often feels opposed only to Hindutva but not to those tenets of Hinduism which privileges one group of people over the other. This statement not only brings to the fore many issues in the functioning of the movement but also shines a light on the importance of intersectionality in thought and action.
The current leadership of Pinjra Tod is yet to formally address these allegations.

Featured Image Credits- Arshdeep Kaur

Pragati Thapa
[email protected]

The students of Daulat Ram College Hostel have different notions when it comes to the hostel being a home away from home.

On 7th February 2019, the ceiling of a washroom crashed down upon a girl in Daulat Ram College Hostel (DRCH), while she was using it. The reason being ‘negligible maintenance.’ Fortunately, she managed to get out just in time, but hurt her shoulder during the process. The washroom was locked and the issue was addressed silently. A series of such mishaps have been under the light in the DRCH, unfortunately not all of them have a tangible form.

The Psychology department of the college had to organise a picnic to the Lodhi Gardens on 20th February 2019. The teachers along with the students of the department were to go together. However, due to bad weather, the trip was pre-poned to 19th  February 2019. The students received the official letter from college and got it signed from their parents as well. However, the students were questioned incessantly for going out ‘without asking permission separately from hostel’, even though they reached the hostel by 5 p.m.

The girls are were also questioned regarding their social media presence. A hosteller, on grounds of maintaining anonymity has revealed how the Instagram accounts of students have been scrutinized and printed. The matron has, in fact, questioned girls on the type of pictures they post online by showing them printed copies of their own account. Another hosteller remarked, “We are being mentally threatened and harassed. She has created an aura of threat and mistrust in the whole hostel.”

The students pay an annual fee of INR 1,15,000 with extra INR 20,000 in winter. On being asked if they are getting services worth the money, a hosteller replied, “The food quality has deteriorated. At times, we feel that we are being given stale food. Some air conditioners and geysers in the washroom do not function, even though we have written multiple applications.”  She added, “Earlier, we were allowed to keep food for our friends, in case they were stuck somewhere or working, but now we are questioned to death.” When asked if the girls tried contacting their parents for addressing the issues, she said, “Most of the students are from far-off places, this makes it difficult for the parents to come every now and then. Because of this, the gravity of the issue cannot be understood by them.”

Instances of matron questioning the upbringing of the students and threatening them by bringing up old incidents when students were forced out of hostel have also come up. The girls are, therefore, in a lot of mental stress. They’re also having ‘anxiety issues’, a student commented.

Around 130 students of the hostel have collectively written and signed an application citing reasons due to which they are restraining from submitting the fee and are demanding due compensation . In the application, the students have described in detail the reasons of their decision and explicitly pointed out their grievances. One such grievance being that the hostel seats were allotted to the students one month after the commencement of the session, due to which they had to pay a minimum sum of INR 10,000.

A protest broke out on 23rd February with over a hundred students sitting outside the hostel gate. They are determined to stand for their rights and the facilities they have paid for. One of the hostellers adds, “It’s great that a majority of people have come out to support what’s right.”

It is yet to be seen what result comes out of it but it can only be hoped that the concerns of students are heard and taken seriously. It has been a long struggle on the students’ part. The question to ask is if their fee package included these intangibilities.

Feature Image Credits:DU Beat

Akshada Shrotryia

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