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The Bharat Literature Festival 2023, organized by Kirori Mal College in the most extravagant way possible, celebrated traditional Indian literature through engaging dialogues, debates, and readings. Eminent writers, scholars, lyricists, and government officials were part of the diverse lineup. While well-received, some criticised the event’s politicisation. 

The Bharat Literature Festival, organised by Kirori Mal College on November 28th and 29th, 2023, is a  LitFest that focuses on celebrating the diverse body of traditional Indian literature and facilitating engaging dialogues, literary debates, and celebratory readings. Over the course of the festival, scholars, writers, lyricists, poets, and renowned personalities from all walks of life were engaged in discourse about varying topics such as art, literature, culture, history, politics, and social issues. It went beyond its title as a literary event by housing art exhibitions, facilitating pertinent political discourse, and particularly attracting visiting students to the pursuit of the civil services with VisionIAS  as its Knowledge Partner.

Eminent public figures such as the Hon. Governor of Telangana, the commercially successful lyricist Prasoon Joshi, and Union Minister of Labour and Employment, Bhupendra Yadav, were invited too, amongst many, many more. It is indisputable that the line-up of scholars, experts, and esteemed speakers ranging from Indian cinema to Cabinet Ministers served as the major attraction for the fest. Students from across the University of Delhi flocked to the event to witness some of their favourite personalities share their insights on the central theme alongside issues that specifically pertained to the speaker’s field. Students were able to firsthand engage and interact with journalists, scriptwriters, historians, filmmakers, and lyricists. As the guests and speakers individually have their own publicity from the media, press, and fanbases, these speakers were able to cause an influx of visitors to the event too.

Other than providing a platform for these public figures, the fest even conducted a variety of competitions for students that included slam poetry, stand-up comedy, a photography contest, and a talent hunt—all of which were met with a sizable number of responses and registrations. The food stalls, youth activities, and musical evening incentivised even those who aren’t necessarily interested in literary discourse to participate in the fest.

I really liked the event, especially the different speakers that were called. A session that stood out for me was- “Cinema: The Reflection of Society.” Amit Rai, Chandraprakash Dwivedi, and Priyanka Shakti Thakur talked about how modern films disregard ethics to show what sells the most. It was quite an insightful talk.’

-A third-year student from Kirori Mal College who had attended both days of the event. 

Something that caught everyone’s attention was BLF’s attempt to encompass the diverse cultures of India. Speakers ranging from author Yadvinder Singh Sandhu from Punjab to Telangana’s governor, Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, blessed the event with their powerful words. Even the numerous stalls had books of various Indian languages, showing the level of richness the event tried to achieve

I enjoyed the talk by Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi Ji. I got a good perspective on the tussle between modernity and culture, how the two often don’t go along well.

– An attendee in reference to the session- “Sanskriti Aur Chunotiya – TV – Cinema – OTT.

However, this mega event was heavily criticised by student groups and had a lot of negative responses too. People raised questions about the politicisation involved and criticised it. Many students stayed anonymous or avoided sharing opinions because of the potential risks involved due to the involvement of college administration in the event.

I have attended literature festivals before, and this is not what a literature festival looks like. This was clearly right-wing propaganda.

-A critic of the event 

Few felt that the event was more of an attempt to push right-wing ideologies than focus on literature. They claim that the speakers called and the topics they talked about were clear signs of the political intentions of the events. 

Numerous criticisms about the festival surfaced online, with concerns focusing on the event’s agenda. Critics pointed out that the topics discussed, such as “Pranam Main Hindu Hun” and “Sanghe Shakti: Bharat @2047,” raised controversy due to their alignment with Hindutva ideologies. Some online discussions also highlighted the problematic stance of certain invited speakers who openly support the regime and have advocated for the genocide of Muslims in the past.

In addition to the ideological alignment, student groups disclosed, under anonymity, the kind of pressure the administration placed on members of various college societies about volunteerism and promotion. Students from many departments also brought attention to the abrupt disruption in their classes..  

Additionally, there were complaints about the lack of linguistic diversity, as most discussion titles were in Hindi, neglecting representation from North-East and South Indian literature. Critics argued that the event’s themes and titles seemed to align closely with the policies and marketing strategies of the ruling regime, further fueling online dissatisfaction. 

Featured Image Credits: @bharatliteraturefestival Instagram

Shireen Peter 

@[email protected]

Shatadru Sen

@[email protected]

Under the guise of the Bharat Literature Festival (BLF), there is a discernible attempt to spread Hindutva ideology in academics and on campus. With declining academic freedom, BLF appears to be a facet of the regime’s wider effort to systematically alter academic discourse and the college environment.

On November 28th and 29th, 2023, Kirori Mal College (KMC) hosted the Bharat Literature Festival (BLF), which drew severe criticism from college students. BLF, which “intends to connect the learnings of the complicated past with the hope & aspirations of a fascinating future,” organised its Litfest in partnership with KMC. Various renowned authors and journalists were invited for the discussions. However, the event drew more criticism as its itinerary was released, which included discussions regarding RSS and Hindutva. “Pranam Main Hindu Hun: Exploring Inner Hindutva in Popular Culture”, “Sanghe Shakti: Bharat @2047”, “Indian Continent in the Era of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, etc. were among the topics discussed. Not only the topics, but several of the invited speakers openly support the regime and have called for the genocide of Muslims in the past. 

When viewed in the context of the government’s increasing influence on academic structures, courses, academic discourses, and crackdown on academicians critical of the government, such discussions and events in a central university college with the college as co-organisers highlight how BLF is not just a litfest but a part of a broader movement seeking to assert and disseminate Hindutva principles within the realms of academics.

The Academic Freedom Index (AFI) report, published by the Global Public Policy Institute, placed India in the bottom 30% of 179 countries in 2022, with a score of 0.38 out of 1. Down to Earth extracted the Academic Freedom Score of India and found out that, “The country’s freedom index score was high in the past, ranging from 0.60-0.70 between 1950 and 2012, except from 1974-1978, data showed.” The AFI report reads, “Around 2013, all aspects of academic freedom began to decline strongly, reinforced with Narendra Modi’s election as Prime Minister in 2014.”

TW// Mention of suicide

The suicide of Rohit Vermula, the arrest of Umar Khalid, Natasha Narwal, and many other students under UAPA for participating in anti-CAA protests, the increasing crackdown on Kashmiri students, and the recent controversy over a research paper by an Ashoka University professor titled ‘Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy’, which alleged voter suppression to favour Modi in the 2019 election, all highlight the country’s deteriorating academic freedom. 

All of this, when reviewed in the context of NEP and CUET implementation, points to a more concerning scenario. With the adoption of CUET, student population diversity has decreased, with the majority of students being affluent ‘apolitical’ CBSE students from the North Belt. This apolitical student group fails to understand and acknowledge the hidden politics behind these events, and they fall into the trap that gradually shapes their way of thinking in the direction the regime wants. 

On the condition of anonymity, a third-year KMC student stated, “A lot of my friends and classmates were there, posting stories about BLF.” They are the same folks that will go and discuss casteism, patriarchy, and Islamophobia in their events and discussions. This set of students only wants to talk about these topics in order to feel good about themselves and fall into the category of ‘Progressive Liberal DU Student,’ while failing to understand the real-life ramifications and implementations of the same.”  

In a message circulated in Whatsapp groups, the principal wrote, “During the event, I expect you to (i) Be very disciplined and well behaved, (ii) Be appropriately well dressed according to the theme of the festival…Please note that there is no change in the teaching schedule of the college.” In contrast, students reported disruptions and class cancellations as a result of classrooms being converted into visitor rest areas. A volunteer from the BFL organising committee spoke about the threats posed by the conveners of their college societies. A person said, “We had pressure from the administration, who threatened us. The context for that is hard to explain, but we are being heavily monitored.” 

Another thing to notice here is the indirect imposition of Hindi throughout the event. The majority of the discussion titles were in Hindi, and there was no representation of North-East and South Indian literature at the event. Not just the language, but even the titles, were linked to the regime’s policies and marketing strategies. “Mann ki Baat: Confluence of Policy and Communication in New India” and “Namami Gange” are a few examples.

While all of these are sufficient to understand that the BLF is more than simply a litfest, it also serves as a means of spreading Hindutva ideology and BJP politics. Events like these, as well as the government’s growing control over academics, limit academic freedom, further eroding it. The AFI report explains, “Pressure on institutional autonomy and campus integrity combined with constraints on academics’ freedom of expression is what distinguished India from other countries’ scores on the index. The attacks on academic freedom under Modi’s Hindu nationalist government were also possible due to the absence of a legal framework to protect academic freedom.” The report’s authors further called on higher education policymakers, university leaders, and research funders to promote academic freedom in their own academic institutions as well as abroad.” But until then, the only ways to tackle religious politics and prevent them from impacting colleges and universities are through critical study of such events, self-education, and civil disobedience.

Read Also: The Fear of Being Identified

Featured Image Credits: KMC Instagram Page(@kmcollegedelhi)

DU Beat

 

Kirori Mal College (KMC) administration stops concerned students from protesting on campus due to lack of administrative approval, allegedly said that such events will not be allowed to take place on campus.

After days of sustained communal violence in parts of Northeast Delhi, instigated by Hindutva goons and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders such as Kapil Mishra against the Muslim communities in the area, concerned students from KMC decided to hold a protest gathering in the canteen lawn at 12:40 PM on 26th February 2020. This protest was however not allowed to carry on. After initial sloganeering against the communal violence and calling for the arrest of Kapil Mishra, who had incited the violence, the protesters were confronted by Dr. Vibha Singh Chauhan, the Principal of Kirori Mal College.

The Principal ordered for the protest to be stopped citing lack of approval from the administration. She can be heard in a video recording dismissing one of the protesters who pointed out that the process for approval was not available and easy for common students, which she refuted saying that the process is available and these events should be held only with approval.

Lakshay Talwar, a third-year Political Science student who was part of the protest said that it was called to march around campus to collectivize people to show the gravity of the situation and to build some resources in the form of people willing to help. He says that when they were confronted by the Principal, the students tried to negotiate saying that they will conduct a silent march which was not allowed.

Talwar, along with two other protesters held a meeting with the Principal in her room. He describes the events as follows, “She initially is adamant about the fact that they need to take permission because if they don’t, other groups can see it as a means to instigate violence, which is absurd considering that it was a peace march. After which, when asked for permission to hold a peace march on the next day with prior intimation, the Principal denied them permission going back on her previous statement. The reasoning given by her was the safety of the students and avoiding violence.”

Lakshay said that they pointed out that collectivization in campus spaces is a means of safety as Kashmiri and Muslim students on campus already don’t feel safe, and that it is already the administration’s responsibility to make sure that violence does not occur. The Principal continued to deny the responsibility of the administration for the safety of the students. Lakshay stated that when they pointed out dissent is a democratic exercise, the Principal replied with, “If you think this is undemocratic, so be it but I am not granting you permission, you do it outside of college.” The problem with doing it outside of college is more dangerous to the student’s safety from right-wing groups, a responsibility which the Principal refused to take today.

DU Beat has reached out to the college for comments on the matter, to which there has been no reply. This report will be updated if they comment on this issue.

Featured Image Credits: Anonymous

DU Beat Correspondent

Culture preservation and safety has motivated the University of Delhi (DU) to convert the North Campus into an enclosed area to form a proper campus, much like the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) campus. The initiative will be completed within a year and was informed by the Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi at the executive council (EC) meeting on Saturday 26th October 2019. 

Currently, the proposal is in the contact phase where government agencies and departments are told to start the process, an official announcement hasn’t been made yet. 

The two-day meeting held on Saturday, was a platform for many issues to be discussed, the IOE proposal, construction of 39-storey building and the closing of North Campus. 

However, while these issues may seem independent, they are interconnected. If the EC’s proposal is accepted to enclose North Campus, the construction of the building will be deferred. And, IOE (Institute of Eminence) proposal would pave way for the closing of North Campus. 

EC member Rajesh Jha, said, “We have always demanded that the campus should be closed as we want DU to have a character of its own just like JNU and other varsities in the country. The closed campus will also help authorities improve the security on the varsity premises.”

North Campus is a hub of academics at the University of Delhi, with many colleges and departments within meters of each other, and so, it has always witnessed the greatest college student footfall. This raises some serious questions regarding the safety of the students, with recent developments in many violent cases taking place at North Campus. This concept will increase the safety of students manifold. However, it may subject them to false seclusion and isolation. The culture of campus may be gone when only students of those colleges could take part in it, and not all could witness it.

Interviewing students from all over the campus, DU Beat received many mixed responses.  Here’s what DU students have to say about this. 

Aditi Raj, Daulat Ram College, North Campus said “The idea seems far-fetched, I don’t know how they will manage to do it. The campus is full of roads that connect two parts of the city. And other universities like JNU, have a huge campus with all departments to enclose, where we are just calling few colleges and departments the entire university campus.” 

Satviki Sanjay, Miranda House, North Campus said, “I don’t think DU North Campus should be closed. To ‘maintain its culture’ sounds like a terrible reason as DU ‘culture’ is not just limited in the North Campus but also the other colleges. Closing it would just strengthen the already prevalent elitism in the North Campus. Moreover, there are logistical issues that need to be resolved. DU North Campus is not just educational institutions but an entire ecosystem of students, teachers, market places, transportation and all which make DU North Campus what it is and closing it would rather hamper the ‘culture’.” 

Akshat Arora, Motilal Nehru College, South Campus said, “I feel like restricting an area to a limited number of students will work against your intentions if you intend to preserve “cultures”.”

Whereas, A counter-opinion also existed among the DU students. Priyanshu Sinha, Delhi School of Journalism, North Campus believes, “When we step out of the Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station to head towards our respective colleges, it feels more like going to an isolated corporate office than going to a University. Like JNU, Delhi University needs to have a closed campus.”

Many times the argument comes that DU is a collegiate like Oxford which is based in the Oxfordshire. But then we forget that Oxfordshire is completely established for Oxford University whereas Delhi is a diverse city having government offices, corporate buildings along with the University. It doesn’t feel like a University campus when cars flock all the time, outsiders who have nothing to do with the college or the education roam around in the campus. It also dilutes unity of the campus as a single entity. This step by the administration is very pleasant and we welcome it wholeheartedly.”

Pranavi Prabhakaran, Daulat Ram College, North Campus, told DU Beat, “North Campus is a truly important academic area. It’s only surprising that this move hadn’t been taken earlier. I hope it will be cleaner now.”

While different opinions surface in the University, many questions like whether the infamous Hudson Lane and Patel Chest Photocopy Lane be part of mainstream campus? Will the stalls and Chai corners that exist, still cease to exist? Will colleges provide parking spots to those who earlier parked outside?

To answer all these questions and many more, a formal official notification is awaited. 

Feature Image Credits: Dailymail

Chhavi Bahmba 

[email protected]

 

Students protested against the construction of a 39-storeyed building near the Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station. The construction of the building has led to the felling of 228 trees, aside from infringing on the University’s space.

 

Delhi University students on Friday staged a protest against the construction of a 39- storey building in North Campus, saying the structure will overlook six girls’ hostels and will be an “invasion of their privacy”. The building is coming up adjacent to the Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station in the campus area.

 

The said construction has been opposed by the University and the Teachers’ Association (DUTA) as well. The students formed a human chain chanting slogans — “Private Building, Down Down” — at the entrance of the metro station.

 

According to a representative of the Miranda House Students’ Union, in conversation with The Hindustan Times, the construction of the building is “an invasion of their privacy.” A student said that the private builder should have held discussions with the Delhi University administration, the teachers’ association or the students’ union before beginning construction.

 

The land on which the construction is to take place, was initially owned by the Ministry of Defence was transferred to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation after which it was handed to a private builder, a university official said. The construction comes after allegations by the DU administration towards the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) of ‘unlawfully’ permitting the construction of the building. Past month, the DUTA had also held protests to object to the construction.

 

“Construction of such a high-rise building in the university enclave area will negatively impact the ambiance of Delhi University. There are heritage buildings in close vicinity of this land. There will be serious issues of safety and privacy for adjoining girls hostels and staff flats. This extremely crowded area can’t burden such an extra infrastructural load. So, the Delhi University community as a whole is opposing it tooth and nail,” said Rasal Singh, Academic Council member, in conversation with The Hindu.

 

Image Caption: Protests against construction of 39-storey high-rise in DU North Campus, organised by student unions

Image Credits: Hindustan Times

 

Bhavya Pandey

[email protected]

The website of Kirori Mal College (KMC) was hacked for the second time this year on Sunday, 25th August 2019. Read on to find out more.

Hacking College websites has now become a recurring phenomenon. Almost every year India experiences the hacking of the websites of educational institutions at a concerning rate. In the past, websites of many institutions like IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, Jamia Malia Islamia, and Aligarh Muslim University have been hacked.

This time yet again, the official website of Kirori Mal College was targeted, which was dismaying for the portal committee and the administration of the college.

The website was defaced by messages like “Hacked by Dark Knight” and “we all stand for the secular and liberal ideology of DU”, calling out the members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for how they may “forcefully install Sarvakar’s bust in the campus but cannot bring it into our hearts”. It further said how deeply painful it is to see the way the Delhi University Students’ Union elections take place and asked the student fraternity to rise against corruption and violence, accusing political parties of bribing college students with “movie tickets” in exchange for votes.

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Image Caption: A hacker by the name of Dark_Knight hacked KMC’s Website Image Credits: Aashish Jain

According to Atithi, a student from KMC, “The college website getting hacked twice in a row is a matter of concern for the college administration as it shows a lack of vigilance and carelessness on their part. It affects us too. A lot of valuable information and other data is uploaded on the website, the credibility of which will be questioned; appropriate and quick action needs to be taken so that such things are not repeated in future”

Anujriti Painuli, another student from the College, stated, “The Dark Knight named hacker who got into the website proved the inefficiency of website, which is not up to the mark for such a reputed college.” She also added that the person has particularly targeted the ruling party, accusing them of being biased towards a single community

Students strongly believe that this act of outrageous and irrational behavior is purely a manifestation of unhealthy competition on political grounds. This is a sensitive time for the College website since the process of admission is going on with cut-offs still being released and the new students refer to the website for information regarding time tables and societies.

Feature Image Credits: Shiksha

Avni Dhawan

[email protected]

On Sunday, the official website of Kirori Mal College was hacked. 

Hacking of college websites has now become a pan-university phenomenon. Almost on a monthly basis, instances of college websites being hacked are heard of. The recent hack of the UPSC Website saw the set-up of a new benchmark in the field of unethical-hacking. It seems as if the hackers are on a get-set-hack spree, smiting college-after college. This time, they made the official website of Kirori Mal College, (KMC), their victim.

It was observed on Sunday, September 30, 2018, by some college students that a clumsy notice had been uploaded in the News&Information section of the website. The notice, which seemed highly unprofessional in its language, accused the college student fraternity of accepting bribes during the elections, and that this shall have humongous long term implications. It requested the student fraternity to rise up against corruption in the elections and accused other political parties in the college student union frame of offering “Movie Tickets” in exchange for votes. The notice implored the students to rise up against this activity and proclaim power over their union.

Prima facie, it seems that this has happened in connection to the recent political scenario in the college, where the students in the college were actually offered Free Movie Tickets to shows at Amba Cinema for the movie “STRI”, and the same front emerged victorious in the College Student Union Elections.

According to Shivam, a student from KMC, who wants his course and other relevant details to reamin hidden- “This is obviously something that involves high skill and knowledge pertaining to computers. We had a candidate during the college student union elections who is from the Political Science Department, and has developed the college application as well. This candidate lost the elections to the post of the college president. Hence, it is almost sure that it is him who has done this.”

Although this gives a particular direction to the story, there are also counter-allegations from the supporters of the particular candidate. According to Kuldeep, another student from KMC, “All of this has been done to tarnish the image of our candidate. It is something that has been thought all the way through with profound attention to detail. They know that our candidate shall be the primary suspect, because of his computer based skills. Hence, this is being done post elections to highlight the false statement. Our candidate is a true Kirorian, he would never engage in anything so unethical and disproportionate to his character.”

This incident, apparently, has led to bifurcation of the college fraternity into two fronts. While the administrative investigation is under process, the security layering of the website has been scrutinised, all the loop holes removed and security tightened up to prevent any such incident in the future.

Feature Image Credits – KMC students

Aashish Jain

[email protected]

Theology Behind The Title:

Boasting the highest cut-offs and the most lucrative placements on completion of the three-year bachelors course, Economics Honours is the Khaleesi (queen) of all undergraduate courses in the University of Delhi (DU).

There are 42 colleges in DU which offer the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Honours in Economics. This list includes the University campus colleges, evening colleges and morning-shift colleges.

 

Course Content in DU

Real Estate tycoon, T.V. Mogul, and the President of the United States of America Donald Trump had majored in economics. Whether you like him or not, the guy knows money.

While he had pursued his degree from the University of Pennsylvania, some of the basic elements of Economics (H) are shared by universities across the world. These include the shared emphasis on statistical methods, economic history, econometrics, development theory, and so on.

However, in India, the curriculum has undergone changes after the semester system came into effect in 2011. “The focus has altered a little and involves the rigours of Mathematics. Options like comparative economic development have been edged out by econometrics, as it is more practical and scoring. The course is at par with any conventional Economics (H) programme in the world,” said Associate Professor of Economics at Miranda Hosue, Meeta Kumar.
The Economics of Why You Should Take Economics

  1. The Economics of Salary:

Professor Karen Mumford at the University of York had remarked, “Economics graduates can easily find jobs in the civil service, the City, industry or education…If you want to make a difference, you can. If you don’t want to make a difference, at least you can make a lot of money”.

It is indeed veritable that salaries for Economics graduates are among the highest, relative to other disciplines. Different research trends show different starting salary values but it emerges that economics graduates are comparatively well paid.

  1. The Artistry of Versatility

Economics (H) is the course that allows you to study Tesco’s and ASDA’s (two retailing institutions) methods of competition one day, and learn about the environment and pollution permits the next.

  1. The Virtue of Informed Citizenry

Economics (H) teaches you how to make well-informed decisions. A large part of the subject is decision making: what should the government do to cut the budget deficit, what should a business do to raise profit margins, where to invest your money in or which bank to use, and so on.

 

Eligibility to Pursue Economics Honours in DU

  1. Admission will be based on the merit list. The merit shall be determined on the basis of one language and three best elective subjects i.e. the ‘best of four’ criteria.
  2. The applicants must have qualified 10+2 (12th examination) from any recognised board.
  3. The applicants must have studied and passed Mathematics in the qualifying exam.
  4. An aggregate of 45% marks in the qualifying examination is the minimum percentage required for admission to this course.

 

Trends in Cut-off of Previous Years:

Interestingly, the minimum scores for admission to this course are some of the highest in this subject. In 2017, the cut-off was 95% or above at over 20 colleges, and over 90% at all colleges.

While Hindu College, Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), and Kirori Mal College had set their cut-offs for Economics (H) at 97.5 per cent, SRCC had pegged the cut-off just a little higher at 97.75 per cent for the same.

The category-wise width or range of last year’s cut-offs are as follows-

  • General- 98.5% to 84.5%
  • Other Backward Classes (OBCs)- 96.75% to 66.5%
  • Scheduled Castes (SC)- 96.25% to 58%
  • Scheduled Tribes(ST)- 93.5% to 43%

 

Expected Trends in Cut-off in 2018:

Jaswinder Singh, Principal and Professor of Economics at SGTB Khalsa College said, “The cut-offs for Economics (H) are a little behind B.Com. (H) every year. However, the cut-offs of the former are likely to remain high this year as the number of high scorers has ballooned while the seats have remained the same.’’
Road Ahead and Scope:

The skills developed through studying Economics (H) are incredibly versatile. For instance, student of Economics Lara Dutta had applied her knowledge in the subject to ace the Personality Round at the Miss Universe Pageant in 2000 and had subsequently gone on to win the same. On the other hand, Kofi Annan, who had pursued Economics from Macalester College had gone on to become the Secretary General of the UN.

Banking, consultancy, Professorship, Indian Administrative Service, further academic study (such as an MBA or Ph.D. in Economics), Corporate Law, government jobs (like in The Indian Economic Services and the Reserve Bank of India), Think Tanks (such as the NITI Ayog) are some of the fields which can be considered by a student pursuing Economics (H) from DU.
Feature Image Credits: India Today
Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak
[email protected]

From the comfortable interiors of Jodhpur, Neerav Jain landed in the dynamic educational hub of the University of Delhi; where academics are kept at par with the extra-curricular caliber. The young entrepreneur takes us through his entrepreneurial adventure, CityFurnish, and the multi-faceted learning-opportunity the journey proffered after he graduated from Kirori Mal College back in 2013.

Starting a business is a mammoth task. Could you please delineate on the initial hurdles your start-up faced?

There were three major hurdles we faced initially. One thing was the age factor; I was starting very young and had just completed my undergraduate education. I had two years of work experience with my family and naturally it takes a little bit of time to understand things. Typically, if you see the breed of start-up coming in, they are filled by IITs and IIMs. When you are just coming up with a bachelor’s degree and scaling up, it’s challenging. It’s not just about funding, but about hiring too. When you are hiring someone who is smarter and more educated than you, you need to convince them to work for you. Secondly, having vision clarity. Furniture is nonstandard item. You can have categories in luxury, but in furniture this is a very difficult thing. We were clear that what we want to achieve as a company. We want CityFurnish to be known for furniture the way Uber is known for cab services in spite of the fact that they have started other services too.  Establishing oneself in a particular category is a challenge. In short, don’t go for small money; create your own domain no matter how tough it is.

The third difficulty faced was creating a brand with limited resources like budget. Creating a brand needs investment. I learnt about this while I was in college. I was the Placement Cell and Commerce Society head. In a society, you need to pull up an event with very few funds. I learnt how to create a network effect and create a buzz. We started targeting customers near Chanakyapuri who weren’t much price conscious. They were very generous with reviews and sharing contacts. They acted as leverage for giving us publicity. It is a mammoth task creating a brand with limited resources. We wanted people to talk about our company.

Is there any entrepreneurial story that has personally inspired you?

One of my early investor was Mr. Jitendra Gupta, founder of Citrus, the payment gateway. His story is very similar to mine. Essentially, I am from a non-tech background. Whereas, he is a finance guy, running one of the largest payment gateway companies in India. His was the only start-up which was able to give a successful exit last year. Naturally, I was very motivated and connected with him due to several reasons. He has started with lot of challenges as in hailing from a non-tech background and hiring a tech team. Building the founding team will decide the next 50 teams in the company. He inspired me to be meticulous about choosing founding members. I learnt how to drive my co-workers with motivation as we weren’t paying much being a budding company. I learnt the concept of frugality from him and how it was important to chase investors with business matrix rather than the vanity matrix.

You were the Placement Cell Head and Com Soc President. How effective do you think DU’s placement and incubation cells are in grooming one’s personality?

For me, definitely very helpful. Coming from Jodhpur, till 12th Pre-boards, my highest percentage was 69, so naturally, I was never a topper. DU itself came in as a little bit of surprise. The first thing I got to know was that a lot Delhites, typically, were doing multiple things at once; debate society, drama society, internships, article ship, and then they were good in studies also. That was something I was never doing in Jodhpur. When I came to DU, the only two things I could apply for were the Placement Cell and Commerce Society, where the requirements were management skills and aptitude. For me, the whole process was extremely intriguing. the complete grooming, the street smartness, the management of the teams; because the fundamental idea was that you’re not paying anything to the team. But still they are motivated to work, to stay till 3 in the night and then turning up next morning to again do all the work. From brining something, getting something from the canteen to managing work; and you’re not paying them anything and yet they are so motivated. Even when you’re starting your own company, though you’re not paying anything, you can still motivate your team if you have the vision theme clear. That’s an important learning I got; salary is not everything if you’re building up your company from scratch. My experience with Placement Cell and Com Soc, that frugality that spend very less, a lot of these things were imbibed from this.

It’s going to be the 2-year anniversary of CityFurnish. Looking back, what do you think could have been done differently or could have yielded better results?

That’s a very retrospective question! As an entrepreneur, there was a scope for improving each and everything. But for something which always bothers me, firstly is the hiring aspect of it. When I started up, I hired just for the role: I need a finance guy, a marketing guy, I hired just for the sake of hiring to conform to the role. That was a major point. Secondly, you need to stick to your gut feeling. Because you’ve thought this is the team structure, this is the vision, this is how we’re going to be different from the competitors, and this is how we’re going to be in the long run. We would always prefer to compete on service level, rather than the pricing level. If you’re fighting on the pricing, it’s always a downward spiral.

When did you make your first breakthrough? What was your first milestone?

The inception of CityFurnish has not been done in India. I was in Netherlands at the time and was handling an export order. During that time I got in touch with Mark, founder of the company called Just Eat which is equivalent Zomato in India but on a global scale. He was running a program called startup boot camp.  He asked me to be a part of it as I had nothing much to do after my work. We got incubated in the start-up boot camp and out of a 100 teams, our start-up was among the top 10. That was a huge validation. Then, I came back to India because Delhi-NCR, as it is itself a bigger market than Netherlands. On 20th September 2015, I got my first order, before we were officially incorporated. Receiving an order before officially launching a business is definitely something which pushes your morale.

You worked for your family business, Chandra Shekhar Exports. How did you decide to start your own venture and how supportive was your family about it?

My dad has been running his company for over 25 years now and naturally, he has his own set of rules and protocols to follow. I came from DU at that time, fresh of energy and innovation. I wanted to change everything about the business. At that time, I didn’t realize there is a thinking process working behind every protocol. My father was 58 at that time and I was 22 giving him suggestions like, “Aise nahin, aise karo.”  And he would dismiss my suggestions which did hurt my ego, but it’s an important learning process. It was difficult for me at that point to understand that behind every set process there is an experience behind it.

How has your personal life changed ever since you grew out the reigns of your business?

I don’t think that I have achieved success yet, but yes, personal life has changed a lot. In DU, you have an amazing lifestyle. But once you start getting busy, you have to start saying no to plans made by friends. A lot of relationship equations change. Social life gets restricted; and some people understand these changes and some don’t. You have to forego a lot of short term pleasures which is actually quite challenging at this age.

Being DU students we realize that our lives are full of experiences. We want you to go back in the memory lane and feel nostalgic. Can you share some of your experiences with us?

When I came to Delhi, I really didn’t like it.  Every two weeks, I used to go back to Jodhpur because of homesickness. I had made up my mind to discontinue studying in DU after a year; it was tough. But over time, it turned out to be different. It pushed me out of my comfort zone. Getting into DU was a slap in that mode. There was a cultural diversity, a vast set of people who won’t agree to your opinion just for the sake of it. The second thing that DU offered me was the human connect. I am still in touch with my placement cell juniors. I still know all the office bearers of my society. They still rope me in events they conduct, and thus, thereis a lot of connect still now.

I was involved in lot of extra-curricular activities and politics.  It gave me an experience for life time.  KMC and Ramjas are very famous for politics. Out batch was the first to churn out a President from B.Com after 35 years. That was the difference; politics has a notion of aggression around it. The violence is real. For DU, for first years, the gruesome violence is shit scary. Within college premises, hostel brawls, it is a whole issue altogether. At the exterior, it is a simple college election. Internally, a lot of things matter. Parties will come to societies and offer different services to garner votes. You obviously don’t want to get into their books but indulging in these unethical tactics is also not favourable. This is something which happens in the business world. The process of acquiring licenses and other procedures you will encounter people from influential backgrounds. If you’ve already experienced this in colleges, which DU offers, it gives you a wonderful understanding of self-confidence of your ability to handle it.

Had there been no DU, would there have been a CityFurnish?

Tough to say! I’ll quote an example from Amazon. When Amazon was started, it was an accumulation of events. The guys had to face challenges with regards to the products, social media changes. Similarly, DU has been an important part. So, I would say partly yes. Had I gone to Bombay, I would have landed in Chandra Shekhar Exports and would not have had the confidence to venture into new things with such aplomb. I would have been settled and devoid of the pressure. Everything under DU had a different role; commerce society, college politics, and so much more. A lot of insights and my actual experiences stem from my days at DU. How to run my team, how to build their morale, how to motivate them without giving them an adequate salary; it’s all there.

It’s a competitive world. How do you make sure that you stay at par with your competitors, especially with the advent of social media amongst other changing trends?

From the competitor’s perspective, we realized our strengths and weaknesses from an early stage which is very essential. Instead of having just one barrier to entry, our approach was to have multiple barriers. We divided it across spectrum. The prima facie was to build the brand. Out of our team of people dealing with customers, you will see our average response time and delivery time is 48-72 hours, versus our competitors which is 7-10 days. Wherever we could get the customer delight factor, we tried to focus on that; from the project and team level. Secondly, we realized from the technological point. My other two partners, Saurabh and Vineet, have an expansive work experience of 6-7 years, with education from IIM and DTU respectively. Earning highly, coming into a startup with no salaries for at least a year was a challenge itself. We have divided our roles, which has helped us build our own defenses. Saurabh is extremely proficient in the digital marketing field. At the end of the day, the customer knows us from the digital spectrum. Saurabh used the strategy of ensuring that CityFurnish was always amongst the top three searches. What Vineet brings on board is the financial and convenience aspect. He collaborated with important companies and adapted a payment model which suited our functioning method and was to our preference. Internally, the payment collection was happening on time and the team resources were handled. So, the customer delight, the online aspect of it, and customer convenience through the service and delivery is how we coped with the changes.

Any suggestion for the young minds ripe with the thoughts of venturing out into a business of their own?

In DU, there are lot of investors and mentors. People these days don’t share their ideas fearing plagiarism. I would say that in start-ups, idea is 2% and the rest is execution. I will suggest that talk to people, no matter how rubbish your idea sounds.  The second thing is, don’t over think your idea. Every idea has more cons than pros. How you deal with the cons and establishing a business is what that makes you stand out. There were a lot of cons while I was analysing the business plan of CityFurnish. However, we were able to deal with things tactfully. We made sure that our business is customer driven and not competitor or investor driven. Another important thing is identifying the trend. Make sure that your idea suits the trend!

What are some of your immediate goals in the pipeline?

We’ve tried to follow along the lines of Amazon’s business strategy: always think from the perspective of customers, which would allow your misses to turn into hits inevitably. Our idea is to launch wall beds; so the idea is to uplift the level of competition. It is an innovation at the product level. If in one item we are able to provide a multitude of utilities, it obviously helps us. The second target is to try to integrate the internet of things in the furniture sector. We are integrating the Bluetooth speaker, phone charger set-up into the sofa set itself. It’s not something revolutionary, however, the utilitarian aspect enhances the customer delight. These small things are now being targeted at a proto-type level. Beyond that, we are focusing on brand building. To establish CityFurnish for what it should be known for; something which will set the narrative for the company for the future years to come. There are a lot of things down the line, long-term visions which we want the company to achieve.

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CityFurnish is India’s third largest and a rapidly growing furniture, furnishings and appliances rental brand. Set upon the task to provide smarter lifestyle solutions, CityFurnish is revolutionizing the on-demand rental economy by making renting affordable and easy.

Neerav Jain is the founder and CEO at CityFurnish- India’s fastest growing furniture, furnishings and appliances rental brand. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from Delhi University, and Business & Enterprise Management from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Neerav landed his first job as an Export Manager with Pepperfry. He later went on to attend the Lean Launchpad and Business Innovation course at Utrecht University.

 

Feature Image Credits: Facebook

 

Saumya Kalia

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Sandeep Samal

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From sudden infrastructural changes to administrative departments running around and looking all dazed and cold feet, whether we choose to agree or disagree, but the preparation for NAAC inspection sent almost every college in a frenzy last year. And with the NAAC Peer Team coming, preparations caught up in full swing, involving an uncanny resemblance to a household situation where an unforeseen wedding had suddenly come up. With all the white-washing, denting-painting, revamping, reckless spending of money, running around, fake smiling, boastful talks about ones college in the air during NAAC days, our belief in the aforementioned analogy only gets stronger.

With a panel touted as a meticulously chosen handful of very experienced academicians and people who understand the education system very wellcoming and assessing colleges under NAAC, the question arises, does a grading matter after all?

What is NAAC?

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is an autonomous body established by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India to assess and accredit institutions of higher education in the country. An outcome of the recommendations of the National Policy in Education (1986) which laid special emphasis on upholding the quality of higher education in India, the NAAC was established in 1994 with its headquarters at Bangalore.

Upon requests by individual colleges and universities, the primary accreditation agency of the country conducts assessments and grades institutions. The agencys cumulative gradation of institutions is based on parameters like curriculum, faculty, research, infrastructure, learning resources, organisation, governance and student services.

The process: How does it accredit colleges

Assessment and Accreditation are broadly used for understanding the Quality Statusof an institution. In the context of Higher Education, the accreditation status indicates that the particular Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) a College, a University, or any other recognised Unit therein, meets the standards of quality as set by the Accreditation Agency, in terms of its performance, related to the educational processes and outcomes, covering the curriculum, teaching-learning, evaluation, faculty, research, infrastructure, learning resources, organisation, governance, financial well-being and student services.

The top and the bottom: How did DU perform

While most colleges applied for the NAAC accreditation long back, the visits majorly took place last year and the scores were released soon after. In the initial phase, IPCW secured a CGPA of 3.33 (Grade A) and ANDC secured the second spot by getting a CGPA of 3.31 (Grade A).  These were followed by Gargi College (3.30), St. Stephens College (3.21), Jesus and Mary College (3.26), Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (3.16), Ramanujan College (3.06), Shivaji College (3.26), Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce (3.02), Keshav Mahavidyalaya (3.01), Bharati College (2.85), PGDAV (2.74), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College (2.63), and Motilal Nehru College (2.60).

Later in the year, SRCC and LSR emerged at the top with a whooping score of 3.65 and 3.61 respectively. Take a look at the top 10 scorers in the table here.

Top 10 scorers 

Image credits: HT Media
Image credits: HT Media

These scores are valid for five years after which the colleges will again have to apply for accreditation. It was in 2012 that UGC made accreditation compulsory for higher educational institutions and DU executive council adopted the decision in 2014.

Does the grade even matter?

As far as we remember, such a panel as meticulously chalked out as NAAC didnt exist many years back. While grading brings in a state of competitive spirit (as if the previous branding and rep-bias that exists in the university wasnt enough already) the question arises, does the same grade then not end up shining the pride of the already well established and some popular DU colleges and create biases against some others who might actually be needing a lift from the loom of being less sought after and meagerly funded?

Whether the committee gives out grades on the hastily dip-dyed infrastructure especially revamped for their visit or the actual system in place is still a question for many to ponder upon.

The accreditation process got a thumbs up from some colleges, however, many raised objections over the assessment criteria too from time to time. Speaking to a popular national daily, Babli Saraf, principal of Indraprastha College for Women, said there shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all” criteria for colleges. “The criteria shouldn’t be the same for a liberal arts college like ours, where we do not have the provisions for a laboratory and are not involved in research publications,” she said.

In most cases, colleges started a laborious and hasty revamp revolution, to save their grace in front of the NAAC peer team and not to raise their quality standard in general altogether. When your transformation drive is initiated to fulfil a set of stipulated  ideas by a panel that is not even remotely looking at how you provide for the students, the timely assessment of whether the students and teachers are happy with the administration of the college, whether the college has some unique traits that may not figure in its already set parameters, if the college is lacking in research, what should it do, then that grading doesnt stand much ground. The NAAC website says that they provide a qualitative part of the outcome as a Peer Team Report (PTR) which is an objective report prepared by the Team highlighting its evaluative judgements, mostly using precise keywords instead of long sentences about the college under consideration, but I doubt these objective answers bring any real on-ground changes.

Does a low grading not mar the reputation of a college that might be in dire need of those funds, facilities and attention that it rightfully deserves in order to raise itself to a better education imparting platform? What good is a grade for colleges that are already popular among students and parents and get truckloads of funds? Should a grade not help encourage a college to become a more holistic space than label it as an A, Bor Ctype college for years to come. Finally, does a grade mean anything more than a fancy wall hanging of a newspaper clipping on the college walls for many many years, or does it actually ignites change? This is for time to tell and for us to ponder.

If you are interested in reading about NAAC and the process, log on to http://www.naac.gov.in/ for detailed information.

Feature Image: DU Beat 

Riya Chhibber

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