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Admissions 2018

Get Admission into DU Through the Dance Category in ECA

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For applicants applying under the ECA category, the best place to be informed is the University Website, College websites, and college notice boards which will notify the number of seats available, the list of students selected from the ECA trials. However, admission into a college only depends upon the availability of seats in that particular college and is not subject to clearing the final trials.

General Guidelines

Here are the general guidelines for the students applying under the ECA category:

  1. The applicants are required to apply separately under the ECA category under the UG admissions portal for an additional fee of Rs. 100/ (per event).
  2. The applicants are required to upload only one certificate (preferably the one with the highest achievement) issued after 1st May 2015 to 30th April 2018 in each activity they wish to apply for as a proof of their involvement in the relevant activity.
  3. Trials will be held at two levels:
  • Preliminary trials
  • Final trials.

The dates for the same will be notified on the University and college websites as well as the college notice boards.

  1. The applicant shall be allowed to appear in the preliminary trials only once in an event.
  2. Not more than 15% concession/relaxation in academic merit vis-à-vis UR category applicants (for the last relevant cut-off) may be given for admission to specific programmes (subject to the minimum eligibility of the programme).
  3. Weightage in the final trials will be given to the trials and certificates in the following ratio: Trials: 75%, Certificates: 25%. The certificates are verified by the ECA committee of the college.
  4. The applicant must secure at least 50% marks in the final trials (38 out of 75) to be eligible for the final list of selected candidates
  5. All students should carry a copy of their application registration form as well as their certificates which they would have to submit in the venue of the trials.
  6. The trials for admission under the ECA category shall be the conducted by an ECA committee (Admissions) appointed by the University Admission Committee.

Colleges offering this course

51 colleges are offering ECA quota under Indian classical and Indian folk including Daulat Ram College, Deshbandhu College, Miranda House, Hansraj College, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, and Kamala Nehru College. There are 47 colleges offering ECA quota under Western Dance including Maitreyi College, Miranda House, Kamala Nehru College, Sri Venkateshwara College, and Lakshmibai College. In Choreography, 22 colleges are offering ECA quota including Deen Daya Upadhyaya College, LSR College, Ramjas College, Miranda House, Hansraj College, and Zakir Hussain Delhi College.

The Trials

Four categories are providing ECA quota under dance i.e. Indian Classical, Indian Folk, Western dance and Choreography.

According to Kaira Rakheja, a first year ECA quota student studying B.A. Political Science honours in Miranda House, “There were two rounds of trials and there were three to four judges at a time. Dancers were evaluated on the basis of technique and expression. It was quiet a speedy and efficient process. Each dancer introduced themselves, performed and was asked a few questions about their dance style and choreography.”

Students are often asked to be prepared by the teaching faculty for a large degree of competition in such a category. “I consider myself lucky to have gotten the rank that I did. It was really heartening to see the attention to technique as well as the high energy in each and every performer,” Ms. Rakheja says.

Feature Image Credits: Akarsh Mathur for DU Beat.
Sara Sohail
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Admissions 2018

Economics Honours: The ‘Khaleesi’ of all Undergraduate Courses

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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
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Events

Dhyana Society of Lady Shri Ram College for Women organises Kairos’18

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Last week, on March 22nd, an Open Mic and Poetry Slam event: Kairos was held at Lady Shri Ram College on the theme: Change is The Only Constant. This was the very first time that an event like this was hosted by Dhyana Society.
The event lasted for about two hours and saw an audience of  35 people, with over 15 heartwarming performances. It was hosted by Sharmishtha Samal, a Third Year Philosophy student who connects to the art of poetry on many levels and therefore sought out to create an intimate experience for everyone in the room at the event.
It coincided with the DUTA strikes when most of the colleges were empty, and yet, saw a shockingly pleasant turnup of over 40 people and a wide range of performances ranging from satirical numbers on the despicable glitches in the political and educational systems that exist in current times, to heartwarming poetry on love’s all-embracing healing capabilities, to instances on anxiety and depression’s painful grip, melancholic and nostalgic prose on feeling the hollow left by a loved one,  poetry on the painful graphs of life which are omnipresent withing every happy situation, to even some Urdu Poetry.
Featured Poet aka Avnika Gupta stirred up the audience with her dynamic pieces on the Transience of Social Media which spoke about this generation of people with short attention spans. This piece was followed by a vulnerable poem narrating her take on love. She defines her experience at Kairos as one with a diverse range of skill, style, and form on one stage. She feels that the event created a safe space for the performers to be able to share the vulnerable sides of themselves through their art form. She identifies as a little girl trying to remind the world to move to the beat of its heart even when it sounds like the scariest and stupid thing to do. And Kairos upheld these underlying principles wonderfully, allowing one to speak, learn, change, and contribute. For what’s art, if not the courage to be stupid, irrational, and misunderstood?
Performers from a wide number of colleges like Vivekananda Institute for Professional Studies, Delhi Technological Institute, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Ramjas College, Maharaja Agrasen College, JIMS Vasant Kunj, Galgotias Universty, Bhaskaraharya College of Applied Science among others were seen at the event.
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Campus Central

NAZARIYA organizes Bloody Pad Campaign, Questions Rape Culture and Holi

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Nazariya- an LGTBQ+ Straight alliance organized a Bloody Pad Campaign on 28th February near Lady Shri Ram College raising their voice against rape culture and the misbehaviour women need to face during Holi.

Nazariya- an LGTBQ+ Straight alliance organized a Bloody Pad Campaign on 28th February near Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR). They conducted a march, held a public discussion on consent, the perpetuation of rape culture and Holi. This campaign took place after the incident where a balloon filled with semen was thrown at an LSR student near the college.

The campaign started at around 1:30 pm near Lady Shri Ram College. They marched from LSR to Amar Colony carrying posters and shouting slogans. Some of the slogans they chanted were “Semen Go Back”, “Ghoomne ki Azaadi” (Freedom to Roam), and “Pitrisatta se Azaadi” (Freedom from patriarchy). The march was also attended by Guremehar Kaur, who is an activist and an author currently studying at LSR itself.

The march was followed by a speaking session where the co-founder of the organization, Ruth Chwangthu and member Devyani Mahajan talked about the online and offline safety of women and consent. After the completion of the speeches, a public discussion was held on the subject. In one instance, an auto-driver came up to the members and talked about his grievances saying the hardships they need to go through Holi. He said they had to face being hit by balloons filled with semen and even piss. Talking to DU Beat, the co-founder said “Student alliances are fed up with such incidents. We felt like we had to do something. Colleges are not interested in taking action and even if they do, it feels as if they are forced to do so.”

The final event of the campaign was a play called “Dastak” performed by Asmita Theatre Group. The play was based on acid attack victims and sexual harassment. The play too emphasized on the balloon incident. The play was much appreciated by the audience. After the play, one of the members of the theatre group, Mr Sunil Prajapati said “We have been performing such plays since 8 years. We don’t want to perform such plays but certain incidents keep taking place that compels us to perform such plays.” The campaign concluded after the play.

Before the commencement of the campaign, the members of the organization along with the co-founder had to face backlash by a man who spammed the organization’s WhatsApp group and also called them up. After the completion of the campaign, he put up a post on Facebook along with videos targeting them.

 

Feature Image Credits- Nazariya

Karan Singhania

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Arts & Culture

Dance Society, LSR Disqualified for Asking for Water at Rendezvous’17

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The recent fest of IIT Delhi, Rendezvous, was held from October 13 to 16, 2017. October 13 and 14 constituted the prelims of the various societies from across University of Delhi and IIT, Delhi.

Amidst the spirit of festivities and competition, Lady Shri Ram College’s Dance Society was disqualified despite making it to the finals owing to their ‘misbehaviour’. When the college’s dance society members demanded water bottles before their performance in the prelims, they were denied and told to go on stage without water. Putting up with this non-compliance of a simple request, LSR gave their best and got selected to appear for the final round by the judges.

Wing water is provided to all performing societies by the host college as the performances suck up all their energy and are exhausting. Unavailability of water can lead to dehydration of the team members which can ruin their performances.

After the prelims of the Western Dance Societies of DU colleges and IIT Delhi, the societies that reached the finals actually were – Misba of SGGSCC, Verve of Sri Venkateshwara College, Footloose of Shivaji College, LSR’s Dance Society, Zeal of Maitreyi College, and V-Defyn Dance Academy of IIT Delhi. After the tally of marks, this list was given to IIT Delhi’s BRCA, the organizing team to be uploaded and spread to the finalist teams.

The actual list uploaded by IIT Delhi fest organizers had the following finalist teams – Misba of SGGSCC, Zeal of Maitreyi College, Crunk of Sri Aurobindo College, Enliven of Gargi College, Verve of Sri Venkateshwara, and V-Defyn Dance Academy of IIT Delhi. Lady Shri Ram College’s Dance Society was removed without any prior information.

The original list of the finalist teams was requested by LSR to the judges who were courteous enough to provide it.

When the changed list was uploaded and LSR’s Dance Society wasn’t on the list, they contacted the PoC (person-in-charge) and were informed in a curt reply that their ‘misbehavior’ of asking for water had led to their disqualification.

The Society has posted on their Facebook page and questioned the authenticity of such fests if the lists can be changed on the whims and fancies of some students. Even the judges weren’t informed of this.

Meanwhile, the Dance Society of IIT Delhi has posted a clarification on their facebook page in which it accepts that there was a problem of availability of water in the spot due to some mismanagement from the hospitality team of RDV. The same conditions were also applicable to all other teams as well who managed to get water from the cooler. The disqualification of LSR was a decision of the organising team because their action delayed the event by sometime which prevented other participants from getting their promised time slot.

While the Dance Society, BRCA were not available, the dance society of LSR refused to speak to us.

 

Feature Image Credits: Dance Society, Lady Shri Ram College’s Facebook 

 

Prachi Mehra

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Daulat Ram College

Admit Card Blunder Leaves Students Miffed

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Many students studying Journalism Honours and Psychology Honours under CBCS guidelines received information about the Skill Enhancement Course’s external and internal assessments’ final marks distribution from their college’s faculty members close to the date of their final examination. With the dates of receiving this information varying in different colleges, students from Journalism Honours in Kamala Nehru College (KNC) learnt about the same from their teachers hours before their examination. Interestingly, the confusion of the Psychology Honours’ batch of Daulat Ram College (DRC) was clarified only upon receiving the question paper.

The discrepancy was found out in various colleges upon receiving the admit card. Students of Journalism Honours in KNC and Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) found a 50-50 marks distribution for external and practical assessment for SEC in their admit cards. While KNC students had been studying the course keeping the 50-50 distribution in mind, LSR students were uncertain as they had been following the 75-25 marks distribution, with 25 being allotted for internal assessment. Students from other colleges also underwent similar confusion. “Our admit cards said that the SEC paper that was documentary production would be of 50 marks. But the paper actually was for 75 marks.”, said Aditya, a Journalism Honours student from DCAC.

The situation varied across different colleges and different departments. In certain colleges, the final distribution came to the students’ knowledge quite late, while in certain colleges like Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW), there had been no discrepancy about the same neither in the admit cards, nor with the faculty.

The entire situation around the distribution of marks created confusion and hustle among students. “We were pretty confused since we didn’t know how the marks would be divided and how we are supposed to answer had it been for 50 marks.”, said Utkarsha, a Psychology Honours student from Daulat Ram College, where no clarification from the faculty had been received regarding the SEC Emotional Intelligence paper.

DU Beat reached out to faculty members, but received no comments from their end. There is still uncertainty whether the discrepancy had been for the Journalism Honours and Psychology Honours courses only.

Such action by the college administration as well as the faculty members makes us question whether the students’ best interests are really at heart. After all the formalities and unnecessary steps the students are forced to go through to receive their admit cards, such a massive error with regards to the marks distribution is a careless mistake by the authorities. Students who prepared accordingly, having faith in the college administration and the teachers, were shocked on the day of the examination. With all the buzz around exams and the pressure on students, why was this matter handled so inadequately by the authorities?

 

Priyal Mahtta
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DU Annual Fest Season

Day 2 at Tarang’17 : Thriving on thrills

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A confluence of talent, enigma, and exuberance, the second day at Tarang gleamed with enthralling events and exhibitions to be lavished upon!

As the extravagance spilt over the second day of Lady Shri Ram College’s fest, Tarang, a vast spectrum of talent exhibitions was gloriously presented by teams from a multitude of colleges. With colours of vibrancy and exhilaration floating around the rooms and corridors of LSR, the penultimate day of the fest let spirits soar high and eyes feast upon all the magnificence as a day of exhilaration unfolded!

The day witnessed events of a broad range – from the photography competition, the treasure hunt, and the script writing competition to workshops scaling around sculpting and jewellery-making. Vaktritva, the public speaking society, organised Tarkvyuh, the parliamentary debate competition. Gaurav and Pratyush from the Delhi School of Economics cross team won the Hindi parliamentary debate.

An a cappella competition titled A Cappella – Pitch Please organised by the western music society of Lady Shri Ram College saw the final participation of the nine best western music societies. The melodies of Coldplay, Twenty One Pilots, and other contemporary artists were performed on the stage. The competition was judged by Miss Sherry Mathew and Miss Kamakshi Khanna. At the end of all the performances, Kamakshi Khanna, singer/composer of “The Stage” fame, took the stage and performed three songs from her latest album Cakewalk. “It’s so great to be back here, back to my favourite auditorium”, said Kamakshi, who is also the ex-President of the western music society of Lady Shri Ram College. The results of the completion were as follows: first position grabbed by Euphony of Gargi College, the second position was secured by Echo of Jesus and Mary College, and Swaranjali of Hansraj College seized the third position.

The competitive pulses escalating with every question, the quiz society unrolled the pop culture and India quizzes. The former, open to all participants, witnessed cross-college teams. In the pop culture quiz, Abhishek Kapoor, Akul Gurtu, and M Vishnu Vardhan bagged the first prize, with Varun Rastogi, Rabin Jacob, and Puranjay winning the second prize. The third prize was awarded to Raktim Nag, Raman U, and Gokul S. In the India quiz, Soumya Sagar, Kartik Puri, and Ankush Bhardwaj secured the first prize. Apratim Chandra Singh, Jayant Verma, and Bishal Kumar took the second prize and Ankur Agraj, Abhishek Mishra, and Priyam Sneha bagged the third prize.

The Indian musical society of LSR organised Bandish, the solo instrumental competition, with participants displaying their prowess on the equipment of their choice. The room was filled with melodies of beats circling the atmosphere with each participant.

The aesthetic creations were also presented by Hive, which organised the musical interpretation painting competition. The first prize was won by Narendra of College of Arts, with Anishka from Kamala Nehru College and Sushmita from Deshbandhu College bagging the second and third prizes respectively. A Special Mention prize was also awarded to Avani from Hans Raj College.

 

As the chords crawled in the depths of the heart, the dance society presented Mudra, the classical solo and duet competition. A myriad of riveting performances clad in artistic precision and cultural aura paved the way for applauses and appreciation. In the solo category, Aishwarya from Sri Venkateswara College, Nimisha from Janaki Devi Memorial College bagged the first and second prizes respectively. Chhavi from Gargi College and Unni Vishwanath from Hans Raj College won the Special Mention prize. In the duet category, Tejaswani and Nandita from Hans Raj College were awarded the first prize.

 

 

To set in motion the rhythmic wave for the evening, the Indian musical society organised Amalgam, the fusion band competition which witnessed the participation of six teams after the screening of 17-18 teams online. As the bands performed compelling compositions from the realms of the industry and that of the soul, the crowd collectively cheered for the beautiful ambience. With Hans Raj College seizing the third prize and Shiv Nadar University bagging the second, the team from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College was awarded the winning prize in this enthralling event.

 

A glimpse of the fusion band competition

 

Drawing the eventful day to a close, Tarang’s pro night on the second day witnessed the enigmatic presence of the EDM artist Anish Sood. An Indian musician leading the path to Electronic Dance Music within the periphery of the country, the DJ played the likes of The Chainsmokers’ Closer and Don’t Let Me Down, amongst other songs and compositions. The tunes sent the audience into a daze, who swayed rhythmically to the edgy music and went gaga over the artist. With the lights shining at their brightest and the waves of energy palpable, the evening ended on high notes and the crowd yearning for more!

Anish Sood live at #LSRTarang17 

Feature image credits: DU Beat 

Saumya Kalia

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Niharika Dabral

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Vineeta Rana 

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DU Annual Fest Season

Day 1 at LSR’s Tarang’17: ‘Redefining Rhapsody’ kicks off with a bang

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Lady Shri Ram College’s much-awaited annual fest, Tarang, is finally here. Tarang 2017, with its theme of “redefining rhapsody” is a three-day long spectacle taking place from the 3rd to the 5th of February 2017. With starry pro nights, exhibitions, games, competitions, workshops and great food, the first day of Tarang was definitely a hit.

 

Take a look at the Day 1 happenings at Tarang captured by us in time-lapse. 

 

 

The western music society of LSR organised events for both solo participants, as well as teams of three. In the solo category, Zacharyah Matthew Abraham of Ansal University,  Kishore Ningthoujam of Amity University and Gurpreet Kaur of Jesus and Mary College won first, second and third place respectively. In the trio category, Kishore Ningthoujam, Lishma Manandhar and Rhea Toor, accompanied by Saarim Khan from Amity University won the first prize, Shikha Agnihotri, G.S Kasturi and Manikaant Suryan, accompanied by Ujjwal Sharma and Ashanka Saha from NSIT won the second prize and Riddhi Sharma, Rigzin Angmo and Klirka Engtipi from Shri Ram College of Commerce won the third prize.

The dramatics society of the college held its stage play event “Yavnika”, and presented five of the best productions of this year. Among the participants were – Yakshagana, the theatre society of Northern India Engineering College, who performed “Shunya Battey Sannata”; Sri Venkateswara College’s Verbum, with “Learning to Drive”, a nonchalant yet hard-hitting play that revolved around child sexual abuse; Natuve, the theatre society of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College with their hilarious production “PA…BHA…KA…”; Shunya, the theatre society of Ramjas College with “Evam Indrajit”. The last performance of the day was “The Play That Goes Wrong” by Dramanomics, the theatre society of the College of Vocational Studies. The non-competitive event allowed the different societies to showcase their performances without any rivalry.

 

SlamNation, a slam poetry completion organised by the Elocution Society saw powerful recitals of spoken word performances. 

The umbrella painting competition conducted under Hive, the Fine Arts society, brightened up the amphitheatre with vibrant and colourful creations.

Check out a sneak peek from the competition

The latter half of Day 1 at Tarang saw a steady rise in footfall, perhaps in anticipation of the star performances scheduled for later in the evening.

The Indian music society organised ‘Malhar’, the Indian solo classical competition. Bhargavi from Kirori Mal College claimed the first position, while second position was shared by Shreya from Shri Ram College of Commerce and Gurditt from Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology. Rajagopal from Shiv Nadar University took the third place.

“Izzaz”, the choreo group dance competition was organised by LSR’s dance society. The first position was jointly shared by Hans Raj College and Gargi College, while the second position was won by Kirori Mal College.

 

Towards the end of the night, Kanika Kapoor made a short appearance to endorse fashion brand Lulu and Sky. She gave away vouchers of the brand to winners from a previously organised competition and sung a few of her songs like ‘Chittiyan Kalaiyan’ and ‘Da Da Dasse’ on popular audience demand.  The highlight of the day was Prateek Kuhad’s soulful concert. He had the crowd completely captivated with his honey-like voice and lilting music.

 

Missed Prateek Kuhad’s performance? We’ve got you covered! Catch a glimpse of his performance below

 

 

 

The first day of Tarang also offered a range of workshops on pottery, jewellery making and modern calligraphy. With such an energetic start, the next two days of the fest are surely something to look forward to.

Feature image credits: Harshit Thukral

Niharika Dabral

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Kriti Sharma
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Vineeta Rana

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Lady Shri Ram College for Women

Econvista 2017 organised by LSR

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econvista

Econvista is the annual fest of Department of Economics of LSR which was held from 19th Jan-21st Jan’17.  

Econvista 2017 – The International Economics Symposium was organised by Department of Economics of Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), University of Delhi from 19th-21st January, 2017. The first day of the fest began with a learning session ‘Ideas Conclave’ which was graced by speaker Arvind Virmani, an Indian economist who was appointed India’s representative to the International Monetary Fund in 2009 prior to which he was the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India. In his talk he focused upon the issue of corruption that has paralysed the entire system giving the students a flavour of how policy making works.

Keeping in line with the theme of Econvista ‘17 of exploring alternative development paradigms, The Ideas Conclave witnessed a panel discussion on ‘‘Achieving Inclusive and Sustainable Development: Feasibility & Challenges of Market Economy.” The Chairperson was Dr. Geeta Gouri, a former member of Competition Commission of India while the esteemed panelists included, Dr. Farzana Afridi, Dr. Surajit Mazumdar and Dr. Anirban Kar. The discussion began with Dr. Afridi highlighting the dire income inequality that exists today, particularly in context of the liberal market reforms of the past few decades implemented in emerging markets of the developing world. Dr. Mazumdar took the discussion further by bringing to the forefront the exclusive nature of our economy in status quo. In a labour surplus country like India, people face unemployment or are paid low wages as sellers of their labour services. Following this, Dr. Kar elaborated on problems that remain unsolved through free market operations, such as the under provision of public goods or coordination problems.

Ideas Conclave unleashed its third event of the day, ‘Theatrical Play’ by the renowned Chilsag Entertainment Network. The performers not only charged up the whole atmosphere by their chuckle some act, but also left the audience to ponder over the quotidian yet paramount subject of ‘Woman Empowerment’. The concluding and the most awaited session of the day was – slam poetry by a group called ‘Slip of Tongue’. The theme of Econvista 2017 was “Thinking Beyond the Invisible Hand: Exploring Alternative Development Paradigms”. This session can easily be accredited for having gathered the largest audience as compared to the other sessions. The slam poetry performances revolved substantially around the theme of development and its denotation to them. The first performance was by a trio of Diksha, Shubhra and Cheryl wherein they spoke about norms that women have been following till date.

The online events were Economic Reelties, Eco Trails and Eco Toons, and flagship events were Dr. Saroj Gupta Memorial Paper Presentation, Policy Dilemma, Eco Prayog, Mock IP, Checkmate and Eco Matters. Zestomania was, as per popular opinion, one of the most exciting events of the second day at Econvista’17. Also, the interactive events were Galloping Producers, M Triple A and Zest-O-Mania. The amphitheater became interesting with a flurry of activities as teams from colleges from all over the country engaged in a battle of speed and intellect. All these events entertained participation of students from most of the colleges of Delhi University, and from colleges outside Delhi.

Radhika Boruah

[email protected]

Image credits: www.fuccha.in

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Interviews

‘Becoming Assiya’ by Simran Keshwani

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Assiya

Becoming Assiya is a book by Simran Keshwani, a third year literature student at Lady Shri Ram College for Women. The book is about a misplaced Syrian refugee who deals with her violent past and her journey for survival and finding herself.

The Syrian Civil War which has spelled confusion and chaos for the people living in Syria has caused one of the largest refugee movements in the history of the world. The death toll has been enormous. People lost their homes, their families, and for many, the will to live. Becoming Assiya tells the story of one such refugee and the journey she takes, dealing with fear, pain and anguish.

The book promises to be a reflection of the struggles of war-time Syria and ponders on the complexities and subtleties of human emotions. When asked about her inspiration for the book, she replied, ‘‘the reality of our times.’’ “It breaks my heart to say that there could be so many girls like Assiya out there, stuck in War torn Syria or Kurdistan, while we sleep in our ivory towers and comfortable blankets. Their struggles and their tryst with pain, loss and blood can never be compensated for. I wanted to capture the tragedy and in doing so, I realized it is not only theirs. It’s ours’’, she said.

For a first time author, touching upon an issue of such complexity and churning a book out of it, is certainly a brave attempt. She cites her inspiration as humans and human life. “That is what defines us as a race I think – our drive to overcome hate and hurdles and march on. We need to keep remembering we are all human, past the divisiveness and hate. That is what Becoming Assiya is a small endeavour towards.”

A brief introduction of the book: “Becoming Assiya is the story of a misplaced Syrian refugee and her trial with a past of Blood, wounds, War, Doubt and Hatred and the troublesome Hope of a better tomorrow. The woman’s journey encompasses through the landscape of Wartime Syria, through her mother’s journal and the rebuilding of a Post War identity for a land washed with blood, and what it meant to be alive, stuck in the middle with No Identity. Identity and Struggle, two complex concepts intermingle in this book and intersect at a common point, that of finding yourself.”

About the author: Simrann Keshwanii, 20, is a Final Year literature student at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi and the Founder of a start-up, Born Of a Million Thoughts, that deals in on-ground Social Activism. She plans on changing the world, one word at a time, for words are mirrors and swords.

The book is scheduled to be launched on the 27th of February, 2017.

Arindam Goswami

[email protected]

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