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Best and Worst of 2015: International highlights of the year

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2015 was a year of a lot of global ups, downs and firsts. From women voting in Saudi Arabia for the first time, to the Islamic State carrying out and taking responsibility for terrorist attacks all over the world, we’ve taken several steps forward and several backwards. Here’s taking a look at some of the major things that happened in 2015:

  1. Terrorist attacks:

  • Boko Haram, the Islamic extremist group that operates in the western African region, continued its attacks and insurgency, especially in Nigeria. In January 2015, Boko Haram militants attacked the Nigerian towns of Baga and Doron Baga leaving scores of men, women and children as casualties. The group also announced its allegiance to ISIL, furthering fears of a stronger global terror network
  • On January 7, the French satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo, was attacked by gunmen who identified themselves as belonging to a branch of the terrorist group Al Qaeda, who took responsibility for the attacks. This was followed by a series of related shootings in the Île-de-France region, particularly Paris.
  • In November, the Islamic State militant group took responsibility for terror attacks in Baghdad as well as the one in Lebanon, Beirut. The attack in Baghdad left 26 people dead and several other injured when a suicide bomber struck a memorial service held for a Shiite militia fighter killed in battle against the Islamic State. The double suicide bombing in Beirut that left more than 40 people dead was the worst terrorist attack there after years.
  • A series of coordinated terror attacks by the ISIS left Paris reeling in what is being called the deadliest attacks in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings of 2004. The attacks started off with terrorists taking hostages and shooting in the Bataclan theatre, followed by suicide bombings and mass shooting at public places.
Paris was attacked by terrorists twice this year – January and November. | Source: timesofisrael.com

2. World Economy:

  • The Chinese Stock Market crash started on June 12 when the stock market bubble popped. A third of the value of A-shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange was lost within one month of the event. After three stable weeks the Shanghai index fell again on the 24th of August by 8.48 percent, marking the largest fall since 2007.
The Chinese Stock Market Crash | Source: kingworldnews.com
  • Lithuania officially adopted the Euro as its currency on January 1, 2015, which made it the 19th country in the Eurozone
  • The Eurozone crisis grabbed the most eyeballs in the occurrences in the global economy. The Greek government debt crisis reached new heights as Greece missed a critical debt payment of 1.5 billion euros to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), becoming the first advanced economy to do so.

 

3. Natural Calamities:

  • A massive 7.8 magnitude Earthquake struck Nepal on 25th April, killing thousands of people and injuring several more. The effect was exacerbated by continuous aftershocks in the following days. The Earthquake also triggered several avalanches, one in Mt. Everest and one in the Langtang valley. Several Heritage sites were destroyed as well.
7.8 Earthquake struck Nepal destroying many heritage monuments. | Source: cnn.com
  • An Earthquake of 8.3 moment magnitude occurred on September 16, offshore from Illapel, Chile, which triggered Tsunami warnings and evacuations of thousands of people.
  • A strong 7.5 magnitude earthquake shook up South Asia on October 26. It struck in Northern Afghanistan and affected a large area, including Pakistan and northern India. The death toll was well over 300, with major casualties from Afghanistan and Pakisan.
  • Originating in mid-October, Hurricane Patricia became the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere in terms of barometric pressure, and the strongest globally in terms of maximum sustained winds. Its effect in Mexico was tremendous but the location being rural and timely evacuation helped mitigate the loss.

 

4. Human Rights:

  • Municipal Elections held on December 12 in Saudi Arabia became the first election in Saudi Arabia in which women were allowed to vote, the first in which they were allowed to run for office, and the first in which women were elected as politicians, with at least five women having claimed seats in Saudi Arabia’s municipal polls
A woman casts her vote in Saudi Arabia. | Source: abc.net
  • In May, Ireland became the the first in the world to legalise same-sex civil marriage by popular vote in a referendum. Ireland also approved a bill on April 2 which extended adoption rights to same-sex couples. On June 26, the United States Supreme Court ruled that state-level bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, thus making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.
  • The Transgender community also saw unprecedented visibility in 2015, with a lot of attention on Caitlyn Jenner, and Andreja Pejic  becoming the first openly transgender model to land the Vogue cover. Obama also became the first US President to say ‘transgender’ during State of the Union speech.
  • Positive changes for the LGBT community weren’t limited to the developed, first world nations as Mozambique decriminalized homosexuality June 29 onwards and Mexican Supreme Court also recognizing same-sex marriage, amongst other landmark moments.

5. Scientific Feats:

  • NASA confirmed the existence of liquid water on Mars on September 28 after 15 years of search for it. The evidence emerged in the form of trickles of liquid water which play a role in sculpting mysterious dark streaks that appear during summertime months on Mars. This discovery has implications for finding life on Mars as well as for planning future human expeditions.
Presence of water was confirmed on the Planet Mars. | Source: National Geographic
  • NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft became the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet with Dawn entering Ceres’ orbit on March 6.
  • In June, Cuba became the first country in the world to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, as validated by the WHO. The country needs to demonstrate that it has seen less than 50 infections from this route of transmission per 100,000 live births for at least one year to earn this validation, and Cuba saw only 2 such infections of HIV and 5 from syphilis in 2013.
  • Newly discovered extinct species of human, Homo naledi was formally described in September 2015 by a 47-member international team of authors led by American and South African paleoanthropologist Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand. The excavation had started in 2013 by a team entirely consisting of women.

6. Other highlights:

  • Iran and the group of six nations (called P5+1 countries) the United States, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany, reach a historic agreement to limit Iran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon in exchange for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions. According to this framework, Iran would redesign, convert, and reduce its nuclear facilities in order to lift all nuclear-related economic sanctions, freeing up tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue and frozen assets.
  • In October 2015, China decided to end its decades long one-child policy that was initially introduced in 1979 to slow down population growth.
  • Several World leaders gathered for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, which resulted in a historic and ambitious goal to combat climate change. The agreement, which comes into force in 2020, aims to contain the increase in the global average temperature to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
  • September 24 saw the deadliest Hajj disaster in history as a crowd collapse caused the death of more than 2000 pilgrims during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.
Hajj Disaster | Source: timeslive.co.za
  • The US saw unprecedented and unparalleled number of rampage killings through mass shootings in 2015. The Charleston church shooting, the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic shooting and the San Bernardino Shooting were some of the worst mass shootings that took place in the US this year and which raised pertinent questions about gun control.
  • 2015 saw a rising number of refugees and migrants making a journey across the European Union to seek asylum in other countries in an attempt to escape hostile situations in their home countries. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as of December 2015, the top three nationalities of the almost one million Mediterranean Sea arrivals since the beginning of the year are Syrian (50%), Afghan (20%) and Iraqi (7%).  

 

Shubham Kaushik

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DU Scraps USA, USSR and African History Papers from the History Course

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The University of Delhi will no longer be offering papers on the History of the United States of America and that of the USSR starting this academic session. Papers like East Asia (which covers China and Japan in great detail) have been retained, and the University has also included modern Korea as part of the course.

While the University has not yet given any clear reason for taking this decision, both students and teachers are of the opinion the excluded these papers will dilute the entire course. Prerna Bhagi, a student of history who took the American History Course last year said, “The course really helped me understand the international politics and history of the most powerful nation in the world. It gave me grasp over the concept of foreign relations too. I don’t know why the University officials would take a decision to scrap these papers, unless they have something better in mind.”

The scraping of these papers also raises an important question over the factor of choice that the VC wished to introduce in the FYUP, as many students genuinely interested in African, American or Soviet History, which were previously the most popular optional papers, will not get a chance to do so in the course of their undergraduate education.

Teachers of History at the University say that they were not consulted at all when this decision was taken, and believe that they were particularly excluded out of all FYUP related decision making processes. In fact, in an open letter to the Vice Chancellor and the public, twenty history teachers have claimed that no democratic process of consultation or negotiation was followed when the FYUP courses were formulated. They claim they were kept in the dark about the courses they were meant to teach and the ones being scrapped off.  They have also accused the University officials for making the Indian History and Culture paper intellectually and qualitatively inferior to University standards, by plagiarizing  from  an 11th standard CBSE textbook.

The Department of History, for the past few years has been at loggerheads with University officials over quite a few issues. Two years ago, when the semester system was newly introduced in the University, AK Ramanujan’s essay ‘Three Hundred Ramayans’ was excluded from the course, also leading to severe dissent from History teachers.

Image courtesy: redbubble.com and superstock.com

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Entrances to replace the Cut-off lists?

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The to-be-Delhi University students have a drastic change in store for them this admission season, with the authorities planning to scrap the cut-offs in the next academic session. As the four-year undergraduate system is all set to be launched, a common curriculum is most likely for all students in their first year.

Merit lists or maybe even an entrance exam might soon replace the dreaded cut-off lists that students watch out for every year. The only thing stopping the implementation of this system is the wait for the final approval from the academic council. However, the issue that arises here is the sheer number of applicants for the colleges in DU. Holding entrance tests for so many students in about 70 colleges is a mammoth task, and might get quite difficult to handle. “This doesn’t seem to be a very good idea, because entrances just increase pressure. The cut-offs were bad enough, now with entrance exams we have to worry about what to study and how to crack these tests just a few months after giving our boards,” says Sakshee, a school student currently in her final year.

Another change the officials want to bring about is the merging of the results from the different education boards across the country, giving individual colleges the ability to devise their own merit lists. Other internal changes might also be brought about, such as the scrapping of the marks given for attendance. However, these are just speculations and the truth will only be known closer to the admissions period. Until then, aspiring DU students anticipate the next avalanche waiting to crash over their heads, thanks to the University’s knack of throwing last minute shockers and its inability to make concrete decisions.

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VC's First Durbar Evokes Mixed Response

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Many students and teachers marked their presence outside Gandhi Bhavan in the North Campus on Thursday to put forward their complaints and grievances. Delhi University Vice Chancellor, Dinesh Singh, organised a public meeting in the midst of protests by students and teachers against rejection of 32 applications for special chance and evaluation system. Grievances of students and teachers were heard by the VC and Singh also promised to resolve attendance-related issues of a batch of students from Dyal Singh College who, after being allowed to write three semester exams, were suddenly detained from writing the fourth due to lack of attendance. He also heard another student who was detained from writing her law exam for lack of attendance due to pregnancy Later DUSU brought the protest to the door of Gandhi Bhawan. “Vice-Chancellor hai, hai,” said a group of students holding black flags. After about half-an-hour of negotiations between the students and the Proctor, the Students Union’s office-bearers were allowed inside. Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) President Arun Hooda argued why they were not informed about the durbar and why they needed to fight to get inside and participate in durbar. The Union also questioned the decision of denial of special chance to students which allows them to take exams they earlier could not during the time of their graduation due to any emergency, in reply to which Mr. Sigh said that special chance placed a tremendous amount of pressure on the exam branch. He also added that  such a provision could be allowed again if the students could give him in writing that they will have no objections to the results of those currently studying in DU being delayed because of special chance. Singh’s team explained that the provision was withdrawn to give “relief to exam branch”. To accommodate re-testing of students who took admission years ago the university has to dig up years-old syllabus, set question papers and then find people to evaluate them accordingly. Anger burst out after Academic Council’s standing committee rejected all 25 cases of “special chances” which the Delhi High Court earlier this week had recommended to the panel to be “reconsidered”. The Vice Chancellor later assured that the 25 cases were rejected in their present form as the documents were insufficient and will be reconsidered later. VC called this meeting a bit of success and said that “this is not a one-off public discussion, but will be happening every Thursday whenever I am in the city.” He further added that everybody was welcome and no prior appointment was needed. However Saikat Ghosh, a DUTA member said, “Having a cup of tea with us will not make everything alright, we will soften our stand only if he is genuinely interested in sensitively addressing our concerns”. Image source: The Hindu Sakshi Gupta [email protected]]]>

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VC’s First Durbar Evokes Mixed Response

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Many students and teachers marked their presence outside Gandhi Bhavan in the North Campus on Thursday to put forward their complaints and grievances. Delhi University Vice Chancellor, Dinesh Singh, organised a public meeting in the midst of protests by students and teachers against rejection of 32 applications for special chance and evaluation system.

Grievances of students and teachers were heard by the VC and Singh also promised to resolve attendance-related issues of a batch of students from Dyal Singh College who, after being allowed to write three semester exams, were suddenly detained from writing the fourth due to lack of attendance. He also heard another student who was detained from writing her law exam for lack of attendance due to pregnancy

Later DUSU brought the protest to the door of Gandhi Bhawan. “Vice-Chancellor hai, hai,” said a group of students holding black flags. After about half-an-hour of negotiations between the students and the Proctor, the Students Union’s office-bearers were allowed inside. Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) President Arun Hooda argued why they were not informed about the durbar and why they needed to fight to get inside and participate in durbar.

The Union also questioned the decision of denial of special chance to students which allows them to take exams they earlier could not during the time of their graduation due to any emergency, in reply to which Mr. Sigh said that special chance placed a tremendous amount of pressure on the exam branch. He also added that  such a provision could be allowed again if the students could give him in writing that they will have no objections to the results of those currently studying in DU being delayed because of special chance. Singh’s team explained that the provision was withdrawn to give “relief to exam branch”. To accommodate re-testing of students who took admission years ago the university has to dig up years-old syllabus, set question papers and then find people to evaluate them accordingly.

Anger burst out after Academic Council’s standing committee rejected all 25 cases of “special chances” which the Delhi High Court earlier this week had recommended to the panel to be “reconsidered”. The Vice Chancellor later assured that the 25 cases were rejected in their present form as the documents were insufficient and will be reconsidered later.

VC called this meeting a bit of success and said that “this is not a one-off public discussion, but will be happening every Thursday whenever I am in the city.” He further added that everybody was welcome and no prior appointment was needed.

However Saikat Ghosh, a DUTA member said, “Having a cup of tea with us will not make everything alright, we will soften our stand only if he is genuinely interested in sensitively addressing our concerns”.

Image source: The Hindu

Sakshi Gupta
[email protected]

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Caught in a cobweb: DUTA strikes

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Emerging from what has transformed into a completely bitter symphony, the on-going tangles of discontentment have brewed into a series of brawls between the DUTA members and the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University. The coercive governance by the authorities and the non-receptiveness of any dialogue with the teachers pertaining to the up surging issues, followed by insinuating the teacher’s association as ‘illegal’ has sprung up a steamy situation for every stakeholder of this renowned university.

On Wednesday the hunger strike by DUTA members marked the tenth day of protest, channelizing a way for the emergence of yet another agenda for Thursday, 18th October.  On the aforementioned date the members of DUTA marched barefoot around the campus of the university to ascertain the Right to Education to the economically weaker sections of the society, in the arrears of massive privatization and commercialization. The motive of the protest was also a well sunken thought to stir a voice of justice for the girl who was molested during the DUSU elections earlier. An air of pitiful disgrace was expressed with respect to banning democratic protests in the campus post the incident. The strike seems to evolve due to a multitude of driving factors arising due to the haphazard manner in which the university is dealing with semesterization. In the ambit of unilateral decision making, the authorities have completely shunned out on any influential contribution by the teachers who are intricate brunt bearers and facilitators of the semester system. The threat of pay cuts in case of any demonstrations has also leapt as a severe bone of contention. There are several questions being posed on the claimed acceleration of the standard of the university which has duly failed in providing and enabling the mere necessities of a conducive environment for accessing education.

The acceptance and enhancement of semester system as another rung in the towering ladder of a ‘glistening’ education in this country continues to be a contentious argument, one year after its implementation. Students have queued up their dismal grievances to unflattering redressal, corresponding to which they extended their support and accompanied the teachers through the days of the strike. In the domain of responsible demonstrations, the teachers have ensured regular classes and have prudently conducted these strikes for a cause. Deliberation and enactment can only condense the appalling situation of the largest democracy’s top ranked university, where the essence of an ironic situation seems to persist.

 

Image source: The Hindu 

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Alumnus of Stephen's Flashes Middle Finger, gets a Display on Website

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In what comes across as an extremely astonishing episode, the website of St. Stephen’s College has on display some rather unusual content. Apparently, a link on the website titled ‘Sacrilege on St Stephen’s College’ has a footage which captures an alumnus of the College flashing the middle finger towards the CCTV camera. Reportedly, on October 13, Saturday, a group of six alumni, led by Amitabh Pande and Ashish Munna Joshi, came to the College to donate money to the owners of the Rohtas dhaba, recently barred from selling rolls. While strolling on the premises, Pande, in full view of the students, flashed the middle finger towards the CCTV camera installed in the corridor of the Dining Hall. While Pande, an IAS officer, claimed that the gesture was a sign of protest against the existing culture of terror and that he was shocked to note the presence of CCTV camera outside the Dining Hall, the College Principal Dr. Valson Thampu perceives it as an insult directed towards the institution. In fact, a note by him accompanying the footage said, “It is a spectacle too disgusting for the eyes of anyone who feels for the College. Even so, after mature reflection, I have decided to post it on the College website, so that all of us can reckon the execrable extent to which some have sunk in their inveterate hatred to the College.” While talking to DU Beat, Tarinee Awasthi, student of the College, said, “ I think that while the form may have been a tad immature, the issues the alumni were protesting against are somewhat justified. I fail to comprehend the need for CCTV cameras in the College. In fact, it translates into a prison-like surveillance and insistence on unthinking discipline.” She further added, “By following this sort of practice, it is being assumed that all students are delinquents and must be monitored. Honestly, it is a little offending to be treated as such.” Another student, who didn’t wish to be named, said, “Even though the causes of protest were valid, they shouldn’t have stooped down to such a level. By doing something like this, you are indirectly posing a question on the values you have imbued from the institution. There are more learned ways to voice one’s opinion. A quintessential Stephanian will never sink to this level. It’s utter shame and nothing else.” Here’s the link to the video: http://www.ststephens.edu/SACRILEGE.htm   Vatsal Verma [email protected] Image credits: Additi Seth   ]]>

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Alumnus of Stephen’s Flashes Middle Finger, gets a Display on Website

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In what comes across as an extremely astonishing episode, the website of St. Stephen’s College has on display some rather unusual content. Apparently, a link on the website titled ‘Sacrilege on St Stephen’s College’ has a footage which captures an alumnus of the College flashing the middle finger towards the CCTV camera.

Reportedly, on October 13, Saturday, a group of six alumni, led by Amitabh Pande and Ashish Munna Joshi, came to the College to donate money to the owners of the Rohtas dhaba, recently barred from selling rolls. While strolling on the premises, Pande, in full view of the students, flashed the middle finger towards the CCTV camera installed in the corridor of the Dining Hall.

While Pande, an IAS officer, claimed that the gesture was a sign of protest against the existing culture of terror and that he was shocked to note the presence of CCTV camera outside the Dining Hall, the College Principal Dr. Valson Thampu perceives it as an insult directed towards the institution.

In fact, a note by him accompanying the footage said, “It is a spectacle too disgusting for the eyes of anyone who feels for the College. Even so, after mature reflection, I have decided to post it on the College website, so that all of us can reckon the execrable extent to which some have sunk in their inveterate hatred to the College.”

While talking to DU Beat, Tarinee Awasthi, student of the College, said, “ I think that while the form may have been a tad immature, the issues the alumni were protesting against are somewhat justified. I fail to comprehend the need for CCTV cameras in the College. In fact, it translates into a prison-like surveillance and insistence on unthinking discipline.”

She further added, “By following this sort of practice, it is being assumed that all students are delinquents and must be monitored. Honestly, it is a little offending to be treated as such.”

Another student, who didn’t wish to be named, said, “Even though the causes of protest were valid, they shouldn’t have stooped down to such a level. By doing something like this, you are indirectly posing a question on the values you have imbued from the institution. There are more learned ways to voice one’s opinion. A quintessential Stephanian will never sink to this level. It’s utter shame and nothing else.”


Here’s the link to the video: http://www.ststephens.edu/SACRILEGE.htm

 

Vatsal Verma
[email protected]

Image credits: Additi Seth 

 

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PGs – An Enigma in North Campus

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If you happen to roam around North Campus, there are two things you won’t miss seeing: one, a fast-food corner and two, students. They are everywhere, be it Kamla Nagar, Roop Nagar or Aadarsh Nagar. This is not news since North Campus is all about DU colleges. With these students, comes the question of their accommodation as more than 70% of them are outstation residents. It is here that these ‘fancy’ PGs play their role, and how! The students are provided with a fully air conditioned room, a gym, “all kinds of beauty treatment facilities”, Maggi and cold drinks a phone call away, 24 hours power back up, Wi-Fi, personal bathrooms, any time cab facility and so on! The rates of such PGs range from Rs 14000 to 20000 per month.

“In our times a student’s life was considered to be one filled with hardships, where a good result was the fruit of multiple sacrifices that the student made by leaving the comfort of his home and by surviving the brutalities of the world outside. And look at the scenario now!” comments a DU teacher. The students, away from home, live in much luxury now, and their parents think nothing of the 20 or so grand they lavish on their kid each month. The worst part is that the quality of all these PGs tops the scale during the first few months, but it’s downhill after that. Reportedly, the Wi-Fi stops working, the food quality deteriorates and the AC does not work half of the time. “We don’t have an alternative to leave the PG and move elsewhere since that would result in us forfeiting the security the landlords take in the beginning (which is rent of two months)” says Ridhima, a paying guest.

Most of the PGs are not even registered, meaning that they are not legally permitted to carry on a commercial business. The tactics that they use to exploit the comfort-seeking students is deplorable. Just half a decade back the maximum a hostel or a PG charged was Rs 7000.

However, a respite from these fraud PGs is DU hostel. The newly opened Undergraduate hostel and the Rajiv Gandhi hostel for girls are not only cheap but far better than these PGs.  They are clean, spacious and the food is hygienic and delicious. And all this in around Rs 24000 per year! The admission to the hostel is however on merit basis since they provide accommodation only to 800 girls.

 

Aishwarya Chaurasia
[email protected]

Image credits: Sapna Mathur

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Answer Script to Reveal Student’s Identity

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The Delhi University is apparently witnessing a spate of changes this year. After the proposal of some radical changes to be applicable from next academic session, it has come to light that slight changes have also been brought forth in the examination system and these will be applicable from the forthcoming semester examinations in November.

Under the new scheme, the answer scripts of the students will carry their basic detail such as their name, the name of the college and also father’s name. Contrary to this, the scripts at present carry only a numeric code thereby keeping the identity of the student secret.

The introduction of this new scheme has, however, cropped certain doubts and most students seem to be worried about some sort of bias. While speaking to DUB, Tanvi Aggarwal, a student of Gargi College, said, “While the disclosure of student’s name on the answer script will reduce the scope of administrative discrepancies, the major concern should be that of bias especially on the basis of religion or caste. Besides, certain colleges have certain pre-conceived reputation and therefore, teachers might just fall prey to this unintentionally and end up giving marks according to colleges.”

Another student Bharat Singhal from Shri Ram College of Commerce said, “The University seems to be in a race to bring changes without even appraising the pros and cons of any idea. All important examinations keep identity of the student undisclosed and there is surely some strong logic behind this. Unfortunately, we students suffer because of some people’s whims and fancies.”

Besides this, the question paper will be framed by a panel of three examiners appointed by the concerned department which will no more have the right to moderate the papers in case of any discrepancy. The university has already issued letters to the departments to make the appropriate appointments for the panel.

Moreover, the number of scripts to be evaluated by each teacher has also been brought down. While earlier they had to evaluate 400-600 copies, they will only be required to assess around 200 copies.

 

Vatsal Verma
[email protected] 

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