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SDGs and You: How every effort counts!

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Here’s a piece on how each of your actions matter and you at an individual level can bring up the changes for a brighter and better future by your own little deeds.

The Sustainable Development Goals have suddenly gained their required attention and have become the talk of the town.
But the question arises, what are they and how do they concern us? Are they just a matter of concern for international authorities like the United Nations which where behind its inception or can we do our part in executing them?

Understanding SDGs:
The SDGs are a set of 17 goals unanimously adopted by the member nations of the United Nations in order to make the vision come true of a world where the planet is protected and people live a life of peace and happiness in all spheres. These are also known as the ‘Global Goals’ and were created in 2015 with an aim in mind to achieve them all by 2030.

It might sound overambitious and all too daunting to aim to achieve every single one of them but here are some ways in which we can do our bit to achieve them.

SDG 02: No Hunger
Cook some food, go out and offer it to someone in need. Who knows one kind action on your part might just turn into the most wholesome and healthy meal a person gets in their entire day.

SDG 03: Good Health and Well Being
Take out time for yourself.Take a day off, read a book or just eat healthy. It’s the small actions that build strong bridges over the course of time.

SDG 04: Quality Education
If you are reading this article, consider yourself as the fortunate ones who have had access to not only education but internet and other facilities too. Take out an hour everyday or every alternate from your schedule to teach the children of the labourers working around you. One hour might be insignificant to you but it holds the might to bring changes in the life of a child.
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
It’s time to bring into action the words we learnt in childhood. ‘Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.’ is the need of the hour. Smallest acts such as carrying paper or jute bags are actions which can bring amazing changes not only in one’s actions but the environment too!

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Take the public transport! Having sustainable cities is vital for our survival. Small actions which can lead to reduction in pollution emissions or walking the distance are some of the tiniest changes which maximum positive benefits!

SDG 14: Life below Water

Quit straws and plastic bottles! These are two of the things most popular amongst usage but at the same time equally harmful if not more. Explore new alternatives like paper straws and support people bringing such unique initiatives across.

These are just a few of the many Global Goals ahead of us, ones which call and demand action from each one of us. This article is here, to get you brainstorming on how you can do your bit in achieving the goals for a sustainable tomorrow.

Imagine each one of us taking these steps even if that’s just once a week. What monumental changes we can bring across!

In the words of Ban Ki Moon, “Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance.”

Get up, get going. The world awaits you!

 

Image Credits: United Nations Development Program

Amrashree Mishra

[email protected]

 

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Sorrow of Bihar Glooms the Capital City Patna

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Bihar had become a drought-hit area, and then recently got flooded, receiving 10% extra rain than usual. Arguably, was this a man-made calamity more than a natural disaster? Read on to find out the Bihari diaspora’s take on it.

In hard-hit Bihar, a bird’s-eye-view of state capital Patna made the city appear like a huge lake dotted with concrete structures. Posh low-lying areas like Rajendra Nagar and Pataliputra Colony were flooded. Private hospitals, medical stores and other shops were submerged in waist-deep water. In several parts of Patna, waterlogging had thrown normal life out of gear. Although the rains have stopped now, and waterlogging has receded in most parts, a closer look reveals a bigger picture than just a natural calamity. 

Owing to unexpected and torrential rainfall of 200 mm, almost all areas of the capital of Bihar have been flooded, with water entering homes, offices and other buildings, and standing on the roads. The social media was buzzing with netizens sharing videos of the flood affected area and making satire of #HowdyModi event in which the PM said, all is fine in India. 

Flooding in the city appeared to have been caused by a choked, damaged and dysfunctional drainage system, and delayed activation of pumps at the sump houses. The floods were so severe that animal carcasses were seen on several roads.

Dinesh Mishra, a civil engineer and flooding expert, while speaking to a national daily said, “The authorities have the resources, money and workforce to arrive at a solution. However, planning of drainage systems and efficient sump machines are nowhere to be seen. Authorities have pushed the city to the edge of disaster by misusing public money. Also, now, they all come up with the excuse of ‘climate change.’”

The state of Bihar has gloomed with tragedies this year. First the encephalitis outbreak in Muzzafarpur took hundreds of life in June 2019, then drought hit severel parts of the state in early September damaging agriculture, and then the recent floods have disturbed lives of millions of people in the capital city Patna. Floods are not a rare phenomena in Bihar, the Kosi river is infamous for flooding Khagaria and northern parts of Bihar every year, but the scale and intensity of this retreating monsoon’s flood was as big as the disastrous floods of 1987 and 2004 which took 1,400 and 3,272 lives respectively.

It was not only Patna but also towns like Kaimur, Bhagalpur, Araria, Banka, Munger and Muzzafarpur that faced the wrath of this catastrophe. A more haunting statistic suggests that 494 panchayats in 15 districts were submerged in water when the flood was at its peak. The death toll neared 120 in first four days. Lack of a robust political administration seemed to have aggravated the death toll and loss due to floods.

Rahul Kumar, a student of DU hailing from Buxar says, “What I think, is that the flood is a result of mismanagement and government failure. As a Bihari, what I think is in Bihar, government officials love good flood and droughts because they get chance to make money out of it. This is a man made disaster and not only the government, but we are also fully responsible for the same.”   

Suyash Jha, a fresher from the varsity who hails from Bhagalpur says that these floods have now become a routine affair. “The compound of my grandfather’s home at VIP Road, Laheriasarai get water from overflowing drains every year for the  last 10 years now. Despite several requests to the administration to work on the drainage system in the area no real action has been taken.”

Shivam Srivastava, a third-year student was in Delhi when the unstoppable rain started in Patna on 28th September.  He says, “It was really flabbergasting to see the Chief Minister say something like ‘Yeh toh prakritik apada hai, isme hum kuch nahi karsakte,’ (This is a natural calamity, we cannot help it,).”

Feature Image Credits: Rahul Kumar

Sriya Rane 

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Priyanshu

[email protected] 

 

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Campus Central

Partly Participation: Women in DUSU

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The Delhi University Students’ Union    (DUSU) remains to be the umbrella students’ union for the University of Delhi (DU). It is an integral part of a DU student’s life, and thus, it’s only fair that the DUSU elections carry a lot of weight and hype. It allows a DU student to exercise their right of universal adult franchise, and elect members they believe would be accountable for them. 

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The Glorification of Gandhi and the Rising Sympathy for Godse

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A look at how Gandhi shaped our nation, along with the parts of his character not discussed popularly.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi is popularly remembered as the Father of the Nation. He was one of the leaders at the forefront of the Indian freedom struggle, and has a significant role in the attainment of Indian Independence. These are few of the lines we have been told throughout our lives as children – on the 2nd
October every year, on Independence days, and through our History and Political Science textbooks. This is true for the most part and Gandhi’s return from South Africa did
provide a much-needed boost to the freedom struggle. His work with the downtrodden, and his ideas of non-violence still hold a prominent place in the society today.
However, due to the nature of his death, many of Gandhi’s idiosyncrasies and frailties are ignored when it comes to mainstream dialogue. He is considered to be a man beyond wrongdoing, to be the definition of moral standards, and everything we have been taught all our lives just adds to that line of the narrative. The book Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India by Joseph Lelyveld was banned in his home-state of Gujarat when it came out in 2011.

This is interesting because the book does not break any new ground as such, and still speaks glowingly of Gandhi. Although, it does contain the description of some negative aspects and flaws in the great man’s character.
The banning of this book simply shows how the Indian population cannot withstand any attack in any form on those who they deify as gods.

There are many aspects to Gandhi’s character that should be questioned, because it is through the crevices in popularised and validated ideologies that people find the scope to improve society and, by extrapolation, the world.

One of these aspects showcases that Gandhi was a racist for most of his adult life, especially while working on civil rights in South Africa. His work centered on giving Indians more power and rights, as compared to the local natives who he felt were “inferior”. Gandhi wrote to Adolf Hitler twice in 1939 and 1940,and while it was to call for peace, he did write the following- “…nor do we believe you are the monster described by your opponents”.
Sexually, Gandhi had maintained a vow of celibacy; however, according to Lelyveld’s and Jad Adams’ Gandhi: Naked Ambition, it was said that he maintained close and intimate contact with females, making teenagers, women, and allegedly even his own grandniece sleep naked with him
to test his vow of celibacy. He was incredibly sexist and homophobic, propagating the belief that women should be responsible for the sexual assaults they face. He justified honour killings, labelled women who used
contraceptives as “whores”, and once chopped off the hair of two female followers who were being harassed so that the perpetrators would stop. He also led a campaign to have all traces of homoerotic tradition removed from Hindu temples as part of a “sexual cleansing” initiative.
Gandhi might have been the reason that India is still an ideologically backward, and sexually repressed nation. However, it is no justification for the current narrative propagated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the extremist right-wing labelling Nathuram Godse, Gandhi’s killer, as a hero. The incident involving Pragya Thakur serves as a recent example to this belief. The rise of Hindutva under the extreme right has led to many such people being given a status that
they do not deserve.
To conclude, here is the statement by a student from the University
of Delhi, who does not wish to be named, “I know Gandhi did a lot of messed up things, but how can anyone even think (that) celebrating his killer is good? He still helped our freedom struggle; the celebration of his death because he worked to help the Muslim minority just shows the rising intolerance in our country.”

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives.

Prabhanu Kumar Das
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The Politics of Renaming: Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium

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The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) decided to rename Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium as Arun Jaitley Stadium in memory of its former President, who passed away on 24th August 2019.

Renaming landmarks and cities is a global phenomenon, especially in the postcolonial era, as nations, one after the other, became independent post the end of the Second World War. Understandably, they wished to leave their oppressed colonial baggage behind. The objective of renaming being the elimination of the prevailing memories associated with those places, and the liberation of the nation from the painful times of the colonisation. India was a colony of the British and the Mughals for centuries, who, during their rule, redefined the cities and gave abundant historical landmarks that have generated reasonable tourism, etc. But for the past few years, Indians are witnessing the act of redefining these landmarks by changing their names. After the demise of Arun Jaitley, former Union Minister of Finance, the prominent cricket stadium of Delhi, the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium was renamed the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

The motive behind this embodiment was said to be an expression of gratitude towards Late Arun Jaitley, who served as the President of the cricketing body for 13 years, and his love for cricket was well known and certified. This change was made three days after his death. While the cricket ground retained its original name, Feroz Shah Kotla Ground; the name of the stadium was changed without any complexities or questions of why this was not done when Jaitley was alive and could see it for himself. This raises a debate: does this act of renaming places even have an impact on the general public, or are they indifferent and ignorant towards it? According to some people, this practice of altering names does nothing but disrupt the originality of the place and erases a slice of history from the lives of the people who share a connection with them.

Contrary to this, others have said that change is the only constant. They appear to believe that it was high time for India to gain a perspective of what the country was before it was “invaded” and ruled by the people of other nations. India has provided some great leaders, who deserve recognition and a mark of respect that lives for ages, renaming landmarks in their names instead of rulers who deprived us of freedom for long is nowhere wrong and is a progressive step that does not spread hatred. Another example of this manifestation is the renaming of different cities in West India – Allahabad being changed to Prayagraj, Faizabad being changed to Ayodhya, among numerous others. This decision that took place last year in October had the people of India shook. The authorities claim that they only corrected the history as it was Akbar, who changed Prayagraj’s name to Allahabad in 1583. But the residents of the city were not very pleased with the decision. Professor Farooqui, former Vice Chancellor of Allahabad University, said, “You can’t just erase the history of 500 years. Allahabad is not just a name – it’s a feeling that every person who grew up in the city carries, it’s like killing the city’s soul.” India is a secular country, with diverse cultures and demands.

With each new decision, there are going to be people standing by it, and people criticising it. It is hard to say what is in the best interest and what is not, as the nation does not wish to regress with time. A student, who requested to be anonymous, said, “The Government should adhere to the issues that require vigilance rather than altering history or rectifying what should have been done, the locals will always prefer the former name as name simply changes the title but does not resolve the long term issues prevailing in the country.”

Feature Image Credits: India Today

Avni Dhawan

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DUB Speak

Done and Dusted: DUSU Elections 2019

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The declaration of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) results on 13th September ended a month of hooliganism, ruckus, and violation of rules in the name of campaigning.

Every year, the months of August and September witness frenzy and chaos. The roads are littered with flyers and posters, a number of posters with misspelt names of the candidates are pasted on the walls in the Campus area, and rallies pave way for traffic jam. This year too, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) won three seats out of four, establishing their majority in the
DUSU.

The voter turnout was recorded at 39.9 percent this year, over four notches down from the last year voter turnout. One of the key points highlighted in this year’s manifestoes of various student political organisations was less wastage of paper. However, candidates contesting DUSU elections clearly violated this rule. The shocking thing here is, that even though the University has a regulatory authority to check these violations, no one comes forward to point these; not even the administration. It is easy to notice all the enthusiasm of the  newly elected office bearers slowly fade away as we inch closer to the end of the year.

I remember, during an interview with Sunny Chillar, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) Presidential candidate for DUSU elections, 2018, the demand of a subsidised INR 10 thali (platter) was discussed. The students of the University were assured that no matter what the election results would be, the thali will be provided to them, since, over 70 percent of students are from the economically weaker sections of the society. A common agenda discussed by both the ABVP and the NSUI almost every year is concessional Metro and Delhi Transport Corporation bus passes for the students of the University of Delhi (DU). However, we, as students, are only able to see a few protest marches and letters written to different ministers and the Administration. On questioning about the same to our student leaders, they reply, “It will happen soon.” Will it be soon enough, for the next set of candidates, to put forward the same demand in next year’s manifesto?

In the race of winning the elections, what the student leaders forget is the reason they are running for the position. Is it for fame? Or, is it for representing and working for the student community? Attacks on opponents are not something new in the election season. The sad part here is, that most of the students of the University equate DUSU election season to violence in and around Campus. The manifestoes talk about the safety of students but, in reality, election season makes us, the student community, feel more unsafe than ever.

Did you know that the DUSU also has a constitution of its own? Yes, most of you do not. The official website of the University has a link to the Constitution. It is a 16-page document which roughly has eight chapters that broadly discuss the functioning, funding, and objectives of the Union. The Vice Chancellor of the University is the Patron, and takes all the necessary steps for the smooth  functioningof DUSU in accordance with the DUSU Constitution. The underlying fact is that, even though all this has been defined in the Constitution, our very own elected student leaders fail to abide by it. Or rather, they forget the ideals upon which the Constitution was established. It is sad to see them absent from the important student-related issues but they are present when a Bollywood celebrity visits a college.

Concluding in the words of Srivedant Kar, former Associate Editor of DU Beat, “It’s high time these elections stop referring to things that the Union cannot do and instead start becoming a fight about what the Union can, and should, do.”

Anoushka Sharma 

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JNU Student’s Union Election Results Declared: All Four Seats Won by United Left

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JNUSU (Jawahar Lal Nehru University Students’ Union) results have finally been announced hours after Delhi High Court permitted them to do so.

The results of JNU Student’s Union were announced on 17th September when the Delhi High Court permitted the varsity to declare the results following the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Community. All the four central panel posts have been won by the United Front of Left students group.

The vote-share of United Front of Left student groups All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) and All India Students’ Federation (AISF) increased to 50.4 percent from 4 percent in the previous year.

Aishe Ghosh of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) won the post of the president by securing 2,313 votes. Manish Jangid from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) secured 1,128 votes. Ghosh belonging to SFI contested under the broader united Left panel. SFI got the post of the President after 13 years.

The post of Vice President has been won by United Left panel’s Saket Moon who secured 3,365 votes, while Shruti Agnihotri from ABVP came second with 1,335 votes. Satish Yadav from the United Left panel emerged as the winner for the post of General Secretary with 2,518 votes while the post of the Joint Secretary has been won by United Left panel’s Mohammad Danish who secured 3,295 votes.

In the previous year also, all the fours central panel positions were won by candidates of the united Left panel. A victory march was conducted within the University campus by the supporters of the United Left panel after the declaration of results.

JNU Student’s Union polls were conducted on September 6, 2019, with a voter turnout of 67.9 percent which was believed to be the highest in last 7 years. The results were to be declared on September 8, 2019, but were delayed till September 17 after petitions were filed in the Delhi High Court by two students alleging their nominations for the election of councillor in the JNUSU were illegally rejected.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat archives.

Priya Chauhan

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Electoral Friendships: Of Facade and Fantasies

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Screaming claims of the space for
dissent in the University of Delhi (DU)
inspire political actions in the young
students. But all that is political is
about power, and power is corruptible.
Or is it?

Places are political, period. George
Orwell believed that the very claims
which state art should not be political
are themselves political in nature.
In light of such factual pervasiveness
of politics, institutions dedicated to
free thinking- from schools to colleges-
inspire ideologies that divide people
into disjoint groups. These groups
are very easily identifiable when it
comes to college politics. Colleges,
no doubt, invite the voice of dissent,
and to some extent, dialogue, but the
objectivity is blurred by the division
and distance between ideologies.
The problems are there, and they are
amplified when inevitably, the personal
and the political mould into one.
What happens to friendships when
they are based on politics? Or, are they
simply alliances?
Every year, thousands of students
are added to the vast network of
thinkers in the DU. With this injection,
there is a surge of social demand
for validation and the need for a
definition. College politics gives an
ideal view of a pedestal to actualising
these aspirations for the new members
of the varsity. The problem, however,
swoops in not-so-subtly, in the likeness
of that third-year hunk at the college
orientation programme. It begins
with a chai at Sudama Tea Stall, and
sometimes even extends, to AMA
Cafe. It presents itself in the form of
trips to Kamla Nagar, to Satya Niketan,
to Ridge, and so on and so forth. It is
all very charming as long as you are
with seniors, because “you do not pay
for food when you are out with your
seniors,” and it gives one the idea of a
having a ‘friend’.
The first two months are spent in
extravagance because that is how we
‘sustain bonds’. But soon, elections
come into play, and all the laugh
is submerged in the cries of corny
sloganeering and pointlessly furious
campaigning. Questions like “Oh, but
what about the time we spent till 7
p.m, doing nothing and sitting in the
sports ground in a huge group of 17
people?” inculcate guilt and pressure
at the same time. The “too bad” in
response to this question hits for real,
and yet, it is never heard.
The substance to maintain a political
relevance extends dramatically for a
first-year student in the varsity. Almost
all DU students witness a working
democracy for the first time in their
first year of college. This working
model, however, is obsessed with
winning personal favours to sustain
its structure. For a lot of unsuspecting
first-year students, the induction into
the political circuit is as great as their
inevitable disillusionment of it is.
Diplomatic conversations, insinuations,
and indirect implications against the
‘opposition’ create an exclusive bond
between two people. But it is sad
how youngsters who look forward to
spending time with their seniors and
friends become a mere projection for
the latter. They become a crop to be
harvested in election season and it all
reeks of betrayal.
Politically, there are usually two kinds
of groups preaching the same thing:
advising caution against the other.
In this mental rift, it cannot be
expected for the subject of this
sermon to make a wise choice
instantly- which would be different
according to both (or more than two)
groups, as per their ideologies. In
the transitional phase, and in most
cases, far from home, first-year
idealists fall for the subtle shams and
promises of fantasies of the seniors.
There is no foolproof way to avoid
these interventions, and if anything,
these disillusionments serve only
to make you cynical. But it is in this
mental time, that experience enables
visibility of the organic from the
facade. Rush into the polling booths,
because a world of the organic awaits
you outside.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat archives

Kartik Chauhan
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Religious Politics: ABVP Members Seek Blessings, NSUI Files a Complaint

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National Students Union of India (NSUI) issued an official complaint against the candidates of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for visiting the Jhandewalan Mandir on Sunday, 8th September 2019 and posting about the same on social media.

The National Students Union of India (NSUI) recently condemned its opponent, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for adopting the practice of religion and religious symbols for the purpose of political campaigning which stands in direct violation of the Lyngdoh guidelines which all students contesting the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections are supposed to abide by, in order to not encounter direct disqualification.

In 2005, the Supreme Court decided to set up a committee to ensure measures that would hamper disruption caused by college elections. Following the order of the Supreme Court, a panel was set up by the ministry of Human Resource Development headed by the then Chief Election Commissioner, J.N Lyngdoh for the same, limiting the democratic functioning of the Student Unions and was called The Lyngdoh Committee.

The Lyngdoh guidelines clearly state that:

“No candidate shall indulge in, nor shall abet, any activity, which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic, or between any group(s) of students.”

According to the allegations made by NSUI, the following four candidates of Akhil Bhartiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP), Akshit Dahiya (President nominee), Pradeep Tanwar (Vice President nominee), Yogit Rathee (Secretary Nominee) and Shivangi Kharwal (Joint Secretary Nominee) along with Professor Manu Kataria of Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Science (State President of ABVP Delhi) were sighted using religious symbols for their campaigning. Later, a Facebook post was uploaded by the Presidential candidate Akshit Dahiya in which they visited a famous temple in Delhi wearing religious garments while making an appeal to vote for them, which disregards the Lyngdoh guidelines for social media campaigning as well.

Apart from this, under the Delhi University Act, any Professor under the paid role of Central Government is not allowed to display their political affiliation in public but sources have also proclaimed that Mr. Manu Kataria endorsed candidates for the DUSU election, hence violating the Delhi University Service Rules.

As per sources, NSUI has registered a formal complaint on the issue and made a request to the Election Officer to constitute a Grievance Redressal Hearing against the violators under the Lyngdoh guidelines and withdraw their nomination at the earliest as it is against the norms of free and fair elections.

Shri Akshay Lakhra, NSUI Delhi State President stated, “NSUI will ensure no polarisation of University takes place. ABVP already used cheap rhetoric this election by illegally putting up the statue of a highly controversial figure Damodardas Savarkar. When the move failed, they retorted to further downgrade cheap theatrics of using religion as a tool to safeguard their defeated campaign. Delhi University students are not going to be fooled by such rhetoric of ABVP again after the fake degree issue, and would give a sounding reply to them in upcoming student union elections.”

Following this news, the students of University of Delhi didn’t take it as a surprise that candidates do not follow the guidelines established for running a campaign, they believe that the Lyngdoh Committee is not a solution to strengthen or improve the prevailing conditions of student politics and DU stands as a classic example of its failure in limiting money and muscle power politics.

Feature Image Credit: ABVP Media

Avni Dhawan

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DRC Students Protest for Free and Fair Elections to Students’ Union

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Daulat Ram College’s students raised their voice against wrongful cancellation of nomination of candidates, scrapping of the post of General Secretary, and undemocratic election procedure.

On Monday, September 9th, 2019, the students of Daulat Ram College located in North Campus, University of Delhi, organised a sit-in protest and sloganeering rally against the decisions regarding the DRC Student Union (DRCSU) student polls 2019-20 that had been taken by the Student Advisory Board (SAB) of the institution. The students sat in the corridor leading to the Principal’s office for the entire day and shouted slogans of “We Want Justice” across the entire campus. They also chanted their demands in the staff room corridor.

According to the students, the SAB wrongfully cancelled the nominations of the candidates to five posts of the Student Union – Joint Secretary, Vice President, Cultural Secretary, Treasurer and Proctor. Allegedly, the SAB also declared that the post of General Secretary to the Union would be scrapped for this session since no eligible candidate for the post had filled their nomination as per their notification. As a result, candidates were selected, declared ‘unopposed’ by the SAB for the aforementioned five posts, and elections for these posts stood cancelled. The latest notification of the SAB listed the selected candidates for these posts and only called for elections to take place for the post of President, where two candidates were allowed to contest. The protesting students have demanded this unfair notice to be called-off and the candidature of other nominees to be considered as well.

WhatsApp Image 2019-09-10 at 10.05.11 PM

As per Paavni, a third year Economics Honours students of Daulat Ram College, this arbitrary decision of the Board was undemocratic and “…essentially took away the students’ right to elect their representatives.”

Supposedly, when the students approached the Grievance Board through the SAB, they were notified of the reasons of the cancellation of the nominations, which were in accordance with the new rules of the SAB. But according to the students, these rules were imposed in an unjust manner. The SAB had not considered sports attendance for the sports quota students, which had been submitted to the respective teachers of their subjects and on these grounds, the nominations had been cancelled. Moreover, four out of the five unopposed candidates are in favour of fair elections and had written an application to the SAB that they were against the unfair cancellation of the nominations and wanted free and fair elections, yet the Grievance Board did not engage in any conversation with either the candidates or the protestors.

As a result, the student body has decided to take this matter up with the Principal as well as other administrative body, until their demands are fulfilled and a truly fair election allowed.

Feature Image Credits: Bhavya Pandey for DU Beat

Feature Image Caption: Notice issued by the SAB of DRC

Bhavya Pandey

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