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The University of Delhi has released the fifth cut-off list today on the official website.

The admission under the DU 4th cut-off list ended ended on June 17th. The DU 5th cut-off list will be all about filling the seats in the reserved category in most colleges.

So far, the University has filled 67,419 seats out of the total 62,000. After the release of DU 5th cut-off, the admissions will take place from July 20, which will also be the first day for those who have already completed the admission process.

The candidates should note that this year, the university will notify just five cut-off lists.

Check this space for the latest updates on the fifth cut-off.

Click here to check the fifth cut-off list P.G.D.A.V. (E) College.

Click here to check the fifth cut-off list for Gargi College.

Click here to check the fifth cut-off list for Satyawati College.

Click here to check the fifth cut-off list for Shyam Lal College.

Click below to check the comprehensive fifth cut-off lists:

Arts & Commerce

Science

B.A. Programme

With less than 20,000 seats left to be filled in the University of Delhi (DU), the principals of colleges affiliated to the varsity said that the cut-offs for admission to courses will see a marginal decline in the third list, on July 7, 2019. According to the data shared by DU, 43,854 admissions have taken place after 778 withdrawals since the beginning of the process. The number of cancellations since the second cut-off stands at 3,082, as reported by India Today.

Check here for live college cut-off updates.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Gargi College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Shaheed Bhagat Singh College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Satyawati College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Shri Ram College of Commerce.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Vivekananda College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Shivaji College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Kirorimal College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Maharaja Agrasen College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Aditi Mahavidyalaya.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Zakir Husain Delhi College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Ramjas College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Jesus and Mary College..

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Janki Devi Memorial College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Mata Sundri College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Miranda House.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Keshav Mahavidyalaya.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for P.G.D.A.V. College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Lady Shri Ram College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Hansraj College.

Click here to check the third cut-off list for Shyam Lal College.

 

Click below to access the comprehensive third cut-off lists:

Arts and Commerce

Science

B.A. Programme 

Feature Image Credits: Akarsh Mathur for DU Beat

The much-anticipated second cut-off list gives aspiring students a chance to either secure their admission, or upgrade colleges.

With 23,780 seats filled out of 63,000 and huge crowds observed in many University of Delhi (DU) colleges in the first cut-off list, all eyes are on the second cut-off list now. Despite some of the highest cut-offs being declared for B.A. Political Science courses, various colleges, including Miranda House, Ramjas and Kirori Mal reported that seats for the programme had been filled up and a second cut-off list would not be released, as reported by The Hindu.

 

Beginning now, DU colleges have begun releasing cut-off lists on their respective college websites. Watch out this space for live news; keep refreshing this article for timely updates.

 

 

Click here to view the complete second cut-off list for Arts and Commerce Courses at DU.

Click here to view the complete second cut-off list for Science Courses at DU.

 

 

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Bhagini Nivedita College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Keshav Mahavidyalaya.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Ramanujan College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Gargi College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for PGDAV College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Shri Ram College of Commerce.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Satyawati College (Evening).

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Kirori Mal College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Satyawati College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Acharya Narendra Dev College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Shaheed Bhagat Singh College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Deshbandhu College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Shyam Lal College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Mata Sundri College for Women.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Janki Devi Memorial College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Vivekananda College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Jesus and Mary College.

Click here to check the second cut-off list for Zakir Hussain Delhi College.

Click here to check the second cut-off for Swami Shradhanand College.

Click here to check the second cut-off for Miranda House.

Feature Image Credits: Akarsh Mathur for DU Beat

The Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC) is an institution of University of Delhi, established in 2011. Based on interdisciplinary learning, it has been designed to seek and derive answers to the real world problems in all spheres, and look for innovative solutions for problems of the society.

It is a Meta College as well as a Meta University concept with an innovative curriculum, which is more project-oriented and tailored to the need of the society and industry.

Located in the quaint premises of Rugby Sevens Building, University Stadium in North Campus, it is a promising course for students who wish to seek the connect of research with its practical application.

COURSES OFFERED AT CLUSTER INNOVATION CENTRE:

Currently there are three courses offered at CIC-

  1. B.A. (Honours) Humanities and Social Sciences
  2. B. Tech (IT and Mathematical Innovations)
  3. M.Sc. (Mathematics Education)

SEAT MATRIX FOR B.A. AND B. TECH COURSE:

In 2019 – 20 there will be 44 seats each in both the courses. They are distributed as:

General Category – 20 seats

EWS – 2 seats

OBC Category – 12 seats

SC Category – 7 seats

ST Category – 3 seats

Apart from these there are 6 supernumerary seats distributed as:

PwD Category – 2 seats

CW Category – 2 seats

Foreign Nationals – 2 seats

 

  • B.A.(Honours) Humanities and Social Sciences

This is an off-beat course compared to other regular honours programmes offered by University of Delhi.  It is based on interdisciplinary learning, which presents an opportunity to the student to design his/her own degree.

This course is divided into four streams:

  1. Journalism
  2. Counselling
  3. Historical Tourism
  4. Art & Design

Based on these four streams a student can study a variety of subjects offered in different colleges of University of Delhi in semesters two to five, and study some basic courses at the centre itself in semester one and six. Apart from the core papers, the distinctive aspect of the curriculum is the hands-on research project, which gives the students a grass-root level experience of the functionality of the society.

One can schematically study Political Science at Hindu College in one semester and Economics at SRCC in another! The interdisciplinary nature of the course gives a holistic view in the field of humanities and social sciences.

Commenting on the course, Rishabh Gogoi, a third year student of CIC says, “It’s unlike any other course in the country, and a much needed alternative in an otherwise restrictive education system. We all know the efforts of the University of Delhi to enhance the flexibility of its course structure through the Credit Based Credit System (CBCS). The course at CIC takes the same concept several steps ahead to present its scholars an absolute freedom to design their own degree. Although there are a number of nuances associated with the aforementioned “freedom”, but regardless, the B.A. course at CIC is undoubtedly the best decision any indecisive student can make who wants to study humanities and/or social sciences.”

Niharika Dabral, an outgoing student of CIC reminisces her experience at CIC as, “I would never change my experience at CIC for anything. It’s a college experience like none other. Since I’ve survived the project presentations I think I can survive anything. It has been intense.

There are so many things that have to improve, but that University stadium is comfort. Four colleges in six semesters is bound to make one like a nomad, but today I’m more independent than ever.”

However, a person may feel detached and have a certain sense of instability due to changing colleges in each semester, from semester two to five. It may not be the best fit option for students not willing to feel so.  But this rigorous course would surely develop leadership qualities and improve one’s perspective towards humanities and social sciences.

  • B. Tech (IT & Mathematical Innovations)

Cluster Innovation Centre offers a four-year B.Tech. programme in Information Technology & Mathematical Innovation.

According to the official website of CIC, “The B. Tech course offered is a unique programme, is designed to inculcate an innovation mind-set as part of the curriculum and pedagogy. Building strong analytical skills through Mathematics and application skills of Information Technology (IT), this course encourages students to recognize the connectedness of various disciplines.”

The streams offered in the B. Tech programme are-

  1. Robotics and Embedded Systems
  2. Economics and Management
  3. System Biology

The innovation lab known as the “Engineering Kitchen” is the place where students carry out hands-on projects, experiments and model implementations which are linked to the curriculum.

Yatharth Rai, a third year student from B. Tech. says, “The curriculum, although hectic, is quite flexible. The three minor streams grant a clarity. There is a focus on practical applications, rather than theoretical expertise. Each paper in the semester has an accompanying project. I personally find these projects extremely beneficial as they provide an outlet to the theoretical concepts learnt during the semester paper.”

The B.Tech course offered is comprehensive with a special emphasis given on practical learning. In last semester of the course i.e. 8th semester, the programme is based on industrial internship to give students the necessary work experience.

Unlike other B. Tech courses, a student of Arts or Commerce having Mathematics and English can apply in the B.Tech (IT and Mathematical Innovations) course on the condition that he/she fulfils the eligibility criteria as laid down by the Cluster Innovation Centre.

  • M.Sc. (Mathematics Education)

It is a meta-university concept, which offers a two year post graduate programme jointly offered by University of Delhi and Jamia Milia Islamia. The course is developed to give students theoretical as well as hands-on experience of mathematics education.

There are total 20 seats in the programme distributed as:

University of Delhi: 10

Jamia Millia Islamia: 10

Seat Matrix:

 

IMG-20190612-WA0046

  

Source: www.ducic.ac.in

All the three courses offered at Cluster Innovation Centre are uniquely designed and promote hands-on learning in addition to building theoretical concepts. Therefore, these courses offer a different experience of academics altogether.

Selection to these courses is based on an entrance test which is to be conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) this year.

The entrances for the Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes are to be conducted between 30th June, 2019 – 6th July, 2019.

Feature Image Credits: www.ducic.ac.in

Sriya Rane

[email protected]

 

On 10th June, the Delhi High Court sought the position of the Centre and the University of Delhi (DU) on the plea which challenges the jolting changes made to the admission criteria for two of the most popular courses —  B.A. (Honours) Economics and B.Com (Honours). The Court further went on to call this amendment arbitrary due to its short notice.

This alteration of admission criteria was made a day before the University’s applications for Undergraduate (UG) courses were opened. This unforeseen step took several students by surprise, and raised the level of difficulty as well as complexity with respect to getting admitted to the said course.

After several discontented students contacted him, Sahibdeep Singh, an alumnus of Shri Ram College of Commerce, took up the cause. He first submitted an application to the Dean of Students’ Welfare Office and also started an online petition on change.org. This petition is called Roll Back New Admission Criteria: Request to University of Delhi, which is addressed to Yogesh Tyagi, the Vice Chancellor. It has already achieved 887 signatures and aims to reach 1000.  

The aforementioned plea by lawyer, Charanpal Singh Bagri, insisted that this step was in violation with the principle of natural justice. This plea further seeks to repeal the sudden amendment and urges that the previous criteria should prevail. Two members of the University’s Executive Council and three members from the Academic Council have also written a joint letter to the Vice Chancellor for immediate roll back.

The Court has further asked the Ministry of Human Resource Development represented by Advocate Brajesh Kumar, and the varsity to file its response in four days, by 14th June. That will be the date for the next hearing on this matter.

Devyani Arora, a B.Com (Honours) student commented, “This stand of the High Court has been a ray of hope to the students. The decision will be based on careful consideration, keeping in mind the lakhs of students holding their breath.”

St. Stephen’s and Jesus and Mary College will continue with the previous admission criteria.

Feature Image Credits: Jagran Josh

 

Shivani Dadhwal

[email protected]

 

Read on to get more insight into the course of Economics Honours provided in the University of Delhi.

  • What is the course about?

B.A. (Hons.)  Economics is one of the most sought-after courses, in both exclusively commerce colleges and those that offer other courses as well. It boasts of some of the highest cut-offs each year.

In terms of its syllabus, the course includes various papers on Microeconomics,Macroeconomics, and others like Development Economics, Indian Economy, Introductory Econometrics, Mathematical Methods for Economics.

On the other hand, papers such as Political Economy, Applied Econometrics, Financial Economics, International Economics, Environmental Economics, and others form the diverse range of electives.
The course has a special requirement that applicants must include Mathematics as one of
their best of four subjects.

  • What are some top colleges for this course?

Some of the most prestigious colleges for the course include Shri Ram College of
Commerce, St Stephen’s College, Hansraj College, Lady Shri Ram College for Women,
Hindu College, and Miranda House.

  • What are some good career options?

Many students who opt for B.A. Economics (Hons.) go on to pursue higher studies in Economics or
apply for Masters in Business Administration . Some go into academia. Many students are placed successfully in consultancy firms or public sector undertakings.

A large number of Economics (Hons.) graduates are also hired as statisticians, financial
analysts and in fields of public policy, banking and financial services. Actuarial sciences are
also an emerging field open to Economics students.Other allied fields that students of Economics can pursue include corporate law and financial journalism. Some also appear for civil service examinations.

  • Are there any notable alumni?

The course boasts of a network of highly accomplished and notable alumni. Many of
them have gone on to occupy important positions in a wide range of fields and professions.
Some of these include-
1. Arun Shourie, Economist, Journalist and former Union Minister
2. Gita Gopinath, Economist and Academician
3.  Kaushik Basu, Economist
4. Naina Lal Kidwai, Former Group General Manager of HSBC India and Former
President of FICCI
5. Vinod Rai, Former CAG of India

The 2018 cut-off lists for different colleges can be viewed on http://www.du.ac.in/cut-off.html

The admission process of University of Delhi for the academic session of 2019 has begun. With this, candidates applying for sports quota have the coveted seats up for  grabs. The process is tedious and long, and requires the candidates to go through the requisite trials in their preferred discipline.

Here we will breakdown the whole process into concise steps:

REGISTRATION

The process begins with candidates registering themselves by filling up the online application forms available on the DU University of Delhi (DU)  Undergraduate (UG) portal. They can apply for a maximum number of three games/sport(s). The candidates have to submit an additional fee of Rs. 100 to apply in the sports category. 

The admission is based on two categories 

       1. Direct admission without Sports Trial

The candidate should have represented India in — Olympic Games (IOC), World championship or World Cup by International Sports Federation (ISF), Commonwealth Games by Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Asian Games by Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Asian Championships (ISF), South Asian Games (SAG) by South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC) and/or Paralympic Games by International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to be eligible for this category. They should be recognized and funded by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS).  

  1. Admission On the Basis Of Sports Trial

The admission process under this category requires candidates to go through two stages:

  1. Merit/Participation Sports certificate for 40 marks

The candidates can upload their self-attested copies of three merit sports certificate. However, only the highest value certificate will be considered for the marking. The certificate should fall between the timeline of 01st May 2016 to 30th April 2019 to be considered. The minimum marks required to be eligible for the sports trial is 04.

       2. Sports Trial for 60 marks

The three broad categories of sports in which participants can apply are: team games, dual and combat sports, and individual sports.  The team games include Baseball, Basketball, Cricket, Football, Handball, Hockey, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Netball, Softball, and Volleyball. The dual and combat sports include badminton, boxing, Judo, squash, table-tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis and wrestling. The individual sports include Archery, Athletics, Chess, Diving, Gymnastics, shooting, swimming and weight-lifting.

 

The sports trials will be held in the last week of June. The venue and the timings will be uploaded on the DU website.

The participant can only appear in one event/position/weight category and they should secure a minimum of 30 marks in the sports trials to be eligible for consideration in sports merit list, which will be further forwarded to the colleges.

RESULTS
The list of finally selected applicants will be displayed on the college website for three days. The marks of the sports certificates and sports trials will be displayed on the dashboard of the applicants as well. It is also mandatory for the candidates to submit an undertaking on Non-judicial Stamp paper of INR 100/- stating that he/she will play for the college and University during the course of three years.

Points to be noted:

  • Admission of candidate is solely based on the availability of seats in a course in the college.
  • An applicant’s name appearing in the sports merit list doesn’t guarantee admission in a college.
  • Any grievances pertaining to the marks shall be addressed by the UG Sports Grievance Committee.
  • Any injury/casualty suffered by the applicant during trial will be their sole responsibility.  

Feature Image Credits: Akarsh Mathur for DU Beat

 

Antriksha Pathania
[email protected]

 

 

 

Business Conclave’19, hosted by Shri Ram College of Commerce, witnessed an amalgamation of entrepreneurs and many eminent individuals.

Acharya Balakrishna, CEO of Patanjali, addressed the students and said that he was content seeing the bhavishya and buddhi (the future and the intellect) of the nation. He also said that we need to retain our youth within the country by providing them job opportunities, while also mentioning how his company employed over 30,000 direct employees. Upasana Taku, mountaineer and marathon runner, punctuated the spaces between guest speakers and enthralled the audience with nostalgic anecdotes about her adventures on the peaks.

There was also motivational speaker, Praveen Wadalkar, who, by giving an account of his own life story, told the audience how everyone has the potential to be great.

Ankur Jain, founder of B-9 drinks traced his journey in the beer making market, and said how important it is to find something you are passionate about, in order that you may do justice to it.

The conclave inched towards an end with a discussion on the book ’26/11 Stories of Strength’ published by The Indian Express and issues surrounding terrorism in the present context.

Kavita Iyer, the editor of the book who was also moderating the session began it by telling the audience what the book was about. Prof. Simrit Kaur, principal of the college (who was also a panelist) emphasized on the importance of the episodes discussed in the book for the present generation since they are “stories of strength”. She was also quoted as saying, “We, at SRCC believe in giving back to the society” and by way of discussion she believed that change would gradually come.

The conclave concluded with Papa CJ’s performance, that paved way to a yet another successful year of the conclave.

 

Akshada Shrotiya

[email protected]

Maumil Mehraj

[email protected]

SRES’19 brought to light the role of institutions in ignoring and normalising sexist conditioning. Read on to find out how.

On 18th and 19th January 2019, the Economics Society of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) organised the 2019-edition of the Shri Ram Economics Summit (SRES). SRES’19 was in the news for hosting the former President of India, Dr. Pranab Mukherjee, but his closing address had to be substituted with a panel of SRCC professors, due to the former’s absence owing to unavoidable circumstances.

The panel’s objective was to have a dialogue on the role of SRCC in tackling gender disparity and inequality issues.Including the staff heads of the Internal Complaints’ Committee (ICC), Ms. Reena Chadha, and the Women’s Development Cell (WDC), Dr. Monika Bansal, held deliberations that spiraled into a tokenistic appreciative rant, instead of an analytical discussion among academicians with a platform to influence. For instance, Ms. Chadha stated that the era of #MeToo had a significant impact on the way gender inequality gaps were to be bridged, but she also explicitly suggested in the same breath that SRCC had received no complaints in the wave of #MeToo. Another female professor was asked to share her experiences of working ‘freely and safely till 9 p.m.’ at SRCC, as compared to how the society treated her outside the campus for being an independent woman who reached home late.

The faculty head of ICC did encourage the students to report sexual harassment claims, but the majority of the discussion was focussed on SRCC’s pride in not being amid controversies pertaining to the movement, and the implied absence of gender disparity and discrimination in the campus. With an estimated strength of 2800 students, statistics imply that students from all over the gender spectrum must be enrolled at the college, claiming to present an absolute lack of problematic sexism.

Suhani Singhal, the first female President of the Finance and Investment Cell (FIC) at SRCC shared, “FIC is one of the very few societies where all posts were allocated on the basis of commitment and capabilities, and where the cabinet ended up having a female majority. Our seniors at FIC were fair, and a factor like gender was not given consideration. But a few people in the college had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that a female is leading a Cell oriented towards finance.” Nikita Bhatia, a student of SRCC,stated, “Most societies in SRCC have had male presidents for years. Enactus, the Dramatics Society, Debating Society, Economics Society, and Placement Cell have normally had male presidents, and this trend still continues. With the exception of English Literary Society or Fine Arts Society, which aren’t givenmuch priority in a Commerce college anyway, all other major roles are held by men. This isn’t meant to undermine their credibility or merit, but it only begs us to wonder why, in a college with almost the same number of male and female students, are these trends of disproportionality so evident. The idea here is that dogmatic gender roles are so deeply entrenched in our society that often we fail to pinpoint gender disparity because it has been normalised. I believethat asking questions as to why these trends are prevalent becomes important in discussions about gender disparity, especially at an event as televised and marketed as SRES’19.” To be proud of stating that the ICC did not receive complaints in the #MeToo wave about similar problematic actions is along the lines of survivor voice oppression; for self-blame, humiliation, and a fear of retaliation manifest in the survivor’s psyche after sexual abuse in many cases, and to present a seemingly perfect picture of their abuser’s house may instil more apprehension to speak up. According to Psychology Today, “Many (sexually assaulted college women) are afraid to report the rape to their college administration because of a long history of cases being mishandled.”
Thus, praises of how well the college has maintained its clean record status should be replaced with an acceptance of the truth of misogynistic cultural conditioning, so that the administration appears more approachable to them wronged students. Arundhati Roy summed up the methodical suppression- by-suggestion when she said, “There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced
or the preferably unheard.”

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Anushree Joshi

[email protected]

(With inputs from Nikita Bhatia)

Any Economics student at Delhi University who has done a modicum of reading about history of economic thought shall be able to see that Economics as an academic discipline is dominated by Neoclassical Economics, with some Keynesian Economics here and there. And this is true for Universities all over the world.

 

From the very first class, we are fed “Ten Principles of Economics” from Gregory Mankiw’s book like they are supreme laws of nature, followed by rigorous mathematical analysis of demand and supply, of markets, of consumption and production, et-cetera. The schools of macroeconomic thought enter the picture in the fourth semester where they are given, generally, as much attention as agriculture gets from mainstream media. One reason is also their low share in the marking scheme of semester examinations.
I believe, the most appropriate way to learn a social science subject is to approach it historically. Because each distinct theory has to be seen in its historical context to be understood completely. For natural sciences, the laws are pretty much timeless. But Economics, despite of such rigorous mathematics used in its study, is a social science; and we need to study each theorist (economist) in the light of times he/she lived in.
For this, the ‘Economic Schools of Thought’ should be the very first chapter in Economics syllabus at DU. This shall guide students to see that each economist was a product of its time, that Economics developed in many ways from many different ideas about human nature and social constructs. For example, a deeper reading of neoclassical economics shows that it stems out from the philosophy of ‘Humanism’ and Keynesian Economics has an element of ‘Structuralism’. If nothing else, this might introduce students to the plurality of Economics right at the beginning, so that we at least know that there is more to economics than unrealistic assumptions in the name of ceteris paribus.
When we are fed equations and assumptions about consumer behavior, demand, and supply, investment, growth etc. like they are foolproof equations of natural sciences, the introduction of schools of thought in the fourth semester doesn’t do much to expand our horizon of understanding. It’s almost as if things would be same without such an inclusion.
Post financial crisis, there have been numerous critiques of neoclassical economics, of the financial system, the banking system, of capitalism itself. But despite everything, there have been no major reforms in the syllabus of Economics at universities in India. If we look at the syllabus of Economics Honours before CBCS in Delhi University, we shall see that the foundation subjects of theory are still exactly the same. We are still fed the same ‘laws’ and ‘principles’ of neoclassical economics until we are programmed to accept them as absolute truths rather than just one interpretation of reality amongst many others.
At this point, it must be made clear that neo-classical economics is not an altogether wrong branch of economics. The ‘free market – rational individual – independent agents’ formulations of economic theories do give many useful insights about the economic phenomena around the world. And these models are extremely feasible to base research on. The problem arises when we never learn to question those theories any further than some of the questions raised by John Maynard Keynes. The problem arises when our tendency of ‘not questioning’ translates into single-mindedness about the supremacy of one theory. When global events have repeatedly proved many neo-classical models and theories to be faulty and at times, even misguided, why do we still study the same syllabus without even looking at it critically?
We study textbooks written primarily by American authors – or authors who are not American but reside in America. In the process of learning to solve problems that concern advance capitalist economies, we become arrogant ‘specialists’ who are very prone to giving first world solutions to third world problems.
While I am a second-year student and there are two semesters on Development Economics and Indian Economy in the third year, I doubt, with my neo-classical training in theory, how much I would really be able to grasp the problems by their roots concerning India. Or will I just see the problems as much as they are written in my readings, as most of us do?
I am certain that there are others like me who feel that there is a huge problem with Economics as an academic discipline here in India and across the world. We study such a plural subject by almost reducing it to singularity. The notion of an inherently stable economy is fit into our minds like a testament. But during class, while learning the models like the Walrasian Equilibrium, the Efficient Market Hypothesis, our mind is constantly confused from the fictionality of the premises of those models.
It is completely true that the arrival of Economics as a mainstream distinct academic discipline began with the Classical Economists’ works, like those of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Jevons, Walras, Vilfred Pareto etc. It is absolutely necessary to study these giant intellectuals and their theories to learn economics. But we must also notice that neo-classical economics did not really build beyond providing a mathematical proof of earlier theorems under certain assumptions, while the world, clearly, has changed a lot. And when the models developed by top neo-classical experts around the world (including Nobel Laureates) have failed (sometimes very miserably) time and again in predicting as well as averting financial crashes, we must now collectively call for reform.
I strongly advocate the inclusion of Neo-Classical Economics in undergrad syllabus, because we can’t do anything without it. But I am sternly against the dominance of one branch in academia, politics and the financial sector. We must be introduced to Marx, to the Austrians, to the causes of various financial crashes and where the neo-classicals went wrong. We must be taught the problem of ‘Unequal Exchange’ as proposed by Samir Amin as importantly as we are taught the PPP theory. Because the way we are going right now, according to me, we shall become arrogant self-proclaimed specialists who think they know more than the laymen and understand the world, but lack the basic element of ‘intellectual plurality’.
We must also be taught, as an additional Skill Enhancement Course, about the day to day working of Banks and Financial Institutions in India, about things as basic as how to buy insurance policy or how to manage our bank accounts. Things very basic, but extremely relevant to the real world. I have noticed that I know complex things like how Banks galvanize the credit-creation process, but not so much the simpler things which really matter in day to day survival.
The purpose of my education in Economics, for me, is to be part of a global intellectual workforce, who pioneer in bridging the gap between complex economic phenomena and the common people. The world is a complex place, extremely difficult to understand. As economics students, our goal must be to make it simpler for everyone. We must learn to rigorously criticize our own discipline, because at this crucial juncture in history, Economics needs it.

Alyasa Abbas

Alyasa Abbas is a second-year student of Economics Hons. at Zakir Husain Delhi College.