A few prestigious institutions under the University of Delhi, namely, St. Stephen’s College, Hindu College, Ramjas College, Shri Ram College of Commerce and colleges run by theDelhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee, have expressed the desire of achieving a deemed university status. The proposals are at very initial stages, but if granted, these colleges will have the power to formulate their own rules and fee structures which will not adhere to the functioning of Delhi University.
The matter was raised in the governing body meeting of Hindu college, and it was declared that in later stages if a college wants a deemed university status, they must have an ‘A grade’ accreditation under NAAC for 3 consecutive years. A senior university official stated, “Few colleges like SRCC, Stephen’s, Ramjas, Hindu and the ones run by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee want deemed university status. The Union Human Resource Development Ministry has also formulated some norms for providing more autonomy to colleges but deemed status will give them complete freedom of functioning on their own”. It has been speculated that if this status is granted to any of these colleges, they will not be bound by any of the rules and regulations of Delhi University, and thus there will be no need to seek sanctions from the University for any decision. Despite of all these proposals, it has also been speculated that the Student Unions of these colleges might oppose this move because the college will then have a liberty of deciding their own fee structure, and thus there might be a price hike in the fee which would make affordability a great reason of concern for many students.
St. Stephen’s College has already been in a tussle with the University of Delhi for the past couple of years regarding an autonomous status. Attempts to reach out to the Student Union of the college for their comments were unsuccessful.
Meghna Singh, a student of Miranda House, recently went through a horrific incident when she attended KK’s concert of the last day of SRCC’s annual fest, Crossroads. When she came home from the concert, she noticed white spots on her black trousers. According to her, a man had masturbated on her during the concert and the evidence was all over her trousers.
She described the whole incident on Facebook. In her now widely shared Facebook post, she explained the details of the entire incident. She narrated that she could sense something fishy when she felt a guy behind her in the concert. Subsequently, she and her friends, who were scared but alert, held each other on to form a human chain during the concert for protection. She had put up the Facebook post on a public platform in hopes that people would get to know about the harrowing things that can happen to women, even in public and to stand up against such incidents. But instead of the support she was expecting, she got mocked at and trolled. and she was labeled a ‘liar’ and an ‘attention seeker’. On her Facebook post, which has over 8000 comments, many shockingly accused her of being a ‘liar’ and an ‘attention seeker’. This translated into a extensive battle-ground with many people in support of her rubbishing such claims and extending their sympathies to her.
The picture posted by Meghna Singh on Facebook while narrating the incident.
The unprecedented trolling that Meghna faced, forced her to post another status update explaining herself. She explained the hollowness of the claims made by those who opposed her and thoroughly explained the incident further. She said that initially, she didn’t realise what was happening and it was only after coming back to her PG and changing, she noticed the spots on her trousers. She also added, “There was a guy right behind me who,after a while, started feeling me up. I wasn’t sure as I couldn’t recognise if it was his hand or his fingers. Then after a while I could smell the odour, I could feel that something fell on my left leg which I thought might have been sweating and since the place was quite crowded I couldn’t be sure about it.” After the guy tried to get closer again, she along with her friends resisted him and tried to form a human chain to avoid any accidental touches. “After a while, that guy again tried to get closer when I pushed him away shouting “Please bhai tum niklo yahan se” then he whispered something to his fellow partner. They were 3 guys who were there & they exchanged some gestures and then abruptly left. After I returned to my PG and changed, I saw these spots on my pants along with some white discharge. I realised that my intuition of “sweat landing on my left leg” was actually his semen because of his convenient masturbation amongst the crowd of around hundreds of people.”
“We obviously thought we avoided that situation when she pushed him so we went back home,” says Antara Kashyap, one of Meghna’s friend who was there with her at the time. When Meghna found out what had happened, her friends asked her to speak up about it.“She sent us the picture in a WhatsApp group saying it was semen. It smelled and it was definitely discharge. We asked her to put it on Facebook and speak up about it. It was the right thing to do. The first negative comment was from an old “friend” who laughed it off. Then one guy said it could be srikhand and it shocked us.”
Meghna and her friends had not anticipated so many negative comments on the post. Antara said, “We never realised there would be thousands of such people, literate ones at that, who’d comment, slut-shame her and make this something to laugh about. Meghna and all of us, we have gone through a lot. We don’t deserve this hate. Meghna is a strong girl, she’s unfazed. I can’t say that about myself. Maybe that’s why thousands of victims of sexual abuse do not speak up. If you speak up they try to break you down.”
Meghna’s post was meant for people to see the unspeakable truths of harassment which are not absent in the campus, especially during the fest season. Parismita Talkudar, one of Meghna’s classmate, recounts a similar story, “I went to see one of my favourite star of Bollywood. We waited for 3 hours to have a glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan at Hansraj College last year. We were surrounded with a whole lot of people and we decided to stay together holding each other. One of my friend was behind a guy who looked innocent . In fact when some people were pushing her, he told them not to. When SRK came after so long, the crowd pushed each other like a wave and we got separated. There was a guy who helped me get out of the crowd. As I waited outside the ground for my friends I saw one of them almost in tears. The guy who was behind her, and who we thought was a nice person, actually came on her. She was disgusted as she could feel something wet on her top and when we looked at it, we could clearly see semen. This isn’t something that happened for the first time only with Meghna. This happens, with a lot of girls. But some decide to keep quiet.”
Four days of the ever charged up annual fest of SRCC, Crossroads’17 was a success with enthusiastic performers and the lively crowd. On the last day, the final showdown was scheduled with the start of Basscamp, where Rock Bands of different colleges gave exquisite performances. Bands of different colleges namely Middle of Nowhere, Hindu Collective and Black Coffee were lined up for the event which was successfully attracting the crowd with their stupefying show.
The day concluded with a majestic performance by one of the kings of Bollywood, KK. His energy and passion for his music got the crowd grooving to glorious hits from the 1990s and 2000s. Popular songs had the audience singing along loudly throughout the show. Some of the crowd favourites included Aashayein from the inspirational movie Iqbal and the heart wrenching Tadap Tadap Ke from the 90s classic, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. KK finished the show with Koi Kahe from Dil Chahta Hai, and left the crowd feeling ecstatic from such an exciting night. Crossroads 2017, while slow on the events front, more than made up for it with this unforgettable concert.
The annual fest Crossroads’17 of Shri Ram College of Commerce hosted the Indian Choir Competition Saarang on the third day which had participants from eight different colleges. The competition was judged by Renuka Arya where Samranjhini of Gargi College emerged as the winners. Swaranjali of Hansraj College and Geetanjali of Miranda House jointly bagged the second position in the competition. The Indian solo singing competition Alaap where Dhruv Pargai of IIIT Delhi sang the winning song. Vaishnavi Tyagi of Hansraj College and Lakshay Kapoor of Ramanujan College got jointly awarded the first runner up in the competition.
Picturesque, punchy and unabashedly stylish, the five colleges that participated in Crossroad’s Inferno, theFashion Show, definitely made an impression. Judged by Harsh Khullar and Ashmita Jaiswal, Kamla Nehru College emerged victorious in this battle of the trends with the likes of fashion societies from Maitreyi, Keshava Maha Vidyalaya, SSSGC and GNIOT providing stiff competition. The overriding trend seemed to be dark lipshades and eccentric outfits. However, Glitz,the Fashion Society of KNC stole the show with its performance on the theme ‘Savage Mind’ in shades of blue, black and grey. This event was undoubtedly a feast for the eyes.
The MTV Campus Diaries Dancemob Faceoff started off with some power packed performances and energetic beats. Judged by the iconic Salman Khan, former winner of Dance India Dance, his personal commentary carried the entire event and inspired the teams to give some killer performances. He also joined one of the teams on stage for a little jig.
Participants included a total of 13 teams, but Zeal, the Western Dance Society of Maitreyi College bagged the winners’ cheque for Rs 50,000. A night promised to be full of excellent dancing and good music, this event definitely set the tone for the rest of the night.
With a palpable energy and anticipation running high, Shri Ram College of Commerce’s annual cultural fest, Crossroads, certainly brought the beat back with a confluence of enthralling performances and a colourful ambience. As the degree of the crowd pouring in amplified with every hour, the exhilaration levels were also met with satiation and pleasure.
The first-day kick started with Thirakh, the Western Dance Competition, which witnessed the energising performances by a motley of colleges. With a participation of eleven teams, each offering strong contention, the event was adjudged by the very famous, Desi Hoppers. Maitreyi College’s Zeal bagged the first award for their engaging moves, followed by Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce’s Misba.
After announcing the results, DesiHoppers, the Mumbai-based dance crew who represented India at the World of Dance Championship,grooved on stage with the winning teams and addressed the audience.
As the sun set, the fahrenheit rose at Crossroads’17. The EDM artist ‘Lost stories’ led the crowd into a frenzy as he came up with leading numbers one after the other. The jam-packed audience were on their toes throughout the hour as the DJ came up with chart toppers like ‘Closer’, ‘Boulevard of broken dreams’, ‘Yellow’ and ‘Bang Bang’ tuned to their best beats.
‘Lost Stories’ led the way to the awaited star of the night, DJ Chetas. Constantly ranked as one of the leading DJs globally, he set the energy of the house to newer levels as he started with latest bollywood and global chartbusters like ‘Kala Chasma’ and ‘Cheap thrills’. The crowd cheered throughout as followed next all time bollywood blockbusters like ‘Oh ho jaane jaane’, ‘Buleya’ and ‘Naadan Parindey’. The DJ concluded with a soulful streak finally ending with ‘Channa Mereya’, marking the end of the first day at SRCC Crossroads.
From sudden infrastructural changes to administrative departments running around and looking all dazed and cold feet, whether we choose to agree or disagree, but the preparation for NAAC inspection sent almost every college in a frenzy last year. And with the NAAC Peer Team coming, preparations caught up in full swing, involving an uncanny resemblance to a household situation where an unforeseen wedding had suddenly come up. With all the white-washing, denting-painting, revamping, reckless spending of money, running around, fake smiling, boastful talks about one’s college in the air during ‘NAAC days’, our belief in the aforementioned analogy only gets stronger.
With a panel touted as a meticulously chosen handful of very experienced academicians and people who understand the ‘education system very well’ coming and assessing colleges under NAAC, the question arises, does a grading matter after all?
What is NAAC?
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is an autonomous body established by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India to assess and accredit institutions of higher education in the country. An outcome of the recommendations of the National Policy in Education (1986) which laid special emphasis on upholding the quality of higher education in India, the NAAC was established in 1994 with its headquarters at Bangalore.
Upon requests by individual colleges and universities, the primary accreditation agency of the country conducts assessments and grades institutions. The agency’s cumulative gradation of institutions is based on parameters like curriculum, faculty, research, infrastructure, learning resources, organisation, governance and student services.
The process: How does it accredit colleges
Assessment and Accreditation are broadly used for understanding the “Quality Status” of an institution. In the context of Higher Education, the accreditation status indicates that the particular Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) – a College, a University, or any other recognised Unit therein, meets the standards of quality as set by the Accreditation Agency, in terms of its performance, related to the educational processes and outcomes, covering the curriculum, teaching-learning, evaluation, faculty, research, infrastructure, learning resources, organisation, governance, financial well-being and student services.
The top and the bottom: How did DU perform
While most colleges applied for the NAAC accreditation long back, the visits majorly took place last year and the scores were released soon after. In the initial phase, IPCW secured a CGPA of 3.33 (Grade A) and ANDC secured the second spot by getting a CGPA of 3.31 (Grade A).These were followed by Gargi College (3.30), St. Stephen’s College (3.21), Jesus and Mary College (3.26), Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (3.16), Ramanujan College (3.06), Shivaji College (3.26), Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce (3.02), Keshav Mahavidyalaya (3.01), Bharati College (2.85), PGDAV (2.74), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College (2.63), and Motilal Nehru College (2.60).
Later in the year, SRCC and LSR emerged at the top with a whooping score of 3.65 and 3.61 respectively. Take a look at the top 10 scorers in the table here.
Top 10 scorers
Image credits: HT Media
These scores are valid for five years after which the colleges will again have to apply for accreditation. It was in 2012 that UGC made accreditation compulsory for higher educational institutions and DU executive council adopted the decision in 2014.
Does the grade even matter?
As far as we remember, such a panel as meticulously chalked out as NAAC didn’t exist many years back. While grading brings in a state of competitive spirit (as if the previous branding and rep-bias that exists in the university wasn’t enough already) the question arises, does the same grade then not end up shining the pride of the already well established and some popular DU colleges and create biases against some others who might actually be needing a lift from the loom of being less sought after and meagerly funded?
Whether the committee gives out grades on the hastily dip-dyed infrastructure especially revamped for their visit or the actual system in place is still a question for many to ponder upon.
The accreditation process got a thumbs up from some colleges, however, many raised objections over the assessment criteria too from time to time. Speaking to a popular national daily, Babli Saraf, principal of Indraprastha College for Women, said there shouldn’t be a “one-size-fits-all” criteria for colleges. “The criteria shouldn’t be the same for a liberal arts college like ours, where we do not have the provisions for a laboratory and are not involved in research publications,” she said.
In most cases, colleges started a laborious and hasty revamp revolution, to save their grace in front of the NAAC peer team and not to raise their quality standard in general altogether. When your transformation drive is initiated to fulfil a set of stipulatedideas by a panel that is not even remotely looking at how you provide for the students, the timely assessment of whether the students and teachers are happy with the administration of the college, whether the college has some unique traits that may not figure in its already set parameters, if the college is lacking in research, what should it do, then that grading doesn’t stand much ground. The NAAC website says that they provide a ‘qualitative part of the outcome as a Peer Team Report (PTR)’ which is an objective report prepared by the Team highlighting its evaluative judgements, mostly using precise keywords instead of long sentences about the college under consideration, but I doubt these objective answers bring any real on-ground changes.
Does a low grading not mar the reputation of a college that might be in dire need of those funds, facilities and attention that it rightfully deserves in order to raise itself to a better education imparting platform? What good is a grade for colleges that are already popular among students and parents and get truckloads of funds? Should a grade not help encourage a college to become a more holistic space than label it as an ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ type college for years to come. Finally, does a grade mean anything more than a fancy wall hanging of a newspaper clipping on the college walls for many many years, or does it actually ignites change? This is for time to tell and for us to ponder.
If you are interested in reading about NAAC and the process, log on to http://www.naac.gov.in/ for detailed information.
Spread the warmth is an initiative undertaken by Sanchie Shroff and Shiv Kumar Bansal, both being students of Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi. The campaign, is a pan-India cloth collection and distribution drive happening across seven cities namely Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Patna, Chennai, Kolkata and Siliguri.
The Collection Mechanisms:
1. Collection Centers: Set up collection centers at 75 retail outlets of Big Bazaar across the seven Indian cities.
2. Schools and Colleges: Contact various school and college authorities for implementing this drive
3.Doorstep Collection: Set up volunteer meeting points in Delhi where people from across the city/volunteers from NGOs/ students from schools and colleges voluntarily come together to ensure maximum collection.
Major Highlights of ‘Spread The Warmth’s journey so far:
1. The collection drive across 75 Big Bazaar stores began on the 1st of January, 2017
2. Various Schools and colleges in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi have initiated the campaign already.
3. Our Siliguri team conducted the Doorstep Collection on 28th and 29th December, 2016. They collected 13.02 Quintals of clothes in just 8.5 hours.
On the 8th of January, 2017 we will be conducting a doorstep collection drive in Rohini Sector 9. We request everyone, to join us for the Doorstep Collection Drive in Rohini. To volunteer, they can follow this link: https://goo.gl/forms/xSn37MJoDnWcsvsV2. We would like to inform all the residents of Rohini Sector 9 to contribute to this cause and keep the clothes ready for contribution on 8th.
With the support of esteemed organisations like the Future Group (Big Bazaar), Safexpress, Goonj, Lions Club, etc., we aim to collect tonnes of clothes and impact thousands of lives across the nation.
Students of SRCC are evaluating the factors that influence the acceptability of Smart Bus Transport System under DU’s Innovation Project.
A group of students from Shri Ram College Of Commerce are working on an evaluation of acceptability of Internet Of Things (IoT) in traffic management in Delhi. The concept of Internet Of Things primarily revolves around inter-connecting things with internet to make a self-sustaining system. It is a concept well explored in other countries, but the widespread use of IoT in handling day-to-day problems is still in its nascent stage in India.
To help you understand better, there exists a technology where closets are fitted with sensors, which detect the time certain clothes remain unused, and alert the owner of the same. Some variations in this technology also directly contact NGOs that collect these unused clothes from the owner and put them to better use. This is just an example of the innumerable IoT applications that exist around the world.
This project primarily focuses on IoT technology applied to traffic management in Delhi, and thus, evaluates the Smart Bus Transport system on its acceptability, based on a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The Smart Bus Transport system was designed for improving the public-transit system in Singapore, and connects buses with the internet and commuters’ mobile devices, so that real-time alerts of bus locations, timings and remaining capacity can be transmitted to make travel by public transport more efficient and convenient.
Therefore, a preliminary survey was conducted to identify a traffic problem which the residents and commuters in Delhi would like to be addressed first by an application of IoT. The final survey will be carried out on the lines of TAM. The data generated will then, be subjected to vigorous statistical analysis.
Resident of Delhi? Be a part of the survey. Click on https://innovationproject.typeform.com/to/Pb0TMt and tell them your take on the Internet of Things.
A recent graduate from SRCC, Yogesh Gautam has started a crowdfunding campaign so that he can embark on a 50,000km road journey to promote chess in the interiors of India.
Starting on October 5, from Jammu and Kashmir, Gautam’s itinerary includes places such as Bikaner (Rajasthan), Katch (Gujarat), Katni (Madhya Pradesh), Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), Agartala (Tripura) and his hometown Bhiwani, Haryana. “I will teach kids Chess, and will distribute chess sets for free, DVDs and books on the game in remote areas. As all of this require funds, I have started a crowd funding campaign for it,” he says, talking to a popular national daily.
The 21-year-old also seeks to break the Guinness World Record for the longest journey by car in a country. “The Guinness World Record for the longest journey by car in a country is 36,060.1km. By travelling 50,000km, I’m hoping to break that record as well. However, that will only be the icing on the cake. The main motive for me to aim for setting these world records is also only to draw more attention towards chess,” adds Gautam.
A fresh graduate from one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, Gautam is all praise for his college in helping him nurture his love for the game. “Not a lot of colleges go the extra mile for their sports students, but my teachers supported me a lot. Not only would I get attendance for my tournaments and practice sessions, the teachers would also give me extra classes just so I could catch up on my coursework,” he was quoted as saying.
His affair with Chess began over a decade ago when his sister gifted him a chess set. He believes that people in India don’t know the game and don’t care about it much. “Aaj tak mujhe koi scholarship nahi mili hai. In my own state, many have been celebrated for bringing Olympic medals in various sports, but many still don’t consider Chess asport. I want to change that”, he remarks in an interview with a national daily.
Human Circle, a community of students and professionals from different backgrounds, educational fields, and goals, organised the sixth Young India Challenge (YIC) on the 17th and 18th of September, 2016 at Shri Ram College of Commerce. The tagline – Do What You Love – was an indication of the event’s proceedings. The conference was aimed at facilitating young people in finding their passion in life.
The event started in the morning outside the main auditorium, with ice breaker sessions for the delegates. Post that, everyone moved inside where Kamal Seth, the founder of the organisation, took up the stage and shared the journey of the community and the previous YICs. Sonia Joanna Szymczak, the next speaker, held an interactive session with the delegates asking questions about their expectations from their life and the YIC. Next, Wioleta Burdzy Seth, one of the co-founders of the organisation and a life coach, started with the ‘Hack Your Brain’ session. Continuing the trend, she began by opening a dialogue with the audience. She shared many of her experiences with the delegates and asked them to do the same. “Bend your reality to make your own rules,” said Wioleta when discussing various societal and life pressures influencing people towards their careers. The session concluded with tips and techniques to get a better grip on life.
The afternoon session on Day 1 began with conversations with speakers. Sankalp Chhabra, who currently works in the corporate social responsibility sector of Snapdeal, talked about the importance of consistently working hard for your goal. He has many accolades to his name, having worked for the Central Board of Secondary Education and for the Planning Commission of India. Sankalp spoke about his journey as a whole – from the time he realised his goal, to the everyday efforts he put in to achieve it. One of the most substantive statements by Sankalp with regard to this was “You need to make it happen on a day by day basis.”
The next speaker, Sonia Joanna Szymczak, spoke about her love for travel and how it influenced her career. She focuses on cross cultural business communication, which she called the “global approach to business and people.” Her presentation revolved around the differences in etiquette around the world, during which she presented a graphic that stated that curiosity and non-judgemental thinking lead to positive learning. She also spoke in depth about her personal experiences and personal growth.
After the speaker session, the delegates were divided into teams and were given time to get to know each other. They were also asked to prepare material for the next day.
The next day started with an ice-breaking session, wherein the delegates had to collectively work towards building a paper tower. This was followed with a ‘know your mentor’ session, in which each of the 16 mentors introduced themselves and shared snippets of the life-events that contributed in them following their respective career paths. The mentors included Human Circle co-founders, Wioleta Burdsy Seth and Kamal Seth, along with various entrepreneurs coming from different backgrounds.
The main project of the day was for the participants to come up with a product which they could patent, trademark or copyright, based on any one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. For this purpose, the delegates were divided into teams and allotted the pre-lunch period to work on their ideas and also consult with the different mentors.
During the presentation session, the different teams put forward very innovative ideas concerning a number of issues like inadequate drinking water in rural India, oceanic pollution, poor educational facilities and many more. Each team was allotted a period of 5 minutes to present their product, after which they were questioned by a panel of 3 judges.
The two day programme culminated in a prize-distribution ceremony in which the winners of the ‘Young India Challenge’ were presented with prizes, while all of the participants were given ‘Excellence certificates.’
An innovative and enjoyable initiative by Human Circle, the Young India Challenge aims at locating and honing the abilities of the future leaders of our nation. Not only did the delegates have a lot of fun, but they also had a lot of valuable take-aways from the programme.
Image credits: Alex Arthur and Hitanksha Jain for DU BeatVineeta Rana ([email protected])Swareena Gurung ([email protected] )]]>
