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Lady Shri Ram College for Women witnessed long queues during the admissions to first cut-off list due to lack of staff and technical issues. Volunteers played an important role throughout the process.

The corridors of Lady Shri Ram College for Women witnessed chaos and anarchy as students had a hard time during the admission procedure at the first cut off. The students who entered the gates on the first day of announcement of first-cut off list for admission to the college i.e. 28th June 2019 were stuck in the college premises till 8 p.m. after which the college declared that the admission procedure could not be continued. It was also observed that some applicants had to be stay back in the campus till 10 p.m. for completing the admission procedure. Candidates who couldn’t get admitted on the first day were compelled to report the next day and could only get admitted till 6 p.m. on 29th June 2019.

“Lack of proper execution was clearly evident as many students who got their tokens at 11 a.m. were done with the process. On the other hand, those who got their tokens at 9 a.m. kept waiting,” said Manvi Sharma, a student who witnessed the chaos herself.

Lack of staff involved in the admission process and frequent technical setbacks were cited as the primary reasons behind the colossal delay.

The outstation students had to face more problems as many had to search for an accommodation. Many missed their flights and trains, thereby obstructing their schedules. Leha, an applicant who resides in Greater Noida said, “My home is two hours away from the college. It’ll be extremely late when I reach home. The college must adhere to these issues while executing the admission procedure.

Parents had to wait for long hours which led to skirmishes between them and the administration. Rakhi, a parent who was present on the first day of admissions said, “My ward got her college enrollment form at 11 a.m. and was not able to get her admission formalities completed till 8 p.m. It was only the next day when the parents put forth their grievances, that the college followed a proper system.”

The volunteers were seen patient throughout the process. They addressed the grievances and assured both the applicants and their parents that the admissions would be completed at the earliest.

It is expected that the second cut off would unfold in a less chaotic manner unlike the first day of the verification process

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Priyanshi Banerjee

[email protected]

A selfless good deed in our rapidly modernising and materialistic society is almost as rare as the Green Sea Turtle. Living in this age of spiffy technology, where everything that we need is just a touch away, has rendered most of us incapable of looking beyond our immediate world to help someone who may not be just as lucky as we are.

I cannot boast of being a great social worker or preach righteousness to anyone; I simply want to acknowledge the fact that there still are some individuals who try to make a difference in the lives of those who start believing they are lost in an abyss of inky darkness.

Sanjivini Society for Mental Health, a purely non-profit organisation, works tirelessly towards the goal of reinstating people’s faith in themselves.

It is a premier organisation that has been providing counselling, a much needed service, absolutely free of cost since 1976. People with problems ranging from stressful life situations to severe mental illness can find solace here.

With two centres in Delhi, at Qutab Institutional Area and Defence Colony, Sanjivini’s volunteer body is the mainstay of the organisation. They are a set of committed individuals who work without remuneration. They come from all walks of life, are stringently selected and intensively trained in order to maintain the quality of counselling.

The work at this noble institution is carried out at two main units- the Crisis Intervention Unit and the Rehabilitation Centre. The Crisis Intervention Unit provides confidential psycho-social counselling for a wide spectrum of emotional distress and mental health problems, ranging from self esteem issues, inter-personal problems, depression, suicidal inclination, substance abuse and minor mental illness. The Rehabilitation Centre is a pioneering programme that works towards the rehabilitation of persons suffering from chronic schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is a full-day therapeutic facility.   Over the years, their Community Outreach initiatives have been directed towards the goal of de-stigmatizing counselling by raising awareness.

Sanjivini organises a fundraiser once every two years to ensure that their unerring service to the society can continue. The fundraising event this year was ‘Karna’- a ballet in Mayurbhanj Chau presented by the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra at Kamani Auditorium on 24th January. Dr. Abid Hussain(former Indian Ambassador to the US) and Mr. Keshav Desiraju(from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) were present at the occasion.

The ballet was a beautifully executed, heart-wrenching piece on the life of one of the most inspiring characters of the Mahabharata. The performance was very apt for the occasion as it depicted a person who faced hostile circumstances throughout his life and was denied his rightful place in the social milieu. The dancer who played the role of Karna was a delight to watch and won many accolades, much like the ceaseless efforts of Sanjivini.

Apart from the construction of metro bridges and the ‘constant efforts’ to modify and embellish this city, the most recent tiding that is keeping the hullabaloo of the Commonwealth Games alive is the staggering number of volunteer requirement. The Commonwealth Games is the biggest international event being hosted by India since the Asian Games of 1982.Tthe Ministry of Youth Affairs has therefore approached Delhi University and other major universities like JNU with its concern regarding volunteer requirements. The Ministry has decided to recruit at least 7000 volunteers and has already approached 63 colleges including colleges like Lady Sri Ram College for Women, briefing the staff and the students about their requirements.

The Volunteer Management Programme has been modeled after the Beijing Olympics where even high school students had to go through a number of recruitment stages. The Ministry hopes to follow such a pattern and will be dividing the volunteers into two broad categories – ‘the general volunteers’ and the ‘specific volunteers’. The general volunteers would be responsible for hospitality like welcoming, guiding and catering to the guests’ comforts while the specific category would be responsible for various sport specific jobs. The volunteers will be trained accordingly with their first session of drills beginning this October. This introductory session would be held within the college premises for approximately 20 days where the volunteers will be trained in basic etiquette, courtesy and other modalities.

This sure is a colossal event with 54 participating nations, represented by over 70 teams. Over 8500 international athletes swarming across the streets of Delhi and we as students of DU get to interact with them (provided we volunteer). We have been assured that the volunteers will be given national certificates and comforts such as safe transport for the girl volunteers.

For once let us not be lured into volunteering for want of a certificate but realize that it is a big event for our country and try and make it nearly as big as the Beijing Olympics if not exactly as good, after all it is a weighty opportunity for us too! Events like the Commonwealth do not happen everyday.