Three years ago, when I took admission in Ashoka University, I had no expectations from it. Being a new university that promised to offer a liberal arts education, a course most people hadn’t even heard of at that time, I was unsure whether it would be worth it or not. However, since I hadn’t applied anywhere else other than Delhi University, where I couldn’t get the course I wanted to pursue, I wasn’t left with much choice. So, I reluctantly took admission in Ashoka, without any excitement that one has when they join college.

The dejection I felt because of not getting into DU slowly wore off as I began to enjoy my academics, made amazing friends and started settling into the hostel. From meeting people from diverse backgrounds to studying subjects that I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to study anywhere else, this place has given me everything that one can want from an ideal college life.

If I were to do it all over again and had a choice between Ashoka and DU, I would choose the former any day. I’d also encourage others to make the same choice because of the following reasons that make Ashoka as amazing as it is:

1. Your Life, Your Choice

You need not worry about judgmental stares and comments if you attend classes at Ashoka in your night dresses and half-sleepy eyes. Keeping in sync with the idea of liberal arts education, Ashoka treats students the way they should be, as adults. You’ll find regulations that are commonplace in most Indian universities, not found at Ashoka. Students from the opposite sex are allowed to visit each others’ dorms; there are no dress codes and no curfews.

2. Flexibility

Most universities have a rigid attendance policy, say a minimum requirement of attending at least 75% classes, or else a student may be barred from appearing for exams. At Ashoka, while foundation courses allow four free absences in a semester, almost no other course has any attendance requirement. Also, not all courses have final examinations – some may just require you to write a paper, or your evaluation may be based on attendance and class participation.

3. No One Dictates What You Should Study At Ashoka

You can go in for conventional major courses, such as economics or history, or pursue an interdisciplinary major, like economics and finance, history and international relations, or do a minor course alongside your major.

If you aren’t satisfied with your major, you also have the provision to make a switch. The best part of it all is no one judges you for following your heart. One of my friends, who initially intended to major in economics, switched to sociology after studying courses like Social and Political Formations and reading great books because she was fascinated by these courses.

4. Financial Aid

Given that Ashoka’s undergraduate programme’s fees is seven lakh per annum and it has a ‘fancy’ campus, most people assume that our university is full of elitists and snobs. However, this isn’t true. Many students here are on financial aid of some kind, and some students even get full scholarships. Ashoka tries to be as inclusive as possible in every sphere, which is why the authorities try their best to make sure that meritorious students don’t lose out on the opportunity to study at the institute because of financial problems.

5. Critical Thinking Approach

While all of us know that two plus two equals four, at Ashoka, you would be asked why and how you arrived at this conclusion. All students have to take an introductory course in critical thinking in the first semester, where they read and learn to analyse texts and give their views. Critical thinking is an important aspect of the liberal arts curriculum at Ashoka, where students are encouraged to question everything around them, rather than unthinkingly accept things the way they are.

6. Tie-Ups With Renowned Universities

Ashoka has partnered with several well-known universities from across the world, such as King’s College, University of California, Berkeley, Carleton College, Sciences Po, Trinity College, Yale University and the University of Michigan. Visiting faculty from these universities come to teach at Ashoka for one to two semesters.

The tie-up also gives students at Ashoka the opportunity of spending a summer or a semester abroad at these institutions. Students mostly have to look after funding on their own for going to these institutes for a semester. However, partial fee waivers are granted to those in need, if they wish to attend classes at these institutes for a summer.

7. Centres For Holistic Development

Ashoka has various centres which ensure holistic development and concentrate on non-academic areas. For instance, the Centre For Well-Being aims to ensure the mental wellness of students by conducting workshops about mental health and also offers counselling. The Centre for Sexuality and Gender Studies organises regular events about gender and sexuality.

Ashoka University has a Centre for Entrepreneurship which hosts programs like Entrepreneurs in Residence and has given birth to many successful startups on campus. Also, entrepreneurship is offered as a course at Ashoka, which can either be pursued as a minor or with an interdisciplinary major in computer science.

I have now realised that the kind of college I was aiming for initially, could never have given me the exposure that Ashoka did. Rather than solely aiming for academic excellence, it focuses on instilling values in you which would help you succeed in whatever field you’d want to succeed in. Ashoka University somehow moulds you into an independent, free-thinking individual, without trying to control you in any way. Since the university itself doesn’t conform to conventional standards, it encourages you to tread on an unconventional path if you wish to, fearlessly. As I am preparing to graduate in a few weeks, I can confidently say that coming to Ashoka has been the best decision of my life.
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Images provided by the author.

The post 7 Reasons Why Going To Ashoka University Was The Best Decision Of My Life appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

And the bemusing times are back. Heading into my final year, and sitting in my college’s adda, I recall the times when nothing more mattered in life than a seat in one of Delhi University’s colleges. The process can come across as complex, but a little awareness can come to the rescue. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind before applying to the University of Delhi this year.

Course Vs College

You might have scored really well in your board exams, but that does not certify your aptitude to pursue a particular course. Aptitude does matter. Despite a lot of portals coming up with suggestions, counselling and related posts, they fail to resolve a lot of anxieties and apprehensions of the applicants.

I enrolled in the sixth cut-off at SGTB Khalsa College. The seminar room had quite a few applicants for courses like English, political science and history. They had secured brilliant marks, ranging from 95 to 100. But the faculty present there, I guess, could sense their inability to pursue the subject. It made sense later. The 95%+ people barely passed their first semester. Yes! Someone who had scored more than 97% in CBSE humanities barely passed the political science papers. A person now heading into his third year is clueless about the content of the course and the syllabus. In a bid to secure admission in a well-known college, people often give less importance to the course they’re choosing. University admissions demand a lot of clarity about the process and your objectives in life.

The Admission Form

Filling up admission forms can be confusing, especially when picking between elective subjects and languages. The online central pre-admission form requires you to submit a soft-copy of your passport size photograph and scanned copies of self-attested documents. Make sure you fill the required details correctly. Most importantly, keep saving the form. The server has a history of collapsing unexpectedly.

The Cut-Offs

The cut-offs are expected to be released in July. Five cut-offs were declared the previous year. Online registration for undergraduate courses begins on May 22, 2017. If you meet the cut-off, you will have three days to enrol at the respective college where you made the cut. You will have to submit your documents and pay semester/annual fees. The worst is the struggle with photocopying documents and stationary. Make sure you have a heap of passport size photographs and self-attested photocopies of the documents ready before heading for admissions at the college.

If you decide to change your college after a subsequent cut-off, you will need to withdraw admission from the previous college first. The documents and the deposited amount are returned, with certain deductions. Beware of brokers promising back-door admissions. From peons to administration staff and (student) politicos, they claim to help seek a back-door admission, demanding huge amounts of money.

ECA and Sports Quota Admissions

I was from the last batch that didn’t have a centralised ECA Admission procedure. Running errands for trials, top-notch commutation management and a kit bag with water bottles, certificates, activity kits, mark sheets and stationary were our survival kit. There were days when I auditioned at three different colleges in a span of four hours! Centralising the procedure might have eased the process but has made the competition tougher and more complicated. It is still a little difficult to understand the judging criteria.

If you plan to apply for admissions through the ECA or sports quota, you must select the option in the form itself. Fill in the details of the activity or sport, and attach relevant training, participation and/or achievement certificates and laurels along with the particulars of the last three years only.

Trials for ECA are held at two levels. There are preliminary trials, and upon qualification, the final trials, followed by counselling. For sports, a fitness test is followed by the trials for the respective game. Under the centralised system, trials for varied activities were held at specific colleges. Final trials followed for those selected. For sports, the aspirants could undertake the fitness test at any of the enlisted colleges. Trials for different sports were held at distinct colleges.

Notification of the process for this year is awaited.

Admissions might be a test of your patience and nerves. Be self-aware. Follow the admission portal and college websites for details. For doubts, contact the concerned college directly. Do not rely on random sources. Best of luck!

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Image source: Jasjeet Plaha/ Hindustan Times via Getty Images

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Dear CLAT,

I am one of those tens of thousands of students who have appeared for your examination.

When seven premier national law universities came together in 2008 to conduct you — the first ever Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) for admissions to a five-year integrated BA LLB course — it came as a sigh of relief to all law aspirants, who earlier had to travel to different cities to write separate entrance examinations for various universities. Ever since you have been conducted by a different law school every year.

The second Sunday of May is the D-day of every law aspirant’s life. Having studied a year’s worth of current affairs, perfected legal concepts, practiced reasoning, along with English and math, we anxiously step into the exam hall to face the most decisive two hours of our life. And what awaits us? A sham of an examination that callously tosses our dreams down the drain.

There has not been a single CLAT till date which has been free from institutional botch-ups.

It all started in 2009. You had to be rescheduled because your question paper was leaked. Then in 2011, your question booklet came in with few questions which had answers underlined, much to our disappointment. In 2012, you made a mockery of the prescribed syllabus by seriously deviating from the official format. You also produce an erroneous rank list, withdrew and republished it and consequently saw a number of writ petitions in Court.

2013 was the only year in which you came surprisingly close to being an error-free experience. Then again in 2014, the standard of questions went down and you messed up things colossally by putting out the model answer sheet with incorrect answers. In 2015, which is notoriously known as the worst CLAT experience ever. Math questions were plagiarised from old CAT papers, GK copy-pasted from a popular website, and the poorly conducted online exam came in with a jaw-dropping 40 erroneous questions, none of which, the expert committee appointed by the organizing university acknowledged. Also, the results were leaked to a media forum before you could announce them.

In spite of all these controversies, our dreams and aspirations rested on you, and we went ahead to write CLAT 2017. But what lay in store for us? Another ridiculously substandard question paper replete with typos, questions with no correct answers, or worse, multiple correct answers, and a host of ambiguous questions. Problems that could have been avoided by proof-reading the paper before posting it.

Having scored decent marks in most of the mock tests, I went in for the exam with confidence, but on seeing your question paper, and my subsequent score, I was left heartbroken and reduced to tears. A bunch of people did score well, but then it’s a competitive exam, some people always do better than the others. And that does not equate to justice.

Those people who, despite the 20-odd errors, managed to score well might say, “if it was bad, it was bad for all.” But tell me CLAT, with questions having multiple correct answers and only one marked right, am I not at a disadvantage if my correct answer was not the one you recognised? What about those who could have answered correctly had the ambiguous questions been properly framed? What about all those who, in the process of finding answers to your answerless questions, lost out on precious time they could have utilised elsewhere?

There are also those who find that the options saved by them have not been recorded or in some cases even changed. Technical glitches are not uncommon, but how does one prove that?

Since there are usually 100s of students in a gap of every 1-2 marks, the loss of even a quarter of a mark could seal our fates differently.

For the whopping sum of ₹4,000 you charge us for one exam, the least you owe us is hiring professionals who can frame a proper, error-free set of questions. So the question that arises here is whether there’s a solution to all of this? Well, there are two major things that could drastically reduce the scope for such lapses.

Firstly, a permanent CLAT committee could be appointed, as was suggested after the 2015 fiasco. When a new university with little or no experience of conducting entrance exams conducts CLAT, they get to make their set of mistakes, unfortunately, at the expense of students. While the Bar Council of India (BCI) did offer to shoulder the responsibility of conducting the exam two years ago, nothing has come of it.

Secondly, instead of declaring scores, ranks, and allotment lists in installments, the score and answer keys could be released immediately at the centre itself, after the exam concludes. This is possible in an online examination and would be effective in putting to rest doubts regarding errors in recording answers. Technical glitches, if found in the system, could be looked into then and there. Following that, a reasonable number of days should be provided to file objections. A final common merit list should be released incorporating the requisite corrections.

While we sit back and pray for these changes, the convener of CLAT 2017 has appointed an expert committee to look into the matter and promised that ‘justice will prevail.’ I wonder where he was though when such injustice was being meted against half a million students. Will this committee go against the precedent set by the expert committee in 2015 and account for all its errors? More importantly, will it be able to?

Accounting for all the wrong questions, the lost time, the psychological distress caused to students and the resulting botch-up in attempting the rest of the paper? A re-examination seems like the only fair solution, but ironically, justice is not the forte of these CLAT-organising ‘law’ schools.

Many of us had been preparing for one, two or even more number of years for this day. To an 18-year-old student whose life and career depends on you, 20 wrong questions can be life-altering. You had one job, CLAT, and you failed. And in the process, you failed the students and the entire education system of this country.

Sincerely,
A student whose dreams you shattered

The post Dear CLAT, You’ve Been Failing Your Students For The Past 8 Years appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

College is perhaps the most exciting part of a student’s life, and it is that time of the year again when another batch of young, passionate and enthusiastic students are all set to enter college. Let’s face it – choosing a college which is perfect for you isn’t easy, especially in Delhi University. I still remember how difficult it was for me to choose one among two excellent colleges – Kirori Mal or Ramjas. They seemed identical in every respect. Moreover, no student can escape the classical dilemma, of ‘course vs college’. I tried to make a rational decision by making a pros and cons list in my head, talking to seniors, reading everything I could find on the internet and what not. In the end, things worked out quite well, and two months into college, I knew I had made the right decision.

But it is an important decision to make – one that can determine what the ‘most exciting’ part of your life will be like. So, to help you make the right choice, here are a few tips:

1. Quality Of The Course You Want In A Particular College

Certain colleges provide brilliant courses in a particular field, but they might not be that good in others. So while choosing a college, don’t just pay attention to the overall reputation of the college but also the quality of the course that you want to pursue in that college. For example – the department of political science in Kirori Mal college is not considered up to the mark whereas the department of English is said to be excellent. This needs to be kept in mind while choosing a particular course in the college.

2. The Faculty Matters

It is common to hear people say “Hey! No one really attends classes in college, so the faculty doesn’t really matter.” Well, this is not true. College is not like school where there are prescribed books like NCERT. For numerous subjects (especially humanities and social science subjects), sometimes you have to refer to multiple books for one topic. In order to obtain in-depth knowledge of the subject as well as for scoring good marks, the guidance of professors is crucial. Additionally, for pursuing further studies, students need recommendation letters, and for that, the faculty’s credentials matter a lot. Additionally, good teachers can make you fall in love with a subject and bad ones can do the opposite. Since minimum attendance is required to appear in exams, you will have to attend some classes, whether you want to or not. So do a little research and ensure that your classes are worth attending.

3. Societies

College societies expose students to real life challenges, a plethora of opportunities, and can help in completely transforming their personalities. Students get to learn crucial skills like time management, problem-solving, organisational and leadership skills, while passionately pursuing something they truly love. The best part is that you meet a lot of new people, outside of your course or department, who help you grow both personally and professionally. To make sure that you have a holistic college life, you must check if the college has any societies which interests you and if it can provide the level of exposure you are looking for.

To determine the latter, keep in mind that well-established societies, which are decades old, can provide you with experiences which new societies cannot. In these societies, you get to compete and learn from the best people in the Delhi University circuit. On the other hand, growing with a fairly new society and playing a crucial role in taking it to new heights can also be a self-fulfilling experience.

4. Placement Offers

Life is not just fun and games. At the end of the day, most of us would want to become employable and financially independent, and good placements can give a kick start to one’s career. So do your research, and figure out in which colleges the companies of your interest come for placement and whether they offer profiles which suit you. You never know, maybe your dream company doesn’t even go to the college whose cut off you missed by 0.25%.

5. Brand Name and Reputation – How Much Does It Matter?

The image people have of your college is not everything, but it does mean something – especially if those people are recruiters or your future bosses. Call it unfair, but you do get some brownie points for being in a reputed college. A reputed college attracts better sponsors, recruiters, companies and opportunities, just because people believe that college is better than others. Like Lord Varys rightly says in “Game of Thrones” – “Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less.” However, the brand name of your college can only determine so much – you need to work hard, no matter which college you end up joining.

For most of us, class 12 begins with some annoying relatives telling us, “Bas beta 12th mai man laga kar padh lo, ek bar acha college mil gaya toh zindagi set hai”. (Just put your heart and soul into studying in class 12, once you get a good college, you are set for life.)

Statements like these make a student feel that not getting a good college is the end of the world. Let me say it, as clearly as possible – the stakes are not as high as they seem. If you are driven enough, being in a ‘mediocre’ college can’t stop you. If you think that the name of your college doesn’t look good on your CV, you can do numerous internships to try and make up for the lack of opportunities. If you feel that you have not chosen the right course, do the courses of your interest or learn what you would like to learn alongside college through diploma courses or Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs). If you are not happy with the opportunities in your college, join an NGO which you think will help you grow. There are many ways to enrich your college life. You are the master of your own fate. A college cannot make or break your career – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
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Image source: Jasjeet Plaha/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

The post 5 Tips To Select The Right DU College For Yourself appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

I, Mohd Zeeshan Malik, from Rajouri District in Jammu & Kashmir, have been a registered doctoral student at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) since January 2012. I am also a Rajat Jayanti Fellowship (DST, Government of India) awardee. I completed my PhD viva-voce examination on May 22, 2017. My PhD thesis has been highly commended by the examiners. Like any PhD student who passed the finishing point after years of intense effort, I should be celebrating and enjoying now after formal completion of the doctoral work. But the series of events that happened in the past one month are preventing me from doing so. These events, in fact, have seriously depressed me. I enjoyed my stay in SACON towards the beginning since my colleagues here were all highly co-operative. The locals in Anaikatty have been extending all their consideration to me, especially since I am from Jammu and Kashmir, which is quite far off. But, recent events have forced me to write this. I am extremely disappointed and tense about the way I have been treated by the director of my institute, which I earnestly felt was my home for the past five years.

The story began when I wrote to the hostel warden for accommodation, as I wanted to come back and stay at SACON for preparing for my viva examination that was scheduled on May 22, 2017. Usually, at SACON, students are given hostel accommodation and they get priority over others. I had planned my travels accordingly as I was confident of getting accommodation as usual, at SACON. But I was surprised that despite being a bonafide student of the institute, I was declined accommodation in the hostel or the guest house even after frequent and consecutive requests over emails and phone calls. First, I was denied the hostel accommodation by being told that ‘it is not available’. A subsequent request for a room in the guest house was denied under the pretext that ‘it is under renovation’. Later, when I was informed by my friends about the availability of accommodation, I tried calling the hostel warden who didn’t pick up any of my calls, informing me over text that he was ‘in a meeting’.

This repeated for three days. I did not get a single call or message from him even after my incessant efforts. This made me call the director over the phone to ask if I could stay in the earlier room on a sharing basis with my friends, as they had suggested. But my request was denied with the reply, “We are not allotting to anybody.”

With great difficulty, I managed to get accommodation outside the campus, in the village, thanks to the benevolence of the local villagers. SACON being situated in a remote area, accommodation on pay is almost non-existent. After managing to find a place to stay outside the campus, when I went to the office for work, I was shocked to see a senior colleague of mine, who was on a casual visit, had been given accommodation. He had probably been instructed to not enter his name in the hostel records. The next working day I realised that rooms in the guest house had also been allotted, on the previous day, to some guests. The guest house was available, and they were allotting rooms even to outsiders. Hardly seven or eight people were staying in a hostel where 24 students used to be accommodated.

On May 15 I got another shock upon hearing that they had removed one bed from the room where I was staying while on my doctoral work, but the accommodation was still available. In fact, accommodation had been given to individuals who were not even students, interns, researchers or associated with any project undertaken by SACON. My student friends were all too willing to accommodate me there. If only the director of SACON was kind, willing and considerate enough to allow accommodation for me. I felt sad, terrified, mentally tortured, and heartbroken to realise that I was being targeted and excluded. The reason behind the denial of accommodation for me was not its unavailability but something else, which I now understand as my identity by birth – the fact that I hailed from Kashmir.

Targeting me did not stop with this. Later, I came to know that the director had asked my research supervisor to hold my viva outside the university. For what reason, I don’t know, and neither do my friends – as no valid reason was given. Was I not a student of SACON? I did pay ₹50000 to the institute as my PhD fees and submitted my PhD thesis after obtaining ‘no objection’ and ‘no dues’ certificates as is required by the university. Don’t I deserve to present my work at SACON in front of my friends and faculties and get their opinion on my work? As you might know, as per the UGC guidelines, the final and crucial stage in a PhD course is the viva voce examination, during which, the candidate has to make an open defence of the work he/she has submitted for PhD. I never heard of the director asking for any other student’s viva to be conducted outside the institute. I would like to add that more than 50 PhD defences have been held in SACON so far and all were held in the SACON campus. This incident confirmed my doubt that I was being discriminated against, targeted, and excluded by the director. Later, I heard that the director had said that the classroom where the viva was supposed to happen was under maintenance, which was in fact false.

Even after all these issues, coping with all the tension and mental pain they caused me (my health was also affected during these days and I had to seek the help of a doctor), I focused on my preparation for the exam. Only because I didn’t want to spoil that day on which my five years of hard work would be defended in public. Also, I considered it an opportunity to present my work in front of my peers and get suggestions for the further pursuit of my research career.

The PhD viva voce exam being an open defence as per the UGC norms, most of the staff, scientists, and researchers were supposed to attend it. But again, to my surprise, the director called for two alternate meetings for the scientists on the same day, one at 10 AM and the other at 11 AM. My viva was scheduled for 11 AM, and I understand that it had been formally brought to the notice of the director well in advance. Even though there is no precedence for such an event, I can understand the need for a meeting if the issue is urgent. But the meetings were on the annual report, and website improvement. The meeting scheduled at 11 AM, at the same time as my viva, was to discuss website design. It was this day that I realised the sheer violation of my basic human rights; not only had he tried to sabotage my viva so that most of the faculty could not participate in it, but he had also tried to demonstrate the power of his chair.

I want to conclude by repeating that I have been selectively targeted, discriminated against, and mentally tortured during the past one month. I want justice and your support, and I seek an enquiry into the issue I raised here. But I strongly feel for my hometown. My depression makes me wonder if the residents of J&K will ever become a part of ‘mainstream’ India, because a few bigoted people hold positions of power. I wish to stop such things from happening to any other student in my institute or any other institute. Moreover, I am a citizen of India and feel I that I should get equal rights in any part of the country.

The post The Director Of My University Tried To Sabotage My PhD Finals Because I Am Kashmiri appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

To the girl who’d inhabit my room after me

Hello, there! You don’t know me and neither do I know you, but there is something that we will share in the near future. Something that holds a special significance in my life at LSR and will do the same for you, even before you know it. It is my room – Room 153, Upper Ash.

It’s a fine room, isn’t it? It’s a room of your own. Virginia Woolf believed that a woman must have a room of her own, so here you go now – after sharing your space with another person for two years, you’re finally on your own.

These walls are really high, aren’t they? They’ve seen it all, you know. If they could talk, they’d tell so many tales. They’ve seen many of us at our worst and our best. They’ve seen pangs of homesickness hit us. They’ve seen birthdays being celebrated and a girl grow another year. They’ve seen tears, and they’ve reverberated with laughter. They’ve not been left alone, through all this, you know. They’ve been adorned by the many women who’ve lived here. They’ve had posters put up everywhere and photos too. They were putting a part of themselves up there, in a way. I joined in the tradition too, when I became a resident of this room. You know I’d put up a decal of some tree branches and some birds.

This room has housed many before me and will be a home to many more, even after I’m long gone. But it has so many stories to tell. It has heard secrets and been a place where long conversations have happened. It has seen tears and seen many women, at their worst. It has also seen them happy. It has created memories, and now it has become one.

This room was my happy place. And I made sure it stayed that way. I’ve spent many an afternoon cleaning and scrubbing it – ensuring that it remained clean. After all, a happy place must not become the stuff that nightmares are made of. So, as I leave now, I’m leaving a part of me behind. It’s more than a room for me. It’s more than a bed and a table and four walls. It was my home. It’s a part of me, and I will be a part of it. This place became an inseparable and important part of my life for the one year I spent here, for how can you separate a person from their home?

As I leave, I’m wishing you luck and hoping you’d make many memories here on your own, as I did. You’d adorn it your way. You’d make it your home. This room will see many highs and lows of your life. It will see you grow and before you know it, you’d be leaving too – giving it away to someone you don’t know. Having a room of one’s own after two years of sharing feels odd, doesn’t it? Enjoy yourself because even though it’s only for a year, it’s a room of one’s own. It’s going to be a part of you; it’s your home.

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Images provided by the author.

The post To The Girl Who Will Live In My Hostel Room After Me appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

With flashy and somewhat hollow promises of finding well-paid jobs, the Economics (Hons) course attracts a lot of students every year. However, it seems like a lot of students who pursue Economics (Hons) in college are now regretting it because so many of them struggle with the contents of the course, and many end up taking regular tuitions to cope up.

My experience of studying the subject in college has been drastically different from what it was in school. I used to enjoy economics in school. Ever since college started, the subject mostly stresses me out. There is a huge gap between what is taught in school and the curriculum in college. There also exists very little awareness about this essential difference between studying economics in school and college. In school, there is an introduction to the fundamental theories and laws, but college introduces a significant amount of mathematics and statistics, making it hard for some students to grasp and cope up with the subject. Being strong at mathematics is a prerequisite for most economics related courses – something which many people realise after enrolling in the course.

College is supposed to expand your horizons and teach you how to think and critique independently and taking tuition often negates that purpose. A student of Economics (Hons), Abhishek Pathak, strongly opposing the tuition culture, says: “Our lecturers try to make us more efficient in the field by giving us complex situations which may or may not be in the syllabus. But coaching centres and tuition provide the students with notes which make them lazy and also ruin their ability to think in a creative way.”

Many teachers believe that students take tuition as a shortcut to score marks and thereby miss out on or bypass understanding the subject. However, since we are conditioned to just ‘score well’ in India, students are under a lot of pressure and often see no other option but to prioritise marks over honing critical thinking skills. It’s also important to acknowledge that a lot of teachers do not encourage discussions, dialogue and debates, which play a vital role in understanding the subject.

As John Maynard Keynes, a philosopher and economist, said, “The master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must reach a high standard in several different directions and must combine talents not often found together. He must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher – in some degree.” But to accomplish this, equal importance must be given to fields other than math. However, for students who are looking to pursue Economics (Hons), don’t let the dominance of math deter you. Institutes like Christ University, Ashoka University and OP Jindal Global University, offer courses which promise to provide holistic learning of the subject with the minimum use of mathematics.

Despite all that is going wrong, I still believe that economics is a beautiful subject. Teachers and students need to work together to make sure that the course structure for Economics (Hons) is redesigned or else many students will continue to aim to ‘score well’ rather than understanding and enjoying the subject. Economics gives students the confidence to logically interpret data; it teaches them to forecast the future of our economy accurately and to make effective policies. Hence, I would encourage people to study it and would hope that the course is restructured in a way that students who are average at math do not struggle to make it till the end.

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Image source: Hemant Padalkar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

The post Why Are Economics Students Having To Take Tuition To Survive College? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

On May 23, 2017, the students of Aligarh Muslim University organised a protest march on the campus to show their condolence to the seven people lynched in an interior village of Jharkhand. The objective of the students behind organising this protest was to demand justice for those killed in the Jharkhand village by the bloodthirsty goons.

It was 11 am in the morning when the protest was carried out from the university library canteen to the Bab-E-Syed gate of AMU. “Bharat sarkar, nyay karo,” (Indian government, give us justice), “Jharkhand ke katilon ko fansi do, fansi do,” (Hang the killers from Jharkhand) were some of the slogans shouted out by the students in angry voices throughout the protest.

On reaching the Bab-E-Syed gate, various national and regional media persons approached the students. The sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Aligarh was also present, along with the Proctorial team of AMU. Asad Usmani, a student of AMU, addressed the students, saying, “Today we are not safe even in our homes and this is because of the massive failure of the government authorities who are not taking any action and allowing the culprits to roam freely.”

Further, Mohammad Arsalan, another student, lamented the incompetence of the state machinery in the series of atrocious events which are taking place in the name of nationalism. From the Hashimpura custodial killings to Pehlu Khan and Mohammad Akhlaq‘s lynching, and now the killing of seven innocent Indians in the state of Jharkhand – these were the incidents named by him.

Calling off the protest, the students also presented a memorandum to the additional district magistrate (ADM) of the city, the proctor of AMU, and to the various media persons who were present there. The memorandum will be sent to the President of India, demanding punishment for those involved in the incident. The students present in the protest march were Ammar Ehsan, Asad Usmani, Saad Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Arsalan, Amit Kumar, Moazaam, Faizur Rehman, Mohd Altamash, Rizwan Khan, etc.

The post Aligarh Muslim Uni. Students Protest To Demand Justice For Jharkhand Lynching Victims appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

On May 26, 2017, the Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union organised a protest march at the varsity campus, condemning the recent, alleged gang rape that happened in the Jewar-Bulandshahr highway of Uttar Pradesh on May 24, 2017. The students demanded the immediate arrest of the alleged culprits and called for severe action against them.

The march started on Friday. The congregation proceeded from the University’s Jama Masjid and was called off at the University Circle. More than 200 students joined the protest. “Wo RSS ho murdabad (Down with RSS)”, “Bharat sarkar sharam karo, sharam nahi to doob maro (Indian government – feel shameful, or else, die in shame)” were some of the slogans that were shouted by the students, outrageously.

On reaching the University Circle, the president of the AMU Students’ Union, Faizul Hasan, addressed the students, where he staunchly criticised the incumbent dispensation both at the Centre and the state. He said that the goons and hooligans have allegedly got the upper-hand, due to the government, and that a series of such crimes are happening across the country.

“On May 24, 2017, four women were brutally raped and a man rescuing them was shot dead by the hooligans. Such criminal activities are terrifying, and are increasing day-by-day. The government is making appealing slogans like women safety, good governance, ‘sabka saath sabka vikas (everyone’s growth with everyone’s help)’ and what-not. But, when it comes to pragmatic situations, there is complete fiasco,” said Faizul Hasan.

Furthermore, he also criticised the violence in Saharanpur, and said that the atrocities on Dalit and marginalised people have been done in an ‘orchestrated clash’. The rise of the Bhim Army and their ongoing agitation is a testimony to the fact that the persecutions on Dalits and other minorities are rising each day. He also praised the ongoing agitation by the Bhim Army at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. He said that the AMU Students’ Union stands in solidarity with the Dalit-protest. He added that if such persecutions by right-wing fringe elements did not stop, then he too will lead a similar kind of protest.

Another leader, Abul Farah Shazli, said that the unofficial Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Republic) has already been made. He said that not only are the Muslims going to suffer, the Dalits and tribal groups will also face social repression, under the garb of Manusmriti. Ahmad Mujtaba Faraz, a final-year law student, also announced that he would be going to Saharanpur on June 9, 2017, with a team of lawyers and academicians to look into the reported violence against Dalits, pro bono.

While ending the protest, the students also presented a memorandum to the additional district magistrate (ADM) of the city, the proctor of AMU and to the various media persons who were present there. The memorandum will also be sent to the President of India, demanding punishment for those involved in the incident. Some students present at the march were Mughal Wasif, Shamim Bari, Asad Usmani, Ahsan Khan, Adnan Amir, Sharjeel Usmani, Naved Ashrafi, Mohammad Tabish, Abdul Qadir, among many others.

The post AMU Students Protest Alleged Brutal Jewar-Bulandshahr Gang Rape And Saharanpur Violence appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

North Campus is the heart of the top ranking ‘elite’ colleges of Delhi University. Most students aspire to be a part of these prestigious and sought after colleges of the university. One such college is Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College located in North Campus. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutes of Delhi University. And if you ever want to be, or are a part of this adventure named Khalsa, here are few things you should know about this college:

1. Breaking Stereotypes

Starting with the very name of the college ‘SGTB KHALSA’. People come with preconceived notions of a place with Sikhs wearing colourful turbans, which is totally not true. Here, you will find a diversity of cultures and not just a centred community of Sikhs despite the college having reservations for Sikhs.

2. Location

Khalsa is conveniently located, as it is situated near the GTB Nagar Metro station. It is also walking distance away from well-known markets such as Kamla Nagar, Patel Chest, GTB Market and Hudson Lane.

3. Jannat

Yes! The name itself defines the place, located at the center of the college. It is also called ‘Nukkad’. The place is a hub of almost all activities that happen in the premises. From ‘Strokes’ (the fine arts society) displaying various art forms to ‘Pinhole’ (the photography society) featuring its best photos. From ‘Ankur’ (the dramatics society) performing street plays and nukkad nataks to ‘Swarang’s (the musical society) melodious performances, Jannat/Nukkad is where it all happens. The place is called so, because of its beautifully maintained lawns and lovely trees, surrounded by benches.

4. Sports Infrastructure

As you go further into the college, you will find a large sports ground which is accompanied by a synthetic tennis court. There’s a table tennis academy and a state of the art gym which is well maintained and is surely a haven for students.

5. Ankur

‘Ankur’, the dramatics society of Khalsa College has been known for consistently being vocal about social issues. Khalsa is widely known also because of ‘Ankur’, and its incredible theatre performances.

6. Langar

Honouring the college’s name ‘Shri Guru Teg Bahadur’ and Sikh culture, Khalsa holds langars occasionally on various events, which is a unique thing on its own, for this college.

7. Library and CCD

Khalsa has an excellent two storey library which is digital and fully air conditioned. It also provides free wi-fi to the students. There is a ‘Café Day Express’ run by Cafe Coffee Day outside the library, with various vegetarian and non-vegetarian snacks and a delightful range of drinks.

8. Bhangra Society

It is considered to be one of the best Bhangra societies in Delhi University which has been known to present amazing Bhangra dance performances in and out of Delhi. It also attracts all kinds of students from different cultures and backgrounds.

9. Hostel Facilities

The hostel provides accommodation facilities with air-conditioned rooms. It is close to the gurudwara within the college premises and the gym. There, however, remains the issue of curfew timings.

10. Lashkara

Last but not the least, Lashkara is the annual fest of Khalsa which highlights the glory of its name by organising various mesmerising events, and is often known for its star performances by famous Punjabi singers such as Diljit Dosanjh, Jassi Gill and many more.

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Images provided by the author.

The post 10 Things That Define The Essence Of SGTB Khalsa College appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

हिन्दुस्तानी संस्कृति रही है कि हम अपने और दूसरे के मज़हब और आस्था का सम्मान करते रहे हैं। हम ईद, दिवाली और होली साथ मनाते रहे हैं। खासकर जब हम स्कूल और यूनिवर्सिटी में रहते हैं तो कम से कम ये मज़हब की दीवारें हमारे बीच नही होती हैं, कुछ छात्र तो त्योहारों की छुट्टियों में घर इसलिए भी नहीं जाते हैं कि वहां कैंपस जैसी आज़ादी नही मिल पाती है।

हमने जब JNU की होली का विडियो YouTube पर देखा तो बहुत ही आश्चर्य हुआ कि ऐसी होली हमारे कैंपस (गुरुकुल कांगड़ी विश्वविद्यालय) में क्यों नही होती? मैंने तो यहां तक सुना है की JNU में होली या किसी अन्य त्यौहार मनाने के लिए छात्र घर से वापस आ जाते हैं, होली की शाम होने वाले JNU के चाट सम्मलेन की बात ही अलग है।

हॉस्टल में हम सब नास्तिक होते हैं लेकिन वो वाले नास्तिक नहीं जो आप सोच रहे हैं। हमारे नास्तिक का मतलब वो लोग ही समझ सकते हैं जो अपनी ज़िंदगी के कुछ साल हॉस्टल में गुज़ार चुके हों। अलग-अलग जगहों से आए लोगों के धर्म, जाति, भाषा, संस्कृति सब कुछ अलग होती है, फिर भी हम ऐसे होते है जैसे बचपन का याराना हो।

हमारे बीच जो रिश्ता होता है वो एक-दुसरे से मोहब्बत का रिश्ता होता है, एक-दुसरे की संस्कृति और आस्थाओं की इज्ज़त करने का रिश्ता होता है। नवरात्री के दिनों में हम अपने बीच लहसुन, प्याज़ वगैरह नहीं खाते हैं। मैं मांसाहारी होने के बाद भी पूरे नवरात्री के दौरान अपने दोस्तों की आस्था का सम्मान करता हूं। लेकिन ये हमारी मजबूरी नही है ये हमारा प्यार है, हमारी संस्कृति है, हमारी तहज़ीब है। यही तो भारत है और यही भारतीयता है!

AMU में रमजान में हिन्दू छत्रों को रोज़े की वजह से नही मिल रहा खाना

इस तथ्य में कितनी सच्चाई है ये तो नहीं मालूम, इस पर वहां के वर्तमान और पूर्व छात्र और वहां के प्रशासनिक अधिकारी ही बता सकते हैं कि सच्चाई क्या है। लेकिन साहब इस मुद्दे को धार्मिक रूप दिया जा रहा है, धीरे-धीरे इसका राजनीतिकरण भी होगा। फिर ये राष्ट्रीय राजनीति का केंद्र बना दिया जाएगा, टीवी पर बहसें चलेंगी, शोर होगा और अलीगढ़ मुस्लिम यूनिवर्सिटी (AMU) को फिर धर्म के चश्मों से देखा जाएगा।

ट्वीट पर ट्वीट किए जा रहे हैं, कुछ नए और कथित न्यूज़ पोर्टल ने इसे वायरल भी किया और इसके तथ्य और भावना को बिना समझे इसका राजनीतिकरण शुरू कर दिया गया। वहां पढ़ने वाले छात्रों से तो पूछा होता कम से कम। मेरे कुछ दोस्त वहां पढ़ते हैं, मैंने जब उनसे बात की तो उन्होंने बताया कि, “ऐसा कुछ नही है बस खाने के रुटीन में थोड़ा बदलाव हुआ है। बाकि हम रोज़ेदारों का एहतराम करते हैं, ताकि उन्हें बुरा ना लगे।” अलीगढ़ मुस्लिम विश्वविद्यालय में लॉ (law) की छात्रा रश्मि सिंह ने अपने फेसबुक पेज पर लिखा कि, “यहां खाने-पीने की कोई रोक नहीं है, हां रमजान की वजह से टाइमिंग जरूर बदल गई है। खाने वालों की संख्या कम होने की वजह से अभी उन्हें लाइट लंच दिया जा रहा है, लेकिन फिर भी ये पेट भरने के लिए ठीक-ठाक है।”

साहब अगर हमने किसी की आस्था या मज़हब की इज्ज़त कर ली तो कोई गुनाह तो नही हो गया। ये हमारे कैंपसों की बात है, हमारे साथियों और उनकी आस्था का सवाल है और ये हमारी इच्छा है साहब। मैंने कहा ना कि हम नास्तिक होते हैं और ये आप तब तक नहीं समझ पाएंगे जब तक कि आप अपनी आंखों से मज़हब का चश्मा नही उतारोगे। एक बार इस चश्मे को उतार कर देखिए, फिर आप को भी अच्छा लगेगा, आप भी लम्बी सांस ले सकेंगे, चहरे से तनाव खत्म होगा और उस पर एक प्यारी सी मुस्कान आ पाएगी।

खैर रमज़ान मुबारक और ईद में ज़रूर आइयेगा, दावत है अच्छा लगेगा हमारी नास्तिकता पर!!

The post AMU में रमज़ान में हिंदू छात्रों को खाना नहीं मिलने की खबर का सच appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

Sir,

Have you been consuming some sort of recreational medication? Your recent activities have caused not only me but dozens of students from the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Social Sciences, to doubt your sanity.

My semester examinations started on May 2 and were to end on June 2. First of all, university exams shouldn’t take this long.

I was supposed to take one of my English papers on May 25. But a little notification showed up on a notice board in some office. A picture had to be taken of it. The picture then had to be sent to every student with a WhatsApp number by the students who saw it because this 100-year-old ‘prestigious’ institution, often heralded as the ‘capital of knowledge’ does not have a proper online portal where students can get such updates on their own respective university email accounts.

This notification said that my paper had been postponed to June 7, as per the recommendations of the Coordinators of Examination, Faculties of Social Sciences and Arts. This was not the first time this had happened, it happened again when my English paper scheduled on May 27 was postponed to May 29 because the chief minister suddenly decided to visit the city and the university was the only place he could think of, to grace us with his presence.

Now, my psychology paper was supposed to be on the June 2, and it got postponed to June 9, then to June 10, and then to June 11. When the date of an examination changes these many times, there’s no doubt that your department is grossly mismanaged.

And these aren’t the only papers that got postponed in this manner. Students with subjects like education, economics, statistics, and a few others have faced a similar problem. And this isn’t the first time this is happening. A similar thing happened last year when some papers got postponed, and it was the honourable Prime Minister who decided to visit the city, and as expected, chose the university to grace with his presence.

Now, all cancelled railway tickets home aside, is it the perception of the university administration that the students of the Arts and Social Science faculties do no constructive work during their summer breaks, and hence, have a lot of time to waste, sitting here waiting to take their papers?

The Law Faculty wrapped up its examinations within 20 days, and many of my friends from there have already begun internships. Why are students from our faculties assumed to be undeserving of such opportunities in their field of study? I ask this because a longer examination does not necessarily mean a longer summer break so that we may apply and complete the said internships.

One might say that this whole fiasco happens because of the entrance examinations. My question is, why conduct semester and entrance examinations at the same time? Why does this happen year after year?

One thing is abundantly clear. Your department is highly incompetent and it would do us, the students of the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, a lot of good if you resign. The university administration must conduct a thorough investigation into the reasons for such inadequate functioning of your department and make the necessary improvements.

Sincerely,

A student of the Faculty of Arts/Social Science

Banaras Hindu University

The author of this post wholly agrees with the views presented in the letter. However, the original writer of this letter chooses to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
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Featured image source: Vivek Singh/The India Today Group/Getty Images

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With the current state of politics in the world, debates about intolerance are suddenly in vogue again – and for good reason. Religious freedom, freedom of expression, freedom to love – all kinds of rights and freedoms are under attack. And with the rise of right-wing governments all around the globe, such intolerance is being institutionalised even more openly. Needless to say, the pushback against this has been strong – but arguably not strong enough, given that political power is still wielded by conservative forces. And while there have been mass protests and movements, whether at Standing Rock or Una, a sustained, cohesive, and unified mass political movement against this new, global rise of fascism is yet to be seen.

One of the more widely noted tendencies of these oppressive governments across various nations is an attack on campus freedoms, specifically the right to dissent and the right to organise. Given their lack of political power in more directly influential spaces, Leftists have attempted to hold on to power in campuses and stand against government intervention. One way they have tried to do this is by ‘no-platforming’ or refusing to give discursive space to right-wing politicians or ideologues – in the case of America, figures like Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, and infamous media personality Milo Yiannopoulos. In the case of the latter, his scheduled appearance at UC Berkeley earlier this year even led to violence from alleged Antifa forces, who were attempting to prevent him from turning up.

As Indian-American journalist Fareed Zakaria states in this video, this can be seen as a rising intolerance within liberal spaces themselves – intolerance towards differing opinions, towards contrarian views, and towards honest debate with said views and opinions. Citing examples of students walking out during graduation speeches given by VP Pence and Devos, Zakaria states that while liberals might like to think of themselves as tolerant, this shows that they are as close-minded as they assume conservatives to be. In order to be truly liberal, Zakaria says, space must be given to these speakers and their ideas, and these ideas should be listened to by liberals in order to sharpen their own views.

Zakaria may not be far off the mark in pointing out the fragility of bubbles and echo chambers, and how a complete refusal to engage with contrarian views can backfire immensely. While safe spaces ostensibly exist as spaces for oppressed minorities and marginalised groups outside of the influence of their oppressors, if a safe space extends into a bubble that cuts off its denizens from ground realities, it can contribute to the creation of a dangerous, elite ivory tower. And elitism is, whether we like it or not, a rampant problem among left and liberal spaces. Moreover, if freedom of speech is to be defended as a principle – in particular, freedom of speech and dissent against the ruling class – then we cannot condone the ruling class cracking down on right wing speech, even if we express dissent against it ourselves.

However, it is difficult to agree with the rest of what he says – and one might say it displays the political inanity and blindness that has become inherent in liberal and centrist discourses like Zakaria’s. Zakaria’s statement that “conservative voices and views, already a besieged minority, are being silenced entirely” shows a distinct lack of political insight for such a distinguished journalist. Conservative voices and views happen to hold actual political power in several influential countries across the world – including the most powerful one. Conservative voices and views therefore hold the power to enact real decisions that can affect people’s lives, especially minorities, workers, and the poor. The left, for all its discursive bluster, has for years been politically insignificant, and outside of university spaces, left voices have often been brutally silenced. A symbolic walkout staged by students does not equate to a refusal to engage with contrarian views – it is, rather, an acknowledgement that figures like DeVos and Pence – incidentally, the Secretary of Education and the Vice-President, respectively – hold tremendous power and should not be ceded any more ground. That what they represent should constantly be opposed and actively fought against. Zakaria treats these walkouts as serious, grievous harm being committed against ‘besieged minority’ voices, whereas they are merely symbolic – at best. They do, however, display much keener political acumen on the part of these students over an experienced commentator like Zakaria. For intellectuals and commentators like him, apparently the only correct way to protest against open racists, sexists, and queerphobes who possess the ability to affect people’s lives with their beliefs is to engage them in ‘reasoned’, ‘honest intellectual debate’.

Of course, it is perhaps in the interests of centrists and neoliberals to preserve a skewed world order that keeps actual power in the hands of the elites – because this did not start with the rise of the global right wing. Centrist and liberal democratic governments have, historically, also worked to preserve this imbalance of power, and it is not merely in the interests of fairness that Zakaria speaks of ‘anti-intellectualism’. In dismissing the various forms of protest and rebellion that have been built up across generations of movements, as well as in ignoring the material realities of people that makes it necessary for them to adopt certain means of resistance, what Zakaria displays is, ironically enough, an immense sense of privilege and superiority that can only be called elitism – except the repercussions of such an attitude are far more dangerous than that word implies.

The post Fareed Zakaria’s Views On Intolerance Of Liberals Went Viral. But Here’s What He Missed appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

On Saturday, May 27, 2017, news broke that a court in Sonipat had convicted three former students of Jindal Global University (JGU) of gang raping and blackmailing a fellow student. All three were men in their early 20s, two of whom were sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment while the third was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment.

In April 2015, a female student of the BBA programme had accused three final-year law students of repeatedly raping her for two years. The student also accused them of blackmailing her with nude photographs. An emergency meeting of the university’s disciplinary committee, as well as the sexual harassment committee, was called, and the accused students were interrogated. The main accused was immediately expelled, and the rest were suspended. Jindal Global University then helped the student file a police complaint, and over the course of these years, provided her with the guidance needed to finish her degree and pursue her ambitions.

The university’s support is commendable considering many universities in the country may have simply turned their backs on the survivor or attempted to cover-up the incident. However, soon after the verdict was made public, an email was sent out to the student body of JGU to inform them about the convictions. Screenshots of the email have already been shared across social media and many of you reading this may have come across it, and formed your opinions already. I am writing this simply to add my two cents to the conversation.

The language used in the email is unfortunate, as it appears to express sympathy for the convicts and the trauma that their families have endured. I believe that people can have varying responses to an incident of this grave nature, and it is important to make room for all the different kinds of emotions that one may experience. However, I also believe that the responsibility of an institution is first and foremost to the survivor of the sexual assault, and any parallel drawn between the survivor’s trauma and those of the perpetrators or their families is unwarranted.

The email bemoaned the loss of the ‘productive years’ of the perpetrators in prison and urged students not to act in ways that would hinder their academic progress. When the consequences of rape are depicted as an impediment to academic and career goals, rather than a grievous affront to the survivor’s well-being and autonomy, it is a cause for concern. I am willing to accept that the email was not sent with any mala fide intentions on the part of the administration, but intent does not matter when the language of the email inadvertently contributes to rape culture and trivialises horrific crimes.

Combating rape culture means strongly condemning any actions that threaten the autonomy of students, faculty, and staff on campus. Standing up against rape culture also means being brave enough to support not just when the conviction happens but throughout the process. It means creating an environment safe enough so that no survivor of sexual assault is ever forced to leave while the perpetrators roam free. It means recognising the gravity of offences such as gang rape and blackmail and exercising caution in the way they are reported so that the issues are not trivialised. The language we use, even if well-intentioned, can result in a victim-blaming narrative that lets the perpetrators off the hook for the terrible acts they have committed. It is our duty to exercise caution when talking or writing about sexual assaults, as our words can have a far greater impact than we envision.

In that regard, the email to the JGU student body was problematic on several levels. A lot of emphasis was placed on the code of conduct that all students are required to adhere to, and the email itself was titled ‘appropriate and inappropriate conduct’. Rape is not merely an unlawful act, nor can it be limited to ‘inappropriate conduct’, it is a serious violation of a person’s autonomy and can have grave physical and psychological consequences for the survivor. Survivors of sexual assault are subject to a lot of scrutiny and often forced to relive their traumas by the justice system, in addition to facing ostracization from their communities – this is what we must keep in mind when we talk about rape. Any compassion we wish to extend towards the perpetrators or their families cannot take precedence over the empathy and support we must show to the survivor.

Many problems related to the sexual harassment committee (SHC) at the university persist. In two recent open-house forums with the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar, students and faculty alike brought up issues regarding transparency and accountability of the SHC. Not only were there complaints about students having to relive their trauma during the proceedings of the committee, but some students also narrated incidents where they or their friends had been advised against filing formal complaints. It was clear that people are wary of placing their trust in these institutional redressal mechanisms, and that many sexual assaults go unreported. This, of course, is not a problem that plagues JGU alone. Nevertheless, the university should take the bold step of admitting to these issues and work towards fostering a safe environment for all. The admin was evasive, but they did say that they would work on the issues and that they had scheduled a meeting with the SHC where all these issues would be raised.

Finally, it is crucial to undertake efforts not only to ‘sensitise’ the campus about these issues but to make a change in how we think about gender relations, consent, and sexual assault. JGU recently released a statement to the press condemning the heinous acts of the convicts and committing to the creation of a safe environment for everyone. I believe this is the right move to take and I hope that in the coming semesters, concerted efforts are made to improve the situation on campus.

Only when we accept our failures and learn from them can we hope to create any real change. Let us all take the first step by identifying and understanding the structures that normalise sexual assault, and then engaging with them passionately. Let us commit to being in solidarity with survivors of sexual assault everywhere. Let us talk about rape, responsibly.

Editor’s Note: Campus Watch approached the Jindal Global University administration for a response against the allegations of members of the sexual harassment committee advising students to not file formal complaints. We received confirmations about the alleged functioning of the sexual harassment committee from a couple of students from the university. However, the administration called these claims ‘absolutely false and baseless’ and assured us that they are committed to creating and maintaining an environment free of all forms of sexual harassment. Furthermore, they said that the statement was sent to deter heinous acts from occurring, without commenting on the nature of the mail and the criticism it garnered.

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Image source: Jindal Global University website

The post This Is Jindal Global University’s ‘Responsible’ Way Of Addressing Rape appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

“Email messages should be like skirts,” says Dr C. B. Gupta in his book titled “Basic Business Communication” which I am supposed to read for one of my main papers this semester. I am pursuing my B.Com Honors from the University of Delhi and this is one of the prescribed books that we, the sixth-semester students, have to read.

In equating emails to skirts he aims at establishing the email etiquette that should be followed. So emails should be like skirts, they should be short enough to be interesting but long enough to cover all the valid points.

Clearly, Dr Gupta hasn’t seen enough skirts or has a certain ‘preference’ when it comes to skirts. Why else would he forget that there are other categories of skirts too? Take the following for example
1. The Long Skirt: Covers all ‘valid points’ but might or might not ‘arouse the interest of people’.
2. The Miniskirt: ‘Arouses interest’ but doesn’t cover all the ‘valid points’.
3. The School Skirt: We have them as a part of our school uniform. Are they short enough to keep things interesting, Sir?

At first, I found Dr Gupta’s remarks hilarious, but that moment passed rather quickly, and rage took its place. When I posted a picture of the page where he talks about the email etiquette on WhatsApp, I got replies from many angry friends, all women, who failed to see the humour and Dr Gupta’s point in the text he’s written. The first question that came to mind was this: why would such an esteemed author and the former Head of Department, Department of Commerce at the Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), would even think of writing such a sentence in his book? As I sat and pondered on that, bang came another question, the more important one. Do our dear educators at the Delhi University really expect us to ‘memorise’ this crap and write it in our papers? If yes, will I be granted good marks if I reproduce this verbatim in my paper, following the dreaded way of rote learning, something I have been doing since the first semester?

I am not going to write another paragraph on the pressing issue of patriarchy or misogyny which is evidently prevalent in our society and our education system. I am just going to say that words have power, and to impose such kind of learning on impressionable minds may not lead to the formation of an egalitarian society. A generation that is just beginning to understand each other, all genders, as equals doesn’t need this kind of sexism in its textbooks. So here is my request to you Dr Gupta, please remove this sentence immediately and replace it with words that make sense, and frankly, matter. Thank you!
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Image source: K Asif, India Today Group/Getty Images

The post ‘Emails Should Be Like Skirts’: DU Student Questions Sexism In Textbook appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

The National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), Kochi, over the past two years, has been in the news for the wrong reasons, multiple times. It is highly likely that the only articles about NUALS which a person might have read on platforms like Lawctopus and Legally India are related to sexism in the college and how incapable the administration has been in controlling crises. But is it all that NUALS stands for? Here is the other side of the institution.

Sexism is a reality in NUALS as well, like a lot of other colleges in India. The university and hostel rules are the same for both boys and girls on paper, though they differ when it comes to implementation of these rules. All students are asked to be inside the college gates by 7 pm, but the actual practice depends on a person’s traditionally defined gender. While the female students are more often than not taken to the warden and asked for an explanation whenever they are late, the male students can move in and out freely even at 9 pm. There have been multiple instances where officials who are incompetent to frame hostel rules bring forth new rules, sometimes even without proper notification. The student community consistently demanded to either allow female students the same freedom that male students enjoy or impose the same restrictions on all students irrespective of their gender.

The issue was raised a dozen times before the hostel administration, which often used the age-old ‘security concern’ argument to justify its actions. However, things have gradually become better. NUALS hostels are relatively one of the liberal hostels among colleges in Kerala, and the administration has always been open to revisions of the rules. The hostel rules have become more liberal over the last two years. The hostel curfew which was fixed at 7 pm two years ago, was later extended to 9 pm, and further up to 11 pm for access to the library. The Registrar along with the Vice-Chancellor were quick to accept this amendment, and the students too were involved actively in this process of decision-making and change through the hostel committee and the mess committee.

One of the biggest crisis that the university faced was in March 2017. It was related to the issue of water contamination. The water being supplied to the hostel was found to be contaminated, and half a dozen students fell sick, allegedly due to the contaminated water. The student council, under the able leadership of chairman Jayashankar, was quick to step in. As the medical reports found the water not suitable for consumption and more students fell sick, the blame naturally fell on the administration. Though the administration was late to realise the issue, many fail to recognise the efforts that were taken later on by the administration to resolve the matter.

The Registrar was in constant communication with Kinfra (Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation), from where the college meets its water requirements, and the district collector of Ernakulam. An interactive session was organised by the college where medical practitioners engaged with the students. Students were told about all the precautions and symptoms of various diseases, and necessary action was taken following the session. On failing to meet the daily water demand from the Kerala Water Authority, private agencies were brought in to meet the demand.

During the span of the crisis, the college remained shut down for over a week initially. As the situation could still not be brought under control, the classes in the month of April were called off with the promise that the required class hours would be completed in the month of July. This decision was taken following an urgent executive committee meeting that was held, and the student council members also played a part in the decision-making process. These tough days saw the college administration lending an ear to every single student who could come up with suggestions on the possible steps to be taken.

The very act that such criticism about the college comes out openly shows the proactive effort on the part of the student community in the college. Prof. Dr Rose Varghese, the Vice-Chancellor of NUALS, is probably the most approachable VC, in whose office students can walk in any time and raise their issues. The administrative team of NUALS should not, in my opinion, be merely reduced to an incapable and sexist body. They are certainly more than that. As a note to my dear friends taking CLAT this year, NUALS is not entirely what you read about or hear about. It is worth experiencing right here.

Good luck!

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Image source: NUALS, Kochi/Facebook Page

The post Plagued With Sexism, Kochi’s National Law School Has Another Side Worth Mentioning appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

It wasn’t until I had the opportunity to experience the ‘Young Scholars’ programme for high school students in Ashoka University that I realised how strongly I feel about what I am going to write. When I went to Ashoka, I met people from diverse backgrounds from all over the country. I study in a boarding school in Chhattisgarh. It comes in the list of top Indian schools. In spite of this fact, I got a culture shock at Ashoka University! And over time, I realised that the place felt alien to quite a few of us. So, what was this about?

We have some strict rules in school and not following them is almost taboo. We are absolutely not allowed to interact with boys. In class, unless the subject of the discussion is academic, talking to boys often results in getting told off or being taken to the headmaster’s office. In fact, the administration is even more adamant on this, after school hours. We have study time in the evening during which it is considered best for our reputation and record to not talk to boys.

The funniest part is that even our own classmates don’t stop judging us. During mess time, boys and girls eat in separate halls, with their wardens. And if we so much as look at their ‘side’, let alone try to talk to them, a lecture by the wardens on how to ‘behave ourselves’ is guaranteed. On holidays, boys are permitted to roam around the campus without any restrictions. On the other hand, girls are not allowed to so much as step out of their hostel gates. It is not that we have not tried to raise our voice against this but the only answer we get is that it is not safe for girls to go outside their hostel, which is not the case for boys. Why is our freedom to move around restricted because of the school’s security issues which obviously need to be amended?

You would think people become wise with age. However, very recently, a new rule has been made for girls to follow. When they go for sports in the afternoon, it is compulsory that they are dropped and picked up by an ‘aya didi’, whose job is making sure that there is no communication with boys. Also, if a boy wants to meet his sister, he can come to her hostel. However, it cannot be vice versa. It is on a regular basis that wardens in the girls’ hostel give lectures on how it is not ‘safe’ to interact with boys and how they all have the ‘same mentality’, and so, it’s better to stay away. Also, if someone finds out you are dating, consider yourself an outcast.

At Ashoka, we saw the complete opposite happening. We all could talk to each other, could hug each other, could roam around the campus together, could say we were dating without any hesitation. The boys and girls were absolutely at ease with each other. We could understand the emotions and the thought processes of the boys. And the best part was – we actually valued each other. So today, when I sit and compare both the atmospheres, I stumble upon many realisations. The most important being, as they say, “You don’t know what you have got till it’s gone.”

Every one of us who follows the above rules is curtailing their fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression. We are making ourselves prone to inequality between boys and girls. More importantly, it is about time we realised the side and after effects of this kind of educational setup. In classrooms, we learn about equality and how essential communication and respect for other genders is, while outside the class doors, we are forced to practice exactly the opposite! I adamantly believe that these restrictions are the root cause of so many social problems. This is why, in my school, when spoken to by boys, people become awkward and have no clue what to say. This is why in biology class, when we learn about the reproductive system, there are expressions of either disgust or amusement.

This is why the boys and girl do not get a chance to interact while growing up, and fail to understand the emotions and opinions of each other. Then we reach a milestone where girls are viewed as ‘objects’ or ‘items’ and boys as ‘dangerous’ or ‘cheap’.

Of course, some of us may start thinking differently when we go to college and get a culture shock. But what about the rest of us? How can you possibly expect responsible, broadminded humans to lead the future if you do not ingrain these qualities in them at the earliest stages of their lives? This is when the cycle kicks in. Cases of molestations and rapes appear and feminism reaches its threshold. We won’t even know what triggered the whole cycle by the time it ends. So, how about we begin at the beginning? I know for a fact that there is not just one, but hundreds of schools in the country, where students are made to think and follow rules like these. So, if you are one of those students like me, make yourself heard. Maybe begin with changing our own attitudes and then together, we can all make a difference.

The post At This ‘Top’ Boarding School, Girls And Boys Are Punished For Talking To Each Other appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

When I first came upon the news that the IITs are creating a supernumerary reservation for women, I also came upon a vast diversity of opinions in various sources, praising the move. Articles chronicled the long history of poor representation of women in engineering colleges, strongly supported the committee which had the first panel which had recommended it, even while others questioned whether the move went far enough. The discussion was thorough and had clearly been taking place for months from January to April of 2017. There were opinions from seasoned academics, analysing the move and making recommendations on the way forward, and from students, both aspirants and those who were already enrolled at the institutes. The fact is that this is a discussion that needs to happen, and it’s a discussion that shouldn’t just end. We should always strive to balance our education, and the low proportion of girls in engineering is abysmal. It is important to encourage more girls to enter the field, and we need to make sure that not only are policies encouraging this but also making sure that they are being followed through and enforced. We need to constantly look over our policies to determine if they are achieving the goals they were intended for, and finding ways to improve them.

Cut to a little over a month later. Even as exams begin wrapping up in Delhi University, the attention is on the admission season, with results being declared and the registration process having begun. The dialogue seems to be focussing exclusively on the toppers, examining the performance of girls versus boys or government schools vs private. And as always, the discussion has been about the high marks and the inevitable skyrocketing cutoffs, spiced this year a little by the controversy over the CBSE’s Marks Moderation Policy.

Finishing my MA and thus, being more caught up in the admission cycle and debates than before, I couldn’t help but hark back to when I was finishing school myself and facing my own anxieties and doubts regarding college choices and cutoffs. The discussion on the reservation for girls was there, however, what I remembered more than anything else was my frustrations about the status of psychology in Delhi University, a subject I had taken in school and had been eager (at the time) to pursue in college.

In the intensive discourse on bridging gender gaps, overcoming the disadvantage women face in admissions and college, finding ways to overcome gender inequality and rooting out patriarchal norms and notions, there is a stark silence on some aspects of college education, with almost little to no opinion being raised on the disadvantages interested boys face in opting for some courses. Perhaps the best examples of this are the programs offering various bachelor’s degrees in psychology and elementary education in Delhi University. Of the 12 colleges offering some sort of a degree in psychology in DU, only 5 are co-educational, none of them part of the conventional definition of elite colleges in the university. Girls have the option of studying the subject at prestigious institutions such as Lady Sri Ram College (LSR), Daulat Ram College and Jesus and Mary College (JMC). Of the five viable options for boys, only one (Zakir Hussain College) comes close to these in terms of reputation and infrastructure. One of the remaining four is an evening college, severely limiting the options of boys wanting to enter the field. Bad as the situation is in psychology, it is even worse in the elementary education program. Eight colleges offer the degree, yet not one of them are co-educational. A boy simply cannot dream of doing his bachelor’s in DU and yet hope to teach in elementary school.

It is this contrast in realities that raises the question of how much we’re doing to actually bridge the gender gap. It is undeniable that we need more women becoming engineers, but do we not want more boys becoming therapists and counsellors? Do we really not want any men teaching in elementary schools? I have no doubt that the shutting out of boys from these fields is grounded in the old patriarchal notions of segregation of professions for boys and girls, of the ‘manly’ engineering and the ‘feminine’ arts. The idea that elementary school teaching and psychology is ‘women’s work’ is undeniably a construct rooted in patriarchy, but what explains the deafening silence on the issue by those who advocate for gender equality?

Why is it that apart from a few stray voices, the vociferous and engaging discourse on gender and education bypasses these issues? Shouldn’t we be encouraging boys to take up these courses? If we’re comfortable with a supernumerary reservation for women in engineering colleges, shouldn’t we at least ask for more co-educational colleges to offer psychology and elementary education? Failing that, couldn’t we at least reserve a few supernumerary seats for boys in these courses in women’s colleges until we can convince co-educational colleges to introduce these courses? Or are we comfortable in only eliminating gender disparity in those fields where women are underrepresented, ignoring the ones with male underrepresentation? How serious are we really about closing the gaps between genders and eliminating the constructs of patriarchy?

Image used for representative purposes only.

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Image source: Jyoti Kapoor/ India Today Group/ Getty Images

The post Why Aren’t There More Colleges In DU For Boys To Study Psychology? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

On June 5, 2017, students of Jamia Millia Islamia protested against an iftar party hosted by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch on the campus. Most of the newspapers carried the news. However, one needs to dig deeper and unearth the worrying trend of similar events.

On the 11th day of the holy month of Ramadan, June 7, 2017, as one entered ‘Gate 07’ of Jamia Millia Islamia, the campus was unusually abuzz with activity despite the fact that summer vacations had started more than a week ago. Students were sitting and chatting in small groups, occupying almost all the benches around the central canteen and central library. The number of security men, in and around the campus was more than usual. However, more than anything, there was an air of urgency and a sense of unease.

For the past two days, JMI is once again all over the news. Indresh Kumar, a certain patron of the RSS-affiliated Muslim Rashtriya Manch, accused various times of spreading hate, regressive ideas, and even violence, was invited to attend an iftar party on June 5 on the Jamia Milia campus. During the party, he asked Muslims to “stop eating meat because it is a disease,” and said that “the Prophet never ate meat.” Students are least bothered by ‘what’ he said. The question which led to the students of Jamia Millia to organise a protest was why did the university administration allow such a politically motivated event to be organised by forces that are often deemed ‘communal’ inside the varsity?

In its defence, the university administration said that the Bhopal Ground, where the iftar party was organised, was rented out to MRM and the institution had no involvement in its affairs. However, the venue mentioned in the invitation poster circulated by the MRM was Castro Café, which one has never heard of being ‘rented out’. From the looks of it, in a bid to distance itself from the event, the administration shifted the venue to Bhopal Ground, which is often ‘rented out’. Either that or the venue was shifted to provide security to the event and its organisers in the wake of the protest called by the students of Jamia.

In fact, on June 5, 2017, the iftar party inside the Bhopal Ground was guarded by hundreds of police officers, both armed as well as unarmed. Not more than 50 meters away, the protesting students, barely a 100 in number, were first barricaded from all sides outside the main gate of the campus, and then even allegedly lathi-charged. Six students were reportedly detained in the New Friends Colony Police Station and were let go two hours later only after other protesters refused to budge. The protesting students offered their evening prayers on the road itself.

Talat Ahmad, the Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, decided to skip the event even though his name had been mentioned as a chief guest alongside the MRM patron Indresh Kumar in the invitation poster.

Another worrying incident had taken place in the university in February this year. A brainstorming session was organised at Jamia by the RSS-supported Forum for Awareness of National Security (Fans) which also counts Indresh Kumar as its chief patron. At that time, Shazia Ilmi, politician and JMI alumnus, alleged that she was not allowed to speak at the event because the university put pressure on the organisers to drop her name from a panel of speakers for a seminar on triple talaq. The event had also garnered a lot of media attention because barely a week before the event the organisers of a certain seminar in Ramjas College had been attacked by members of the ABVP and some DU students. The two events had thus sparked a series of debates on the questions of free speech and academic freedom. This further led to institutions attempting to unduly censor students and impose restrictions on organising events to avoid controversy.

As a student of the university, I strongly feel that the purpose of events like the one that took place in JMI on June 5 is to get legitimacy for RSS among the Indian Muslims. To do so, a Muslim minority institution in the National Capital Region, which also happens to be a reputed central university, must seem like the perfect place to start from. At the same time, many students have time and again accused RSS and the BJP-led government at the Centre of trying to ‘saffronise’ the education in general, and the universities and academic spaces in particular.

However, the most important question remains unanswered. Why did the Jamia administration allow such an event to be organised on the campus despite knowing that the students would protest against it?

Either it believes that a university is a free space where any event can be organised, and everyone should be allowed to speak, which is hypocritical if Shazia Ilmi’s allegations are true. Or it is of the opinion that this event was a ‘normal’ iftar party and that the issue was blown out of proportion by the students and the media, which would be naïve on its part but is nevertheless a possibility. Or the organisers of the event had ‘a way with the administration’ and the latter could do nothing but submit. I really cannot decide which among the three would be the worse of the all.
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Image source: Burhaan Kinu/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

The post ‘Prophet Never Ate Meat’: RSS Patron Tells Jamia Students At Iftar Party appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

नॉर्थ कैम्पस, दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय का हिंदी विभाग! मौक़ा था हमारे एम. फिल इंटरव्यू का, लिखित परीक्षा अच्छे अंकों से पास कर लेने पर अपनी पांच सालों की पढ़ाई पर थोड़ा भरोसा लेकर हम इंटरव्यू हॉल में पहुंचते हैं। वहां पांच पुरुष-प्रोफेसर्स के बीच सुशोभित अकेली महिला-प्रोफेसर आश्वस्त करती है कि संख्या कम है लेकिन है। उनकी मेज़ पर चाय बिस्कुट और समोसे ! वे इतने भूखे थे कि सवालों के बीच ही में समोसा खाते और चाय सुड़कते।

मुझसे पहला सवाल पूछा रसिक आलोचक महोदय ने ‘आपका स्पेशलाइज़ेशन किसमें है?’ अब सोच रही हूं कि अभी कहां स्पेशलाइज़ेशन! ख़ैर जवाब दिया कि मुझे फलाँ फलाँ लेखक कवि पसंद हैं। ‘अच्छा नागार्जुन! उनकी अकाल और उसके बाद सुनाइए’ सुनाने से पहले ही एक महानुभाव बोले ‘सुबह से बहुत बार यही सुन रहे हैं तुम भी यही सुना दो’ और ज़ोरदार ठहाका ! मैंने बचपन में मम्मी पापा के किसी रिश्तेदार के सामने पोएम सुनाने को कहा जाने पर ‘देखो एक डाकिया आया, चिट्ठी कई साथ में लाया’ वाले अंदाज़ में कविता शुरू कर दी, गलती तब हुई जब नागार्जुन जी की कानी कुतिया को सुलाने के बजाय रुला दिया मैंने। जैसे ही यह पंक्ति गलत बोली मैंने ‘कई दिनों तक कानी कुतिया बैठी रोई उसके पास’ पूरा हॉल ठहाकों से गूँज गया। और अभी तक जिस महिला-प्रोफेसर की उपस्थिति आश्वस्त कर रही थी उनकी टिपण्णी आई ‘ये तो डुबो देगी’ और भी ज़ोर से ठहाका लगा। फिर रसिक आलोचक जी ने तफ़री ली ‘अरे नहीं नहीं मैडम! समय के साथ कविता में बदलाव भी ज़रूरी है, हाँ बेटा तुम आगे सुनाओ।’ वे हंसी दबा रहे थे या मुझे सुना रहे थे पता नहीं। इस तरह के अपमान के लिए मैं तैयार नहीं थी लेकिन।

इस घटना के बाद मुझसे पूछे गए सवाल मेरे कानों तक पहुँच ही नहीं पाये। मानो कानों में पिघला हुआ सीसा डाल दिया गया हो। मुझे अंतिम सवाल याद है ‘अन्ना केरेनिना किसने लिखी है?’ यह किताब मैंने इस तरह पढ़ी थी कि अन्ना के साथ सारे द्वंद्व जिए थे। उसकी मौत पर आँसू बहाए थे। लियो टॉलस्टॉय का नाम लेने के लिए भी मेरा मुँह नहीं खुल सका। ‘बच्ची घबरा गई है’ कहकर मुझे इंटरव्यू समाप्ति की सूचना मिली और दरवाज़े के बाहर निकलते हुए भी मेरी पीठ पर उनकी हंसी गूंज रही थी।

ये गूँज कितने दिनों तक मेरे कान में गूंजती रही, वे लोग नहीं समझेंगे। मेरा चयन नहीं होगा इसे लेकर मुझे ज़रा संशय नहीं था। पर गुरुजी के चरणों में नतमस्तक ऐसे शिष्यों का चयन जिन्हें अन्ना केरेनिना नामक कोई पुस्तक भी है की जानकारी ना हो, ने हैरान किया। हिंदी विभाग में जुगाड़ के बिना कुछ नहीं होता ऐसा कहने वाले बहुत लोग मिले लेकिन मैं हमेशा सोचती थी कि काबिलियत को कोई दरकिनार भला कैसे कर सकता है। तब मेरी मुलाक़ात एक ऐसे सज्जन से हुई जिन्हें मुझसे पूरी सहानुभूति थी। ‘अरे रे! तुम तो ब्राह्मण हो फिर भी नहीं लिया? अगली बार इंटरव्यू से पहले मुझे सूचित करना’ मैं उस दिन समझी कि क्या फ़र्क़ पड़ता अगर कानी कुतिया रोई होती या सोई होती ! चयन तो निर्धारित था। सज्जन ने मेरे ज्ञान-चक्षु खोलते हुए यह भी समझाया कि कितनी सीट्स पर उनका कब्ज़ा है (अर्थात् उनके द्वारा भेजी गई कितनी सिफारिशों पर सुनवाई होगी) ‘अपना रोल नंबर और पूरा नाम भेज देना अगर उधर से कोई बड़ी सिफारिश नहीं आई तो हम तुम्हारा करवा देंगे, आखिर तुम ब्राह्मण की संतान हो’ मैंने मेरे जीवन में मेरे घर परिवार दोस्तों में कहीं ब्राह्मण शब्द का ऐसा प्रयोग नहीं सुना था।

मेरे ज़हन में उदय प्रकाश की पीली छतरी वाली लड़की के हिंदी प्रोफेसर साहब आने लगे। ये ब्राह्मणवादी स्वरुप से मेरा पहला आमना-सामना था, मुझे शर्मिंदगी हुई ! मेरे एक मित्र ने एक दिलचस्प मगर दुखद किस्सा सुनाया, हुआ यूँ कि एक छात्र नियमित रूप से प्रोफेसर के घर के काम, उनकी पत्नी के लिए सब्ज़ी तरकारी खरीदना, बीच वार्तालाप में पाँच बार पाँव छूना वगैरह वगैरह करता…प्रोफेसर ने भी कह दिया कि तुम्हारी सीट पक्की है। बस भूल यह हुई कि ‘कैटेगरी’ पूछे जाने पर उसने सकपकाकर ‘जनरल’ कह दिया(संभवतः गुरूजी को वह भी भली-भांति समझ-बूझ गया होगा) लेकिन जब इंटरव्यू लिस्ट में उसके नाम के साथ OBC लिखा देखा तो गुरूजी ने एडमिशन तो नहीं ही दिया डपटा सो अलग !

जाति किस कदर दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय के अंदर तक खोखले हिंदी विभाग का अंग है ये हिंदी विभाग से जुड़ा कोई भी शख्स जिसके अन्दर लेशमात्र भी ईमानदारी बची है नकार नहीं सकता। लाल झंडे वाले भी अपना कैंडिडेट तैयार रखते हैं। न्याय की बात करने वालों का अपना तर्क है कि उन्हें संख्या-बल चाहिए, अपनी विचारधारा वाले। मेरिट किस चिड़िया का नाम है ! योग्यता गई तेल लेने ! मेरी एक मित्र को अपने चयन पर भरोसा था और चयन हुआ भी। और भरोसा क्यों ना हो आख़िर 10000 रुपये तक के गिफ्ट्स जो महिला-प्रोफेसर के चरणों में अर्पित किये थे। (ध्यातव्य है कि ये डंके की चोट पर वाम सपोर्टर हैं) माने हमाम में सभी नंगे हैं। एक तो करेला उसपर नीम चढ़ा वाली बात यह है कि ऐसी बेशर्मी ये लोग लुक-छिपकर नहीं करते।

ख़ैर, ऐसे अनुभवों के बाद मोहभंग हो जाना स्वाभाविक ही था। फेसबुक के माध्यम से मिली जानकारी है कि इस जूता-चाट चयन-प्रक्रिया पर सवाल उठाया था दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय के गोल्ड-मेडलिस्ट छात्र अभय मिश्रा ने! उन्होंने हाई-कोर्ट में याचिका दायर की थी, जिसे वे हार चुके हैं। फेसबुक पर 2016 की उनकी एक पोस्ट भी काफी चर्चा में रही थी जिसे यहां लगाया जा रहा है।

चयन मेरिट पर आधारित हो। मूल्यांकन में पारदर्शिता होनी चाहिए। यह चेतनाविहीन विभाग कितने सपनों के साथ खेलता है और कितने ही छात्रों को अवसाद की गर्त में धकेलता है! कमलानगर और मुखर्जीनगर के उन सीलन भरे कमरों में कितने सपने दम तोड़ते हैं। गाँव में दूर अपने 24-25 वर्षीय बच्चों से आस लगाए बैठे माँ-पिता से महीने का खर्च माँगते हुए कितनी बार गले में फाँस अटकती है, ये असंवेदनशील गुरु-घंटाल क्या भला कभी समझ सकेंगे ! मठ और गढ़ जाने कब टूटें और कब जाने न्याय हो ! छात्र संघर्ष ज़िंदाबाद ! बिना लाल सलाम!

The post रोल नंबर भेज देना DU में एडमिशन हो जाएगा, आखिर तुम ब्राह्मण हो appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz, an award-winning online platform that serves as the hub of thoughtful opinions and reportage on the world's most pressing issues, as witnessed by the current generation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.