The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

CAMPUS
DU students left without the hot cuppa as winter nears
Gaurav Choudhury
Tribune News Service

AS the autumn mist sets in the Capital, the students of Delhi University, North Campus, are left without a major hangout – the University Coffee House, right on Chaatra Marg.

The coffee house, a favourite stopover for all those who wanted to have a quick sip of invigorating hot coffee, could accommodate 150 persons at any point of time and catered to several departments, including the Arts Faculty, which has students running into several hundreds.

University authorities used to lease out the coffee shop, after floating a tender. Intellectual discourses, dates or a quick bite were a part of the cafeteria curricula, which has been in existence for several decades now.

It is learnt, that the Cafeteria Committee, headed by the University Proctor, had to order the sealing of the shop as utility bills (water and electricity), running into several thousands, remained unpaid for many years now.

“Winter is setting in and, with the coffee shop closed, something is bound to be amiss on the campus. One only hopes things are sorted out and it starts functioning normally”, a student said.

Within the sprawling campus, there were three coffee shops, including the one that is sealed now. Among the other two, the one on the campus of the prestigious Delhi School of Economics is another favourite hangout for students and teachers.

Dance competition

Perhaps for the first time in the history of Delhi University, the sports ground will witness an activity other than sports. On November 9 this year, the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) is organising an inter-college dance competition followed by a cultural evening.

Joint Secretary of DUSU, Rohit Choudhary, said that with colleges of the university scattered in all parts of the city, the dance competition and the cultural evening were primarily aimed at bringing students of all colleges under one roof.

Two days before the competition (November 7), the new DUSU office- bearers will formally take charge and a book fair will be organised on the occasion. DUSU sources revealed that major publishers had already confirmed participation in the event.

AIDS awareness

The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) will soon organise AIDS awareness camps in several colleges of the university and NACO, the nodal agency for AIDS research in the country, will send a team of experts to colleges to impart basic knowledge about AIDS and HIV.

Students’ welfare

Students’ welfare seems to have taken a backseat in the university. The Dean of Students Welfare, Dr (Ms) Hema Raghavan, can manage time to visit the campus only at about four in the afternoon everyday as she also happens to be the Principal of Gargi College.

However, most of the students leave the campus by the time the DSW reaches her office.

Consequently, aggrieved students pointed out that most of the problems of the students remained unattended for days.

Khalsa College 50th year

The majestic Khalsa College building in New Delhi. The institution is observing its golden jubilee this year. — Tribune photo

Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College is celebrating its golden jubilee this year. Former Prime Minister I .K .Gujral set the ball rolling during the inaugural ceremony on September 27.

As part of the celebrations, the college is organising an inter-university hockey tournament, to be held in the college grounds itself. As many as 26 universities of north zone will participate in the event. Exhibition cricket matches, science festivals, inter-college debating competitions and different other programmes are also slated during the course of the year.

In November this year, on the founder’s day, a Punjabi cultural extravaganza is being organised with focus on kirtan, bhangra, recitation of Gurbani etc. ``Our idea is to celebrate the 50th year in a way that it creates a greater sense of belonging. We are concerned about excessive commercialisation of educational institutions. We do not want the same to happen to our college”, a faculty member of the college said.

Unjust holidays

The festival season seems to have set in the campus as well as with holidays too. Following a fortnight's break, the colleges reopened after the autumn vacation on October 16. With barely week of classes being held, the campus has moved into the holiday mode again with a series of holidays this week. Effectively, it means that, classes will reopen only on October 29 ( Monday), and nobody is complaining. “Most of the hostellers leave for their native places during the vacations. And every year, the attendance is usually slender till Dusherra. And this year is no exception”, a College lecturer said.

One wonders why the autumn vacations are not rescheduled every year in accordance with Dusherra celebrations. “ This will offer precious time for the holding of classes”, the lecturer said. Is anybody listening?

Parking blues

The campus was built much before the automobile revolution took place in this country. With the number of cars of the students and teachers growing rapidly, most colleges are facing an acute shortage of parking space. After several years, SGTB Khalsa college has finally managed to create an extra space within the college complex for facilitating the parking of cars of students. Previously, snazzy cars were parked linearly in front of the college leaving lesser space for traffic movement.

Dayal Singh College seems to be encountering a similar problem. Earlier this week, the college students union struck classes demanding greater space for parking of cars of students. With growing urbanisation and more cars per person, one wonders how much space will be adequate.

Simian threat

The picturesque northern ridge overlooking the Delhi University is posing a simian threat to passers-by. Monkeys venture into the campus during day time and there have been several instances where monkeys have snatched eatables from several students. Old timers say that morning strollers have indulged the monkeys by offering bananas. Needless to say that several banana hawkers are doing brisk business in the area.

Jamia to produce budding watchdogs
Our Correspondent

New Delhi, October 24
Arguably for the fist time in India, four departments of studies have come together to support a course of study introduced by Jamia Milia Islamia. The course is a postgraduate diploma in journalism, initiated by its Department of Hindi in September 2001.

It is simultaneously backed by the Departments of English and Urdu and its Mass Communication and Research Centre. The course, as Prof. Asghar Wajahat, Head of the Department, puts it, is a "single person unit with a camera."

The course's main features are special classes in English, Hindi and Urdu languages, orientation lectures in all subjects to make the students know how much of a subject, say science, geography, arts or law, should be known to a journalist while working, the personality development programmes, technical expertise as well as meeting the deadlines.

" The course is initiated not only to enhance the oral and written language skills of journalists but also combat commercialism that has crept in this noble field as also unemployment," says Dr. Ashok Chakradhar, famous poet, satirist and Reader with the department.

The course has 30 seats. With a fee of Rs 15,000 for the whole year, it calls for a test and an interview being taken by experts from various media, which will be conducted in June-July each year. The last few months witnessed lectures and meetings from Star TV, ZEE, Sahara and renowned authors Kamleshwar and Kanhaiya Lal Nandan.

So look out for some budding watchdogs from the institution soon !