the third eye

Volume XIII Issue III| April 2011 Students’ Gymkhana, IIT Bombay

IB Heads’ Selections Placement Season Lookback MI 2010 Review 2 4 6 Student Jury 3 ISMP – The Silent Guardian 5 2011 Review 7 A Mess(y) Affair Work in Progress – Biswas Curriculum The first B.Tech batch under the ambit of the Biswas curriculum is passing out this year. InsIghT decided to review the curriculum and look at the broader picture.

Aim of the Curriculum Steps Taken Prof. Biswas The old curriculum needed to adapt itself to the The Biswas committee believed that the core • Ensuring flexibility in curriculum, minor program change in student psyche and the perspective of industry demand is very high and no UG curricu- was focussed the industry. Students today are far more career lum can possibly fulfil that. Instead, they decided • Lack of resources (faculty and infrastructural) did oriented and want greater academic freedom. to go for a “Bare Minimum Program” which would not allow to utilize the entire package. Having a class The industry expects the recruits to have multiple touch all spheres of the department and give each with more than 250 students does not make sense skills apart from a sound theoretical knowledge; student a brief overview of all his future options. • The TAship program quality needs ameliorating, analytical skills, leadership qualities and entrepre- This program would entitle him to an engineering both in quality and number neurship skills to name a few. degree and the surplus time hence obtained is to be • The program is still in an experimental phase with utilized by the student as per his aspirations. Core almost 50% of the job done. It needs more time to It was believed that the old system did not give internships were made optional. He could focus on stabilize students enough flexibility to choose their courses extracurricular activities; do a minor or an honour according to the needs and was very harsh on programme or both. becomes a major challenge, especially for the final back-loggers. Clearing more than 3 backlogs was year students who fail a course in the odd semester. a mammoth task which resulted in students facing For pursuing this minor/honour programme, he had to academic-extension in majority of the cases. To prove his interest in academics by maintaining a good Students often complain that their courses are not avoid such a situation, the professors refrained CPI, thus solving the missing incentive issue. All core sequentially connected and often, they are unable themselves from awarding FRs, resulting in “Grade courses/ prerequisites were planned to run in both to answer even the most basic questions in their Inflation” and allotment of Self-Study courses / FF semesters to help the back-loggers while removing FF discipline. Prof Alok Goyal (Department of Civil grades. More courses meant that the faculty was grade and self-study courses. Engineering) explained – the curriculum in the overloaded and the 50% increase in student popula- Civil department filtered out some courses which tion wasn’t really helping their cause. Implementation Problems gave an industry feel of the discipline, either Though done with the best intentions, the imple- because of a faculty shortage or because they it Prof. Mehra mentation faced many issues, the major one being was felt that the course was too crude to be taught • The current UG curriculum is liberal but inadequate the inability of the institute to run core courses/ and students would anyway learn it if they entered on certain “core” aspects. It needs to be strict when pre-requisite courses every semester. As Professor core engineering. However, this way, students it comes to grade allotment (including in-sem) Anurag Mehra (Dept. of Chemical Engineering) don’t get to see the real life application of what • The industry and student culture in the U.S./Europe pointed out – it’s an open fact that the institute they are learning and tend to lose interest in core and is miles apart. While our curriculum tends suffers from a faculty shortage of 25-30%, planning engineering. towards being more world class, Indian industries to run the same course in both semesters is simply are not really up to the mark. A balance has to be not feasible. Since, the number of courses went down, the maintained between producing engineers suitable professors also had to cut down on topics or reduce for Indian industries and being world class The Biswas committee expects that students learn the number of hours put into the topic or both. A • The problem is bilateral; students and professors their core-courses rigorously. This means tougher general opinion on the 8-credit courses, formed by need to work on the issue together. Forming course grading and more backlogs. Since the courses clubbing two 6-credit courses, is that these courses review committees at department/institute level on aren’t available in both semesters, there are always proceed at a very fast pace and hence force the a regular basis shall help slot clashes and hence several problems arise. This students to cram rather than learn the subject. Where Does Your Money Go? – We Fin(e)d Out lot of speculation goes on in the institute about April 2007, there was no norm of collecting fines. Giving honorarium to staff Rs. 2,62,758 the fine collected by the DoSA from students A student who was found violating any institute & security officials found guilty of violating institute rules and rule was either warned or had to face DAC in A Helping students belonging where and how it is channelled. So to put the matter to serious cases. While this method worked well for from financially weak rest, InsIghT found out the requisite details. small offences when the students were let go with Rs. 5,33,054 background for their fees, a warning, some cases had to be dealt harshly with medical expenses etc. During the last 4 years, from April 2007 to March a DAC. As the cases began to grow numerous in 2011, a total of Rs. 25,11,029 has been collected number, the authorities had to come up with mone- Procurement of projector as fine in the DoSA’s account which is equivalent tary penalty to serve as a middle path between used for student activities, Rs. 94,500 to virtually Rs. 50,000 per month. But, before warning and DAC. A protocol was set up after April screenings in LT etc. 2007 that included some minimum monetary punish- Alcohol Rs.5000 Fixed Deposit in Bank Rs. 1,00,000 ment for breaching such rules. Substance No fine yet. At this time only Abuse parental involvement + rehab The money collected as fine is deposited in a sepa- A purchase of two more buses has been sanctioned Motorcycle Rs.5000 rate fine account by the DoSA office. The same is with the remaining amount in the account. Any queries used from time to time by the office to sponsor or regarding the utilization of these funds can be taken up Cycle in Collected by security fund various expenditures of student concern. The with the DoSA office. ■ corridor utilization of this amount is decided in consultation Public display with the GSHA and other student representatives. For further details contact Mayank Agarwal and Nikunj Jha Depends on the severity of affection at [email protected] and nikunj.magician@gmail. of the matter and ragging com respectively.

> InsIghT is the students’ newsletter of IIT Bombay. The views expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of Students’ Gymkhana, IIT Bombay. Any reproduction of these contents must include proper attribution and a link back to the InsIghT website. 2 InsIghT | April 2011 http://www.insightiitb.org

Placement Season 2010–11: A Comprehensive Lookback

ith the economy on a comprehensive Students though, were severely irked by the fact that possible last year, as the CCs were overburdened. upswing, this year’s placements were a the punishment for the penalty points and rewards But some students were of the opinion that CCs Wmuch looked forward to affair. There were for the preparatory activities was released retrospec- were still overloaded and that this resulted in several sweeping changes with respect to how this tively. Both these decisions were perceived as being updates on the placement blog being uploaded on year’s Institute Placement Team (IPT) approached highly unprofessional from the side of the IPT. very short notice, causing students to miss out the monumental task of securing jobs for everyone. on JAF signings, tests and interviews. The IPT There were changes not only in the Placement Policy, Registrations: Students can register for placements responded by saying that late updates have been but also to the overall structure of the IPT. Company just once. If a student with an active backlog in his because of short notice by companies and not Coordinators (CCs) were incorporated with the sole last semester finds out that the course he needs to because of CCs’ negligence. The IPT also says that purpose of contacting companies, in addition to clear to satisfy his graduation requirements was not in such cases they have personally called people up Department Placement Coordinators (DPCs) whose being offered in the final semester, then he faces an to inform them of the same. job was to hold preparatory activities for students. extension. He would have absolutely no chance of Changes with respect to the structure of the team and sitting for placements again unless the IPT deals The DPCs of quite some departments were perceived the policy have been dealt with comprehensively in with it on a case by case basis. The IPT responded to to be ‘infy lukkha.’ Preparatory activities varied previous issues (Recall: The Placement Reformation: this by saying that a student sitting for placements greatly from department to department and were very Through the Looking Glass & Placement Policy who is free of academic constraints by January is at DPC dependant. 2010: No Easy Game). With this article we shall try to an advantage over other students; hence extension analyse whether these changes have borne fruit. students are debarred from the Placement process. Various points of discussion relating to placements: i. The people making the policy are not answerable Lookback on the Placement Policy Off-Campus Policy: The date till which no off- to the students because they are as Prof. Ravi Point System: This year, the system of Penalty Points campus applications are permitted has been Sinha puts it, ‘the employees of the placement was made stricter, if a student accumulates 15 penalty extended to 30th June, 2011 (earlier it was 30th cell’. Students perceived some decisions by the points, the next 3 companies that he applies to would April). This was done because the IPT believes that IPT as being autocratic and at times severely be informed of his misdemeanours through a Penalty while they are contacting companies, people should unreasonable. Certificate.This was done to counter the casual not be able to apply off-campus as this would affect attitude that students displayed towards placements, the company’s decision to come in for placements. For example, the Buddy Policy was very biased pre-placement talks and companies. The problem lay The IPT is going to contact various C3–C5 compa- against DDs; in that the IPT put an arbitrary clamp with the personal leniency levels of individual DPCs, nies after April end as well. on the buddy policy from 10th to 27th November, a which differed across the board, causing discontent. time when DDs are quite free (due to no endsems) No student accrued 15 penalty points and hence no Unfortunately by June 30th most new recruits already and when they can take maximum advantage of the company was sent a penalty certificate. This can be start working and companies are done with their buddy policy. In contrast, Btechs had already taken perceived as the students taking the policy seriously. recruitment cycles; the probability of off-campus advantage of the same earlier when DDs were busy applications being accepted so late is very low. For with their DDP Stage I deadlines.The IPT claims Students also earned reward points for attending someone who has failed to secure a job till so late, the that placement activities, including the Buddy preparatory activities held by the DPCs. On gather- extension seems unwarranted and extremely harsh. Policy, were stopped during endsems as a result of a ing enough reward points, students would be able to The policy is applicable to students who de-register directive from the Academic Office. sign extra JAFs depending on the company in which from placements as well. The IPT says that students he got placed. This incentive though, did not hold for are allowed to apply off-campus to companies which ii. Not informing students of which companies are students placed in C1 and C2 companies, making the haven’t come for placements if they take permission expected to come later in Phase II, or even which reward irrelevant for them. Students perceive that not from the IPT. Also DDs stay in campus till June 30th companies are going to be contacted, leaves the enough companies of higher categories have come in and hence a uniform date was sought till which off- students with no room for manoeuvre and was Phase II for students who have secured jobs in C3 and campus applications are debarred. tantamount to coercing them into signing present below, to be able to avail of this incentive. JAFs. Though, the IPT does make a very valid Lookback on the New Team Structure point when they say that the list of companies to There have been instances where DPCs held informal It has been seen that the division of work between be contacted is not released for fear of other IITs preparatory sessions and doled out points for attend- CCs and DPCs generally resulted in more output getting hold of the same. ing them, completely at their own discretion. There than last year. More companies were contacted. was no central monitoring or control for the same, DPCs of some departments held a lot of prepara- Overall, even though there have been some niggling which created an issue with respect to transparency. tory activities, something that might not have been problems and a few serious inadequacies, the overall Stats Package

In terms of pure numbers, this year’s placement season has been figures, no one can dispute that the IPT has done an extraordinarily community regarding the placement policy, IPT structure and an unmitigated success. As can be seen from the accompanying good job, but there has been discontent brewing within the student organisational hassles during placement.

Total Students Total Students % of Students Total Students % of Students Total Students Year Registered placed in Phase I placed in Phase 1 placed till 3rd March placed till 3rd march Place d 2009–2010 1111 518 46.62 660 59.41 840 2010–2011 1247 720 57.74 815 65.36 – %age Change 12.24 39.00 – 23.48 – –

2010–2011 2009–2010 %age Change Department Wise Placements (%age Placed) No. of Day1 Profiles 27 21 28.57 No. of Day1 Offers 118 82 43.9

Category No. of companies till 3rd March C1 57 C1 ≥ 8.5 LPA 7.0 LPA ≤ C2 < 8.5 LPA C2 38 5.5 LPA ≤ C3 < 7.0 LPA C3 59 4.5 LPA ≤ C4 < 5.5 LPA C4 26 C5 < 4.5 LPA (LPA – Lakh per Annum in C5 12 Indian Rupees) * The categories above are purely based on remuneration and have not been verified by the IPT http://www.insightiitb.org InsIghT | April 2011 3

result of the new structure and policy was quite Interviews overlapped and several students • The cumulative effect of the slotting woes was good. Prof Sinha claims that companies were missed out on interviews due to delays and poor that by the time the last few candidates had their generally much more pleased this year with the scheduling. A certain Day 1 Slot 1 company came first round interviews, some companies already professionalism displayed by the students. It is in with just 3 interviewers because of which it had a list of selected candidates in place and the rumoured that a Day 1 company even sent in a ended up interviewing students till day 2 Slot former had considerably less chances of making letter of appreciation. 1; throwing schedules totally awry. The same it to the next round. Certain companies selected company held students to ransom by promising their candidates without having interviewed all Day 1 Organisational Hassles them interviews later, which forced them to ditch the shortlisted tudents. On intervention by the IPT, A lot of companies demanded to come on Day 1 other companies’ interviews and in the end, allegedly dummy interviews’ were held. and threatened that they wouldn’t come otherwise. students missed out on both. This caused major hassles for the IPT. They were • Certain claims were made that some students caught between a rock and a hard place; in their • Companies were seen stalling candidates - used polt to get into shortlists of smaller compa- aim to maximise the number of job offers, they tried throwing offers in the 1st round itself and giving nies by meeting seniors who had come back as to accommodate as many companies as they could under the table offers to selected candidates interviewers. on Day 1, but this led to students missing out on to gauge if they stick with them, hence putting interviews due to clashes and shoddy scheduling. candidates into sticky spots. The volunteers are The IPT says that they have created additional Several untoward happenings left many students supposed to report these - but it becomes difficult posts of Associate Coordinators for next year. more than just discontented: because the candidates insist on keeping it a These will be pre-final year students and they will secret for their benefit and it’s hard to detect. This help solely in scheduling interviews of students • Candidates were pulled out mid-interview by Prof. is really unfair to people who are scheduled for and proper handling of the same. They will try Ravi Sinha. In some specific cases, in the second 1st round interviews later. to ensure that such problems do not repeat them- round when the candidate did not have any other selves next year. interview to go to, he refused companies 5 extra • Slotting of interviews in the second round was minutes with a candidate. This may have been done depending on the preference of the student This article has presented to you both the highs and unavoidable in some cases (as interviews invari- and the order was very clearly shown in the list the lows of this year’s placement season. In terms ably tend to overflow their slots and clash with that was released on the blog, which in a way of pure numbers, it has been a resounding success other slots), but from the students’ point of view, indicated to the companies quite clearly what over the previous year, but certain incidents have if they are not being given adequate time to prove the students’ preferences were. This messed up resulted in antagonising the students. In hindsight, themselves in an interview, then they are being conversations of a lot of students with companies, several issues could have been better handled; there severely handicapped with respect to other candi- affecting their chances in the process. is certainly a scope for improvement. Students dates. The IPT claims that students were pulled would appreciate a more student friendly policy. out only after their allotted duration of 20 minutes • The preference form was not given till the Let’s hope that the next Placement Team takes these was up, not before that. They say that if a schedule students asked for it, which was well in the issues into consideration for the upcoming year. ■ is not followed there would be a domino effect second round of interviews. There were cases and other companies would be angered. Students where company officials handed out forms and For further details contact Akshay Soni, Archit though refute the fact that everyone was given made candidates fill it in front of them. The Kejriwal, Neha Rambhia and Nihal Sarawgi at akshay- their full allotted time. placement team did not remember to give it to [email protected], [email protected], the students. [email protected] and [email protected] • Overall slotting was pretty haphazard. respectively.

ISMP – The Silent Guardian

The Student Mentor Programme at IIT Bombay place other than random checks and mentee The D-AMP: consists of three programmes - the ISMP or the feedback to ensure accountability from the The D-AMP is at a nascent stage as compared to the Institute Student Mentor Programme, the D-AMP mentors. Once selected, the ISMP functions on ISMP. As of now, departments are struggling with i.e. the Departmental Academic Mentor Programme trust and goodwill; with the 2 Heads overseeing its devising a D-AMP which will bring a visible change to and the Preparatory Mentorship programme. The operation. There have been instances of freshmen the students’ performance. 3 units provide a support system academically and saying that they would have appreciated more • Till now a major reason for the failure of D-AMP was socially for the entire student community and in frequent meetings with their mentors. Mentors are the delay in mentor-mentee allotment as ISMP and particular, the undergraduate freshmen. broadly advised to meet their mentees once in 2 D-AMP teams had common mentors. ISMP mentors days initially to once in a week later. were busy in the 1st month but now that the 2 teams The ISMP also serves as a channel of constructive • Jhonny Jha and Dhruva Shah, the new ISMP are significantly different, this problem should not interaction between senior and junior students. heads say, that the “Mentor Cabinet” helps keep arise. The D-AMP in some departments serves to provide a closer tab on mentors. Additionally, it gives • To make a difference to a student’s performance, academic mentorship for students with academic diffi- guidance to new mentors and provides a platform a mentor might have to go the extra mile and tutor culties while in others, mentors all 2nd year students. for them to raise extreme situations or concerns the student himself. Such a commitment is often not The D-AMP mentors micro-monitor students with regarding mentees which are better addressed by possible from senior students. backlogs and help plan their course load. a group of people. • The faculty advisors are often apprehensive about sharing confidential information about the student The Preparatory Mentors mainly provide mentor- Initiatives this Year: grades with mentors. This problem has been eased ship to the students undertaking the preparatory • To train the mentors, regular meetings and by the intervention of a department specific faculty courses of the institute. interactive sessions are arranged with the ISMP D-AMP coordinator. Faculty Advisor (presently Prof Nithyanand, who • The defiant attitude of students towards slacking The Team: has taken over from Prof Vikram Gadre). This academics makes the mentorship process more • The ISMP presently is an 80 member strong force year, an interactive hands-on session with CREST, challenging for mentors and any help the mentor is with most students mentoring 12-14 freshmen. an NGO, was organised to teach the basics of iden- willing to provide is either rejected or taken sullenly. Mentors for freshmen are selected from to-be tifying and dealing with mentee problems. • The D-AMP suffers from low visibility in the institute third, fourth and fifth year students through • An online forum was launched by the ISMP to with many students and faculty advisors unaware of personal interviews conducted by the ISMP enable seniors and to-be freshmen to interact the facility itself! heads. The ISMP Heads last year were fifth year even before the semester began. The forum was students Manish Shetty and Rahul Srinivasan. hugely successful with freshmen. Additionally, • The mentors are supposed to be good role models a letter written from the ISMP team was sent to • The freshmen appreciated that information flow for the first years with their ability to provide the parents of each freshman. Translations of the among the mentors was good and reliable and sound advice to them without any personal bias. letter into many regional languages were avail- claim that the 880-strong freshmen batch was This year a “Mentor Cabinet” was constituted of able on the Freshmen Forum. This initiative is regularly updated by their mentors. Academic those students who have 1 year of mentorship appreciable but few freshmen acknowledge having help sessions were organised for various behind them, to help the Head Coordinators received such letters. subjects, and although they were conducted by manage the programme better. • A Mentor Handbook and comprehensive feedback the faculty, ISMP was instrumental in arranging from mentors and mentees somewhat formalised them. In some cases mentors who were also TAs The Functioning the functioning of the ISMP this year. The ISMP conducted help sessions themselves. • Although the selection of institute mentors is also facilitated the creation of a Blood Group done carefully, there exists no mechanism in Database to assist students in case of emergencies. Continued on Page 7 4 InsIghT | April 2011 http://www.insightiitb.org

MI 2010 – “Could’ve been better”

The 40th edition of , the either. The Entertainment Quiz stood However in ‘Levis Convo’, Vogue annual cultural festival of IIT Bombay in stark contrast to the rest of the went on rather chaotically as the was held from 20th to 23rd December, quizzes in Omniscience. The quizmas- professional groups refused to adjust 2010. In the months leading up to the ter seemed uninterested, the crowd to the constraints of a college fashion actual event, Mood Indigo tried to management was poor and the finals show. Apart from starting seventy make its presence felt by means of the were uninspiring and insipid. Also, minutes late, the show was muddled pre-MI events. This year, in addition the speaking events left much to be with service errors making it an alto- to Livewire, Aagaaz, the street play desired in terms of both organisation gether forgettable experience. competition, too held multi-city elimi- as well as the level of participation. nations. A significant portion of Mood The Group Extempore event seemed Pronites Indigo publicity was done online. The as if it had been prepared a couple of The selection of artists for this year’s Facebook page was promoted in a big hours before the actual event. Mood Indigo was disappointing, to way and was rewarded by 13000 likes, say the least. The team failed to match a healthy jump of 8000 from last year. Informals up to the high standards set by the The Informals Department this year Mood Indigo 2009. Desi Tadka gone bland? tried to move away from the norm and Mood Indigo 2010 shall, unfortunately, focused on events which were more Katatonia were the international be remembered as ‘the one with no varied. According to Ishan Shrivastava, band act at pronites this year and spice’. The crowd was minimal, the Core Group Member, Informals – “This the reaction to their concert changed ambience - bland and the pronites - year we tried to come up with a very from ‘Katatonia – who?’ to ‘Katatonia boring. The Mood Indigo theme - Desi diverse set of events which didn’t just – why?’ as the minutes passed. We Tadka, seemed to have been lost cater to the literary arts circle. We believe that any comparison with somewhere behind the huge publicity focused more on the elimination rounds the concert would be banners. When asked about the same, since it witnesses more participation unfair as both the bands belong to Anant Gupta, OC Mood Indigo, replied than the final rounds”. It was certainly entirely different genres. But since a - ‘We tried to incorporate the theme in a an impressive ideology and a lot of lot of concert passes were given away more subtle way. This time we went for events were highly innovative. But at as event winnings, one can easily a less visual impact and pushed for inte- the same time some events suffered gauge that Katatonia failed to attract a gration of themes in our events. We had from organisational problems which lot of metal fans as well. Indian magicians, mela events etc. For affected their overall quality. the ambience, we decorated the main The Asha Bhonsle concert this year building corridor with kites, lanterns Treasure Hunt suffered from a lot was held in place of the classical etc. We wanted the theme to be imple- of glitches pertaining to participant concert. The concert received mixed mented in our events, and not just be an handling as well as the clues which reviews. While the faculty members eye-candy.’ Now whether a theme like didn’t match up to the standards set and old hindi music fanatics found Desi Tadka was suitable for such subtle previously. The elimination round of her mere presence ‘mesmerizing’, the implementation is anyone’s guess. Corporate was appreciated but the younger audiences found her ‘out of finals were highly mismanaged. Also, tune’ and ‘too old to be headlining a Competitions a lot of events suffered because their college cultural festival’. Mood Indigo Competitions this year was venues were rather obscure. Crime bigger and better than ever before. The Scene Investigation was, however, a The last pronite featured events were executed professionally, the decent effort; as were the game shows. and his troupe of singers/dancers participation was top-notch and where belting out popular Bollywood songs they might have lacked in event innova- All this notwithstanding, a few events that were lapped up by the audience. tion, they more than made up for it in deserve a special mention. Check Mate The show would have been a bigger terms of bigger cash prizes. – the strategy Game was organized hit had it not been for the ‘No One beautifully and was widely appreciated. Killed Jessica’ cast (including Rani Omniscience; the mega quizzing event The Lounges were better organised and Mukherjee and ) which was generally well received. The big the Board-games Lounge in particular came for the film publicity; Trivedi bucks drew hordes of quizzers from all was enjoyed by a lot of people. ended up singing songs from NOKJ over the country, something MIs of the up to three times each, much to the past had failed to achieve. The quizzes Horizons audience’s frustration. were well researched and the filler Mood Indigo 2010 was another great quizzes were impressive as well. year for Horizons. They were given Service Pains the OAT for the first time and with Every year, the service glitches play an The street play event this year, Sumo Wrestling, they pulled off a important part in lowering the overall Aagaaz, went multi-city and winner. Crowd management issues experience of Mood Indigo. This year, held eliminations in and aside, the event drew hordes of crowd however, the service assistance of , in addition to . and the event was a unique experi- Mood Indigo seemed to have reached Even though a few issues were raised ence for everyone who came to attend. an all time low. A lot of events suffered on the non-uniformity of competi- ‘It was amazing to be thrown out of from sound related problems. MI stage, tion across the cities, the captivating the ring by a 300 pounds plus Sumo’ – for example, was constantly nagged by performances in the finals settled all one of the students who tried to tackle recurring sound failures. The sound lingering doubts. the wrestlers said. at NCC was pathetic at times during Anant Gupta – MI OC 2010 the IMF. A lot of events started late The music competitions were up to the One of the most celebrated events of because the projector or the screen • We wanted to reach out to the best colleges mark as well. The events saw good, MI’09; IMF entered its second edition could not be made available. which would, in turn, guarantee us the best quality participation, with IITB’s own this year. With the ideology to bring participants for our competitions. We wanted Shaadarsh winning Mantra. Livewire down a wide array of world class Mood Indigo, being Asia’s largest college MI to be the best 4 days of their lives and Swaradhana, the solo classical artists to MI, it was once again a festival, really needs to look into these competition, witnessed high levels of crowd success. incidents more carefully. Such incidents • The low turnout was majorly due to shift competition and were appreciated. bother participants and the organisers in exam date for University and not The events, however, did suffer from Even though some intermittent sound alike, and a bit more professionalism on due to lack of publicity. Also, since none poor organization and infrastructure. problems threatened to ruin the show, the part of MI is required. ■ of the 4 days were on the weekend, we Minino Garay and his band with their had fewer people from local colleges. Other notable events included unique blend of jazzy, street-friendly For further details contact Mukul Gupta, Wordgames, Book Cover Design and music and audience interaction made Rushabh Sheth, Sagar Sambrani, Satwik • Comparing Katatonia with PTree would be Digital Designing competition. All them a huge success. The Glass Duo Pradhan and Siddharth Shanbhag at wrong as the two bands have entirely different these events witnessed high participa- from , The Flamenco musi- [email protected], rushabh.a.sheth@ genre. But people who were metal fans, found tion and were widely appreciated for cians from and Indo-German gmail.com, [email protected], them good, and that’s what we expected. their innovative formats. band Fire on Dawson kept the crowd [email protected] and siddharth. It wasn’t, however, a dream run riveted with their performances. [email protected] respectively. http://www.insightiitb.org InsIghT | April 2011 5

TechFest 2011 – A Review

eld from 7th to 9th January, 2011, the 14th edition of Techfest was well received. Unlike Hlast year, where the main emphasis was on high end science and technology, this year Techfest focused on portraying ‘technology’ in a way that even the layman could appreciate it. The organiza- tion and management was especially commendable. Other than the traditional crowd-pulling events like TechX and Robowars, Techfest’11 boasted of many new initiatives and interactive events.

PreFest Techfest kick-started the pre-fest publicity through PR-2 Robot was the show stealer. With its capability . Also, the pre-fest lecture by Richard ‘India Unmute’, which essentially tried to mimic the of self-recharging, it’s one of the first steps towards Stallman on Free and Open Source Software Olympic torch travel, moving across 60 colleges to the future of artificial intelligence. attracted a very enthusiastic crowd. get new ideas, opinions and solutions on various issues that confront India. Competitions Ozone The aim of Competitions at Techfest has been to Continuing with the success of Lazertag last year, Initiatives cater to all genres of engineering and technology. Ozone kept the focus on gaming this time as well. Prayaas has been a very strong initiative since the This was ensured by having competitions like They brought in ATV, Zorbing, WiFi Sports, etc past two years. The team lived up to the tradition AutoBots, ArchiTech, Nexus and iNexus. Robowars, which made sure no one stayed unoccupied during by providing great opportunities for innovators and like always, saw a huge turnout both in terms of the fest. Virtusphere, a virtual reality gaming device visionaries to work on fields ranging from rural enthusiastic participants and an exuberant audience. was brought to India for the first time and received technology development (Utkarsh) to healthcare There were some issues with its location (SOM Well) a great response. While the gaming zone was bril- technology (Elixir). Verizon, a social entrepreneur- leading to complaints about space scarcity but the liant, the on-the-spot competitions didn’t live up to ship event, was added this year while Energize had organizers claim that it was the most feasible venue their previous standards. Sci-Tech, which garnered a new problem statement, related to geothermal and for the event. It was also strategic in getting hold of wonderful reviews last two years, was shabbily orga- ocean energy. a floating crowd and ensuring huge numbers for any nized this year on all fronts, be it the publicity or the announcements/news etc. magnitude of the event. Crossroads Crossroads was introduced for the first time with The new event named Technopreneurship was pulled Technoholix a view to make the streets livelier during the fest. off nicely. It was done in collaboration with TiE with Technoholix, the ‘Pronites’ equivalent of TF, was quite It had street shows: BMX stunts, Zlwin Magic, an aim to provide a technical dimension to innova- repetitive and similar to previous years. The Double Parkour performances and short workshop sessions tion and entrepreneurship. Dutch Force, the world’s best Double Dutch Crew, ranging from Solving Rubik’s cube, Boomerang came for the first time to India and was well received. Throwing to Parkour basics and Kenjutsu (an Lecture Series Euphorie 1024 showcased a totally new genre of ancient Japanese sword art). Almost everyone who attended TF’11 would agree performances consisting of great synchronization of that Lecture Series was indeed its highest point. neon guitars and lights with electronic music. The Exhibitions Even though the highly anticipated David Griffith Fest concluded well with a performance by Quick Exhibitions, this year, saw some very interesting lecture got cancelled, it was more than compen- Change, The Magical Costume Change Trio. ■ displays. Apart from the regular exhibits from the sated by other truly eminent personalities coming DRDO, there were exhibits from the very famous down to the Institute - a Nobel Laureate, Inventor For further details contact Tanushree Prasad and Uttam Ars Electronica from Europe as well as the Da Vinci of the , Father of String Theory, Founder Bhat at [email protected] and uttambhat13@ machines, known for their elegant simplicity. The of Google Earth, Director of Council of Antiquities, gmail.com respectively.

Work in Progress – Biswas Curriculum ■ Continued from Page 1

According to Prof. Mehra, the industry has always extra-curricular activities, they do not understand In essence, the ideology behind the curriculum still been complaining that IIT Bombay students are not its pros and cons. The software system needs to be holds but the institute needs more time adjusting trained enough. Reducing core department courses improved and information (regarding the curricu- to the same. Special focus is required especially at and removing the compulsory internship will defi- lum and courses) should be more readily available. the department level. With the newly built infra- nitely not help the situation. The major reason for Faculty-advisors need to play a more interactive role. structure, accommodating the increased intake can removing core internships was the lack of infrastruc- be handled smoothly. We have more resources at ture to provide it and the mentality of the student Minors give students a chance to pursue their inter- hand and the onus lies with the authorities and the community to experiment in other fields. This also ests out of their core department. Lack of proper students alike to make the best use of them. ■ brings us to the issue of the laboratories. Most information channels often results in confusion and students feel the experiments do not coincide with students resort to the tried and tested CPI based For further details contact Achin Jindal, Ayush Baheti, theory and the ones that do, lack the novelty factor. allotment (similar to JEE). Having a better and Jaydeep Soni, Shreya Mishra and Siddharth Shanbhag uniform course description along with an orientation at [email protected], [email protected], Though the students feel that the current curricu- period are some of the possible solutions. [email protected], [email protected] and lum does give them enough free time to spend on [email protected] respectively. 1st Year Curriculum Internship Theory v/s Practice Attendance Notes Branch changes extremely University Typically Math, Physics, Chemistry, Not compulsory; Most courses are typically Not feasible – a matter of of Illinois General Education (flexible) Career fairs accompanied by projects compulsory interest more than anything Typically Math, Science, Programming, Not compulsory; Stanford Not Introductory Engineering Career fairs; Campus All core courses have a lab ‘Undeclared Majors’ at entry University compulsory courses (extremely flexible) summer research University of Not compulsory; Course projects encourage Typically Math, Physics, Chemistry, Not Double majors can California, often under faculty independent research General Education (flexible) compulsory be obtained Berkeley on-campus and hands-on work

Typically Math, Science, 85% VJTI, Mumbai Programming, Introductory Not compulsory More focus on theory BTech dissertation expected compulsory Engineering courses, Workshops

Biology, Statistics, Physics, Two compulsory Every course has an Not Branch changes awarded on BITS, Pilani Chemistry, Programming interns associated practical aspect compulsory the basis of academic merit 6 InsIghT | April 2011 http://www.insightiitb.org

DoSA Speaks – IB Heads’ Selections Student Jury

The selection process for IB heads this year has under- the IB heads also made sense. We are aware that arlier this year, a group of students in the insti- gone a drastic change with the introduction of Open there are many concerns that students have with this tute approached the Dean SA to create a student Elections for IB OCs. Much has been discussed about system also. However with institute wide elections, we Ejury for matters concerning security issues in the rationale behind this in the student community. We increased the entropy of the procedure and instead of the campus. The need for such a student jury arose bring you the administration’s take on the issue: giving the selection power to just 2 dozen people, the from the stringent security rules being imposed on collective wisdom of 7000 will be at play, making it students; for example the restriction on untimely The idea for Open Elections for IBs has been on the much harder for result-affecting gangs to form. interactions between students of opposite genders. cards for quite some time now. The issue was officially In addition to this, some students claim to have been raised in February’s SAC meeting in which the then Besides, there have been complaints from within the troubled by security, for small issues such as walking Institute Alumni Secretary, Arpit Oswal suggested a student body on accountability of these team members. in the institute late at night. These students believed nominated selection procedure for his post in coming There have been allegations of them claiming prizes that such rules were unwarranted in our institute. years as opposed to Open Elections. The sugges- for themselves, being unreasonable in their selection The increased security was meant to safeguard the tion was met with resistance in the meeting with interviews for CGs/Managers. These complaints have institute from outside attacks, not to be a means for the Director stating that, eventually, all posts in the been taken to the Dean, SA office. With the openness moral policing in the institute. For most of us, it is institute should be elected. The Deputy Director and brought about by institute elections, every OC will often difficult to approach the Dean personally and DoSA subscribed to this school of thought and the idea be accountable to the student body. Any wrongdo- have such issues sorted out, hence there was a need which had been buzzing for some time now has finally ing on their part can be brought out into the open by felt for an independent body in place which could been implemented. any student and the IB will be answerable for it. The help in suitable redressals of student problems. involvement of faculty in CG/Manager interviews is One catalyst to this change has been the conventional to ensure fair trials and prevent misuse of the power These students initially proposed an idea of having a selection procedure for OCs and CG/Managers of IBs. vested in the outgoing teams. student jury which would consist of 3 representatives The administration for some time has been concerned from the students’ side, and 2 from the security side. about wing/friendship ‘dynasties’ being formed in IBs As for concerns that the quality of these fests may They proposed that two students who were a part of and favouritism occurring in the selection, based on suffer, the voting students are the ones who shall lose the GS Council and one student, who has not held any old affiliation, dedication shown to the fest in previous out if the OCs they vote in are not the best candidates. elected position at the institute level (but someone years, etc. Another concern was the spirit of sophies/ The onus is quite obviously on the entire student com- who was impartial and recommended by the Dean of freshies working to impress seniors in order to pave munity to make the best choice, and lest they falter, the Student Affair) would form the student representa- their way within an IB as opposed to working out of institute shall collectively suffer. tives. In addition to this, they proposed two ways of interest while handling their academic curriculum implementing the student jury . As a ‘Jury for First simultaneously. There is also the worry that a student There have been many efforts to resist this change. Landing’, or as a ‘Jury for Appeals’. might dedicate most of his/her life from 1st or 2nd year But in the end, democracy shall serve us in our in pursuit of the OC position, which the administra- best interests. It is a sustainable solution to our In the first case, all incidents would go to the student tion feels should not be the case. Each post should problems - the students elect their heads, the heads jury initially. In case of a unanimous agreement about be equally accessible to all the students irrespective work for the students, and if they falter, the students the nature of the case being worthy of a punishment, of their history within the IB. These factors coupled can bring them down. No faculty intervention is the student(s) involved would have a fine placed on suggest that a selection procedure which involves more required to hear complaints and mete out justice. them, or have DAC proceedings initiated on them, as people than just the core team (i.e. the CG/Managers + Students should appreciate this system, the power is the case presently. However, if the jury feels that OCs) needs to be implemented. it vests in them to demand what they want from the the case is worth a hearing, the case is deliberated festivals and be glad that we are moving towards a on by the jury, with the student/s involved being Being part of a democratic country and already complete democracy in the institute. ■ given the right to present their side of the case before functioning within a democratic setup, elections for the jury. The jury would then decide the quantum of punishment, and would recommend such an action to the DoSA.

IIT Hospital Improves? ■ InsIghT Follows Up The second proposed implementation of the student jury is like that of an appeals court. In such cases, he IITB Hospital has endeavoured to provide centres have requested the hospital to maintain an if the punished student feels, that the punishment/ the best treatment possible for various ailments emergency response team. The HHA Committee is fine has been unjust, he could appeal to the student Tthat the student community might suffer at any currently looking into it. Prof Natraj, who is on the jury. The jury, in cases where they unanimously feel time. But it has been pointed out by the people who committee, also wants a state-of-the-art ambulance, that the punishment was justified could dismiss the have visited the hospital that it lags behind in terms but again, there is apparently a lack of paramedics case and in cases where they find that the appeal of the infrastructure and staff. Some such problems who can man the same. He also talked about plans for was unnecessary, could even impose a stricter fine. have been enumerated here, as have been the steps to a wireless communication network in the ambulance However, in cases where at least one member feels redress them. and the departments to track the current location of an that there is a need to review the punishment, the ambulance. Such a system has been tried and tested student will have the opportunity to present his case The hospital is currently under the management of Dr. with Tum Tums and the committee is reviewing the in front of the student jury, and if the jury finds the Y.S. Khobragade, who has been promoted to the post feasibility of a similar system for the ambulance. Plans punishment harsh, they could recommend a reduced of SMO (Senior Medical Officer), while Dr. Nisha Shah of First-Aid training camps, mandatory regular medi- punishment to the DoSA. is the CMO (Chief Medical Officer). They will overlook cal checkups are also in the offing. the construction of the new block of the hospital which While the concept of having a student jury sounds is underway and should probably be over in a year, Regarding review of doctors, Professor Natraj did good, the idea is romantic and whether the institute after which, a phased renovation of the old (existing) mention that it was quite essential. The reason for the is open to such a move remains unforeseen. However, block will be undertaken as it is around 45-50 years absence of such a provision was that he himself was since all the GS’s are our elected representatives, old. The dental facilities have been refurbished and not aware of the medical technicalities involved and approaching them in most cases is far easier than upgraded to ensure much better dental care. will therefore have to sit with the CMO and decide approaching the Dean. Thus, if implemented well, a upon how to go about an audit. student jury could benefit many students, who are at The doctors and medical officers were not receiv- times unjustly fined. It remains to be seen if the cur- ing the benefits of the Dynamic Assured Career Apart from this, plans to set up an email feedback rent GS’s would take this idea further, and implement Progression (DACP) scheme and were receiving lower system with the help of the CC are also afoot. Most such a student jury in the campus. salaries. The hospital administration pushed for the importantly, Prof Natraj is willing to have an Open implementation of the scheme and it went through. House with the various communities on campus - For further details contact Seshadri G.at seshu007@ The IIT administration is very supportive and sym- Students, Faculty, NASA etc. The HHA Committee is gmail.com. pathetic towards the hospital and fund allocation has the interface between the campus community and the never been an issue; availability of man power is the hospital. The student representatives of the institute crux of the problem. There has been recruitment at along with a limited no. of students from each hostel the nurse level, but the hospital administration has could be called together to give their feedback to the pressed for more staff, technicians, nurses, attendants, hospital authorities, the committee members and the medical officers basically at all levels. Both short term Dy. Director. ■ and long term requirements have been forwarded and Professor Natraj is hopeful in this regard. For further details contact Ankur Tulsian and Srinath Ranya at [email protected] and srinath.r@iitb. In light of some laboratory accidents, the departments/ ac.in respectively. http://www.insightiitb.org InsIghT | April 2011 7

A Mess(y) Affair Leisure Corner

Here at IITB (and possibly at most hostels in the • Sugar: - The sugar content in most drinks is very country), mess food often tends to be regarded with a high. Rasna can be replaced with nimbu paani, GBM – General Body Meeting or certain degree of contempt. Most people end up eating lassi etc. Desserts should also not be served more mess food simply because there isn’t enough time (or than twice a week. Great Big Myth? money) for anything else. With the same dishes being • Protein: - The protein content in the food was repeated week after week, year after year, even the deemed sufficient owing to the large quantities In what can only be termed as shocking news, it has initial novelty is soon lost. Unfortunately, the problem of daal and paneer that are served. Additionally, recently come to our notice that the famed General with the messes is not confined only to the taste of beans should be served in the meals. Body Meeting in which the entire impeachment drama the food that is served, or to the fact that it is highly purportedly took place, never actually happened! repetitive, but also that the food is generally very oily Apart from nutritional recommendations, the dieti- and lacks many of the key components that make up a cians remarked that even if the food quality was Sources tell us that on the day the GBM was supposed balanced diet. good, if it isn’t stored properly, the overall quality to have taken place, an MI vs Techfest cricket match would suffer. The basic cleanliness level in the messes was actually happening in the OAT. “What GBM?” In order to assess the current situation of the hostel could be better. The food should not be kept on the was the response of Mr. Kumar Kislay of the old Mood messes and to find ways to improve on them, InsIghT floor. Instead, steel racks should be placed to put the Indigo Team. “No such thing was happening that day. decided to call 2 dieticians to review the messes of food on shelves; this will have the added advantage of I remember clearly, because I got hit for six sixes in Hostels 2 and 3, and to take their professional opinion increasing the space available for storage. Floor mats an over. That is not something you forget easily.” He on where the messes could use some improvement. should be placed as well. added ruefully. The match, sponsored by E-Cell, was a The first dietician was Dr Aditi Dey, visiting dietician charity event, held to raise money for underprivileged at the IIT Hospital and Powai Hospital, who came to The dieticians also had specific suggestions for children in Nigeria. review the H3 mess. The second, Dr. Richa Anand, every meal: from Hiranandani Hospital, came to review the H2 • Breakfast: - Fruits should be offered at breakfast. We tried to contact Harsh Jhaveri, the outgoing GS mess. Both of them looked at the following aspects— Eggs are very good. Porridge and upma could Cult and the star of the fictional GBM for comment, menu, how the menu was changed, the way the food also be added. Cornflakes should be served daily but all he had to say was, “That is just your opinion. was prepared, the way it was stored and the general with milk. I can’t do anything about it. I don’t think you under- cleanliness of the kitchen. Their combined recommen- • Lunch/Dinner: - The amount of fried foods and oil stand the way things work in the institute.” dations have been summarised below: content should be reduced in the dishes. Quantity of paneer could also be reduced. Dishes such as Chole We finally got a clear answer when we talked to Nikunj Nutritional Recommendations Bhature or chicken should instead be replaced with Jha, ex-chief editor of Insight. Our findings were Mess food tends to lack many important components palak paneer and beans/sprouts. mind-blowing to say the very least. Given below is the of a well balanced diet. It may also have some compo- • Tiffin: - Tiffin is the meal that needs to be changed transcript from a conversation our reporter had with nents in greater quantities than required. Some of the the most. Most of the dishes served have a lot of oil Nikunj. observations and recommendations made are: in them, and do not contain anything of nutritional • Vitamins: - The Vitamin content in the food can value, such as Maggi or vada pav. Dishes such as Reporter: Nikunj, there have been reports saying that be increased by adding fruits and vegetables to the sprouts, cheese sandwiches and fruit salads should the GBM never happened. You wrote an entire article diet, as well as adding sprouts. Vegetables can be be served instead. on it. What is the truth? added by grinding them and adding them to rotis Nikunj: Of course it didn’t happen. I thought any smart (palak ki roti), or serving them in rice (carrot rice). The review of the Hostel 2 mess was good. H2 has a person could have figured that out. Such things don’t • Oil: - The oil content in mess food is higher than decent menu for the week that seems to incorporate happen in our institute. needed. The amount of oil can be decreased by most of the nutrients that are needed for a balanced giving lesser oil to the mess workers. Fried food diet. Also, they have a large number of dishes in the R.: So why was the event reported in Insight? can be replaced by fruit chaat etc. In most cases, oil menu which are circulated on a weekly basis and N.: We were actually doing a social experiment. We usage can be dramatically cut down without affect- allow a sense of variety to come into the food being wanted to see how people would react if we told them ing the food quality/taste in any way. Vegetables served. The condition of the food that was being something like this had happened. I am very proud to should be cooked with as little oil as possible. brought was very good. We hope that other hostel say that our experiment succeeded brilliantly. • Fibre:- The current fibre content in the mess food messes also follow this example, so that messes all was considered very low, which is harmful in the over the campus come to be regarded with respect R.: But what was this social experiment? long run. Sprouts, beans, vegetables are a good and admiration. ■ N.: Er... Umm... source of fibre. One fruit per day is an important requirement. Salads are a good source of veg- For further details contact Antariksh Bothale and R.: There was no social experiment, was there? What etables. Using soya atta or a rice pan can also Anubhav Mangal at [email protected] and was the real reason behind the article? increase roughage content in the food. [email protected] respectively. N.: (breaking down and sobbing) I just wanted to write an opinionated article. Most of the articles in Insight are so boring. No one ever reads them. And one can’t really have opinionated articles about charity cricket ISMP – The Silent Guardian ■ Continued from Page 3 matches. So, I got together with my 6 reporters and we decided to have some fun at the insti’s expense. Challenges shot at changing the IITian attitude and mindset in • English Remedial Classes were for the first time the long term, it is the ISMP. Considering that every R.: Is that it? Are you sure that is all? jointly run by the ISMP this year. As this runs undergraduate freshman is influenced by a mentor N.: (breaking down further) You got me. It was actually as an additional class, slot clashes with institute for at least 1 year, it is fair to say that the example this all just a publicity stunt. My valfi was coming up, courses prevented students from making the most person sets and the advice he/she metes out would and I was afraid that someone else’s valfi would turn of this programme. While this shall be addressed mould the freshman’s thinking. out to be more awesome than mine. So I had to do in the coming year, another aim is to separate something big, something that would gain me instant students based on their comfort level with Some students are of the opinion that the ISMP popularity. English so as to tutor at two levels of difficulty. has the potential to help academically struggling • The novel idea of ‘Bridge Courses’ was intro- students in a much greater capacity than it presently R.: So nothing, I repeat NOTHING related to Harsh duced this year to allow freshmen expecting a does. One of the core goals of the ISMP is to prevent Jhaveri happened that day? low grade or a fail grade in a course to drop the FR grades, but rather than taking reactive measures N.: There’s no smoke without a fire. Harsh Jhaveri course and instead pursue a “Bridge Course” such as dropping a course, more proactive redress did get impeached but from the post of umpire of the at a lower difficulty level, with the approval of routes need to be explored by the mentor and mentee. charity match. But that is a story for another day. ■ faculty and parents. While approximately 20 freshmen actually availed of this facility, the Of course, there is an extent to which mentors can All names in the above article have been changed to protect lack of prescribed structure to the concept and guide and help the students, beyond which any help the identity of the concerned people. Any resemblance to any no permanent faculty attached to these courses would border on spoon feeding. ■ person dead, living, impeached or unimpeached is purely proved major hindrances. incidental. For more juicy gossip, contact Mukund Madhav at For further details contact Anish Gupta, Anubhav [email protected] Potential of the ISMP Mangal, Hutokshi Sethna, Nidhi Shanbhag, Vipul As a recognised body in the institute, the ISMP has Hirani and Vishal Khatri at [email protected], the power to bring in policy changes for the better- [email protected], [email protected], ment of the student community. As far as the institute [email protected], [email protected] culture goes, if at all anybody in the institute has a and [email protected] respectively. 8 InsIghT | April 2011 http://www.insightiitb.org

To Free or Not to Free: A Re-look at our Rules

ow many of us have cursed our fates for state laws have to be followed. In fact, the local bus Alcohol policy – Yes, we all know alcohol may not be being fined for being caught with that service there has a special bus running from bars in our “best interests”. But, it is a very important part Hbottle of fine whiskey? What about when downtown to various locations where students live of college life, and freedom to drink above the age we’ve tried sneaking in that special someone into so they can come home safe – they even keep barf limit is recognized as state law. Now, given the fact our rooms at night? Over the past year there have bags in them! Students there, work five days a week that we have a large population of students below the been quite a few new rules imposed on us that have and take the other two days completely off. This legal drinking age of 21, in addition to the fact that raised quite a few eyebrows. This trend here almost ingrained culture, and the high cost of education, we are a government educational institute, it seems led to a ‘black t-shirt protest’ in one case, when a ensures that people act quite responsibly. According understandable that the institute forbids alcohol rule was passed against “holding hands in dark to Gautam Salhotra, an IITB alumnus at Univ. of within the premises. However, of late, there have been places at unearthly hours”. To get some perspective, Texas, Austin, their college system is better than many instances of people being fined, just for being we thought we would see how some of our counter- ours, “in the sense that you get all the freedom and drunk on campus. If these people are disturbing the parts in other colleges here and abroad were faring. the responsibility, so you learn to balance things peace, or causing damage to property, that has to be from early on”. Whether this is achievable in India, dealt with separately. Being drunk, in itself, should Us and Them given our current mindset and culture, is debatable. not be a criterion to be fined. Thus, this is also a rule First, we took up some of the issues that most of us that requires a re-look. hold close to our hearts in college, and looked at Introspecting the corresponding regulation in some of the other We thought we would check out a couple of our own A last thought contemporary institutions. regulations in a bit more detail: Now, all rules that liberalize, seek to increase student Internet ban – A few years ago, the institute blocked freedom, which implicitly recognizes more maturity Looking at the table below, we notice that we are LAN from 12 am to 7 am, breaking the hearts of in students. On the other hand, institutes like IIT actually much better off than most other colleges in scores of nocturnal gamers and “social network- impose certain (somewhat reasonable) restrictions India. In SRCC, students aren’t allowed to complain ers”. However, while a partial LAN ban to prevent “in the interest of students”, when they feel that about the hostel administration, and actually face gaming addiction might be justified, is it the same students do not have the required sense to exercise the threat of being removed from the hostel if they with internet? Today, the internet has become that freedom (like the partial LAN ban). However, do so. New students there would wonder if they had almost a necessity for any sort of work to be done there is a need to continuously review our rules so just stepped into ! On the other hand, an insti- well and computer rooms just don’t cut it here, that students are given as much freedom as possible, tute like IIM- lies at the other end of the for various reasons. These range from the effort keeping in mind the mentality of this age group, spectrum. It has absolutely no curfews, and when it involved in going there and in transferring data, to ensuring that all of us are kept aware and satisfied. ■ comes to alcohol, they actually have official parties the number and condition of the computers there. organized every 15 days! Chatting and time spent on social networks is the For further details contact Aditya Prasad, Anirudh Rao, other reason provided. While this may increase if Rajat Chakravarty, Rogers Joseph and Yohan Mathew These rules were also compared with some of the the ban is lifted, the number of people influenced, at [email protected], anurao100@gmail. universities in the US. For example, in University of and the amount they are influenced to, just does not com , [email protected], [email protected] and Texas, Austin, which is not a walled campus, ONLY justify the ban on internet at night. [email protected] respectively.

Rules IIT-B IIT-K SRCC, Delhi BITS, Goa IIM-B LAN Ban: 12 AM – 6 AM They do not have None, 50MB/day LAN Ban 12 AM – 7 AM None Internet Ban: None LAN nor internet download limit No, but not strictly Alchohol Allowed No No No Yes implemented 7 PM for girls Curfew No, sign in after 12 am No 10:30 PM None 11 PM for guys Hostel entry for Even interaction Till 10 PM Till 12 AM Not Allowed Anytime opposite sex frowned upon Campus entry for guest Till 11 PM Till 12 AM – – Anytime Campus entry Anytime, but no Till 11 PM – – Anytime for alumni hostel entry Private Vehicle No No – No, not even cycles Yes

■ Leisure Corner April Fool – You or me? The InsIghT Team Were you one of the 600 odd people who had filled in the Me: Shit! I should have filled the form. So Ma’am what World Cup Final Ticket form sent by the PRO? Have you is being done about the whole issue? Chief Executive Editor – Ayush Baheti been ridiculed by your friends for being so naive as to PRO: Well, I sent a mail saying that the mail about my Chief Editor – Archit Kejriwal believe something like that? Here is news that will totally mail being a hoax mail was a hoax mail but no one blow your mind! Ms. JJ from the PRO has recently believed me. People don’t even believe my mails about The Editorial Board revealed to InsIghT that the first mail was actually sent symposiums now. This episode has been very bad for Antariksh Bothale , Arvind Singh, Manu Sahay, Nikunj Jha, by her! Read the excerpt from a chat we had with her: the PR of the PRO. Tanushree Prasad, Seshadri G., Sourabh Biswas, Yohan Mathew

Me: So Ma’am… How do you feel about students Me: Right. So I think the biggest question in front of The Execution Panel misusing your account for April Fool’s Day pranks? us is, what happened to those 50 tickets? Achin Jindal, Aishwarya Sharma, Akshay Soni, Akhil Srivatsan, PRO: It is very disturbing indeed. Students have no PRO: Oh those? They disappeared mysteriously from Anasuya Mandal, Ankur Mour, Ankur Tulsian, Anirudh Rao, respect anymore. And then they complain about the my office the next day. I saw pictures of some students Anish Gupta, Anubhav Mangal, Ashwath K., Bodhi Vani, Eeshan authorities being strict. at Wankhede on Facebook after the match. Doubtless Malhotra, Hutokshi Sethna, Janki Sheth, Jim Mathew Kochity, it must have been them. Mayank Agrawal, Mohit Sharma, Mukul Gupta, Mukund Madhav, Me: What do you think their motivation was for Neha Innanje, Neha Rambhia, Nidhi Shanbhag, Nihal Sarawagi, writing that mail? Me: Can you tell us who they were? Ninad Kulkarni, Nupur Joshi, Pranav Jawale, Rahul Lakhmani, PRO: Isn’t it obvious? They were doing - what do you PRO: No, they’re all very important people in the insti- Rahul Srinivasan, Rajat Chakravarty, Ritika Goyal, Rohan Sablay, guys call it? RG...Yeah... they wanted the tickets for tute and I shouldn’t really be taking names. You of all Rohit Kiran, Rojers P Joseph, Rushabh Sheth, Sagar Sambrani, themselves, so they sent that mail about it being a people should know what happens to people who take Sailesh M. , Satwik Pradhan, Shashwat Shukla, Shreya Mishra, hoax mail. names in print right? #opinionatedarticle Siddharth Shanbhag, Siddharth Shukla, Sourabh Biswas, Srinath Ranya, Uttam Bhat, Vipul Hirani, Vishal Khatri Me: What?! Do you mean to say that the first mail was Me: Thank you Ma’am for all your great insights. actually yours? PRO: I can’t thank you for the same though. ■ Website – Joyjeet Sarkar PRO: Yeah. I did have those tickets. And I sent that mail. I don’t know who sent the second mail about it Blame your frustration on Mukund Madhav at mmv1301@ Design and Layout – Mustafa Saifee being a hoax mail. gmail.com