August 19, 2010

THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE

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To OP or not to OP -Pages 4, 5

Exclusive

IIT KHARAGPURAUGUST 19 2010www.scholarsavenue.org

Blueprint for a Better Futurefrom our August '09 issue

– from our April '07 issue

- often makes an appearance

“The increase in student strength on campus this year has created its own challenges.” -

“If stories about the increase...are giving you jitters...”

“A new....is being planned...”

Student Activity Centre North Chanakya hall of residence

My way or the highway! - Lal Bahadur Shastri hall of A word on circulationresidence

Come Dec 2011, and IIT KGP (in Three 6 storied blocks, a central

commemoration of its diamond food court and sports area, solar

jubilee) will be the proud host of the heating and lighting, rain water

46th Inter IIT sports meet. And what h a r v e s t i n g a n d f u l l y g r e e n

the Bird's nest was to the Olympics at construction. 400 rooms and 50 studio

Beijing, this SAC will be to KGP. This apartment. Mammoth, huh? As part

center will sport (yes, pun intended) a of an experiment, the Hall is being

squash and a billiards court, a yoga planned to function on the build-

room and a multi-purpose hall among operate-transfer principle- put to

others. The master plan reeks of an practice a lready in National

international design with a renovated Highways- wherein a contractor

lake and a promenade to boot. manages the place for a lease period

Completed by: Jun 2011 (generally 33 years).

BR Ambedkar hall of residence First Year LaboratoryComing up on the eastern borders Will house, as the name suggests,

of our campus, this hall is all set to all first years' laboratory classes,

usurp MMM when it comes to size. excluding the Chemistry Lab. Now

With a total floor area of 24 square before you go “Where's my Arena?”

metres and a capacity of 2000 let us inform you that for now, a patch

students, this hall embraces smart of land chosen in the vicinity of

architecture ensuring a quadrangle for RGSOIPL might serve, after an

every wing. amount of grooming, as the grounds

Completed by: Nov 2011 for KTJ's nerve-center.

N a l a n d a l e c t u r e c o m p l e x

This will be the first in a series of What with the outermost reaches

With construction in full swing projects in what is being developed as of our (huge!) campus being

and the basic structure completed, the "south campus" of IIT KGP. The reclaimed from the wild, the need

LBS will hopefully keep its date with master plan provides for 4 blocks with arises for a new set of ring and arterial

the completion deadline. It will house a gross seating capacity of an roads. For most of us, it would be

480 rooms spread across 13 blocks and unbelievable 34,080 students! Plus, alarming to even visualize how

can comfortably accommodate 2000 Netaji and Kalidas get a new sibling. initial process of construction. The traversing an almost 8km ring road

of us. Intelligent floor plans adopted Presently though, under the first first block is due by July next year. To would be! But then, you would have a

here will ensure optimum open phase of construction, a block to seat make for the construction, the NCC separate walkway, a pathway for

spaces between the blocks and will 9600 students comprising of 60, 120 office will be shifted to a location cycles exclusively and a section of the

aid an airy and well lit environment. and 240 seater lecture halls is in the outside DVC gate. road for motorized vehicles.

A Bird’s eye view of the proposed South Campus

ather than harp on the visibly apparent problems thrown up by a rapidly expanding student population, Prof. N. Dhang prefers to accept the fact in R

all its reality and prepare to meet the challenges that will undoubtedly present themselves. As head of the Civil Works Department which carries out all the construction-related tasks, he's made available to The Scholars' Avenue a comprehensive and detailed master-plan of all intended expansion projects. A vision of the future: in one place, in one map, for all to take note of. Agreed, it's only a blueprint with artists' impressions and there aren't accurate deadlines set for each of the projects, but the very scale is impressive: from a Nalanda to complement Vikramshila to new circulation routes that could expand our conception of a world of 2.2 kms. Furthermore, a plan laid down also becomes a plan that we, as a well-informed campus community in general, can expect and demand results from.

To be sure, there are still areas that remain fuzzy, for example the idea of a food court. Over the years, we've seen its location being juggled between the PAN loop and behind the Gymkhana and its form vary from an eatery to a three-story plush hangout. Or making Jnan Ghosh SF-friendly (with the help of a concrete stage, for one). As per Prof. Dhang, the student body coming forth with suggestions or specific opinions on the matter could make a difference, and he is interested in presenting his ideas to them and receiving their feedback. Prof. Dhang was in fact eager to see these designs disseminated among people of the campus.

And what is his take on the labour problem? “It's a myth. One must not

make up his or her mind that it is something which cannot be solved. The work in RP, Azad and MT halls being completed on time is proof that with effective management, these problems can be solved.”

Areas for erecting the Bidhan Chandra Medical Science Institute and Gurukul, a complex to house researchers working in inter-disciplinary fields have been earmarked; Kendriya Vidyalaya might be relocated to make way for another women's hostel...count on us to keep track of further developments. With that, we leave you to go through the ambitious expansion scheme yourselves.

The winners of the prestigious Institute Gold Medals were: 1. President Of India Gold Medal – Ayan Sengupta (Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering) 2. Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy Memorial Gold Medal - Gopikrishnan V (Architecture) 3. The Prime Minister Of India Gold Medal - Mrigank Sharad (Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering) 4. Dr. Jnan Chandra Ghosh Memorial Gold Medal - Shouvik Chatterjee (Physics) 5. Prof. Jagdish Chandra Bose Memorial Gold Medal – Nilatpala Ghoshal (Mathematics) 6. The Director's Gold Medal – Anirban Bhattacharya (Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering)

Error 1: The section headings for Physics and Mathematics were accidentally swapped in the ORS.

Error 2: Question 44 in the Mathematics section of Paper 1 in code 4 of the Hindi version was not printed.

Error 3: The Instructions on “Question Paper Format and Marking Scheme” for section IV in the Hindi version of Paper 2 was wrongly printed. Each question in this section was shown to carry 3 marks instead of 8.

Error 4: Some question papers contained 2 unreadable pages and 2 partially readable pages in the Physics section of Paper 1.

those who prepare for both the disciplines in a bid to keep their options alive.

While the system decidedly needs a revamp, discarding it altogether would be a shame, and is not a solution. A much beleaguered Sibal might have discovered this by now, badgered as he has been by alumni across the globe.

“To abolish the JEE would be tantamount to finding a key ingredient of a winning formula and removing it. There is no scientific basis whatsoever for doing this, no scientific evidence whatsoever that the Global IIT brand would be improved, and no scientific evidence whatsoever that any generally accepted objective would be achieved.” -- 'Save JEE Team of Volunteers', in a petition to the Members of Parliament

If the existing JEE system allows abuse, then what is essential is to plug the loopholes, and not simply throw our baby out with the bath water.

Th e 5 6 t h convocation ceremony of IIT Kharagpur was held on 17th July, 2010 with Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal as the chief guest. B Muthuraman, Chairman, Board of Governors and various other dignitaries were present, adding weight to t h e o c c a s i o n . T h e i n s t i t u t e ’s h i g h e s t honour, the Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), was conferred upon Prof. Goverdhan Mehta for his contributions to synthetic organic chemistry; Dr. Srikumar Banerjee for his work in materials; one of the chief architects of the Indian IT industry, Mr. Shiv Nadar; Prof. K. L. Chopra, who is well known to us kgpians as the erstwhile Director; and Pt. Hari Prasad Chourasia, who performed at

2 N E W S A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , AUGUST 19TH 2010

TEAM SCHOLSAVE

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Executive Editors :

Golla, Mayank Kedia, Pallavi

Jayannavar, Siddharth Prabhu,

Siddharth Singh.

Editors: Abhirajika A, Amiya

Adwitiya,Arvind Sowmyan,

Ratan J S, Tiyasa Mitra, Vijay,

Sumeet Mohanty

Asst. Editors: Achyut Bihani,

Chirag Tibrewal, Deepesh

Kumar, Hridya Ravimohan,

Indra Saha, Mahtab Soin, Parth

Govil, Rishabh Poddar

Reporters: Abhijeet T., Ajay

Vishwanathan, Koulick Ghosh,

Pranav Rao, Pravin Sharma

Dheeraj

t is no well-kept secret that the JEE this year was rather eventful, with I

much fodder for gossip provided to the media, print or otherwise. An entire nation was entertained by the latest shenanigans of the Education Ministry and the IITs, what with all the JEE bungling. Alarmed students crossed their fingers, a disgruntled Nitish Kumar hankered for re-examination, Kapil Sibal gasped for air despite all his glibness, and JEE chairmen scurried for cover. To add to the list of goof-ups, 52 students were wrongly invited for admissions, only to be shown the door later. Et cetera.

That JEE 2010 might have unwittingly resulted in random selections is not an unjustifiable concern. The situation could not have been salvaged by any degree of corrective measures, the assurances of the JEE chairman, and Mr. Sibal, notwithstanding. All this at a time when everybody is complaining of the deteriorating IIT standards.

“I can’t tell at the moment what the

nature of remedial action will be, but I can assure the solution is available; it is inbuilt into the system. There will be substantial justice for the students.” -- Kapil Sibal

As if this were not enough, an unapologetic denudation of the same system revealed clandestine quotas and other skeletons in the IIT closet. And another nail was driven into the coffin.

A flawed system set for overhaul cannot be a surprise then. It is ironic, however, that Sibal et al. are high on an aptitude test that America wants to scrap (read the SAT). Of all the hare-brained schemes, it is hard to imagine how such a standardized test can predict performance equally for wildly different curricula and socio-economic backgrounds, especially in our country.

An issue that no one seems to care a hoot about is the imminent merger of engineering and medical tests, the AIEEE and the AIPMT. Such a combined examination will be cruelly indifferent to the plight of all

JEE- Lost in Translation?

The 56th Annual Convocation

Errors in JEE 2010

the campus less than an year ago.

A total of 1671 degrees were awarded. The Director summed up the year’s activities in his speech, while the Chief Guest in an inpirational address, spoke about the need for s tudents to l earn continuously and advised them to work passionately to fulfil their dreams while keeping inclusive growth for the country in mind.

ITians are not just about high-profile jobs and fancy paychecks. I

They are now giving back to society in hopes of the country’s bright future. Started this January, Aarambh has already made its mark in the lives of many underprivileged people. They started off with the Braille Sight Campaign, for which they collected 4000 ED sheets which were used as templates for making Braille sheets.

The campaign was repeated with equal success at NSIT-Delhi and IIT-Kanpur. It was followed by Vastra-Samman 2010, in which Aarambh managed to collect over 6000 clothes. The items were delivered it to Goonj (an NGO) for final distribution. With support from the Rural Development Centre, IIT Kharagpur, a special Health-Camp was conducted in March at Vetia village. Doctors from SMST and BC Roy gave free medical check-ups to more than 130 villagers. They plan to compile a database of blood groups of the students and faculty on campus for use in medical emergencies.

Along with Microsoft Student Partners (a world-wide educational program to sponsor students majoring in disciplines related to technology) and Yuva Unstoppable (a volunteer movement in more than 30 cities with 60,000 volunteers and 80 NGO’s) they have initiated Techshala, a computer literacy program for the rural youth. Targeted

at 18-22 year olds from nearby villages, this program follows the Microsoft Digita l Educat ion Curriculum for Basic English and Computer education. The classes are conducted by student volunteers f during weekends at CIC Labs and more than 80 students have benefited from it so far.

A new Aarambh for IIT-ians

to MT Hall of Residence for the first time, some of the third years are still to get single rooms. Post-Graduate students were introduced in some UG halls like RK, RP and LLR, and as

expected the move was met with a dose of apprehension.

The Scholars’ Avenue caught up with Prof. Kanchan Chowdhury, Chairman of the IIT Teachers’ Association and gained some useful insights into the apprehended fallout of the population boom in Kgp.

TSA: Do you think the increase in the number of students will affect the quality of teaching?KC: I personally feel that unless there is

an eyeball-to-eyeball contact between the s tudent and the teacher, the teaching cannot be made effective. The best class-size, according to me, is 40. Also, it

goes without saying that with the increase in the number of students, the quality of teaching would go down. Now, in a country such as ours, where there is already a dearth of good faculty, if the administration desires to maintain this ratio, it has to lower the

Unfulfilled promises from a year ago

"The extension work of the existing messes in RK, RP is already in progress and is expected to be over by August 2009. The mess of Patel hall will also be extended and the work will be completed by mid September. We are planning to build common rooms on the first floor of these halls and the existing common room will be used as an extension of the mess. The target date for completion is June 2010”

“We are planning to construct two new blocks at RP hall each consisting of 32 rooms (96 beds). We plan to complete this job by June 2010.”

“In RLB Hall, an extension is planned containing approximately 23 rooms, while in SN/ IG we are targeting one more block by June 2010 to accommodate 288 girls in 96 rooms. Work will start shortly.”

“The construction work of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hall of Residence next to MMM Hall has started. The capacity of the hall is 2000 beds. We will try our best to receive 1000 beds by June 2010”

Ref: HMC Chairman Interview, "Of double rooms, long queues and overcrowding", The Scholars' Avenue, August 17, 2009

quality bar while hiring teachers and professors, thereby leading to a decrease in the teaching and research quality, in the short and long term.

TSA: Is it possible for the Director to take a stand against the MHRD policies?KC: The Director is appointed by the MHRD for implementing its policies. It is not practical even to suggest to him to take a stand against MHRD policy. It may be recalled that in the decision of increasing the number of students and opening of new IITs, all the major institutions of Indian democracy, namely, Ministry of HRD, Union Cabinet, Parliament and Supreme Court were involved. They must have taken these decisions keeping in mind the billion plus people that they represent. Directors are not in a position to protest or undo such major national policy. The problems that the students are facing have been factored in by the government, but have been dismissed as dispensable in the light of the “greater good” of the nation.

TSA: Do you perceive a decline in the brand value of the institute in the near future?KC: Brand is a cumulative effect of good teaching, good research and assured performance of the graduates

In an astounding development this semester, the Council members of JCB hall of residence have terminated Deepak da's contract for the canteen. And yes comrades, that very JCB canteen - our popular retreat for a midnight snack - has closed down.

Unconfirmed reports quote Deepak da’s refusal to meet the prescribed hygiene requirements as the fall-out point while in other rumours, his reluctance for preferential service to host-boarders has been cited as the fatal pull of the trigger.

Deepak da informs us that negotiations are in place and that a decision is expected soon. For the mercy o f the n ight -c rawle r community in Kgp, we sincerely hope that a compromise is reached at the earliest.“Dada, jaldi!”

The Lost Supper

rom long mess queues, resembling Fthose at flood relief centres to overcrowded cycle-stands to four students in double occupancy rooms, IIT Kharagpur bears signature to India’s success in implementing family planning measures. And add to it crowded labs, bursting-at-the-seams classrooms, and an ever diminishing teacher to student ratio and the feeling sinks in. 1316 UG first year intake in 2010 vs 790 in 2007. Sigh !

One is but forced to ponder as to what will happen next year when smaller departments with classroom capacities of 25 and less, will have more than 50 s t u d e n t s . Department Lab facilities will soon be excessively strained, and for some, like the Ship Drawing Lab with two-meter long drawing tables in the Department o f O c e a n Engineering and Naval Architecture, there might simply be no space.

True, constructions have been visible all over the campus (like the new Technology Guest House and other Halls of Residences) for a while, but are they adequate? More over, have the constructions been true to the deadlines set? Take for example, the HMC Chairman’s assurances to The Scholars’ Avenue last year (Issue dated August 17, 2009, “Of double rooms, long queues and overcrowding”. See

box for more.) that the Azad Hall rooftop construction would be completed by December, 2009 and one is but forced to rethink. It was, but a semester late. Add this to the dilemma faced by the SNites where even after sending a sizeable section of first years

Loss of exclusivity and deterioration of quality of interaction between teachers and the students are bound to hurt brand IIT. Around 1500 students used to clear the JEE during my time. Now you have as many students coming to this institute alone.

N E W S A V E N U ETHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , AUGUST 19TH 2010 3

in their work-place. It is also derived from the exclusivity of the product. It is obvious that the policy makers did not care about the dilution of brand IIT because they had other priorities, such as bringing IIT education to a larger number of students. Loss of exclusivity and deterioration of quality of interaction between teachers and the students are bound to hurt brand IIT. Around 1500 students used to clear the JEE during my time. Now you have as many students coming to this institute

alone.

TSA: Do you see a lack of planning in the implementation of the MHRD policies?KC: Yes, this increase (both in student intake and opening of new IITs) ought to have been done s l o w l y a n d methodical ly, in phases, over years, k e e p i n g a l l parameters such as infrastructure and teaching quality i n t a c t . Unfortunately, in India, we are always

in a 5-years planning mode, and hence are not accustomed to long term planning that developed countries pursue. Increasing the number of s t u d e n t s b e f o re p u t t i n g t h e infrastructure in place has definitely led to deterioration of quality of life and education at IITs. This had long been apprehended by all concerned-- in India and abroad. It is unfortunate that students are clubbed 4-in-a-room and have to go to overcrowded classes in the morning cycling through the crowded roads without having proper breakfast because the mess is jam-packed. The

One head way too many?

The Director is appointed by the MHRD for implementing its policies. It is not practical even to suggest to him to take a stand against MHRD policy

4 SPECIAL FEATURE THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , AUGUST 19TH 2009 THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , AUGUST 19TH 2009 5 SPECIAL FEATURE

To OP or not to OPThe law, howbeit, does not appear to be making a distinction

between the barbaric incidents which have, to be honest, quite

annoyingly managed to repeat themselves, and certain acts which a

lot of us like to term as 'mild ragging'. This leads us to another thought

provoking question - Is there such a thing as harmless ragging? It is

according to many, a tradition which has been around for several

centuries. A tradition which helps in forming closer everlasting bonds

and in turn, providing a congenial, family-like environment

especially in colleges having on-campus accommodation. More

importantly, says Preetam Kumar, it assists in personality

development of the students making them more adept in handling

the outside world. Are these strongly embedded notions a mirror of

the ground reality? Or are they just judgmental speculations being

passed off as fair play? Dr. R K Raghavan, Chairman, Anti-Ragging

Monitoring Committee and former director, CBI, is quite clear about

his views. “It's like trying to make a distinction between good Taliban

and bad Taliban. The Supreme Court has quite categorically defined

ragging (see box) and its implications. The menace has to come to a

complete stop.”

Social tolerance for ragging has, in a way, blinded us to the

unfolding reality of today. The spike in the number of incidents,

nationally, seems to create the impression that harmless ragging,

inevitably, will lead to its more lethal form. “There will always be one

or two students who would derive sadistic pleasures by torturing

their juniors. There's no way to ensure that these things will not

happen unless a ban, in an absolute sense, is imposed.” says Professor

Kanchan Chowdhury, President, IIT Teachers’ Asssociation. It's

uncanny to witness the number of silent heads which nod in unison

when confronted with the question if a total ban is crucial to prevent

those sporadic yet fatal incidents arising out of this phenomenon.

The seat of judgment has spoken and spoken in clear terms. The

laws may have become astringent and from a moral perspective, a

little unjustified. For some, the laws might be seen as tyrannical

which is cruelly infringing upon their personal space. However, this

should give us all the more reason to proceed with caution and

restraint. The administration needs to recognize the fact that they

will also be held accountable if they fail in implementing proper

safeguards and preventive measures. Seniors will have to accept the

fact that a case of ragging, mild to the slightest degree in their

calculations, can bring about a punishment (see Raghavan

Committee Guidelines) they had never asked for. The fear expressed

by a lot of alumni and seniors alike, is that a tradition which they like

to term as harmless, is becoming extinct in the present

circumstances. Well, traditions (good or bad) have to be shown the

door when they begin to carry an excess of unwanted baggage.

Besides, it would be a somber, harsh and premature obituary of the

visions of the founding fathers of our nation if we, as a civilized and

developing society, are not able to come up with a better, friendlier

and more cultured alternative.

ometimes it is existent, like an inconspicuous needle in a

haystack, sometimes like an ostentatious parade of unity. For

decades, if not centuries, this phenomenon, pervasive to say Sthe least, has managed to veil itself in an imperceptible cloak of self-

deniability. It's been one of the few practices of man (or to keep the

feminist at bay, humankind) that has been able to survive the test of

time without having any complaisant reasoning to substantiate it. A

vast majority of today's Indian society perceives it as an occurrence

which must be eradicated under all circumstances. However, a

seemingly equal majority, surprisingly, extends a silent but steady

support to this one-of-a-kind tradition which, more commonly, goes

by the name of ragging in our Subcontinent.

So what is the precise meaning of this term which is oft used so

unwittingly? Or a more relevant question, in the present scenario,

would be-What exactly is ragging perceived to be? Is it a ritual firmly

rooted in the belief system of students and a reflection of a deeper

malaise plaguing the society? Or is it a term being misused and more

often than not, being clubbed with villainous criminal activities? Is it

a euphemism being used to shield hideous, condemnable acts taking

place on college campuses? Or is it one of those propitious, if not

amiable, platforms for healthy interaction with the college seniors?

The argument is certainly not, by any means, an easy one and its

numerous dimensions, of varying complexities, has made it even

more necessary to warrant it a profound deliberation.

“What's happening today is not ragging. Let's not get our

terminologies wrong here. It's sadism. It's gross sexual harassment.

And nobody is saying that this is correct. However, we are creating

confusion here by terming it as ragging,” says Mr. Jug Suraiya,

Associate Editor, The Times of India.

It's a sentiment that is being resonated by a considerable section

of the youth today. Bringing reprehensible acts of iniquities under the

ambit of ragging is, it seems, undervaluing the heinousness of the

crime. And at the same time, it is generating a grey area of legitimacy

where even a mild ragging offence is being dealt with in an over-

stringent manner. Preetam Kumar, General Secretary, Azad Hall of

Residence is echoing a similar predilection.

”There should definitely be a blanket ban on ragging. However,

authorities are, I feel, putting a clamp on everything under the

pretext of ragging. We try to bring out the talent in the students of

our hall by advising them on a number of things which help them in

pursuing their interests. However, the current atmosphere of

mistrust and uncertainty has discouraged a lot of seniors to even talk

to juniors. They are not even ready to come near them fearing action.

This will, I fear, permanently increase the distance between

consecutive batches and destroy our age-old hall tradition where

students of all batches used to live, like a family, in perfect harmony.”

The Raghavan Committee GuidelinesThe Dr. R.K. Raghavan Committee appointed by the Supreme Court was tasked with monitoring ragging control measures in higher educational institutions and suggesting appropriate modifications to the law. Based on its recommendations, the Supreme Court has in a series of recent judgments approved a wide array of measures, including amendments to the Indian Penal Code:

Ragging should be made a cognizable, non-bailable, non-compoundable offence with punishment ranging from one year imprisonment and fine up to seven years rigorous imprisonment and fine. Broadly, acts of ragging and their corresponding terms of punishment can be categorized as follows:

Verbal: A senior who causes mental harassment, discomfort for the junior by forcing him/her to answer unacceptable/personal questions, dance, sing, etc. is said to rag the junior. Cyber ragging is also included in this category. Punishment: 1 year imprisonment or fine or both.

Severe Verbal Ragging: Where the mental harassment, discomfort is to such an extent as to force the junior to withdraw from the college. Punishment: 7 year imprisonment with fine.

Physical: Any act by the senior towards the junior which inflicts bodily injury on the junior, like beating the junior, hitting him/her with objects, etc. Punishment: 7 year imprisonment with fine. Sexual Ragging: Where the senior asks the junior to perform an act which damages the sexual dignity of the junior. Punishment: 7 year rigorous imprisonment and fine.

Institute-Level Guidelines

??The head of the institution along with relevant bodies of the college/institution be made accountable for any ragging in that institution. ?Every institution must mandatorily have a duly constituted Anti-Ragging Body.?The complainant can report orally or in writing either to the head of the institution or to the specific body constituted to deal with such cases. In cases where such an act of ragging is witnessed by a teacher, non-teaching staff or the administrative staff, the evidence needs to be treated as final. ?The institutional authority must be an active party to move in favour of complainant to lodge an FIR. The complainant must have the freedom to send copies of his/her complaint to all concerned agencies, viz. NGOs, District Magistrate, media, pressure groups and so on.?The cases of ragging need to be dealt with on a fast-track basis within a specific time-frame.

OpPRESSED?

agging is any disorderly conduct, whether by words spoken or written or by an

act, which has the effect of teasing, treating or handling with rudeness any other Rstudent or indulging in rowdy or indisciplined activity, which causes or is likely to

cause annoyance, hardship or psychological harm or to raise fear or apprehension

thereof in a fresher or a junior student or asking the students to do any act or perform

something which such student will not do in the ordinary course and which has the

effect of causing or generating a sense of shame or embarrassment so as to adversely

affect the physique or psyche of a fresher or a junior student.

- Supreme Court of India

”

“In retrospect, when I reflect back on the years I spent as a student here (Patel Hall of Residence), I think that ragging may not have been all that necessary...Furthermore, I don’t think ragging improves their (juniors’) personality in any way. On the contrary, it might crush their self-confidence. If a student lacks English-speaking skills, will ragging improve it? Most probably not. There is absolutely no correlation between the improvement of street-smartness of an individual and ragging. The delicate mental state of a lot of juniors already makes them immensely vulnerable. Ragging is dangerous and must stop.”

-Kanchan Chowdhury, President of IIT Teachers’ Association

“

”“

”

“I must admit, without sounding prudish, that I do not like much of what I read and see about ragging. Elasticity of behaviour, conduct and psyche must be respected and never transgressed.No matter how nostalgic I feel about the whole thing I always see ragging as a tainted word. I cannot talk about my kind of ragging and the other kind of ragging. Supporting ragging is almost defending the indefensible. So far as the model is concerned I am for the old IIT KGP model. A limited period of ragging, then a freshers' night (basically a day of reverse ragging) and then pure democracy.”

-B.K Das, Chief, Mechanical Maintainance, Tata Steel 1980 batch, IIT KGP

“There are people who experience working in a group for the first time in their 2nd year, under duress for some, and feel that this is something that they would actually enjoy doing.

-Mithun Madhusudan 2010 batch, IIT KGP“ ”

“I do not agree with arguments in favour of ragging. Just because it does some good to some people, we assume that this is the best system ever. For example, if you want to have a system that encourages the students to use their creativity and learn new things, I can come up with a dozen such systems that perform much better than ragging. If you think that there are people who never wanted to do anything creative in their lives, but started doing that just because of ragging, there are also some people who wanted to do creative things all their lives and did them too but none of it was ever used for their halls because they were told that they would be allowed to contribute to the hall only if they allowed their seniors to mistreat them for a while.”

-Vinayak Pathak2009 batch, IIT KGP

“

” “The recent incident involving the death of Aman Kachroo clearly indicates that the formulation of guidelines and regulations is not sufficient. Such regulations shall have to be enforced strictly, and penal consequences for the heads of the institutions/administration of the institution who do not take timely steps in the prevention of ragging and punishing those who rag.”

-Justice Pasayat, in his ruling dated May 8, 2009“

6 T E C H A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , AUGUST 19TH 2010

STUDENT CONTACTSAbhineet GuptaAshutosh SinghSaurabh Sethi

K AdityaG. S. Vimal

Tanmay mandalHimanshu Shukla

Nikhil Khobragade

MENTORSProf. Arnab Roy

Prof. Anup Ghosh

Notion Ink Adam faces funding hiccups

Not a Affair, this.

We planned on acquiring high quality

solar cells from a company in USA but

we couldn’t procure them due to

security reasons as those cells had

advanced military applications.

A $35 Computer?

Since the dawn of the personal computers, manufacturers have dreamt of making these devices cheap enough to make them ubiquitous. However this has proven to be a most elusive dream. Attempts have been made over the years with the most successful, as of now, being the OLPC project which has managed to come up with the XO-1 targeted at school children and priced at $148.

Recently the Indian government threw its hat in the ring with the announcement of the Shakshat tablet computer, developed by researchers at IIT and IISc, which they claim is going to be available fo r s a l e a t $35 . Th i s ha s understandably generated quite a bit of hype for the device; however, it must be kept in mind that this is not the first time that such promises have been made. Early last year an announcement about a $10 laptop which was being developed at VIT surfaced only to be met with disappointment as the device in question was a long way from being a full featured personal computer, and, to make matters worse, a final analysis concluded that the device was more likely to cost around 10 times as much as the price projected.

With this in mind, the announcement has been met with a fair bit of skepticism. Further fueling this lack of confidence is the fact that no information about the specs of the gadget have been released. All that is known about it i s wha t wa s shown on a introductory video released by the inventors. The video shows the tablet being used for browsing and playing media files. Another exciting feature is that the tablet will run on solar power.

If the promises made this time around are fulfilled, this might be one of the biggest innovations to come out of India and hence developments around the project are going to be watched very closely indeed.

ndian startup Notion Ink (with are planning on releasing two IKGP alums), made waves at the variants of the tablet, one with an Consumer Electronics Show last LCD screen and one using the February when it introduced the much-hyped Pixel-Qi (pronounced Adam, its entry into the burgeoning 'chi') technology. Additionally, the tablet computer marketplace. The company has been writing software, specs were impressive enough to augmenting the standard Android have industry leaders calling it the OS to make the user experience as biggest threat to the then upcoming smooth as that of the iPad.iPad from Apple. We at The Scholars’ Avenue, had featured it in Staying true to its founders’ our Feb 2010 issue. commitment, the Adam will be

aggressively priced at $498 - a full Things haven't been so rosy for $130 cheaper than the iPad.

Notion Ink since then. The gadget which was promised to be released in quarter 2 is yet to hit the market, even as the iPad further strengthens its customer base. Early last month, it emerged that there were issues with investors and funding. Finding the right manufacturers has also been one of the major obstacles for a startup like Notion Ink.

But, more recent news has been encouraging. The company has indicated that the device is on track for a Christmas release. Also, they

n annual IIT Kharagpur- explains Ashutosh Singh, one of the ABoeing affair, the Boeing team members. "There are very few Student Project is a prestigious companies that entertain orders for event in which teams of students components in quantities as small as from the Aerospace Department we needed. This posed another compete to bag a fully sponsored challenge to us”, he added.project by Boeing. Last year, the problem statement called for a solar Yet another technical hurdle powered a i rcra f t with the they faced was keeping the aircraft maximum possible flying time power efficient which necessitated under some velocity and altitude keeping its weight as low as constraints. The winning team possible. After designing an consisted of 8 students mentored by experimental aircraft and running a two professors (See Box). The battery of tests on it, they finally hit funding, amounting to Rs. 4.5 lakh, upon the optimal specifications of was provided by Boeing and the aircraft that enabled them to use channelled through SRIC. power judiciously. “Initially we

planned on getting technical help from Boeing USA, the sponsors of The balsa wood and carbon this project, but ruled out the idea as fibre composite aircraft has a unfeasible due to geographical wingspan of 3.3 metres and is a constraints . Because of the metre long. With an impressive specialized nature of a project like flight endurance time of half an this, there weren’t many in India hour under its belt, the aircraft is all who could help us either”, lamented set to take over the skies.Abhineet Gupta, another team

After a year of persistent work, member.it has recently finished its project. “We could fulfill all the objectives specified in the problem statement within the expected time period and costs, inspite of encountering a few stumbling blocks along the way”, asserted the team.

Originally conceived to be completely solar powered, the team had to settle for a hybrid version after running into sourcing hurdles. “We planned on acquiring high quality solar cells from a company in USA but we couldn’t procure them due to security reasons as those cells had advanced military applications”,

IEEE TechSym 2011 - Call for

Papershe IEEE Student Branch is Torganizing the 2nd version of

t he concep tua l i z ed I E E E S t u d e n t s ' T e c h n o l o g y Symposium during 14-16 January 2011. This year’s event is themed on "Advancing Technology for Humanity" and has 7 technical tracks, and 4 theme awards categories.

The second edition of the event will host oral and poster sessions showcasing original contributions from students and young profess iona l s , with subsequent publications through IEEEXplore Digital Library. As part of this initiative, the organizing committee of the IEEE Students' Technology Symposium 2 0 1 1 i n v i t e s s c h o l a s t i c contributions in the form of articles for these oral/poster presentations. The last date for paper submission is September 14, 2010.

For further details, visit http://techsym.in

BH A A T A V E N U ETHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , AUGUST 19TH 2010 7

adies and gentlemen, we bring to you a revolution. If ever a pupa was Health, we have been told in school, isn't restricted to physical well-Lbeaten out of its cocoon, this would be the butterfly that resulted. If the being. Believe it or not, trench dining will serve to hone your social skills and monkey at the typewriter was to be replaced by Schrödinger's cat, this boost your self confidence. Regardless of the fact that you will be farther would be the sweet sonnet that resulted [or not]. from your long cherished dream of living in zero gravity, your words will

carry more weight. Quell your excitement by moving to your ground state - We are sorry, it was actually not. There is no revolution. But to take up the ideal convalescence if you think you're getting high too often. You shall

the empty space, our printers used this: henceforth be free of malaises such as jaundice, because, well, you’ll be granted access to nature's own supply of Bisleri.

Please be advised though that the trench is a friendly place. No knives will be entertained, either with music or food. However, the one thing we do recommend is a compass that points north and not just points, but points sharply, so much so that while it points you north, quite sharply of course, it may be used in your defense in the unlikely event that you have a run-in with the underground mafia movement (UMM), Chuck Norris, or a really large balloon.

nd now for something completely different. Have you ever dined in Afinery? For all those unfortunate souls who have been missing out on a decent fine dining experience on campus, we present... trench dining!

Thanks to the foresighted administration enveloping the old (we mean

the new) Gymkhana with a new one (we mean a newer one), KGP now has its own nice little holes in front of SupDup, in which you can be lowered. Offered completely free and forcibly to our nice old Aunty at SupDup, these trenches hold the key to your success as a dine finer.

Ask not what you can do for the trench. Ask what the trench can do for

you. Working out in the gym is like remembering to take your clothes out of the washing machine. It just doesn't happen. In addition to forcing the exertion involved in climbing in and out of the trench on the diner, the situation is a case of killing two LGBs with one tennis racket.

Catching the food that the waiter flings at you is ideal fielding practice. What's more, legend has it that Kerala Dosas taste better down South.

’s Holey Victuals

Vol. XVI(and a half)

rickrolled our youtube fail or if it's win.channel... but their latest round of rubbish Looooooooooooooooolcat!has got to be the last

U can't haz that cheezy bitestraw! [inset pic - Ed.] Looooooooooooooooolcat!So it’s time to fight U don't haz to put up a big fight.monkey poo with

monkey poo... our plan U don't haz tois to take all of our most annoying songs and (lolcaaaaaaaaaat) put up a big fight! (x5)rewrite them in that ‘lolspeak’ thing of theirs, rendering it into an unholy artifact I known it since I found yaof non-coolness so fast that the internet

Coz 4chan went and meme'd yawould be forced to kill off the whole ‘lol’ London, 20th August 2010: In what Teh interwebz know just how I feelmeme in order to survive. After all, it is appears to be the latest instalment in a I knew it had gone too far...only the British thing to do (and British is decade-long feud, old 80’s reggae-punk best).” I'm in ur homez to pwn yaband The Police has thrown the gauntlet at So put away your burgerthe shady internet organization known Now that was awfully honest of him. We Read you your rights, won't tell you againonly as the LOLRepublic. have obtained the lyrics to their first And it's Kthxbai.

retaliatory single and have attached it The former band’s spokesperson Sting thusly:

Looooooooooooooooolcat!made a statement early this weekend regarding their current stance, purportedly U don't haz to put up a big fight.Loooooolcat!precipitated by a long and arduous online U don't haz toU don't haz to pine for that cheez delightslander campaign by the nefarious (lolcaaaaaaaaaat) put up a big fight! Those days are over, all ur base r belong to organization.

(fade out)the night.

“It was funny, maybe, the first hundred It is this reporter’s honest opinion that this times or so when they’d tag a picture of me Loooooooooolcaaaaat!dastardly plan is far too evil to fail. We can with some caption like ‘STALKARR’. We U don't ever needz to make that din only sit and hope that the intertubes do not even looked the other way when they Trolling forums for lulz, I don't care if it's crumble under this onslaught.

Sting’s Beard calls a press conference.

Are YOU a second year student with any of the following qualifications?

?A talent for writing with a nose for news

?Artistic abilities with a level head for sensible design aesthetics

?Administrative experience with web properties or blogs

?A strong desire to effectively shape public opinion beyond bhaating with your wingies

?A penchant for cake

If so, then we believe that you just might be prime pickings for our rag-tag band of reporters... you should most certainly consider trying out at our Selection Drive this week!

Keep an eye out for selection notices (coming soon to a hall near you), or pop over to our site for further details.

CALLING ALL SOPHOMORESPOLICE DECLARES WAR ON LOLCATS

Did you know? The song is available online at http://tinyurl.com/lolroxanne

8 AD AVENUE THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , AUGUST 19TH 2010