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2011-02-06T00:46:00.000-08:00

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Biggest placements for MBAs

2011-02-05T00:42:00.000-08:00

Midhun Raj.U.R.

*Three students recruited to RBI

*School to organise more trainings and workshops

The biggest placements in the history of MBA department have taken place this year. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recruited three students from MBA final semester as middle managers (grade B officer) with a salary of `10.5 lakh per annum.

Visakh V. V, Prachi Gangradre and B.Savitha from MBA finance major achieved this after rounds of group discussions, written exams and an interview. Around 30 students had attended the interview from School of Management Studies.

“We are thankful to the department and all faculties for the various trainings and seminars that helped us perform better,” Visakh.V.V said. Regular reading of newspapers like Business Line and The Hindu helped us get through the group discussion easily, he added.

Apart from RBI, various leading Multi National Companies also recruit students from MBA. Every year the School records 100% placement. Some of the students get multiple placement offers. The prominent banks like Andhra Bank, Axis Bank, SBH, and HSBC are regular recruiters from the School apart from others like PWC, E&Y, Virtusa, Deloitte, Sierra Atlantic, TOI, TIME, Thomson Reuters, Reliance and Colgate Palmolive.

“Ongoing expansion in the banking sector after the recession provided much more opportunities this time. Placement cell of the school is planning to invite more MNC’s this time,” said Dr. Chetan Srivastava, Reader and Placement coordinator of the School of Management Studies.

Based on the feedback of the recruiters, it is learnt that there is a scope for improvement in the communication & soft skills of the students and they need to make serious efforts to improve them, he added.

With the help of leading organisations, the School plans to organise some training programmes and workshops for the benefit of students.

Five-day week schedule implemented

2011-02-05T00:41:00.002-08:00

Rahul

University of Hyderabad took the decision to adopt the ‘five-day week time table’ with no alterations in 40 working hours a week in an Executive Council resolution dated November 9, 2010. The decision was taken during the university’s 150th Executive Council meeting, keeping in mind the recommendations of 5th and 6th Central Planning Commission. It has come into effect from January 1, 2011.

The working hours have been changed from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. to 9 a.m- 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. Although the Administration block will remain closed on Saturdays, essential services like security, health centre, library, computer centre and sports complex will function as before. “Information has been passed on to all departments and services sections. They will make the necessary arrangements and adjustments to implement the new timetable without affecting the students,” says Devesh Nigam, Deputy Registrar, Personnel section II.

The UoH Students’ Union had brought to the notice of the administration, the difficulties students face due to the new decision. Assistant Registrar of Personnel section II, Abhishek Kumar, observes that the initial confusion is obvious. Decisions regarding functioning of services have been given to respective departments. For example, it is left to the librarian to keep the library open till midnight on Saturdays though the working hours would end at 5:30 p.m., Kumar added.

Students’ Union President Mukesh Kumar said, the union was not consulted before the decision was taken. However, the new five-day week schedule is adopted on experimental basis for six months, he added.

Numaish unveils India

2011-02-05T00:41:00.001-08:00

Rajita Godasu

Want to shop for Kashmiri jewellery along with Rajasthani bandinis? Would you like to go for a joy ride on Giant Wheel and then satisfy your tummy with yummy Hyderabadi Biryani? Then the perfect adda to fulfill the above wishes would the 71st All India Industrial Exhibition a.k.a Numaish.

Numaish was first started by the Nizams in the year 1938 with only 50 shops. The idea was to introduce different kinds of goods from different states of India to the people of Hyderabad. After a decade, it was renamed as All India Industrial Exhibition.

More than 150 stalls in the exhibition are occupied by cloth merchants from all over the country. One can get colorfully dyed Rajasthani bandinis to delicately crafted Lucknow Chicken veils, from Kashmiri shawls to South Indian silks. Akram Khan of Lucknow who has been participating in the exhibition from last 30 years said “there are nearly 70 varieties of Lucknow veils and we bring them all for sale and one cannot find these unique varieties anywhere in Hyderabad.”

Be it food, clothes, jewellery, accessories, Kashmiri stalls occupy the major share. The jewellery and dry fruits of Kashmir are the major attraction among the visitors. “The speciality about Kashmiri jewellery is that all of them are handmade and mostly by the metal beads” says Abdul Khan of Kashmir Jewellery den.

The food lovers have number of options to satisfy their taste buds with chats, kebabs, biryanis, desserts, ice-creams and lot more. “Whenever I come to the exhibition I can’t resist those cotton candies and can’t go without having at least three” says Anmol a class 8 student of Kendriya Vidyalaya Golconda 1.

All the credit for conducting Numaish from last 70 years goes to the exhibition society. According to Mr. N. Vinay Kumar, honorary secretary of the committee, the money generated from the exhibition goes to the education of the girl children who study in their colleges and schools. The former vice- president of the exhibition committee, Mr. Satish Naik says “the reason behind conducting Numaish is to encourage the entrepreneurship and also to bring the people of Hyderabad to a single place to enjoy themselves”.

The exhibition closes on February 15.

Cricket with a difference

2011-02-05T00:40:00.000-08:00

Arnima Rao &

Amanda Tariang

Three visually-challenged cricketers from the University of Hyderabad have secured a place in the Andhra Pradesh State team.

P. Chandar Shekhar, chief coach for the Indian National Cricket team for Blind, proudly announced the selection of Ravi, Madhaalu and Kamrudin.

A two day series of friendly matches for the visually challenged students was held on Jan 18 and 19, 2011 at the UoH cricket ground. The initiative was take by a few students like Amer, MBA student, Anil Reddy, M.Phil scholar and Sridhar (not from UoH).

P. Chandra Shekhar inaugurated the event by batting first. He has been an umpire for almost 17 years and coaches the national team presently.

The UoH and AP state players came together to form two teams among themselves and named them as ‘A’ and ‘B’. There were twelve players from the AP state team with two international players, Ajay Kumar Reddy and Sridhar.

Team ‘A’ clinched a thrilling victory in the first and final match whereas Team ‘B’ won the second. Ajay Kumar Reddy displayed his talent by hitting two 100s and a 50.

The special ball used in the game produces a rattling sound so that it could be easily detected by the players. The bowlers have to ball underarm and pitch it inside a line drawn at the middle of the turf. Rest of the rules remain almost the same.

When asked where the Indian cricket team for the blind stands and how far it could reach, Chandra Shekhar said: “It is a far reach for India, because there’s not much promotion of the game here. It is not impossible but it is not growing either. It becomes tough to sponsor every time without anyone’s support.”

“It is for the fun and not for competition that we are interested in. It was wonderful to experience how everyone was enthusiastic to play when Anil and I first told them about the match,” Amer said.

“The DSW played a key role in the tournament. He made things possible and smooth for the students by looking after the funds for the tournament. This time it only took us three days to get permission and other process for organizing the tournament,” Anil Reddy one of the organizers of the tournament told UoH Dispatch.

In the closing ceremony DSW, Dr. B. Raja Shekhar; Director of physical fitness and sports sciences, Raja Shekhar, and P.Chandra Shekhar were present.

Bonne nouvelle: AFH turns thirty

2011-02-05T00:39:00.002-08:00

Nikhil mg

The bonne nouvelle (good news) is that Alliance Française of Hyderabad (AFH) recently turned 30. The Indo-French educational centre plans to celebrate this by hosting events every month for the next one year. The anniversary celebrations that took place in December on the lawns of Taj Deccan, saw a perfect mélange of Indian and French cultures.

The soiree began with school children from Glendale Academy, Chirec Public School and Meridian School singing in French. Well-known sisters Ankna and Ashrita Arockiam, presented popular Opera numbers such as White Christmas, Habanera and Can’t help loving that man, in Italian, French, Spanish and German. The treat of the evening was to watch Western musicians try their hand at Indian melodies and compositions. Jean- Christophe Bonnafous (France), Max Teller (USA), and Rachele Rapisardi (Italy), performed brilliantly.

Jean-Manuel Duhaut, the new director of the Alliance Française of Hyderabad, expressed his delight on the occasion. It was the beginning of many events that are to unfold during the course of this year. AFH is planning to put together more than 50 cultural events this year making itself one of the most active cultural exchange centers in the twin cities.

January witnessed an assortment of events including In Vivo, a Hip Hop dance show by S’Poart Company from France, Western classical music concert by Schulhoff Trio, film screenings and dance workshops. Some of the events scheduled for February include: Poetry competition for which ‘Love forever’ is the chosen theme; screening of the documentary Salaat by Kaz Rahman at the Prasad film lab; Soiree Amis – an evening dedicated to those who want to speak French with friends or know more about France; etc. In addition, the Alliance Française plans to expand the services of it qualified teachers. According to Duhaut, “We plan to begin French for children at several schools. We are also planning to have French classes at more locations in the city.”

Alliance Française, Goethe Zentrum(German language institute) and the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation’s plans to join forces under one roof at new premises at Masab Tank in March 2011. “This will be the first such affiliation in India”, said Duhaut. He added that “the idea behind collaborating with the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation is to make it one of the most culturally active locations in the city.”

Indian tradition welcomes all noble thoughts: Pro VC

2011-02-05T00:39:00.001-08:00

Arnima rao

The Indian tradition welcomed all noble thoughts and ideas and saw art as a divine source, said Prof.V. Kannan, Pro Vice Chancellor, UoH, in his inaugural speech of the 7th Indian Society for Theatre Research (ISTR) conference held at Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication. The three day conference from January 28 to 30 was organized by Department of Theatre Arts.

In his keynote address, Prof. S. Ramanujam, renowned theatre person and former Professor of Drama in Tamil University, gave emphasis on theatre being an “act of accumulating punya.” He further spoke about the positive impacts on Indian theatre during the colonial era and how the “modern Indian theatre has lost its soil.”

The guest of honor for the event, Prof. Ravi Chaturvedi, President for the Indian Society for Theatre Research, hoped to provide finance for the researchers in the field of theatre and initiate towards bridging the gap between practice and theory. Prof. B. Ananthakrishnan, Head of the Theatre Arts Department, spoke about how the institution of ISTR brought a turning point to research in theatre academics.

The event was presided over by Prof.Vinod Pavarala, Dean of SN School; Prof. Brian Singleton, President of the International Federation for Theatre Research; Associate Prof. Rajiv Velicheti; Dr. Anuradha Kapoor; Prof. B. P. Sanjay; and Prof. H. S. Shivaprakash were also present.

Media compels justice

2011-02-05T00:35:00.000-08:00

Shruthi B Shetty

Film: No One Killed Jessica

Director: Rajkumar Gupta

Cast: Vidya Balan, Rani Mukherji, Myra Karn

Truth is considered to be the step towards righteousness. But many people have hard time accepting the truth when faced with it. This fact is well shown in the first half of Director Rajkumar Gupta’s film No One Killed Jessica.

The first half of the film shows Sabrina Lal’s relentless battle to get justice for her slain sister.

The way in which most of the witnesses withdraw from truth on being bribed and threatened, builds a tense premise. The extent of corruption and the influence of power is highlighted which delays justice.

Rani Mukherji’s (Meera Gaity) role as a straight forward and fearless journalist seems slightly exaggerated. The attempt to make the latter half more dramatic and the media industry more glamorous makes the film unbelievable.

It gives a completely different dimension to the story, when media enters the frame to take up the Jessica Lal case. Instead of exhibiting media as supporting Sabrina’s cause, director Rajkumar Gupta seems interested in glorifying the media business. The journalist abruptly overtakes all the credits in the fight for justice.

The film No One Killed Jessica is based on a real incidence of the murder of a vivacious and aspiring model Jessica Lal that was plastered all over the news for many years. The director has quite competently brought out the aftermaths of the murder, although it could have been better.

SFI-ASA sweeps UoH students’ union election

2010-10-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

The Students Federation of India (SFI) and Ambedkar Student’s Association (ASA) bagged all the major posts in the 2010-2011 students’ union election held on Wednesday. It was a convincing victory as the alliance candidates won all the union office – bearer seats by a margin of more than 900 votes against the candidates of Akhil Bharathiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which won the elections last year. The margin of win, SFI – ASA claimed, was a “record” in the history of the University.

Mukesh Kumar was elected president polling 1761 votes, while Nagesh G. was elected as the general secretary polling 1677 votes. Shyam Krishna won as the joint secretary with 1820 votes, the highest any candidate got in this election. The cultural secretary elect is Indira Priyanka who secured 1603 votes and, Uday Kumar G. polled 1748 votes to win as the sports secretary.

Earlier Ramesh Naik was elected unopposed to the post of vice – president, as the opposing candidate’s nomination got rejected during the scrutiny.

Electioneering into the last lap

2010-10-12T01:14:00.000-07:00

Amanda Tariang & Shiva Krishna

Campaigning for the 2010 - 11 UoH Students’ Union elections came to a close on Monday, October 11th with the Open Dais (OD) session that was held between the candidates and the students in the DST Auditorium. The programme started at 7pm and went on till 10. The candidates for the posts of President, Vice-President, General Secretary, Joint Secretary, Cultural Secretary and Sports Secretary put forth their agendas before those present.

The programme was chaired by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), P. Dinesh Babu, who read out the rules and regulations that was to be followed. The contestants for the post of the president were allowed seven minutes to present their agendas, whereas, other candidates were given five. Based on the agenda, students were also allowed to raise two main questions and one sub question each.

There was clear political demarcation among the students present in the auditorium. The Students Federation of India and Ambedkar Students’ Association activists, who are fighting this election in an alliance, occupied the seats towards the left of the hall while Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists sat on the right side with the Telangana Students Association members taking the rest of the seats.

Questions raised were mostly accompanied either by applause or booing, depending on the political affiliation of the candidate taking the question and the individual students. At times, the candidates were not audible due to the shouting. There were also moments of tension between the members of different organisations present on the floor.

A notable omission of this year’s OD session was the absence of presidential debate, in which all the presidential candidates debate with each other in front of the students. “The Presidential Debate was not conducted due to time constraints. Some candidates took more than the stipulated time to present their respective agendas and the Q&A session was prolonged,” said CEC P. Dinesh Babu.

The polling will be held on Wednesday, 13^th October, followed by counting the next day.

Political Science student beaten up by outsiders

2010-09-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

http://s795.photobucket.com/albums/yy231/midhunrajalpha/?action=view&current=DSC_7023jpg-2.jpg (Photo)

Midhun Raj.U.R

A second year Political Science student, Vishnu Sasidharan, was brutally beaten up near the Campus School on Wednesday at around 8.30 pm allegedly by a gang of outsiders and some students. The injured was admitted to the University Health Centre.

Vishnu was going to campus school with musical instruments to attend the practice session for the ‘Onam’ celebrations from his hostel (MH-H) when the attack took place. “I saw some people, who were participating in the Ganesh immersion procession in front of my hostel, moving into my way. When I passed the Old SN School canteen, they attacked me with some metal weapons like iron rod,” he said.

He told police that he identified some of them including Sai Krishna and Satpal who got suspension in the last semester. "I couldn’t identify few of them because I have never seen them before in the University,” he added.

His classmates and friends said that he is an active worker of Students Federation of India (SFI). SFI leaders alleged that the attackers belong to Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Vishnu has severe injuries under the left eye and left side of the skull. “The injuries show that the person was attacked with some kind of metallic weapons. He has a contusion on his left part of the head.” Dr. Capt. Ravindra of University Health Centre said UoH Dispatch.

“We will observe the patient for 24 hours and decide about further treatment,” he added.

SFI campus unit president P. Parameswaradu said that they filed a complaint to both Registrar and Circle Inspector of Chandanagar police.

“A Proctorial Committee headed by University Proctor will inquire about the incident.” Chief Warden Prof. Sarraju said.

In response to the accusation on ABVP, M.Venkat, a party spokesperson said, "The allegations are baseless. All of us were in the procession accompanied by more than 15 security guards. If anything happened like they (SFI) are claiming, the security guards would have noticed it."

Educate oneself and those around, says JP

2010-09-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

Mohammed Anvar

“Some people may say that your generation have many faults. But don’t go behind this general notion. If their generation was without fault, this nation’s fate would have been different,” said Loksatta Party president Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan in his speech at the freshers' orientation programme organised by Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA) here on Monday.

“Education is the best tool to fight for your rights. It will help you to bring about changes into the society in which you are living. Educational institutions are not just factories that give out degree certificates. From those institutions your minds are stimulated and hearts are inspired,” added the former IAS officer.

In his forty five minute speech, he reminded the students that they have to struggle for their own future. “If you want to bring changes to this country, you have to make sure that each child of this country gets ample opportunity to fulfil his or her potential. Unless you achieve something in this direction, our country will remain the same,” the Kukatpalli MLA spoke to a packed audience in the DST.

He appealed to the privileged student community to use their individual talents for the public good. “Individual growth without overall development of the society will contribute nothing to humanity. That is why people like Dr. Ambedkar dedicated their entire life for public good. They built the nation. After that generation, unfortunately, people are giving up the public domain. Without freedom fighters we would have gained Independence. But we wouldn’t have had a nation” added Dr. Jayaprakash to the new faces.

Prof. Kancha Ilaiah , Dr. Prakash Babu and Dr. K. Suneetha Rani also spoke. Earlier, ASA general secretary Ms. Simi presented the annual report.

Celebrating Independence Day

2010-08-15T01:27:00.000-07:00

TAKING A SALUTE: Vice-Chancellor Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain and Registrar C P Mohan Kumar (back) saluting during the national anthem.

CELEBRATION: University school children performing.

Photo: Rahul V. Pisharody

Song of Bansuri Mesmarises UoH

2010-08-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia playing the bansuri
Photographed by Shiva

Dhanusha Damodaran

Bansuri (bamboo flute) maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia mesmerised UoH with his recital on the Sunday (August 8) evening. His ragas of yamen and praharee accompanied by Vijay Ghate on Tabla and Rukmini Devi on Tambura enthralled the gathering. Maestro’s bansuri cast a magic spell on the audience who couldn’t resist from making rounds of applause.

The maestro was here to inaugurate VIRASAT-2010 organised by the Hyderabad Chapter of the ‘Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst the Youth’ (SPIC MACAY). Kiran Seth, the founder and Chairman of SPIC MACAY, lit the lamp as he was asked to do so by the maestro.

Pandit Hariprasad was honoured by Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain, Vice Chancellor of the UoH. The UoH subchapter of SPIC MACAY was started in 2007 providing a good platform to organise cultural programmes involving many internationally acclaimed artists.

Ms. Kavita Dwibedi, Odissi performer, Mr. C. P. Mohan Kumar, Registrar of UoH, Prof. B. Anantha Krishnan, Faculty Co-ordinator, Rajeev Vellichetti, Cultural Coordinator of the UoH, Vikas Nagrare, Vice-Chairman to SPIC MACAY, Kumar Ashish, Coordinator to Subchapter of SPIC MACAY UoH, were also present.

Ramzan mess to be opened on the Campus

2010-08-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

C. Jamsheel

A special mess is all set to be opened in UoH men’s hostel-C mess in accordance with Ramzan schedule.

Certain students of Muslim community of the UoH approached the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain, requesting him to open a special mess during Ramzan (August 13 to September 12). The Chief Warden, B. S. Sarraju, gave consent to open the Ramzan special mess after the Vice-Chancellor asked him to deal with the representation.

“Students have been demanding for a special mess to suit the Ramzan timings since long. Finally the authorities have given permission for opening the Ramzan special mess. Student Union and wellwishers helped us to make this happen,” said P. Mohammed, a representative of the students.

More than two hundred people, including students, teaching and non-teaching staff would observe fast during Ramzan in the campus. While university will provide mess hall , students have to hire crockery and a cook.

“Students are asked to pay Rs.1000 each in the initial stage. Food will be served both at Ifthar (the time of breaking the fast) and in the wee hours during the holy month. The students will take responsibilities of the day-to-day affairs of the mess,” added P. Mohammed.

The special mess will be opened on August 12 till the end of Ramzan.

Candlelight march against flames in Valley

2010-08-06T01:32:00.000-07:00

ARNIMA RAO

A good number of students of University of Hyderabad on Thursday night, held a candlelight peace march against the unabated violence in Kahsmir valley. Under the aegis of the Students Federation of India (SFI), they displayed placards and banners expressing their solidarity to the victims of violence.

The students silently walked in the campus until their final halt at the shopping complex. Addressing the gathering, Zameer, a Mphil. student from Kashmir, of Comparative Literature, observed that Kashmir has been under siege. He found fault with the authorities and blamed the police for not acting effectively. “Because of this inactiveness, the death toll is increasing every passing day,” Zameer said.

A student form Manipur, Suresh, who is currently doing his research on Armed Forces, made parallels between the Kashmir and North Eastern states. “Ongoing killings of civilians during protests and fake encounters have shattered the hearts of the old and young. Unrest is seen in both the places and death has become a common sight,” he maintained.

The students raised slogans such as “awaaz do hum ek hai,” before concluding the programme.

Students showing their solidarity
Photographed By Rahul

Cheer up folks…Our voices to go on Air soon…

2010-08-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

Mohammed Anvar & Arnima Rao

The top ranked journalism department in the country has added another feather into its crown! Literally, it is going to give voice to the hitherto voiceless.

Think about a voice that will make your morning worth it and fill you in with information about today’s programmes on the campus. Think about a friend striking the perfect cords on his guitar which the entire campus could listen to. Wait before you think that all these are dreams.

Yes. It is a dream come true situation for the people who worked hard and tirelessly for the past five years to set up a radio station on the University of Hyderabad (UoH) campus. Finally, only a few formalities to be completed and UoH hopes to go on air by the end of the monsoon semester. This will be the first campus community radio in the State.

“But the programmes are not only meant for the student community. It will cater programmes to all the community which comes under the 10-km radius of the radio station,” says the brain behind the project, Prof. Vinod Pavarala, Dean of SN School of Arts and Communication.

Though the duration, genre and anchors of the programmes are not decided yet, there will be about two to three hour air-casting at the initial stage and the idea is to reach out to all kinds of audiences. The programmes will be for the youth after all. People from the nearby community could also come and do a small programme for this radio. “It will reach the Hi-tech city too. If a techie listening to it may also come and do a programme,” the Dean elaborates.

The radio station is going to be run and managed by the students specifically. There will be a Station Manager to monitor things. A small group of people from the university will look into the day-to-day affairs of the station. “At the same time there will be a university level Radio Council comprising of experts from different walks of life and headed by Pro-VC to look into the policy matters,” explains Prof. Pavarala.

“The present radio stations are not using the full potential of the concept. We are going to air cast different kinds of programmes,” says Prof. Pavarala. He aims at involving people from nearby places by sharing their views and experiences to the students. In this way the radio will not only be just for entertainment but also educational, creative and informative. He wants to make them feel that it is their radio as well!

So gear up for the big opportunity as SN School offers that one platform to make people hear our voices and make our presence felt.

Photographed by Midhun Raj U.R.

BBC Hindi Holds Discussion

2010-08-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

NIKHIL MG

BBC Hindi Radio conducted a discussion at University of Hyderabad on July 28 on ‘the state of higher education in India today’. The discussion revolved around issues like infrastructure in colleges and universities, absenteeism among lecturers, adherence to examination schedules and India’s bright chances of becoming a global super power.

The discussion was attended by the Vice Chancellor Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain, deans of various departments and students. In his opening remarks, the VC said: “In the past few years, education was not given as much attention as it required in India. The number of colleges and universities in the country are inadequate. We do not have resources to set up enough colleges with appropriate infrastructure.”

Talking about the facilities being provided in UoH, a science student (nano-technology) observed that, “we have all the necessary facilities in the university and the labs are well equipped. In spite of this, I think that there is a need to encourage sciences among students because there seems to be a trend where everyone wants to do an MBA to earn more.”

Prof. Alok Pandey, Head of Department of Hindi, was of the opinion that India can become a super power only if it strives to progress through its national language. This opinion was contested by many students who believed that progress can be achieved by thinking and acting globally. “Striving for progress in one’s national language only means limiting the possibilities of becoming a super power. Working towards the progress of the country’s poorest man will help attain sustainable development,” a student observed.

Talking about absenteeism among lecturers in UoH, a few students complained that they often faced this problem. Majority of the participants, however, thought otherwise. Students also opined that the university strictly adheres to examination schedules regardless of any political disorder in the city.

“The question that one needs to answer now is whether Indian higher education is producing enough people to make it a super power? And I strongly believe it is.” commented Venkat Ramana, Dean of Management.

(This reporter is one among the participants of the BBC Hindi discussion).

Workshop on Molecular Modelling and Drug Design

2010-08-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

NIKHIL MG

A week-long workshop on Molecular Modelling and Drug Design is being conducted at the Centre for Modelling, Simulation and Design (CMSD), UoH, from 2^nd to 7^th August 2010. This workshop is sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology.

“The workshop is being attended by approximately 40 speakers and 100 participants from across India. 25% of these participants include faculty members from various academic institutions, 15% comprises of scientists from pharmaceutical and Biotech companies, 40% of the participants are PhD scholars and the remaining 20% are M-tech, B-tech and MSc students from UoH,” observed Dr. R.S. Rathore, Organiser of the workshop, Department of Biotechnology, UoH.

The workshop is designed in such a way that the participants would spend about 50% of time in learning the basic concepts of computational chemistry with emphasis on drug design and discovery. The other 50% of time would be spent in acquiring hands-on experience on useful chemistry tools applied in drug design and drug discovery.

The workshop is successfully bringing together an assortment of drug designing companies in the week to come. Some of these well known companies include Schrodinger Inc., ACD/Labs, Tripos etc.

“It is a one-of-its-kind opportunity for the participants to learn all the major tools in molecular modelling and drug design. I hope that the participants utilize this opportunity to the maximum extent,” said Prof. Reddanna Pallu, Organiser of the workshop, School of Life Sciences, UoH.

Messes to be opened by August 1

2010-07-30T00:56:00.000-07:00

University officials addressing the protesters

RAHUL V. PISHARODY

Finally the UoH administration has declared that the messes on the campus would be opened by August 1.

Following a protest from students, the Cheif Warden B.S. Sarraju made an announcement in this regard on July 28. Protesting the administration’s dillydallying in opening the mess, a group of students led by Students’ Federation of India (SFI) gathered at shopping complex and took out a procession till the administration building. The agitating students submitted a representation to the Registrar Mr. Mohan Kumar and the Chief Warden.

“Classes commenced two weeks ago but you didn’t open the messes causing discomfort to the students,” the SFI’s HCU unit secretary Parameshwarudu said.

Mr. Sarraju, however, attributed the delay to the outstanding mess bills. According the official, students have to pay Rs.56, 81,334 to the administration. While girl students have to pay Rs.6, 48, 335, boys owe Rs.50, 32, 999 to the administration.

Students also demanded for more frequent transport services to the South campus. They questioned the rational behind keeping three people per room in the newly built J-hostel in the south campus. They demanded that only two students be put in every room.

Girls brought out the issue of water and sanitation at Ladies Hostel. They said the water they get to drink is saline. They also alleged that the administration is not taking the problems seriously despite receiving complaints several times.

Surprisingly, the mess at H and A hostel was opened on July 29, the day after the students’ protest.

Registrar Mr. Mohan Kumar made it clear that it would be impossible for the university to buy new busses and could only hire some in this case. He further said that a proper re-scheduling of the bus timings is required and will be seriously looked into. Reacting to series of cycle thefts on the campus, he said the students have to act responsibly and be alert.

Hyderabad to host mega Maths event

2010-03-10T02:14:00.000-08:00

World's super brains to come together - 'Maths Nobel' to be conferred - UoH is the exclusive academic host

By Ardra Balachandran

The brightest minds from all branches of Mathematics will descend upon Hyderabad come August. The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), the melting pot of ideas and the prestigious platform where the cream de la cream of global mathematics come together once in four years, will happen from August 19-27, 2010, at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). What’s more, University of Hyderabad is the exclusive academic host for the event!

In recognition of the increasing contributions of Indian Mathematicians in research, our country gets to host the ICM for the first time in history. In fact, this is only the third time that the ICM is coming to Asia (Kyoto 1990, Beijing 2002). The bid made by India had the full backing of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and also the State Government of Andhra Pradesh. The local hosts are the National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM), a board constituted by the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, and UoH.

“We competed with several other institutions which wanted to bring the ICM to their place. The International Mathematical Union (IMU) team came to inspect us and I gave them a blank cheque; also showed them the HICC. Our university’s phenomenal work in the field of Mathematics and the world class facilities available in HICC made the case for India,” Vice Chancellor Prof. Seyed. E Hasnain elaborated.

Although the history of the event can be traced back to August 1897, its execution in an organised fashion started in 1924, when IMU, a body of mathematicians formed in 1920-21, took over the reigns.

The ICM is also important because of the prestigious awards that are given away at the event, especially the Fields Medal. Known as the Nobel for Mathematics globally, it is awarded to a young mathematician (under the age of forty) who has done a substantial piece of research in the preceding four years. Besides this biggie, the Nevanlinna Prize (for theoretical computer science) and the Gauss Prize (for mathematics leading to applications) too will be awarded. Also, for the first time ever, the Chern Prize for outstanding lifelong achievement in mathematics will be awarded in Hyderabad.

With 20 plenary talks and more than 170 invited talks (the highest till date) lined up, ICM 2010 is sure to incite a whirlwind of new ideas. Most of all, the event gives what the Indian talent pool across disciplines often misses out on international exposure. And for mathematicians, it does not get bigger than this!

We lead, others follow – VC

2010-03-10T01:45:00.000-08:00

Special interview with Prof. Seyed E Hasnain

By Ardra Balachandran and Bipin Sebastian
ICM is coming to Hyderabad. Your thoughts?

This is a great moment for UoH. That India was chosen based on IMU team’s visit to our campus is a great honour.

How do we stand to benefit from the ICM?

The biggest gain will be the revival of Mathematics and its education in the country. The world’s most powerful man Obama said that the world must learn from India and go back to what we are doing to bring back science and mathematics into mainstream. But we feel that we are not doing enough. This meeting is precisely a step in that direction. Of course, the visibility and the recognition the event are the by-products.

There is separate meeting being conducted for women mathematicians on the sidelines of the ICM. Isn’t science a platform to reduce differences?

Oh no, its purpose is not to have parallelism and denigrate women. It could be more to showcase what we have achieved there. Also, whether we like it or not, we are losing out on talented women. After masters, they vanish. This meeting will hopefully address this issue.

It is noticed that our arts departments are lagging behind science.

That is true everywhere, not just here. We do not have comparable benchmarking that we have in science. Most scholars in Humanities and Social Sciences publish their work in journals that are not even indexed on Google. Your work goes unnoticed and you are losing out.

Does this directly reflect on the investment you make as a university authority?

One thing, the very nature of enquiries non science scholars undertake demands less financial inputs. They are not laboratory driven. Even the start up grant that non-science faculty members ask for are meagre amounts. In the beginning, people used to come to me asking for paltry sums to conduct international meetings. I would say, go add two zeroes to your budget and come back.

Shouldn’t fellowship be based on the demands of students’ stream of study? For example, Fine Arts students have to spend a lot on their supplies.

The system does not recognise their needs, not just in our country but globally. If you are doing a PhD in Philosophy and want to attend a meeting in Cambridge, there is no agency in India that will fund your entire trip. But if you are a Physics student, DST will write it off. And that explains why many of our discoveries take so much time in getting integrated to our social system. Unless scientific discovery is transferred to the society through a healthy exchange and dialogue with social scientists, you will have a problem.

We always hear that the science departments in our university feature in the top two in the country. What about others?

The award we received last year was based on publications in scientific journals – number two just below Delhi University. But the NAAC and the Scopus ranking is for all areas of human enquiry. We have received 97% with Scopus. I am waiting to see what rank DU and JNU get. NAAC looks at more than one thousand parameters including wifi connectivity and hostel facilities. We still have been given the highest ranking.

You had mentioned that there is a plan to convert the Department of Economics into a School on the lines of the LSE.

I want it to set a very tough benchmark for us and it should be equal to or better than the LSE. Recently, Jagadish Bhagawati and Aravind Subramaniam were here. Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel will be coming soon. The idea is to learn from these people what makes a good school. We also have an international advisory committee. We have a blueprint ready to make it happen in 2011.

During the inauguration of the tennis courts, you had mentioned introducing a compulsory sports credit course.

Yes, in this academic council, we will take a decision on that.

Considering the stature we have as a university, don’t you think the present sports infrastructure is inadequate?

No, the mindset of students needs to change. How many people make use of the sports complex that is there?

Another academic year is coming up. Is any work underway to solve the accommodation shortage on campus?

We have fulfilled the numbers that were obligated on us regarding the reservations. Every year we used to increase the seats on our own to fulfil a dream of having 10000 students on campus. But you need money to build hostels for all of them. So no more increase in seats from this year.

Land allocation kicks up a row

2010-03-09T02:26:00.000-08:00

If KIP does not materialise, many activities including students' fellowship will be affected: VC

By Ashok Putta

The employees’ and students’organizations of University of Hyderabad agitated against the allocation of university land to the Knowledge and Innovation Park (KIP) and Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) on February 8, 2010.

Resenting the decision of the UoH management to allocate 200 acres of land for KIP and 25 acres for CDFD, the teaching, non-teaching employees and students protested near the administrative building. They demanded a roll back of the decision.

University Teachers’ Association President Prof. Appa Rao said that land which should be used for education purpose is being allocated to Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The Staff Union President Narasimhulu Goud said that allocating land to CDFD would cause a lot of pollution. He said that the students would not benefit from KIP which according to him would be home to a large number of IT and pharma companies. He said that if the land is given away like this, the university would have to be run from apartments in the near future.

The VC Prof. Seyed E Hasnain strongly refuted this argument.“This is a very misinformed campaign. Alexandria is a real estate company that specialises in laboratory development for research. They are not going to build flats and apartments here,” he explained.

Goud also said that in the past, university land had been given to RTC Depot, IIIT, Gachibowli stadium, MRO office, Navodaya School and Electricity sub station from which the public benefited. “But the allocation of land to KIP and CDFD which belong to private companies would benefit neither students nor common people,” Goud maintained.

Speaking exclusively to UoH Dispatch, the VC added: “We do not own this land. Government of Andhra Pradesh can issue an order and take it away from us any time. If we do not collaborate with them to have an arrangement that benefits us, we are at a loss. Through this project, we can raise our corpus fund to Rs. 1000 crores. Without that, most of the activities on campus like foreign trips of faculty and Ph D scholars and students’ fellowships will become unsustainable. In short, if KIP does not materialise, students’ fellowship will be discontinued come July.”

Non Teaching employees’ association Chief Secretary M Sudhir, United Employees Union Chief Secretary Sebastian and Students Union President Chaitanya Prasad have also demanded a withdrawal of the decision. But the Officers’ Association has, in a letter dated February 7, 2010, offered its support. “We had a lot of misgivings and apprehensions and could not see what you saw years ahead for the institution,” the letter applauded.

Health Centre needs a face lift: reveals survey

2010-03-08T02:19:00.000-08:00

By Ardra Balachandran

If doctors and nurses do not get over their fascination with paracetamol, students may soon stop visiting the university health centre. The assumption is not far fetched at all going by the revelations in a survey conducted by the Science Communication students of Department of Communication in 2009.

The survey, titled ‘Health and the campus community’, was carried out among 90 campus residents which include students (54), teachers (18) and non teaching staff (18). The complaint about health centre staff considering paracetamol being the solution for all health troubles came up mainly from students. While a faculty member also commented that medicines should be bought on the basis of quality, not cheapness, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) had a different story to tell. He explained that there are Government of India rules and regulations to be followed while procuring medicines and the system cannot be compared with Apollo’s. “We have to buy basic medicines ordered by the ministry and do not have the freedom to buy what they call ‘fancy drugs’; B Complex for example,” he said.

Most of the respondents opined that the health centre is fit only for tackling minor illnesses. The CMO also reaffirmed that our health centre is only a primary health care unit and should be expected to fulfil only reasonable responsibilities. “That is why we have a referral system,” he said. However, one respondent also alleged that a particular doctor in the health centre demanded commission from the city hospital he was referred to.

Another shocking revelation apparent in the responses of the non-teaching staff was, “Doctors treat workers in a particular manner and students and teachers in a better way.” One professor seemed to agree that as a faculty member he was privileged to better health care at the health centre.

One of the most popular suggestions for improvement was that doctor facility should be made available round the clock. The lack of a dentist was also a matter of concern to many because dental services are very expensive outside, in the city.

Also, everyone seemed to agree that the health centre needs to work on its Public Relations. The public, in this case, may be a group as small as the campus community, but there is a need for them to know about the available facilities. With no improvement in PR, the situation best illustrated by an M.Phil scholar is likely to remain at status quo,“I know of research scholars who have been here for more than five years and have no clue about how the health centre can be useful!”

Girls undertake bucket struggle

2010-03-07T02:36:00.000-08:00

By Itishree Samal

Demanding a solution to the problem of water shortage, inmates from ladies hostels marched towards the administrative block with buckets and sticks and gheraoed the VC’s office on February 24, 2010. Irregular and inadequate water supply has been a major issue for the girls for some time now. Frequent complaints and several visits to the administrative and engineering department have served no purpose.

Bagmi Priyadarshini, an MPhil student said: “We are denied basic amenities which we have been assured both by the university and the UGC. The administration is not responding even after various complaints made to the warden and the DSW.”

In LH 5, with the tanks being situated at heights, water fills up in the end and finishes first. From February 17 to 19, there was no water in LH 5. A tanker of water was provided to the residents by the Department of Horticulture. The situation in LH 4 is worse, where half of its water goes to the food court.

V Venketesh, Junior Engineer of university electrical department said, “There is just one water connection to all the ladies hostels. There are proposals of a separate water connection for LH 5. After the VC and the Registrar approve, the work will start.”

The students had gone to report their concern to the DSW Prof. Rajashekhar with buckets and tooth brushes in their night clothes on February 21. They were assured of immediate action and regular water supply by Prof. Uma Maheshwari from the Amenities Maintenance.

Chief Warden Prof. B S Surraju said, “Already, separate bore well has been dug up behind LH 6, and there is another proposal to replace existing smaller water tanks with bigger ones. The proposals have been given, but it may take one month to buy those tanks. It is taking time as it has to go through various departments.”

“We are trying to ensure that the water flow is consistent. The main problem was that the plumbers were on strike for months. Also, girls keep the taps open when water is not there. Precious water, when made available with great difficulty, is wasted. We should create awareness to save water,” he opined

With the temperatures already soaring high and the administration cooling its heels, the upcoming months are sure to prove extremely tough for the girls.

ABVP makes a clean sweep

2009-10-12T01:18:00.000-07:00

The two-month long election drama on campus ended last Saturday with the ABVP making a clean sweep winning all four posts for which polling happened: President, Vice-President, Cultural Secretary and Sports Secretary.

2503 votes were polled in the re-election, which happened on October 9, 2009. The post of President went to ABVP candidate Chaitanya Prasad who got 1015 votes followed by SFI candidate Sipoy Sarveshwar who garnered 805 votes and the NSUI-ASA candidate Krishna Murthy who got 656 votes.

Trends were similar for other posts. Shashank B Baruah became the Vice-President with a total of 990 votes. ABVP candidates Priya R and Sardar Gaganjot Singh won the posts of Cultural Secretary and Sports Secretary with 1049 and 923 votes respectively. The rest of the panel had been decided unanimously.

Counting began at 10 am promptly and continued till evening. Spread over 25 rounds, trends beginning to emerge by around afternoon, though all sides were equally hopeful with cheers emerging from all quarters. However, by early evening, the mandate in favour of the ABVP was clear. Students from the ABVP were visibly jubilant at their win and celebrated by cheering and applying tilak after which, a victory procession complete with drumbeats and crackers was led through the campus.

All set for re- election

2009-10-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

By Mohammed Shareef M P & Deepti Nair

As the re-election is only hours away, the candidates and students organizations supporting them are brushing up on their last minute strategies. Meetings and crowds abound in places like the shop com and gops in which discussion of the impending elections dominate. Around 4000 students are all set to exercise their right to vote tomorrow. But it is a common fear if the political drama that preceded this re-election would lead to a lesser turn out of voters this time. To quell this fear, all student organisations are trying to encourage more people to cast their votes and ensure a more representative Students’ Union.

The candidates got a chance to present their manifestos and agendas at the open dais session held yesterday at the DST auditorium. But surprisingly, the auditorium was quite empty at 3 p.m. when the session was supposed to start. The Returning Officers, who were conducting the session, were waiting for the candidates and students to arrive and take their places. The session eventually started by 4.30 pm but even then, the turn out of students was sadly less. A majority of the students present there were supporters of the candidates and the student organisations.

Returning Officers Dr. Rajashekhar read out the code of conduct for the open dais session while Mr. Vasuki Belavadi oversaw the proceedings. Each candidate was given a specific time period to present their election manifestos. The Candidates standing for the post of President and General Secretary were given five minutes to speak while all others were given three minutes. While the students were allowed to ask two main questions and four supplementary questions to the former, they were allowed to ask one main question and two supplementary questions to the latter. The questions had to be confined to the agendas presented by the candidates in the specified time.

Most candidates talked about providing certain facilities like hike and timely disbursement of the fellowships to the students, providing internet connectivity to all hostels, better quality of food in the mess, immediate development of infrastructure in the South Campus etc. Though the proceeding started smoothly, it turned quite noisy near the end with some students shouting and passing loud comments.

The open dais session was conducted amid tight security and was also captured on video by the authorities. Security will also be ensured for the polling tomorrow and the counting which will happen on Saturday.

We are No:1

2009-10-01T04:18:00.000-07:00

Here is another feather in the cap of the University of Hyderabad. UoH has been ranked as the No:1 University in the country for its research quality, impact of research and several other indicators.

SCOPUS, world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources, ranked UoH as number one among the 400 universities in the country for its overall excellence.

The output of publications during the 10 year period between1999 to 2008 was considered for the ranking.

“Last year, we were ranked second highest in science and technology by the Union ministry of science and technology, but the latest ranking is awarded after taking all the parameters from all the departments into consideration. It is a comprehensive ranking,” Vice Chancellor Prof. Seyed E Hasnain announced at a press conference on September 30.

“We are way ahead of competing with other universities in the number citations per paper and overall performance in teaching,” he said while highlighting various achievements of UoH.

As per the ranking, Delhi University bagged the second place. Punjab University, Jadavpur University, Banaras University bagged third, fourth and fifth positions respectively.

The University has also got highest rank (A Grade, 97%) by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

Jayant Das, a research scholar, said, “I feel very good about the achievement of our university. It gives impetus for striving towards further excellence. I believe more funds will come in and we will get more facilities. We should now try to maintain the position we got.”

“I feel proud being a part of this great university,” Jhansi from the Department of Communication commented.

The indicators considered by SCOPUS include publication quality, citation, international participation, quality of teaching, number of publications, impact and overall performance.

UoH Dispatch invites contributions

2009-09-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

We invite contributions for an 'Open Page' in the September issue of UoH Dispatch (Print). The articles should not exceed 500 words and they will be subjected to editorial scrutiny.

Deadline: September 24, 12 midnight

Mohammed Shareef M P
Editor

Contact us here: contactdispatch@gmail.com

UoH celebrates Telangana liberation day

2009-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

By Ashok Putta and Vishwanath C

Telangana Association of students and employees at the University of Hyderabad celebrated Telangana liberation day with revolutionary zeal here on September 17.

At a specially-convened programme at the Shopping Complex, activists of the Telangana Students Association, Telangana Forum and Telangana Employees Teaching and Non- Teaching Association paid rich homage to the martyrs, who laid their lives in the fight against the draconian Nizam’s army.

Visually challenged students from Integrated MA, Ch Harish Kumar, V Madhavulu, Jaya Ram, Anil Reddy, Yella Reddy and Venkatesh hoisted the flag to mark the occasion. The balladeer Yashpal enthralled people with his songs and dances.

Yashpal also explained as to how people of other parts of the state “are dominating” the Telangana region. “They took away our valuable lands and assets and on top of it they demean our Telangana language,” he said adding that political parties had been exploiting the Telangana issue only to derive political mileage. Telangana Students Association founder Silveru Harinath and others took part in this programme.

Telangana movement, known as 'Telangana peasants' armed struggle,' had witnessed a fierce battle between revolutionaries and Nizam’s army called Razakars. Following the martyrdom of more than 4,000 people, Telangana got liberated from the Nizam’s clutches on September 17, 1948, thirteen months after India had attained freedom from the British Raj.

Integrating gender into the classroom

2009-09-20T04:30:00.000-07:00

By Deepti Bharthur

“Along with specialized courses on gender-related issues, gender needs to be integrated into all the classroom discussions,” Dr. Aparna Rayaprol of the Department of Sociology in the University of Hyderabad has observed. Addressing a research lecture on ‘Has Feminist Research Changed Pedagogical Approaches in Social Science?’ at the New Seminar Hall in the School of Social Sciences on September 16, 2009, she observed specialized courses on gender and women's studies tended to ghettoize the issue. Even though this wasn't a bad thing, gender needs to be incorporated into regular classroom teaching and have a broader scope, she said.

Drawing from her experiences in teaching gender related courses, Dr.Rayaprol discussed the various engagements students had with gender in the classroom and how they had changed over the years. The lecture discussed the feminist standpoint theory as a sociological method of teaching where analysis happened from a position of opposition to the established discourses and social meanings. She pointed out that it was necessary to keep discussing gender without allowing it to get completely subsumed within the larger debates of caste and class.

Giving an example, she spoke about how when a seminar was being organized a few years ago on 'Women and Water Rights' people asked what women had to do with water rights. It never occurred to them she explained, that it was the women in rural areas who walked miles in the hot sun to fetch water because they had no supply in their homes which made it predominantly a women's issue.

Recalling the earlier decades, she lamented the fact that more vibrant gender debates on campus happened back then, while today’s young women whom she described as “a generation of complacence,” took their privileged position for granted without understanding what has happened or how they got here. She emphasized that it was necessary to “incorporate gender studies into mainstream social sciences where students and teachers can both become subjects.”

VC calls for re-election

2009-09-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

By Mohammed Shareef M P

After a thorough scrutiny of the merits of the various contentions put forth regarding the election that has happened, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Seyed E Hasnain, declared that the procedure carried out so far was null and void.

In the capacity of being the Appellate Authority, the VC issued an order calling for a fresh election process which will be initiated by inviting nominations for various posts. As per the order, the Election Commission elected earlier by the Student General Body Meeting held on August 20, 2009, stands dissolved and the new election process will be facilitated by the Dean of Students Welfare. Two Faculty members as Returning Officers will be appointed and they will have the mandate to carry out the entire process in a transparent manner.

The last date for the completion of all procedures starting from the filing of nominations to declaring the result will be October 10, 2009.

GRC recommends re-polling, protest soars

2009-09-18T01:32:00.000-07:00

By Mohammed Shareef M P

It is learnt that the Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) has given a report to the Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof. Seyed E Hasnain, that the polling process that happened in connection with the Students Union election 2009-2010 should be nullified. Though an official confirmation is yet to come, re-polling for all the schools is the strong recommendation from the GRC on two grounds. The first is that the Election Commission (EC) failed in maintaining the trust of the electorate by coming up with multiple figures of polling (the number of people who voted and the number of ballots sorted out from different schools). The second point is that the EC did not take signatures of students who voted from the School of Chemistry.

The recommendation, that does not satisfy any political organization’s demands, has awakened widespread protest. The Students Federation of India (SFI) started an indefinite hunger strike in front of the administrative block at 12.30 pm on Friday, September 18, demanding the counting of the ballots polled already. This was after they made an appeal to the VC explaining the inaccuracy of the GRC report.

"Indirectly, the administration is trying to curtail students’ democratic rights in this campus,” said Shafeeque V, Joint Secretary of the SFI Committee. Abhishek Shaw, the SFI candidate for the Cultural Secretary post, added that the GRC is spineless and has failed to be objective in its approach. The appeal given to the VC states that the Lyngdoh Commission report does not empower the GRC to pass a judgment on the mood, sentiment or opinion of the students.

On the other hand, the alliance of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA), Dalit Students Union (DSU) and National Students Union of India (NSUI) are also not happy that the recommendation is for re-polling and not re-election. They plan to agitate vigorously along with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) against any such decision (if it happens). Santhi Swaroop, General Secretary of the DSU Committee, said that their alliance, along with ABVP, strongly demand that all processes that have happened until now, be nullified, and action should be taken against the current EC for their irregularities.

“If the administration decides to go ahead with the process under this EC, they will face problems from our alliance and ABVP. They will have to confront vigorous agitation in a mode unseen until now,’ he asserted.

Earlier, if the conflict was between the SFI and the ASA-DSU-NSUI-ABVP group, the new turn of events have introduced another party - the administration – to the scenario. Who will have their say in the end is something only time can tell.

UoH celebrates Onam

2009-09-14T00:50:00.000-07:00

by Itishree Samal

The high spirited Malayali students on UoH campus celebrated Onam with gaiety and fervour at DST auditorium on September 12. A youthful cultural evening was organized by Kairali Association, a collective of the Malayali students on campus, to celebrate the festival of Thiruvonam.

The programme started at 6 pm with the lighting of lamp by King Mahabali, played by Mohammed Anvar of 1st semester MA Communication, followed by a welcome dance. Students performed traditional danceforms like Thiruvathira, Margamkali, Oppana and Kolkali. Girls were draped in their traditional kasavu sarees with jasmine flowers adorning their hair and boys in mundu and shirts. An intricate design with flowers, called athappookkalam (or floral carpet) was made at the entrance to mark on the special occasion.

The show was hosted by Sidharth Varma (1st MA Communication) and Arathi R (2nd MA Applied Linguistics). The presentation on the rich cultural heritage of the state encapsulating the spirit of the diverse artforms, festivals and literature was a treat in itself. The programme ended with a sadya (big feast) that laid out close to 22 food items including payasam (kheer).

“I liked the food, it was very tasty specially Payasam and pineapple pachadi. This is the first time I got a chance to taste the Kerala cuisine, and to see their tradition of serving food on banana leaves.” said Pujarini Das, 2nd MA Philosophy.

Although only 300 Keralites are studying at UoH, more than 700 students attended the feast. Guest coupons had been handed out before the event and many students accompanied their Malayali friends to enjoy the traditional feast. “It’s a good feeling of togetherness when you are away from home; to celebrate something which is so important for everyone in Kerala,” Tresa Benjamin, Chairperson of Kairali Association, told the UoH Dispatch team. The festival of Onam is celebrated in the Malayalam month of Chingam that falls in the end of August and the beginning of September. It is a harvest festival and celebrates the rewards of nature after a year of hard work. It is celebrated for a period of ten days, starting on the Atham day and continuing till the tenth and the biggest day called Thiruvonam.

Mytholigically, Onam is a joyous annual reminiscence of the golden rule of King Mahabali, an Asura King, who ruled Kerala centuries ago. It is believed that the Devas, who were jealous of the following the King had, sent Lord Vishnu in the form of Vamana to take his life. Onam recalls Mahabali's sacrifice, true devotion to God, and ultimate redemption and welcomes the King to his land annually with celebrations aplomb.

Confusion yet again!

2009-09-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

By Ardra Balachandran

Twenty four hours haven't passed after the statement that counting will resume on September 11th and political chaos on campus has forced the Dean of Students' Welfare (DSW) to change the decision again. Official sources confirmed that counting has been deferred.

Apparently, a new complaint from students was referred to the Grievance Redressal Commitee (GRC) by the Vice Chancellor. Since the GRC needs 24 hours to look into this complaint, the counting that is supposed to happen on September 11th has been postponed until further decision. Meanwhile, the VC has also asked the GRC to submit a complete report on what has happened until now from the time of the General Body Meeting.

It is clear that without the support of all student organisations, counting cannot take place. At this point, that is the last thing that the DSW or the EC can claim.

Multiple contradicting statements from the authority and consistent conflict of ideas among political parties point towards one sure thing though – it is going to be long before University of Hyderabad will have Students' Union 2009-2010.

Counting on September 11

2009-09-10T03:40:00.000-07:00

By Ardra Balachandran

The Dean of Students’ Welfare (DSW) confirmed on September 10^th that the counting process would resume on Friday morning, September 11^th. Dr. Ananthakrishnan mentioned that the state has assured the required police forces on Friday and there is no need to wait any more. The process shall begin at 9 am and the results are expected to be out by 6 pm.

Coming to know of this announcement, the ABVP and the ASA-NSUI-DSU alliance came together against the decision. They stay put that the polling process was rigged and there is no meaning in carrying on with this election with the existing Election Commission (EC).

The presence of polling agents of all contestants is required for the counting process to happen. If these parties decide to boycott counting on Friday, the administration would not be able to do anything but to postpone it indefinitely. On the other hand, being the supreme authority on this matter, the EC also can boycott the process if it is postponed indefinitely against its wishes. But unless they resign, no re-election can happen. With all political parties except SFI in no mood to settle for anything other than a re-election, it looks like a perfect catch-22 situation!

It’s not that easy, says the EC!

2009-09-10T03:01:00.000-07:00

By Deepti Nair, Deepti Bharthur and Ardra Balachandran

The Election Commission (EC), the most powerful authority in the university to take decisions regarding the Students’ Union is not having the best of times. A body that should be in charge a maximum of ten days only has been carrying out their responsibilities for close to twenty days now, thanks to a postponed polling and counting.

It is recommended that the entire process of elections, commencing from the date of filing of nomination papers to the date of declaration of results, including the campaign period, should not exceed 10 days.

(Clause 6.4.1, Lyngdoh Committee Report)

EC members, who have not been attending classes or taking part in any academic activity since the election procedure commenced, were therefore deeply unsatisfied with the decision of the Dean of Students' Welfare (DSW) to defer the counting process on September 8th, Tuesday. They told the UoH Dispatch Team that according to the DSW, this happened due to a 'miscommunication' between the Vice Chancellor (VC) and him. This was in lieu of the confusion that was going on inside the Lecture Hall Complex (LHC) opposite Students’ Canteen, the venue of the counting process.

One of the EC members, who did not want to be named, told us that the VC gave a nod for counting on September 8th on condition that there was adequate security to handle any potential disturbance. However, the DSW announced that due to undisclosed problems, the counting had to be stopped. The EC asserts that there was enough security at that point of time and that the DSW succumbed to the pressure from political parties.

They were also irked by the fact that DSW did not announce a specific date as to when counting could resume. Also, the ballot boxes had been broken by the EC and as per norms, the counting should not have been postponed; thus exposing the ballot boxes to a serious security threat. The members thus went ahead and submitted a letter to the DSW that they would boycott the election process unless a specific and not-so-late date was allotted.

Meanwhile, the EC is facing widespread allegations that the electoral process was rigged with their knowledge. The NSUI-ASA-DSU alliance came out with pamphlets and mismatching figures of ballot papers on Wednesday morning itself. However, the discrepancies in the ballot paper, according to the EC, are misrepresented in the exaggerated figures that are floating around.

“This dillydallying is bound to create bad blood among the students. University authorities should settle the things across the table to put an end to this unsavory episode,” a faculty member told the UoH Dispatch team on condition of anonymity. The looming uncertainty has already caused isolated cases of violence on campus with one SFI member getting assaulted.

Speaking to us, some members of the EC expressed apprehension that the longer it takes to start the counting process, the greater are the chances of vandalism with the ballot boxes. They also said that they are unhappy with the way the DSW convened the Grievance Redressal Committee meeting without calling for any representation from the EC.

Grievances post the GRC meeting...

2009-09-10T01:14:00.000-07:00

By Deepti Bharthur and Ardra Balachandran

Students had dispersed on Tuesday, September 8^th, after the DSW informed them that a Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) meeting will happen next day to decide on future course of action.

As promised, the GRC meeting happened around 3.30 pm at Vice Chancellor’s chamber and finished by 6.30 pm. As soon as Dr Ananthakrishnan, the Dean of Students' Welfare, was dropped off at his office at SN School, SFI members approached him for an update.

He told them that the GRC had decided that after a full review of pertaining documents, a decision will be taken. Unhappy with the mandate that counting was not going to begin soon, SFI members demanded for the same quoting VC’s permission to go ahead with the proceedings. The DSW further explained the issue and expressed the inability to gather observers (for the counting process) so quickly. At this, the SFI members gheraoed Dr. Ananthakrishnan’s office and repeated their demand

Police soon came from the Chanda Nagar station and had a closed room discussion with the DSW to analyse the feasibility of having a counting. After this, it was relayed by the DSW that because the campus environment was not conducive for a peaceful counting process, a minimum of 150 personnel would be required for it to take place.

SFI members agitated again on hearing this announcement. They continued with the allegation that the administration was falling prey to the threatenings of other political parties and postponing the electoral process unnecessarily. However, a faculty member Mr. Vasuki Belavadi from the Department of Communication, who was present at the site also chipped in and convinced them that counting will resume as soon as the required forces are granted by the state; mostly in two days.

SFI comrades seemed to have accepted this suggestion and retired peacefully. Representatives of no other organization were present during the incident.

A night of reckoning!

2009-09-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

By Deepti Bharthur and Deepti Nair

The rather tepid polling day on Monday, September 7th, 2009 that saw the largest amount of policing in the history of the university, went off without any major disturbance. It was, however, a short-lived wave of peace as the campus witnessed repeated histrionics, protests and outbursts on the night of counting which took place on the September 8th.

As per schedule, the Election Commission (EC) was supposed to begin counting at 10 am in the morning. However, it wasn’t until 4:00 pm in the evening, that the process began and ran into controversy shortly afterwards. Within three hours, the first rumor started coming in of extra ballot papers being found in some boxes. The initial figure which started at a non-remarkable 18 soon jumped to an alarming 386 by the end of the night.

Former Union President and SFI member, Nelson Mandela quickly refuted the rumors saying that the information was exaggerated. “Last year also there was, and every year there is some amount of human error of 20- 30 ballots.”

Vincent K, a member of ASA said, “We had some suspicions about the functioning of the EC. So we asked them today to count the ballot from each polling station separately. Usually all boxes are dumped together. If that was the case, then this (the alleged discrepancy) would not have been found out.”

“We caught one of the EC members giving ballot papers to one SFI member. The whole thing has been done with the knowledge of the EC and the DSW”, an ABVP member said.

It was a night of sleepless vigil for politically aware students as they gathered around the Students’ Centre for updates on the results. Tightly knit groups of mostly male students with various party allegiances moved around in restless uncertainty. By around 9:00 pm, the situation changed completely with ABVP and the NSUI-DSU-ASA alliance starting to protest at the alleged discrepancies in the ballot count. The SFI students began a counter protest demanding for counting. Things took a serious turn close to midnight with a heated clash between various student organizations culminating in physical assault. At this point, the police intervened and dispersed the group.

Meanwhile, the Dean of Students’ Welfare (DSW) was in negotiation with the EC inside and it wasn’t till post midnight that an announcement was made that the counting was to be suspended temporarily in view of the controversy. The EC refused to do the counting if it were to be delayed indefinitely.

Every year, a procedural error of 10-20 ballots is common in the polls. This year, because of oversights on the part of the EC, the ballot counts from two polling stations, were not tallied. In the School of Life Sciences, error crept in due to the misplacement of two polling sheets. The sheets were later found and were allegedly ratified. In the Special Centre for Integrated Studies, the issue was that the mismatch in the initial count was not reported till later. But that was also tallied later.

If one went by the figures which were published by NSUI , it failed to account for the votes cast by the EC members and reported 386 extra ballots. A later pamphlet brought out by the NSUI- DSU- ASA while adding the EC votes, still arrived at the figure of 386. As of now, the official figures for error are yet to be confirmed.

The prelude to pandemonium

2009-09-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

By Deepti Nair

Students’ Union election this time has all the trappings of a general election; every step is embroiled in controversies. Allegations and counter allegations have reverberated in the sprawling University of Hyderabad campus. Provocative slogans, heated arguments, instant dharnas and scuffles are common sights during each and every stage of the process. Sensing the surcharged atmosphere, the authorities ensured ‘unprecedented’ security. Wondering what led to this perfect chaos and deadlock?

Here goes a factual account of this year’s election.

The GBM

The General Body Meeting (GBM), held on August 20, was called by the ex Students’ Union to dissolve itself and elect an Election Commission (EC). It witnessed widespread protests from parties like Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA) and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI). These unions argued that the GBM and the election should be postponed as around 400 students had not finished their semester registration and thus could not participate in this democratic process.

Though this sentiment is logical, it was not articulated clearly during the GBM but was clarified only in the posters that came out later. During the GBM, it was vehemently argued that new students, especially from rural backgrounds, were not well acquainted with the university and that freshers’ parties had not been conducted. It is thus not very surprising that the GBM did undertake its natural course despite the fact that most protestors staged a walkout. The election of the EC members which was taking place before the walkout, continued and, finally, a 29-member EC was constituted. A section of students cried foul over this but they couldn’t prevent the election process.

Arguments: Valid or not?

The validity of all the arguments put forward by different groups has to be examined. One is whether students who did not have a new semester registration card could enter the GBM with their admit cards or the old semester cards. Ramkrishna Reddy, president of the NSUI, said, “It (entering the GBM with admit cards) has not happened in the history of this university. The last date for my registration was August 25. Even I was not allowed to enter the DST for the GBM, but I entered from the side.”

The second question is regarding the validity of the EC that was formed. When a show of hands was called to vote for the continuation of the electoral processes, the ex Students’ Union President Nelson Mandela said that out of the 170 students present, 110 students had given the mandate to continue with it. These figures were readily contested by the other parties pointing out that 110 students in this university was hardly a majority.

Mandela had taken quite an erratic step by stating such a ‘fact.’ It is argued that the method of voting (hand count) is a cumbersome one and one can, at best, make a generalised count. Thus, in no way, one can say that 110 or 170 were accurate numbers or whether the real count was less or more. This mystery shall forever remain and the next GBM should learn its lessons from this one to come up with a better system of counting.

The opposing parties claim was that the EC consists of SFI supporters because it had been formed during the GBM which, according to them, did not have the required majority.

More protests

What followed was a deluge of protests by the ASA, NSUI, the Dalit Students’ Union (DSU) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Often marked by the use of foul language, they took place with alarming regularity outside the EC office. It culminated in the peaceful sit-in of August 29 in which they demanded the dissolving of the EC and the calling of a new GBM. What led to the sit-in was the fact that a parallel GBM had been called for with around 800 signatures collected in support. But the GBM failed to take place proving beyond doubt the disinterest of student community in the hugely politicised fiasco that the electoral process had become.

The following day witnessed more protests outside the office of the Dean, Students’ Welfare (DSW) to dissolve the EC and postpone the elections. This was the day which was set aside for the Open Dias session which for security reasons did not take place. A Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) was set up on the next day and a decision was made to postpone the elections as the EC had not been able to carry out its duties. An irony is that while the protests at the DSW office were going on, election campaign by the same political parties were going on in other places.

The end - More fiasco

The election scheduled for September 7th took place on time. But the counting process which was scheduled for September 8th became a highly politicised drama which went on until the wee hours of the next morning. (more) Amid all the political games, the spirit of this democratic process was highly dampened. Rules were broken right, left and centre. Posters by all the contesting parties continued to appear despite the fact that it was against the norms. The EC, which is supposed to be an all-powerful body, became helpless. The election commission office was taken over and materials from inside went missing. Arguments aside, the fact that the Students’ Union election in an ‘intellectually enlightened academic institution’ like ours had to become such a divisive and appalling event cuts a sorry picture.

A case of missing girls!

2009-09-09T09:57:00.001-07:00

By Ardra Balachandran

One look at the number of female candidates in the ‘ongoing’ electoral process, and you see heavily tilted pans in the balance of gender. Ramani Baddam (SFI) and Shravanti (ASA-NSUI-DSU alliance) who contested for the posts of Vice President and Cultural Secretary respectively represent the whole female population of UoH which roughly forms 30-35% of the student community. Then, of course, there are the two contenders for the post of Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CASH) committee representative – Anuradha Banerji (SFI) and Ranjani (Independent).

Superficially, one may say that girls are not comfortable being on the public platform where all eyes will be on them. “At the end of the day, it takes some amount of guts and grit to represent the student community,” says Pridhvi, a 1st year I MSc Physics student. But is it just that? And do all women lack it?

The answer is a definite no. Plain lethargy is one real reason. Although girls face multiple issues of subtle gender inequality on campus, no one wants to come out of her shell and confront them. Umpteen numbers of questions are there to ask. How many girls feel safe to walk through the campus at odd times? How many girls know about the various committees present on campus to take care of issues including sexual harassment? Dr. Aparna Rayaprol, an active gender activist and the Director of the Study India Program, puts it aptly. “We do not take responsibility and take too much for granted.”

An important point to note here is that the presence of girls in the Students Union does not guarantee justice to girls on the campus. A motivated male leader can do as much help as a motivated female leader and vice versa. It is a known fact that the Rajiv Gandhi regime was more gender sensitive than his mother’s regime. However, nobody doubts the fact that representation is important. Like Soumya Subramaniam, another 1st year student, confesses, let us thank God that girls find it important to contest for CASH Committee membership, at least.

Another important reason is that there is absolutely no encouragement from the politically inclined student organizations to make the fairer sex participate in the electoral process. Both the right wing and the left wing parties talk about inclusiveness; but hardly anyone practices it. If at all they choose to have one female member in the panel, is it for legitimate reasons? It is better not to have a girl in the Students’ Union than to have her just as an embellishment.

There was a time when there was no specific redressal system for cases of sexual harassment at UoH. It took the effort of many enterprising women here to establish the CASH committee as we know it today. But at that time, the campus population also was far more sensitive than now. In 1995, there was a case of rape on campus and the entire population came together – students and faculty alike – to ensure that justice was gained.

However, today, in spite of CASH committee being in power, girls choose to cover up their horrifying experiences due to sheer fear of ‘others getting to know.’ This fear does not bloom from nowhere. We are all aware how we are increasingly becoming desensitized by each passing day.

Dr. Aparna remembers that it was in the 90s that a call for reservation for girls was first heard on campus. The discussions graduated into claims of ‘quotas within quotas’ with the intersection of caste and gender, and as one may guess correctly, they died out.

Given the fact that our campus is much hyped to be an ‘intellectually enlightened’ one, we need to ask two important questions. First, do the UoH girls need to be allotted a quota to come out and be seen? Second, is sexual harassment the only legitimate female issue that we need to deal with? If girls do not think beyond the typecast roles in the Students’ Union soon, certain male chauvinists will get used to the situation. They will start asking, more frequently, ridiculous questions like the one Ramani Baddam faced on the first day of counting (August 7th).

“Why do you women bother to come into politics?”

UoH introduces Braille ballot system

2009-09-08T04:17:00.000-07:00

By Kalishekar P

History can be created. This is exactly what happened at the Students’ Union Election this year at University of Hyderabad. For the first time in the history of this university and other educational institutions inIndia, a Braille ballot system was introduced for visually challenged students to vote without depending on anyone. It was done with the help of an Election Commission member Ch. Harishkumar and executed during the polling on August 7^th.

Earlier, university officials and the Election Commission members had gracefully accepted the proposal sent by the visually challenged students. However, the printing started only at 2.00 am on Monday, after many hiccups. By 6.30 am, three people managed to print 50 copies in a special room.

A university official told us that accessibility is a key issue for the administration. Prof. Umamaheshwar Rao, coordinator of the empowered committee for the differently abled persons, said, "in an Indian university, this is the first time that a braille ballot system has been introduced and 99% disabled voters utilised the facility in this pioneering effort."

The visually impaired students were indeed pleased with this facility. Councillor of School of Management Studies, Mohammed Amer said, "it makes everyone independent and privacy can be maintained. It also brings awareness among people." Kapil, a 2^nd year MA Political Science student said that it is an innovation that offers flexibility for the visually impaired to exercise their franchise. He also added that it was a very thrilling experience for him since it was the first time."

Ch. Harishkumar mentioned that being a member in the Election Commission helped him to put forth this idea with strength and conviction. “I hope this will be continued in the coming years," he added.

Many visually challenged students suggested that the braille ballot system should be introduced across all universities in India. Even in the general election, this facility should be made available in all polling booths unlike the 2009 election when only certain polling booths had the 'privilege.' This will be a right step to assert every citizen’s right to maintain his vote as confidential.

Editorial

2009-09-07T03:09:00.000-07:00

A paradox of democracy at
University of Hyderabad
It has been quite an election right from the beginning. We have to thank you, the angry protestor, for enriching our understanding of the whole shebang. Had you not been there, to correctly point out to us how foolish we were to assume that we could simply waltz in wherever we felt like and report stuff, we couldn’t have possibly understood the extent of our misconception.

We’re really sorry if we ever thought that we lived in a free and democratic campus where we didn’t need ‘permission’ to talk to people and ask them about their opinions, that this was a place where people came together for the pursuit of intellect and free exchange of ideas. It's obviously our fault and we therefore deserve all your chagrin like trying to snatch our cameras, accusing us of taking sides and getting us barred from the election premises.

You’re right; we’re not the ‘real’ press. Trust us; you should be glad we’re not. They’d never quite see the logical soundness of your brilliant argument. It's not their fault. They actually believe that every Indian citizen has a fundamental right to free speech and expression. We’re just students; trying to give the campus a comprehensive news source to the best of our abilities. We’re not keen on conducting political espionage or trying to mislead students.

However, also know that we’re not superhuman. We can’t possibly atone for crimes we haven’t committed yet. Therefore when you accuse us of being pro or anti anything, we’d like you to actually read our coverage before you do it. How can we possibly feel suitably repentant if you lash out us preemptively?

Now that you’re here, go ahead, mark out every little thing that you feel is wrong or biased and post a comment about it. We’ll read patiently and account for it as best as we can. That’s what we do in a democratic society; provided we’re still living in one, of course.
Yours Sincerely,
UoH Dispatch Team

The Newsroom of The Times of India, Hyderabad

2009-08-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

By Ardra Balachandran

The Times of India (TOI), Hyderabad is a newspaper organisation with a clear corporate identity. It is no different from any software giant’s office you would find in the grandeur of Hitec City with posh interiors and latest computers. Everything from the sophisticated newsroom to the aggressive assertion of decentralization at all levels is proof to the ‘corporatization’ that has happened at the TOI.

Under the dynamic leadership of Mr. Kingshuk Nag, the Resident Editor of the Hyderabad Edition, the TOI has a contingent of hardworking professionals literally toiling it out in the field and inside the office. Sunday or weekday – each day is a working day. This applies to everyone including the Editor.

Mr. Nag mentioned that there is currently no Deputy / Assistant Editor profile in the organisation. Mr. Thomas Sebastian, the only News Editor, is the owner of the ‘newspaper product’ within the office. However, for all external purposes, the Editor takes the onus himself.

Under the News Editor, there are various ‘teams.’ It should be noted that each of them is not referred to as desks like in most other newspapers, but as teams like in corporate organisations. People designated as the Political Editor, Sports Editor, Business Editor, Metro Editor, Front Page Editor and so on head these individual teams. They play the same role as of the Chief Sub Editor in other organizations.

Some of the desks are highly specialized in nature. For example, the Sports team contains about four Sub Editors under the Sports Editor, who stay in their own cocoon, as the Editor puts it. There is a reason for this. Most often, the Sub Editors double up as reporters as well writing the stories and editing them themselves. This is justified because of the highly specialized nature of their beat and the stories are better edited by people who know the beat well - often the ones who write them. This of course translates into insanely long working hours. “But then, journalism is not a profession, but a lifestyle,” pat comes the reply from the Editor. Doubling the resources would not be a good business proposition; something that is definitely not acceptable at TOI. After all, it is owned by the family of Sameer Jain, the pioneer who broke off shackles of puritanism and walked with his newspaper through the corridors of commercialization in a revolutionary style.

The Metro team deals with the city content, and apparently has the most high profile connections as well as the grass root ones. According to Mr. Nag, they feel the pulse of the city and pass on the same to the newspaper. They give an identity to the edition.

The newsroom meeting in the morning around 11’o clock, attended mainly by the Editor himself and the Bureau Chiefs (counterparts of the Editors who head the teams), is a ceremonial one which involves a post mortem of the previous day’s newspaper. The Editor gives an analysis in detail so that the mistakes that crept in can be avoided in the future. Since the major news items of the day would break much after this meeting, only a very rough outline of the content for the next day is discussed. Often, the decisions or suggestions from the meeting are passed on to the reporters on the field by the bureau chiefs over telephone to avoid the inconvenience of making them come to the office.

The news meeting in the evening is, however, far more important. Hyderabad press caters to only one edition, and therefore, the meeting happens as late as 8 p.m. This is in contrast to; say the Ahmedabad press of TOI, where three editions – for Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat - are printed. Based on the distance of the cities from where the press is located, time is taken into account backwards, and the meetings are held at 5 p.m., 6.30 p.m., and 8 p.m. for the Surat, Baroda and Ahmedabad editions respectively.

The heads of all the teams usually attend this evening meeting with the Editor and the News Editor. Bureau Chief does not stay back for this meeting usually. All major decisions regarding story selection for each page, particularly the first page, is done during this meeting. Mr. Nag prefers to keep this meeting short and sweet and does not dictate too much on how each single page has to be done. He believes he has an efficient team of journalists at his disposal that can be taken into confidence.

The decisions and an approximate plan of action made at the meeting are passed on to the head office at New Delhi. Beyond the meeting, each team is responsible for the final story selection and layout of their respective pages. Every Sub Editor’s immediate boss gives the final nod for a copy and page layout. The layout software currently in use is QuarkXpress 4.1. However, a transitional process is underway where the TOI across India will be migrating to brand new customized software called Computer Composite International (CCI).

For a long time, there was no single style sheet that all the editions were putting to use. As a result, large number of inconsistencies started showing up. An enterprising team member from New Delhi decided to put an end to the chaos, and now, the TOI has a centralized style sheet which everyone follows.

One characteristic feature of the TOI that needs to be emphasized is regarding the National and International pages. Despite having a head office and a common pool of stories for these sections, these pages are done locally in all the editions. While Mr. Nag feels that this results in redundant work and that the pages should be centrally done, the fact that the current system is maintained just to ensure decentralization has to be appreciated. By giving complete autonomy to local offices on how their entire newspaper will look and read, there is a clear identity and individuality that the organisation is lending to all its Editions.

Another feature that earmarks the democracy at the TOI is a free access queue system. While there is a separate Political Queue, Sports Queue, Business Queue, and so on for the purpose of taxonomy, all Editors have access to all the queues. Of course, there is also an Editor’s queue, where stories of significance are added to ensure the Editor’s direct attention. This queue, which often has controversial or confidential stories, is accessible only to the Editor.

The News Editor informed us that a post graduation is not a must for those who aspire to be Sub Editors. Nose for news and openness is the TOI is keen about. Since the tribe of earnest journalists is fast diminishing, imposing restrictions may not be a good idea, he said.

The Hyderabad Times (HT), the city supplement, is handled by an independent team headed by Ms. Soma Shukla. Since the press has to cater to both the supplement and the main paper, the schedule for the meetings and printing of the HT is different from the TOI. The HT goes to press by 2.30 p.m. usually to ensure enough room for the main newspaper to start printing around 12.30 a.m.

The dummy of the newspaper arrives at the Editor’s table around 5pm everyday with a clear allocation of advertising space on each page. The Editor often sends it to back to the Marketing division complaining about clutter. They may add more pages and reduce the clutter before sending it back to the Editor. However, the testing times of recession do not always give this flexibility and the Editor is forced to make compromises on content. This is part and parcel of the process of balancing ethics and business and an everyday affair at the TOI.

Sometimes, the alacrity with which the dummy is sent to the Editor is not exhibited by the Marketing division in sending the actual ad copies across. This often results in friction between the Editor and the Marketing division. When the ad copies do not reach on time, the layout cannot be frozen. Unless that is done, the newspaper cannot be put to bed. If the printing does not start at the stipulated time, delivery to the wholesalers will be delayed. The hawkers will then pick up the newspapers late. At the end of it all, the consumer will get the newspaper only after he/she is long done with the tea. As Mr. Nag says, “it is a chain reaction which cannot be avoided once a lag occurs.” A bad consumer experience like this one is what the TOI dreads the most. To avoid such situations, the Editor and his team often fight against not just another set of people, but against time and a lot of other limitations.

The News Room of The Hindu, Hyderabad

2009-08-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

By Deepti Bharthur and C Vishwanath

One of the most daunting and respected national newspapers of the country, The Hindu, is located in a busy part of the city in surprisingly calm premises. The board that carries the illustrious name lies remarkably hidden behind a cluster of leafy trees making it completely possible for one to pass by without a glance.

But then The Hindu has never been one for flashiness. This is not a paper where you will ogle at the bright colour bars in the Mast Head or the envelope advertising slipped over the front page. But you’ll be sure to quietly appreciate the consistent, clean and non-fussy style, the typo free stories and the general feeling that comes with reading good and well-presented content.

There are few who would choose to disagree at the assertion that The Hindu is one of the most credible and balanced newspapers in the country. This is a quality that comes from a century of unshaken editorial policy. Of not relenting on getting the other side of the picture, of verifying and cross-checking the facts of a story thoroughly before allowing it to be printed, of not allowing any mistake minor or major to creep in.

Not many might also know that The Hindu has always been a pioneer of innovations in the Indian newspaper industry. It was the first to introduce color way back in 1940 and have its own fleet of air craft for distribution in later years. It was also the first newspaper to become fully computerized, moving towards desktop publishing and the first to go online. It has the largest number of deployed foreign correspondents and a large spread of journalists making its dependence on agency feeds that much less.

The Desk at The Hindu is a well oiled machine. Organized and spread out to suit and encompass the multiple editions that reach many parts of the country, it’s centralized at the headquarters in the Desk in The Hindu office at Chennai. This desk which is almost four times the size of any city newsroom is responsible for bringing out almost 60 % of the paper including the National, Business, Op-ed, International, Sports pages which are common for all editions as is the top-half of the front page

A clear divide exists. The reporting staff are primarily concerned with generating the content (photos and graphics are additional to the written reports), and at The Hindu, these come in from staff reporters, remote correspondents (in other States, etc) and of course news agency stories. The edit desk is solely engaged in editing the content and making the pages.

The Chief News Editor is the top guy at the desk there. There are deputy editors, associate editors, senior news editors, senior sub-editors, sub-editors (not necessarily in that order) who follow him. It is then further divided beat wise. The national desk is divided into batches - a batch leader and his/her group. Each batch has to stay late one week a month for night duty (Till 2 a.m.). Stories are assigned to sub-editors, who edit, tighten etc and then they are revised by a senior before being put on page.

The Hindu Desk uses a unique software system called CCI, imported from Europe. It is the only newspaper in India to do so. This software is on par with international standards, used by several other newspapers of global repute. The advantage is that everything (content, photos, pages, editing, etc) is integrated into this one system and can be monitored easily. In addition every city office has its own CMS merged with MS Word. The paper follows the Cambridge dictionary and the Guardian style guide for standardizing its reporting and editing.

It is also the only paper to have a news ombudsman, or 'the reader's editor', for an effective proof-reading and error-minimizing mechanism in place.

The Hindu Newsroom in Hyderabad is not as large. It is broadly divided into four broad sections: the State Bureau, the City Bureau, the Metro Plus section and the Desk. At 5 PM in the evening, the newsroom buzzes with activity. While some reporters are already working away on their reports, others are trickling in after a day of assignments.

Field

The State Bureau is headed, by the Editor in Chief Nageshwar Rao, followed by Deputy Editor K. Venkateshwarulu. In addition to the city reporters, the newspapers large spread of reporters across the state brings in stories to feed the many regional pages of the newspaper. The City Bureau covers happenings in the city while Metro Plus is the Magazine supplement of the daily. This is the only section of the newspaper where the reporters double as sub-editors and designers. All the duties are internalized by the Metro Plus staff as part of News Paper Policy.

The Desk

The local desk comprises eleven sub-editors headed by senior-sub editors and a News Editor. The daily shift begins at 4:30 PM in the evening; soon enough as the first slew of reporters arrive with their finished assignments. It goes on till 12:30 AM in the night, with two people per shift staying back to see the whole thing through.

Two or three subs are in-charge of one page that are then marked copies meant for the pages. Any sub works on an average of ten stories a day correcting, verifying and tightening the reports for printing. These are then reviewed by senior sub editors and the news editor before being approved for printing.

The Hyderabad office is responsible for bringing out two editions. The first edition which is sent out to the distant areas is wrapped and ready to go by 10:30 PM. A strict deadline of half past eight is maintained for receiving reports to ensure no delays. The second edition is put to bed by quarter to one.

S. Sreevatsan, News Editor at The Hindu here in Hyderabad is currently busy with the Assembly session. It’s an important time for the newspaper, but he spares a few minutes to talk. As mentioned earlier the credibility of the paper, is one of its scared cows. He elaborates “Dates and spellings need to be correct and consistent. Copy has to be grammatically correct, concise and contain the least number of adjectives.”

There is a through cross-checking of facts and details provided by reporter and balance is ensured by trying to get the other side of the story. Sometimes stories are even put on hold till next day or sent back to reporter to dig deeper and get all the facts if they’re found unsatisfactory in that regard. ‘The aggrieved are often more upset after their story is published.” He candidly remarks on the insistence of balance in every story.

Roshini Pochont a Sub-Editor at the National Desk in Chennai talks about her experience “I've enjoyed my time at the desk so far, even though I was initially keen on a writing profile, but editing is a different experience altogether. It's helping with improving my language skills, and also in understanding that good journalistic writing needs to be precise, clear, simple, and objective, from all the copies i get to edit everyday. The newsroom experience, of course, is brilliant...just to be in the thick of all the breaking news and discussions of events.”

Radhika Agrawal, another Sub-Editor from Chennai describes her typical day. “It is not a 9 to 5 job. However, a sub comes to office sometime around 5.30pm and leaves around midnight. Those on night duty come in around 7pm - 8pm and leave at 2am. We all get a day off each week. During the day, a sub can report, if he/she chooses to.” But the exhausting night shift usually render many too tired to opt for reporting by day.

The seemingly efficient system is not without its hitches. The simplest things may cause inadvertent delays. Things can and do always go wrong. Two years ago, the blasts in Hyderabad which occurred late in the evening meant that the entire worked out paper had to be thrown away and a new one had to be created swiftly. Added to this is the limitation of having to design and prepare pages for newspapers around pre-designated advertisement spaces.

Radhika elaborates. “As of now, one machine is out of order. It will take about three months to get repaired. So the editions need to go out faster than usual since there are only two working machines. Besides that, when Bal T was hospitalized, there were rumors that he was dead...It upset our Chief because his death would have meant remaking everything! Then again, some important news story may take too long to arrive. It upsets the rhythm of the newsroom. The work especially page making gets held up.”

But like every newspaper worth its salt, it contends with all the problems and moves one, delivering at the break of dawn to all its subscribers their daily news. “Everyday is a new day for a newspaper, " says Sreevatsan.

The Newsroom of Eenadu, Hyderabad

2009-08-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

By P Kalishekar and Donnipad Sandeep

Eenadu is the largest circulated daily in Andhra Pradesh, established in 1974 by Ramoji Rao, a famous industrialist from Coastal region of Andhra Pradesh. Today Eenadu group is doing business (especially media related) in publishing Eenadu paper, magazines like Chatura (monthly magazine), Vipula (monthly) and Annadhata (a farmer or agricultural oriented monthly magazine, simply agri-journal), all comes under print media.

Among above mentioned magazines, Chatura and Vipula are mainly intended to attract women readers. They consist of stories, folk tales from famous works of popular authors. They presently cost around Rs. 10 each. Annadhata gives knowledge regarding agricultural practices especially intended to farmers.

The details of work system and organizational structure of Eenadu paper:

Head office of Eenadu is situated in Hyderabad. It has 23 branches in Andhra Pradesh – one branch per district. The collection of news is like a pyramid. The head office has its branches in each district which further have zones. The zones are divided into mandals and mandals into villages.

Every paper will have two arms: 1) News gathering 2) Editing and Printing

News flow: Villages and Mandals---Zones---Disrtrict---State head office

For every mandal there will a reporter who collects the news from all villages in that mandal. First the news is collected in the villages and mandals by local (mandal) reporters. This is sent to zonal in charge, who edits and refines it before it like reaches the district head quarters, from where it finally reaches the state head quarters after through editing and refinement (correcting and deleting wastes). The state head quarters will take the material (news) it wants and sends back the unwanted news to the district head quarters. This arrangement enables them to print important district news (in brief) in common main paper (which appears same all over the state). Very important district news will again be printed in district edition also but comprehensively, in district paper they also give the news specific to that district.

The district head office

Every district head office will have the bureau, which is the meeting place of all mandal reporters. The gathered news reaches from bureau to desk where there will be sub editors and news editor. Sub editors will do necessary corrections to the news editor will take decisions like finalizing or changing the news. From here the important news reaches state head quarters.

State head quarters

It consists of bereau of specialized reporters like politics, sports, agriculture, and education etc, city reporters. It will have a desk that comprises sub editors and news editor. Their duty is same as their counterparts in district head quarters. The state head office receives the news from district head office and other cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and their national and international reporters. The head office will send the important A.P state related news to four important city head office to publish. Four important city centres will publish national, international, important A.P news, local city news, news of the state in which they located. They receive important A.P news from the head quarters in Hyderabad.

Eenadu like other news papers buys the news and photos from

1) United News of India ( UNI )

2) Press Trust of India ( PTI )

3) India Abroad Service

4) Reuters

The head office consists of desks like Sports, Political, Research and Reference (called Guna), Film, Financial or Business, General, Regional, International etc. As the information is confidential, they told that they have more than ten desks (approximately). Each desk consists of eight to ten members not more than that.

Research and Reference desk: It is a data bank which preserves previous papers in electronic form. It consists of nearly ten members most of them from library science background and few are subject experts.

In any organization business is called front office, business and news room together called front shop. Printing and response together called back shop. Printing is called back office. The printing centre in Hyderabad is located at Musa Pet.

More over Eenadu has nineteen printing centres all over Andhra Pradesh and four printing centres in four important cities of India. Eenadu paper is published from Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupathi, Anantapur, Karimnagar, Rajahmundry, Suryapet, Guntur, Nellore, Srikakulam, Kurnool, Tadepalligudem, Warangal, Kadapa, Nizamabad, Khammam, Ongole, Mahaboobnagar, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi.

The Newsroom of The New Indian Express, Hyderabad

2009-08-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

By Mohammed Shareef M P & Deepti Nair

The New Indian Express is a paper that caters to most of the southern regions in India. With its headquarters in Chennai, it has got its bureaus in many districts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Kerala. The Hyderabad bureau is the main office in Andhra Pradesh. The resident editor is Mr. G.S Vasu and the news editor, who spoke to us in length about the organisation, is Mr. G Subramaniam.

Apart from the resident and the news editor, the Hyderabad desk comprises two Deputy News editor (DNE), six chief sub-editors, one senior sub editor and two sub editors. The Expresso section has a separate editor and four sub editors-cum-reporters working under him/her. Four photographers also work in the Hyderabad office though they are considered more to be a part of the bureau than the desk.

The Hyderabad desk is responsible for the creation of first six pages of the daily newspaper. Pages 7, 9 and 10 which are the nation pages are created in Cochin. The edit page (page no.8), Page 11 (world), pages 12 and 13 (markets and business) and pages 14 to 16 (sports) are created in Chennai.

The desk keeps to its daily schedule without fail. A meeting consisting of the resident editor, the news editor, the chief of bureau, DNEs, photographers, chief sub editors etc is held everyday at 6.30 pm. Apart from the review of the previous day’s newspaper, selection of the lead stories and the placement of most of the news items are discussed and finalised.

The New Indian Express comes out with two editions daily. The deadline for the first edition is 10:15 pm. The reporters can hand in their stories until 9 -9:15 pm. The agency copy also roll in till this time. The newspaper subscribes to copy from PTI, IANS, AFP and AP. The news editor specified that though the deadline for handing in the stories is 9:15 pm, they do not wait for this time to start the production. It happens simultaneously but after 9:15 pm, the pages are laid to bed. At 10:15 pm, the pages are sent for process and printing at Bovanpally. The deadline for the late city edition is 1:45 am. Thus, it can be seen that the entire process is a chain reaction with each person depending upon the previous person to finish their job on time. Only then can the paper roll out in time. To the question whether the first edition and the late city edition will have huge differences, Mr. Subramaniam told us that a lot of news like crime, accidents etc. happen at night. Hence, there is almost always quite a lot of different news in the late city edition.

As is mostly misconstrued, the editing of the copy is not done strictly through the line of hierarchy. Just because the hierarchy is in place does not mean that the sub editor leaves a majority of the jobs to the senior sub editors. According to the news editor, it is generally agreed that the chief sub-editors are responsible for the pages. Each chief sub-editor looks into the pages of each other as well. This is to prevent any unconscious human error. Thus everybody is responsible for everything. Ultimately the news editor has to approve all the pages.

Unlike the olden days, the proof readers have no place in the modern newsroom. Since the entire work has been computerised, the editors themselves check the pages for mistakes. The New Indian Express makes use of in-house software called Win Editor for editing. It is linked to a database which provides help to the editors. The pages are designed by the designers in collaboration with the editors. They use Adobe Indesign CS3 for the layout. There is an engineer who takes care of the maintenance of these softwares. They also make use of an internal website to communicate with the other employees in other bureaus.

There is another section in the desk called scanning section who are responsible for scanning the photographs and making necessary changes like cropping, providing sufficient light to the photo and processing it. They have to take care of the advertisements too which come from the ad agencies. They check the print quality of the given ads and if needed, they boost it. Though these scanners carry out purely technical work in the news papers, they are also considered as journalist and are paid like them. They enjoy all the privileges of a normal journalist.

The people who live in the city are commonly very keen towards the things which happen in and around the city. That means proximity is very important in the profession of journalism these days. Regarding this, almost all newspapers have a city special pull out with the daily except on Sunday. The city pull-out of the The New Indian Express is ‘Expresso’ which deals with the city happenings. Most of the news which appears in ‘Expresso’ is soft news and features. The ‘Expresso’ has a separate Desk and Bureau. At the desk there is one editor under whom four reporters cum editors work.

The New Indian Express has quite a few sister publications. They include Kannada Prabha, Dinamani (Tamil Nadu), Tamil Nadu Express and Malayalam Varika. They used to own Andhra Prabha but they have sold it off now. Apart from this, the newspaper itself has its bureaus spread across south India. In Andhra Pradesh, they have their reporters present in 19 out of the 23 districts. They have their bureaus in Tirupati, Rajamuhndry, Vijaywada, Vishakapatnam etc.

The tables at the newspaper desk were traditionally arranged in a semi-circle fashion. But with the computerization of most of the work, this system is no longer followed. At The New Indian Express office, each editor was provided with his/her own cubicle with their own computer terminal.

Though the office space of The New Indian Express seems small, all the major functions go on quite smoothly in it. They follow the policy of team work and no matter what the hierarchy is, they believe in each one being responsible for everything.

We also talked to one of the sub editors, Mr. Rahul Ganguly, at the Indian Express daily supplement, Expresso. To the questions asked to him, he gave replies that were quite informative. The editors at the Expresso come at around 3 pm and stay till late night. Since there are only four sub-editors cum reporters, they do the editing and designing as a team. All the sub-editors are allowed access to other people’s news but generally do not interfere too much. There isn’t any specific number of articles that each sub-editor works on but all they are divided quite equally. Though the job can be stressful at times, they manage their social and family life along with it quite well.