United Students http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog be the change you want to see Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:39:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 en How to deal with sexual harassment in DU? Here’s how http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/how-to-deal-with-sexual-harassment-in-du-heres-how/ http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/how-to-deal-with-sexual-harassment-in-du-heres-how/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:39:13 +0000 admin http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/how-to-deal-with-sexual-harassment-in-du-heres-how/ Everybody knows that sexual harassment is rampant in Delhi University. Girls endure lewd comments and even groping on an almost daily basis. It goes on inspite of article XIV-D and heavy policing on campus. In fact, the police seems to add to the problem for they are very evidently not sensitized to the issue and just can’t deal with the problem in an acceptable manner. It is obvious that some institutional changes are required to tackle this problem.

United Students has recommended that the following steps be taken to deal with this menace in an effective and lasting way:

1. Install gates to make North Campus an enclosed university area, with regulated entry through the use of tokens.

2. Establish a university security force, which ought to be specially sensitized to deal with cases of sexual abuse, and should comprise of a good number of student volunteers. The force must’ve a 50/50 male-female ratio.

3. Establish a strong statutory body on the lines of the GSCASH [Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment] in JNU to deal expeditiously with cases of sexual harassment against students, teachers and karamcharis.

]]> http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/how-to-deal-with-sexual-harassment-in-du-heres-how/feed/ Some more pics of the protest http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/some-more-pics-of-the-protest/ http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/some-more-pics-of-the-protest/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:11:01 +0000 admin http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/some-more-pics-of-the-protest/

 (All photographs by Aditya Raj Kaul)
(Click on photographs to view full image)

 

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]]> http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/some-more-pics-of-the-protest/feed/ US protests sexual harassment in Delhi http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/us-protests-sexual-harassment-in-delhi/ http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/us-protests-sexual-harassment-in-delhi/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:57:39 +0000 admin http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/us-protests-sexual-harassment-in-delhi/

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On the occasion of Daughters Day [Sunday, 23rd September 2007] United Students, Delhi’s premier students organization organized a protest meeting at Central Park, CP to highlight the recently reported and shocking cases of sexual harassment in Delhi University and to suggest remedial measures.

Background: Candidates appearing for a police recruitment test in the North Campus on Sunday, 16th September had violently molested several girls in the campus area. Many of the victims belonged to the Indraprastha College and when the girls had gone to the police about the incidents, the cops on duty had refused to file complaints, and had passed insensitive comments to boot.

Its only after several hundred students assembled in front of the Vice Chancellor office within the next 3 days to demand justice, was the administration woken out of its slumber, once the media and the National Commission for Women had got involved in the issue.

However, over the last three weeks the university administration as well as the NCW has done little about this case, and are also clueless about how to deal with the recurring problem of sexual harassment in the campus.

Thus, United Students decided to take this issue out to the common people of Delhi, by organizing a large protest meeting in Connought Place, and by involving parents and guardians of students of the university. We got a great response from the people of Delhi, and everybody was one on the view that sexual harassment has become rampant in the city, and there is pressing need of changes at the insitutional level to deal with this menace.

]]> http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/us-protests-sexual-harassment-in-delhi/feed/ The International Day of Non-Violence http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/the-international-day-of-non-violence/ http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/the-international-day-of-non-violence/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:37:46 +0000 admin http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/the-international-day-of-non-violence/ Mahatma Gandhi

On the occassion of the International Day of Non Violence, I’d like to highlight the following comment made to a post in this community by Akshay Bakaya in the past:

The idea of Ahimsa Day, International Day of Non-Violence is an initiative of an English language class of mainly Japanese and Korean children in Paris, working on Attenborough’s film ‘Gandhi’. This proposal was taken to the 2004 Bombay WSF by Peace Nobel laureate, Shirin Ebadi of Iran, and supported by Romila Thapar, Asma Jahangir, Noam Chomsky, K.R. Narayanan, Immanuel Wallerstein, etc. Krishna Kumar (now director NCERT) had predicted that this call will take 3 years to be properly heard…

Hard News, the Indian associate of the international French monthly Le Monde Diplomatique, supported the initiative. Editor Sanjay Kapoor discussed it with Mohsina Kidwai, General Secretary of the Indian National Congress, who took it to party president Sonia Gandhi just before the January 2007 Satyagraha convention where archbishob Desmond Tutu on January 30th formally proposed that a call for an ahimsa day (on 2nd October) be sent to the UN.

]]> http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/the-international-day-of-non-violence/feed/ Delhi University Election Results http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/delhi-university-election-results/ http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/delhi-university-election-results/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:26:56 +0000 admin http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/delhi-university-election-results/ Nikhita Arora of United Students finished fourth for the President’s post in the recently concluded Delhi University Students Union elections securing 1156 votes.

This is a decline from last year, when Aaditya Dar of US got 4,300 votes for the same post, but it should not be forgotten that polling this year was at an all-time low of 25% as opposed to 53% last year.

United Students takes pride in the fact that it is perhaps the only independent [of political affiliation and ideology] group that has stood the test of time to contest 2 consecutive DUSU elections, and we shall continue to take up students’ issues at all possible fora.

Thank you all for your support during the campaign. In particular I’d like to thank Nikhita Arora [for contesting inspite of family pressure], Ekta Marwaha, Krishna Kaul, Vaishali Rawat, Vindhya Malik, Sonakshi Babbar, Ishita Tiwary, Nupur Mittal, Kush Verma, Nikhil Bhaskar, Vikas, Dhananjay, Shruti, Samar, Upen, Dhruv Suri and last but not the least Mr. Sanjay Kaul.

Posted by: Ritwik Agrawal for United Students.

]]> http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/10/02/delhi-university-election-results/feed/ Nikhita Arora to run for president http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/31/nikhita-arora-to-run-for-president/ http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/31/nikhita-arora-to-run-for-president/#comments Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:57:00 +0000 admin http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/31/nikhita-arora-to-run-for-president/ Nikhita Arora, a student of Economics (Year III) of Kirori Mal College is contesting for the post of President of the Delhi University Students Union [DUSU] under the banner of United Students on ballot no. 6.

 United Students, a premier grouping of Delhi University students intervened in the DUSU polls last year too, with its presidential candidate Aaditya Dar [who was the only anti-quota candidate in the fray] securing 4,300 votes and finishing third, ahead of the representatives of several established political parties.

During the course of its campaign so far, the group has highlighted its work for the student community in the last one and a half year, and is taking up the issues of clean politics, transportation for students, safety [especially of girl students], cleaning up of toilets, reservations etc.

For more information, and to help out, please contact Ritwik on 9873554908 or Nupur on 9868870647 or Kush on 9810208668.

]]> http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/31/nikhita-arora-to-run-for-president/feed/ United Students http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/united-students/ http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/united-students/#comments Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:30:06 +0000 admin http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/united-students/ United Students is a Delhi based society for the development of new leadership for an emerging India. This will take young Indians who can visualise a new ethos of governance as our country prepares itself to be a fore-runner among nations in this century. We seek to federate students all across the city and country in a cohesive unit to take up issues of governance.

This website has been set up to serve as a platform for youth to discuss and debate issues, pool their resources and strategise to make things move in the direction they want.

To learn more:
1. See a list of Frequently Asked Questions
2. See a brief highlight of our work on the About page.
3. See the Community page to become involved.

]]> http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/united-students/feed/ United Students on Aaj Tak to “Bring Yamuna Back” http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/united-students-in-action-with-dilli-aaj-tak-to-bring-yamuna-back/ http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/united-students-in-action-with-dilli-aaj-tak-to-bring-yamuna-back/#comments Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:51:19 +0000 admin http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/united-students-in-action-with-dilli-aaj-tak-to-bring-yamuna-back/ Footage from TV show with Dilli Aaj Tak to “Bring Yamuna Back”, shot at Hans Raj College, University of Delhi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHfaOhgV2Fg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GewgrhhpEoo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swvVT_zNA3g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2wGtAw5_bY

]]> http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/united-students-in-action-with-dilli-aaj-tak-to-bring-yamuna-back/feed/ Supreme Court rules out OBC reservations this academic year http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/supreme-court-rules-out-obc-reservations-this-academic-year/ http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/supreme-court-rules-out-obc-reservations-this-academic-year/#comments Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:10:49 +0000 admin http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/supreme-court-rules-out-obc-reservations-this-academic-year/ In a major embarrassment for the government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (8th August 2007)declined to lift its freeze on reservations for other backward classes (OBCs) in institutions of higher learning for the current year, signalling a victory for anti-quota advocates.A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said the government had not advanced any new reason for the court to revoke its March 29 order suspending the law.

A stunned Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh declared: “There is no question of any contradictory view to that of the Supreme Court. We will abide by it.”

Apart from Justice Balakrishnan [also the first Dalit Chief Justice of India], the bench also comprised of Justices Arijit Pasayat, R.V. Raveendran, C.K. Thakkar and Dalveer Bhandari.

It may be recalled that a bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and LS Panta had on March 29, 2007 suspended the implementation of 27 percent OBC quotas, raising no less than twenty five constitutional queries regarding the move.

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 United Students would like to remind readers that we’ve consistently endorsed an alternative system of affirmative action, called MIRAA [multiple index related affirmative action] which is free of the defects of flat caste based quotas. Read more here.

]]> http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/12/supreme-court-rules-out-obc-reservations-this-academic-year/feed/ Supreme Court to hear OBC issue from August 7 http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/01/supreme-court-to-hear-obc-issue-from-august-7/ http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/01/supreme-court-to-hear-obc-issue-from-august-7/#comments Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:09:36 +0000 admin http://www.unitedstudentsindia.com/blog/2007/08/01/supreme-court-to-hear-obc-issue-from-august-7/ NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday decided to hear from August 7 the issue of Constitutuional validity of the law providing 27 percent quota for the OBCs in elite educational institutuions.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said that the matter will be heard by a five-judge constitutuion Bench.

The Court will hear on July 31, the Centre’s application seeking vacation of the March 29 interim order staying the implementation of the provision of the controverstial legislation providing reservation for the OBCs.

A Bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and L S Panta on March 29 had stayed the implementation of section six of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act 2006 providing quota for the OBCs in Central educational Institutions.

The same Bench had on earlier two occassion refused the Centre’s plea for its vacation.

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