READING HABITS
Defying the popular “nerd” tag attached with us, the survey showed that most of us were not limited to just our textbooks when it came to reading. People usually prefer picking up a book at odd times. However a large percentage does keep some or the other text in hand always. When it comes to arranging books or other reading materials, most of us try to take the economic way out and go for sharing societies, libraries or friends. Internet (e-books, blogs and other websites), in-spite of its outburst into almost every area possible, remains a less favoured source to satisfy literary tastes. Though many of us reached out beyond the textbooks just for competitive exams like CAT,GRE, etc. , it was a relief to know that 70% of the people who took part in the poll read purely for enjoyment and as a hobby. Guess, that adds another dimension to IITs. A plethora of widely ranging interests were discovered when asked about the stuff that people preferred to read. Newspapers to fiction, academic publications to magazines like Vogue, Elle, etc. Almost everything found ample audience.
LAN Ban
LAN Ban was one of the most controversial things to happen in IIT this semester. When asked about what according to them were reasons behind this ban, 80% of the students consider that it is a measure by authorities to curb the late night activities in hostels and to help students devote more time to their academics. The nightlife in IIT can in no way be called passive and sometimes it is much more active so this reason has very strong ground beneath it. Though 90% of the LAN usage is for sharing movies, exam papers, etc., it is used for LAN Gaming also. But it is sad that 70% people are not aware of the current status of LAN Ban after the last SAC meeting. Whatever may be the reasons behind this decision, it is severely opposed by the students of IIT.
EXTRACURRICULAR V/S CGPA
The biggest dilemma that an IITian faces is the burning issue of extracurricular activities. A  study shows that in majority of the cases the CGPA has a positive correlation with the time devoted to academics for e.g. 80% of the people with an 8.5 CGPA and higher give at least 80% of the time to their academics. Students with a higher CGPA are generally well aware of the events taking place in the campus, but they deliberately choose to devote their time to academics. People with a moderate GPA are noticed to be more regular in participating in the events. But 75% of the students with a GPA of more than 7.5 do take part in a lot of extracurricular activities, thus the assumption that students cannot manage both extracurricular and academics has been proven to be statistically wrong!

-Anchit Gupta and Garima Chandel

Dr. Shashsi Mathur, Dean of students, informed us that “steps‘ve been taken in order to give a better participation in events to Girnar house as their Sports And Cultral Secretaries ‘ve been appointed and various Representatives will be elected from the next year.”
Rachit Gupta, general secretary SAC, told us that “ LAN ban will be soon dissolved on certain necessary conditions and accepts that the concern of the Director is justified to an extent.”
As far as BHM is considered the most important issue was the constructions that were continuing in various hostels in Shivalik, Vindhyachal, etc causing problems to residents of these hostels.  Dr. Shashi Mathur, president BHM, told us that he understands the problem with the constructions but due to certain problems with contracters this delay had occured. He assured that all such works will be very soon completed and all hostels will be well furnished. Dr. Mathur informed us that “new contracts have been made for the south Indian food in night mess of hostels”.
He also told us that during the high times of RENDEZVOUS 11 mess timings will be relaxed from 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm in every hostel.
Ankit Kumar, general secretary BHM, said that “every action will be taken so as to minimize the disturbance due to the construction activities.” He also quoted that “a regular check will be kept on night canteens running in various hostels so as to assure quality food in hostels.”
Talking to various hostelites we found that the response was satisfactory. Hrishikesh A Nair of Shivalik told us that “ he was very happy with the concept of night mess but has some concern with the hostel messing stuff. Overall he found the mess food to be hygienic.”
The meetings of SAC and BHM proved to be successful in terms of coordination , discussion and implementation.

Vishesh Jain

Alumni Response towards student initiatives

Amitabh Bagchi, currently professor in C.S.E. Department of IIT Delhi ,also an alumni of IIT Delhi, told us that they didn’t have such initiatives in their time, probably because they didn’t have the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that students have today.
According to him the most obvious benefit of such initiatives is that it improves the quality of the campus experience for students by serving certain needs. But, more importantly, it gives the people who start such initiatives valuable experience which will serve them well when they go out into the world and plan to start their own companies. The success of these initiatives will also spur other students to think of how to use their own talent and ingenuity to good ends. He thinks it is also important for the faculty to get involved and give their ideas on what kinds of initiatives can be taken.
His message to the students of IIT Delhi is “ The time you spend here is special because it is probably the only time you will be so completely surrounded by very capable people. Take advantage of that by getting together and doing things that can only be done when capable people synergise. Recognise the capabilities of others, don’t get carried away by things like good or bad GPA. Recognise your own capabilities and think about how you can act to best realize your own potential.”
Shailendra Singh passed out from IIT Delhi in 2004 as a student of Biochemical engineering and biotechnology. He is currently in Washington DC, USA working as a Scientist in Biotechnology firm.
When we interviewed him he told us that these things did not exist at that point but they did have some of these things (minor’s notes and question papers) available from seniors in paper form.
He believes that these initiatives are good as long as these are used in proper ethical sense. These sites should not be an excuse for not going to classrooms which are the most effective means of learning. These initiative should be add on to the learning curve. His message for the readers is “Never loose the independent thinking that is typical for IITians.”
As quoted by the famous spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi; “Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph – a beginning, a struggle and a victory”.And so are these Student Initiatives which will not only benefit the current students but will clearly serve as an inspiration and motivation for many young minds.

-Harshita Singh  and Neelu Choudhary

Meanwhile, A satellite built by students of IIT Kanpur, ‘Jugnu’, was launched with the latest version of India’s indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday 12 October 2011 . The satellite designed by a group of students and teachers from the institute in collaboration with scientists from the ISRO scientists is one of the smallest satellites built till date. Students, felt that they were given a golden opportunity to work on a project and got a chance to look at India’s space research programme closely. Two other nano-satellites from Luxemborg and SRM university, Chennai were also launched from the same vehicle.
IIT Guwahati also recently celebrated manthan, it’s annual inter-hostel cult competition. On a social note, Arpita Social Welfare Society, comprising students of IIT Guwahati, adopted two underprivileged girls of an orphanage here and resolved to bear the educational and other expenditures of Jyoti, 7, and Rabina, 10.For this, the IIT students will keep aside a part of their scholarship fees. The major share, however, will come from graduates working in the public sector and multinationals in India and elsewhere.
The 2011 edition of Empresario, the annual Business-plan competition of IIT, Kharagpur was help in September . Organised by the Entrepreneurship Cell of IIT Kharagpur, the competition was open to participants from across the globe under  various heads of social, product-based and service-based entries, from any category under the sun. The final few teams got a golden opportunity to pitch their ideas in front of some of India’s leading VCs and angel investors, during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2012, to be held at IIT Kharagpur.

On the other hand, a fourth year student of IIT Kharagpur, was found hanging in his hostel room on Tuesday evening. As reported, he was a brilliant student and had no problem with studies but was depressed for some reason, as said by his friends.
This is the second suicide at IIT-Kgp in three months. In July, a final year student of the metallurgy department had killed himself.
The central government has set up a task force to study stress levels among students on Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campuses and find out what pushes them to commit suicide. When it met recently, the IIT council, which is the highest decision making body of the institute, concurred that the committee must be headed by a senior doctor, like the director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans).

Yahoo! conducted it’s first indian HackU at the IIT Madras between September 15th and September 18th. The event was as hotly contested as the Chennai weather. Recently in September, A students network called S-Net has been initiated at the IIT-Madras and assigned the task of maintaining a sustainable campus. Professor Sudhir Chellarajan of IIT-Madras said this during the valedictory function of the Al Gore Sustainable Technology Venture Competition. The network, comprising students and teachers, will come up with initiatives and sustainable ideas to maintain the green cover in the campus. Speaking at the function, industry experts stressed on the need for sustainable development and the need to monitor one’s carbon footprint.
While around 600 students of IIT-Bombay got ill after having dinner at the hostel mess on 25th September. Hostel authorities said the Chinese food served for dinner might have caused food poisoning. The plan for making the food services inside the campus have already begun. Over the course of this semester and the next, all the familiar eateries in the institute will be given new avatars.

-Vibhav Sinha

Career Panel Discussion and Sectorial panel discussion among representatives from top companies of each sector are shared among students to sensitize them about the different possible career path, opportunities and exit options. T&P has made an online database of all the final year students’ resume accessible to the recruiting companies. It takes all possible measures to smoothen the whole process and arranging for appropriate infrastructures like auditoriums, interview and GD rooms etc. T&P is also conducting various workshops on topics like Interview preparation, Personality development, Resume making etc. The general feedback from the companies is that the IIT Delhi students are technically better as compared to other institutions. But they also believe that students lack in soft skills and are low on street smartness. Using these feedback T&P is trying to make students aware of the demands of the companies, so that they can prepare better.
However, T&P faces some problems during this process due to unawareness of students about the policies. Low attendance during interactions with company resulting in bad impression of IIT Delhi in terms of students’ interest in the company which may result in lesser number in final selection. Non-professional behavior of students while interacting with company or attending any selection process such as absenteeism and improper attires (tshirts, jeans, capris, sweat shirts, sleepers etc.).
Overall speaking T&P is working in a very smooth way to conduct the whole process of placements and internships.

-Vedant and Amol Mittal

Finally, the Academic Interaction Council has decided to cast itself into the headlines, this time breezing through with the winds of change. For the starters, the constitution of the AIC has taken a major overhaul.
The SAC was not in favor of formation of a new board, exclusively for co-curricular activities; hence the AIC General Secretary was advised to prepare a proposal to incorporate all co-curricular activities under the AIC. In the end, it was decided that the ‘Academic Interaction Council’ take up a new avatar by incorporating co-curricular activities under it also, rechristening it the Co-curricular and Academic Interaction Council(CAC). This includes FSAE, Entrepreneurial Development Cell and the Robotics and Technocracy clubs.  This has been authorized by the administration.  It has also been suggested that TRYST, the annual technology festival of IIT Delhi be organized by the individual bodies as a team effort under the aegis of the CAC.  Hence, look forward to better coordination amongst the various co-curricular bodies. “The inclusion of these bodies will lead to the institution of a better technical festival at IIT Delhi, which has sadly been lagging behind those of the other IITs. The various technical events will be better coordinated as a whole, not only during Tryst, but generally throughout the academic year as well.”, said Azeez Gupta, the general secretary of the AIC.
A major reorganization has also been proposed in the AIC to include UG and PG conveners as well as the major co-curricular bodies operating in IITD. A lot of interest has also been shown in the inclusion of PG representation in the co-curricular bodies. The revamped council is to be chaired by the Director, with Dean UGS and Dean PGS as Vice-Chairmen. Student representation will be headed by a General Secretary, with other student members including the SAC General Secretary. This can be hailed as a milestone by the AIC to grant students greater representation in academic bodies. An informal survey showed that the PG students who were aware of this were extremely enthusiastic about it. According to them, this program will promote a better atmosphere of interaction between the students enrolled in the UG and PG  programmes.
Suggestions have also been voiced for improving the droll feedback form that has to be filled out by every student in order to know their grades.  The Yes/No questions will be replaced by more prudent rating based questions as it will help determine the extent of the problem. The mid-term feedback form will be as detailed as the end-term feedback, considering that it is distributed at a crucial juncture of the course.
Of course, one of the common gripes that most of the students had was with the new course registration system. Designed by WIPRO, the system was slightly underdeveloped and a few technical snags led to a great deal of confusion at the start of the semester. However, a program of student evaluation was initiated and the kinks in the system were smoothened out.
Now for the good news, it has been proposed that the 2 minors be scrapped in favor of a single mid-term exam to encourage better projects and more creative work. It has also been suggested to initiate a pass-fail system in the first semester to acquaint freshers with the IITD academic format. Also, it has been suggested that basic courses be more branch-oriented, and other courses be included in the Basic Sciences courses that a department can insist for.
With these proposals in mind, one can expect a more creative environment at IIT, with fierce competition in co-curricular activities and rising focus on innovation and technology in academics.

-Faheem Shereef

Mentorship Review Committee:-
Another no-piffling initiative courtesy BSW, MRC stands out as one of the most efficient and widely respected BSW programs. This committee consists of 6 members all belonging to their 4th year in IIT. And there are also two professors Dr.G.S.Visweswaran  and  Dr.Nomesh Bolia standing sentinel over the committee. As Kasturi Behera, one of the MRC members locutes, MRC provides mentors not only to the first year students to help them in coming abreast with the strenuous iit system but it also arranges mentors from 4th year for 2nd yearites who have a CGPA < 6.5.Nipun also quips about how MRC is one step ahead all the time. Kasturi, rightly says putting forward the fact MRC has arranged for basic computer classes and English classes whose gelignite popularity last year made them continue it this year also. According to Nipun, MRC also ensures that first year students have enough interaction with clubs in hostels or public initiatives like SIFE along with academics and extra currics so that they are not in a huckster kind of job with a klaxon inviting a monochrome life after IIT but are efficient enough to be all rounders.

Speranza:-
The annual welfare youth festival of IITD under the BSW, as the G. Sec. of the board Nipun says, reached out to a larger section of people, students, citizens without letting them be inquisitive. Elucidating about Speranza, Nipun further talks about the crowd pulling events like MUN conference, Life skills including Fire Drill and Jeopardy that acted as a stimulant for the narmative public. He also detailed about the eminent personalities like Ex CBI Director Mr.Jogendar Singh, IBN 7 Chief Editor Ashutosh who attended the event and had an open interaction with the public, being pragmatic in their approach, dozing the paroxysm of the people with their clear liquidity in words. In short just as Nipun summed it up, the goal has always been reaching out to the people, not only IIT fraternity but also the audience outside.

Glimpse at the future:-
Buyoed at the unwavering response to BSWs impressive activities Nipun indubitably says that BSW is shortly going to organise interactive sessions with selected people at iitd with people ranging from different spheres of life, different groups of people[sic.]. He also promises non-spasmodic events in the future with lots of fun as BSW is now no longer recondite.

-Tejas Jaiswal

With many new things happening in this club this semester, the major focus was on Rendezvous which was held from 21st to 24th October 2011.
“This time during Rendezvous a lot more teams participated in the festival in various events as compared to the last time. This was mainly due to the good amount of publicity done for this year.” Said the General Secretary, BRCA. “This time prelims for choreo dance also took place unlike last year where they did not because of less number of participants in choreo.”
Numerous events took place on each day during the festival. From the inauguration ceremony, Aagaz to the pronite in which Rabbi Shergill and Javed Ali touched people’s heart. This time spectrum, the group dance event had IIT-D standing victorious with the mind-blowing performance given by our students. In Choreography dance event IIT Delhi met the same fate. Various workshops were also organized like salsa workshop and photography workshop. Illumination was also a new and different experience for many eyes during this rendezvous.
Moreover, Saaz, the Indian classical night, in which ShubhaMugdal performed also took place successfully. Saaz event did not take place last year. Confluence had various international artists and bands performing for the students.
This time the pre-rendezvous buzz was massive and this led to the huge participation in each and every event. Colleges from all over India turned up for the event. Decoration during the festival was definitely better.
On asking the General Secretary about the difficulties the rendezvous team had to face during its planning, he said, “The basic problem they faced was the infrastructural problem. Every year the crowd increases but the space available to them for carrying out the various events is limited. Moreover they had problems in getting licenses to many outdoor events and pre-events. Sometimes, the administration was not supportive enough. They had to cancel many of the planned events which would have been exciting and thrilling. On top of that, there is always this issue of sponsors backing out of what they committed. Also, artists back out of their commitments which create a whole new set of problems for the team.”

-RaghavBatra and Ashwani Sharma

Journalism:
This year BSP has ventured into journalism with the aim to create new foundations and to bring out the news from IIT and for IIT. The primary aim is to provide a communication link between the IIT administration and the students, to keep the students updated about the latest amendments in policies and various activities happening on the campus. This will be achieved through a system of regular newsletters and mailers to both staff and students. BSP continues to boast its popularity online with more than 10,000 hits per month on its online portal infinityiitd.com which speaks volumes about the enthusiasm with which people follow the e-magazine. The web site has a plethora of cartoon strips, pictures and articles and it is updated every week. Also for the first time the magazines can be accessed online on infinityiitd.com in their e-version. The board has also posted internship experiences of many 4th year students. With about fifty selected internship experiences shared on the site, it has become a good source of internship guidance. The facebook page of InfintyIITD is also being regularly updated. The results of all the inter-hostel events can be found on the FB page. Attempts are being made to make video coverage for all the relevant meetings and conferences, SAC meeting coverage being the latest instance. The motive is to keep the students updated about the major points of discussion and upcoming policies.

“Literati Experience was one of it’s kind”

BSP, IIT Delhi, celebrated its literary fest ‘Literati’ from 23rd September to 25th September. Having witnessed active participation from students of colleges from all over Delhi NCR, Literati delivered as per its reputation of being the greatest literary fest of northern India. With its campus filled with zealous pupil, IIT Delhi became hub of literary enthusiasts.
The buzz started a month before with the movie screening of ‘No Country for Old Men’. It was screened in Dogra Hall in collaboration with the Film Screening Club. Various online events were also launched a week before the fest – Kahani Mein Twist, Photography contest, Treasure Hunt and online Kavyalaya which successfully gathered interest of a large number of people. As per Abhishek Priyam, the designer of Treasure hunt, there was a significant increase in the participation in online events compared to last year and students actively responded via the contact link on the site.  Within a period of few days, Literati became a ‘must attend event’ with nearly five thousand ‘likes’ and over seventeen thousand views on its facebook page. The mainstream events began on 23rd with an enkindling speech by the former President of India, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam. Having already gained immense popularity last year, Kavyalaya this year delivered as per its reputation. The event was judged by the eminent Hindi poet Mr Ashok Chakradhar Mr. Keki Daruwala and Mr H.K Kaul. The other flagship events comprised of Book Launch – Seven Deadly Sins, An Afternoon with Gurucharan Das- a brief session of interaction with the eminent writer, screening of the movie ‘We the Living’, In conversation with Ira Trivedi. There was an overwhelming participation in the competitive events, particularly, word games and analytical writing. The British Council workshop, facilitated by Ms Monisha Gupta, consultant and Resource Person with the British Council, India Habitat Centre, Times of India, was also conducted.
This year Literati saw active participation from the freshmen of IIT Delhi. Saahil Mendiratta considers his Literati experience as ‘one of its kind’ and counts it among his finest experiences. Summing up all, the fest was a huge hit and was well publicized, well planned and enjoyed by the masses.

-Ankit Kumar and Aalekh Sharan

Watch video – http://www.explania.com/en/animations/detail/what-is-rfid