In association with

V O L U M E

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I S S U E

I I I

February, 2013 Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology

Women Empowerment A Myth or A Reality ?

India today is at the cusp of a paradigm change in its growth and its position in the world. We (both men and women) must act decisively to capture this opportunity. We need to think big and scale up rapidly in each and every area, be it education, infrastructure, industry, financial services or equality of both genders. Our first Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, once said, You can tell the state of a nation by looking at the status of the women there. For around two centuries, social reformers and missionaries like Raja Rammohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Mahadev Govind Ranade, and Jyotiba Phule, have endeavored to bring women out of confines in which centuries of traditions had kept them. The need for womens empowerment arises from the subordinate position they have been accorded for a long time. Empowerment of women needs to begin with her participation in different spheres of life. In India, the empowerment process has already begun. We are now witnessing a steady improvement in the enrollment of women in schools, colleges and even in professional institutions. Their health is better as compared to earlier decades. They are showing their skills even in nontraditional sectors like police, defense, administration, media and research fields. Twenty-six laws have been enacted so far to protect women from various crimes. In the political field, the reservation for women is a significant step towards their political empowerment. When thirty-three percent reservations for women in parliament will become a reality, women's voice will be heard in the highest forum of democracy. As we see, government is taking some concrete steps in empowering women by helping women to help themselves and their families. But are these programs sufficient? Are they brining about a change in the attitude of a patriarchic society? Definitely the answers are bitter. If we analyze the status of the women in India, we come to see a daunting and pathetic situation. According to a latest survey, majority of Indian women are anemic. Women are raped, kicked, killed, subdued an d humiliated every day in India. To add to agony, every 26 minutes a woman is molested. Every 34 minutes a rape takes place. Every 42 minutes a sexual harassment incident occurs. Every 43 minutes a woman is kidnapped. And every 93 minutes a woman is burnt to death over dowry. Even before their birth, women folk have to bear the brunt of female foeticide, and after their birth, their fight against numerous social evils such as female infanticide, child marr ia g e, d owr y, s e x u al har a s sment, rejection and negligence at old age by kith and kin. In a nutshell, despite various schemes launched by government, there seems no sign of women empowerment as a whole. The irony is that today, everybody talks about women empowerment but the crude realty is that nobody is willing to take initiative for that as our society is male-dominant. According to Indian philosophy, women in every stage of life need to be protected by someone and owes obligation towards her father in childhood, brother in adolescent age, partner in youth and son in old age. Even the women in India feel proud to display that they are well protected and pampered by their husbands without realizing that they are making themselves helpless. Dependent woman is never an empowered woman. If modern women think that they are empowered, it's a myth for them. Empowerment means to inspire women with the courage to break free from the chains of limiting beliefs. In short, women are the victims of a whole plethora of violence committed against them. It is true that few women such as Chanda Kochar, Meira Kumar, Kiran Bedi, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, have reached echelons of success in their life, but we must understand that success is their individual life due to their high standard of merit and hard work. These examples constitute a miniscule percentage of total population of women in India. We can call it empowerment of women only if there is rise in stature of women in India at a mass scale. Thus, due to all these atrocities on women, the issue of empowering women becomes a challenge. Its a burning topic of discussion in the Indian societies still and will be one. So, it is a wake-up call for women to awake from their deep slumber and understand the true meaning of empowerment and make women empowerment a REALITY rather than a MYTH.
-Written by Anukrati Singh

Inside this issue:

Campus Diary Crowned Grad The Voice Editorial Get Wit BARQQ Techno-buzz

We Make Her Cry But Why?

We made her cry!! But WHY? For our wildest fantasy or for her grievance or for what so ever; but does it make any sense, I know youll say, Never. She, like an angel served us joy & delight, And we, as devils Became the reason of her plight. In every phase of our life as our mother, friend or a pretty wife, she stood as a source of ardor and zeal but in reward, she was simply killed. Or this creature- so innocent as pigeon was thrown to the darkest virtual dungeon. We mangled her life, treated her blood as the cheapest archil, And she fought bravely in this strife but often lost against her will. And again- WE MAKE HER CRY, BUT ..WHY??? -Written by Shwetank Saxena

Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got. There is no yesterday, no tomorrow, it's all the same .... day.

VCs VISIT TO COLLEGE

AMU VC, Lt. Gen. Zameeruddin Shah recently visited our college on 21st Jan especially to meet the students involved in BAHA competition and observe their progress. The students gave a presentation to VC, explaining him about the whole BAHA event; it`s objective, their progress, requirements and their current situation. Actually the event being talked about is the much anticipated event of SAE, conducted every year where students from the various colleges of INDIA including IITs and NITs participate in the self-manufactured car race. Followed by above, the VC then inspected the car manufactured by the students of our college for the final round of BAHA competition that is going to be held in mid-February. Abhishek Pathak, the leader of TEAM DOERS explained the VC about the specifications of their car, making him aware of the major details of the car. Vice chancellor was very much fascinated by the efforts of the students and promised the students to provide all the possible help from his side. He also met Abhishek Sharma and his team, who won the first prize in the paper presentation competition held at the IIT Bombay Techfest. They also explained the VC about the idea of their paper. VICE CHANCELLOR appreciated their project work and promised them to provide the cash reimbursement of Rs20000/- for their travelling expenses.

INTERVIEW with the students cracking the ADOBE`s nut:

Congratulating the three girls namelySomya Varshney, Kausar Tanwee and Taru Saraswat of IVth Yr. Co mpu te r engg. placed in ADOBE during C a m p u s placement THE MIRROR team had an exclusive interview with them . Here are some excerpts from that interview :
The final year project depicts a lot about the student`s hard work. And also, most of the companies inquire deeply about it, asking you to explain your work. Therefore, students need to choose their topics wisely and according to their interests so that they are able to perform better and complete them on time. all these FESTS could have been organized together and promoted on the national level properly, that would have brought much more recognition to our college.

Thank you. We are feeling very good and positive as our preparation finally brought good result. It is like a dream come true. Many students wish of working in such a good company but only few get to work there and being a part of those few has instilled in us a great confidence and a feeling of satisfaction.

We went mad. There was a feeling of immense joy and excitement. Although we know that it`s going to be difficult but at least there is an opportunity for us. Especially for our juniors, it`s once in a lifetime moment. With the news that Google might visit the campus again in July, they should start their preparation right away.

Definitely as Each company has its own and different set of requirements to be fulfilled. Therefore, one needs to prepare accordingly. But, one thing is common for each of them: you need to have strong base of the corresponding field you belong to.

ADOBE, apart from testing programming skills, has 2 more sections devoted to LOG ICAL REA SON ING and QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS. Therefore, students need to balance their performances in all the 3 sections so that they clear the CUT-OFF of each of the sections. Since, this time Electronics Engg. Students were also permitted to participate in the placement drive, the programming questions were not very difficult. But the Reasoning and Quants section were good enough.

This can be solely be achieved by establishing and maintaining contact with the alumni of our college. Many of our alumni are currently working in many major companies. So, certainly their help should be taken in driving more of the companies to the college. The ALUMNI MEET held recently was an excellent step in this direction which should remain continued forever.

Well, what happened on 16th was a very shameful incident. That reminds of the fact: Though from exterior we are being counted in the world`s biggest economies on account of our GDP, the nation within is suffering from a loads of illnesses. It`s truly said that: In a place where the women are respected as equally as men, there resides the Supreme Power GOD. But such acts depict that noone believes in the above saying. The Government needs to do much more to ensure the safety of women. Instead of amending the laws they need to ensure that the laws are properly implemented. Simultaneously, we too, especially the men need to change their mentality regarding the status of women in the society. Then only the effects would get visible.

Well, that`s a very difficult one to answer. But one major change which we would like to see is in the way FESTS are organized in our college. From the experience of visiting many other fests, I must say that everywhere colleges promote themselves through the fests, spreading their good name. That means we should aim for organizing National level Fests. Also, what we witnessed this year was something different: more than one fest. If

Yes, we think so. As before us, only 2 more girls have been able to make it to the ADOBE. We would like to tell all of them that: you can do everything in your life. The only thing you need to do is identify your GOAL, discover your POTENTIAL and work hard. The success is definitely yours. Finally, we would like to say: It`s not GOD who differentiated between Men or Women, instead it`s WE who have created the differences.

Team from ZHCET wins first prize at IIT Bombay Techfest !!!
A team of 5 Students from Zakir Husain college of Engg. And Tech. won first prize in an ASIA LEVEL PAPER PRESENTATION competition-EARTH held at TECHFEST, IIT BOMBAY during 3-5 January 2013. Among 700 presentations from the continent only 23 research paper and projects were selected for the final presentation round from all over Asia, in which the team of Z.H.C.E.T. comprising of: Abhishek Kumar Sharma ( 3rd yr Civil Engineering) Ankur Sharma ( 2nd yr Mechanical Engineering) Sameerah Desnavi (2nd yr Electronics Engineering) Charu Dixit (2nd yr Electrical Engineering) Utkarshaa Varshney ( 2nd yr Electrical Engineering) won first prize in the competition and also a reward of Rs. 40,000. The competition was not only restricted to undergraduate students; it saw participaprofessors from all parts of the country and prestigious institutions. The topic of their presentation was CONVERSION OF ELECTROPLATING WASTE TO NANOPARTICLES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS IN PRODUCTION OF BIO-DIESEL FROM BUTCHREY WASTE. The tag line of their project wasUTILISATION OF WASTE TO UTILISE THE WASTE. This project was appreciated highly at IIT Bombay by a judging panel of 6 members. The students gave credit to the institution for providing them with such advanced labs and research technologies and the honorable professors for their eminent guidance and support. It also worth mentioning that among the final 23 papers selected this team had got its two papers selected for the final round of presentations, which speaks volumes about the research capabilities of the students of Z.H.C.E.T.

The Great Placement Drive

Google, visited the campus on 24th January for the students of Computer Engineering. It is the first time that a company offering a package as high as 21 lakhs as well as foreign placements (USD 1,00,000) visited the college campus. Its hiring partner Meritrac visited the campus for conducting the written test to select the students. Selected students will visit the Google office in Hyderabad/Bangalore for next set of interview rounds. An alumnus, M. Nayyar Azam of 2007 batch was instrumental in directing company towards our college. The written test mainly comprised of objective (20 questions - technical +aptitude) as well as subjective questions (Programming + algorithm). The Time limit for the test was 65 min. The placement drive of Tejas networks was recently held on 28th and 29th jan, in which 4 students were selected by the company during the drive. The names of the selected students are Musheer Ahmad, Ghulam Mustafa, Faisal Nehal, Ariz Zubair. Tejas Networks is an Indian Networking and Telecom equipment products company and is one of the major recruiters of our college. The company offered a pay package of 5.7 lacs per annum to all the students and the students will be posted at Bangalore where the headquarters of the company is located, at the time of joining.

Silver Jubilee Celebrations !!!

Department of Electronics Engineering
Aligarh Muslim University Paper Presentation 9th Feb 2013 Project Presentation 16th Feb 2013 T-Shirt Design Contest Cricket (Boys) Table Tennis (Boys) Football (Boys) Volleyball (Boys) Chess (Boys) Table Tennis (Girls) Badminton (Girls) Debate (Girls) Rangoli Competition (Girls) Musical Chairs (Girls) For details : http://www.electronics-amu.com/events.html

The Department of Electronics Engineering shall be completing 25 years in March 2013. To mark the Silver Jubilee, an Alumni Meeting, on 23-24 February 2013, is proposed.

There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there. Indira Gandhi

ALUMNI MEET
An alumni meet of the batch 1986-87 r e c e n t l y held at the assembly hall of our college. Around 58 a l u m n i participated in this meet. Most of these alumni were currently holding some of t he topmost positions in their respective organisations. The panel of alumni attending the meet included: MD Jusco, Country Head Alstom Power, Cyber Security Head NIC, VP - Reliance Telecommunications, VP - Hindustan Petrochemicals Ltd, Recruiting Officer DMRC, Senior Engineer MCD, Project Head Power Grid, Group Captain - Coast Guard, Senior Representative IBM and many more. The important points raised by the alumni panel as well as the students during the meet are as follows: 1. Setting Up of some sort of "Help Group" to channelize the resources from Alumni to the students. 2. Sharing industry experience with students and guiding them in their projects, internships, personality development and placements. 3. Registration of the "ZHCET Alumni Association" as per the norms of UP govt. and Aligarh Muslim University. 4. Rotation of the Chair positions of this association on an annual basis. 5. Setting up of a website specifically dedicated to ZHCET where only the members of ZHCET family can register (using their enrolment no as the identification proof) and reaching through it to maximum no. of alumni possible. 6. Making this alumni meet an annual event entitled to take place in the month of December.

ALUMNI MEET

Chat with Alumni

->With Mrs. Sangeeta Jain :
We talked to one of the alumni
Ques. Please give a brief introduction about yourself.
Ans. I am currently a visiting faculty in Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology (NSIT), Delhi. I have also been a visiting faculty in Delhi College of Engineering (now DTU). one gets an opportunity like this. ish.

Mrs. Sangeeta Jain who also

came to attend the alumni meet. Here is the conversation that we had with her.

Ques. What changes have you noticed in the college, since your last visit?
Ans. There was no prominent change except a small coffee shop and a MIG-23 fighter plane being the centre of attraction. The college was as majestic as ever. The corridors, the classrooms, the workshop, everything was just the same.

Ques. Any message you would like to give to the present students.
Ans. I would like to tell all the students that they are very fortunate to be a part of this education paradise and should feel proud of it. I would also like to add that they should grab every opportunity to refine and define themselves. Learn and enjoy every moment as college life is once for all. We are always there for your support. Good luck and best wishes!

Ques. How was your experience on coming back to AMU after such a long time?
Ans. The experience was like homecoming after a gap of 25 years. Walking in the corridors made me feel like a young girl again. Classrooms made me nostalgic. All of us got transformed into enthusiastic youngsters trying to recognize one another and recollecting names. The memories kept flashing in. Overall it was an exhilarating experience to relive the college life. Not every-

Ques. How AMU played a role in changing your life?

Ans. AMU gave me an academic benchmark which would not have been possible otherwise. The 5 yrs spent in ZHCET helped me grow intellectually, developed my skills, self-confidence and encouraged me to achieve my personal excellence. It also inculcated in me certain values which I practice and cher-

It was nice to have conversation with Mrs. Sangeeta Jain who told us a lot of interesting things. We hope that appropriate actions would be taken by the college administration, alumni and students for the betterment of our college and the things discussed in the meet would get implemented soon. Also, we would like to thank all the alumni who came to attend the meet, especially from the overseas. Despite the chilling weather, a whooping no. of 58 alumni attended the meet. We hope that this no. would get further enhanced in future.

Mr. Chisti is one of the alumni of our college. He did his B. tech in Electrical Engg. And presently he is working in Canada. Here are some experiences shared by him.

->With MR. S. M. A. CHISTI:

Ques. How was your college life here? Ans. I spent a great time here, which is unforgettable. I was a good regular student regarding studies. I used to study for a short but for a steady period every day. The most motivating part of my time in college was that the teachers who were very helpful and kind to me in every manner especially Prof. Ekram Husain. I never participated in extra-curricular activities like debate, presentation, etc. due to my shy nature. I used to spend and enjoy a lot of time with my friends. Summing up all these, it was a remarkable experience for me. I learnt many things from here apart from studies and achieved a good personality besides my graduation degree. Ques. Was it your ambition to pursue job Ques. What are the changes you find here Ques. What is your message to the stu-

now?
Ans. I find a tremendous change here now. The college has grown a lot since I had left. At that time there was hardly a company visiting the college for recruitment. The training and placement office here has shown extensive growth and it is still flourishing.

dents?
Ans. I would only say that the pessimistic thoughts of your mind will always keep you in the bore well. Your approach should be optimistic which will build your confidence. Focus on your communication skills and dedicate some time for enhancing your personality apart from academics and lastly I would say that DO TAKE RISK IN LIFE if you really want to learn and grow.

As you are presently working abroad, if any how you get a chance to come back to India and work here on an equivalent post, package and perks. Will you?
Ques. Ans. I have learnt a lot in India and I had a great work experience in NTPC but if I get a chance to work again in India I will say NO because now I have become used to the work culture of Canada. I have seen an exponential growth in my career and I have really learnt a lot there. In Canada you get a warm and cozy atmosphere to work with people.

in abroad?

Ans. Not exactly, I never made my mind to go abroad for job. I worked in India for many years and when I got the opportunity, I took it with pleasure .

According to me, the major responsibility lies with the narrow mindedness and poor mentality of the people particularly men, considering the women as inferior and the individuals meant to be suppressed. Then, comes the: lack of proper administration and negligence of duties by the traffic police and the government as the bus which was violating every traffic law, one of them being: black tinted windows, was roaming freely in the city. Finally, the excessive consumption of alcohol, by the people which is easily accessible everywhere, is the major cause of concern.

There can be many reasons for such episodes. The most important I think is the Electronic media, films and the T.V culture... the parents, school and College to some extent and above all degradation of our ethical values. Of course the Government and the administrative psyche is also to be blamed... Only enacting laws will not serve the purpose.. There should be strict and quick implementation of law and the culprits should be publicly prosecuted...

All that happened can be attributed to the degradation of the values of the society as a whole. People become interested in such matters, only when their relatives are involved, otherwise they turn a blind eye to all such incidents. Clearly, no one gets affected by these incidents. Government needs to ensure the proper implementation of the existing laws but they can't be present everywhere. We, the people have to play an active role in avoiding such horrible incidents and catching the culprits.

I think one of the possible causes for the crimes against woman: from lewd comments to the heinous one is the adverse effect of todays cinema and the glamorous world. I am not against the cinema as they play a crucial role in the field of entertainment and helps in stabilizing our countrys economy but today the way in which they depict the woman through item songs ,through advertisement creates negative effect on the minds of uneducated and mentally sick people. Today the cinema is using woman as a product to earn more profits and people starts following their ideals, what we watch as entertainment, the mentally retarded and uneducated people take it as real and they repeat the same thing in their life whether it is morally and legally good or bad. Moral values has gone from the world of cinema and the censorship board has also become flawed and corrupted to a great extent.

Instead of questioning who is, let`s question who`s not... from this govt. elected by us to the society manipulated by us. In my eyes we all are equally responsible for such acts. The need of the hour is a drastic but positive change in the mentality and outlook of the society. Women are not sources of entertainment and should not be treated as objects of lust. The retarding force which compels one to not commit such a crime must not be: The fear of punishment but the gut feeling that this is wrong. Respect them, for the least. Curse not the darkness, light a lamp.

The only thing responsible Definitely, such horrible incidents are the consequences of the ignorance of moral values, principles of discipline and decorum In the tremendous rush of life. In this modern era, though we talk about various fundamental rights but somewhere we ourselves are unwilling to implement the vision of equality in a more refined way. Yes we are developing economically, technically but the graph of humanity is decreasing because we don't want to pause for a while to think deeply that which way are we leading?? Actually the whole system is corrupt from root to upper level. The people who are leading our government have no real patriotic sentiments for our country; they are only money-minded. for such misconducts is the destruction of our moral values-those which strengthen the roots of our life, develop

The major cause of occurrence of such incidents is the inability of the judicial system to provide quick and severe conviction to the culprits. Preventing the women from going out at nights and commenting on their dress would do no good. If you are good enough and have respect for women, then any kinda dress would not lead to such acts. Government needs to make more strict laws regarding such incidents along with improving the performance of the police.

our mentality, which thereby decide what one pursues. The moral education provided by the guardians is lacking from the lives of young individuals due to their hectic life and education has turned purely materialistic. As a result, our social structure is disturbed and law enforcing authorities are not performing their duties for public welfare. Shivank Gupta

IT WON'T CHANGE EVER OR WOULD IT?

I go through the news these days and there is predominantly one thing splashed all over in the Indian media: crimes against women. Theres a sad element to it, an element Indians have failed to recognize and hence counter. Crime against women has never been less. It took one horrific incident in the streets of the national capital to wake up the Indian masses. An uprising of a similar scale was a regular sight some 12-18 months ago, the issue being corruption. A lot has happened on that front since then, fasts, celebrities joining in, the AAP, and finally a (pretty much expected) clash between Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. The mob hushed almost as fast as it rose. Sadly, this has often been the case with the Indian masses. We never take issues till the end. A few months of shouting and protesting, and we all get back to what we were. Corruption, Lokpal, holding politicians accountable, ring a bell? Yes, you raised your voice on these issues. And now theres a total hush about it. (Well, except for the little duel between Anna and Arvind, each fearing a loss of media attention due to the other). Is the issue resolved? Wake up call? Anything? The Delhi case has catapulted all likewise crimes throughout the country into the national media. A crime that was never less is now highlighted like never before. Another spike, another burst of rage in the 1.2 billion people who call themselves Indians. But for Gods sake, do not forget it by month-end! Do not make it yet another case of typical momentary rage. There are 1.2 billion Indians, and probably as many problems the country has to tackle. We are gonna writhe in agony as we have since the day the British flag was hoisted in Calcutta. Swaraj has changed less. UNLESS.. -We stand up for an issue and never back down till it gets resolved. -One issue at a time will take a couple of centuries for it all to get in tone. We have the largest democracy; 1.2 billion people use them all. -And for Gods sake try to be an Indian in the meantime. Regionalism, communalism and all that craps is in the enemys arsenal. Know that. -Try not to be a hypocrite. I know it is difficult, but do try, its you and your nation at stake. Are we heading for yet another hush? (Weirdly, there are lulls after storms in India, and we have perfected the art of it.) Or are we heading for a first-ever revolution by the Indian masses? (Clearly, even the Indian struggle for independence was not united.) 1.2 billion Brains (and counting) to decide. And theres not much time. Tariq Hashmat Tauheed

BEING UP...
Lovers of the English Language might enjoy this. It is yet another example of why people learning English have trouble with the Language learning. The nuances of English make it a difficult language. Theres a two letter word in English that perhaps has more meaning than any other two letter word. Well this is- UP. It is listed in the dictionary as being used as an (adv.), (pre.), (adj.), n or v. Its easy to understand up, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake up? At a meeting, why does a topic come up? Why do we speak up, and why are the policemen up for elections and it is up to a secretary to write up a report? We call up our friends and we use bulb to brighten up a room, polish up the copper. We warm up the leftovers and clean up the kitchen. We lock up the house and some guys fix up the old car. At other times, the little word has a real special meaning. People stir up trouble, line up for tickets, work up an appetite, and think up excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed up is special. And this up is confusing. A drain must be opened up because it was stopped up. We open up a store in the morning but we close it up at the night. We seem to be pretty mixed up about up! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of up, look the word up in the dictionary. If you give up to it, you might try building up a list of the many ways up is used. It will take up a lot of your time, but if you dont give up, you may wind up with a hundred or more. When the sun comes out we say it is cleaning up. When it rains it wets up the earth. When it does not rain for a while, things dry up. One could go on and on, but its time to wrap it up, so time to shut up. Mohsin Shiraz

Burying Humanity in Human Waste

Recently about a month ago, the honble. Supreme Court of India admonished a District Magistrate for releasing an affidavit that there is no manual scavenging in his district. Also, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of Rural Development publicly apologized for the practice being followed even today. Even Bollywood star Amir Khan met officials of Central Government demanding ban of such practice in the country after releasing a full episode on social discrimination in the famous television show Satyamev Jayate. These incidents made me ashamed of being called as an Indian (though I love my nation). I saw a documentary by Stalin in which a girl was asked questions about her experience in school. When asked if she was fond of going to school, she answered in affirmative but continued sorrowfully that she had left school as she was asked to sit on the last bench and other classmates did not wish to sit beside her since her father was a manual scavenger. She wanted to become a nurse in future but ended with a desperate as she was born in a socially backward family or what we call as states that untouchability must be abolished but I dont find any reinforcement of it as a girl is asked to sit at the back simply because none of her mates want to maintain any sort of contact with her. However, there has been a steep decrease in social discrimination since independence but still we find such cases in some remote and rural areas and to some extent in urban areas too. Even while approaching to politicians and leaders of their own community, they end up demanding more reservations and nothing else. But these reservations do help only the economically stronger section of a socially weaker society. The actual victims of these practices are yet waiting for the solution to their miseries. Have we achieved fraternity- One of the principal objectives of constitutional frame? Well, I think definitely not. How can we say that our society is fraternized when one of our brothers/sisters carry our filth on his/her head. These people lose their pride, respect and dignity as a human being and are regarded as different from others. They never enjoy a good social status and respectful position in society. The continuation of manual scavenging even in todays time is a black spot on us not only as the citizens of India but also as a human being. This is not only a nations problem but an international problem related to human rights. It has been acknowledged in public meetings that manual scavenging is a human rights issue and not about sanitation. Central system often states that this practice will soon be banned and we will soon be residing in a Nirmal Bharat, but it continues. There have been many deadlines for eradicating this practice; one such deadline was March31, 2010. Deadlines were reached and left behind and manual scavengers continue their work. It is estimated that around 13 lac. people from dalit communities continued to be employed as manual scavengers across the country- in private homes, in community dry latrines of municipality, in railways, hotels, etc. The best way to overcome this problem is the enforcement of strict laws against it by the government. There should be a strict provision of punishment for those who indulge people in such inhuman occupation. At last, there must be an innate feeling from every individuals heart for abolishing these practices and dignifying the individuality of manual scavengers. Ankur Gautam

I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try. Nikki Giovanni

Paradox
You are walking But if you had to stop, when would you? Or where indeed, walking All this while for that something Albeit never achieved. You converse But if there was only one question at stake What would you ask? Or WOULD you ask? Contemplate Is the question and answer not the same? Pursuing soul, to seek and to find If there was one final place The beginning and end and everything in space Would it be real or in your mind? O poet, Romantic, detached, and all grace, If there was one face In your perfect mirror Would your beloved had resided, Or your flawless image? Your mind crowded With a million possibilities But if in its silence emerges one word Just one word Would it be a plea? Or Gods very command To Be You born, you die, Laugh and cry. One fact accepted One illusion rejected Though both are same and one One life Can I question it? Anam Akhter

What It Is Not. Or Is. Or Should Be.

I read this a few days back and could not stop thinking about it. Of course, I had to tell someone why. The generation I am a part of seems to be pretty unabashed about our opinions. So, here it goes. You see, the last thing that many people have on their minds when they think of love is love itself. They think of attachment, desire, lust, obsession However, what we fail to do is embrace the all-consuming feeling that love is. My Dad once told me, in an e-mail (Bless that wise old man) You should trust yourself, have faith and believe in the goodness of love. The feeling of lightness that comes with it will let you soar high and then you wont need to fear walking on eggshells. Isnt that the truth? Were all just afraid of what it does to us. Why should we put someone elses needs ahead of ours? We think of losing ourselves or our individuality like that. Fair enough. But, did you see their faces when they are that happy? When you gave away that last slice of pizza? When you waltzed in at 2 am with the sandwich that theyd needed for a while? I know my references are all food related, but I guess to me Love is giving away your favorite food just as to share the awesomeness with someone you love or care. We think love will walk through the door along with the autumn winds when were all bushy-tailed and beautiful, saying, HOTDAYUUMMM GURRRL! As much as I would love to say that happens too, love could also walk in and just say Hello. That starts things. Well, just saying. I could Ted/Love Actually/Dumbledore on this post and say the most eloquent and idealistic things about love and the strange things it makes you feel, but I guess the article I cited here has already done that for me. I guess I also had to write this because I disagree with one main point it makes: If it hurts, its not love. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP. Love is painful. It comes in bites, shoves, pushes-and-pulls, sure. The worst that love can give you is seeing their face when they lose something. Thats the moment when you want to collect all the shiny things in the world to distract them, wish you had seriously considered Clown College and hope musicals were right when they said you could fix it with a kiss and a song. I wrote this too, some time back. I am nowhere close to the answer yet. But, till I know, Ill just wait here. Im a girl like that. When he reads this someday, I know hell say, Did you actually have the time to think up of all that? and laugh as he sips on that blasted cup of coffee I made him though I hate coffee so much. Sigh. Love Hera Khwaja

SHE
The baby girl is buried alive, again. Her Crime - she is a GIRL. She is among the many million girls who have sacrificed their lives, giving the living ones a chance to prove themselves again. The machine predicts its a girl and the family wants her dead. Why? What possible omen can the innocent baby bring to their family? Had the girl survived she would have grown into a beautiful lady, nurturing and caring for her family; she couldnt possibly harm in any way! But she wasnt even given a chance. God alone knows the noble cause behind the evil job. But nothing can be nobler than saving the baby girl. Oh yes, the social evil dowry; thats the reason of her death. Lame, thats a crime in itself. Who are these murderers? Dont they know that the DEVI is a female; the mother is a woman;(SHE) Prathiba Patil, Sunita Williams, Kiran Bedi, Madhubala, Saina and numerous many are all ladies who have proved themselves . Blessed is the house which has a lady. Life is not possible without her. Today, she is at par with men, in fact better. She deserves kindness, love and above all humanity. Well, she doesnt even get that. At least not from what the census speaks off. Money has its value, but not above a human. She is a Gods gift. How can the mother let others kill her baby? Mother is supposed to unconditionally love her babies and protect them. Well, the human species can be very unpredictable. While Oprah is investing in girls education in Africa, here these fools are brutally killing them, if not, then at least making life miserable for them. What do they want? A male dominant society with no ladies. Well deep down even they know that, if all the baby girls were supposedly dead, the world would end in no time as there is NO LIFE without women! Taleya Fatima Bilgrami

I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.. Eleanor Roosevelt

Why is it always assumed that a boy and girl who share a close friendship will fall for each other, or one for another; but two people of the same gender can be completely platonic for infinity? It really feels strange when I listen to a statement like A Guy and Girl Cannot Be Friends, what is this notion all about? Think of all close relationships one has in life. Were we born loving our family? No, even that time we didnt knew, what the word love meant, we started sharing our life and spending time together and built an unbreakable family bond. Friendship also grows in a similar fashion. When we share our life and spend time with a best friend, we build an unbreakable bond of a lifetime. Everyone develops their friendship in a different way. Sometimes friends are family.

jump to conclusions. You are just a good friend, nothing more, nothing less. And still

if you think you are soul mates and are

meant to be together, you will definitely be, but not just by your timetables or stupid plans, but by Fate's.
On another note; nowadays many people think that having a boyfriend/girlfriend is an important and necessary status symbol. And to get this status they use all the possible cheap deals. Plenty of guys like to parade

not just about the black and white; but its about the many shades of gray in between. According to me Friendship is
much more divine than love, because love is being close and knowing each other & sharing everything. Friendship is also the same with a lot many restrictions & limitations, and maintaining those restrictions 'naturally' is the most divine task. So the normal scenario,

Hi-----Can we be friends?-----Can we be best friends?----Can we be lovers?"

Should be changed now. Changed to what??? Well that I leave for you to decide!!

Sometimes we love them just as friends, not in any romantic way, not in a family way, but just as a friend.

But still people stick to the same old notion and I guess they have a reason. Nowadays many boys & girls use the name of friendship with the concealed motive or feel of love within them. And this is something thats spoiling the true essence of friendship, something that is giving a reason to the society to comment on actual friends. If you

really think your love is true, then you would never need to fake it with the name of friendship. If you pretend to be

someones friend with the hopes of more, you might prefer stopping it right there. If who you think you love and who might love you back talks to you & shares feelings & problems with you, it does not mean that theres any fairy-tale love between the two of you. Dont take their feelings otherwise. Dont

their trophy girlfriend on their arm and proud of being looked up to as a man who's been able to capture a lady. They need a partner not to share their feelings but only for the sake of show off. To all such people I would just say Showing off is the fool's idea of glory. Stop living your lives on the others parameters, its your life and you must decide what you have to do, just because your whole group has girlfriends/ boyfriends doesnt make the same compulsory over you. Get a life, dont do this to yourself, be honest with yourself at least! Lastly, I dont know why we all tend to label relationships? It has to be either 'this' or that; it has to be 'Nothing' or 'Love'. Life is

By:-

"Exam's Night @ College"

YE AAJ MERA VATAN KAISA HO GAYA..? Ye aaj mera vatan kaisa ho gaya............... Logon ka Zameer jane kaha kho gaya........ Har jagah phela bhrashtachar hai.......... Aaj is vatan mein jeena bhi dushwar hai. Dharm aur eeman kaha kho gaya.............. Ye aaj mera vatan kaisa ho gaya............... Kisi roz ye vatan veeron ki bhumi tha....... Par aaj ye shaitano ka gulistan hai......... Deshbhakti ka lahu safed ho gaya .......... Ye aaj mera vatan kaisa ho gaya.............. Na koi veer hai na veerangana................ Har jagah kayaron ka raj ho gaya............ Ye aaj mera vatan kaisa ho gaya............... Aey desh ke yuva ab uth bhi ja................ Apni khyalon ki duniya se tu bahar aa.... Apni shakti se ab desh ko bacha.............. Veeron ko dekhe ....zamana ho gaya......... Ye aaj mera vatan kaisa ho gaya......
By:Geetanjali Sengar
It was the night before my 2nd endsems, And all through the college; The students were sweating out; For the last minute knowledge. I was quite sleepy; With Red-Eyes; But my head; Didn't touch my bed. Because all the stuffs of notes; Danced in my head. I had been cramming, and mugging; The expected equations and questions; I stared my notes for the 1st time; And counted the number of pages left; The only word came out of my shivering lips; BAAP REYY ! My eyes went Blurred!! I just couldn't study. Just then I turned towards Clock; "Mr.Clock; You always walk slow in normal days; Why you hurry and trouble me so much nowadays?!!" I also felt; God would be kind enough to help me; The next day!! I phoned my friend; To inquire his progress. He was also speechless!! His nose in his books; And cut my call abruptly! I drained all the coffee; Ate some spicy chips; Put on some energetic musics! To keep me struggling- like a soldier! But alas! I was no longer conscious; All my brain nerves were jammed. I nearly concluded; This is false engineering! With future depending; On grades of college.! The morning came; While the birds were singing and chirping; I hated their happiness! As I was stuck; In a dying position! Just then papa came; And said; "Beta! do your very best in today's paper and score high!" I was speechless!!! I showed this Accident! To one of my (then) friend; Now I share with you all; My Exam's Night @ college!

By:-

BARQQ Sparks of Ingenuity

For the first time, the students branch of IEEE (AMU) took an initiative which was a long foot forward both in terms of taking the name of IEEE to a higher limit and also giving a chance to young creative minds to do something extra ordinary. It was the college fest named BARQQ, which attracted students from the whole university and also from the outside college. The retort was whooping, the participation was overwhelming; it was surely a treat to get such a response after working so much for an event to happen successfully. For us, the organizers, it was a dream, an oasis of hope, a souvenir of the life which we constrained. Barqq sparks of ingenuity, was a technical fest which took place in the premises of Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology and was held on the dates 19th and 20th of January. It contained numerous events which exploited both physical as well as mental workability of a human being. The star events were: Ignesia the paper presentation competition, Novanate the project presentation competition, Cyborg Robotic Events, The Technopreneur and Evocomania. Well, the fest was not just a technical event; it had a number of fun events which engrossed the younger students and kids. It would not be justified if we say that even the senior students didnt enjoy these events. 60 seconds to win, MAD, Koppel, Beat the clock were there to name a few. Also, there were events to test the IQ, GK, literary and orating capabilities of the youth. To name some of them, there were: Enigme, Megamind, Exprimere, Tech Charade, Calligraphy, Word Chain, Scrabulary, etc. And the event which stood out unique and observed a hefty participation was Gaming Rage, the LAN gaming event. A T-shirt painting event was also organized as a part of promotion and to help the needy, with the help of the Humans Pride Organization. The event involved participation from the school students as well as from the other faculties. In short, this event was the highlight of Barqq. This fest, unlike most of the other fests, gave stress at the online events. It was totally focused on fun. The participation and response which we got took us to the seventh Trollsta, Faking News, Coverage, Your app idea!, Conundrum, etc. For the first time, we were able to publicize the fest through the online sources, on such a large scale. We had events which were part of the Google program headed by Sidhika Varshney. There were 5 events in all Google Doodle (the T-shirt painting Competition) and Geek-o-Google which belonged to the offline category. Moreover, Snap+, Applicious and Talentizing were among the online cut. This Google Program helped us a lot in terms of publicity. This fest would have not been successfully organized without the valuable support of : Prof. Mukhtar Ahmad, Prof. Ekram Husain, Prof. Ekram Khan, Prof. Hamid Sir, Nabeel Bhai and Tayyab Bhai. The permissions, the grants, the Duas were of immense needs. The organizing team comprised of Mohd. Owais Khan, Hamza Bin Masood, Syed Saad Anwer, Mohd. Asaad, Mohd. Asif, Mohd. Ahmed Khan and Sidhika varshney. At the last but not the least, BARQQ team would like to thank the juniors and volunteers who were simply outstanding in their work. We are greatly moved and thankful to all the event heads and the photography team, especially Areeb Ali, who dedicated their time and hearts for a succeful happening of this fest. Source/Courtesy: BARQQ TEAM

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EDUCATIONAL Websites:
When you need step-by-step instructions For just about anything, visit Instructables. It's the ultimate DIY site for everything from cooking to building rockets, complete with images, diagrams, and even videos. The content is user-provided, so you can post your own Instructable on whatever it is you make best. Check this out at: http://www.instructables.com/ Coursera is a for-profit educational technology company founded by computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller from Stanford University. Coursera partners with various universities and makes a few of their courses available online; free for a large audience. The website provides free online courses in the fields of Computer Science; Healthcare, Medicine, and Biology; Society, Networks, and Information; Humanities and Social Science; Mathematics and Statistics; and Economic, Finance, and Business Each course includes short video lectures on different topics and assignments to be submitted, usually on a weekly basis. Check this out at : https://www.coursera.org/

The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) is a Government of India sponsored collaborative educational programme. By developing curriculum-based video and web courses the programme aims to enhance the quality of engineering education in India. It is being jointly carried out by 7 IITs and IISc Bangalore, and is funded by the Ministry of Human Resources Development of the Government of India. Courses are present on almost all the topics. The course videos are available in streaming mode, and may also be downloaded for viewing offline. The video files are also view-able via the IIT Channel on Youtube. Visit the above useful site at: http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/

Wondering what the most critically acclaimed novels are in science fiction and fantasy, so you don't read some clunker? Adam Doppelt curates this site with lists by author, title, series, and awards (like the Nebula and Hugo and more) to show you who's worth reading, from the 1950s to today. Check this out at: http://www.bestsfbooks.com/

WEBSITES FOR FUN:

EVENTS ORGANIZED BY THE MIRROR: Audio cassettes, floppy disks, typewriters CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITION (In association with and phones with cords; what do these Carpe-Diem) items have in common? They have all vanished and been replaced by digital technol- WINNERS: ogy. But they're certainly not forgotten. 1ST Manav Jain This site, which is actually a YouTube 2ND Ankur Gautam 3RD Geetanjali Sengar channel with a specialized design, provides short films with creepy computer voiceo- SCRABULARY (Under Barqq) vers to keep you and future generations fully informed about what society used in WINNERS: 1ST -Kushagra Kumar days of yore. 2ND -Tabiya Ahmed Check this out at : http://www.youtube.com/mooojvm If youre not positive what mendicant, indite and fugacious mea n, Vocabulary.com is here to help. The site beefs up your word power with more than 40,000 multiple-choice questions and refines its choices as it learns about your knowledge of the English language. Then it patiently returns to words you missed until you get them right. Additional features include a dictionary, a word blog and a section that lets users create and share vocabulary lists, like 100 SAT Words Beginning with A. Check out at : http://www.vocabulary.com WORD CHAIN (Under Barqq) WINNERS: 1ST -Saad Mohammed and Rayed Qamar MBBS 2ND - Syed Asim and Akansha Gupta

Dr. Samar Ansari (Fac. Adv. The Mirror) awarding the winners.