DC A History

As we walked into this institute we experienced new-found freedom whilst being baffled by a precarious lot of strangers. Introduction sessions were held, where one of the strangers - an old resident - came and handed over a mysterious software. We were told that this software would be our window into a world of entertainment and education, debauchery and even an opportunity to start freelancing. In other words, a place where one could find anything one needed. Needless to say, DC++ became an imperative part of our college life.

DC (Direct connect) as we know, is a peer to peer network consisting of hubs for sharing data. Each of these hubs is hosted by one person (host), who keeps his laptop running throughout for the hub to be active. Other than the host, a group of admins take part in the day to day management of the hub. The two main hubs active at present are Titan and Woodstock. Woodstock is the longest running hub on campus; however Titan is the oldest hub as it started out under a different name. Apart from these, we also have the popular Telugu lingo hub Gultz. A couple of other hubs have come and gone along the way. Quartz was one such hub, started by the 2010 batch and was up for almost a year. Hello World was another interesting hub created specifically for academic material such as tutorials and ebooks.

Having multiple hubs gives us several advantages. Multiple hubs take some pressure off a single hub, hence increasing the transfer speed. Apart from this, hosting these hubs in separate hostels prevents the shutdown of the entire system in case the sole hosting hostel network is down.

The admins who manage DC use Ptokax for hub software and modified FreshStuff scripts for release bots. Apart from this, there are also several home grown scripts which are used for other bots. There is a hierarchy among admins based on their seniority, association with the hub and their level of activity on DC. Titan has a hierarchy where the owner is at the highest position, followed by masters, hidden masters, senior operators and hidden operators.

Looking at the history of DC, Titan has been hosted by several users: from shadow, to brocode, roonilwazlib, womaniser, pulpo to the present host paniarack. A number of ex-admins enjoy legendary status among present DC users for their role in making DC a huge entity on campus. HP and shadow are considered to be the godfathers of DC, HP being the greatest downloader of all time. razor1911 was famous for being the largest sharer on campus with an incredible 10 TB share. These, along with other exadmins such as Autobot, macbook, jinxed and Mr. Rogue, are credited for making DC a myriad of information.

An admins role is mostly to download and share all kinds of things, from softwares to TV shows, from educational videos to ebooks. While most admins have their own data cards for downloads, others use non-traditional means. Some of them exploit the loopholes in BITS net to exceed their download quota. But all said and done, it is to satisfy the download requests. Current admins often face issues regarding the decrease in quality-sharing by consumers. Consumers arent sharing new series or files, but are becoming increasingly dependent on the admins share alone.

An important realization which we need to have is that DC cannot be sustained by just a few people. So what can be our role in this remarkably mechanized process? What can we consumers do to keep it functioning? Its simple and obvious, just share! That is all we need to do. Even if we just share what we downloaded from DC, it helps as it not only increases the speed, but also creates an alternative in case the original source goes offline.

Within the short history of our campus, DC has become an absolutely integral part of student life. With an average share of almost 200 TB, and at least 600 online users at a time, our campus lives and thrives on DC, so much so that its difficult for us to even imagine what college would be without it. Its something we depend on; were proud of and probably miss the most when were away from college. DC most definitely counts as one of the ultimate perks of being a BITSian.

Special thanks to roonilwazlib

LGBT
Section 377: The contrived identity July 2nd, 2009 is etched in the memory of the Indian LGBT community as the day they gained freedom, 60 years after the rest of the country. The Delhi High Court, on this day, repealed the draconian Section 377, which criminalized homosexuality. Section 377 was incorporated in the Indian Penal Code in 1860 and had been derived from the colonial British rule which termed all forms of homosexual act as unnatural.

Although the wheels of this movement had been set in motion almost a decade ago, the verdict was the outcome of a PIL filed by the Naz foundation, a New Delhi based NGO working on HIV/AIDS and sexual health in India. Since homosexuality was not recognized, groups such as MSMs (Men who have sex with Men) were at risk not being able to seek medical help for the fear of being prosecuted. The Naz foundation, prompted by this drawback felt it was in the best interest of people to try and reverse Section 377.

However, its been a tough row to hoe. Countless arguments have been cited against homosexuality. Several religious groups against homosexuality have deemed it unnatural, an act so vile that it defies all that God had intended to create including the sacred institution of marriage. Contenders against this argument have claimed that marriage is a social institution, not one created by God. Another argument is that the children born into such families will not be provided with the care of both a mother and father, and the emotional and psychological needs of the children will remain unfulfilled. However, multiple studies carried have shown that there is no difference in psychosocial outcomes between children raised by same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples. More generally, the reason why people are against homosexuality is due to discomfort at the idea of a union between the same sex, and discomfort with a right is no reason to disqualify it as one.

Many such pointless arguments have been struck down by the members of this community across the globe. However, efforts to convince people about the need to bestow legitimacy upon

members of this detested community have not been fruitful, with many staunch fundamentalists refusing to see reason. This led to a counter PIL being filed by various groups, mostly religious, challenging the verdict of the Delhi High Court in the Supreme Court, the main parties being Muslim clergies, the Catholic Church and the secretary to Baba Ramdev. The Supreme Court, after going through the arguments of the plaintiffs and defendants, pronounced a verdict that reversed the Delhi HC outcome and reinstated the legitimacy of Section 377.

Looking at it from a broader perspective, section 377 defines itself irrespective of consent. Further, it also violates articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution which upholds equality, freedom of expression and personal liberty to the citizens.

While supporters of the LGBT community have expressed contempt towards the court, as informed citizens we must understand the technicalities of this ruling. The judiciary is vested with powers only to interpret the law that has already been made. The power to amend it rests with the legislature. Delhi High Court gave a liberal interpretation to this section and decided that this section cannot be used to punish an act of consensual sexual intercourse between two adult males which was seen by many as an amendment of the law. On December 11, 2013, Supreme Court of India overruled the judgment given by Delhi High court in 2009 and clarified that the under Sec 377, same sex intercourse is "against the order of nature" and termed it as illegal and punishable. Further Justice G.S Singhavi clarified that the judgment given is over the petition filed against Delhi High court order and parliament can overrule this by creating / deleting the law / Sec 377.

To put it in simple words, the SC can only interpret if homosexuality does or does not conform to Section 377. As per the statement of Section 377, it doesnt conform, hence it had to overrule the ruling of 2009. However, the Constitution does not remove the ambiguity in the term unnatural mentioned in Sec 377. The interpretation is based on the understanding that carnal intercourse was made for the purpose of procreation. So, any non-procreative act is deemed unnatural. Going by this definition, any nonpenile-vaginal intercourse is illegal. Also, the constitution doesnt remove the ambiguity in the term homosexual relations, which covers the physical, mental and emotional aspects. The judiciary does not have the power to declare section 377 as invalid. The power to do so rests with the Legislature.

Many political parties have taken a positive stand, with top brass Congress leaders stating their support for the LGBT community, and recommending that the Centre put in a review plea. However, BJP announced that the party wholeheartedly supported Section 377, as it considered homosexuality to be unnatural. The 172nd report of the Law commission dated March 25, 2000 recommended scrapping of section 377. The fact that successive governments have failed

to change section 377 for 13 years after the Law Commissions categorical recommendation shows that the Parliament does not want to delete the provision and is playing the blame-game with the Judiciary.

The verdict led to an outburst from various sections of society, deeming it unnecessary. Indians, from within the community and out, staged protests in major cities of the country, such as Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi, and cities abroad, such as New York. Even then, many closeted homosexuals did not come out openly in support, for the fear of family and relatives recognized. Such is the fear entrenched in their heart and shamefully, such is the condition of the worlds largest democracy. A large part of the Indian society comprises of people who even though are uncomfortable with the idea of being in a homosexual relation themselves, refute the idea of deeming people who adopt a homosexual lifestyle as criminals, thus showcasing the tolerance of a significant part of the Indian society towards homosexuality, and the live and let live policy.

Various colleges have started setting up helplines and groups that help ease the transition of homosexuals, and help them in coming out of the proverbial closet and adjusting to life as open homosexuals. The frontrunner in the race is IIT-B, which has a dedicated resource group called Saathi, which enjoys support from faculty, administration, alumni and students. The group not only attempts to help the LGBT community in college by providing them a safe and anonymous platform to discuss their grievances, but also helps eradicate homophobia, gender identity oppression and end discrimination in all its forms within and outside the campus. This group has been hailed as a forerunner of its generation, and is a role model that should be emulated in colleges across the country. The recent verdict, although disheartening, has shown the community that it still receives support from a large population of the general public, and that there are a very few fundamentalist and bigoted groups that cannot bear to see others not live a lifestyle they deem fit, who go about opposing the right for every individual to lead life the way they want. The road ahead appears to be long and winding.

AAP - AN ANALYSIS
The Aam Aadmi Party, the talk of the town, has been seen as a herald of change and a transparent form of administration, and has built a positive image for itself in the eyes of the people. Unfortunately, image-building is something most political parties are adept at, and it is maintaining this image, particularly after being elected, which should be the cause of concern for the day.

There is clearly tremendous faith in Arvind Kejriwal to deliver all that he has promised, which seems plausible, looking at the series of dramatic decisions taken over the course of 2 weeks. But this author believes in healthy skepticism not by having no faith at all in the man, but by investing a small and cautious amount of it. This is for a number of reasons.

The first thing that stands out is how the Aam Aadmi Party has contested this election; primarily by convincing the people that the Congress is a scam-ridden cesspool, with the occasional negative word about the BJP. Even Kejriwal acknowledges, at the risk of sounding biased, that the votes for AAP were less of a representation of wholehearted support for himself, and more of an expression of anger towards past political crimes committed by the BJP and the Congress.

http://www.dnaindia.com/delhi/report-live-delhi-assembly-elections-result-2013-will(Source: prefer-to-sit-in-opposition-says-bjp-1931654)

It seems to this author that all those people who would otherwise have chosen the None of the above option on their ballots (an option whose hilarity must be left for another discussion), having been disillusioned by the two known devils, have opted for the third, with a last ditch hope that it might end up for the better.

Now, what is wrong with this? From a broader perspective, nothing. When the two stalwarts of the political world have squandered the faith of the people as much as we see here, it is certainly preferable to give a chance to a new party, who might very well prove to be a game-changer. But herein, very

subtly, lies a small problem. The AAP, with its ceaseless deliberation, analysis and criticism of the two prevailing parties, with its promises for a better, corruption-free future, and most importantly, with its whole-hearted condemnation of the dirty game politicians had turned politics into have by extension, set themselves up as a clean party, one that would clean up politics, make it people-centric and not power-centric. And then, they go and do something almost entirely power-centric. They form the government with the Congress.

Now, we must take a look at the factors involved in this decision from a critical perspective. Clearly, this includes the stakes of the parties involved. With the BJP in control of 34 constituencies, the AAP with 28 and the Congress with 8, had the AAP decided to withhold from government formation, we would have had a hung Parliament. The BJP would be unwilling to tie in with the AAP, for clear reasons both have had a good result this election, and there would be a strong element of power-play. What then? Re-elections in a few months.

In this time, it is not difficult to imagine the AAP changing its game plan having meticulously ripped apart the Congress agenda, it would now have to prove to the people that it itself is a better option than the BJP. And now, for these re-elections, mere badmouthing would not work, because the BJP too has been powerless in Delhi for 15 years.

So, we would see, probably for the first time, a comparison of plans-of-action, of execution of promises and not just the promises, which would sway the second elections, the re-elections. And this is the true healthy democracy we aspire to, not the unfortunate reality that we see around us.

And after this, if the AAP are to lose well, it would imply a clear contrast between what they believe themselves to be, and what they are. Evidently, they are then not the choice of the people, and must, for the sake of democratic principles, concede to the BJP. And should they win, they would have consolidated their victory, and the ideology they construct themselves on. They would have guaranteed administrative freedom for themselves, and could truly have brought in their own brand of governance for all to see and admire or criticize.

Another factor that was considered, but with some degree of inaccuracy by the AAP is the stakes of the people. The AAP had launched an SMS campaign and were rallying the streets up to find out the opinions of people on whether they should form the government or not. An element that needs to be criticized in this, is that it finds fault with the democratic process. Once elected, we must assume that an official has proven sufficient faith of the people in him to make decisions that he sees fit for the people. If, at every stage, he has to go back to the people and ask them, is this okay, do you support this, then it puts a spanner in the works of a representative democracy.

Another problem this author has with any such opinion poll is that it cannot ever be representative of the entire population. And most importantly, it is obvious that the majority of participants in any poll organized by the AAP will be sympathizers and supporters of this very party. All of this can easily skew a final result.

What has the AAP done by tying with the Congress? Firstly, they have succumbed to the dirty game of politics. Kejriwal has made it clear that he is against forming a coalition government with the Congress. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-18/news/45338639_1_aap(Source: arvind-kejriwal-coalition-government)

Of course, it can be reasoned that the AAP wanted any chance to actually prove to the people what they can do, and waiting another five years would not give them this chance. But what this author finds disconcerting in this explanation is that it blurs the line between the AAP and other major political powers. It justifies the actions of a party that was supposed to bring a new meaning to politics, which was supposed to bring a change by the exact same reasoning that other parties have used to justify their power struggles in the past.

So, even as we invest our faith in Arvind Kejriwal and hope for the best, let us be cautious, and stay wary of the political quicksand that has threatened, and continues to threaten, the future of the country. Let us not believe that the battle has been won already or let complacency place its scheming hands across our eyes. Let us look at this as the start. The revolution has begun.