NOVEMBER

2016
FIRST ISSUE

Problems scar School of Maths and Stats

Team Observer
The condition of School of
Mathematics and Statistics
of University of Hyderabad,
which is considered one of
the best in the country, is fast
deteriorating. Earlier, students would join the department renouncing admission
in IITs, but now the scenario
has completely changed. During the last admission process,
a second waiting list was announced and even spot admission was held since merit
students were unwilling to
take admission.
The progress card of the department shows that only
few students have achieved
distinction or graduated with
a clean degree, i.e. without
any backlog in any paper.

Many students spent more

than three years trying to get
their two-year M.Sc degree,
but had to leave without one.
Over a hundred Integrated
M.Sc, M.Sc and PhD students
have dropped out in the past
decade on account of being
held back repeatedly. When
some of these students were
approached, none were ready

tired faculty members should

not be hired again.
As the school does not have
adequate faculty members in
Statistics, Integrated students
are not allowed to pursue statistics as their specialization.
They are forced to choose
mathematics, where there are
not as many job opportunities
as compared to Statistics.
Integrated students tend to
to be identified. The students shift more to other courses
opined that if they talked than come to Maths or Staabout their problems, it would tistics. This is because many
be the end of their career. This students fail in these courses,
hints at the stress and pressure said an I.M.Sc student, who
that they are put under.
wanted to be unnamed. On
The students have two clear being asked why many studemands. The first is that In- dents were unable to pass with
tegrated M.Sc students should a clean degree, a student who
be given specialization in Sta- dropped the course claimed,
tistics and secondly, the re- When a large number of stu-

Hush-hush over gender

Donita Jose
Ministry of Human
Resource
and Development
(MHRD) issued
a notice in May
2016 calling for
the reconstitution
of Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment,
popularly known
as GSCASH into Damaged board explaining what harassment is
the move and demanded an
Internal Complaints
Committee (ICC). This hasnt explanation as to why new
gone down well with the stu- faculty members are being appointed, which strangely also
dent community.
UoH administration enthu- includes the Registrar. The adsiastically reconstituted the ministration has put out two
body on September 22. It new lists of faculties for the
also terminated the existing committee who have no hisGSCASH committee and the tory or experience of working
duty of its members before on gender. The issue seems to
their term was completed. be in stalemate.
For the last month, the com- A representation submitted by
mittee is virtually defunct due GSCASH calls this renaming
to administrative lethargy ambiguous. Though on paover the issue. No committee per the change lies only in the
meetings or redressal of com- name, the student groups find
plaints have taken place, says the disappearance of words
Firdaus, the MPhil GSCASH sexual harassment and gender sensitization problematic.
representative.
The GSCASH student repre- If you remove gender from
sentatives have submitted two GSCASH, then how is it fair on
representations condemning female students who face the

brunt of patriarchy
and sexism daily?
asks a student of
second year M.A.
The representation
concurs, stating
that changing the
name would deter
students from reporting incidents
of
harassment
fearing stigma.
After this issue
was brought to
the limelight, a new list
has been put out by the administration. Prof. Sita Vanka
of School of Management,
Dr. Ragiba Makandar from
School of Life Sciences and Dr.
Hari Kumar from School of
Physics are the new appointed
members. The present list also
includes Assistant Registrar,
Estate. In the first round of appointments for ICC, members
were handling multiple posts
which shows the priority that
the administration accords to
gender issues.
Again in the second list, strikingly not a single faculty
member has been included
from Humanities, Social Sciences or SN school.
Continued on Page 5

dents are failing in a particular faculty members course,

its quite understandable that
there is a problem with the
teaching also. Some faculty
members also seem to hold
grudges against students, failing them intentionally.
Unlike in other departments,
research scholars who have
university fellowship are not
admitted and JRF is a must. In
the present academic year, no
research scholar was admitted
to Statistics. Though the officially stated reason was that
there were no eligible candidates, the real reason is lack
of faculty, a source said. The
intake of PhD students is very
less when compared to other
science departments.
Continued on Page 3

What is Observer?
Observer is a students
initiative, aimed at engaging
with the students and
addressing the University
of Hyderabad campus at
large. Observer promises
to be an unbiased newsletter
that strictly adheres to
the principles of integrity,
fairness, accuracy and most
importantly, objectivity. It
does not identify itself with
any
particular
ideology
and hopes to be the voice
of all those included in the
university fraternity.
Observer would provide a
platform to undertake real
journalism. Any story that has
factual backing and is relevant
to the university community
would be published in
the
newsletter,
however
controversial. We would
also like to cover stories that
are relevant to the contract
workers,
construction
workers, teaching and nonteaching staff of the university.
The necessity for Observer is
also borne out of the failure
of the Universitys official
newsletter to address campus

issues. The official newsletter

has also been dogged by
allegations of censorship
and having a pro-status quo
stance. Observer would not
be offset by such problems.
Students and faculty have
made the first issue of the
newsletter
possible
by
chipping in with stories and
monetary
contributions.
However, in the future, we
would like Observer to be
funded solely by the students.
Observer would be a monthly
newsletter. We would like to
bring out further editions of
Observer and would welcome
contribution, either in the
form of content or money,
without compromising our
principles. We request all the
stakeholders of the University
community to share articles,
story suggestions and feedback
at our email address:
observeruoh@gmail.com

Team Observer

November, 2016

Page 2

A MESSY AFFAIR

Oishani Mojumder
Messes across central universities in the country have
become synonymous with alleged corruption, unhealthy,
unhygienic food and students
seeking reforms. University
of Hyderabad has been the
den of complaints regarding
mess food and its related bureaucracy. In a recent all-party
meeting, Chief Warden, Vasuki Belavadi seemed to have
opened a new can of worms by
suggesting privatization of the
mess if the lack of co-operation by the students continues.
The discourse brings to our
notice the sorry state of the
messes across the university,
with the plight of the womens
messes being worse. A former
mess secretary of the Ladies
north mess said that the mess
administration is the perfect
breeding ground for corruption. The problem starts with
the process of purchasing supplies. The mess secretaries are
provided a list of supplies and
a designated seller. What happens from here to the point of
the supplies coming back is
completely unaccounted and
unsupervised by the university administration, she said,
adding that she would not like
to be identified.
The former mess secretary
said that fake bills were made
by the suppliers for a por-

tion of the commission and

alleged that the supervisors
were involved too. I resigned
within a week of joining as a
mess in-charge. As per rules
a new mess secretary is not
supposed to take closing stock
(unused supplies at the end of
a month) worth more than Rs
50,000. I was being provided supplies worth over Rs. 1
lakh, she stated.
Further explaining the discrepancies in the number
of specials provided every
month, Vyshakh Thaliyil from
MA Communication explains, The more number of
specials provided, the better it
is for the students. The mess
earns profits from the special
dishes for which students have
to pay separately therefore reducing the basic mess fee. This
changes the dynamics of the
basic mess menu.
Talking to the students, one
realizes that the Mess Committee with student and administration representatives is
an obsolete body incapable of
receiving and reviewing complaints. The Mess Committee
exists only for namesake. It
emerges like a phoenix during the elections. A week before elections well suddenly
be provided with thick edible
curd and once the elections are
done, it is back to being white
water again. I am not against

any particular party, but having seen this for the past two
elections I do not have much
faith in the Mess Committee
either, said Donita Jose, a student of MA Communication.
All things considered, the responsibility of a mess secretary is a tedious one. Students
come to the university primarily for academic purposes and obtain their degrees.
Therefore when a student goes
out of the way to become the
mess secretary, the least the
university administration can
do is provide a fixed stipend
every month. This will not
only encourage more students
to take up the post, but may
also reduce shuffling of funds
for the supplies in an effort to
fill their pockets. This in turn
could result in quality food
being supplied in the messes,
which is the ultimate goal of
this dialogue.

UoH trying to privatise messes?

Kartheek B

University of Hyderabad will

privatise the mess if there is
no co-operation from the students, stated Chief Warden
Vasuki Belavadi in an all-party meeting. In his opening remarks, the Chief Warden said
that the administration had
received complaints against
quality of mess food and high
mess basic. The University had
decided to reinstate the Central Purchase System (CPS)
which was in place until 2009,
he said. The chief warden office would buy the major commodities including rice, lentil,
sugar, etc while the mess secretary would purchase groceries and other low priced goods
on a daily basis. This would
reduce corruption, he opined.

Although the chief
warden assured the students
that the system would be
transparent, the students did
not agree to the chief wardens

SC judgment evokes little hope among UoH contract workers

Prudhviraj Rupawat
There was a glimmer of hope
for the contractual employees
of University of Hyderabad
with a recent Supreme Court
judgment holding that all contract employees must be paid
on par with the minimum pay
scale of regular employees.
There has been a long standing demand by the contract
workers in the university to
raise the minimum wage to Rs
15000 from about Rs 8500.
The Supreme Court, on 26th
October, held that the principle of equal pay for equal
work must be followed across
the country. It stated that this
principle would be applicable
to all the concerned temporary employees. The decision
would enable contractual
employees to claim wages at
par with the minimum of

pay scales of permanent government employees who are

holding the same post.
In the University of Hyderabad
campus, there are over 1000
contract workers in sanitation, mess, electricity, plumbing and security departments.
Stating that their salaries barely meet their basic needs, the
contract workers have raised

the demand to increase their

minimum wages several times
before the university administration. In addition to lesser
wages, contract workers are
not even paid their provident
fund amounts properly. The
difference of wages between
regular and contract employees ranges between Rs 8000
and Rs 10000.

Yadayya, a sanitation worker

in his fifties, has been working in the campus for twelve
years. He expressed his relief with the judgment but is
skeptic of its implementation
in the near future. Many contract workers even fear losing
their jobs if they unionise, he
added. There are many senior
contract workers with 10-15
years of experience who are
working at lower wages and
hope that their jobs will get
regularised.
The contract workers lamented that they do not have paid
leaves, even on Sundays. If we
do not report to work on Sunday, we lose one days wage,
said a sanitary worker. On top
of this, the sanitary workers
are also not provided sanitary
equipment like handwash and
gloves.

proposal. Students Union

general secretary opposed the
proposal and said, If University wants to take mess into
their hands, its fine with us,
but take complete control. Do
not leave some responsibility
with the students and try to
blame them. Other student
outfits like SFI, ASA, NSUI,
ORS also opposed the CPS
system.

The administration
wants central level
corruption,
Munna Sannaki.
Munna Sannaki, the convener
of ASA which fought against
CPS and shut it down in 2009,
said, The administration
wants central level corruption,
which is why they are coming up with this sort of ideas.
Authorities want to take percentages from contractors. Its
a pity to take percentages from
the money paid by students.
Regarding privatisation, he
further said that if the messes
were privatised, no student
from marginalised community would be able to afford food.
The private messes would
hike the basic fees. When your
concern is to reduce mess basic, how can you even think of
privatisation? he asked.

SIP holds cultural

evening

The fall semester exchange

students under the Study in
India Program (SIP) held a
cultural evening on November
10th. The students performed
Bollywood dances and played
the tabla. Around 20 SIP students participated in the program, which was inaugurated
by Keerthana Thangavelu, SIP
Director.

November, 2016

Page 3

Facebook
Balakrishna
campus with over
5,000
students
coming from varied
backgrounds with
different views few popular
a few unpopular might suggest to the outer world that it
would provide ample opportunity for one to engage and
have political interactions
and debates. But interestingly,
most of the debates happen on
Facebook.
With several infrastructures
made available for such interactions, it is strange that the
University of Hyderabad students choose the virtual world
over the real world.
The virtual world comes alive
with students having heated,
serious debates and discussions on political and student issues. While one cannot
deny the fact that all the interactions are not completely
healthy, it seems to be the only
alternate space where students
with different ideologies and
perspectives can debate and
correct themselves.
In the real world or away from
keyboard as it is otherwise
known, political and ideological boundaries are drawn so
rigidly that people with different ideas can rarely communicate. Social media and univer-

over Face to Face

sity groups like My UoH on

Facebook provide this opportunity.
This trend could be particularly noticed before the Students elections. Parallel to
the grassroots campaigning,
the student organisations also
campaign on the social media.
Allegations and counter allegations are also made.

Understanding this, even the

students union uses Facebook
effectively as a grievance redressal tool. Students reach
out to the office bearers and
get their issues sorted via Facebook.
If one is aware, the genesis of
the expelling of five Dalit PhD
scholars, which later led to the
death of Rohith Vemula, happened over a Facebook post.
This incident stands testimony to the vigorous use of social media, particularly by the
students in the varsity.
When I joined the campus in
2015, I felt that this campus
isnt very politically active, unlike Osmania, where campus
politics has contributed to the

formation of the Telangana

state. However, later I realized
that most of the political discussions good and bad happen over Facebook, not faceto-face.
Deepak, a student of Communication, said that on Facebook ideas gets cemented. He
said that when someone commits a faux pas on Facebook,
a screenshot of those comments or posts would be taken. These would serve a later
purpose, when the same person, changes his/her stand, he
added.
The students of communication recently conducted a focus group discussion seeking
to find why people use social
media and how many hours
one spends using it. During
the discussion, it was agreed
that most of the news that interests people arrives through
Facebook and other social
media platforms. Here, the
social media is not just functioning as a platform for social
interaction, but also as a news
gathering service.
It is the authors opinion that
on social media, the students
are more cautious. People
make an effort to be politically correct and behave more
rationally as they fear their
views would get cemented.

Problems scar School of Maths and Stats

Continued from Page 1
The NBHM scholarship has
been discontinued, even
though on the departments
website, the same is assured.
The website as of November
14th, states, Each admitted
student who do not possess
any fellowship from any other
agency will be paid a fellowship/ scholarship of Rs. 1000
p.m. as per the existing rules
of the University. The top two
students in the class will get an
achievers award @ Rs.2000/per month (instead of the Rs.
1000 that other students get).
The lack of options and compulsory courses is another
grievance of the students. Despite the availability of two PG
streams pure and applied
mathematics the students
claim that there are less options in terms of courses. Till

third semester, both streams

have almost the same course,
except for one subject. In the
final semester, not many options are available and the
timing of courses also clash.

Vacant faculty positions,

especially in the reserved
categories, have not been
filled
The students suggested that
the department consult them
before finalizing the schedule.
The flaws become even more
apparent when one look at the
course structure for integrated
students. M.Sc students get
admitted after three years of
an under-graduation course.
However, integrated students
in their third year have classes
with first year M.Sc students

because of the way the program has been designed. This

makes it difficult for them to
keep up. The professors teach
us as if we are in masters program, but we are still in third
year of under-graduation,
said a student.
It has been alleged that senior faculty, who are close to
retirement, have hatched a
conspiracy to bypass recruitment of new faculty and rejoin the department. Vacant
faculty positions, especially in
the reserved categories, have
not been filled for a long time.
Currently, the department has
five retired professors who
have been rehired. Due to the
state of affairs, a number of
faculty have left the department and few are ready to
leave soon, according to reliable sources.

Wheres the JAC?

Amrit
In January 2016, before Rohith
Vemula committed suicide,
almost all the student organizations in the University campus joined hands to form the
Joint Action Committee for
Social Justice. The JACs stated
aim was to ensure that justice
would be delivered to the five
Dalit scholars. Following Rohiths suicide, the JAC led the
movement from within the
University.
Now, 10 months later, the fate
of the JAC and the movement
that demanded justice is unclear. The JAC has become
dysfunctional. Though it has
not officially been dissolved,
even the members of the JAC
have little hope that it will ever
reconvene. What led to this
situation?
Those who were part of the
JAC state that there are numerous reasons for its failure.
The unity was always frail.
There was always tension
among the student organisations, some of which did not
get along. The issue was interpreted differently by each
student organisation. The different political ideologies and
understandings within the
JAC were never consolidated.
Tensions were always boiling
on the surface.
A member of the JAC stated
that some of the other members were engaged in a masculine competition. This hints
that the JAC saw not just ideological clashes, but also ego
clashes. SFI felt that as the
largest organization, it should
lead the movement. ASA felt
that as the expelled students
were its members, it should be
at the forefront.
The involvement of a certain
political party also created
friction in the JAC. The or-

Photo: Facebook

ganizations couldnt come to

an agreement on to what extent political parties should be
involved. The allegations that
parties were pumping funds
into the protest, whether true
or not, also furthered the divide.
Another obvious chink in the
JACs armour was the student
elections. Before the students
union elections earlier this
semester, a meeting was held
to discuss the election agenda
and major stakeholders were
asked to unite. However, quarrels over which party would
contest which post meant that
this already fragile unity fell
through. Perhaps it was the final nail in the JACs coffin.
If quibbles over electoral politics meant more to the student
organisations than the movement to bring justice, one is
left to reflect on the nature
of the whole protest. Surely, a
consolidated JAC would have
put aside these differences for
the greater good of the movement.
Following the elections, the
JAC has not reconvened.
Though some members hope
that reviewing the election
and addressing all grievances
could reunite the JAC, it is a
long shot.
When the Roopanwalla commission reported that Rohith
was not a Dalit, all the parties
held a protest march under the
umbrella of Justice for Rohith
Vemula. The fact that the parties felt the need for a different forum perhaps signals the
death of JAC.
The question before those students who participated in the
movement for Rohith is this:
For the movement to go forward, is there a necessity for a
JAC?

November, 2016

Page 4

What you need to know about CBCS

Dr. Tathagata Sengupta

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)
has been pushing hard to introduce Choice Based Credit
System (CBCS) in higher educational institutions across
the country. The individual
University
administrations
are also eager to jump onto
the bandwagon. We should
recall that one of the reasons
cited by Vice Chancellor Appa
Rao Podile for forcefully reinstating himself on 22 March
2016 was the implementation
of CBCS. Some of the CBCS
propositions like a semester
system, student choice between courses, calculation of
letter grades and calculation
of a cumulative grade point
average (CGPA) are already in
place in UOH.
Under CBCS, greater standardization of programs of
study across all higher institutions has been proposed at
the undergraduate and post
graduate levels. Three types
of courses, core, elective and
foundation, would be provided. Such a pedagogy, decided
at the national level, under-

mines the mandate of university departments to evolve

dynamic course structures.
Syllabus should be evolved
based on innovations or on
the experience and aspirations
of a people who live in a complicated, hierarchical and violent society.
It would have to entail many
aspects like not blocking
scholarship money, not increasing tuition fees, not forcing students to vacate hostels
because of a water crisis manufactured by the University
by not paying bills on time,
not enforcing curfew on the
mobility of women students.
Also, not socially boycotting
dalit students because they
are too articulate, not putting
dalit teachers in jail for talking about Ambedkar, not preventing students from social
and economically marginalized backgrounds from having food in the mess because
they havent been able to pay
the dues, and that too for the
scholarship money not reaching them in time.
In a society where the ruling
class-castes have laid siege on

History Dept. needs revival

University of Hyderabad is one
of the premium educational
institutions for higher education in our country. The university has renowned faculty
members who have numerous publications in sociology,
political science, comparative
literature, history and life sciences to their credit.
As a student of social sciences
in this university, I would like
to critique the History Department in the university.
History is one of the most
vibrant disciplines that welcomes different approaches in
research. A glance at the current global academia shows
that most of the stalwarts are
from the history discipline.
In our country, historians
like Romila Thapar, Bipan
Chandra, Irfan Habib and Ramachandra Guha are considered as public intellectuals. A
few scholars like Sanjay Subrahmanyam, M.S.S Pandian,
Faisal Devji, Gyanendra Pandey and Dipesh Chakrabarty
have also found fame in occidental academics.
But on the contrary, the His-

all such experience, the grip is

being tightened. The political
moral mandate of any educational system is to develop and
contribute to the intellectual,
critical understanding of the
human society and nurture
the courage to speak the truth
to those in power. Such articulation, courage and creativity,
can only come from the historical cultural material experience. If setting curriculum
and syllabi of courses goes
into the hands of a few, it will
kill creativity and eventually
truth altogether.
The CBCS suggests that external examiners will set the
question paper and grade
50% of core course end semester theory papers. Let us
put aside the practical feasibility of such a process. This
threatens the performance of
students in exams. The learning experience of a student in
a classroom is not determined
just by the test. Learning is a
complicated subjective that is
determined by factors that lie
outside quantifiable standard
markers. Factors like studentteacher & the student-student

relationship, the social-cultural ethos of the classroom to

name a few have an impact on
learning. Testing such learning through formal exams is
technically impossible.
The exams conducted in the
University are also restricted
in this sense, but the people
who have taught the courses
can try to factor in some of
these considerations to evaluate students subjectively. This
would not be possible with
external examiners. The University structure also has some
redressal mechanisms in place
in case of unfair evaluation,
but the proposed plan would
not enable this.
The CBCS official guidelines
document says, The CBCS
provides a cafeteria type approach in which the students
can take courses of their
choice, learn at their own pace,
undergo additional courses
and acquire more than the
required credits and adopt an
interdisciplinary approach to
learning. Cafeterias are spaces with glass walls, into which
people on the streets can peep
into and admire, but can never

get a whiff of the coffee.

Any University that wants to
pay minimum service to students taking courses of their
choice, learning at their own
pace and getting easier access
to courses should adopt other
obvious methods. Opening
more entrance examination
centers and recruiting the required number of teachers are
some ideas.
Whatever minimal notion
of public still exists in this
country is being ruthlessly
grabbed and distributed to
the private. It is the beginning
of public education being replaced by one private. This has
already happened to school
education and the same model is being replicated in higher
education.
Serious questions need to be
asked not just about the CBCS
or the New Education Policy,
but about the dominant idea
of education and knowledge
itself. This is not just to save
education but perhaps create a
new way of education.
The author is faculty at School
of Mathematics and Statistics,
UOH.

Memory Wipe

tory Department in UOH is

literally dead. All disciplines
are influenced by history, so
an inactive one is corrosive.
Not a single faculty member
from our History department
is popular among students
for their academic excellence
or activism. This is not to say
that there are no good faculty
members in the History Department, but my criticism is
levelled against the closed nature of the department.
Comparative Literature is
one of the departments that
conducts the most number
of seminars in the university.
They welcome students from
all disciplines. Comparative
literature doesnt boast of a
rich tradition, unlike history.
But they have developed a vibrant academic culture.
Students are worried about
the silent and closed nature Cartoonscape: The UoH administration cleans up the graffiti and other visual displays which were
of the History Department part of Rohith Vemula struggle. A Siva Krishna, Department of Fine Arts
of the University. Everybody
For advice, suggestions and feedback please mail us at
is eagerly looking forward to
some inclusive ground breakobserveruoh@gmail.com
ing seminars.

The author is a social science student wishing to stay anonymous.

The support and contribution that the Observer has receives is

highly valued.

November, 2016

Page 5

Fortification of UOH leaves students fuming

While students and faculty face problems, poachers and grazers get free ride; Delivery boys refuse to enter campus due to restrictions
2

While those entering through the gate are checked, illegal entry is easy. In pictures 3 & 4, outsiders can be observed entering the university through pathways.
-Photos: Observer Team

Kartheek. B
ID card nahi hai tho bahar
jana (You cannot enter without ID card), commanded a
security guard to a student
who went to drop his friend in
Gopanpally around midnight.
After bickering for nearly 15
to 20 minutes, the student
was allowed to pass. We are
not in a foreign country, so
why would students always
carry their ID cards? said the
School of Social Sciences student, recalling the incident in
a sombre tone.
In another incident, a faculty
member who did not stop
her car at the main gate due
to time constraints was followed by the security guards
all the way to her department.
Disturbed over the incident,
she complained to the higher

authorities. In another case of

ill-treatment, a faculty member was asked to remove his
helmet and look at the CCTV
camera. Ironically, a senior
faculty, who is a member of
the campus security committee, was also denied entry to
the campus despite having
a radium sticker on his car
windshield.
Such incidents are occurring
on a daily basis. While it is
important to strengthen the
security within the campus,
the security check appears to
only pressurise students and
faculty to carry their ID cards.
A student, under the condition of anonymity, said that
despite the security check and
restrictions, many incidents
of theft are reported within
the campus. These restric-

tions are just creating a hassle

for the university community.
They are not keeping out any
unwanted elements or making
the campus more secure, the
student bemoaned.
Cab drivers and delivery persons are forced to deposit their
original ID cards at the main
gate before they are allowed
to enter the campus. They are
apprehensive that their IDs
could be photocopied and be
misused. Due to the excessive
restrictions, students are being asked to come to the gate
and collect the delivery, which
undermines the very meaning
of home delivery.
There is no order or statute
which asks the security guards
to collect IDs before allowing
people to enter the campus.
Meanwhile, an order dated on

July 1, 2016, undersigned by

Deputy Registrar (Security)
says that checking of personnel at the gates is mandatory.
The order also says personnel
entering the University may
be permitted only after a thorough check to ensure that nobody without ID can enter.
One allegation against the security check is that it provides
free access to certain people.
The vehicles that are registered with the University administration are not checked.
Who knows what is being
transported by these vehicles? asked a student, casting
doubts on the administration.
Dr. Joby Joseph, Associate professor at the Centre for Neural
and Cognitive Sciences, said,
The faculty members who reside in the quarters have visi-

tors and sometimes they may

not have any ID cards. They
have been stopped at the main
gate and have to face harassment each time. Dr Joby Joseph added that some faculty
members have decided to live
outside the campus since their
family and friends were denied entry.
The
administration
has
claimed that the excessive restrictions are to prevent incidents of poaching. However,
there are many other ways
through which the cattle grazers and poachers are entering
the campus. Some of those
trails are - behind MH-L,
through the RTC Depot, behind Aparna Sarovar, Gachibowli Stadium. In fact, it is
not that difficult to scale the
boundary wall either.

Hush-hush over gender

Continued from Page 1
This is despite the fact that the
faculty from these department
would have better experience
in handling such issue.
Instead, the assistant registrar has been appointed even
though the ICC guidelines
clearly dont permit any member holding an administrative
post. This could flout the autonomy of the committee.
In an unexpected step, the administration has terminated
the tenure of Adv. Vasudha
Nagaraj, the Legal Expert with
the GSCASH and replaced

her with Prof. Y Vishnupriya

from Osmania University. The
GSCASH student members
demanded reinstating her.
GSCASH has been one of the
few functional committees in
University of Hyderabad, aiding studnts facing harassment
since its inception in 2010.
The committee has high visibility, due to hoardings every
few meters. The committee
addressed 10 complaints in
the last year, according to the
annual report.
The GSCASH student members are planning a compul-

sory handbook for all students

on issues of gender sensitization. A workshop to discuss
what goes into the hand book
would be held in January.
GSCASH was a hard won victory for the students across
the country. It started with the
Vishaka guidelines of 1997,
the first to acknowledge sexual
harassment in workplace. The
guidelines were first drafted
in JNU in the same year, followed by GSCASH in 1999.
By 2001, UGC ordered all Littering forces workers to pick up garbage. The two workers can be seen
universities to implement the sharing a pair of gloves, wearing one on each hand.
GSCASH model.

November, 2016

NEWSREEL
University denies
wrongdoing in water supply

The Executive Engineer

denied allegations that the
administration had participated in a water scandal and
had denied the fundamental
right to life. A student had
filed a complaint saying that
the administration owed over
Rs 12 crore to the HMWSSB,
due to which the connection
was cut. The administration
said that no pending payments were owed and that the
arrears were in fact sewerage
cess. These arrears would
be paid after a grant from
the UGC is sanctioned, the
administration stated. The
university also denied wrongdoing in procuring water
from local water suppliers.

Open Space Academics

The SC/ST Teachers Forum

and Concerned Teachers held
a lecture series titled Open
Space Academics throughout
the semester. The talks were
held near Velivada at the
North Shopcom. The last talk,
titled What is a university?
was an interactive session
where students and faculty
alike shared their feelings and
concerns about the university.

University disposes abandoned vehicles

The University administration disposed around 19

abandoned vehicles that were
found around the campus.
Among the vehicles, 18 were
two wheelers and one was an
auto.

Vasuki Belavadi takes

charge as Chief Warden

Dr Vasuki Belavadi took

charge as Chief Warden. He is
an Assistant Professor at the
Department of Communication in the University.

Page 6

Chief Warden sir, Jara Dekho!

PHOTO FEATURE: Suggestion and complaint boxes across the campus are a faade. While the box piles up, the administration
doesnt bother to check it.

Faculty and students protest against administration

Joel Prabhakar
On October 31, the SC/ST
Teachers Forum and a few
faculty members of the University of Hyderabad, along
with students, staged a protest
in the administrative building demanding apology from
the administration for the
discrimination meted out to
Prof. Sudhakar Babu. Around
20 faculty members and 50
students participated in the
protest. Prof. Sudhakar Babu
is the only senior full time
faculty at the Academic Staff
College of the University of
Hyderabad, and the Convener
of the SC/ST Teachers Forum.

The treatment meted

out to Prof. Sudhakar
is a blatant act of
discrimination,
P. Thirumal, UHTA
A few days before the protest,
when a meeting was to be organised to review and examine issues identified with the
Academic Staff College, Prof.
Sudhakar was shocked to find
that his name was not in the
rundown of invitees for the
meeting with Vice Chancellor Prof. Appa Rao Podile.
Prof. Sudhakar was served
with a notice asking that he
may make himself accessible around the venue of the
meeting, however outside the
actual meeting, so he can be

brought in for particular explanations related to certain

items in the agenda.
The treatment meted out to
someone like Prof. Sudhakar
is a blatant act of discrimination. This is typically not
the way a coordinator of any
center in the University, or
any faculty member, would
be treated in usual circumstances, particularly if they
are from privileged and powerful communities, said Prof.
Thirumal. Former Students
Union President Zuhail KP
said that this incident rubs in
the message that the dalit faculty have no right to have their
own opinions.
As the protesting members
of the campus demanded an

apology, both the Pro VCs refused to do so. They said that a
committee would be constituted to look into the issue. The
faculty and students rejected
this proposal. They said that
over the last year, the committees had been appointed
by the administration to further their vindictive agenda
against students and teachers
from marginalised communities. In a heated moment one
of the students questioned the
Pro-VC, If we beat you, will
there be a committee?
The SC/ST Teachers Forum
and Concerned Teachers reiterated their demand of unconditional apology from the
University administration towards Prof. Sudhakar, and

Photo Credit: Vyshakh Thaliyil

an immediate end to discriminatory practices in the University.

A press release issued by the
SC/ST Teachers Forum and
Concerned Teachers of University of Hyderabad said that
the University administration
was persistently propagating
systemic discrimination and
humiliation. It claimed that
the administration, led by VC
Prof. Appa Rao Podile and the
Pro-Vice Chancellors Prof.
Vipin Srivastava and Prof. B.
P. Sanjay, was extending an
agenda of making the University space hostile and vicious
towards the dalit students,
educators, regulatory staff and
the labourers.

November, 2016

Page 7

Campus Faces Dearth of Basic

Necessities
Arakkal Indulekha
University of Hyderabad has
over 5000 students from different disciplines who have
come from all over the country to widen their academic
horizons. To do the same, a
few basic amenities are expected to be provided by the
university, which is not so.
Drinking water is a fundamental resource that every
public institution is expected
to provide. Water should be
a free commodity but we have
to pay for it at both shopcoms,
which is definitely the administrations fault, said Shirin
Saif, an MA student.
Unnimaya Gopan, an MPhil
student, talked about the efforts taken to resolve the issue. SFI as an organization
has conducted a water strike
to ensure proper drinking water in public spaces and regular supply of water in hostels.
She claimed that the shopkeepers at public spaces break
the reverse osmosis filters that
are placed so that they can sell
more water bottles. We are
working on a method to protect the RO, said Gopan.
Adding to the woes of the
students, washrooms in public spaces are not cleaned due
to the irregular water supply.
The washrooms in public
spaces lack hygiene. They are

With many students in the

university being hostellers,
there is a popular opinion that
better food courts are needed
All the food courts in in the campus. Akhila Therese,
a hosteller from south campus
the campus serve
is not satisfied with the available food courts. Sometimes
unappetizing food
items and the prices when the mess food seems too
bland for our taste buds, we
are also hiked accord- would love to have an option
ing to the shopkeepers for good quality food, which
whims, said Akhila. is lacking in the university. All
the food courts in the campus
serve unappetizing food items
The Students Union claims to and the prices are also hiked
have taken up the issue with according to the shopkeepers
the health and Sanitation De- whims, said Akhila.
partment. Kuldeep Nagi, Stu- The demand for at least a tea
dents Union President, said, stall near the library is the
The department is at logger- need of the hour according to
heads with the water suppli- many students. Students who
ers. They are unable to clean want to pull off an all-nighter
because of the lack of water find it difficult to go till the Lasupply. We understand the se- dies hostel or C hostel, where
riousness of the issue and will there are existing canteens, for
ensure continuous cleaning just a cup of tea and then reand regular inspection of the turn to the library.
washrooms in public spaces. The students union feels that
Internet connectivity, a boon instead of having new restaufor academics is not available rants come up, it would be
in public spaces like Gops and more economical to bring up
Shopcom. Wi-Fi was active the quality of existing eateries
earlier, but was cut off during in campus. Recent negotiathe Justice for Rohith Vemula tions with shopkeepers have
movement to curb students led to a new rule which states
dissent on online media. Many that price lists should be put
representations on reinstating up in front of every restaurant
Wi-Fi have been submitted, on campus. This will help in
keeping the prices in check.
but to no avail.
in a pathetic condition, said a
student of UOH.

A THOUSAND WORDS

Disabled by University,
Enabled by Will
Donita Jose
The official website of the
University of Hyderabad has a
section dedicated to recording
the 120 entitlements for
students with disabilities. But
in reality, students say even
ramps are not provided.
Rizwana is a student of
MPhil History with a
mobility disability called
arthrogryposis. She uses a
wheelchair to navigate and in
August this year, she took to
social media to express her
angst. I dont understand
how people can park their
vehicles by blocking ramps
Every time I either have to
sit and stare till someone
comes and moves it or else
my friends move the vehicles,
read her Facebook post which
called out to student leaders
for action. Disabled students
are voicing themselves on
Facebook.
Though ramps are present
across most departments,
common places like Gops
lack this facility. The Centre
for Integrated studies has a
ramp near its rear entrance,
but it is mostly inaccessible.
The makeshift ramp of mud
and cement at Gops, Rizwana
says, was made by her friends.
But bikers often drive over
it, making it difficult for
wheelchairs to pass.
Rizwana said that students
with physical disabilities
seeking admission call her to
enquire about the facilities,
but dont join after knowing
the sorry state. I walk on
my knees to the restroom. Its
not a healthy thing to do, but

theres no other option, she

says. For the students, fighting
the odds takes more time than
focusing on academics.
The campus has a community
of about 90 visually impaired
students, who find themselves
cheated after promises were
made on a disabled friendly
campus. The Braille texts are
limited to NCERT textbooks.
For our major course work,
we use audio clips or special
software, says Ramu Raja a
student of M.A Sociology.
Laptops should be provided to
visually challenged students,
but the slugfest between
the state government and
central university as to whose
jurisdiction the students fall
continues to deprive them.
The
University
has
a
committee for looking into the
welfare of disabled students
called Empowered Committee
for Differently Abled Persons
(ECDAP). This committee
was formed in 2008, but has
limited itself to just conveying
the grievances of students
to the administration. As
ECDAP has no autonomy or
specific funds, its functioning
is reduced drastically. The
ECDAP has not even provided
for separate caretaker for
students in north campus,
and special conveyance for
students is also absent.
Ramu suggests a better
measure, Universities like
JNU and EFLU have a separate
Cell for Disability. These cells
not only have specific funding,
but also field experts who are
more capable in handling the
different needs.

Night cup competitions liven up the campus

Students participated eagerly
in the Night Cup competitions that were conducted in
football, basketball, throwball and volleyball games in
October. While football and
basketball were held for men
and women, throw ball was
conducted for female students
and volleyball for males.
Snipers FC emerged victorious in the football men while
Photo: Team Observer
Misfits sealed the cup in the
womens division. In basketAfter the move to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, ATMs in the campus were busier than ball, Lazy Boys and Seven
ever. Here, we can see students lining up to withdraw cash even as the machines are being filled up. Shades won the top prize in

men and womens divisions

respectively.
Here for Beer, which won the
volleyball competition, probably went for a few drinks later.
While in throw ball, team Inquilab secured the top spot.
Students displayed their wit
and humour by choosing
quirky team names. Some of
the lighter team names were
Struggling Politicos, Tequila
Shots and How to Play. However, names like Pellet Guns
also displayed the students
political awareness.

November, 2016

Page 8

Students revel on DJ Night

Observer Team
Amidst booming music, loud
hoots and hands up in the
air, the students danced to
the beats of DJ Chandu at the
Sukoon Ground on Friday,
4th November 2016. The DJ
Night, held by the Students
Union 2016-17, took off at 7
in the evening and went on till
midnight.
The semester exams are coming up and the students need
an outlet to lighten up. The
previous union had held two
DJ parties and we are taking it forward, said Kuldeep
Singh Nagi, the Students Union President. Zuhail K.P., the
former President has a similar
opinion. A certain amount of
mental pleasure is required
for high academic output. Students undergo a lot of pressure during the exam time,
resulting in stress and depres-

sion. The Students Union is

attempting to usher these students into social life and give
them a respite from all this
strain, he added.
Hundreds of students moved
to the tunes of songs from
various languages including
Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam; bearing witness to
an amalgamation of various
cultures. Such initiatives help

bring students from different

socio-cultural backgrounds
together, said G Naveen, S.N.
School Board Member.
Most students were of the
opinion that the DJ Night was
quite an enjoyable experience.
I never expected the Union
to conduct something of this
grandeur. We danced well into
the night, said Irene Lizbeth
George of M.A. Economics.

Check Dam Brings Cheer to Campus

Arakkal Indulekha
Yehi to hai hamara swimming
pool, said the 6-year-old with
unbounded excitement and
before I could shoot another
question, she neatly dove into
the flowing water. Amidst the
crowd gathered at check dam
in University of Hyderabad, I
could spot her tiny head pop
up and laugh with excitement.
The pocket-sized waterfall and
the water body surrounding it
spanning over a few hundred
meters and was packed at
the start of the semester. The
crowds increased so much
that the administration had to
employ security guards to ensure safety.
Despite rain or shine, check
dam saw a flurry of activity
till late evening when students
had to be ushered out. Social
media saw a lot of photos and
videos being circulated by the
students.
Since I joined integrated
course, this is the first time I
am seeing the check dam in
full flow. It is the prettiest the
check dam has been in over
four years, said Rafiha Ali, a
student of Integrated Science.
Telangana hadnt seen much
rain for the past few years,
which led to a nearly dry check
dam. First year students are
often introduced to few mustsee spots around the campus.

However, a few students also

expressed their apprehensions
about the program. The unions stance is that now we will
move forward by letting bygones be bygones. Scars wont
heal by dancing and singing. We have not addressed
the things that we wanted to
address. We have failed as a
movement, said a second year
post-graduate student.

member from my department

expressed her desire to join us
while we were going to go the
check dam, said a student.
Photos and videos posted on
social media were met with
jealousy by ex-students who
commented that they never
had the chance to see check
dam in full flow. One cannot
fault them for this because
seeing the opaque blue water
flowing from a short height is
a rarity in the campus.
In the biting cold that the campus is experiencing these days,
students carry the memory of
basking in the sunlight on the
rocks near check dam from
dawn to dusk. These students
and those to come, must be
keeping their fingers crossed
for a good rainfall in the coming years. After experiencing
the charm of having their own
swimming pool in the university, it would be tough to
revert back to the rocky patch
that check dam once was.

With over 20 children of various ages and a handful of

volunteers, Each One Teach
One celebrated Childrens
Day at GB Maidan on Monday, November 14. It was fun
filled evening of games and
treats. It marked an end to
the semesters classes for the
children from marginalised
backgrounds in the workers
colony at South Campus. Each
child was given a box of crayons.
Each One Teach One is an initiative by the students of University of Hyderabad that aims
at making a difference by imparting knowledge to children
who cannot afford the same.
The initiative is also active in
a slum in Lingampalli. This
year the volunteers looked
within the university and saw
that their efforts were required
in the workers colony in the
South Campus.

The Perfect Bite for Winter

Arakkal Indulekha
Picture this: you step outside
your department to shopcom
and feel your teeth chattering.
You once again regret not having carried a sweater.

Places like mushroom rock,

high rocks and buffalo lake are
usually touted. Check dam,
which always features on the
list, turned out to be a disappointment due to the dry spell
it was going through.
Vipula Padinjattil, a PhD student, was left marvelling at
the beauty of the check dam.
This year, the first-year students have had the chance to
see a beautiful, overflowing
check dam. The last time I saw
it like this was years ago and
even then, it wasnt this beautiful, said Vipula.
It was a common sight to see
people from all disciplines and
ages meet up at check dam.
It served as a neutral ground
to douse off the tension during elections. Many prominent student leaders could be
found at check dam with their
feet immersed in water, trying
to drown away their apprehensions.
I was shocked when a faculty

Childrens Day
Celebrated

An affordable snack
to munch on, sweet
corn has indeed found
its way into the hearts
of many students on
campus.
At moments like these, it is
that small cart heaped with
the husks of sweet corn that
offers you a sliver of hope. You
are not disappointed when the
lady places piping hot corn
on the cobb into your hands.
With just the right amount of
chilli powder and salt sprinkled on the corn, its warmth
pleases your hands and the
taste sets your taste buds into
a tango.
The love for corn on the cobb
can be understood by the students who flock to this cart
with money outstretched in
their hands. An affordable
snack to munch on, sweet
corn has indeed found its way
into the hearts of many students on campus.
Due to popular demand, sweet

corn is now available in both

north and south shopping
complexes. The love for chai
in University of Hyderabad is
evident by the way students
rush to tea shops in the evening. It is now however time to
add the yellow wonder to this
list, as it serves a perfect evening snack for those exhausted
after class. Just like the serious discussions and fun filled
laughter that happens over a
steaming cup of tea, a cobb
has also found its way into
many groups.
As I prepare myself for the
long walk to south campus, I
find myself join the cluster of
students around the cart and
buy one to keep me company
while walking. While leaving shopcom, I look around
and see various groups of students scattered around happily munching on corn. What
makes me smile is the way
some have cupped both their
hands on their cobb to heat
their fingers.
It has certainly succeeded in
warming the hearts of many
and making many students
stay at shopcom even when
the weather turns chilly.
Sweet, with just the right
amount of spice, corn on the
cobb is here to stay for the students of University of
Hyderabad.