Big promises, small returns

CHANDIGARH: From improvement in international rankings to better placements, no hike in fees to push for a central status for Panjab University (PU), student leaders had made a number of grand promises during the last campaign period. However, only a handful of these have been fulfilled, while the bigger issues have remained untouched over the past one year.
Only when new student council is about to be elected in less than a month, protests and submission of memorandums has picked up in the university. While office bearers of the past year's Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) list a number of issues they covered over the year, the bigger promises remain untouched.
Though different student parties claim credit for students' issues were resolved, they invariably hit the protest route to get their message across to the authorities without involvement of the student council. Is that the only way out?
PU student council evades multiple issues
Snigdha Bawa, vice-president of the 2014-15 council, said that the council always puts forth students' problems across to the authorities but at times, organizations are doing it at an individual basis. "Sometimes, we don't know that any problem exists, till the time that an organization brings it up. In that case, we support the organizations if the demand is genuine. We also supported Hindustan Students Association in their demand to address problems and concerns of research scholars, recently," she said.
President Divyanshu Budhiraja, who has promised focus on his home department, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, saw a number of interesting developments this year. While one of his key promises was transparency and proper utilization of funds, other organizations questioned the money spent by the council on various events.
"The issue was raked up again by Students Organization of India after we protested against their president, who was disqualified from an entrance exam on allegations of using a mobile phone. I am ready for any kind of probe," Budhiraja said. "We spent only Rs 1 lakh in Vimarsh while only Rs 1.51 lakh was used in Scitron. The remaining funds were donated by the council for the fund to help needy students," he added.
However, the subject of PU's international rankings, improvement of academic standards and teacher-student ratio were hardly touched upon by the council. On that, Bawa said that small steps were taken, but they would continue to work in that direction as student leaders. "For rankings, we had focused on hostels, placements and other parameters that matter toward the rankings. Some measures have been implemented, while others are in the pipeline," said Bawa.
BOX | STUDENT COUNCIL CHECKLIST
President | Divyanshu Budhiraja (Backed by NSUI)
Promises | Focus on home department UIET and Sector 25, where it is based; proper utilization of student council funds; improvement of academic standards; infrastructure
What he says was done | The entrance to UIET was unappealing; the road was broken, which has been fixed. Branch sliding norms have been allowed. The problem of electricity has been resolved. Hostel funds will be available online now and tenders will be transparent; events like Jhankar and those in UIET were hugely successful.
Vice President | Snigdha Bawa (NSUI)
Promises | Beautification of campus; Personality development cell to help placements; women's security; improvement in academic standards for better PU ranking
What she says was done | Skill development classes and orientation classes were held before Avsar, for the first time ever; self-defence workshops were organized for women in hostels; cleanliness drives near economics department and UICET were conducted
>Agrees more needs to be done on beautification of the campus and student center
Secretary | Ankur Sehrawat (National Students Organization)
Promises | Day-to-day concerns of day scholars and hostellers; no fee hike; Wifi in hostels 8, 9; better placements
What he says was done | Wifi is there in all hostels now; Road in south campus has been improved and infrastructure is better; condition of hostel number 8 has improved. Branch sliding norms have come into effect and we are still pushing for the provision for allowing students of UIET and University Business School to sit for improvement exams
Joint Secretary | Abhishek Thapar (Panjab University Students Union)
Promises | Improved placements; Proper teacher-student ratio; More, improved hostels
What he says was done | Common rooms are there in hostels that have permission to serve as library since space gets filled up in the main library around exams. PU has agreed for online hostel seat allotment and is surveying areas where new hostels can come up. Hostel seats through sports quota have been allowed and special chance for fourth year UIET students, so that they can sit for placements, has been allowed.