PUCSC president Chetan Chaudhary stuck with MA Urdu, couldn’t get into MTech

CHANDIGARH: Winning the Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) elections has cost academically to council president Chetan Chaudhary as he will now have to continue studying MA Urdu for one year after having completed his bachelors in engineering.
Chetan had completed BTech in biotechnology from the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) this year.He applied for masters in biotechnology at UIET and was placed in the waiting list.
To be eligible to contest the PUCSC elections, he took admission in MA Urdu, where many seats were lying vacant and getting admission was easy. He was hopeful of getting admission in biotechnology, but has not been able to make it.
The department teachers said that all the seats have been filled and the university also wrapped up admissions on September 18 after extending the deadlines multiple times.
Now, Chetan will have to pursue Urdu. Asked if he would finish the two-year MA in the language, Chetan said he would rather try for admission to MTech next year.
“I don’t think I am wasting my year. I will be working for the welfare of the students,” he said.
“I am not closed to the idea of joining active politics, but would definitely want to be academically competent and study MTech as well,” he added.
Campus leaders at PU are known to take admissions in courses such as Urdu, Sanskrit and French, to contest elections as seats in these courses go vacant every year.
Work going great: Chetan
The PUSCU leader claimed that it would be the first time that a campus president’s demands have started showing results within 15 days of assuming the position.
“Within days, we have been able to successfully ensure special chance for sciences students. Five departments have agreed to grant special chance. We are in talks with UIET as well,” he said.
In the coming days, Chetan said he would press for a stronger placement cell at the university to fulfil the promise he had made before the polls.
“Just like University Business School has special officers for placements, we will demand for special officers in all the departments of the university to improve placements. At UBS, average placements go up to Rs 12 lakh, but everywhere else they are low,” he said.
He said he has also raised the demand of hiking overtime wages for security persons at PU. “The security persons are paid only Rs 30 for every hour of overtime. Also, we have asked for hiring of more security persons, especially for the south campus for students to feel safe here,” he added.