After the visit of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in January last year who was invited to DU for conferring an honorary degree on him, it’s the turn of none other than the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton to visit the Delhi University.

Clinton expressed her desire to come for a talk in the Delhi University. She is coming on Monday, July 20th and may talk on education and Indo-US relations.

Clinton is expected to deliver her speech at the convention hall in the Old Vice Regal Lodge in DU. But the bad news is; only a few students will be allowed on invitation.

Nobody would have expected this but on the first day of college on Thursday; most of the freshers were seen begging to be ragged by their seniors who gave them the cold shoulder.

The senior students stayed away from even talking to the newcomers because of the tight security by Delhi Police and a strict anti-ragging campaign by the Delhi University. As a result, most of the freshers who think a little ragging is fun as it provides freshers an opportunity to interact with the seniors, were left craving for ragging.

Colleges like Hindu college had even banned the senior students from having any ‘‘introduction’’ with the freshers. Seniors were surprised to see the freshers coming to them and requesting to be ragged. But, because of the strict anti-ragging measures, most of the seniors chose to stay away from the freshers.

However some colleges like Kirori Mal, Shri Ram College of Commerce and Hans Raj did have some fun where some newcomers were asked to sing the songs and dance. The students might be surprised but the colleges had a sigh of relief with no incident of ragging being reported on the first day.

The day for which most of the freshers have been gearing up has finally arrived as most of the colleges reopened for the new session today, the day started with the orientation programme to introduce students to the faculty and the rules of the colleges.

Some of the colleges like Shri Ram College of Commerce, Hans Raj college, SGTB Khalsa, Lady Shri Ram have already had the orientation yesterday. SRCC welcomed the new students with a special lunch, while Hans Raj arranged a havan for all the newcomers. These colleges will begin regular classes from today.

All the colleges have made special arrangements to prevent any incidence of ragging this year. The Delhi University has also issued the following anti-ragging helplines:

North Campus – 27667221

South Campus – 24119832

UGC – 1800-180-5522 (toll free)

Delhi University is all geared up to prevent ragging. But this time, it is not only the students who have to beware of the ragging syndrome but also their parents. DU has asked the colleges to ask all the students and their parents to submit an affidavit to prevent ragging. All the freshers as well as seniors and their parents will have to get the affidavit duly signed by an oath commissioner and submit it in the respective colleges.

All the DU colleges will be providing a proforma each for the affidavit to be submitted by the parents and the students. Most of the colleges are planning to give out its copies to the freshers on the orientation day and to the seniors when the classes begin.

This step has been taken in accordance with the UGC guidelines. This is also an effort to make students and their parents understand the UGC guidelines on ragging. This is not the first time that colleges have warned the students against ragging, most of the colleges have warned the students against ragging in their prospectus and through notices for the past several years.

This is thought to be a very positive step against ragging and DU seems to be going an extra mile to ensure a smooth beginning for the freshers.

The time has come for all the new students who’ll be joining esteemed colleges of the Delhi University to bid goodbye to same old boring school dresses. This new found freedom is exhilarating and everyone wants to carve out a niche for him/her self. And what better than to make an early mark with your cool fashion statement.

New faces with cool fashion statements will keep the temperatures up in the Delhi University. So what do you think will be in this year? Broad belts, worn-out jeans, cool goggles or spiky hair.

Piece of advice from my Side: Whatever you wear make sure you carry it well. Also the saying ‘first impression is the last impression” holds true most of the times, so come prepared to dazzle the crowd.

If you have taken admission in any college near Dhaula Kuan or are planning to, then make sure you arrange for a way to reach there. The bus services to colleges like Sri Venkateswara, Moti Lal Nehru, Ram Lal Anand, Jesus & Mary, Maitreyi and the south campus have been miserable for several years and only a few buses ply on this route. The students have to either walk down till the main road and board the generally over-crowded buses or use a personal vehicle.

The problem started after the construction of the underpass at Dhaula Kuan nearly three years ago. Due to the underpass, the turn towards many of the colleges on the ring road stopped existing. Things have hardly improved since then. The main reason behind the scarcity of buses on this route is the fact that only DTC buses ply on this route.

Both the Delhi University officials and student unions have written to the transport department many times, but it seems that no measures have been taken to improve the situation.

On June, 29th, I made a post regarding the Delhi Government’s plans to upgrade the Delhi College of Engineering to a Technological University. I am back with a good news for all engineering aspirants, The Delhi Technological University Bill, 2009 was unanimously passed in the Assembly on Wednesday. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit proposed that the Bill be approved by the House, which would pave the way for upgradation of the existing Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) to Delhi Technological University (DTU).

It has been decided to upgrade Delhi College of Engineering into a State University under the name of Delhi Technological University.

I know this post has nothing to do with the Delhi University but since I have been a big fan of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk, I felt it is worth paying tribute to one of the greatest entertainers of all time. These pictures will walk you through the life and career of Michael Jackson.


Click here to see the pictures.

Out of the 6000 students that took the Combined Aptitude Test for English (CATE) for about 350 seats, as many as 79 students scored 80% and above, while 579 students scored between 70% and 79% in the consolidated scores. The results will be declared by the Delhi University‘s department of English, on Tuesday.

Swati Malik has been declared the overall topper with 89.83%. The common entrance test for aspirants seeking admission to the English (Hons) programme in 12 colleges was conducted on June 17.

A large number of students have got zero in the multiple choice question section. The consolidated score is calculated by giving 70% weightage to the CATE score and 30% to the class XII best-of-four aggregate. The result has been sent to the different colleges and they will declare their individual cut-offs.

There are plans to introduce a bill in the Assembly during the ongoing budget session to upgrade Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) as Delhi Technological University.

After approving the proposal on Thursday, CM Sheila Dikshit said the decision has been taken because it would provide the much-needed academic and administrative independence to DCE, which has the distinction of being the mother institution of IIT Delhi, School of Planning & Architecture, DIPSAR and College of Arts.

It will also open up the road for making new engineering colleges under the proposed university. According to senior officials, the decision is in tune with the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission which has emphasized on autonomy of institutions and creation of synergy between education and research.

I believe, this is a good move by the Delhi Government, because Delhi has very small number of seats if we compare the figures with other states.