The Real Hike?

Written on September 26th, 2018 by {"login"=>"jcbitshyd", "email"=>"journal@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"", "last_name"=>""}

Fests are an important aspect of every student’s college life, albeit they may prove to be a little expensive sometimes. As BPHC gears up for the GBM tomorrow, this opinion editorial brings to you a brief on the deductions over the past years.

What’s the GBM About?

The General Body Meet (GBM) that is scheduled for tomorrow (27th September, 2018)1 proposes mandatory deductions from all first, second and third yearites to organize the fests of our college - ATMOS, Arena and Pearl. While this is something that has been happening year after year, the amount being deducted over the last few years has shot up, as has the ‘apparent' grandeur. Before we take a look at the deductions proposed this year, let’s take a step back and see what happened last year.

A Look at Last Year

ATMOS 2017 was one of the most financially successful fests our campus has seen. With profits of around Rs. 15.32L, it was a moment of pride for the Students Union (SU). However, part of that “profit”, as it’s often referred to, comes at a cost that every one of us bears. In ATMOS 2017, around Rs. 5.12L was collected. from the general body as mandatory deductions from other advances. Even without this Rs. 5L deduction from all of us, ATMOS would’ve been in a profit of around Rs. 10L. 2

On the other end of the spectrum, you have Pearl. Pearl 2018 went into losses estimated to be in the magnitude of tens of lakhs. These losses happened despite Rs. 875 being deducted from everyone. And this isn’t something unique to this year too - Pearl 2017, also, was in huge losses (summing up to figures over 35 L), in spite of a Rs. 550 deduction. Inspite of Rs. 300 more being deducted from everyone in Pearl 2018, it still failed to break even.

While today a few hundred bucks might not seem like that huge an amount, just ask yourself this: why were deductions for ATMOS necessary, when the fest would’ve made Rs. 10L profits even without them? Let that argument slide as liquidity might be an issue for fest. But why is this profit being carried forward to a loss making venture like Pearl when some of the amount we pay is solely for ATMOS?

Why Deductions?

The SUC already receives funding from us in a lot of ways, some direct and other indirect. Firstly, the institute (i.e. administration) deposits around Rs. 7.5L [every year into the Student Union account for the SU to spend. On top of that, all of us pay a yearly fee of Rs. 450, the Student Union Fund, which also goes to the SU account. All this money goes into a common pool which is ideally supposed to be used for year-round events, and overall development of the campus. Yet, we see a disproportionate amount of it being spent for our fests.

And this isn’t all. T-Shirt sales generate significant revenue for
the fests. Last Atmos, Rs. 1.3L revenue was made on T-Shirt sales. Over
last year, around Rs. 6.46L was earned through T-Shirt sales for the
fests - a majority of which are bought by us, BITSians.3

Another source of revenue for the SU during fests is food stalls -
the SU gets a cut for every purchase made in the food stalls that are
set up for fests. A sizeable percentage of sales come from BITSians -
especially from last year. BITSians generally don’t pay for food in
fests with cash - they pay them using the SmartCampus app. The
SmartCampus app lets you pay for stuff from your Other Advances account -
just like how deductions for TShirts work, making it easy for BITSians
to spend more even when you’re broke.

Last but definitely not the least - the pro-shows. Even after
deductions, all the proshows aren’t open to BITSians for free.
Typically, one or two proshows (generally the Stand-up performance in
the auditorium) are ticketed, and even BITSians need to buy a ticket
(albeit at a slightly discounted rate).

We already contribute to fests in more ways than one. And we do it voluntarily.

Why do we need mandatory deductions for EVERYONE when people are ready to contribute and are contributing?

What Happens Next?

Last year 4, because of the lack of the required quorum, the President’s ‘veto’ 5 power was used to deduct the necessary causing distraught and another GBM 6. Finally, 200 was deducted in the name of ATMOS. However, an interesting occurrence is the GBM that happened during the second half of the first semester of 2017. This GBM was done for deductions regarding the remaining fests that gave options of 800 and 1000 INR .7 Why is this interesting? Because ATMOS was already paid for - 200 Rupees per head. Paying an additional amount of 800 or 1000 removed the prospect of paying only 800 INR for all the three fests combined.8

This year too, we find ourselves in a similar situation. After all is said and done, this article and any other discourse on social media will amount to nothing if not channeled in the right way. Be it assent or dissent, the only place where any of us can make ourselves heard in a meaningful way is the GBM. Any opinion is futile if it cannot make its way there. Each of us has a say in how things roll out, the least we can do is exercise this power.

Footnotes & References

Notes on graph: Pearl 2016 gave the options of multiple
payment levels: 750, 550 and zero INR respectively. The payers were
given incentives depending on the amount given through ‘free’ pro-show
coupons. Arena 2016 gave the option of paying Rs. 100 or Rs. 0. Only the
maximum amounts collected were represented pictorially.

  1. Post by Election Commission on Facebook Announcing GBM on 27th September, 2018
  2. Figures Stated By CRC & More Stats
  3. Figures Also, it should be noted that this speaks of T-shirt revenue and not profit as expenditure was not revealed.
  4. Notice For First GBM of Academic Year 2017
  5. Quoted from Constitution Section IV.(a).4 of the Constitution regarding the powers of the President: "He/she may fix an amount to be charged from the members of the Union for any activity organized by the Council with the approval of the Associate Dean, Student Welfare Division (SWD) and the same shall have to be ratified by at least two-thirds of the Council. The Union must be informed about this decision within 24 hours. The Union reserves the right to propose a motion against this deduction within a week of the decision’s notice being made public. The motion must be initiated by one-third of the Union and passed by two-thirds of the Union."
  6. Notice For Second GBM of Academic year 2017
  7. Notice For Third GBM of Academic year 2017
  8. Minutes of Third GBM 2017

Published 26th September, 2018. Article by a concerned member of the general body

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