SUC Report Cards 2018: Aman Syed

Written on December 8th, 2018 by {"login"=>"jcbitshyd", "email"=>"journal@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"", "last_name"=>""}

The President’s manifesto consisted of 13 ideas, some of which aimed at improving existing systems on campus and others which were completely novel initiatives. At the end of the first semester of 2018-19, 1 has been fulfilled, 7 of these are still in progress and 5 of these have not been fulfilled. Click here to view the manifesto on the Election Commission page.

Manifesto Point	Status
Improving Mental Health	In Progress
Sanitary Pad Dispensers	Fulfilled
Students’ Emergency Fund	Not Fulfilled
SU Tech Team	In Progress
Parking Space for Higher Degree Students	Not Fulfilled
Accommodation and PS Resources	Not Fulfilled
Freelancers Cell	In Progress
Alumni Connect	In Progress
Health	In Progress
Build to Sell	Not Fulfilled
Skill Development	In Progress
Codifying DisCo rules	In Progress
Aman ki Baat	Not Fulfilled

Improving Mental Health: In Progress

With only two psychiatrists visiting the campus twice a week, the SUC
recognises that it is not sufficient. The President aims to have a
panel consisting of students and faculty and has contacts of agencies
who deal with mental health issues and can teach faculty on how to
handle such cases. An app, which he said is currently in its beta
phase, is being built as a messenger platform. In this, students can
anonymously share their issues, and then receive help from the panel who
has been trained by the agency on how to deal with mental issues at a
basic level.

However, in October the ACC (Academic Counselling Cell) was formed.
The unit, headed by Prof. Kanan Ramaswamy, aims at helping and guiding
students in all matters related to their academics, including a separate
division for helping students with mental issues that arise with
academic stress. In light of this development, the SUC had decided to
plan their action based on the response the ACC received. They have
decided to go ahead with their original plan. With consultation with the
Humanities Department, he assures us that the panel would be functional
by the next semester.

Sanitary Pad Dispensers: Fulfilled

While it took a lot of time to convince the administration, sanitary
pad dispensers were implemented in this year’s budget. Dispensers have
been installed in the girl’s washroom in the library and LTC. The
manifesto only mentioned dispensers but sanitary pad incinerators will
also be installed soon in the girls’ hostels. There are currently five
incinerators which have been purchased for the girls’ hostels, and are
yet to be installed. The number of dispensers and incinerators will be
increased later, depending on the response.

Students’ Emergency Fund: Not Fulfilled

The idea behind the Student Emergency Fund, was to be able to loan
students money efficiently during an emergency. A certain amount of
money would be taken out on a reserve basis from the Student Union Fund,
so that it would be easily accessible on short notice. Students would
be able to get the money, by conveying their situation to their
respective H-reps who would then speak to the President, who would lend
the concerned student the money for a period of two weeks. The primary
purpose of this fund, was to provide an alternative to the Student Aid
Fund, which involves a lengthy and time consuming process in order to
receive the money, for emergency situations. The President is currently
in talks with the administration, in order to implement this initiative
but progress has been slow.

SU Tech Team: In Progress

The SU Tech Team currently is primarily focussed on working on the
212 bus tracker and SAC monitoring system. However the SU website, while
existent, is outdated and not functional. With a significant number of
points from the President’s manifesto depending on the SU Portal, the
SUC is hopeful to have a functional website by the start of the next
semester.

Parking Space for Higher Degree Students: Not Fulfilled

While there is parking space for PhD students, higher degree students
still do not have parking space. At the time, the lot where I block
currently stands, was intended to be used as a parking lot for higher
degree students . However with the expansion work over the summer and
this semester, the SUC is still uncertain about the allotment of parking
space for higher degree students.

Accommodation and PS Resources: Not Fulfilled

The President’s manifesto aimed at negotiating with YHAI (Youth
Hostels Association of India) for accommodation for students in PS,
however YHAI is uninterested in collaborating with private institutions.
Currently the SUC plans to collect data when the fourth year students
return from their PS about where their stations were and their
accommodation and begin negotiations so that when the PS list is
released, the people who are going for PS in the second semester can
benefit from the initiative.

Freelancers Cell: In Progress

With a large number of students on campus interested in freelancing
opportunities, especially in the fields of design and photography, the
President planned to bring freelancing opportunities to interested
students through the freelancers cell. The SUC has been talks with
companies who are interested in extending their freelancing
opportunities to college students such as a freelance design firm as
well as Telangana Tourism. However without a functional SU Portal, due
to a lack of formal structure, the idea cannot be properly implemented.

Alumni Connect: In Progress

The idea behind Alumni Connect was to have a platform where alumni of
the campus could fund projects or provide mentoring for students. Due
to the absence of a functional SU Portal, the idea has not been
implemented yet. The idea behind this portal, according to the
manifesto, was to enable crowdfunding of projects on campus through
voluntary contributions from alumni. The General Secretary's manifesto,
too, has a similar idea which appears to be in progress.

However, outside of the SUC, initiatives have begun to reach out to alumni, such as the Student Alumni Relations Cell.
Headed by Prof. V. Meenakshi this aims to keep in touch with alumni
through frequent articles and interactive events, including a reunion
for the 2008 and 2009 batch which has been planned for the 12th of
January, 2019. This in contrast to this idea of Alumni Connect, whose
primary objective appears to be technical assistance and monetary
funding.

Health: In Progress

This year, the SUC conducted one blood donation drive, along with NSS
during ATMOS and plans to conduct more such drives. Talks with
hospitals, about having a greater number of specialists visit campus as
well as having student discounts for BITSians are still in progress, and
the SUC plans to make headway with this initiative over the winter
break. As of now BITSians can still avail a discount at Yashoda
Hospital, an agreement which has been in place, prior to the tenure of
the current SUC.

Build to Sell: Not Fulfilled

The SUC intended to build a program which would students to solve
real life problems faced by different organizations where SUC would work
to get internship opportunities with companies which sponsor the fests
in the campus and wish to associate with the campus. However without a
functional SU Portal, no progress has been made on this front.

Skill Development: In Progress

The SUC aims to encourage students to explore different fields of
interest through the Skill Development Program. With the idea of
training of Civil Services and soft skills for interview training, the
plan included conducting talks, workshops and sessions with people
experienced in such fields. This semester, the SUC was unable to fulfill
this particular initiative. However, the SUC has already started to
make plans to implement this initiative in full swing by the next
semester.

Codifying DisCo rules: In Progress

While DisCo hearings already have a set of rules and guidelines that
are to be followed, the SUC with help from the Disciplinary Commitee
Student Representatives (Arjun Lokireddy & Archana Swaminathan) have
suggested changes in the procedure. One such change being planned by
the President is the inclusion of community service in the punishment,
such as working a stipulated number of hours in the library. Another
proposition is to have counselling for repeated offenders, in order to
reduce the number of disciplinary cases in the campus, as a whole.

Aman ki Baat: Not Fulfilled.

In order to keep in touch with General Body, the President had
proposed a monthly newsletter that would provide a summary of the
happenings on campus for the month, as well as include a proposal for
the initiatives of the next month. He had also planned on conducting
common room meetings, in order to provide a more accessible platform for
the General Body to air their concerns and queries. The President
assures us that there would be regular common room meetings following
the 14th of January, 2019. Next semester, the SUC plans to release such a
newsletter, once a month as well as conduct regular podcasts, subject
to the functionality of the LAN radio.

Outside The Manifesto

Apart from his manifesto, the President has put significant effort in
other endeavours apart from fests. His noteworthy achievements this
semester include :

Vending Machines: One of the major accomplishments
of SUC in this semester was the installation of vending machines.
Implemented as a solution for unavailability of food post intime, there
are currently 5 machines in the different hostels, on a trial basis. The
President assures us that this initiative will be expanded to all
hostels by the second semester.
Solar Panels: This semester also saw the
installation of solar panels in all hostels which essentially solved the
problem of lack of hot water in the hostels.
RO Water: The initiative which was started by the
previous SUC, was taken up by the current SUC and RO water filters were
installed this semester.

In addition to this, the SUC, under the President, has also introduced Swiggy’s services on campus,
which has helped make a larger variety of food easily accessible to the
students. They also convinced the administration to cover the pits near
the football field to prevent any mishaps. As of now, the pits are
covered with grills and they have planned to have them fully covered
before Arena 2019.

Article by Ananya Mohapatra and Saandra Nandakumar. Edited by Shanmukh Kali Prasad and Poornima Venkatapuram.