SUC Report Cards 2019: Nikhil Peruri
Written on December 31st , 2019 by {"login"=>"jcbitshyd", "email"=>"journal@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"", "last_name"=>""}Nikhil Peruri, President of the Student Union Council highlighted 6 issues and promised to implement 20 programs to address them in his election manifesto – focusing heavily on the technical development of the campus and the safety and well-being of the General Body.
Out of the mentioned 20 programs, 3 have been implemented, 7 are in progress while 10 are yet to show any visible progress for implementation.
The President’s manifesto still remains largely dependent on the SU Portal that has now been in talks for 3 consecutive years without any real progress. It is expected that the SU Portal with some basic features will be operational by the end of January.
1) Safety and Security
Although the President did state mental health and campus security to be a priority in his manifesto - a semester in and his promised actions are yet to be realized.
There has been very little progress amongst the 3 points mentioned in the President’s manifesto.
a) SOS System (In Progress) – Despite promises made in both General Body Meetings, the SOS system allowing students to alert the security office at the main entrance is not yet in action. The President has promised that the system will be added as a rider onto the SU portal. On further discussion, the President stated that the SOS portal would be added on the SmartCampus portal in the next semester until the SU Portal is operational. In contrast to the words of the President who stated that work had already begun in the first semester of 2019-20, it has been learnt that work has only just begun on what was one of the President's major manifesto points.
b) Tackling Harassment (In Progress) – Tackling the issue of Harassment was a central issue in the President’s manifesto and a major talking point during his campaign. While the ICC was introduced to the new batch of students entering campus via the WITW magazine, events during ATMOS brought the lack of information on the matter to the fore again. The President made specific promises during the second GBM, which included the introduction of bouncers during ARENA 2020 and the blacklisting of institutions if a credible harassment complaint is made against a representative from that school. This step is indeed commendable and will hopefully go a long way towards ensuring a safe campus if implemented correctly.
c) Improving Mental Health (Not Fulfilled) – The President’s plan to have an organization that deals with mental health to provide video counselling services has not materialized as of now. On further discussion, the President revealed that the system would be replaced by a feature to anonymously book appointments and approach the SWD counsellors (instead of having to go via the SWD and book an appointment). SWD was responsible to create an anonymity portal according to the President. It is troubling that even after a semester, a safe portal to access mental health resources on campus is unavailable. The President has agreed that due to reservations on the same by the Chief Warden – the video counselling aspect of his manifesto cannot be guaranteed. Hence, the path the SU will take on the same is not clear. This point in the manifesto hasn’t materialized with mental health resources still relatively inaccessible, uncomfortable to use, and highly inconvenient.
2) Skill Development Programmes
A lot of the points promised by the President have dealt with improving the technical knowledge of the campus. However, they remain very Department specific and have not branched out to the campus as a whole.
a) Peer Learning Programmes (Not Fulfilled) – While the President did come up with an ambitious plan to allow for certificated mentors to teach mentees, the same has not yet come into action. It is expected to be running sometime next semester. According to him, one of the bigger problems with respect to the PLP’s is the lack of resources and inventory available. The President has stated he will try to solve this issue with the introduction of the TechnoStore.
b) Industrial Development Programme (In Progress) – The President has stated the activities of ACE in the previous year, inspired his idea wherein they used their faculty contacts to receive case studies from industries on technical issues. He has said that he has communicated this idea towards discipline associations to carry forward into their streams. It is disappointing to note that the President, despite his manifesto having such an ambitious plan to advance the tech culture on campus has been unable to follow-up with the program in any adequate fashion whatsoever. As the effort has started this late in the semester, the extent to which the IDP will be completed at the end of the academic year is questionable.
c) Freelancing Society (In Progress) – Although this point has been brought up by the previous SU's – the President says that their progress on this aspect is almost finished. However, the organization (Fountane) has asked for space in the academic block, which the SU is unavailable to provide. Fountane – the organization in question, will have a venture on campus wherein they teach students the basics of certain key skill areas and connect them towards people and organizations who have projects in those areas.
3) Technical Culture
a) SU Hackathons (Fulfilled) – Although the SU has conducted one hackathon in the first semester, in an attempt to improve the technical culture on campus, the Hackathon had some issues with people complaining that it allowed for people to attempt the same from their rooms. The SU has promised that this issue will be taken care of when the next Hackathon happens in the 2nd semester.
b) Tech exhibition (In Progress) – There was no tech exhibition in the first semester as the Technical Associations were unable to create projects to display over the summer break. The President has promised that there will be an exhibition during the Tech Week at the start of the 2nd semester, where all associations and technical clubs will be given a platform to showcase their projects. However, not all technical clubs will be doing the same as not all have projects they can display.
c) Technostore (Not Fulfilled) – The President’s idea for a Technostore was commendable – especially given the prevalent entrepreneurial culture on campus. He has spoken with I-cell in regards to the TechnoStore but has not made any more progress. Towards the same, the SU President has also stated that he will look towards purchasing technical stock at bulk and selling them at the Karuturi store at CP. The President said the venture is expected to be operational sometime in the next semester.
d) SU Entrepreneurship Challenge (SUEC) (In Progress) - The President stated that technical projects which are very useful to campus should be under the SU and, to that end, will create a SUEC (Students’ Union Entrepreneurship Challenge) fund towards ensuring that these ventures remain afloat and as an incentive towards persons who come up with ideas that are beneficial to the campus general body. They have allocated 1.5 lakh for the SUEC and will start working with E-Cell on providing initial funding to give them a small boost. The President will create the SUEC in a similar vein towards the SUTC, with an interview with the President and the E-Cell President deciding the SUEC Head.
e) Tech Magazine - He has also brought up the technical magazine, which will be finished by the end of the 2nd semester as a yearly venture post-Pearl. The tech magazine, although a good initiative has many similarities to BITScan.
4) General Issues
a) Air Travel Concession (Not fulfilled) – The SU had an idea of cooperating with Jet Airways towards providing BITS students with concessions on air travel – however, external factors on the company have led to this program reaching a dead-end. However, Air India does provide student discounts on their base fares for flights.
In reference to other transport – the President has stated that he is in contact with an operator named AbhiBus – which has been willing to offer concessions on bus travel.
b) SAC Monitoring System, Chamber Consultation (In Progress)– Both of the points in this subsection will be added on as a rider onto the SmartCampus Portal and when it’s eventually ready – The SU Portal. However, there is considerable progress in the development of the SAC Monitoring system and chamber consultation. The idea of a SAC Monitoring System was questioned during the GBM – with the SU President stating that it would mainly apply to the pool table and the gym while the GB questioned the specific technical working of the SAC monitoring system along with its feasibility as a limited number of people use those facilities.
c) Ask Me Anything (AMA) Chatbot (Not Fulfilled)– The AMA Chatbot is to act as an addition on to the SU Portal but even as the SU Portal is to be dished out next semester, no plans on implementing a Chatbot were seen. However, the President suggested an interim measure of having a document wherein basic questions that the GB might have would be answered. This idea, coupled with a Google Form so that people can address their grievances towards specific members of the SU, was to be implemented in the interim. However, this venture is yet to be realized.
d) Digital Noticeboard (Not Fulfilled) – The President, has stated that this idea will be implemented in the SU Portal once it is operational but no progress on the same was recognised.
Nevertheless, SWD already has a digital noticeboard on website and is working to bring it on the App too.
e) Laundry Services (Not Fulfilled)– The SU has stated that due to issues with water supply payments there isn’t scope for extra laundromat services to be provided on campus. In a similar vein, an idea for washing machines within hostels was shot down.
5) Improving Fests
- Increasing CSR (Fulfilled) – The President spoke about collaborating with NSS and Nirmaan towards improving the social impact of the fests on campus. During ATMOS – a 3-day event called Manthan was conducted to connect the stories of corporate leaders towards school students. However, this ideal to increase the social impact of fests on campus must continue for Pearl and ARENA 2020 as well.
- Making Fest Websites Open Source – The Fest Websites were already open source before the current SU – hence the manifesto point becomes redundant.
6) Improving Food Options:
a) Sandwich Dispenser (Not Fulfilled) - The manifesto of the President had a point in his manifesto towards bringing sandwich dispensers onto campus to get warm food on campus. However, as the current chief warden was against the idea, the plan is no longer valid.
b) Food Trucks (Fulfilled) – To the credit of the SU, food trucks have been arriving on the campus at a very regular cadence over the last month of the first semester.
c) Healthy Food Options (Not Fulfilled) – Unfortunately, at this point, the healthy food options available on campus still remain scarce.
At this point, it must be noted that the vegan food outlet that came up on campus for a day in the latter half of the semester was not the brainchild of the SU. While vegan food has nothing inherently to do with healthy food, it can be coupled with this point for convenience. To comment on that venture however, the high prices of the stall make it a venture that maybe doesn’t adequately serve the purpose of the campus. This coupled with the fact that the stall only stood for a day with no follow-up healthy food outlets is slightly disappointing.
7) General Campus Related Issues
a) The President has stated that with the new semester SmartCampus will be extended to all food outlets on campus. The administration has stated certain issues it has vis-a-vis accounting – but the President has shown confidence that navigating those issues is possible and that the SmartCampus team has prepared for the extension.
b) The President has also said he will be bringing about E-Cycles onto campus. The problem with the same is with the maintenance of the cycles. The vendor and other arrangements have been made according to the SU. Hopefully, the E-cycles can be operational from the next semester.
c) The network issues that have plagued the campus over the past semester was also mentioned by the President. He has stated that local operators will be setting up new towers during the vacations. Hopefully, this aids the severe strain on the network, especially in the VK Bhawan.