SUC Report Card(2021-22): Manikanta Somayaji
Written on June 17th, 2022 by {"login"=>"jcbphc21", "email"=>"f20181005@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"Journal Club", "last_name"=>"BPHC"}Manikanta Somayaji, the General Secretary of the Student Union Council of BPHC, has put forth a 9-point manifesto (of which 6 points were meant for online GB communication and interaction and 3 points for offline) prior to the elections. Of these, mental health and improvement of campus culture are of the main concern. Of these 9 points mentioned,1 was fulfilled, 5 are partially fulfilled or in progress and 3 are not fulfilled. You can find his manifesto here.
For Online Semester:
- Mental Health: In Progress
The first point regarding MHSG has made significant progress, with MHSG continuing on with various online events, and putting the importance of mental health under the essential spotlight it deserves. The General Secretary also collaborated with the MPower to organize a few sessions. On the other hand, no Yoga/Meditation sessions were conducted.
- Interaction among Juniors and Seniors: In Progress
While the FGP program continued as before with little to no changes, the promised events such as Renaissance and Gurukul, while ambitious in their nature, weren’t conducted.
- Improving Technical Culture: In Progress
The Tech Week was conducted in the first week of March, and it was quite a success, with many events being conducted by clubs and assocs. The freshers found something to do in the rather mundane online semester, and the quality of events was quite reputable as well. Sadly, other promises under this point weren’t fulfilled, as the number of technical workshops took a hit this semester.
- General Awareness: In Progress
During the orientation of the 2021 batch, the topic of mental health was covered and information regarding all the other bodies and facilities available on campus was provided. However, the General Secretary believes that there is still scope of betterment and more information should be conveyed in a scheduled manner.
Since the campus opened a few weeks after the new SU took over, little focus was given to the creation of intra-city groups.
- General Initiatives: In Progress
Practo:
After a few talks with Practo, the negotiations failed and this could not be brought into effect.
Spreadsheet of events:
This was supposed to be a dynamic document, consisting of all the events that are happening in and around Hyderabad at any particular time. Sadly, there were no spreadsheets of any such liking shared with the GB. There were plans of including the same in the much anticipated SU portal which could not be implemented.
Suggestions form:
A recurring form, was supposed to take feedback from the General Body, which the SU would then use to act on the issues that were afflicting the students. This idea wasn't realized as well.
Udemy Subscription:
While the Udemy Subscription didn't happen, we did collaborate with Coursera, and one course was provided to every student who logged in with their College Email, free of cost.
Alumni Student Mentorship Programme:
A program that was supposed to provide one-on-one guidance to the students via our vibrant alumni, while ambitious in nature, was not able to be converted into reality. The General Secretary informed us that this program was canceled due to a lack of interest from the concerned parties.
- Cultural Activities: Fulfilled
The General Secretary believes that he had limited opportunities to work with the regional associations. However, in the limited time and opportunities, a few events including the Diwali celebration were organized by the regional associations.
For Offline Semester:
- Campus-related: Not Fulfilled
SAC Management:
A system that was supposed to inform the students about which rooms were available in SAC at a given time. However, the constantly changing scenarios of COVID outbreak on campus coupled with the closure of SAC on multiple occasions meant that the General Secretary could give little time and effort to such a system.
e-Cycles:
A program that allowed the students to rent e-Cycles to commute around the campus, on a use-by-use basis. The logistics involved included calling vendors from outside to the campus for further discussions. However, the campus was closed to visitors for a large portion of the semester and the discussions could not take place as a result.
Collaboration with Nirmaan for leftover Mess food:
As the students were not allowed to leave the campus during the semester, this became another initiative that was not fulfilled.
- Technical Culture: Not Fulfilled
Smart Laundry:
While ambitious in its nature, it wasn't able to be implemented.
Separate rooms for Tech Clubs:
Possibly another one of those Generic points on a manifesto, as the Tech Clubs weren't provided with any rooms to work with, except the option of sharing the Tinkerer's Lab. The General Secretary informed us that the administration didn’t welcome the idea of allotting rooms to the student bodies in the academic block which was the plan he was proposing.
- Freelancing: Not Fulfilled
An initiative that was supposed to provide freelancing opportunities to the students. This, like most of the other promises, didn't happen as well because of a lack of proper communication.
While most of the promises seem to be partially fulfilled, significant progress made during the General Secretary’s tenure included a phased yet successful reopening of campus for all the batches. Vaccination drives were organized for students with the successful organization of “Orbe Novo” being a highlight of the current SU term.