The GBM Explainer
Written on October 21st , 2022 by {"login"=>"jcbphc21", "email"=>"f20181005@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"Journal Club", "last_name"=>"BPHC"}Q: What is a GBM?
A: A General Body Meeting is a gathering called by the Student's Union Council in the event that they require the support, advice and approval of the General Body on a matter. GBMs can be held for a myriad of things and it is constitutionally mandatory for one to be held before a fest.
Q: Wait, General Body? What's that?
A: You. All the enrolled students of the institute make up the entirety of the General Body.
Q: What are fests?
A: Every year, BPHC holds festivals across campus with a certain theme around them. These fests themselves are made up of a smaller number of events that students can attend or take part in. ATMOS is our technical fest which usually happens in the first semester of the year and is scheduled to happen this semester from November 25th to 27th. Arena is our sports fest which takes place at the start of the second semester. Pearl is our cultural fest, usually done post-mid sem of the second semester.
Q: Okay, so what goes on in a GBM?
A: A general body meet is where the SUC addresses the General body for a decision to be made, which most of the time is in regards to a fest but can also be in regards to other things like changes in the constitution or to address concerns of the general body. The upcoming GBM will be a budget GBM for our tech fest - ATMOS. The scale of a fest is determined by the budget that is allocated to it, AKA the amount of money that the council gets to work with. The SU will present different scenarios of the budget that they will go ahead with, and these will include things like
- </p>
- Budget for each scenario
- Total profits made from each scenario
- Deductions required to achieve the budget
- Do not listen to department seniors telling you that the fest will be amazing if there are max deductions. And please do not fall for the lame explanation - "We have had a fest and you haven't so you don't know what goes on in it." More deductions does not always mean a better fest.
- Do not form opinions based on leftist, SU-bashing, keyboard-warrior Journal Club articles. I'm serious, don't listen to us. We don't want any of you parroting our opinions; you're full-fledged adults. Talk amongst yourselves, think about the best course of action for the college and ask questions in the GBM, and push those in power to explain the reasoning behind everything. Then make an informed and unbiased decision and use your vote.
</ol>
The SUC also presents past year's budgets to make sure that the GB has a yardstick to compare this year's estimate to.
Q: Hold up, deductions? What deductions? And from whom?
A: Again, you. The money for the fest comes from three major sources - SUF, sponsorships and deductions. We will talk about SUF and other sources like Director's Fund later but what you need to know is that the SU takes a certain amount of money from each person that is part of the General Body to finance the fest; these are called deductions.
Q: Have deductions happened before?
A: Yes, deductions usually happen for ATMOS and other fests, the most recent being Orbe Dolo…. I mean Orbe Novo. We were presented with three budgets, one with 0 deductions, Rs. 400 deductions and one with Rs. 700 deductions. The Rs. 700 deductions budget won the majority vote since it gallantly promised a profit, and we all know how that turned out.
Q: And how will we decide on what scenario to take?
A: Ahh, here is where the lafda begins. So after the budget has been presented, the EC will hold a vote among the attending members of the GBM if the quorum is met. The vote tally will decide which budget gets approved.
Q: I definitely know what a quorum is.
A: Merriam-Webster defines the word quorum as "the number (such as a majority) of officers or members of a body that when duly assembled is legally competent to transact business." Which is…. exactly that - the quorum is the minimum number of people that the constitution mandates for the vote taken to be legally valid. For Major category GBMs, it must be at least 10% of the concerned electorate.
Q: What happens when the quorum is not met?
A: No vote is taken, and the President takes things into his own hands and decides which budget would be the best one for the upcoming fest. He signs and approves the budget on behalf of the GB.
Q: Wow, so what is so special about this particular GBM?
A: There are some concerns over the upcoming GBM as this is the first offline GBM to be conducted in a long time. Maintaining and ensuring that the quorum is met will be crucial for the SU (Although the writer does not know how they plan to do it). Another thing is that everyone and their mother will be leaving the campus for the Diwali holidays, this will significantly impact attendance in the GBM.
Q: So why can't it just be held at a later date?
A: That's the thing, the constitution mandates that the budget be presented at least thirty days before a fest. The current date for ATMOS is 25th-27th Nov. This means that a generous estimate would be 26th October for the deadline to present the budget. This is why the SUC, CRC and EC are in a race against time right now.
Q: Why has it taken so long to present it?
A: No one really knows. What I'm going to say next is entirely based on the rumors and the parlance that has been going around campus. Do not assume any of this to be accurate and treat this information as strictly provisional. Rumor has it that there has been a delay in closing Orbe Novo accounts and even accounts of past fests and the new SU is not completely sure about the amount of money they are dealing with. One thing that is definitely not a rumor is that the final accounts for ATMOS" 19 and Orbe Novo haven't been made public to the GB which should ideally be done before preparing for another fest
Q: What happens if a fest goes into a loss?
A: Simple finance, you end up with less money than you started with. This means that you have to compensate for the losses by making profits elsewhere. Usually, ATMOS is the profit-making fest whose profits are used to subsidize the losses of the cultural fest - Pearl. Usually, the budget of Pearl has been around 65 Lakhs. The budget of Atmos has been around 50 Lakh. ATMOS usually ends in a profit of around 10-15L, while Pearl has historically been a loss-making fest (i.e., the SU puts more money into it than it gets out) and lost 22L in the last year.
It is crucial for ATMOS to go into profits, or else the campus fest scene will be put in jeopardy and Pearl may have to be canceled next year if it doesn't have the profits of ATMOS to heal its wounds.
Q: Okay, so what is the problem with more deductions?
A: Historically, as the scale of the fest has increased, so has the disparity between the predicted and actual values of the budget. Even predicted profits have turned into complete losses in the past. This means that the planning for the next fest may start with the accounts all in red. A toned-down, reasonable fest presents lesser deviation from the predicted value and a lesser margin of error. In simple words, although every SU claims the larger the budget, the more the profit, the accounts of fest over the years show the contrary, with losses being higher as the budget increases. Factor in the fact that the financial situation of the campus is already on thin ice and you get a cocktail for disaster.
Q: Okay, so what do you want me to do?
A: As soon as the date of the GBM is announced on campus, your seniors are going to get more hostile. You should probably do two things:-
- </p>
</ol>