An Interview With Vaibhav Chauhan | #KnowYourCandi
Q: What was your motivation to stand for the post of Vice President, Technology Students’ Gymkhana?
A: It all began in my first year. I’ve been a part of Business Club, Students’ Alumni Cell and many other activities in my hall and outside. This made me take notice of the potential these student organisations have to bring change and impact any student’s life. I want to be able to utilise the power of a VP to bring more such changes and leave a positive mark as a mean to give back.
Q: How well do you think these organizations are currently functioning in reaching out to students and solving their problems? What would you do, as a VP, to help them?
A: In contrast with organizations in other institutions, the ones in IIT Kharagpur foster a certain sense of independence, the ability to change things and engage with the administration to attain goals. This gives them the scope to solve problems efficiently. I think most problems faced by people here, and what are dealt with by these organizations, are unique to KGP. Hence, I’d like to promote new such activities, mentor societies in their goals and extend them help as much is required and is feasible.
Q: What changes do you want to see implemented if you’re elected?
A: I have a list of ideas that I’d like to implement. We’ll have to look into their feasibility first and then the initiation. I think they’ll positively add to the students’ lives here so even if I don’t get elected as the VP, I’ll see to it that most of them get some groundwork done upon them. Helping the academically weak students is one of them.
Q: How do you think you’ll be able to do that without getting elected? And do you think you’ll have the incentive to do them if you’re not the VP?
A: I don’t understand why people need to look for incentives when it comes to problem solving. I’ll work on these ideas because I believe they’ll have a good impact. Even if I’m not the VP, there’s always the option of reaching out to the correct people. All you have to do is just make an effort. I think all VP candidates should also try to do the same regardless of whether or not they get elected.
Q: Problems related to academically weak students couldn’t be solved efficiently this year. How do you plan to take it forward?
A: I have been working on this for some time now. Shovan laid a framework for various things that will help in the long run. The direction in which I want to work is that all students must be able to take any of the available courses with minimal requirements.
Currently, students with just one backlog are unable to take up additional subjects. In cases where students may not have interest in their department, they may end up scoring poorly in those subjects which affects their ability to explore as well. They should at least get an opportunity to take up additional subjects based on their interests.
Q: At the end of an academic session, often people are dissatisfied with a VP’s delivery on his proposals and other expectations. What is your take on this?
A: Every VP puts in his best. A lot is not visible to the student community and we should make them aware of these efforts. As I have not been involved in things at that level, I am not quite sure what’s been done exactly. But, a lot of long term actions have been taken that will give results only in the future.
I feel that transparency would do us a lot of benefit and it is a priority for me. If things are kept clear people may approach and connect with the VP more. This will only add to how well he is able to function.
Q: How has your participation in Football for RK hall helped you?
A: I’d like to share a little story in this regard. I had a ligament tear while playing football in my first year. I didn’t take proper care then and went back before it was healed. I got injured again and had to step out for a year. After the Annual Alumni Meet meet in January the following year, I was alright but couldn’t run as fast or play as well and saw that all my peers have become much better with practice in the time I was out. I spoke to Siddharth (the current captain of the football team) who encouraged me to put in all I had. So I used to run and practice a lot. And this extra effort bore fruit and I played the GC and won a medal. This entire journey has taught me a lot about patience and hardwork.
Q: How did your involvement in the Alumni Cell adorn your qualities as a leader and help you?
A: Working in the Alumni Cell gave me the opportunity to view and understand three different perspectives around the same thing. The perspective of a student, the administration and an alum. This has helped me connect to the populace at a better level. I am better able to understand their reasons and priority.
Q: Isn’t managing so many perspectives a difficult task?
A: More than a burden it has actually proven to be a boon for me. I got to know about things from all corners and hence, can analyse them in a better manner. Oftentimes, the ability to see different perspectives equip you to approach problems in different ways and I think this is essential when you want to pick the best way forward.
Q: What qualities do you have to become a good VP and what do you think makes you stand out from the other candidates?
A: What sets me apart is the involvement I have in a lot of activities and societies, be it A-Cell, B-Club, Football or the RK hall illumination. And the interaction I have had with everyone — the students, administration, alumni and other stakeholders. This gives me their way and their perspective of looking at things. And believe me, that really matters.
Q: Is the current election procedure efficient? Do you think there are redundancies in the way things happen right now, like going door-to-door during hall days?
A: The current election procedure gives an opportunity to every candidate to present their views, make a stand and express himself or herself.
Visiting hall days is actually the personal choice of a candidate. It is not a mandate or a pre-requisite.
Hall days didn’t start off as means for publicity but they do give us an opportunity to interact with so many students and take their suggestions. That is what actually matters because there are so many things beyond what you can know yourself.
Q: Do you have a team to support your candidature?
A: I wouldn’t say it is a team. Rather, it is a group of people who give me great suggestions, reach out with the voice of the student community, and with whom I can discuss matters. They have helped me in each step to reach here. They are friends from societies I am a part of, my department and even the football players from my hall.
Q: How has your experience as a VP candidate been so far?
A: It has been a really rewarding experience. Interacting with students, professors and other stakeholders actually pushed me to go beyond my limits. And I think I am speaking for everybody when I say that what goes in and comes out of this process are totally different. I realized and got to know about problems related to both UG and PG students as we as the organizations. It’s unique and I am happy and content. It is a rewarding experience for anyone who has been through all of it.
Q: There was a case of suicide that the institute witnessed very recently, which also happens to be the second case this semester. What is your plan to deal with this issue?
A: One of them happened to be a friend of mine. I used to speak to him regularly. It is hard to face the fact that a person you were just talking to is not going to be there tomorrow.
I think it is very important to work on this because we can’t keep losing our people. We have some suggestions from other people and some ideas ourselves to deal with this. The functioning and accessibility of the counselling centre needs to be improved. IIT Guwahati has a programme ‘Your Dost’ to tackle problems of depression. We could have something like that. The student community needs to get together as a whole to help each other and prevent this from happening.
Q: The most vulnerable people, and those who need help, tend to also be outliers. People often don’t know about their problems. How can the student community help someone they don’t know are at risk? How will you make it easy for them to reach out for help?
A: My primary concern is to reduce the number of these outliers and include a lot more people in, as a preventive method. Then, we can identify these outliers using suitable data from academic records etc. and directly help them. It’ll be a priority to better the facilities and their access to them. It’s a systematic process.
Q: We have seen that the student community and the administration do not engage in a lot of constructive communication. How do you plan to bridge this gap?
A: I agree and I think this is where the VP has a very crucial role, being the foremost link between the two. To some extent, however, both the administration and the students need to take a step forward from where they are. A student may have an idea that can be very beneficial and they should know that they can approach the administration with it. I’ll make sure this happens.
Q: The student turnout in an open house session with the director is very low, but for a career conclave session, an entire auditorium fills up. How will you instill the incentive in students to approach the administration when they don’t utilise the platform administration is giving them itself?
A: In a career conclave session, a student goes with a set of personal incentives — getting a job, good package, and other things. An open house with the director for final year students lacks this incentive probably because they won’t be present to see the effects. I think that may be why the turnout was so disproportionate for the two events.
Otherwise, I believe the VP has to reach out to students via social media, and other forums so that the students are aware of what all is happening and how much it is important for them.
Q: What has your daily schedule been like since your candidature?
A: I attend my classes after which I usually discuss matters with my classmates. On the way back, I try to get a feel of the campus, see what all can/needs to be done, and put it all together to make a repository of things. I spend time with my friends and seniors and also see what systems other Indian and foreign colleges have in place. This helps me learn everything from everywhere.
Q: What is your message for KGP?
A: At this point of time, I would like to convey this to everyone that keep talking to the people around you. Let no gap become a barrier to your wonderful life here. Keep interacting and stay strong.
The List of Credentials (by the Election Commision)
General Secretary, Students’ Alumni Cell for the academic session 2016–2017
Student Member, Students’ Alumni Cell for the academic session 2015–2016
Organised 14th Annual Alumni Meet with a participation of 330 alumni leading a team of 25 members and associates
Managed a budget of 70.04 Lakhs as the Finance Head
Worked in coordination with the Office of AA&IR for Institute Fundraising and Endowment Programme
Conceptualised the Yearbook Portal for content collection from graduating batch
Responsible for the publications — Yearbook, The Tempo Shout, Yearnings of Yore and Annual Alumni Report
Successful in expanding the reach of the Students’ PAN IIT Alumni Relations Cell bringing together IIT Dhanbad, IIT Delhi and IIT Bhubaneshwar.
Organised the first Pan-IIT SPARC Meet in coordination with 4 sister IITs
Revamped and implemented the Student Alumni Mentorship Programme
Introduced the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Affinity Programme
Responsible for conducting Guest Lectures and e-Guest Lectures
Responsible for implementation of Senior Class Gift 2015 — Campus benches around 2.2
Assisted the Office of Alumni Affairs and International Relations in organising Alvida 2016 and Institute Convocation 2016
Technical Head, Business Club, IIT Kharagpur
Organized two editions of the Indian Case Challenge
Lead operations team of 15 sub –heads to organize the Indian Case Challenge 2017
Organized the Global Business Analytics Challenge, Dubai in association with ZS Associates and Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi
Gymkhana Activities
Gold in Illumination, 2016–17
Bronze in Inter-Hall Football 2016–17
Bronze in Case Study, 2015–16
Member, Hindi Dramatics Team, 2015–16
Internships
Interned in an NGO, Pratham Education Foundation, during Summer 2015
Interned in Squadrun Incorporated during Summer 2016
Selected for an internship at DatabaseUSA, Omaha for Summer 2017
