An Interview With Ayush Banerjee | #KnowYourCandi

TSA: What is your motivation to become the VP?

Ayush: I have worked as Events Head in Spring Fest. During my tenure I have always tried to listen to people and their opinions and needs and implement them. As VP I believe I will be able to work for more people and for those who are outside the social and cultural domain.

TSA: You have been the voice and authority of Spring Fest. What in particular have you changed about the Fest that came directly from you?

Ayush: I have talked to a lot of people before introducing the food fest. I talked to people in my friend circle who really wanted to cook. That was one inspiration behind me single handedly introducing the genre of food fest. For any of the pronights, we don’t actually ask each student how did they like it., but we try to understand the general opinion of the people, that is, the student community of IIT Kharagpur, and who they wish to see in Spring Fest from next academic session onwards. I will try to make sure that the opinions of entire student body is taken into account and their wishes fulfilled. Because at the end of the day, Spring Fest is for the students of IIT Kharagpur.

TSA: Our campus is ridden with problems. What are the issue that are really close to your heart and one that might as well define your VP candidature?

Ayush: .As you said, there are a lot of issues that students of IIT Kharagpur face and which are different from each other, I believe. After talking to a lot of persons in the campus, I have come up with a reservoir of problems which each and every student in the campus faces and I believe every one of them should be addressed and that is what i will do, if I become the Vice President.

Now the major key concerns of a lot of students are; on a major perspective; Placements, treatment facilities at B.C.Roy Hospital et cetera. They are all good at this moment but there’s always scope of improvement in anything. Placements can improve, the quality of food in the mess can improve, anything can be changed if all responsible people work hard.

TSA: These issues come up in every election. But we hardly see a lot of change or lot of difference after every VP tenure. Why should junta this time believe that Ayush Banerjee will change things?

Ayush: I have to differ from you in this matter. I believe all the VPs till now have definitely worked hard enough to bring about as many changes as possible for the benefit of student community. Yes, things do work slowly in the administration side but these changes can be brought about by continously emphasizing about them, and that is something that I will continue to do. Any proposal of mine, which I believe is good for the student community of IIT Kharagpur will be definitely worked hard upon and all my working hours will be spent upon it. Also the proposals of the previous VP candidates which are still in the pipeline will be definitely worked upon.

Basically to put it in short, in addition to my proposals, I will try to understand and implement the proposals of every other VP Candidate who are contesting against me and who have contested before me.

TSA: You are the only VP Candidate who has released his academic credentials separately which is quite unprecedented in the election scenario for the KGP till now. Will you tell us why you chose to do that?

Ayush: First of all, I personally haven’t released anything. The poster talks about my academic achievement and the reason behind it is not to brag about what I have done in my school life and my past 3 years at IIT Kharagpur. What it actually should tell is that in whatever field I have tried to be a part of, I have given my heart and mind to it. And there is a drive for excellence in me for whatever field I am associated with. That is the purpose of the poster. If it is academics, which is the first and the most important reason why anybody comes to IIT Kharagpur, then I have made sure that I didn’t lose focus from it, and I will continue to do so. In my life, what was important to me was to excel in academics in order to come to this place today and this is just that.This is exactly everything that is explained in the poster.

TSA: What has been your experience in this gruelling, emotionally stressful campaign that had different effects on different people?

Ayush: It has been gruelling, but it has been really fun. I will be very honest with you. I actually love interacting with other people. Initially I thought that that the problems which I have initially thought of, are the only problems faced by the student community. When you talk to a lot of people, there are very small little details that you get to understand and these are something that can have a huge impact on anyone. I believe all this talking is worth the amount of stress that a person goes through. I am sure that 5 or 10 years down the line, I might not be remembering my CGPA or I might not be remembering my entire course structure, but I will definitely remember what I went through in these 15–20 days. And of course, now I love wearing formals. It has become much more comfortable(chuckles).

TSA: What is one message that you would like to give to the student community out there watching you right now?

Ayush: Every student of IIT Kharagpur comes from a very good background which teaches them good virtue and lot of skills. In their schools, they have worked really hard and that is reflected from the fact that they are in IIT Kharagpur this moment. They have come here with the sole priority of studying first. Let’s quote the objective of Technology Constitution in which it is clearly mentioned that the TSG aims to foster a well balanced development of all its member through excellence in extra curricular, co-curricular activities in addition to their academic achievements. So what is important for the well rounded development of KGPian is that he should be good in all the 3 spheres rather than being dedicated to just 1 thing in his entire 4 or 5 years at IIT Kharagpur. This has been my driving force throughout my 3 years at IIT Kharagpur. I have never left one side neglected, be it extra curricular, co-curricular or academics. As much as one should work hard, a person should also learn to celebrate with friends, a person should also know how to enjoy sports, a person should also know how to respect all the cultural art that is prevalent in the campus; because at the end of the day, experiences and memories are what make you glad.

TSA: On a more sombre note, campus has been rocked by 2 suicides in one semester. And this has been prevalent across all premier Indian institutions. What as a student of IIT Kharagpur do you think is the reason behind these suicides and how will you tackle them?

Ayush: What happened 2 days back and what has been happening for 2 months now is really very unfortunate and it is sad that people are losing their lives and taking such a bold step. It would be very preposterous of me if I mention a reason which I feel is important. Basically I should not be commenting on the reason upon, until and unless, I understand the entire situation. Otherwise it is just wrong to pinpoint one or two reasons because for any person who is taking such a bold step, there are a lot of factors which leads to suicide. It is not just one or two specific reasons, and I will be dishonoring that person, if I mention just 1 or 2 reasons.

I would like to say specifically that I would not be able to answer the question without hurting my conscience. What instead should be discussed is that what could be done in order to prevent this and to that extent, a lot of people have been commenting about it and I have got suggestions from a number of people of this campus itself.

If we could somehow improve the visibility of counselling center, by giving it a more personal touch, or by enabling that to be a part of course curriculum in some way, then people would come out of their cocoon and be a part of the counselling center which is equipped with all the resources required to tackle such situation. That will be great!

TSA: We believe Counselling Center is not really well equipped when it comes to tackling depression. What do you think about it?

Ayush: For everything there is always a scope of improvement. Probably you might be feeling it is not well equipped but for people who have benefitted from the counselling center, to them, it is well equipped. So again, it’s a matter of perspective. And I know a few people who have had that perspective.

Of course, if you can pinpoint to me certain areas or aspects in which this campus can be improved, I would certainly look into it. This is a message to the entire student community that if they can send me any suggestions, be it on facebook or mail me at ayushbanerjee.iitkgp@gmail.com it would be really great. That is why I am here for. I am trying to understand the concerns of each and every student of IIT Kharagpur, because every single life in IIT Kharagpur matters.I believe what can be done is that there should be a mandatory session for all students where they can learn about life skills or certain ideas about how to identify people who are in depression.

TSA: This election has seen 4 Vice-Presidential candidates. Why do you think that there has been a sudden rise in the VP Candidature? Is it really good politics or is it just another means for ensuing chaos in Campus?

Ayush: I believe that every single student is capable of contesting for the post of Vice President. And more the merrier, I believe. And it’s good to interact. If you talk to your fellow people who are working as hard as you, you get to know their insights as well. All the 4 of us share a lot of issues. And that is actually going to be helpful for the student community for the upcoming academic session because all the candidates will be having very novel proposals of their own. And whoever becomes the VP will have much better reservoir of ways to tackle issues that the student community faces on a daily basis.

The List of Credentials (by the Election Commision)

CGPA of 8.99

Co-author for the abstract — ‘Separation/Classification of Coarse Particles by 3D printed Helical Mini-channel

Hall Involvements

Gold in Open IIT Dramatics (2015–16)

Silver in Inter Hall Hindi Dramatics and Case Study (2015–16)

Bronze in Inter Hall Choreography (2015–16)

Gold in Hindi and Bengali Dramatics (2016–17)

Silver in Choreography and Chem Quest (2016–17)

Associate Member, Spring Fest 2015

Publicised the fest in West Bengal, got media articles published in Bihar.

Core Team Member, Spring Fest 2016

Coordinated sponsorship drive in Mumbai

Nominated to lead associate member team

Fresher event coordinator

Conducted Mumbai Nationwide Prelims

Core Team Head, Spring Fest 2017

Conducted food fest, organised the Guest Lecture of Kriti Bhoutika and conceptualised Cooking concepts and workshops

Conducted Wildfire, took it to international level for the first time by conducting prelims in Kathmandu

Brought in MTV Campus Diaries, Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music and The Telegraph as partners

Responsible for Film fest Genre and the events under it o Responsible for Accommodation

Internships

Internship at Tokyo Institute of Technology in Summer 2016

Internship offer from HUL for Summer 2017 o

Internship at Corporate Economics Cell, Aditya Birla Group in Winter 2016