An Interview with Devanand Kedia | #KnowYourCandi
Q: Why do you want to become the VP?
A: It’s not like why VP, it’s a fact of what i am right now, after third year and what Devanand Kedia was in first year. He (referring to himself) is a totally different person. I’ve learned a lot here by the experiences which I’ve had here in various organisations or my hall of residence or in my personal development. So, I feel that I’ve got so much from the institute right from the beginning till now by working. Now, I feel that I’m that capable with the experience that I’ve got, that I’m going to do something for this institute, with my utmost capabilities. After this thing, the problem which I have seen after being a part of various organisations is that something has to be done very sincerely. This is where the thought came up and now what I feel is that if I want to do something that I plan to, being the Vice President will help me in that as I will be having the authority so as to get those plans passed by the council. This is how it struck me, to become the VP.
Q: So you said that you have worked in a number of organisations and saw that the problems weren’t getting solved. Was there any particular problem that pushed you for this decision?
A: I’ve worked under the Technology Students Gymkhana as a secretary and I’m also a part of the International Relations Cell. I’ve also held a position of responsibility in my hall of residence, so during all this I’ve seen a lot of problems that I’ve personally faced and I’ve also seen a lot of problems that are generally faced by the students. Apart from the placements, which is the biggest issue, problems exist in every aspect, being it water or electricity related issues to other major problems. There are so many problems which need to be solved and one of the biggest problems which I feel personally, apart from placements, which is the top priority for everyone in this institute, is that the interaction between the post graduate students and the undergraduate students is lagging in some or the other way. So, being a part of the same student community, this lag should never be there. I’ve talked to a lot of post graduate students and research scholars, so what they feel is that they are somehow boycotted from the other extra curricular activities which the institute provides. So, I want to reduce this gap as much as I can and get them more involved.
Q: What according to you, are the qualities which people seek in a Vice President? As a student representative, what do the people expect from you and how will you suit this?
A: According to me, people should look at how much dedication and commitment does their student representative have for their institute IIT Kharagpur and that how many steps he has taken, apart from having responsibilities, what he has done on his own, for the betterment of the student community. They look at the leadership where the student has shown that he is that capable to hold something as big as the Vice President post. They look at how committed has he been in the past for his works and that how passionate is he to take the work as a VP and fulfil it. It should be, that they should consider the fact that it is very easy to take a personal responsibility as there are so many societies and organisations over here but the way in which the person has worked over there and the way in which people know you is a big thing to be considered. According to me, taking a position of responsibility and getting your work appreciated by people whom you work along, is a separate thing.
Q: Was there anything special that you did in your association with the IR Cell and your tenure as a secretary? Did you start anything new and as you talk about the connect, did you work on those aspects?
A: I’d tell you that I organised a dramatics workshop in collaboration with the four dramatics societies, while being the secretary for Dramatics under Technology Students’ Gymkhana and it happened for the very first time in my tenure. I’ll now come to IR cell and tell that we have the semester away program. If you see, IIT Bombay has had this program for more than a decade now, but we could not have it for some reasons unknown to me. But as IR Cell was formed just in my second year, we built the proposal for the Semester Away Program (SAP) right from the end of IR cell’s first year and got it passed in the senate in our second year. So, that is a really big achievement on International Relations Cell’s part. Since, we have it running in our sister IITs for more than a decade and we didn’t have it in our IIT which is something really big for the exposure of our students. That is one of the biggest achievement that IR cell has had in it’s 2 years tenure. I was also the General Secretary Social and Cultural of Azad Hall of Residence and I took various initiatives in events to organise new meetings. Apart from all these positions of responsibility, I’ve also taken an initiative regarding the instiinfo.com, if you have heard about it. So that was the problem that I faced in my first year and just to solve that for the coming batches, we initiated this idea of having instiinfo.com along with my fellow mates.
Q: Considering that Instiinfo is a favourite for first year students, why isn’t it updated more frequently and how is it different from already existing platforms? How would you rate its efficacy?
A: Firstly, I’ll tell you how it is different from other websites. The information which you get in instiinfo.com, you will get the content from other places but you won’t get it all in one place. You may get something from DC or some other websites but you won’t get everything in one place. This is the benefit of instiinfo.com from any other websites.
How good is it, is something which I can’t judge myself. I generally judge it by the perspective of first year students who are generally using it. So we receive a lot of messages from the first year students on our facebook page and we have also talked to a lot of first year students and there is a video regarding it that how has it helped the first year students. So, i think they will be giving a review of how it is in a better way than me.
Regarding the updates, we haven’t updated it much but the information which is there in instiinfo.com can be updated by the first year students themselves by a link given over there. As we open instiinfo.com, we have an option for upload; so we want the first year students to update their notes and their recent question papers, so that will help us more, if we get the help of first year students as well. A lot of first years are already uploading new notes and questions papers. We are also working, I’ll not say fully dedicatedly but we are somewhat trying to expand it.
Q: How has your election experience been? What are your takeaways from this campaign?
A: There are many things, I liked it a lot but it was very tiresome at times, sometimes I felt like what was happening, it was a completely diverse experience. I believe this is a lifetime experience and I do not expect to get an experience like this any time in the future. Apart from the results, meeting and getting to know so many people, getting so much information about the institute, the biggest problem that I am facing is I only get 3–4 hours of sleep these days. So we have to compromise in a lot of ways. The experience is just awesome.
Q: There are a number of accusations on the election process in in KGP. People argue that it is not democratic. What changes do you propose in the election process?
A: Some halls coming together to support for one candidate and some supporting another candidate is absolutely fine but what I feel wrong is that firstly the halls come together and then the candidate comes out.
I would prefer that first the capable candidates should be judged in their hall of residences and then there should be pacts. Rest, I feel it is quite democratic. People will go and tell to vote for someone but at last it is the student’s own will and it is a secret ballot. Everyone here is intellectual enough to know whom to vote for after the statement of purpose and their proposals.
Q: There have been a couple of unfortunate suicide cases in our Institute recently. How do you plan to tackle this situation? How do you plan to connect the Counselling Centre to the students more effectively?
A: Two cases of suicide have been seen this semester and this should not be happening at all. I visited the counselling centre. The timing of the counselling centre is 10 am to 6 pm during weekdays. After that time or during the weekends the process is that if someone is facing a problem he or she needs to go to BC Roy and they will consult for a counsellor. But after this incident, counselling centre is open 24/7. So if they themselves think that this is a solution then why don’t they do it all the time. Even if that can’t be done then we can have the numbers of counsellor uploaded somewhere so that the students can directly approach them instead of going to BC Roy first. This may be a minor step but there are minor things that we can do.
Also currently I am working on a proposal regarding suicides but haven’t completed the work on it. I will surely get back to you regarding this.
Q: Over the years people have complained that leaders come and go, but little changes. What is your take on this? How effective do you think is the VP position? How much power does it vest in you to fight with the administration for students’ rights and is your approach going to be different if you attain office?
A: The vice president has a lot of authority. He is being backed by the 12000 students of IIT Kharagpur. So as the VP has lot of authority, he will try to fix some of the issues which have feasible solutions.
Q: Would you like to say a few words for your fellow KGPians?
A: I would say that every student plays a vital role in improving the Institute. If each student acknowledges their responsibilities towards the institute, then I think that the ranking of the institute can raise on a National level and on a Global level.
Q: KGP lags when it comes to the infrastructure of the institute and the world rankings. As the VP what steps would you like to take to improve on this?
A: I don’t think that increasing our global ranking should be our motive. Our motive should be to help the students in IIT Kharagpur. If we address this issue I think our ranking will automatically improve.
Q: Over the past few years we have witnessed only two candidates contesting for the post of VP. But this year, there has been a gradient. What is your take on this?
A: I think this is a very positive occurrence.I really don’t think numbers matter in this respect.
The List of Credentials (by the Election Commision)
Coordinator, International Relations Cell
Semester away Program
MOU Drive
Foreign Training Program
Student member, International Relations Cell
Secretary Dramatics, Technology Students Gymkhana.
3 Open IIT events
5 Inter-hall Events
Open IIT Workshop
General Secretary Azad Hall of Residence till 20th March 2017.
Khoj
Illumination and Rangoli
Open IIT Social and Cultural
Inter-hall events
Participated in Gold winning Inter Hall Bridge in both 2016 and 2017
UNVERIFIED
Co-founder at Instiinfo.co
