Critique — GSec Sports — 2019–20
Disclaimer: The content below is the work of The Scholars’ Avenue as a team and is wholly our opinion as the campus media body on a campus issue. Voters are encouraged to go through this and then make up their mind. We do not promote any one candidate over the other and have tried to stay as unbiased as possible in critiquing their proposals.
Candidate 1: Pradeep Ranwa
Proposal 1:
Digitalisation of data related to sports equipment of each sport and also the information pertaining to Inter-IIT players of each sport in the form of Sports profile.
Need: This was Akash Bharadwaj’s (current G.Sec) second proposal last year. The proposal was well implemented which as inferred from the talk with him. He also mentioned that it was more than fifty percent complete and shall be fully implemented by next year. Considering that all this is already done, this proposal is redundant. The candidate would probably benefit a lot from more groundwork.
Feasibility: Easily implemented as inferred from what Akash had to say about what he had to do.
Impact: Seeing as to how most of it is already implemented, hard to understand how this will lead to a significant impact.
Proposal 2:
To give a chance to players of the campus to interact with sports experts or sportspersons of global/national level and initiate a recreational day with those experts.
Need:
In the long run, channelling these funds in improving the current amenities would benefit the student community a lot more than having a recreational day.
Feasibility:
Hard to implement as it will cost Gymkhana quite the sum of money. He mentioned in his SOP that this shall be done at free of cost, contrary to what was mentioned in his proposal.
Impact:
As mentioned above this is not easily feasible. But if the proposal were to be implemented, this would inspire our sporting fraternity and would add promotional value to our campus.
Proposal 3:
To promote fitness and gymming activities as well as nutritional awareness by scheduling year-round activities under the shade of Technology Students’ Gymkhana by incorporating the club.
Need:
We have a good set of Gym trainers already. Bringing in experienced gym goers (as stated in the proposal) to track the progress of each candidate is not something that is needed right now.
Feasibility:
Considering the regular schedule of a KGPian who is relatively free for a month and has exams in another, having monthly appointments to check on the players’/gym goers’ progress is a hard task. Also, following a nutritional chart might not be possible with the mess menu of different halls.
Impact:
If implemented, people would benefit but it’s hard to see a lot of people benefiting though.
Candidate 2: Apurv Gupta
Proposal 1:
Establish fitness instruments at various sporting venues in addition to conducting new inter-hall games at regular intervals.
Need: The current gym system is plagued by its failure to accommodate students at peak hour. Functioning fitness instruments will help mitigate this and are very much the need of the hour. The other proposal on hall games, while enterprising, isn’t as important as the former.
Implementation: A similar proposal from the previous General Secretaries, Sports and Games was turned down by the administration, citing recurring maintenance charges. This is thus unlikely to be implemented in its entirety (although the candidate has done a fair bit of groundwork as far as budget estimates are concerned). However, the hall games are very much feasible and can be implemented without much hassle.
Impact: As mentioned earlier, a public gym of sorts will help address the problem of inadequate slots by allowing people to train in slots convenient to them. The introduction of hall games in addition to the existing ones, while useful, isn’t likely to provide more than a marginal increase in participation.
Proposal 2:
The proposal seeks to help develop self-defence skills in the students of campus with a special emphasis on women. This is to be achieved by institutionalising self-defence (NSO) and promoting various other sports
Need:
Self-defence classes are necessary and will go a long way in imparting some much-needed confidence to people on campus
Implementation:
The self-defence classes can be incorporated in the NSO, but there continues to be a dearth of professional trainers, as attested by the outgoing General Secretaries, Sports and Games. The proposal suggests the introduction of a lot of niche games, which are likely to face the same problem. There is a hand-wavy mention of the establishment of sports clubs, albeit without much groundwork.
Impact:
If implemented properly, this can go a long way in introducing diverse sports to the student community.
Proposal 3: Sports week for Postgraduate and research scholars
Need:
The participation in of the PG/RS community is abysmal and is an issue that seriously needs to be addressed.
Implementation:
The implementation shouldn’t be too difficult, seeing that it only seeks to include the postgraduate students in a competition originally meant for research scholars.
Impact:
This proposal is unlikely to have much impact, given that the dearth of PG/RS students in the sporting community arises, not from want of exposure, but from hectic academic schedules and clashing time slots. Moreover, a solitary event held once in a year, in contrast to what the proposal says, is unlikely to result in increased participation in the Inter IIT Selection process.
Candidate 3: Mayank Manjeara
Proposal 1:
United fees for services at TSG
Need:
Considering that a very few students opt for multiple services at the TSG, and that there is no subsidy on offer for choosing a single service, there is no real need for the proposal.
Feasibility:
This is completely feasible as long as it gets accepted in the budget. The only problem is that the budgets for next year are usually submitted during the latter part of March and hence it is important that swift action is taken as soon as possible if elected.
Impact:
Will be useful to students who are involved in more than one activity, although there are very few people on the campus who do so. Also, the extent of impact depends on making a wise choice of not choosing all the three activities and ending up wasting money by not showing up after a few weeks.
Proposal 2:
Formation of Departmental study circles.
Need:
Balancing sports and academics, considering that inter-IIT participants spend more than three hours a day practising for their events and sometimes nearly eight hours of rigorous lectures, is a very difficult task and the establishment of study circles will help in maintaining the same.
Feasibility:
Easily implemented provided that the circles are able to maintain the intensity needed.
Impact:
Hard to comment on how beneficial this would be. It would help if the activities were closely monitored so as to increase the efficiency of the circles.
Proposal 3:
Morning activities for PG/RS students.
Need:
PG/RS students, due to their hectic schedule, don’t find much time to involve themselves in sports. Although, it’s hard to how introducing a morning slot would help in increasing the representation of PG/RS students in Inter-IIT.
Feasibility:
Introducing a new morning slot for almost every sport is bound to increase the burden on Gymkhana as the number of supervisors and trainers will need to be increased. This has not been addressed in proposal and budget for the same is not mentioned.
Impact:
If implemented, this will indeed be a refreshing complement to the
the academic life of PG and RS students but it will be interesting to see how the candidate intends to get the PG students and RS to participate.
Proposal 4:
Introduction to a sports event at alumni meet.
Need:
This would definitely help strengthen the bond among the alumni. Considering that Alumni meet occurs after 30 years of graduation a hit of nostalgia could do a world of good to them.
Feasibility:
Feasible given that a lot of groundwork has already been done with the help of Alumni Cell.
Impact:
Would be nice to have the alumni reminiscing their yesteryears but there is scepticism over how many people are willing to participate in the planned activities.
Proposal 5:
Bilingual Commentary in Interhall events.
Need:
As they say, learn to walk before you run, it would be much better to introduce commentary in one language, English preferably as it’s the common language on campus rather than two languages at the same time to understand the impact it would cause and then proceed with it.
Feasibility:
The candidate has mentioned that TLS shall be the first point of contact. After a chat with the TLS governors, it was known that he did not approach them until three days before his SOP. Also finding professional commentators for this doesn’t seem feasible. Apart from that, a huge number of students are actually interested in this so his third alternative might work out for getting people to do this.
Impact: If implemented and pulled through, this might actually set up a commentator culture for GC events in KGP.
Candidate 4: Devendra Patidar
Proposal 1:
Introduction of IIT KHARAGPUR sports web portal
Need:
Making the booking of slots for various activities would help a lot but when it comes to updates, IITKGP sports facebook page does a decent job and hence a little redundant on that front but it is hard to see how the portal would encourage students to take up more sporting activities.
Feasibility:
Opening a web portal would hardly take any effort and hence this should be an easy proposal to execute.
Impact:
The main takeaway from this is the booking of the slots for various events. One can notice a long line outside the gym on the last date of booking a slot gym and it is difficult to keep track of when the forms to sign up for swimming are up.
Proposal 2:
Increase the participation of PG and RS by appointment of PG and RS representatives
Need:
There is a decent involvement of PG and RS when it comes to sports. Having said that, it wouldn’t hurt to have the representatives.
Feasibility:
Creation of a PG and RS representative post is as feasible as the next thing.
Impact:
This proposal could potentially boost the involvement of PG and RS graduates but it is important to notice that there isn’t such a dearth of PG and RS scholars playing sports.
Proposal 3:
The inclusion of E-Sports for the Student Community of IIT KHARAGPUR
Need:
Given how KGP has a lot of people who play games for recreational purposes. It would definitely help people gain a platform to show off their skill.
Feasibility:
Seeing that gaming events are already organised by Kshitij and Spring Fest organizing the event should be extremely feasible. However, it would be interesting to see if a decent number of people are involved.
Impact:
A gaming event is a great way for people to bond over and relax. Despite not being the need of the hour, conduction of this event would be greatly appreciated by the student community.
Proposal 4:
Conduction of a SWIMMING SURVIVAL CAMP to equip the students with basic swimming and survival skills, throughout the academic year 2019–2020.
Need:
Although creative, it is hard to see how the student community would be interested in participation. Groundwork regarding the number of people interested is not mentioned.
Feasibility:
Seeing as to how a lot of people struggle to find slots for swimming, the candidate doesn’t explain how the slots for the same would be accommodated. The candidate has not justified how he plans on getting people to train interested people.
Impact:
Swimming would definitely help the students learn important survival skills, it is hard to see people who have not learnt swimming before get interested and how the proposal would be executed in a smooth manner.
Candidate 5: Aditya Singhania
Proposal 1:
Introduction of E-sport as an open IIT tournament
Need:
As evident from the groundwork done by the candidate himself, there are a good number of people interested in the event. Hence, a lot of people would stand to benefit if E sports wee indeed introduced as an Open IIT event.
Feasibility:
While a lot of students seem to be on board with this, it will eventually all depend on if all the Halls of Residence agree to introduce E-Sports as an Open IIT event.
Impact:
This would provide a great platform for the gaming community to showcase their talent.
Proposal 2:
Conduction of Invitational Sports Tournaments by inviting teams from all over West Bengal
Need:
Could be useful to the Inter-IIT contingent by helping them take advantage of the home ground situations by having these kinds of tournaments before the Inter-IIT meet but whether this would be an advantage or a waste of resources depends on the quality of the teams visiting the campus.
Feasibility:
This proposal is quite feasible and the candidate has the decent groundwork to vouch for its feasibility. Will be interesting to see how good the visiting teams are though.
Impact:
Will help to improve the performance Inter-IIT contingent since they will be playing on the same venue where the next meet is scheduled. It is also important to manage the physical workload on the players.
PROPOSAL 3 :
Introduction of proper changing rooms and washrooms for girls at various sports grounds and courts.
Need:
This proposal addresses the needs of girl students directly and is bound to improve the sanitary standards provided by the institute, leading to better hygiene.
Feasibility:
Hard to comment on the feasibility as construction works have a tendency to get stalled and neither a budget nor a timeline has been put forward by the candidate which does not instil confidence in the same.
Impact:
If implemented, this proposal will improve the quality of current amenities being provided to the female-sportspersons. But the target segment of this proposal is limited and can further be extended to male sportspersons too.
