Critique — Ninaad Lohakare — VP candidate 2019–20

Disclaimer: The content below is the work of The Scholars’ Avenue as a team and is wholly our opinion as of 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

Proposal 1 : Placement Calendar

Need: There is a clear need for students to be made aware of the potential job opportunities and relevant skill requirements. An organized system of information dissemination and programmes has been long overdue. Students tend to feel stress and anxiety coupled with a loss of direction during their placement periods. The CV module of the ERP is also notorious for being an unnecessary pain to deal with.

Impact: Students could be highly benefited both psychologically and professionally by the successful implementation of this proposal. The Coding Bootcamp would prove useful to most students. The third party CV portal would prove effective but there has been no clarification as to the details of how it will work. It could hence go either way. If he adheres to the timelines it would be ideal.

Feasibility: The Coding Bootcamp can definitely be implemented. The industry related workshops on the other hand sound ambitious at the very least. The availability of companies of interest as well as industrial employees available to the task are worthy of skepticism at best. A third party CV portal could also go either way as the CDC introduced the CV module into a perfectly smooth system with no qualms and there is no reason they would be on board with this idea. Further, in practice, the timelines he has furnished seem too crisp and are unlikely to be followed through.

Proposal 2 : Greater Academic and Curricular Flexibility

Need: It has been a known fact that the curriculum needs a revamp. There has been a lot of changes in the past but we still lag behind other IITs in some aspects when it comes to curriculum flexibility. We have few interdisciplinary programmes, but there’s a lot more that can be done.

Impact: Curriculum flexibility will give more autonomy to students and will help them in their career pursuits. Early exits and multi disciplinary programmes will go a long way in that regard. Early exits will give students extended periods to pursue internships or spend time thinking about their future, in contrast to what is possible in the hypercompetitive fast paced environment at Kgp.

Feasibility: The Institute is already working on this and as per professors a lot of changes are on the way already. This means that the administration already has a plan in mind and they are likely to be unwilling to move away from it so quickly after its implementation. Curriculum revamp is something on which a VP has little control on, apart from providing suggestions. It is a long and time taking process with considerable involvement of a lot of departments and other stakeholders. The Senate and professors need to be on board with the ideas as they are the ones who can make it feasible.

Proposal 3 : Mess Operations Optimization

Need: Mess system in KGP is known to be archaic and needs a complete revamp. The dominant subsistence is potato which is not sufficient nutrients wise. It is well known that several students avoid the mess on several occasions which leads to lots of money going to waste, both on the students’ and the institute’s part.

Impact: A little bit of money could end up being saved on the part of the students and daily food wastage would end up being reduced. There is no other benefit for the student community. The proposed feedback system has no guarantee of being taken seriously, seeing as how the current feedback system is so blatantly failing.

Feasibility: IIT BHU has already set the precedent for this system which means in theory it can be implemented. However, it should be noted that IIT Kgp has a colossal student population organized into very numerously populated halls. Especially in the case of LBS, keeping track of this much information on a daily basis would prove difficult. Having to furnish an ID card for every meal on the part of every student would also make the meal process very slow which would prove ultimately to be a nuisance especially during rush hours of lunch.

Proposal 4 : Campus e-Rickshaw

Need: No one can deny the need for better transport facilities on campus. The bus services are not entirely punctual and their routes are not exhaustive either. Cycles procured by students on campus have an astonishingly short lifespan, and several students give up on cycling by their senior years. To have an alternative without having to depend on, let’s say one’s friends, would be a breath of fresh air to all.

Impact: Most students would find it a lot easier to use E-Rickshaws than other modes of transport and even on group outings it would be more economical than hiring a cab. The fact that there already exist a few E-Rickshaws on campus is a story for another day however. As The Scholars’ Avenue comprises several lazy students who frequent the bus service to classes, we can attest that the female student population will benefit from this as they are often left without space on the buses during rush hour trips. Participants from outside at our events will likely only be marginally benefited however, as the number of E-Rickshaws on campus will never be enough to match the demands.

Feasibility: Considering that there already exist a few E-Rickshaws on campus, and that there exists the precedent of other IITs having implemented it already, there seem to be no obstacles against the successful implementation of this proposal. However, it will be a matter of time to bring in all the E-Rickshaws and set the system in motion. An ex-VP set in place the bus service, so it should be possible to implement this as well.