Critique — Shashank Mishra — 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: Xplore KGP- an interactive app for the KGP student community
Need: Students are often unaware of happenings on campus and having a single noticeboard for a such things could ameliorate the troubles. In case of emergency, a central repository of emergency contacts would serve to help students and having a single place to voice all grievances would act as a one-stop shop for all troubles.
Impact: In the event that it is executed well and maintained well, it would help the student community a lot and there is no denying that more systematic information dissemination is the need of the hour. However, such a proposal is far from novel. Promises of a central repository/app/website have been around for a while now. Ex-VP Mayank Srivastava had even launched MyKGP during his tenure and instead of trying to waste time developing new platforms with incremental changes, why is modifying existing websites/portals not the prefered route? Why can’t the PR chair just send out timely mails to inform the students of happenings? Ditching existing platforms for information flow and moving to altogether new ones is not likely to have the community on board.
Feasibility: Again, developing an app isn’t really the challenge here. Maintaining the app and making sure information is updated regularly is the bigger challenge. And given that it would still be the PR chair disseminating information, we don’t see how an app is different from just sending out mails. Little to no groundwork here is really discouraging.
Proposal 2: Quora for KGP
Need: Frankly, none. We don’t see how this is any different from KGP Fundae Anonymously or similar Facebook pages.
Impact: As mentioned above, given the absolute redundancy of the proposals, we fail to see any real impact it will have on the student community. Moreover, some of the suggested implementations defy any logic whatsoever. One fails to see the point behind dividing queries into different sections, except maybe a slight hint of pretense. The idea of using a karma based review system a la Reddit, while interesting, seems unnecessary.
Feasibility: Extremely feasible. There is neither a dearth of web developers nor curious people and given that there are already platforms that do the job. Again there seems to be a real lack of groundwork with mostly speculative comments.
Proposal 3: Transportation
Need: There is some merit to the thought that went into formulating this proposal. Cheap, reliable transport options in and around the campus are not aplenty.
Impact: If implemented, the proposed steps will make life a lot easier for students. However, that’s a big if, and we shall delve into that in the following section. Alternate modes of transport around the campus, however, are not really the need of the hour in our opinion, considering the popularity of the bus service currently.
Feasibility: Bus services to the airpor. Increasing the transport within the campus by starting an e-rickshaw service will only worsen the crowded conditions of the roads on campus.
Proposal 4: Establishment of a PG/RS advisory committee
Need: To increase the representation of PG/RS community in the various hall and Gymkhana related activities.
Impact: Considering the coexistence of UG and PG students in halls of residence as mandated by HMC, the presence of a PG representative will help make their problems heard and also help avoid possible conflicts. However, organising specific events according to their convenience, as mentioned in the proposal, is a step back in that direction in our opinion.
Feasibility: Creation of a position in halls for PG representatives should not be an issue.
