The Hindu : New Delhi News : Students' outfits planning new ways to attract voters

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 17, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Students' outfits planning new ways to attract voters

It will be a more personal affair this time round. With the model code of conduct being announced last week for the upcoming elections to the Delhi University Students' Union, parties will have to change their strategies a bit to combat the authorities' tough stand on posters. While there will be posters printed and pasted, the parties will have to find new ways to catch the attention of their voters.

Using hi-tech methods, the campaign will depend on SMS, e-mails and finally the unbeatable personal touch. "We will be sending out letters to our members. But we will also send out SMS as now everyone has a mobile phone. There will also be a door-to-door campaign and we will have to talk to students one on one," says Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) president Ragini Nayak. The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) is also on the look-out for good orators who will be able to list out DUSU's achievements to potential voters.

Not depending only on technology, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyathri Parishad (ABVP) will use inland postcards to reach out to the students. While the parties might be using new ways to get in touch with their voters, the issues that they are raising are still the same. From hostels to more U-specials and evening colleges, the platform for wining over the voters doesn't seem to have changed. While it's a crucial election for ABVP, which has not won for the past two years, NSUI also needs to retain its position, which might not be easy as experts point out that DUSU has not achieved much this time.

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Good old PGDAV College is turning 50 in style. After a half-century in the education business, it is kicking off a yearlong programme of festivities with a function on Thursday where Vice-Chancellor Deepak Pental will be the chief guest. Dean of Colleges Shirin Rathore will be the guest of honour.

"There will be academic meetings in colleges. We will hold workshops in history and economics. Apart from the academic sphere, there will also be cultural programme," said a professor. With the college having achieved its mark in the cricketing field, it is going all out to honour alumni who have kept the PGDAV flag flying high.

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It was Independence Week on the campus in more ways than one. While it might have been a long weekend for students to lie back and enjoy, Jamia Millia Islamia tried to reach out to the community to make the day more meaningful. The University organised an exhibition of books on the freedom struggle on Monday. With the written word being an important part of this celebration in Jamia, there was serious discussion and then some lighter moments.

Looking at the media almost 60 years after Independence, a symposium was held with distinguished journalists talking about the role of the Fourth Estate after 1947.

And moving from the academic world to a more cultural note, a "mushaira" was also organised. "This is part of our outreach programme. We feel that it is important to reach out to the community at large. We also organised a kite-flying programme for residents living around Jamia. Kite-flying is an element that is associated with Independence Day and instead of people doing it on their roof-tops we opened up our parking lot," explained media co-ordinator Rakshanda Jalil.

Mandira Nayar

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