Psychedelia 2k7

As promised, Oasis 2k7 was truly a psychedelic experience. It kicked off to a spectacular inaug with dazzling fireworks and was able to keep adrenaline levels high throughout the 96 hours. The fest was packed with brilliant events that never failed to enthrall the participants and keep their enthusiasm high. Most people would agree that this Oasis outdid Oasis 2k6, with the increase in sponsorship money being the main factor behind this. Most of it was, as always, was spent on arranging the Prof Shows. Prize money for most of the events saw an upward trend as compared to the last year. Meticulous planning ensured that the prize money was distributed as planned without any major alterations.

Scheduling of events, on the whole, was done quite well by Controlz. There was almost no clash between major events although quite a lot of people were surprised that Axetacy and Oasis Quiz (OQ) were held around the same time. Scheduling of the prof. shows should have been done more efficiently. Set-up and dismantling ate away precious Audi slots. Better co-ordination between departments and clubs would help in making the schedule smoother.

If there is one thing that should be done to make Oasis bigger and better, it would be providing better and increasing the accommodation. A lot of outstation participants were ruing their lot because of the type of accommodation they were provided. Many of those who were putting up at the staff quarters complained of lack of basic amenities. Security was another concern among the outstation participants, especially the girls. Because of limited accommodation available here, PCR had to put a cap on the maximum number of participants from many of the colleges. This led to a lot of disenchantment among the outstis, as at the last moment they had to cut down on the students that were participating in the various events. Despite these constraints, Rec n Acc put up a brave front and ran their show smoothly.

This year also saw the first yearites giving complete thumbs down to their cultural fest. This happens almost every year but the scale on which it happened this year around was quite intriguing. Leading the pack, the otherwise vibrant Ashok Bhawan wore a completely deserted look with most of wings reduced to a series of locked doors. More than 100 of the 146 first yearites that Ashok Bhawan houses had left Pilani during Oasis. Quite a few second and third yearites also headed home during the same time. These are the people who’ll be in charge of the fest in times to come.

The sponsorship reached an all-time high this year. The title sponsors, State Bank of India (SBI) and Vodafone pumped in more than nine lakh rupees (more than 3/4th of the entire sponz money). Other sponsors such as Gazelle, JAM also helped financially. Posters publicizing Oasis 2k7 were put up at all the Café Coffee Day outlets in Delhi and Jaipur. The official website for Oasis 2k7, whose aim was to spread awareness about the fest, was put up quite late this time around and also left out some essential details. Uploading the site a few months before the event kicks off would ensure more publicity and sponsors. Drawing more people to fest would definitely help in fetching more money from sponsors as they are assured of more publicity.

Oasis this time around came of age in terms of getting big names on campus. Brands such as Domino’s and Café Coffee Day set up their stalls here and did brisk business. BITSians, who generally don’t have access such eateries in town, made the most of it. Channel [V] interactive session hosted by VJs Neil and Juhi in Audi saw a huge turnout. VJ Luke Kenny was the judge for Rocktaves. The Paintball Wars, which was sponsored by Mountain Dew, was also a new event, but failed to attract a huge turnout. Big brands making their presence felt during Oasis point to the fact that our cult fest is only going to bigger and better in the years to come.

The Steel Frame of India

The State Secretariat, Patna

I had always been fascinated by the spirits conjured up by the three conjoined letters: I, A & S. The power and prestige associated with it cannot be matched by any other service in the country. One of the reasons might be that my dad is an I.A.S. officer and also another factor is my native state. In the words of Sanjay Singh (42nd rank, UPSC 2006) who hails from Bihar “Bihar has not seen the winds of change that swept through the country from the ‘90s, so we have a relatively older mindset. For us power and prestige still means the civil services, rather than fat salaries of the MNCs. (I don’t totally agree with him, most of the youth in the urban areas (like in the rest of the country) would definitely go for the MNC’s rather than the civil services but yeah to an extent the statement has veracity.)

The bureaucracy is known as the ‘steel frame’ of the country for its role in influencing and implementing government policies and decisions and running the civil administration. From manning the blocks of the districts to the corridors of power in the Central Government, it is the bureaucracy that runs the show. In a developing nation like ours, it is the government who the people look up to for providing development in addition to routine governance. That is why an efficient bureaucracy is the biggest asset a government can possess.

A recent survey by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) shows that despite the higher salaries of the private sector, civil services continue to be the preferred career choice for youth in the country. Many people might find this fact quite intriguing. So what is it that draws our youngsters to these coveted services? A newly inducted IAS officer offers a lucid explanation, “In our country, there are three people who are the most powerful-the PM, the CM and the DM. I wanted to be the DM.” The power and prestige that the service confers upon the individual are the main reasons that attract the youth. A beacon fitted Ambassador with police cover would make anyone jealous! Just three to four years into the service, and you are manning an entire district. Others feel that instead of scoffing at the inadequacies of the system, it is better to join it and power the changes one seeks. An efficient civil servant, with the powers conferred upon him, can change the face of his district be it in the field of education, law and order, health care or infrastructure. The bureaucracy has the power to cleanse the system and free it of its malaise. For the rural folks, the District Magistrate (also the Collector) has a larger than life image. The Collector is no less than a prince in his district, in charge of the administration and indirectly the police. People look up to them in awe as if they are someone different. An honest and efficient administrator gets respect from every section of the society. Some critics say that nothing much has changed since the British left, only the white men have been replaced with brown sahibs. Job security is an added attraction for the aspirants. The experience one gets while in service is simply unmatchable. IAS officers are in charge of departments of varied nature, ranging from Health, Education to Finance and Human Resource.

However not everything is as rosy as it sounds. The bureaucracy is afflicted by a plethora of problems. The most important factor which cripples the bureaucracy is the political intervention. Political intervention creeps in everywhere in the bureaucracy. This is how it works. For the bureaucrats, it is the chief minister at the state level, who decides the transfer and posting of the administrators. Generally the chief minister consults his ministers before transferring an official. Any disgruntled politician, ranging from a people’s representatives (Ministers, MLAs & MLCs) to even influential party workers may register his complaint with the person at helm of the affairs. In the times of coalition government, no sensible Chief can afford to ignore the “complaints”. This rule is misused by the politicians for leveraging their power. If a certain official doesn’t toe the line of a powerful politician, the minister may get him “shunted” (knowing how very sincere our politicians are) unless the chief minister says otherwise. For the uninitiated, shunting is transferring an official to a very insignificant post. Even the Annual Confidential Report (A.C.R.) is written by the Chief Minister and the minister of the department in which the bureaucrat is posted. Our very “sincere” ministers generally get along well with bureaucrats that are “pliable.” On a lighter note, in the bureaucratic circles, it is often said that the frequency of the transfers depicts the efficiency of the bureaucrat. It is the common man who finally has to suffer. Frequent transfers dampen the morale of efficient administrators and in the long run they become disgruntled with the system. It also impedes the rate of developmental activities especially at the district level. I think the system of a minimum tenure (as implemented now in the appointed of top bureaucrats in the Government of India like the Cabinet Secretary) would go a long way in improving administrative efficiency. Another drawback of the bureaucracy is that efficiency is not taken into account anywhere. The government should devise a system to reward to the efficient officers and shunt the inefficient ones. To retain the best in the system, the government should seriously think about revising the pay scales. To this end, the government had appointed The Sixth Pay Commission and the commission had recently submitted its report to the government.


Till the mid-nineties, the civil services (IAS, IPS etc) were the obvious option which attracted the best talent of the nation. At that point of time, private sector companies had not made it big. This was before the era of globalization and the IT boom. Most of those who made it into the civil services were the urban elite who had graduated from the top colleges of the country. Times have changed since then. Today when India is one of fastest growing economies in the world new job options are opening up everyday for the country’s youth.

The UPSC receives 3.5 lakh applications for the preliminary test of the three stage examination every year. Only 55 % actually take the test. The final 450-odd students [half of them from the reserved category again : ( ] actually get into the services. To fill in, if you did not know already, the government has had 50 % reservation in the central sector for long. This includes the much debated 27% for the Other Backward Castes (OBCs). Those who get selected come from all streams of study. Of late engineers have taken the top spot. They got almost one-third of all 450 ranks this year as compared to just 16% in 1985. But the share from the IITs has declined which may be due to the massive expansion of opportunities in the private sector. The average age of successful candidates has undergone a marginal change from 25.4 years in 1985 to 26.4 in 2005. Another paradigm shift is that more no. of women are getting through the civil services from a 10.4 % share in 1985, it has gone up to 20.6% in 2005. Also the age limit has been increased from the previous 24 to 26 to 28 to 30. The increase in educational opportunities has led to the democratization of these once-elite services. Less than 2 in 10 entrants were from a metro or a state capital in 2004 Compare that with the 70’s where two thirds came from the urban areas. The city born and city bred, apparently chasing IIMs, MNCs, foreign universities and a plethora of new economy options, are painting themselves out of the picture. In the 2004-2006 batch, the state wise breakup of those selected shows that Tamil Nadu leads followed by UP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Bihar

On a closing note, I would like to reiterate that the opportunities one gets in the civil services in innumerous and cannot be matched by any other service in the nation but before stepping in one should also weigh the challenges.

BITS-Pilani

I had never thought that I would get stuck at this tiny hamlet in the middle of nowhere near the sands of Rajasthan but fate had this in store for me. I had never even heard of this place before I landed up here (that is because BITS-Pilani doesn’t sell itself enough unlike many engineering colleges which are not even half its worth and also partly because of the IIT-centric mindset of the city I lived in.) If you are wondering, why the stars were so kind to Pilani, it was because G.D. Birla was born here.

A tiresome five and half hour expedition from New Delhi gets you to Pilani. The first sight of the Pilani campus came as a real shocker (especially cause I had been transferred from the ultra-mod BITS-Pilani Goa campus). The buildings made me wonder if I was in the colonial era. The Pilani campus of BITS was setup way back in the 1950’s and not much has changed since then. The hostels look like pre-independence forts sans the extravagance. Although the institute is a totally privately funded institution, its administration and functioning resembles that of a government college (nominal tuition and hostel fees, comparable to the IITs). I thought I was sacrificing a bit too much for the brand tag of a good college.

After a few initial hiccups and some mild ragging sessions, Pilani started suiting me fine and now I am totally enjoying my 4 year prolonged vacation.

Now I am not going to bore you with stats and facts about Pilani that you’ll inevitably encounter. What really sets the system of education at Pilani apart is the degree of independence that the college confers upon its students. “Freedom of Choice” is implemented in totality at Pilani itself. Right from the first day itself, the system in place lets you make all your decisions right from choosing the people you live with to choosing the courses/electives you opt for. The independence we get from the start of our college lives really helps later on (that is according to the seniors, I am in no position to verify this statement). Doing away with the system of compulsory attendance at the lectures and tutorials is also a first at BITS.

Also the gamut of activities that goes on in BITS-Pilani cannot be easily matched by other institutions. Everyday we have an event or two going on in the Audi or elsewhere which keeps the junta engaged. Here engineering students who share a common interest gather together in forms of clubs/departments and assocs and channel their creativity in a positive manner. The numbers of clubs and departments is about two dozen, which shows the interest of the junta for these societies. These also serve as a good platform for interaction between seniors and juniors of different branches at very close level.

Joint Entrance Examination 2k6

I.I.T. Guwahati ( Had my counselling here for JEE 2006 )

HAD RESERVATION WORKED, WE WOULD HAVE SEEN RESULTS AFTER 60 YEARS OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION. THE FACT THE GOVERNMENT STILL USES RESERVATION CLEARLY SHOWS THAT RESERVATIONS HAVE FAILED. THE SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS IMPLEMENT RESERVATIONS WHICH THEY USE AS A MASK TO COVER ITS UTTER FAILURE IN THE EDUCATIONAL SECTOR...

JEE(IIT)- One of the toughest exams one faces. Just looking at sheer numbers will make you shiver. About 300,000 people test their skills on the same day, of which only 5,000 make it to the merit list of JEE. A percentile of above 98 will open your door to get admitted in the most prestigious institute in India.

Well the point is, IIT's are considered to be centres of excellence, but are they??
After the reservations are implemented(which will be pretty soon, the pace of execution of non-developmental plans is very fast in India) one in every 2 student in our "temples of excellence" will be from the reserved category. Do you think the MNC's and the other top-notch companies will still make a beeline during placements in IIT's? The private sector looks for profit on its investment, and if half the students are not upto the mark, why would they do social service and recruit them? I'm not saying the students from the reserved class fare badly, but this is based on the data provided by the IIT's themselves. Most of the students who fail to get the passing grades in semester exams are from the reserved class.

Initially, when the IIT's were established way back in the 1950's, the campus was designed aesthetically ensuring enough greenery. For implementing reservation, the IIT's are building new hostels, classrooms and labs. And ever thought what will be lost in the process? The parks& the greenery the campuses today boast of. These centres will become jungles of concrete(quite like our metropolitan cities) with almost no space for recreational activities.