The JU Journal 2.0

Issue 2.0

October,2016

The Journal

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VC speaks out

ment, it is immediately put up on the website. Hence, we need to publicize our achievements, for which, our faculty members have to be more active. I am critical of the way the media handles our university. Unfortunately, the media has just portrayed the negative aspects and not given us any constructive criticism. Surprisingly, the media often asks me whether there is a story to be told. They do not want news, they want stories.

As we know, there’s a huge gap between the placement in the Arts section and that in Engineering. What steps do you plan to take to improve this?

Professor Suranjan Das Vice-Chancellor Jadavpur University

In an exclusive interview to the JU Journal team, the Vice-Chancellor spoke about a number of issues pertaining to the present situation in the University, and the possible solutions to the problems at hand.

People often blame the state in this matter. JU is not isolated from the state. So, some of the negative features of the recruitment policy of the state will automatically influence the University. Having said that, funding for student recruitment and research is just confined to science and technology. But, now there is a growing feeling that knowledge cannot be capsuled.

Things are changing. In case of campus recruitment, social science is not doing badly. But then again, the areas of their recruitment is very limited. I will be happy to take suggestions from students. Nowadays, NGOs and several industries are looking for social science and literature students in order to understand the implications of new technology. I would really appreciate suggestions from faculty members and students in this respect.

Do you think the alumni must be more involved for the betterSir, Jadavpur University is among the top 10 universities of In- ment of the present students? dia. What is your vision for JU for in the next five years?

I came here, as VC, just a year back, and the fact that JU has An important feature of JU has been that it strikes a fine bal- enough power for mobilizing professional and financial reance between science, technology, humanities, social sciences sources for the students, struck me.Hence, I have decided to and other disciplines. That has been a striking feature in JU’s put up an appeal on the website, soliciting details of the alumni. quest for excellence. It has paid off in two ways: How do you plan on improving the technical facilities and Firstly,as a result of the balance struck, we have a strong in- strengthening the club culture in the campus? ter-disciplinary teaching process, and I think that in the coming ten years we should try to increase this approach for better By now, most of our hostels and libraries here have been attainment of knowledge. I should also emphasize the fact that equipped with Wi-Fi and proper e-facilities. So, I think that is an although there’s the need for an inter-disciplinary approach, achievement. As far as Wi-Fi within the campus is concerned, the methodological processes of pedagogy of each department I am sympathetic to that demand, and I have an IT team, which is working on it. must not be compromised.

Being new to the university, one thing that struck me was the JU has a wide circuit of extra-curricular clubs and I have exvery informal and strong bond between the teachers and the pressed sincere interest in those clubs. However, it is a matter students. JU has always focused on, and worked hard for, two of regret that I have not received any enthusiastic response things- A) Its distinguished position in the academic map of In- from the concerned people. In two consecutive board meetdia, and the world, as a center of excellence B) Its contribution ings, I personally raised the issue of reactivating many of these to the nation-building-process in the country so that India be- clubs, but these issues have not been addressed. A vital way to make JU a top university would be to look into the proper funccomes a better and happier place to live in.

Many professors from the engineering and arts departments feel that their research work does not receive enough exposure in the media. What is your suggested solution for this?

This can be done in several ways. Firstly, the faculty is doing an excellent job, but I must say that there is a lot of room for improvement, if the lethargy prevailing inside the campus can be overcome.

Secondly, today, it is a world of advertisement. If you go to major western universities, whenever there is any major achieve-

At a time like this when the media portrays JU in the wrong light, do you think a journal like this, which highlights the achievements of every department and shows that JU is primarily a center for learning and excellence is important?

Definitely. I congratulate you on this initiative. This journal gives you a very good view of what is happening as far as academics is concerned. I also suggest that each issue be uploaded on the official website of Jadavpur University to make sure it has a better reach.

Academia & Research

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Know Your Prof

and hence we train them to do this according to the UN system.

We also prepare national communication for the govt. of India Ma’am, you are currently the to the UN FRAMEWORK OF CLIMATE CHANGE, and the stacoordinator of the Global tistics of the performance of the Indian government in relation Climate Change Programme, to these topics. For more details, you can visit the following and Director of the Ryoichi link.

Sasakawa Young Leaders Fel- Website- http://juglobalchangeprogram.org/gcp/ lowship Fund programme at Lastly, I am also the coordinating lead author of the IPCC reJU. Would you kindly enlighten ports. Right now we are conducting a project on the India-US technology forum. It is DST and funded by the US government us about these initiatives?

NSF. We along with professors from the Electrical and Civil Engineering departments in JU, are working with the University of Apart from my responsibili- California-Berkley to try and develop arsenic treatment techty as a teacher in Economics, nology.There is a transitional literature where we say that this there are three programmes I innovation is not just technological, but social as well. And I feel look after to encourage and that social sciences and technological engineering go hand-inDr. Joyashree Roy, promote research in the cam- hand. We take summer interns on such projects. Interested currently a professor in the pus. candidates mail me directly.

Department of Economics in SYLFF Do you think that such initiatives taking place in JU get enough Jadavpur University, is among the network of scientists who It was almost ten years ago publicity among the students? shared the 2007 Nobel Peace when I took the leadership of the SYLFF programme. Get- I think all of you, as students of JU, realize that if one wants to Prize awarded to the IPCC. ting a million dollar endow- organize a serious lecture, very few turn up. Being an economent back then was a path mist, I’ll go back to human behavior. As humans, we want easy breaking achievement for the university. The endowment was things to pass our time with. But in your life, you will see that invested, as per international norms, the interest earned from the fun times you’ve had have barely added value to your life. which is given to students as scholarship. The scholarship is Visibility of any good thing is less in the Indian society. Our given to students willing to do research at Master’s, M.Phil or schools have created a very watertight system, thus killing our ingeuinty. If you take out the ingenuity, you kill hard work and Ph.D level on contemporary issues in India.

SYLFF fellowship programme allows students to go to univer- try to avoid it. However, the ones who are really oriented and sities abroad for a duration of three months for research work. interested do come. I would have to say that our system does JU is one of the 69 universities in the world to be affiliated with not encourage us much in such endeavours. But I have no comthe RYOICHI SASAKAWA YOUNG LEADERS FELLOWSHIP plaints. Anything new takes its time. Today you have come beFUND (SYLFF). SYLFF assistants are students themselves; so cause you heard about this. This validates that any innovation takes time to reach the market from the labs. It took 10 years they learn how to run an international programme.

There is also the MOMOYAMA GAKUIN UNIVERSITY EX- to turn an educational institution into a social innovation. I am CHANGE PROGRAMME where, every year, 2 undergraduates happy. from our university are sent to Japan for research programmes On a personal note, what sparked your interest in environpertaining to social and management issues. The programme is ment-related projects, since you did your PHD on energy fully funded and students from any faculty are eligible to apply. economics and then branched out into environment and resource?

Website- http://jusylffprogram.org.in/jusylff/

GLOBAL CHANGE PROGRAMME My personal interest in energy and environmental economics triggered my interest in the economics of climate change. I represent the government of India in the Inter-Government Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), a research programme.

The GLOBAL CHANGE PROGRAMME within the campus focuses on discussing and working on different areas of research funded by various agencies. We started getting research projects from UN bodies, from the governments of other countries, and the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests to generate knowledge, which can help in policy-making. Money invested in such projects is used to hire student interns from different faculties, run short-term courses for company executives and govt. officials. 10 years back, we started our work in Environmental Accounting under the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation to provide various macro-economic databases. Every country needs an environmental accounting

In 2007, when we were the IPCC Nobel Peace Prize winning panel, I was asked the same question. I said that it was due to my Shillong connection. My childhood years were spent in Shillong. I grew up with nature, and I valued nature so much that when I came to Calcutta, I missed it.

But when I came here to do my Ph.D, my teacher suggested that I work along the lines of energy economics. I’ve always had a penchant for anything that’s new, and so I took his advice. As I went about my research, I found that there has been unprecedented advancement in the subject in terms of Environmental Economics, which we don’t teach here. Incidentally, at that time, World Bank came up with a programme on Environmental Economics capacity-building and they wanted to build capacities so that environment policies can be formulated and implemented, and environmental assessment can be made.

As an economist, this is very important because whenever we look at any economic activity we see it in terms of contribution

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Academia & Research

and value-addition. If the air is polluted, we need medical treatment. So clean air is a valuable addition. But since it is so easily available, we forget to value that. We never spend money for cleaning the air. So in economics we are calling this total eco-

nomic value.

Environment Economics talks about all of this. As an economist, I realized a link with nature and I knew that it has value.

Now I can teach a subject, the idea behind which I grew up with; it is a fantastic integration- that of economics with the environment.

At a seminar recently organized in the University, Amitava Ghosh reiterated an opinion he has expressed in his book ‘The Great Derangement’, that climatic change is a crisis not so much of nature as of culture and our inability to imagine about global climatic phenomena. Do you, like Dr. Ghosh, feel that this is all a result of human doing?

The term “climate change” has been coined as an anthropogenic change or change caused by human actions. He, being a literary person, sees it from a cultural stand-point, whereas I try to see it from the perspective of human decision-making. We make decisions, which are priced, and then we try to see what is our benefit is. We had clean air and it was easy to breathe, but we kept making it dirty until it became hard to breathe. I would say that the economic system then was such that we did not understand the value of clean air. So, what Mr. Ghosh calls culture, I call human choices.

In economic terms, an institution is not defined by its boundaries but by its norms. There are different components to an institution like JU. I would say, academically, our students are among the top 2 percent in the world.

But where we lack today is research. Since our childhood we have been taught to just learn and get good marks. Through the years, we haven’t been encouraged to think freely, but then suddenly, at the Ph.D level, we are asked to prepare our own innovative project. That becomes a real problem. When we introduced the project systems in schools, the parents started doing them. So, it’s also the social system, the family institution that we need to question.

When I first went abroad, I saw the world. My eyes were opened.

I could see what they were doing and what we weren’t. That’s when I started taking small steps. When the SYLFF programme started, the global change programme started.

I thus believe that rules need to be flexible, to allow innovation, so that we can advance even faster. We have rules that allow the exceptional to be exceptional, but we need to make the average exceptional, the below-average exceptional. Then I would say that the university has succeeded.

Finally, what is your take on The JU Journal as an initiative?

Given the history of Jadavpur University, given the way it started, I believe JU has always allowed innovation. There is something in the campus that nurtures free thinking. And this, the JU Journal, I think is an innovation. . I felt really happy when I read Ma’am, you have travelled quite a bit around the world. Where your mail yesterday about the initiative. I earnestly hope that do you think Jadavpur University stands on the global platform, you will succeed in your endeavor. both in terms of vision and activities?

As a former student of the university, how would you compare campus life then and now?

There

Dr Abhijit Chanda Associate Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering Jadavpur University

has definitely been change,but not a very significant one. One of them being that now the atmosphere here is more multicultural than it was before.Earlier, Bengali was the main language spoken on campus, which is no longer the case.This linguistic change in recent times is important as it poses a big challenge for the entire University to adapt to this multicultural system.

However this is not a problem for a university like Jadavpur which, I know, can maturely adapt to these changes and emerge with a more cosmopolitan outlook.

Sir how well do you feel we are adapting to these cultural and linguistic changes, in view of your belief that the university needs to adopt a cosmopolitan outlook?

We are definitely learning to adapt. Earlier, when I spoke to students affiliated with the unions, I found them confused about the manner in which the situation, with a large number of outstation students who couldn’t converse in Bengali, was to be tackled.The pertinent question then was how the cultural scene on campus- the fests and festivals- were to be organized. In the recent past, we have grown, assumed national colour, and given a little more time, our evolution will be complete. The onus is on everyone, students, faculty and administration to reorient themselves in a manner to keep up the national outlook.

Where would you say JU stands with respect to the scenario of research here?

This is a relative question. If we compare with our past, we are definitely far ahead. We are also ahead of most institutions in eastern India. However if the comparison is with our present growth rate and capability, there is still scope for advancement to a huge extent. In my belief, we should have moved a little faster.For example, project or research activity in collaboration with other institutions should take place in greater numbers.

Also the strong undergraduate section of Engineering in Jadavpur University should be utilised and engaged in different project work under different professors to create a bigger audience and a better boost to take the research work ahead faster.

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Academia & Research Could you suggest how students can be a part of the ongoing research work?

This can happen in two ways.

1. Individual teachers encouraging students to work in projects under them. Such an approach is important and is prevalent in our university.

2. Institutional support is also very important as some projects might require infrastructure that an individual teacher cannot provide. TEQIP has played an important role here, by funding new initiatives and opportunities.

Also engineering students should try and formulate projects with companies and the corporate world.

What is the current scenario of TEQIP? Currently, the second phase of the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme.(TEQIP) is underway, with funding from the World Bank. We look forward to successfully completing the second phase and moving onto the third. In my opinion, TEQIP has helped us achieve two goals: firstly, a number of new avenues for funding have been opened up to us; and secondly, it has helped us support for research activity in the form of fellowships at undergraduate, postgraduate and higher education levels. This has also enabled us to give a cosmopolitan colour to the nature and scope of research work pursued here.

Increased student involvement is the only way opur university can further build upon its research base, and this is where TEQIP comes in.

Sir, there is a trend for students to opt out of their core department owing to lack of placements. Would you like to comment on the matter?

Sticking to one’s core discipline is a matter of individual choice.But in my belief, core branches have a long future ahead of them. In 5 years’ of time, one’s interest in the subject will not dry up. However I don’t think a sector such as IT can give long term satisfaction. I don’t want to belittle it as Information Technology is indeed significant in today’s world, .- but the opportunity to remain associated with the core branch should not be passed over so easily as it can be beneficial in the long run.

Running behind a hefty salary- package is definitely not the way ahead. My suggestion would be to prepare yourself and work in an interdisciplinary domain in keeping with global trend.

Sir, currently what research is going on under you?

My area of work is mainly hard core material science and material science related to biology. The main work is with biomaterials. The focus is to replace any sort of a biological tissue which gets damaged due to a disease or an accident, with foreign materials keeping in mind that the latter does not create any form of adverse reaction or toxicity in the human body in the short or long run. These materials can be polymer, ceramic, metals and alloys. Since I essentially work with ceramics, my domain is bio-ceramic materials.

Apart from this, I am working along with other professors and institutions on a project involving the basic mechanical principles that we apply to human motion. For example, many Many students are interested in being a part of research enjute mill workers in the country suffer from severe back pain deavours headed by professors. What would be your advice or because of their posture at work but there is no systematic suggested plan of action for them? study which looks into this. Agriculture is also a similar profession with a similar problem. Hence the aim is to provide reThere are two aspects to this.

One is the administrative part, which is concerned with funding lief to the workers with an alternative to the posture at work. and fellowship. Students should be aware of such opportunities Another area of research for me is to find a replacement of the provided by a number of funding agencies and institutions. In jaw-line wich is removed from the mouth owing to oral cancer. fact, now students are more aware and are going for summer This results in facial deformity and makes it difficult fellowships abroad and within the country. Earlier this was not for the subject to eat. Also as a mechanical engineer, I am asthe scenario, with maximum people going for industrial training sociated with the study of energy materials required for comin summer. But the role of the University cannot be ignored bustion. here. It needs to evolve a system through which the news about What are your suggestions to the JU Journal team? fellowships can be circulated among the students of each and every department.

I believe this initiative has to take place in a timely manner and The other aspect is ofcourse academics. As far as the question needs proper publicity and circulation,be it offline or online. is about the direction of research, my suggestion would be the As far as content is concerned, refrain from just publishing to focus on transdisciplinary projects. news; focus on views and opinions as well.Promote the culture of fests and encourage participation from JU in other fests.

Do you think research activities in JU are not well publicized?

Proper organization and logistical management during fests Does this need to change? needs to be ensured. Peripheral knowledge is more important Yes it does. Many papers publish such matters, but awareness than domain knowledge.Every institution or company checks among the masses is still lacking.If you go through the news- to see if you are a good team worker, good leader, if you have papers, you will notice that there has been a lot of pioneering knowledge of peripheral subjects, and if you have the inter diswork going on in JU, but none of them are clearly explained.We ciplinary approach in your efforts. I believe we have potential need initiatives to bring our the new findings into the public but we do not make the most of it. Here your initiative can play domain. We need a newsletter for the University which is pub- a huge role in utilising our openness in not only social and polished regularly, both online and offline, highlighting such activ- litical issues but also in technical issues.You could also pubities. Our university has been defamed to some extent, without lish important links providing valuable information on subjects much reason, and to counter that, we should focus on areas like which teachers can’t deal with in detail due to limited class time. Hence, be more organised and expand your horizons. research which can earn us positive publicity.

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KnowYourSenior

Signing Off.

Chandrachur Bhattacharya Department of Mechanical Engineering Batch 2012-’16

Research is something that most engineering students

make fun of, since it does not affect their CGPA. However, for those who wish to someday pursue higher studies abroad, both in Engineering and Science, research is looked favorably upon even in Master’s, and the hope of getting funding or a PhD position banks largely upon the research experience of the student.

At the present, I have just started Graduate School as a Doctoral student at the Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Department at The Pennsylvania State University, or Penn State as it more commonly known. Here, I am working on active combustion control in aircraft gas turbine engines. We, at our lab at Penn State, are trying to make air travel safer, more fuel efficient and less noisy. Working on aircraft engines has actually

Reach the Summit

Internships are necessary as the university curric-

ulum is not sufficient to expose students to the current needs of the industries, as well as cutting–edge research going on all over the world.

Being a student of Geology, with a love for the Himalayas, I chose to explore one of the highly regarded research institutions in India dedicated solely to studying this mountain belt – Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun. With not many internships being available for science undergrads, the Indian Academy of Science (IAS) came to our rescue. It organizes a Summer Research Fellowship Programme (SRFP) every year, offering internships in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Life Sciences as well as Engineering and Computer Science. Applications generally start around September-October. The selection list is announced in February. Any student, from the Faculty of Science or Engineering, UG II onwards, with more than 65% in the honours subjects can apply. They ask for a 150 word write-up on the topic of your choice, and that must be “impressive”, direct and absolutely NOT ornamental. The applicant has to choose at

been a dream over the last 3 years, (an upgrade from my childhood dream of being a Rajdhani Engine Driver)!

Getting to this position has taken some work; being involved in a couple of projects since the second year, including stuff with DRDO, a handful of papers, few good industrial internships and good grades. Also, I was lucky enough to be selected as an S. N. Bose Scholar in the summer of 2015, which entailed me to a fully paid, all-sponsored 10 week internship at Penn State, which certainly did enhance my chances of coming back here this year.

For my juniors who think this is a good next step after JU, here are a few pointers: • Keep good grades (there is no known cut off but >8.5 seems to be the unofficial one) • Identify the research area that you would enjoy the most, don’t be scared to experiment before you decide, JU has a very supportive environment • Have a couple of research activities if you can (contact your professors for them, they need to know you want to pursue research). My advisors at JU, Dr. Sen and Dr. Mukhopadhyay, have been super instrumental in making sure I am where I am now • Have a couple of internships if you can (industrial or academic), and have a good rapport with your supervisor so they can give you Letters of Recommendation.

• Funding for Master’s is not absent but is rare in the US. Ph.D positions, however are nearly always funded (tuition + stipend).

However, extra-curricular activities are equally important. I was associated with the Jadavpur University Debating Society from 2014-2016. Instead of affecting my studies, it has actually helped me to take a nice break from my academics. (NOTE: The JU Journal is a good extra-curricular).

Here’s wishing all of you good luck, and looking forward to have you come to the US in the next few years for the purpose of higher studies, signing off, Chandrachur.

least four guides, according to his or her preference,from the field the person wants to work in. The concerned person would then be assigned to one of those guides. IAS pays a fellowship of INR 8000 per month to the Summer Research Fellow (SRF) during the tenure. Visit www.ias.ac.in for more details.

My time as SRF in WIHG, Dehradun this summer was extremely fruitful. You will get to work with the best professionals, establish new contacts, meet like-minded people, make new friends and chill out over the weekends. If interested, you can contact me for more details.

Arka Pratim Chatterjee UG 3, Dept. of Geological Sciences

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KnowYourSenior

“Kaleidoscope of Memories”

As I sit down all geared up to write this article, a kaleido-

scope of memories seems to be rushing through my mind, and I am smiling even before I realize it. That perhaps tells you a lot about how integral to my life JU has been. Looking back at my first day on campus, I remember how intimidated I felt, mainly because I still had not shaken off the feeling of living away from my family and the feeling of being amidst Bengali people for the first time in my life. However, before long,I realized, I started relying on it as a place which would later become a place of refuge. And why not?It has been a witness to so many facets of my life – be it falling in love for the first time, facing heartbreaks, the taste of my success and failures alike. It was here that I forged some of the deepest friendships of my life; relations that have been a constant source of support and strength to me even today. And I have been lucky to be a part of our department; to have such amazing teachers especially PKS sir, DCP sir, SB sir; all of whom affected my life in a positive way. I think I would forever be indebted to them for teaching me more than just Geology. To say that I started looking at Kolkata with a different, new and fresh perspective because I was a part of JU would not be very wrong.

Today, when I am in a different country, away from everyone who meant a lot to me, the contrast of culture, work ethics and

“JU is a Knowledge Mine” Dibyajyoti Sinha is an alumnus from the Department of Economics (20092014) and worked in Ernst and Young for two years. He is currently pursuing his PhD. from the University of Alberta, Canada, specialising in Resource & Environmental Economics.

I

had joined the Department of Economics, as an undergraduate in 2009, and was very indecisive and unsure as to what to pursue. I had a keen interest in both, physical and social sciences. This juncture is not very unusual and many of us had had to ‘choose’, subject to whatever little experience or academic records we had accumulated. This choice, which we think would draw a line on our future choices and opportunities, is not actually as critical as we might have had perceived back then.

I would take this opportunity to discuss how I am slowly heading towards my interests and how Jadavpur University has had a major role in supporting my developments.

As I always love to put it – “JU is a knowledge mine”. The most resourceful bore is not necessarily dug in the classes or the libraries but also beyond the respective departments. Be it in academics or in the corporate, the world job market is now saturated enough. It is looking for creative and innovative minds.

One, which can change the dimensions of thought and burgeon

emotional attachment strikes much deeper. Needless to say, I absolutely love my work and the plethora of opportunities I have here, but the smaller nuances of life I had in this university - be it a quick trip to Mama’s Chai shop for a short break (which dragged on for hours), or having lunch at the PG canteen, or simply sitting in the ‘maath’ (ground) chatting away with friends- simply do not exist here. Now when I visit the campus, I am stuck somewhere by a feeling of surrealism. Looking at the people around, I just let out a deep sigh, remembering how wonderful life had been back then.

Life, I believe, is a constant journey of learning new things and of trying to evolve as a human being towards betterment of not only our own self, but also of people around us.I feel lucky infact to have been a part of our department, lucky to have met some amazing people there, to learn, grow, evolve and I feel that at the end of the day,JU will always feel like a home to me, irrespective of where I would be then.

Sriparna Saha, Research Assistant, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Rice University, Houston Texas is an esteemed alumnus of JU. work. Jadavpur is a wonderful place to exercise such ideas.

I had always been a below-average rater in college but I never disliked any of my courses. I found it interesting to pick up topics I learnt in class to discuss with fellow students from other departments. There students of Geology, who critically rebuked the political fanfare of climate change to those of Comparative Literature, who threw me into the gorges of qualitative thinking.It troubled me at times to think that a subject like Economics which survives on the basis of rational behaviour has in many circumstances lost its very rationality to quantitative dictums of mathematics. The very liberal atmosphere in JU taught me to think critically and it is the most precious thing one would like to earn. At least, I developed the idea to think critically about my bread-and-butter early.

After completing my Masters in Economics in 2014, I was relatively luckier to have had the opportunity to work at Ernst and Young (EY), Climate Change and Sustainability Department.

Drafting Energy Efficiency strategy for the Government of Bhutan, promoting Concentrating Solar Technologies in Indian Industries to devising strategies to aid Climate Migration in Bangladesh, I was very much in line with what I had dreamt to work for. However, I was restricted by time, notion and ideologies. There is hardly any scope for liberal thinking in the corporate sector. I was restricted to streamlined thinking and remained locked up in quantitative targets. I confirmed my decision henceforth to return to academics. In this pursuit, the openness in academia gives me an opportunity to research on the socio-political dynamics of climate change and also delve in the more popular domain of resource extraction and distribution. How many of us really end up in the area of our interest and how?The answer is simple – Just don’t give in. I firmly believe that our alma mater has a lot to cater to that.

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Fresher’s Zone

FRESHERS’ TALK New impressions are formed by Freshers every year right at

the beginning of the academic calendar. These uninitiated first impressions reflect the nature and quality of campus life in JU. Out of the 30+ entries we received for this section, we could publish only three. Hear what they have to say!

Sreemoyee Mukherjee UG - I Department of English

College is life on nitro boost.

It saps much of your strength, but you’re whizzing past the world at breakneck speed. When you move too fast, the world invariably slows down and you cannot quite register all the madness you have been absorbing and becoming a part of.

The brilliance of Jadavpur University grows on you until you’re no longer surprised by it, and that is a loss.

This starstruck wonder that I feel right now should never have to fade. Yet you realise you are slowly becoming a part of this wonderland- this picturesque globe teeming with the best minds of every generation going about saving the world or just saving someone, even themselves.

It is a breathtaking view if you just sit in between classes on the ledge, and observe the campus in all its enchantment. Or maybe you could sit in class, where your professors slowly teach you that holding a pen makes you powerful, and you must learn how to use that power. The teachers and the seniors stoke that tiny fire of curiosity inside you till it’s roaring for more. It is the quintessential centre for learning, for it is conducive towards, and accepting of, knowledge.

I barely know my way around, but my waddling feet are already beginning to understand that even the walls of JU could teach you something if you allow them.

True education was never meant to be confined to the pages of a text book or a forty minute period, and it cannot ever be force-fed. It is the daily acceptance of both the different and the cliché, of opinions and ideas that the university pours down on you like rain- it is the urge to know more, and to make a change, in yourself and in the world. And that is the sum of what the university represents.

In the end, all you have to do to feel at home and be willing to learn.

For me, in the span of this one month, the greatest experience was gradually learning the meaning of the collective moto of the students, “Chaap nibi na” (Don’t stress).I first heard it in the admission room, when I messed up my admission form completely. Since then, I heard this phrase repeated to us at every turn; on the first day of college, before our departmental freshers’ welcome, and subsequently, every day for the past one month.

The culture and atmosphere of the university promotes free, rational thinking and induces an inexplicable feeling of independence and the freedom to pursue one’s dreams. I can proudly quote the sentiment expressed by one of my friends from the Dept. of Mechanical Engg.; “People here are so down to earth!”

He hails from Delhi.

From watching the seniors sitting in Suruchi canteen and stupidly asking myself, ‘Am I allowed in here?’ to dancing with the same group of people on the freshers’ night – that is my story. Making some wonderful friends who I can spend hours just talking too, feeling like I’ve known them all my life, that is my story. I know that they are reading this with smiles on their faces. I also know that they feel the same way. I now realize that I have rambled on for a while, without touching on my academic experience here so far, but I believe the reader’s will pardon that, since the emotions are running deeper than usual!

Cheers! 

Utsab Ganguly UG - I Department of International Relations “ It doesn’t matter how you plan it.

It doesn’t matter how you envision it.

Without even knowing, sometimes life has a way of finding you with exactly what you need, or exactly who you need” - Quinn, One Tree Hill

A year back, Jadavpur University, probably wouldn’t have featured among my priorities. Yet, riding a rollercoaster series of events, I stand here, addicted to the atmosphere, attached to the people and amazed at the plethora of opportunities knocking on my door. Jadavpur University is like the light at the end of a long tunnel. You can either choose to get blinded by it, or steadily merge into its radiance.

It can be pretty intimidating in your early days with the high Shankhadeep Dasgupta standards to live up to, the huge variety of new people, large B.E. Chemical Engineering Department number of things to do all at once, etc. unless, obviously, you’ve 1st Year (UG) got seniors like I do. Then you can be rest assured they’ve got it all under control on your behalf --- there’s an “eto chaap nibor me, personally, JU has always been in my thoughts ina” or “cazz, bhai” waiting just around the corner.

and dreams because of the strength and unity of mind of its Jadavpur University gives you more than just great education. students. The swift transition from – ‘Will I be in JU?’ to –‘Yes, It teaches you to live – live life on your terms, and be the best that you can!

I will!’, once my results were out, still makes me giddy.

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Fresher’s Zone

Know Your Campus

Moni Da’s Canteen

Bored of canteens inside the campus? Or do you have a friend who is treating? When you have to distinguish between luxury PG Arts Xerox and necessity in food and if you are in for a couple of hours of free time to spend while eating, Moni Da is a popular choice Humans of JU, an online group with the aim of introducing among students of JU. the different souls across the campus, interviewed the people Sreetama Basu, International Relations, UG - II writes about behind the machine at the PG Arts Xerox Shop who make life her experience in Moni Da. much easier for all the students.

“I have been working over here since the past ten years. Our

main centre, Dutta Printers, is near 8B. It started off with just one machine and with time, we have only grown for the better.

It’s really been a long time and we have seen several batches pass out. We try to give the best possible service to the students. But, at the same time, needless to say, we are nothing without the cooperation of the students. There’s a huge rush before the semester exams and even then we try to render the service as fast as we can. It’s because they have immense faith in us that we strive to do better each day. Maybe I am the senior one among us four, but we work in unity and we are totally dedicated to our work and our students. Jadavpur, well, Jadavpur has always had this warmth about itself – we feel it everyday, thanks to our students.” Sushanta Da (Person in the middle)

Jheelpar Windmill - Madhuja Bhattacharya, Sociology,UG-II

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echnically speaking, a windmill converts the kinetic energy of the wind into rotational energy. However here in JU, the sole windmill does none of that. Keeping up the reputation of JU,where - life is a mixture of ‘prem’, ‘porashona’, ‘politics’- the windmill is the prem-spot on campus. Standing tall near jheelpaar, the windmill is that trusted friend who has probably been the witness of all your first-time experiences in the campus. The saying “What happens in jheelpar stays in jheelpaar” is one of the major reasons why it is such a favourite hang-out spot on campus.

“Have you been to Moni Da’s yet?” A senior demanded, a month after first year began. I hastily muttered a ‘no’ before planning my escape from this uncomfortable inquisition, partly because I had no idea of what he just said, but mostly because even during the Campus Tour I did not recall stumbling across this place. But the astonished look on senior’s face determined a new addition in my checklist for the coming week- pay attention in class, make some new friends, and visit Moni Da’s Cafe.

I remember sighing in relief when I was told that the entrance to Moni Da was not from inside the campus per say, for my inability to locate it in the first place within the campus had gone in vain. Tucked between Mushroom Park, Jadavpur Vidyapith and the Gate 4 Jheel, Moni Da’s cafe was your go-to place to celebrate those little joys of life, but if you are like me, you will also celebrate your mundane existence with the best Chinese food on campus. Having heard praises of their food in general, I was at a complete loss when I had to in fact order the food.

That is when the very kind Shreya Di stepped in, and helped me out. For those who do not know, Shreya Di, as lovingly called by all the regulars to the canteen, is Moni Da’s daughter, and she looks into the overall management of the canteen along with her father. She suggested the “Saucy Chicken Lollipops”, and as my friend lovingly refers to them as “little sticks of heaven”, it was, in fact, delicious. But this was a year back. Since then, Moni Da’s Cafe has infact expanded its menu to include more combos that are pocket-friendly, and added more snacks to cater to the needs of their target audience. Their dishes generally start at Rs.80, and while that may be a little expensive for the average college student, their dishes come with great quality, and greater quantity. A general favourite are the Chicken Spring Rolls and Momos, Fries, and Pasta, apart from the various types of Rice, Noodles and Chicken side dishes that one can choose from.

Having frequented for a year to the Cafe at the best and worst of times, the canteen’s history also serves as a reminder to its testimony towards harmony and friendship. Moni Shankar Chowdhury, loving referred to as Moni Da, started this cafe in January, 1993. It was originally named “Bon-Ami” (meaning a good friend), but it eventually changed to Moni Da’s Food Cafe, a name that has survived for more than 23 years. But apart from the good food that they serve, the highlight of the cafe remains the two lovely dogs, Coco and Choco, who welcome you with a lot warmth and affection. I have made some great friends while sharing Garlic Chicken and Schezwan Rice, and it remains a favourite spot if you value good friends, a good ambience and of course, the best food.

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Clubs & Societies

Basic Training Sessions The Basic Training Session held in August by Jadavpur University Photographic Club, is one of the most important events in the Campus as around 150-200 people turn up every year to learn the basics of photography and use of DSLR cameras in this one month training period. Hear from people about their experience in the Basic Training Sessions this year.

Then followed the concepts of Exposure, Depth of Field and Romia Parvez, UG-I, International Relations talkes about her Composition in the respective classes and every class was held in a particular venue which would assist us to implement the learning during the BTS.

It was an amazing experience. On the

very first introductory session more than 150 students turned up. The theory session was engaging and informative. It was taken care that we’re not showered with all the technical details on the very first day. We learned what photography is, why we do it and some other aspects. The next day was our first practical class at Victoria Memorial, that day we were divided into groups first. We began with the grassroots of photography- right from ‘how to operate and handle a camera’ to ‘how to focus’ Many excellent photographs were taken on the first session of BTS.

From a photography enthusi-

Sudip Bhattacharya PG-I, Department of English, talks about his experience in a course of a month with JUPC in the Basic Training Sessions.

ast, to somewhat of an amateur, JUPC fulfilled the need to get up on my feet and really learn the basics. Moving on from the relatively simple phone and point-and-shoot cameras, they showed me that the intimidating black DSLR cameras are indeed not that formidable to maneuver. Initially simply accompanying a good friend, I found myself more and more interested in the workings of the camera, and while the theory classes were interesting, the practical classes stole the show. The initial reluctance to wake up so early in the morning to reach the venue soon evaporated by the fourth and final class, by the time of which we were waking up at

lessons.

The best thing about BTS is that even after 3 weeks new people show up and it just becomes better and better. After 3 classes we could see how much better photographs we could take.

BTS was an enriching experience which we all are going to treasure for life. The review classes taken by the club members are an excellent approach and incredibly helpful as well, since it informs us about our own shortcomings, and helps us improve with time.We had so much fun but at the same time we didn’t forget to focus on improving our photographs.

The time at BTS also taught us that you don’t become a photographer with just a camera in your hand, there’s so much more

five! The Basic Training Session does exactly what is advertised- it teaches you the basics, does not ensure you click professional grade pictures from the first day onwards, but I met some very friendly people, and tried to click some good pictures, and most of all, I had fun.

The Extended JUPC Family after BTS 2016.

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Events & Fests

PaaradorS(HE)

Hult Prize

The Hult Prize Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to launching the world’s next wave of social entrepreneurs. It encourages the world’s brightest business minds to compete in teams to solve the planet’s biggest challenges with innovative ideas for sustainable start-up enterprises. Annual Hult Prize winners can make their ideas reality with the help of USD1 million in seed funding. Called the “Nobel Prize for students” by media outlets world-wide, the Hult Prize is offered in ender discrimination is an ubiquitous phenomenon that partnership with former US President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative. It is hosted and supported by Hult Inter- plagues the society today, as it has done for ages. It continues national Business School, and generously funded by Swedish to be visible in all spheres and walks of life, and has established itself as an accepted evil. In order to send out a message of entrepreneur Bertil Hult and his family. protest and concern over this divide, the students of Jadavpur We caught up with Soumyadip Ghosh, University organized a mixed gender sports event, “Paaraa fourth year student of Computer dorS(HE)”.

Science Engineering in Jadavpur Uni- The event transpired through two days and involved a plethoversity, who was also the Campus ra of competitive sports. In what was a unique feature of the Director for the first ever Hult Prize event, each sport saw teams with as many female participants as their male counterparts. Female students of Jadavpur Uniorganised in JU last year. versity took to this platform with great enthusiasm and through n my second year, I had tried to par- their hard work and expertise on field, they emphatically justicipate as a team in the Hult Prize tified the respect women deserve in society today. Among the via the General Applicants Pool. Our sporting events that were organized were Football, Cricket, team was rejected. IIT Kharagpur Badminton, Tug-of-War and Kho-Kho; adding to indoor games and several other colleges conduct such as Table Tennis and Chess. the Hult Prize event inside their own “I never believed I could ever play football”, said one of the campuses. I wanted the same for JU. female students in a post-match conversation, displaying the So, next year I applied for the Campus Director post. Luckily, I wholeheartedness to compete and the intent to perform. got selected and JU could finally have its own Hult Prize event. As jerseys with Messi and Kohli printed on them lit up the playThis meant that a team from JU would surely go to one of the ing area, it was the male students who took the responsibility of regional finals. I was really proud that I could do something for ensuring that an inclusive event took place, thus breaking the stereotypes of chauvinism that are often seen in modern-day my university. society. Some of the participants had held the bat for the first Whenever JU receives the right platform, it works wonders. time. Some had not kicked the ball before. But indeed they had I had a wonderful team to work with. The organization was registered themselves and their effort in an event was worth very systematic. We could effectively reach out to all the stu- remembrance. dents at the university. We had quite a few good social start-up ideas, and it was really enthralling to witness such enthusiasm amongst the students. The Hult Prize team was very supportive during the entire course. Although I played a small part in in campus making JU better, it really made me happy. This year, I expect another great Hult Prize event.

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What’s Up

JU ED-CELL

HULT PRIZE 2017 - 5TH NOV

JUDS JU DELEGATION TRAVELS TO KIIT MUN 2016 (22nd to 24th Oct)

JUPC INTRA EXHIBITION (members only) - 2nd Nov. onwards

Last year, Team Solution comprising Amartya Sinha, Priyanjit Biswas, Avishek Banerjee and Ananya Mishra made it to the regional finals in Dubai to represent JU.

FESTS TRAJECTORY 2016, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (21-23Oct)

CORPORATE INTERNSHIP

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Placement & Internship

Ever dreamt of working at a MNC? Or still confused between academia and corporate work? As they say, one in hand is always better than two in the bush.

A corporate internship for a couple of months will definitely give you a feel about your future life in the next couple of decades. But again, it is easier said than done. How does one prepare to land such an opportunity? Cracking an interview is obviously not a piece of cake.

Well, corporate internships will never be alien to you anymore. Listen to your own peers and learn about their experiences in some of the most reputed firms of the world so that you could do the same their way!

With the establishment of the JU E-Cell, the path is much more clearer for aspirants. Working with start-ups or even starting your own business is not an Achilles’ Hill. Opportunities now are more than ever and our E-Cell is determined to showcase them before you. All you need is to work on your skills and have a passion to drive an impact.

Goldman Sachs Suraj Bhakat takes you through his internship experience in Goldman Sachs , an American multinational banking firm.

When you have a lot of

options, choosing the best one becomes very intimidating. Hailing from the department of ETCE, I Suraj Bhakat had to choose between ETCE MBA and research. An Batch 2013-17’ internship at Goldman Sachs helped a lot in figuring out what I want out of my life.

I was a Summer Analyst at the technology division of Goldman Sachs, Bengaluru where I was exposed to the corporate lifestyle. I was treated like a full-time employee. G.S. has a lot of faith in these interns.I was given a real-life project, which is now being used by this business giant for its daily purpose.

Accommodation at Hilton’s business suite, their sumptuous buffets, frequent networking events, community works, all accompanied this magnificent

internship experience. The project assigned to me demanded application of a few new technologies that was alien to me initially, but the innumerable emails, pings, telephonic chats, video conferences made things easy. The project was complete well before time. In those 8 weeks at Bengaluru, I missed Kolkata’s biriyani, the staff canteen, our incessant chats at “GachTola” and the Jadavpur University Photographic Club.

I received a pre-placement offer from Goldman Sachs, which meant no more looking for jobs. An important thing to note is that in order to get into the technology division of GS, one has to have a knack for coding and fluency in common data structures.

GS visits our campus for recruitment. You just have to sit for their tests, qualify and form an unputdownable impression. For us, there was a moderately difficult aptitude and coding test followed by two onerous interviews which involved abstract problems on data structures and improvement of widely accepted programming paradigms. Just a piece of advice, if you are stuck in a dilemma between corporate and academia, take a test drive of the former and Goldman Sachs is a brilliant platform to have a fullfledged experience of the same.

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Placement & Internship

PWC

Arnab Das Electrical Engineering Batch 2013-17’

Arnab Das talks about his successful stunt as an intern with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the second largest professional services firm in the world, and one of the Big Four auditors.

The wait for the opportunity of interning with the greatest of

the ‘Big 4’ accounting firms came to an end when I joined PwC as a Technology Consultant along with nine interns from esteemed institutions like JU, IITs and BITS Pilani. Since the day of induction, we were never treated as an intern , but rather as employees. After the induction, I was introduced to my mentor

I remember scratching my head over the project, as it wasmerely a five-word sentence. However, probably that is thepart where I started liking PwC as help poured in from everywhere.

I interacted with many employees and they took theirprecious time out to lend me a hand. I was also roped in a number of live projects of national scale and I was busy than never before.

I was having a first-hand experience of the corporate jargons like deadline and win-win situation. However, time flew by and very soon, I arrived to the business end and felt that my main project is finally taking a concrete shape. Now was the presentation time before the industry stalwarts. I delivered it to the best of my abilities, faced a flurry of questions and based on their reactions; I felt that I came through with flying colours.

This was the best 2 months of my life and not to mention, I cried a little bit on the last day.

A Pre-Placement Offer was simply the icing on the cake. PwC generally comes in the month of November for the intern recruitment process.

The recruitment process consists of two rounds- Extempore and Personal Interview. The extempore topic can be anything under the sun and hence,there is no rule to prepare for it other than keeping your eyes and ears open and knowing what is going around you. The interview was a combination of both technical and HR questions. It was a nice experience and I was mainly asked about my previous internship and extra-curricular activities. For extempore, one needs to brush up his/her communication skills as PwC puts a lot of stress on that. Moreover, from my personal experience I can say that they look for someone with a positive and optimistic mindset. For the personal interview, brush up your relevant technical knowledge, consider your CV as the Bible because trust me, you are going to face 90% of the questions from your CV. Be confident. Be energetic. All the best!!

CESC UNMESH

is one of the flagship programs conducted by the HR department of CESC (Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation) that started in 2012.

In UNMESH 2016, interns were selected from JU, IIEST Shibpur and NIT DGP. CESC usually visits the campus for recruiting interns in the month of April. They Aritra Sur usually take students from elecElectrical Engineering trical, mechanical and computBatch 2013-17’ er science dept. as intern every year.

The selection procedure has three rounds. The first one is a written technical round with simple MCQ questions. The second round involves GD on a case study. The third and final round is PI for the candidates who’ve been shortlisted in the

preceding rounds. As an electrical engineer, one needs to have proper knowledge of electrical machines and power system to answer the questions in PI. The internship program usually begins with an orientation program where interns get introduced to GMs of different depts. of CESC. At the end of the orientation program, interns get assigned to different depts. I did my project in the Substation dept.

My work was on failure analysis of distribution transformers.

The officers and staff of various departments were very helpful throughout the work. This internship program is usually 7 weeks long and after this time, each intern has to submit a report based on his/her project work. There is a presentation round where interns have to discuss their projects in front of a judges’ panel comprising of senior personnel from the industry as well as academia.The idea of a presentation in front of judges might seem scary but actually they’re extremely helpful and encouraging. After the presentation round, selected candidates have to go through a PI round and based on this, PPO is offered to the candidates.

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Placement & Internship

Amazon Sagnik Chakraborty, one of the students to have bagged the precious Amazon Summer Internship talks about his interview experience.

Amazon India came to cam-

Sagnik Chakraborty CSE Engineering Batch 2014-18’

pus this August,2016 for summer interns and FTEs.All the students of CSE and IT were eligible to sit for the online round. Interested students of ETCE and EE could also appear, but only after taking an hour long coding test which consisted of a single question. It was held in two phases

(clearing any one was enough): 1. Given a n * n matrix of 0s (meaning water) and 1s (meaning land), find the number of islands.

2. Given a string, reverse the individual words, e.g. “I am good” becomes “good am I”.

Online Round: It was of 90 minutes, comprised 20 MCQ based on data structures, output prediction, OS, a few questions on probability and permutation, etc.Also, there were 2 coding questions based on array manipulation: 1. Given a string of digits, find the next greater permutation (NGP) using the same set of digits, e.g. for “2413”, NGP is “2431”.

2. Given an array A[], of numbers, find the maximum value of | A[i] - i | - | A[j] - j |, i != j.

Personal Interview: There were 2 rounds of interview.

First Round: The interviewer asked me to introduce myself and asked me details of the project work I had mentioned in my CV.

Then he went on to ask me some coding questions: 1. Given a filled 9 * 9 Sudoku board, determine if it’s legitimate.

He then extended it to a n * n Sudoku board with numbers from .1 to n and asked me to write down the code. He also asked how I would go about solving a partially filled Sudoku board, but didn’t ask for the code.

2. Given a string of alphabets, return a vector of all unique substrings of the greatest length, such that no two adjacent characters are equal.

3. Given a binary tree, find out if it’s a BST. Second Round: The interviewer first asked me some questions on data structures, dynamic memory allocation, pointers and a few miscellaneous topics. Then he went on to ask some coding questions: 1. Given an array of integers of n integers, where n - 1 integers appear twice, and one integer appear once, find the number which appear once, without using bitwise operators. I suggested sorting and using a hash map, and also suggested a few optimisations. He then asked me to code both.

2. Given a binary tree, find the maximum sum path from the root to the leaves. He then extended it to any path in the tree and asked me to code the same.

General tips: The interviewer does not expect you to give the most efficient solution at the very beginning. He is more interested in how you approach the problem and gradually build the efficient solution from it. Always communicate clearly, he will drop you hints along the way. Have a good working knowledge of the projects mentioned in the CV. And don’t be nervous.

How to prepare: Go through the articles on GeeksforGeeks (GFG), especially the ones on Data Structures (arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, and a bit of graphs) and Algorithms (time and space complexity, divide and conquer, sorting, dynamic programming, strings) and MCQs on various topics, especially C and OOP. Practise a lot, be it on GFG, InterviewBit or LeetCode. Practise code by writing it on paper. I guess if you do this diligently, it should be enough. Best of luck!

Jadavpur University Entrepreneurship Cell In the midst of this frenzy sur-

rounding start-ups, Jadavpur University students have recently started an Entrepreneurship Development Cell(ED-Cell) in the Salt Lake campus of the university. On 20th July 2016,The ED-Cell was inaugurated in presence of Prof. Suranjan Das, Vice Chancellor, Jadavpur University,the Joint Registrar of the University, some professors and other respected dignitaries of the start-up community such as Mr.Aloke Mookherjea, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (ER) and Mr.Ravi Ranjan, Sr. Associate, NASSCOM 10,000 Startups. Co-founders from various start-ups like Eyezon, i&We Engagements, Hobbyseekho, and BTeract(which have been selected for the NASSCOM 10,000 Start-ups program)visited the event and shared their experiences with the capacity

crowd. Ranodeep Saha, a student of West Bengal University of Technology and also the founder of Rare Planet came to share his experience. The idea of developing such a cell was first proposed by Syed Shameem Ashraf and Debajyoti Sarkar and valiant efforts from Syed Sohail, Abhishek Banerjee, Agnimitra Sengupta, Ronit Baidya, Ujjwal Kumar and various other 3rd year students made this project a reality.The purpose,aim and motivation of the cell is to nurture creative minds,guide startups and foster an entrepreneurial environment in the campus.

We want to give the budding entrepreneurs an initial platform to explore,inspire and above all ‘start’ up their next big idea.Besides JU ED-Cell also aims to provide students an opportunity to intern with such new startups in Kolkata.

NASSCOM, CII and many other Institutes are willing to extend their support to JU ED-Cell in the near future. JU ED-Cell is looking forward to contribute significantly to the start-up ecosystem in Eastern India.Interested students can contact on the facebook page- Jadavpur University E-Cell.

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Team Journal

The Journey till now

It has not been much

time since we, amidst the usual idiosyncrasies of unsatisfying academic experiences and minor campus disturbances, started to have brainstorming sessions to address the absolute need for an integrated voice of the students of the university. Not just the students of Arts, or Science, or Engineering, but all the students of Jadavpur University. Together.

It was only a matter of time before this abstract desire got translated into a dream; a dream to celebrate, rejuvenate and relive what Jadavpur University has stood for over the years, a dream to channelize dissent into constructive criticism, a dream to integrate the substantial differences that exist among us and transform our diversity into an element of strength, not weakness.

Hence, The JU Journal came into being.

It has been a short, but eventful journey of four months in which we have made mistakes and hopefully, learnt from them too. Where we stand today is an achievement for us, but it is the experience that is unparalleled. We are privileged to have received the unequivocal support of the authorities, including the Vice-Chancellor of the university. We are indebted to the Director of Youth Welfare, among others, for his tremendous support, who even allowed us to revive and work under the banner of the Art and Literary Society. We thank the students and professors from all three faculties who have stood beside us throughout this long journey. We are also proud to announce Awaaz, IIT Kharagpur as our sister student media body.

Our unremitting aim is to become the voice of the students of the university and highlight what is right, and more importantly, what is not. Here’s to defining ourselves. Unabashedly.

Let’s JUbilate!

What’s NEXT ?

Opinion Poll Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance. Our lives cease to make an impact the day we become silent. Tell us what you think and help us portray what the university students think on certain issues that continue to have an impact on us.

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1. Do you think student politics and free expression of opinion affect the quality of education and campus life?

2. Are you satisfied with the infrastructure and opportunities that your university provides you with, as far as the clubs and societies are concerned?

-------------------------------------------------------------------Go to our Facebook page and let your opinion be known. We’ve already heard from many,but have we heard from you?

#VoiceYourOpinion

The Core Team

Internship Opportunities In our next edition, we will be coming up with a section focusing on part-time internships that the students of the university can engage themselves in.

Your Say Our new section, ‘Your Say’ has been designed for you to voice your opinion about various issues which affect life inside the campus.

Feedback Corner Only you can help us become better. Send us your feedback, and tell us how you feel about our content and ideas. Mail us at thejujournal@gmail.com or leaves us a message on our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/thejujournal/

From left: Soumik Chakravarty, Pallabh Bhura, Ahana Deb, Sahil Badani, Medha Mukherjee, Roshan Mishra, Aisik Paul, Shreya Mukherjee, Aishik Pyne, Anoushka Roy, Nikkon Balial, Ankit Das, Avra Biswas, Sreetama Basu, Rajit Bhattacharya, Soham Mondal, Shaberi Das, Rushali Saha.

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