ragging at IIT Guwahati Is a menace at all!

Often, ragging is mentioned in a very hushed-up form in

many households across the country. In fact, this you-

know-who of college life can put Lord Voldemort to

shame! Before their arrival at our campus, the students

do a lot of 'underworld' research and familiarize

themselves with the worst forms of ragging. Needless

to say, there are a lot of colleges in our country where

students probably stay up at nights hoping to be able to

fill bottles to escape from the other vile acts planned by

their seniors. Eventually, the freshers carry forward this

paranoia with them while entering our campus. During

the official orientation sessionthe fos, cus is on

providing the students and parents with a million

telephone numbers that they can dial in the event of

ragging. Though this is undoubtedly very essential, it

also elevates their paranoia and this is the very root of

the problem. The first-yearites who have interacted with

siblings and friends who study at any of the IITs are

already aware of the worst that can happen to them and

know that it's a far cry from the beatings that students

at certain NITs receive. The other more naïve students

however, are not this fortunate. All said and done, the

fact remains that we, as IITians, are among the higher

section of society (we like to think of ourselves that

way) and are very different from the animals that exist

in other local colleges and are much more civilized than

what the administration often makes us out to be.

icture this. Its 2 a.m. and our protagonist, a

particularly paranoid first yearite is attempting to

Pfall asleep when he hears knocks on the door.

Society and the government of the nation has

made certain rules regarding the issue framing

what is right and what is wrong. What may

seem right to us is not exactly right according

to society and we must oblige to it. Students

argue that what is wrong in a casual interaction

and PDP's, instead they are beneficial to

freshers. But it must be understood that even

that small interaction is serious offence

according to the rules framed by government

and is punishable.

-Gautam Barua, Director, IITG.

PSC brings you special insight on institutes LAN. Everything you need to know about your network

form where do you get to discussion on issues related are covered. We wish to bring you such insights further. Please let us know topic on which you would like us to dig out.

t has been more than two years and I still remember

the exact moment when I saw the campus for the

Ifirst time through the window of typical local auto

rickshaw passing by KV gate. I was not just carrying my

luggage but also loads of excitement for the most

memorable time I would be spending here. Gymkhana

understands what this moment means in life of an

IITian and thus had taken every care to make it most

cherishing moment for freshers.

IIT-Guwahati welcomed all the freshers with great

warmth and delight. PSC made fresher's guide and

sent it to all the freshmen even before they reached the

campus to get them acquainted with the environment.

On the day of arrival stalls were set up at railway station

and airport to receive and escort parents and students

to campus. Buses were arranged at regular intervals

after taking note of the train and flight timings.

Freshers week in IIT-Guwahati has been exhilarating in

the truest sense. An event a day was held for the first

week to make them feel home and interact with seniors

along with fellow freshmen. Scavenger hunt, Mr and

Mrs fresher, Movie screening witnessed heavy

participation and enthusiasm from everyone.

Soon after the freshers week, freshers were clouded

with all sort orientations which included institute

orientation, departmental orientations, gymkhana

orientation, individual boards orientation, hostel

orentations, coffee out sessions and what not. Cultural

board had single orientation for all its clubs as

compared to individual orientations last year.

Freshers were also warmly welcomed by senior

students. Although there have been minor cases of

ragging, overall environment was healthy and friendly

as usual. Welfare board came up with student

mentorship program which allotted each group of 8

freshers with one mentor from third year who will clarify

countless doubts and guide them on leading life at IITG.

Each mentor was carefully chosen. After an interaction

session students responded that many of their queries

on CPI, classes etc. were beautifully explained.

A Facebook page was also created for freshers to

interact with junta of IITG. The page on one side was

delivering the expected performance but was also filled

with lots of fun. Senior boys trying to make new

girlfriends, girls calling out boys for playing tennis,

complaints of room sharing in subansiri followed by

condolences from seniors etc. added masala to the

page. Thankfully the page was successful in restricting

vulgarity.

PG Freshia, a fresher's night for the post graduates of

IITG was held on 25th of august. It was a four hour

event filled with vibrant and charismatic performances

by the PG freshers. The event was specially conducted

for interaction of PG freshers with their seniors and also

to involve them in cultural activities which they rarely

do. This year PG freshia witnessed UG participation, a

testimony to the fact that the UG and PG barrier is

completely absent when it comes to the cultural events.

The effort put in by Ankit Dave and the organizing

team was truly commendable. All their toils were

complemented by the overwhelming participation by the

PGs and the huge turnout of students at the Manas

Community Hall. The instrumental music, band show,

drama, dance and vocal music performances had really

surpassed the usual standards of IITG and have made

the night very memorable for the new comers.

PSC congratulates all the students and administration

for making freshers time so memorable.

thegsentinel | November 2012 | Issue 1.1 01

p2psc@iitg.ernet.in · November 2012 · Issue 1.1

Techniche - Perfection pixelatedMagical Manthan p3 p4The new mess'y' system

Decree 215New Internship PolicyExcited to buy a new laptop?

Ragging: Reality Check

or many years now, the students of IIT-G have

been very keen on developing the personality of

every new batch of freshmen students ever since Fthey set foot on the campus. Over the years, it

has escalated to such a scale that it has unofficially

been dubbed as the Personality Development Program

(PDP). A few of our more experienced seniors (and

freshers!) will undoubtedly scoff at this term. In their

opinion, PDP is nothing but a high-class society term

for the more lowly 'ragging'.

In the pursuit of a well thought of definition, ragging' has

been defined as the doing of any act which causes, or

is likely to cause any physical, psychological or

physiological harm or apprehension or shame or

embarrassment to a student, and includes–

(a) Teasing or abusing of playing practical

joke on, or causing hurt to any student.

(b) Asking any student to do any act, or

perform any act, which he/she would not, in the

ordinary course, be willing to do or perform.”

Though the government has India has laid down

clear legislations for curbing the menace of

ragging, none of the laws are university specific.

This article will focus particularly on the scenario at

IIT Guwahati (because that's obviously what you

want to read!).

ver the last few years, (or at least since the

author's arrival at the campus 4 years ago)

Oall physical forms of ragging have been

non-existent. That's not to say that ragging can

only be performed via physical means. Mental

harassment is perhaps the biggest issue faced by the

freshmen students following their arrival at the campus.

Name-Calling, Intro sessions, the infamous 'muski', the

filling up of a few water bottles, night-outs during

Manthan, the usage of a large amount of IIT Guwahati

slang and the loaning of ones cycle to the seniors;

these acts constitute 95% (unofficial stats) of the acts of

ragging that freshmen students are 'required' to

perform. Take a second look at the aforementioned

acts. Are they really so bad? In response, (as one

freshman student conveniently pointed out) one need

only look at the definition of ragging which forbids

asking any student to do any act, or perform any act,

which he/she would not, in the ordinary course, be

willing to do or perform. However, the fact remains that

there is never a compulsion to indulge in the whims of

the seniors and the freshmen are always given a choice

to leave at their convenience. Ultimately the bigger

picture merely looks like an informal interaction

between soon-to-be friends one begins to wonder why

He opens the door to find a senior who has never

interacted with him before. Not a minute has passed

before he dials the number of the warden/faculty

member/dean/director. In the matter of hours, the senior

is being asked to appear before a disco and is soon

made to pack his bags and sent to hostels Dibang or

Brahmaputra. (In the administrations eyes, these hostel

are equivalent to prisons at our college and despite the

issuance of an official apology in this regard, it will be a

long time before the sentiments of these hostel-dwellers

change.) Take a look at the scenario from the senior's

point of view. Never mind the fact that he knocked on a

fresher's door at an unearthly hour. The fact remains

that he is being made to leave his home and friends is

being forced to live in shame in a land that is very new

to him. His crime: knocking on a door. This incident

appears so lame that it's laughable. Sadly, however,

certain seniors have actually been subjected to this

form of humiliation. This brings us back to our

definition of ragging. Harassment of a student in

any form is unacceptable. And that ought to include

the harassment of a senior student. Many of the

senior students fear the very idea of walking along

some of the corridors in their hostel. The amount of

power that the first-yearites have is quite

unimaginable, and this sets a very bad precedent.

With power comes great responsibility; however,

the first yearites are surely not responsible enough!

nce again we are in a position to ask

ourselves if the laws pertaining to ragging

Oare valid and necessary in our campus.

Every society has laws which upon which its

foundations are built. The first year students need

to be provided with a comfortable and friendly

atmosphere upon their arrival at their campus.

Nothing hinders creativity like fear, and a traumatic

experience during ones first semester can go a long

way in disrupting the student's mental framework. Many

senior students argue that ragging is the only means of

bringing a first year student out of his shell. This is

extremely far from the truth as a friendly and

collaborative environment can also lead to a fresher's

quick adjustment to campus life. In reality, ragging is

merely an excuse for senior students to employ their

sadistic desire to torment those weaker and smaller to

them and our institute can very well do without these

anti-social elements.

Nothing on this planet is purely good or evil. Anything in

the right amount of moderation can be termed as

'acceptable'. The absence of the laws framed against

ragging will only lead to the escalation of the number of

more 'vile' acts. However, there is certainly a pressing

need to review the nature of the laws, especially in the

context of IIT Guwahati in particular.

who would be joining the campus as a result of which

many married scholars are waiting for their chance to

live in quarters. As of much construction work is being

done already for new SAC, new girls hostel, boys hostel

and other things. So it is little difficult to make new

constructions immediately. Next financial year care will

be taken to extend the quarters.

Q. We are not given a fair chance to present our views about the accusations. Under such circumstances, whom are we supposed to look up to? This can even lead to the toiling of an innocent life.The question was about a specific case where some

students of Subansiri were accused of ragging.

Students mentioned that even though there was no

fault form their side they were held guilty. It was replied

that the students were only asked to write the

happenings of the incident on the piece of paper and

leave. They were not anguished in any way and the

enquiry on the matter is yet to complete. The question

then dropped down to as why the administrators should

make students to stand for more than an hour for

written submission just based on some on some

deceptive complaint. Director answered that the issue

of ragging is so serious that students have to be guilty

till proven innocent rather than innocent till proven

guilty.

Apart from these specific issues related to bus timings,

exam timings, permission for participating in

competitions etc. were discussed. It is very sad that

after repeated mails only a few were present at the

auditorium to participate in the discussion. We always

grouch upon the administration and when they come to

answer us with all their modesty it is our duty to listen to

them. It must be understood that if we do not participate

in such discussions we lose the right to speak against

any issue in the campus.

n 7th Nov Interaction club under the welfare

board organized a talk show with Director and

ODeans to address the issues students have

been facing and discuss on possible solutions if any.

This is the second of its kind show after the first show

on changing JEE format. As addressed by the Dean of

Student Affairs the roots for this kind of show were

originated from faculty student cricket tournament held

last year to increase the interaction between students

and faculty. Soon everyone realized that we need a

better way to address the students and encourage

discussions.

Interaction club gathered and compiled some of the

important queries that needed answers y students.

Here is the brief on some of the major issues

discussed.

Q. Is there any prescribed list of brands that mess caterers need to use as the quality of the food in mess keeps changing day to day? The proposal has already been kept in gymkhana and

will most probably be implemented from next semester

Q. What can be done to increase the quality of the mess?The issue of mess is very perplexed that everything is

not in the control of administrators. As everyone is

working hard to bring in a better system no one should

be blamed. It so happens that very strict measures

cannot be taken against caterers as they will not be

willing to cater anymore. Very much care is being taken

to improve quality and students must be co-operative in

this respect. We need to assess the caterers based on

daily feedback instead of monthly and if the caterer

makes the same mistake or provides lower quality food

for more than twice for consecutive weeks then action

can be taken to increase the quality.

Q. Is there a proper justification or calculation as to how much the price of mess has been increased from past few years?It is calculated on the inflation rate of the market prices

of goods. The increase in the 5 Rs. Last month was due

to the removal of government subsidy on gas.

Q. Why don't we encourage foreign placements? The government is investing a lot of money on students

and also being Indians it is our duty to serve the nation.

The institute allows all the foreign companies that have

a presence in India. Since only few foreign companies

would be interested to come to Guwahati for placement

it is not a very major issue to be concerned about.

Already measures have been taken to calculate the

number of placements we are losing by restricting the

foreign companies and if it seems that we need to allow

them they they will be surely allowed for recruitment.

Q. We all know that the institute administration is taking strict measures to prevent ragging and make the stay of first years comfortable. This is appreciated But what if the first years take this as an advantage and start troubling the seniors?Government states that raging in form is strictly

unacceptable and immediate FIR must be registered on

the student in case of any complaint. So the rules are

not framed by institute but are a just a reflection of

government's decision. It is sarcastic to hear that

seniors are being raged by freshers but in that case

seniors always have the freedom to approach the

administration.

Q. Why is the authority not showing any interest regarding the extension of married scholars' hostel to increase the numbers?It was a mistake from institute's side as institute was

wrong in estimating the number of married scholars

Director’s talk show

Merry freshia

p3

reasons. The first reason is the journey that we go

through two weeks before manthan to make it a

worthwhile memory because we know what it means to

each and every one of us. I remember watching a

senior cry after proclaiming that this would be their final

manthan and I swear after watching him and the others

weep with him, it exhilarated and instigated me to work

even more and more, watching my senior's undying

effort and hard work and not giving into sleep and two

minute breather honestly touched me. The other reason

and the most vital reason of all is

that manthan brought all the

seniors and first years to the same

level and composed this spirit of

brotherhood and it created this

sense of bonding between our

seniors and first years, which felt

nothing more than pure love. I will

and I know that every first year will

not be able to find this level of

bonding anytime else in any year

but except during manthan.

Manthan truly is a spiritualistic,

miraculous, extraordinary and

magical event and is 'a must'

experience event which no first

yearite should miss!

We know we will never forget all

the effort and hard work we put in and whether or not

we win Manthan, we will never forget the bonding we

had with each and everyone, we will not forget the early

morning 'chai' breaks, the experience, the fiesta, the

emotions, the drama, the politics, that vibe, and the love

we felt during manthan. That will forever be embedded

in our memories and will forever remain that one true

event which brought and will continue to bring the entire

hostel together for those three enchanted nights for that

magical manthan.

rom fierce competitions to wonderful exhibitions

to inspiring lectures to soothing Nites, the annual

techno management festival of IIT Guwahati, FTechniche 2012, (August 30th to September 2nd)

was indeed a huge success! Techniche organized a

multitude of events ranging from Robotics to Business

Plan Modeling, to Aeromodelling, to Computer Coding

related events. We are sure that none of you could

make it to all the events that were conducted in

Techniche this year, so PSC would

like to help you reminiscing the

captivating memories of

Techniche'12 -Pixelating Perfection.

Lecture Seriese have eminent

personalities giving

Wlectures on exotic topics

which will open the avenues to the

world of knowledge, the world of

Lecture Series. This year, we had

Mr. Walter Bender from MIT media

labs, Dr. R. Chidambaram form

BARC, Mr. Sameul Chand a global

leadership guru, Ms. Rashmi

Bansal a writer, entrepreneur and a youth expert, Mr.

Lars Hoogweg, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of

Nimbuzz, George Kourounis, a resident of Toronto, is a

world renowned explorer, adventurer, and storm chaser

best known for his television series, “Angry Planet”.

Industrial Conclavet is an initiative of the student community through the

platform of Techniche to strengthen the relationships

Iwith the industry people and eminent personalities,

and also benefit the industry by keeping them abreast

of the latest research works and developments. This

interface and interaction between experts from varied

fields of the industry and budding enthusiastic talent of

the nation will help encourage innovative initiatives and

ideas. A total of 140 participants registered for three day

conclave. Intresting and diversed business magnates

were present to deliver lectures. Mr. Ajay Chaturvedi,

the founder of Harva, Mr. Satish Jha the founder

chairman of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) India

Foundation, Amit Ranjan, the Cofounder and COO of

SLIDESHARE, Mr. V Raghunathan, the CEO of GMR

Varalakshmi Foundation of the GMR Group, K V

Sridhar a Legend in the Field Of Advertising known as

the 'Ad Guru Of The Indian ad Industry', Mr. Rajesh

Sawhney the President of BIG Reliance Entertainment

and a key member of the Reliance ADAG leadership

team delivered their experiences. From COO of world

famous website to founder of most innovative social

startup conclave had just the right mix of people.

Corporate Module

ith innovation oozing out of every entry which

left the veteran judging panel in awe, the

WCorporate Module put up a remarkably good

show! The Corporate Module, Techniche'12

successfully conducted 'Product Launch' , which had 9

entries from every field of technology. 'Brain Child', the

annual business plan writing competition, besides really

good quality ideas, it had immense participation of 22

entries in the presentation round held at IIT Guwahati,

and 'Stratagem', the marketing strategy writing event,

which was successful in its goal of promoting

Techniche - Perfection Pixelatedentrepreneurship in young minds. Blue Chips and its

online version, the Virtual Stock Market had immense

participation till the very end and were good hits among

the participants. Though not as expected, the Startup

Showcase which was conducted for the very first time

in Techniche this year also made its mark. We had

entries from all parts of the countries, with more than 5

entries from down south, we can proudly say that

Techniche is indeed expanding its wings!

Roboticshis year, we were successful in reaching out to

all the robotic enthusiasts in the nation. Robotics

Twent national with an event called Escalade

which was conducted in 11 major cities across the

nation! Besides Escalade, the module conducted 7

other events like Angry Birds, Segregare, Aeroshot,

Libraria, Pacman, Robocalypse and Shadow.

Predefinedith enough time given to research, discuss

and come up with the best solutions, this

Wmodule let's you have your own experience in

cherishing the process to reaching the best possible

solution. The major events being- Archcraft,a practical

approach for designing constructions of daily use;

Techscribe, the paper presentation contest; App

Development which was conducted in association with

Nimbuzz; Impulsus and finally MegaPixels, an online

photography competition which received immense

participation.

Other eventsush Hour the on-the-spot events spread across

the campus included Twenty19.com Internship

Rcompetition which aimed to identify students for

different paid-internship positions in companies across

the nation, Cryptophobia, Twist to win, the rubik cube

challenge, Quiz on the Move, Code wars, SUDOKU,

CSI, Genesis, Easel and Sci-Fi Éclat. Spin the Web the

entireley online module of Techniche, it has a galaxy of

mind boggling questions, intriguing puzzles and

complex codes, it's the perfect place to hang out with

your talent.Have lots of fun while you learn! In funniche

this year had Tug of War, Experiments, Extreme

Gaming and Live CS.

TECHNOTHLONeedless to mention the most worked event of

Techniche. This year, the prelims were

Nconducted in over 200 cities and 350 centres

across the nation. Technopedia, an online module of

Technothlon, where quizzes are posted monthly,

various interesting topics and queries as well are

discussed with the students at IIT by means of the

forum and data on various technological advancements

occurring across the globe is posted.

The Guwahati Half Marathonhe Marathon's tag line for 2012 was, 'Run to

show your Unity Guwahati!' With Papon (of

T'Jeeyein Kyun' fame), the event served as a step

in our endeavour to inculcate the urgency and

importance of unity in today's youth. It kicked off on

August 26th, 2012 at 6:30 A.M. It had two categories,

the Glory Run (21km) run for

professionals and the Spirit Run

(6km) run for people who just want

to have fun! Participants were

Certifiied by the Assam Athletic

Association!

INITIATIVESechniche in its 14th edition

aimed to touch every sphere

Tof society with its initiatives

Healing hands, Social 360, Minus

One Project and Lighting a Billion

Lives.

Exhibitionsumismatic Society of Calcutta, Delhi philately,

Indian Air Force, Indian Railways, Indian

NMeteorological Society, MetalMate, Indian

Institute of Robotics, CID West Bengal and EMVEE

showcased themselves. Due to lack of awareness, the

workshops did not receive their share of popularity.

Despite the disturbances in city Techniche managed to

pixelate perfection , the standard of a few events scaled

up pretty high when compared to last year. Many new

events were initiated this Techniche which managed to

carve a niche for themselves even among the pre-

existing successful events. On the whole, Techniche'12

was a resonating success.

hat one moment when you dive in the air to stop

a game turning goal, that one moment when your

field of vision reduces to exactly the distance Tbetween your hockey ball and goal post, that one

moment when

you are just

milliseconds

behind the lead

swimmer, that

one moment

when the

basketball is

rolling on the

net and you are

waiting for it to

fall into the

basket, that is the moment when you can hear the

sound of your heart beat and world becomes stationary

and that is the moment just before you win.

SPIRIT 2012, the inter college sports championship

was held by sports board at IITG to bring all those

cherishing moments into the busy lives of students.

SPIRIT has been growing exponentially ever since its

inception and is perfecting itself every time. The three

day extravaganza was held on 5th, 6th and 7th of

October although basketball was held a week before

that due to the National Basketball Meet clashing with

our dates. Also aquatics were held on 26th of

September and our team drubbed the local teams.

The event was inaugurated by Director, Dean of student

Affairs and Chairman of Sports Board. The inaugural

speech was followed by torch relay with Ratholu

Mou(Weight lifting), Neha Tadichetty(Basketball), Vasu

goyal(Hockey), Neeraj Mishra(Atletics and Javelin

throw) carrying the torch respectively. Then Neeraj

Mishra, eneral secretary of Sports board took oath on

behalf of all he playes and the championship was

commenced.

This year SPIRIT witnessed participation from around

30 colleges along with many other spot clubs. Some of

the famous teams clubs were Sports Authority of

India(SAI), SVCC(a well-known volley ball club), Assam

Weight Lifting Association. The national level players of

badminton and Seed 1 players of Assam in TT also

participated in the championship heightening the glory

of SPIRIT. There was a spectacular participation from

girls side too. Especially in Athletics, badminton and

basketball the participation outgrew enormously. The

participation was not just from Assam but was from

surrounding states too making it a north eastern sports

championshi

Amidst all the competition IITG performed very well in

almost every sport. In almost every sport we were

among top three. In fact in many sports we held more

than one position in top three. SAI gave a good

competition to us performing almost in the same level.

Overall, the event was held successfully outpacing the

previous SPIRIT and establishing a dignity of its own. It

is only a reflection of hard work and effort that sports

board put into to make it such a marvel. The trailer that

was made for first time is extremely inspiring. Neeraj

Mishra says that unlike last year more sports were

included in SPIRIT and every detail of the event has

been properly recorded for future reference. It is very

clear from the event too that more emphasis was given

to make the event more consummate.

Change and Biodiversity'. The concluding speech was

by Ms. Pamposh Bhat, the Chairperson of Jwala –an

NGO based at New Delhi, elucidating the theme of

'Energising India in a sustainable way'. This was

followed by a plantation drive to create a lush of

greenery not just to be a feast to the eye but also to

provide shade to pedestrians.

The Day 2 started off with the event 'Eco-Socio

concept' in which '3 Eco-socio concepts' were sought

that could make IIT Guwahati an Eco-Socio responsible

institute by making it pollution free, less dependent on

conventional energy and

establishing harmony with

nature. An open house

theatrical panel discussion

was the limelight of this

year's summit as a panel

of eminent professors

discussed the applicability

of the theme to our own

campus. Facts pertaining

to existing environmental

and social aspects were

revealed by the NSS group leaders in 'Reveal the Fact'.

A T-shirt designing competition based on the theme of

sending a message to mend the present state of

environmental destruction, an Online Nature

Photography based on snaps from the campus, an

Article writing competition on the environmental and

social aspects of our life in the IIT G campus, a Happy

New Year 2013 Card Designing competition based on

natural beauty and an Eco-Socio Quiz were the other

enticing events of IESAS 2012.

IESAS 2012 concluded with a Valedictory Ceremony

and Prize distribution in which the winners of various

events were felicitated. With the note of planning a

grander IESAS 2013, the scintillating summit came to a

close and every IIT student was touched by the

profound implications the summit provided.

psc@iitg.ernet.in ·November 2012 · Issue 1.1

thegsentinel | November 2012 | Issue 1.1 02

Evoking the 'SPIRIT'

o mornings, no evenings, no nights… Rather we

never knew what time it was! Mornings turned

to nights, coffee of Tea turned into mountain Ndew and the moon became our new sun, our

bedrooms became the prop rooms and the places

where we involved ourselves … when word reached

our ears that “Manthan” was near!

There was no such thing called

sleep for the first years or faccha's

(as they say) nor for our second,

third and most importantly our

fourth years, mainly because it

was their last nerve clenching,

hysterical and an emotional

Manthan.

Every time someone woke up it

would be only after a friend

banging at his or her door and

when they'd look into their

watches and find that they slept

only for half an hour or an hour,

they knew for sure that duty called

at the prop room or another

activity which they got themselves

into. You only see tension and the sweat scorching

through your friends faces, the canteens and the juice

shops were not forgiven either , and by god they were

bombarded with orders after every one or two hour

break. Noise from the music room, shouts from the

drama practice area and shadow play zone and orders

and commands from the prop rooms and all this for

what, was it all for winning a cup? Was it all so that we

would show it to the other hostel's faces saying “we

won, HAHA!”? Was it for the so called 'Bondappa'? I

believe not. I believe that it was for two very beautiful

IT Guwahati Environmental and Social Awareness

Summit 2012 was organized by Prakriti - the

Environmental Club & Social's Club in association Iwith National Service Scheme (NSS), IIT Guwahati

from the 5th to 7th of October, 2012. The 4th Edition of

IESAS also harped on instilling a sense of

environmental and social awareness among the people

around us like its previous

editions. A wide spectrum

of events like guest

lectures, plantation,

cleanliness drive,

captivating competitions

and a newly introduced

panel discussion gave the

summit a hue of its own.

The summit was lightened

up into a glaring start by

the Chairmen of Technical

Board and Welfare Board in the presence of Dean of

Students' Affairs, NSS Co-ordinators, dignitaries and

participants on Day 0 in the institute Auditorium at 6pm.

A movie related to the theme of the summit was

screened on the starting day itself giving the events a

head-start.

The Cleanliness drive marked the start of Day 1 in

which the campus was made beatific – greener and

healthier. Usage of proper hygiene, gloves and sticks

helped a strong participation in the event. This was

followed by guest lectures. Mr. S.B. Medhi, the

President of Assam Institute of Sustainable

Development spoke on 'Legal measures for

Environment Protection and Sustainable Development.'

Mr. Simanta Kalita, the Chairman of North East Centre,

Centre for Environmental Education, spoke on 'Climate

IESAS 2012Magical Manthan

Nites - PSC Rating

DAY 0

Mind blowing performance from Paradigm shift.

Almost everyone danced to roja song in

auditorium

Day 1

The Ebru Art i.e., the art of painting in water.

Due to the dull music and lack of interaction, it

did not strike a chord with the audience.

Day 2

Laser Show managed to pull in a lot of crowd

but many of us have seen it last to last year

Day 3

The best of all nites, the Vilas Nayak nite. A

young free spirited fast painter from Karnataka.

As the music reaches it's cresendo so do the

brush strokes and before you blink there's a

canvas of colours before your eyes! And then

we had the sky lantern ceremony which lit up

the sky so beautifully and marked an end to

Techniche'12.

here has been a controversial debate on the

internet and LAN speed from a long time .This

issue is so seriously diversified in views among Tstudents and CC authorities that PSC had to take

a step to acknowledge the

junta. Many a times

students have to suffer from

low speed internet

connections which

germinates the seed of

anger in their minds for the

computer centre authorities

.But are the CC authorities

really and solely responsible

for this ????

If you think they are then

this article is for you to

understand that they are not

the ones to blamed. In fact

you are partially responsible for your problems. Before

reaching any conclusion and deciding whom should we

blame we should first understand the basic structure of

the LAN in our campus.

he internet facility here in IITG is hoisted on

highly efficient servers and of course a dedicated

Tand talented team working in CC. The IITG

internet runs on 100 Mbps and 21Mbps lines provided

from the leading ISP's in today's internet world like

BSNL, AIRTEL, ERNET, RAILTEL. Many of these

connections are 3 hoops connection meaning i.e., a

direct connection is given to us from Bangalore

headquarters .These Bangalore headquarters are

connected to Delhi and from Delhi to their international

offices all via a single connection line .The IITG campus

internet is also facilitated with the national knowledge

network under which it has the connection from the

ISPS like

BSNL and

RAILTEL

.On the

BSNL

network

connection

the faculty

quarter

and staff

quarter

proxies

are

hoisted.

iitg.ac.in

proxies are hoisted on AIRTEL network whereas

iitg.ernet.in ,institute webmail, web and DNS are

hoisted on ERNET network .

he image shows how the internet connection

reaches your room. The internet connection line

Tfrom ISP is connected to a router( placed in cc)

which is later on connected to the core switch of the cc

and from there it is connected to the Academic

Complex .From there 100 mbps lines connect cc to

your hostel and in the later stages of this connection

process the LAN port of your is connected to the

routers in your hostel .The proxies allotted to the

Where do you get your net from?

Hostel LAN Architecture

ed up of the boring and monotonous meal of your

mess? Does the weekly menu of your friend's

Fmess lure you more? Well, the HAB of 2012 has

executed an appreciable solution to this problem which

was proposed initially by the HAB of 2011– the monthly

subscription of the mess. The new mess system of

monthly subscription has undoubtedly increased the

flexibility of the boarders of this campus especially of

those who do not resonate well with the mess time

table or even with the menu. So if canteen serves you a

better meal and most importantly at the right time to fit

your daily schedule then now you can save your 2550/-

bucks per month that you give as the mess fees.

PSC takes pleasure to enlighten you with some of the

frequently asked questions about this new mess

system.

No Flexibility for Subansiri?he first being why girl boarders of this campus

are unfortunately not benefited by the new

Tsystem? In a talk with the present VP of

gymkhana regarding the mess system, he justified this

decision of the HAB for a couple of reasons. The first

and the foremost is the SECURITY ISSUE of the only

girls hostel Subansiri. If the new system is extended to

Subansiri the mess will be open to the boys boarders

too, which will of course be a threat to the security.

Although the girls might be allowed to subscribe

another mess but this one way outflow will not be

feasible for the mess caterer of Subansiri due to the

uneconomical condition that might prevail after that

For such unavoidable reasons Subansiri has to

continue with the previous system until the authority

gets another solution to this issue..

Why not Pay per meal?lthough pay per meal system would be the best

ever mess system in the history of IITG. But as

Aper the prevailing conditions our campus is not

ready to hold this system. In a talk with HAB secretary

of 2012 Abhishek Sayana, he briefly explained a few

major obstacles in its implementation.

The major problem is the time to take the coupon for

the meal. It is absolutely not possible to take the

coupon for the meal instantaneously since it would lead

to uncertainty in the quantity of the food to be prepared

and thus will increase the probability of the wastage or

unavailability of food. Even if the coupon is taken a

meal before it is not practically feasible, keeping in mind

the location of our campus, the vegetables and all stuffs

for the

meal

which is

not

easily

availabl

e.

But it is there in other IITs?t is always wrong to compare us in many issues with

other IITs. Understanding the geographical,

Ieconomical, demographical conditions along with

campus history and structure the simple answer is we

are not some other IIT but we are IIT Guwahati and

every IIT has its limitations.Speaking in this contextthe

big problem in the implementation of the 'Pay per meal

system' is the insecurity of the caterers. Previously

there were total eight caterers bearing the load of 500

students each for Barak, Umiam and Kameng and 300

each for Dihing, Kapili and Siang comparing with load

“The new mess system is just a beta version for

yet more flexible pay per meal system to come”

Know your LANstudents are 19 ,20,22,80 with equal amount of the load

on the network .Networking authorities have taken

intense care while designing the network architecture in

each hostel . Thereby connecting each room and on

each floor with same of hoops from a router. Therefore

student on ground and a student on 3rd floor enjoy the

same internet speed.

Facilities

C also provides us to

have computations

Con super computer

PARAM PADMA placed at

Bangalore. Many professors

from mechanical and

chemical department and

research students avail this

facility .The data that has to

be operated is sent to CC

officials and they forward it to

super computer and the

scholars get the required

result just by sitting back in

their chairs

CARE

part from the countless facilities they provide us

they are a team that works with full dedication

Aand enthusiasm to keep the internet facilities

running in a proper way. All the networks components

are kept in suitable conditions and they are 24X7

monitored for faults and mal-functioning and if

something goes wrong whole team works tirelessly to

restore the normal condition. Last semester one of the

routers of umiam hostel stopped functioning

considering the fact that the students had an exam the

very next day webmaster himself along with his team

changed that faulty router around at 1 am. Even on

holidays Webmaster himself makes couple of visits to

cc to make sure everything is in order .The CC

technicians respond honestly to solve our LAN related

problems and they often visit us after 5 p.m. even

though there job ends at 5 in the evening .

Issues and problems

n spite of the various attempts

of the CC team to keep internet

Irunning in the proper condition

there had been various issues

where CC appears helpless. One

of such issue is the failure of the

network links form the ISP side

.These problems are beyond the

control of CC. They can only call

and request ISPs to restore the

links in proper condition as soon

as possible and if it is a weekend it

often gets worse .Due to the lack of staff on weekends

and availability of district informatics officers these

problems do take a lot of time to get rectified. The

internet problems that arose on 25 of August and lasted

for next 2-3 days was the outcome of failure of BSNL

link .The ISP offices even lack the basic things required

to keep the servers and other networking components

in a proper condition due to which we have to suffer for

hours and sometimes even for a couple of days.

Due to the several unexpected reasons networking

components do get damaged and need replacement.

But here too because of the various issues CC doesn't

stock them in large numbers .Thus if the component is

available in stock it gets replaced in short span of time

but if it is not if may take several days depending on

the type of the component.

There are certain problems which

are not a child's play even for the

CC team to rectify in short span of

time. Afterall some or other small

issues always arise in such a hue

network. And many of them

include which we create on our

own changing router connection.

One such problem happened in

kameng B-2 lobby where a resident

tried to change the hub LAN

connections but accidently resulted

in looping the hub which took CC

technicians time to detect and

rectify it .

We don't get 100 Mps connection!!!!

t is a huge misconception that we don't get 100

Mbps speed. Well that is not the case. The adjacent Igraph shows that we have been given a 100 mbps of

connection of which whole 100 mbps is in continuous

use and there is hardly any time of the day where this

data usage attains a minima below 60mbps. Now you

might ask that why don't we have a 1000Mbps

connection? Well that is totally another topic to be

discussed.

What can you do to increase LAN speed?

t is often found that students

don't use genuine operating

Isystems and usually they are

not in a habit to update their anti-

viruses which causes a severe

threat to institute LAN. These

kinds of systems keep on

broadcasting packets and

viruses on network. The other

problem is the excessive of dc++

.people are in a habit of keeping

their laptops on 24*7 and they

keep on downloading files from

dc. This puts excessive pressure on networking

devices. The story doesn't ends here there exists a

group of students among us who continuously

downloads of data in the form of torrents in spite of the

fact that the torrents are blocked in IITG. People often

download large amount of data in form of torrents which

also a major reason for slow internet. Using fake

proxies to use internet and downloading large amount

of data fills us with some sort of pride and a sense of

victory over the institute rules but actually we are

putting our LAN speed at stake .The adjacent graph

shows a list of the data downloaded by a user in a

single day. 27GB a day sounds shocking but have you

have thought what makes them do so ?the question is

quite easy to answer they do this just for the sake of

downloading them and sharing them at dc which fills

them upmost joy and

they get a huge

amount of data shared

which they can flaunt

in front of others .We

must understand that

whatever we are doing

chokes the network

lines and there by

affects the internet

speed to a large

extent .

We always beg for

more and more but

before doing this we

should try to learn

about the proper utilization of the available

resources. Try using all genuine software as most of

the required software are provided by institute and

try optimizing your downloads. If we do that small

bit of work we will definitely see drastic increase in

the net speed.

system has undoubtedly increased with the recent

amendment in the mess rules, i.e. the hostel boarders

can subscribe to any of the three meals a day

separately for a month. Most of the boarders have been

observed subscribing breakfast and dinner leaving

behind the lunch for the minors. It may be because it

doesn’t fit their daily schedule. Whatever be the reason

for this, but one thing is certain that this has sparked off

a clear competition between the two food factories of

IITG- Mess v/s Canteen!! Good news for the canteen

owners!! Along with this, the prevailing conditions have

forced the mess caterers to improve their food quality

and indeed they have started working upon it. They too

in competition have started to provide some special

items available on pay. Kamneg and Manas caterer has

gone a little far to provide Chicken Dum biryani for Rs.

90 on particular days. It is evident that the competition

has diverse effects and the forecasting of the persisting

situation is tough.

Drawbacksowever there are still some unanswered but not

unthought-of questions in this system of

Hmonthly mess subscription too. Let it be raining

since whole day, being hungry would it be feasible for a

boarder of KAMENG to go KAPILI for the dinner as per

his subscription. Or let it be the morning of the

midsems, its 10 min left for the exam to start, would it

be again feasible for the boarder of siang to come to

UMIAM for the breakfast as per the subscription. Well

this has been understood by students and that's why

hardly anyone is subscribing to another mess. Finally

the hard work has paid off and the standard of each

mess after giving this flexibility has increased even.

Treating the new system of monthly subscription as a

beta version of highly awaited pay per meal system, we

must appreciate it and bear the errors if any, as it is

expected to be removed in subsequent days.

wever there are still some unanswered but not

unthought-of questions in this system of monthly mess

subscription too. Let it be raining since whole day, being

hungry would it be feasible for a boarder of KAMENG to

psc@iitg.ernet.in · November 2012 · Issue 1.1

thegsentinel | November 2012 | Issue 1.1 03

1500 students per caterer in other IITs. So in such a

situation if such a system would have been

implemented then it would have been a serious threat

to the caterers as wastage of food for even 100

students out of the total 500 students would be a huge

loss. HAB was unaware of the statistics that might arise

after the implementation of the new system. So it had

no choice to implement it slowly instead of all the

flexibility at once. However, remedies have been taken

by the HAB to increase the security of the caterers prior

to implementation. The caterers have been reduced

from 8 to 5 thus increasing the students per caterer

from 500 or 300 to 800. It can be clearly observed now

that the wastage is reduced even if 150/800 is the ratio

of the wastage and thus the security is increased.

Now this

can be

seen as

an initial

step in

the way of

bringing

pay per

meal

system

into

action. So we are up with a midway solution that can at

one hand give the caterer the required time to manage

the raw materials for proper mess management and at

the other hand can instill the essence of the coupon

system that can provide some flexibility to the boarders.

Mess Vs Canteenhe growing prices worldwide have its clear

consequences on the mess fees that have been

Tcontinuously increasing throughout the semester.

And finally it has marked a further increase of 85/- per

day this semester. However the flexibility with the mess

The New Mess’ ’ Systemy

Anubahv jeff | Abhishek sayana | Jaspreet sing | Vishnu Chauhan

(G Sec HAB’11) (G Sec HAB’12) ( MMC-Manas) (Vice President)

home far away from home! IITG is the only

IIT which makes you feel at ease just like

Ayour home, be it your personal room,

nagging siblings, some lousy neighbors, local

parks, lakes, rivers and so on. Except for the food

which is definitely not Ambrosia, this would certainly

qualify as heaven on earth or the earthly Mount

Olympus. All heavens come at a price. After all we

have to filter suitable mortals and pass judgment as

to whether they fit to this place or hell. Lord Zeus

has passed a decree regarding all immortals on

heaven to confine themselves to their chambers by

the stroke of midnight. Also entry to heaven on

personal motorized chariots is restricted to 21:00

hours. Not many enlightened souls dare to question

the wisdom of their lord. But the Titans refused to

bow down to Zeus's new decree. The Titans

enjoyed their night time adventures. They felt as if

their entire existence in Olympus was defined by

their night life.

Well away from the metaphorical description this is

about the notice that restricts the movements of

hostel boarders during night time. This created a lot

of disturbance in the student community that

institute has been imposing very strict and useless

rules. But students must understand that these

rules are just a reflection of our deeds and institute

takes very much care to introduce any new rule.

The important point here is that no one is following

the rule and no one is being named guilty for

crossing the rule. If so why does the rule have to be

implemented at all? This might have a very bad

consequence on rules to be implemented further.

One will not take any such notice seriously. So the

gymkhana must rethink on this issue and answer

the discontented students.

Many times in history the Titans have joined forces

to fight Zeus and always Zeus's wisdom has stood

the test of faith and time as the all-powerful

guardian of Mt Olympus. It is the unwavering

support and prayers from the lesser gods and other

immortals to Zeus that keeps him all powerful and

as long as it remains that way, there will be no room

for chaos in Mt Olympus.

DECREE: 215

“The internet facility in each room is

something that i had never expected .The

restriction on torrents was shocking but

DC++ healed my wounds. The restriction on

the usage of internet up to 5 improved to be

the most disappointing news. At last i would

like to say the internet facilities here in IITG

are better than i could have ever thought of.”

-Bharat narayan gupta, Fresher

FresherFresher

All LAN users as one large family and

sneaking in their personal matters isn't a

good sign of a family member as per CC

.Whatever we do on intranet and within the

domain of the institute LAN CC is least

concerned about it and they even don't want

to keep trace of it .But when we are using

the internet the textual record of our internet

access is maintained as per rules of the

Government of India due to various security

reasons .

The most visited siteThe adjacent image shows the list of the most visited sites in IITG. It won't

be shock for anyone if Facebook .com tops this list. Atleast 1600 of

the residents have logged in on the site at any time of the day .Google and Youtube are the other favourite

sites that appear in the list

PL conducted during 24-26th August witnessed

D

participation from 28 teams with all sort of funny team

names. Some of them were le derps, teri keh ke lunga,

R.I.P, asli darindey, bondoos etc. The final match was

held between 'Old Monk 7' with Patton as captain and

'R.I.P' headed by Kshitij Swaroop. Finally Old Monk 7

consisting of 7 Ph.D. players took away the pride.

Winners were presented 750 Rs. while runners got 500

Rs.

o savour those wonderful moments after hectic

mid-sems some of the students went for trekking

at Amchang Wildlife Reserve forest. The camp Twas organized by Sai Vatsalya, Secretary of

Mountaineering and Trekking club in association with

Global Adventure Association, a NGO that conducts

such camps for civilians. Every year the club takes

students to Gharbhanga forest. Due to floods the forest

was closed for visitors temporarily and so the club had

to alter its plans.

On 28th of September 84 students consisting of both

UG and PG started their journey early in the morning at

around 5'o clock. They travelled a 45 km distance for

two and half hours to reach the reserve. From there

they took over road and started their trekking. It was a

16km route that passed through Pobitora wildlife

sanctuary. Ironically even though it was a wildlife

reserve trekkers did not discover any animals except a

few birds and an elephant. But they fortunately

encountered tea gardens in journey. Trekking with

friends, recreational games during intervals, thick huge

trees, ponds, local tribes and some birds were the

attractions of the day. Guides and security were

provided by the Global Adventure association while

food was covered in the participant fee of 350 Rs.The

the trip was also eco-friendly. The did not use any sort

of plastic bags etc. and even the brought by some

students unknowingly were properly collected and

thrown in dustbins outside the reserve. Good to see

the environmental awareness among the students. No

good moments last long and so the . Trekkers reached

the campus at around 7'o clock in the evening. They

were very much tired due to long walk with paining legs

but were totally excited to have such an amazing and

memorable day. PSC wishes Mountaineering and

Trekking club to organize more such trips for the junta.

oon will be the time of end semester exams and

then the most awaited time at least for freshmen

S– 'the winter holidays'. By this time most of you

have understood the non-academic life at IITG and

many of you have already started following western

timings. At this juncture of time, freshers are often

puzzled by one plebeian issue: 'whether or not to bring

a laptop in the second semester'. Although this is a

debatable topic which has varied perspectives, PSC

brings you with certain insights to enlighten you the

scenario of having or not having a laptop.

So, let us critically analyze the issue. To start with the

pros, laptops are de facto part of college life. They are

needed almost everywhere : from lecture slides,

presentations, club forms and posters, webmails,

programming, simulation, to the casual late night

Facebooking, movies, soaps and serials, LAN gaming,

file sharing etc. And of course, the DC! Laptops

guarantee portability- so you don't have to be carrying

printed books, notes etc all around. You can access

journals, e-lectures and even enrol in courses from the

world over and read at your own will.

ike every other fraternity, the IIT GUWAHATI junta

too has its share of sports fanatics who amidst

Ltheir jam-packed schedules have ample room for

sports to percolate into their daily routines filling in the

voids. Events such as the Inter-IIT sports meet and

Spardha stand testimony to this but the most trivial

manifestation of their spirit lies in the Inter/Intra hostel

tournaments organized in the hostel lawns. Recently

two such tournaments, MPL (Manas Premier League)

and DPL (DihingPremier League),in Cricket and

Football were held respectively.

MPL, the intra-hostel cricket tournament saw

participation from six teams comprising of seven

members each. The event was held in the same

fashion as most watched IPL. After an interesting

league phase and a couple of nail-biting playoffs, Black

Titans (Manager-Akshay Rathore, Captain-Anikesh

Kumar) and Antiquity Blues (Manager-Dheer Sameer,

Captain-Dinesh Reddy) were the ones who eventually

made it to the finals. Antiquity blues won the toss

putting in the opponent to bat and with a fine bowling

performance from Divyakant restricted the Black Titans

to a score of 89 in 10 overs. When it came to the chase,

Antiquitof 3 overs but then a maiden bowled by Amit

binny changed the course of the game and Black Titans

emerged victorious in the end. Not to forget the

amazing crowd who were cheering all throughout the

matches.

SC is very delighted to present you the first of its kind newsletter at IITG, THE G-SENTINEL. Over the past 8 years PSC has grown immensely to become the print

media of IITG. The new name and the new design with vibrant colors is a result of excogitation of requirement for a sound newsletter to bring you all the insights of

Pissues and events happening around you.Each page is a section of newspaper that conveys certain kind of information. The Page 1 looks after the most interesting and

most awaited articles. Page 2 brings you detail insights of all the major events happening around. Page 3 brings you the info of major issues that concern and affect almost

every one of us living here in the campus. Page 4 along with all other news consists of Shout Back section to resonate your voice for change or requirement of any new policy in

the campus. Do send your article for the shout back section to frame it in the next newsletter. The PSC website launched last year is being redesigned to make it official online

media of IITG student community. I would like to thank all those whose effort made this newsletter possible. With all your support and love PSC wishes to pace forward its

journey.

PSC is 'Taking’To move forward in the awaited journey PSC is gathering in enthusiastic writers, editors, designers and coders (for website). Only a couple of hours a month and your name

might be in the next newsletter. To join the team, mail us with a subject 'PSC team'.

“We need your review”. Mail us to share your opinions and appraisals.

Editor speaks...

Inter IIT Aquatics meet

psc@iitg.ernet.in · November 2012 · Issue 1.1

thegsentinel | November 2012 | Issue 1.1 04

Chief EditorRahul Vinod Upputuri

DesignersSuchita PandeyAnuparthy Chayapathi

Editorial BoardAashish Krishnantre, Abhay Pratap Singh,Alekhya muthyam, Angshuman Kashyap, Anikesh Kumar, Bhrigu Ranjan Borthakur, Rahul Sanal, Rohitashva Singh Sourabh, Siddarth Khandelwal, Siddarth Nambiar, varun gollapalli

Special Thanks toVishnu Chauhan, Mr. Pallav Kumar Dutta(CC Technical officer), Srijan Maulick, Sai Vatsalya mokka, dheer sameer, Kartik Devarkonda, Pavani Sattuluri, Surbhit varma, Viswajit Anand, Neeraj Mishra.

PSC Team

New Internship Policy Manas Premier league & Dihing premier league

Trekking

On the down side, however, laptops can really prove to

counter effective if used excessively for unproductive

work. The first year for undergraduate student is very

special. The college is brimming with activities and

events for freshers. It is the best time to get noticed and

prove yourself to be the next leaders at campus. As

such, if you are stuck in your room, glued all day to

computer screen, then you miss out all the fun, friends

and the opportunities, no kidding. You see, the basic

outline of your life here at IIT-G is decided by what you

do in the first year. It is always beneficial to avoid

internet or game addiction and explore exciting hobbies

that you can pursue in the institute in the first year.

Internet can be addictive if you are seeing it for the first

time at IIT-G. If you've already been a heavy internet

user – then this point doesn't concern you, as you've

probably outgrown the initial hype now. As such,

generally speaking, if you don't indulge in campus

activities in the first year, with time you become a loner,

your personality degrades to an all time low ! This, trust

us, pinches you hard, four years down the line or

whenever you introspect about what have you've learnt

from your college life.

o, akin to all the damned-world-debates, the

choice is yours to make. Some people are cool

Swith laptops in the very first year of the four

golden years of life, while others strongly oppose the

idea. PSC generally do not dole out advices, but as

seniors, we would say that the best time for a laptop

would be the second year unless you want to-be a

branch changer or would-be loner :P. However, the best

general advice would be to carefully weigh your needs

and expectations and decide accordingly.

PSC Wishes you success, for the once-in-a-lifetime

bachelor's college life.

Fresher’s Column: Excited to buy a new laptop?

he 48th Inter IIT aquatics meet was held from 2nd

to 5th of October in IIT Roorkee. Except IIT

Hyderabad all 14 IITs were present at the Taquatics meet. 11 boys and two girls along with 2

coaches went for the championship to prove their mettle

among other IITs. There were around twenty events

covering various lengths of freestyle, breast stroke,

butterfly, back swim and relays apart from water polo.

The preparation for the meet was fairly good and didn't

face many problems. But the team itself was weak as

most the experienced players were passed out and they

were left with mostly first and second yearites. Even

some of the current 4th yearites, who have already

participated previously did not wish to go this time.

Aquatics club secretary, Sameer says that their

performance at the competition even after having such a

raw team was overwhelming.

For the first time in IITG's history girls participated in

relay events. Surabhi Bhargav of first year, EEE

department won four silver medals in 50m freestyle,

100m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly

bringing IITG to 3rd position in girls. Overall our players

stood in 6th position compared to 5th last year after

Kharagpur, Roorkee, Bombay, Kanpur and Gandhi

Nagar. PSC hopes that aquatics team ripens by next

year and bring many more medals in 49th aquatics meet

to be held in home campus itself.We are also expecting

lot more medals in Inter IIT sports meet too to be held

this December. The teams had very great practice

sesssions are all ready for the championship.

hile some are sending hundreds of mails to

universities abroad most of the students are

just waiting for some fancy company to come Wand pick them up for

summer internship. Internship is

one of the significant factor hat

substantially differentiates us as

IIT's. The eight weeks industrial

experience makes us understand

the intricacies of industrial

application of engineering studies.

For many the two months period is

the deciding factor of their life as to

which field they are going to

pursue as their career in life and

for some it is their chance to skip

through the placement season

after obtaining Pre Placement

Offer. Although the campus has

made certain provisions for

companies to select interns

through campus visits by HR's only

a few are getting selected every

year leaving others to hunt on their

own.

From this year onwards placement

cell has taken the responsibility of

organizing internee recruitment

process making it more formal.

Some guidelines for the process

have been proposed and

discussed in the student senate

meeting and the rules have been

finalized after the consent of all the

senate members. Care has been

taken to restrict one intern per

student allowing more students to

avail the benefit.

According to the new policy

student with one internship offer

routed through institute must not be allowed second

NOC for either an internship routed through institute or

applied by himself. Even in case of an internship

obtained by him, student is

ineligible for a second NOC. Also

the once short listed by a company

for internship procedure student

must not opt out in case and while

in the process of obtaining

internship and student is ineligible

for applying NOC until the results

are out. But a student can be

allowed for second internship on

the discretion of the respective

department only after certain

percentage of the students from

the department obtains an

internship. The percentage is to be

decided by respective department

itself.

The companies that hire interns

from IIT Guwahati are Microsoft,

Google, Directi, Amazon, DE

Shaw, Yahoo, Schlumberger, ITC,

NetApp, Cisco, Qualcomm,

Goldman Sachs, Capital IQ, Tata

Steel, Mahindra and Mahindra,

Reliance India Ltd,. Samsung

SISO, Samsung SISC,CD Adapco,

Sigma Aldrich, Finisar among

others. This year no new

companies have approached until

now except for Altair. It is very

clear that most of the companies

are for computer science and

engineering department. We hope

that in subsequent years this

scenario changes giving more

opportunity for other departments

too.

The internship status for this

year is as follows (With

more companies yet to

come):

Microsoft: 10

Amazon: 8

Schlumberger: 7

ITC: 5

Qualcomm: 9

NetApp: 1

The PPOs received from

various companies are as

follows (with more

expected):

Microsoft: 4

Directi: 1

Qualcomm: 2

Schlumberger: 3

Goldman Sachs: 3

Reliance India Ltd: 3

Tata Steel: 1

Mahindra and Mahindra: 1

ITC: 2