Discussion on new proposals
Biometric entry to messes: A biometric system for dining in messes was proposed. The sub-features of such a system would be the usage of student ID card for purchasing extras, an online mess account for every student and an SMS gateway for transparency. “The implementation of such a system would bring a great deal of transparency in the mess accounts”, said the HAS. The mess operations would also become very fast and automatic and payment of mess bills in phases would be possible. So, instead of paying a lumpsum amount of Rs.10,000 at the start of the semester, one can pay it in installments. The graduands will also get an instant refund of the remaining balance in their mess accounts. ‘Meal billing’ could be a future alternative. The SGS and HAS urged the students to consider this proposal because of its obvious advantages. The only concern expressed by some of the members in the audience was the waiting time in front of the messes if the biometric system was adopted.
Cycle sharing system: As is seen in some college and corporate campuses in India, the SGS proposed a cycle sharing system for the IITM campus as well. The cycles would be painted to distinguish them and 4 hot-spots would be set up, where these cycles would be made available. The hot-spots would be run by officials from the cycle vending company itself. You can take a cycle from any one of these four spots and return it again to one of the spots. There might be charges levied on an hourly basis. Further details are yet to be worked out.
Modifications in attendance rule: Our institute encourages participation in many national and international competitions. However, students who participate in these competitions end up losing their attendance for those many days. So a relaxation in attendance for those students who participate in competitions like FIRA and FSAE was requested. Since this is a very old issue, the administration generally refuses to listen to the SGS. Hence, he urged everyone assembled to bring this topic up with their department professors, in hope of getting support from them to strengthen his case.
Hostel Students Welfare Fund: The HSWF was started last academic year to financially aid students hailing from an economically weak background. This fund is supported by revenue generated from disposing of scraps from hostel zone, service charge on sales during admissions and donations from the passing out students. To avail financial help from this fund, one has to fill out a form which is available in room number 205, Hostel Management Office, and submit it to the concerned hostel office and hostel general secretary before 30th September,2012. A short interview session by the hostel council and warden will follow before recommending names to the custodians of the HSWF.
Hostel Management Staff Feedback: In light of recent complaints of rude behaviour of the Hostel Management staff by some students, a committee will be drafted to keep this problem in check. Feedback forms will be made available in the respective hostel offices and the security section of the Hostel Management Office. The committee will meet once in a fortnight to review the feedback and take any action if necessary.
Prof. Chandrachoodan’s address on internet issues
A special attendee to the meeting was Professor Chandrachoodan, who was handling all issues related to the institute internet. He spoke to clarify on some issues regarding the institute internet and resolve the growing unrest among students due to slow internet speeds. “First of all, I accept the pathetic state of the internet”, he conceded. He said that the main reason for the pitiable condition of the net was the way in which the network had grown over the past few years. Originally, the network was designed so as to withstand a load of about 1000 to 2000 PCs as opposed to the current load of more than 10,000. ‘hproxy.iitm.ac.in’ is completely dedicated to students with a bandwidth limit of 1GB/sec. Currently, it is saturating at a mere 200MB/sec. Hence, buying more bandwidth was not a solution. “About 95% of the traffic is through Google and Facebook”, he remarked. At this point, the RAS suggested Facebook to be banned on weekdays at least, as the research scholars were unable to download any research papers due to the lethargic net speed. The undergraduates did not agree to this point and the matter was left floating. Prof. Chandrachoodan informed the students that his team was thinking of completely getting rid of the proxy setup. That way, every individual needs to take responsibility of the traffic coming out from his system. He also said that it was very likely that there would be a certain data limit imposed on particular websites. His team is looking at replacements for the outdated WiFi points in certain locations of the institute like the Library, ICSR etc. He requested everyone to set up a point of contact in every hostel, preferably the TAS, with whom he could communicate directly rather than entertaining questions from an arbitrary group of people every now and then. Another proposal which came up was to ban non-academic websites on department computers. Everyone seemed to agree to this point and on this note, Prof.Chandrachoodan left the meeting.
Dean’s Concerns
Dean of Students, Prof. L.S. Ganesh, then took over and immediately voiced his concern and dissatisfaction about the perpetually decreasing attendance to the SAC meetings. He emphasized upon the point that the SAC was the most influential and important student policy making body in the institute. He said that it was a shame that some members of SAC themselves were not attending these meetings, leave alone the public in general. He then brought up the topic of the hunger strike which had taken place in front of Himalaya in the summer. He recounted the incident saying that the most infuriating part was that the mob of students gathered did not allow the elected secretaries or even the DoS to speak at all. “Then what is the logic behind an election?”, he questioned the assembly. “When you don’t let a person, who you yourself elected, speak, then why have this election at all?” He highlighted the importance of a formal redressal mechanism, rather than using aggressive and disorganised means such as the ones used by the mob. He also expressed his discontent over student participation and communication, especially when it is seriously required. The Dean reminded everyone of the fact that despite having so many grievances against A-Diet, the mess feedback poll, where students rate the caterer through an online poll, showed A-Diet to have a star rating of 3.4 out of 5. “Such a rating makes me helpless and I obviously can’t take any action against the caterer, because I don’t have a solid premise to do so”, he said. He urged the students to realize the importance of a redressal mechanism, the correct way to follow it and the necessity of participating in matters which need redressal. By this time, the meeting had stretched for almost 3 hours and he left with a promise to the Council of organising a dinner session after every SAC meeting hereon.
As it was getting pretty late, the Cul-Secs, CoCAS, AAS and RAS just presented their work updates to everyone before the SAC speaker formally dismissed the Council.
