We caught up with Professor S.K. Srivastava, to get a deeper insight into the placement process.

TSA: How would you rate the placements this season as compared to last season?

SKS: This placement season was definitely as good as the last one, if not better. True, some problems persisted with sizeable chunks of students in some courses failing to get placed, but overall it was a successful placement season.

TSA: KGP enjoyed some superb success in this placement season, with several students grabbing tremendously lucrative jobs in Facebook and Google. What do you think is responsible for this grand success?

SKS: I think a lot of credit should be given to the various summer internship programmes, which offer students an opportunity to learn a lot. These programmes are especially beneficial as they help students pick up key skills necessary for such work environments and thereby enhance their preparation for the decisive placement interviews. Also, I feel that the dynamic atmosphere prevalent in  our campus is an important factor in shaping a person’s career, as a person is getting to interact with his co-students and work as a team in the various societies that we have.

TSA: Yet there still remain a number of departments where placement statistics are poor. What is your take on the reasons for the same?

SKS: I think the faculty of such departments should play a more active role and take more responsibility. There have been cases where a company has promised to come to our campus for placements but declined at the last moment. Problems are also faced by us during post-graduate placements, on account of their courses being highly specialised and the TnP cell not knowing exactly which companies to contact. In such cases, guidance from the department is highly necessary. The department representatives should be guided by the department faculty in this regard.

TSA: What do you think are the most important skills one requires to be placed in a company of his/her dreams?

SKS: I think that the basic knowledge of his stream comes first and foremost. A person who does not have the required knowledge about his core subjects and courses can never compare with his counterpart who has this knowledge. Programming is also a fairly important skill which students should know. Nowadays there is a tendency among many students to go for non-core jobs, such as those in financial companies. Communication becomes a very important skill when being interviewed for such jobs. In this regard, Gymkhana office bearers are better off because they have had invaluable experience in communicating within a team and handling a lot of responsibility.

TSA: Could you elaborate on some of the new measures being taken by the Gymkhana to streamline and better the placement process?

SKS: There is an important initiative in the pipeline regarding creation of an ERP portal to upload complete student profiles or CVs. A student will have the facility of uploading his entire CV, prominently featuring positions of responsibility held by him, in his ERP profile. However, there is an associated problem regarding the verification of thousands of such profiles. Who will guarantee the correctness of so many CVs? Hence, I believe that there should be a rule regarding freezing of CVs, in other words, there will be a time after which a student cannot change his resume and append new details to it.

TSA: Any particular problems faced during this placement season?

SKS: There were infrastructural problems regarding allocation of rooms to conduct tests and group discussions during placements. With an increasing number of companies coming and the number of students also increasing, there was a recurring issue of space crunch. The timings of the tests and related procedures are also not flexible and mostly depend on companies’ whims. Also, although postgraduate placements were fairly decent this time, they cannot match the success at the undergraduate level owing to different student backgrounds and a certain degree of communication problems.

TSA: Exactly how important is the day of placement?

SKS: I think a lot of importance should not be attached to the day of placement because it is mostly dependent on luck. Companies have certain primary expectations from the people it will eventually hire and if they get such a person on the first day, it’s that person’s luck. It should not bear down on a student’s mind if he is not placed in the first few days.

TSA: Lastly, your thoughts on the fact that there is a preponderance towards going for a job immediately after completing one’s degree and not higher studies.

SKS: I was the placement committee head and as such, will not like to comment on this. I have stepped down from the post, but my message to all students will be to focus on their core subjects first and foremost. Not getting placed very quickly or not getting an offer lucrative enough should never have any serious negative impact on any student.

The Tech GC by now has a history of intense rivalry and innovation. Winning it in this jubilee year added to the prospective glory, setting the stage for a memorable competition.

As in the past, Ad Design kick-started the proceedings this year. While the Halls had been used to working on problem statements involving hypothetical or futuristic products that required a stretch of imagination and a creative bent of mind, conjuring up ads for an insipid one like cement was new and, politely, a different kind of challenge. The stormy debates and controversies regarding the results were indicators of the nature of the weather to come. The event was held too late in the autumn semester; dates overall were skewed and hectic, with all major events crammed into one decisive week of the Spring semester. One reason for the delay was the rescheduling of Product Design, an event associated with other changes in conduct. It was made a closed event, the problem statement arrived from outside the institute, et cetera. The aftertaste has been one of mismanagement, and the format could revert next year. LLR had established themselves at the top at this point. The results of Chemical Innovation followed, and Azad announced that they were there to stay.

It is now the 1st of April. In one of the highs of the GC, novel creations were on display at Hardware Modelling. The dispute at this event related to the validity of technology used by some Halls, questions that would not die down till the end. One does not expect the Tech GC to carry forth without intense competition, and Nehru declared its intentions to fight on with a convincing win in Open Soft, whose problem was about creating a ‘Voice-activated file browsing’ software. Math Olympiad and a Case Study on QR codes were the focus of attention as the GC, like a spark on a wick, sped closer to completion as the week rushed by. MS worked consistently through the events to join the league of halls in contention to lift the trophy.

It all came down to the last day – the two quizzes. They were more interesting and well-fought this year, which added to the drama. Nehru kept themselves alive in the competition by winning the Tech quiz, followed closely by three teams tied for the silver position. Points consideration being uppermost meant that LLR walked out of a tie-breaker and ended up sharing points. The Biz quiz yet again saw a close finish with only a couple of points separating the top teams. Chaos ensued even after the quizzes. An earlier mistake in correction meant that Azad now won the Maths Olympiad, and SN got silver in Case Study. But after all the dust settled, Azad’s efforts fell short by 10 points, with the trophy eventually going to LLR thus culminating this year’s General Championships.

The tumultuous progress of the Sports General Championship, replete with a healthy share of controversies and upset results, served to keep the KGP populace thoroughly entertained for the last two semesters. In a year when the campus was abuzz with the excitement of hosting the Inter IITs, MMM and LLR demonstrated how neither seniors, nor first and second years, are a necessary requirement for sporting success. It turned out to be a season where defending champions MS finished at a banal 5^th spot with less than half the number of points amassed by Patel, who put up a remarkable string of consistent performances together to clinch the coveted GC trophy.

Athletics was the first event in the calendar and it set the controversies running. Thanks to faulty markings on the racetrack, MS were forced to run an additional 13 metres in the 4x400m relay event and ended up finishing 3^rd behind Patel. The furious MS participants relinquished their medals in protest. One of Azad’s sprinters was denied a podium finish and relegated to 4^th position on account of faulty timing in the 100m preliminaries, which meant that he did not qualify for the 8-participant final. Angry remonstrations eventually led to him being incorporated into the final as an unprecedented 9^th participant. On the brighter side, the Azad team set a record in the 6 km road race while Nehru’s gold winning overall share of 77 points was a lesson in sheer dedication and finesse.

Coming to the field games, cricket fans witnessed an all-time record set by Kamal Singh of RP when he smashed 135 off just 68 balls in a league match against SAM. It was a performance reminiscent of Brendon McCullum’s knock that kickstarted the first IPL season. Overall, cricket was an event dominated by PAN, but MMM caused several heads to turn by going all the way up to the final before losing to Azad. They got their revenge by thrashing Azad 3-0 to clinch the bronze medal in football. However, football this year will be remembered for the highly exciting final match between LLR and Nehru, which the former won by an extra time goal. PAN dominance was also seen in hockey, with Nehru getting bronze and unfancied Patel reaching the finals, but that was where they had to bow down to the sheer might of RK.

The volleyball event was pleasantly shocking with MMM defying the odds to be crowned as champions and delivering quite a blow to the egos of the established senior halls in the process. The future of this sport looks wide open with inter hall girls’ volleyball scheduled to be inaugurated next year after it was successfully staged in the inter IIT. Azad bagged the top spot in tennis, but it was the semi final match between Nehru and Patel which stood out as one of the best ever contests witnessed in KGP. Patel emerged triumphant and went on to take the silver medal, while MS got bronze. Moving on to water sports, this was where RP finally had some reason to cheer with their vastly experienced and talented swimmers sharing the honours with Patel. RP ended up clinching gold in water polo and silver in aquatics, while it was vice-versa for Patel. Earlier, RP had won the bronze medal in badminton, an event where LLR stole the show with a brilliant unbeaten run right up to the finals, where they beat MS to earn the top spot.

Chaos was rampant and disputes erupted in some of the other sports. The table tennis final between Patel and MS witnessed severely unruly behaviour from the supporters, eventually leading to 5 points being deducted from both halls. This was not implemented however and MS won the event to bag the full 10 points. Similar happenings also occurred after the basketball semifinal between Patel and Nehru and there were threats of point deduction, which was a pity as the match had been one of very high quality. The basketball event was eventually won by RK and no point cuts actually materialised. Weightlifting caused further ruckus when Azad alleged that the elbows of a Nehru participant had touched his knees during a lift, which is not allowed. They went on to show the video to the Gymkhana officials, who turned a blind eye to the entire affair by dismissing the video filmed by Azad as unofficial. It should be pointed out here that the Gymkhana does not have official videographers for many events and hence, the question of an official video leaves room for a lot of ambiguity.

The Sports GC stretched more than a week into April, although the winner and runners up were decided well before. The final events were the ones testing the mental ability of the players. Bridge was won by LLR, albeit a few hiccups in the process, while Patel brought an emphatic end to the season by beating a fancied Azad team in the chess final. And thus, with the chess results getting declared on the 9^th of April, the Sports General Championship 2011-2012 concluded. Patel proved that there is no substitute to sheer consistency and emerged deserving champions by leaving runners up Nehru no less than 20 points behind, who in their own turn left 3^rd placed RK 17 points behind. We congratulate the winners and look forward to another great year of sporting action up ahead!

Final Points Tally

Left Right

Nehru’s imperious half-decade long clasp on the Soc-Cult General Championship was in tatters when RK’s juggernaut capitalized on its impressive run in the Autumn Semester. A string of Golds for RK (14 to be precise) and a dramatic turn of events (pun intended) perpetrated by SN sealed the GC for RK.

Entertainment

The Entertainment events had their fair share of melodrama this time around. A change of venue mid-way during the Western groups, owing to bad sound quality in Kalidas led to some unrest.  A professional sound system was called in at Netaji and the event restarted after having lost 48 hours. Gold winners RK stole the show on Day 1 with their rendition of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, The Who’s Baba O’Reily andMotherjane’s Chasing the Sun. Kaushik and Sayanta were the stars for RK with their violin prowess being put on a majestic display. SN wowed the audience with their heart-clenching vocals. 1^st runner’s up Nehru set the tone on Day 2 by improvising to Pink Floyd’s High Hopes with some fine metal riffs. Bronze winners Azad brought back the hard rock era in their show.

Literary:

RK’s dominating run, winning 5 out of 6 events, is pretty much the story of the Lit-Cup. This semester saw four events. Hindi Elocution and WTGW were both snapped up by RK . The Soc-Cult Quiz held recently yielded some interesting results as rookies MMM finished second, LLR placed first and MS roped in at third as the usual suspects on the Quiz scene floundered.

Dear Readers,

It’s here. As we had promised. We talk about what you think about relationships, what you think about sexuality.  The creepy on campus gender ratio- has it actually made you creepy? Your dress code- does KGP have double standards? We talk about these and many other things. More importantly, we try to find out the difference between what you think and what you do, the difference between what your friends think they would do and what they do in reality. And to some inquisitive minds who might be scratching their heads in curiosity regarding the source of our gold mine, we are more than willing to dispel your concern. It is you.

Find the full survey here .

The Learning Point, an initiative in e-learning by an IIT Kgp alumnus (Batch of ’06), is looking for students interested in creating online tutorials, graphics and visualizations. Visit the website to check out the current set of tutorials in Maths, Engineering and Computer Science.

First and second year students interested in applying for the paid summer internship may apply at updates@thelearningpoint.net

The HMC has had a hectic year, faced with the daunting task of accommodating more than 9000 students, while battling limited space and an increased intake of students. It began with second-years being shepherded like cattle into extension blocks, sparking off worries about their prospects in the subsequent year. As the year draws to an end, the fact that not everyone will be fortunate enough to land a single room remains clear.

Having lived cheek-by-jowl for two years, single rooms are fiercely contested for by second-years. In most halls, boarders who participated in GC events and displayed enthusiasm during the obligatory welcome by the hall are preferred. Seniors liken the single room to a reward; this is a ready-made bait to draw helpless second-years out from their rooms, and get them cracking on those diyas. Second-years too, aren’t entirely blameless and innocent, and can be accused of indulging in more than their fair share of sycophancy.

The HMC’s latest directive aims to make the allotment process random and hence fair. Single rooms will now be allotted to second-years through a centralised lottery, entirely supervised by the HMC. Those who do not get a single-room will be automatically allotted a single room in another hall. However, they do have the option of staying put in their parent hall, provided they submit a written application to the HMC, clearly stating that they have no qualms being tripled-up. While these other halls were not specifically named, we speculate that they are HJB and LLR, the only two UG halls without first or second-years.

While this directive will go a long way in curtailing sycophancy and favouritism, the move brings the larger problem of overcrowding back into focus. Apart from LBS and BRA (which are still running dismally behind schedule) there are no new hostels in the pipeline. This spells trouble, especially for girls, since most of their halls are already bursting at the seams. There are plans, however, to shift the Kendriya Vidyalaya (in front of Tikkas) to a new location, and convert the building into a girls’ hostel with a capacity of 800.

However, with most projects hit by delays, the only consolation lies in the fact that the numbers are expected to steady themselves in the next couple of years, as the number of graduates increase as well. Until then, enjoy the stuffy nights, locked up with your fellow sufferers – contemplating the outcome of this apparently impartial lottery.

Eligibility criteria: The student must have a minimum experience of two years in IIT Kharagpur.
Interested students should mail their applications in the below mentioned format by 11th April, 2012.

Subject: Application for Public Relations Chair

Name:

Roll No.:

Contact no.:

E-mail id:

Motivation to become Public Relations Chair:

Positions of responsibility/Achievements:

The applications should be mailed to rinshul@gmail.com and csagnik.iitkgp@gmail.com For further queries contact:
Rinshul Chandra- 9547890930
Sagnik Chakraborty – 8016949492