TSA: Hello Sagar, what is the purpose behind you contesting for the position of Vice President of Gymkhana? Can you elaborate on any specific experiences which led you to contest for it?
Sagar: So I will start with my introduction, my name is Sagar Kumar, I am a third year student of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences enrolled in its BS course of Economics. I am a boarder of Lal Bahadur Shastri Hall of Residence, I am from Nalanda, Bihar and I am contesting for the post of Vice President for the academic session 2024–2025. So talking about my purpose, I have experience of being part of different multicultural organisations and there I got a chance to interact with a diverse set of individuals, get to know about their concerns and needs on an academic and a personal level. From there I got my purpose that I should serve my student community, and that’s because the institute has given me a lot and now I want to give back to my institute. Also, I have a feeling that I can solve the problems of other students that they are facing. This sums up my motivation to contest.
TSA: So there have been any particular instances in your life which inculcated this positive sense of responsibility in you?
Sagar: As I said in the very first semester I was a part of Gopali Youth Welfare Society, Kshitij, 180 Degree Counselling. There I discovered that seniors are very helpful, they always helped me a lot whenever I approached them. Even in my tenure I have ensured that I should be approachable to my juniors and always be there for them. These instances felt like I should serve my student community and work for them; and I believe that I have the skills to represent my general body.
TSA: So you are still a part of Gopali Youth Welfare Society?
Sagar: No, currently I am not a part of Gopali Youth Welfare Society.
TSA: Any specific reasons to leave the organisation?
Sagar: There is no specific reason. After I completed my tenure as Junior Executive Member, there was a transition from online semester to offline semester. So I had to make an informed choice whether I wanted to continue with which society. As I mentioned I was a part of three organisations and considering my career goals and perspective I decided to continue with 180 Degrees Consulting. But even after leaving my intent was never to stop promoting welfare. At 180 Degrees Consulting I was working with different NGOs and even was a part of an entrepreneurship. I consider fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship as a kind of welfare thing, as if you talk about one of the institute missions it says to imbibe the spirit of entrepreneurship. So during my second year I changed my career trajectory from welfare to fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship.
TSA: So you must have had a look at the proposals of other candidates contesting besides you?
Sagar: To be honest I didn’t.
TSA: Alright, So what sets you apart from them and would you like to elaborate?
Sagar: I should not comment on other candidates. I believe they have also done a great job. There is a reason they are also contesting. If we talk about my proposals, from December, I started talking to diverse set of individuals whether it be in undergraduate, post graduate or research scholars, and I got to know there are various fronts in which they are facing challenges. After considering all the factors, especially feasibility, I have done extensive groundwork and came to those five proposals.
My first proposal, a big one, is to set up an incubation cell which will empower the startup community. If you talk about the current situation, we have an entrepreneurship cell but we do not have an incubation one, which directly helps the startups on ground level.
Then the second proposal; which will revamp the career development centre’s structure. Right now if we talk about the structure of IIT Bombay, IIT Madras and IIT Delhi they do not solely depend upon a few placement committee members. Right now we are proposing a departmental level placement committee team so that we
can call more companies and they will have more expertise in calling core companies. So we will include research scholars and post graduates in that committee also.
So my third proposal is to enhance the mental well being of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. There are few subsections. We are trying to change the name of the counselling centre because there is a stigma and taboo attached to it. So if someone is going to the counselling centre he assumes he has some mental illness and depression. But we are trying to change the name . We haven’t figured out the name but we will talk to the relevant stake holders for this. Like if you just want to talk, then also, you can go to the counselling centre. There should be no need to have a mental illness or something to visit the centre. Apart from this we are trying to include meditation sessions in the counselling centre weekly.
The fourth proposal is to enhance the life of post graduate and research scholars. Because they constitute almost 40–45% of the student community. But right now the administration is alienating them, so there is a bridge between undergraduate students and postgraduate research scholars. We are trying to enhance their life and to make their life hassle free. So for that we have thought of a few proposals like introducing a grievance community, which will look after the relationship between the supervisor and the research scholar students.
If you talk about the fifth proposal. Right now we only have coordinating wardens in the hall management centre… So we are trying to create a student body representation there. Because right now all the authority rests in the coordinating warden only. There is no say of students. So we are trying to include the student body in the committee. Because I feel students should also have the say in the hall management centre. So these are my five proposals.
TSA:So there are a lot of issues revolving around the campus right? And among those things I see you have picked five very specific problems. What made you select these problems and in that particular order? Is there a specific order associated with the proposals you have put forward or are they like an in general set of proposals?
Sagar: There is no particular order I have followed but I have taken care of the feasibility factor. Because there are a lot of decisions in which I do not have the sole authority . For that I have to talk to the institution or the senate. So I have considered feasibility as one of the important factors while I am proposing. I thought there are a few major problems that the student committee is facing and then I came up with these five proposals. Each proposal caters to different communities. Like if you talk about the postgraduate research proposals, they are catered to the post graduate students. If you talk about the incubation centre they are catering to the startup guys. If you talk about the career development centre, it will impact the whole student community.
TSA:Okay. So within the last year itself we saw a lot of problems with basic necessities like electricity, problems like water and then open sewerage and everything. There is a lot of taboo attached to it. People being affected because of it. Then there is this other part where you take into consideration the women, there are people who lie on the LGBTQIA plus spectrum. So I do not see any specific proposals for those within your set of proposals. Any reasons as to why you decided to pick the ones that you did instead of picking one of these? What was your criteria while selecting the proposals that you did those instead of these ones?
Sagar: Yeah so you mentioned that the student committee is also facing other problems like electricity, open sewerage. But if you talk about a few specific problems, I have initiated some solutions even during my candidacy. Like recently I have launched a central safety app catering to women, for Women safety only. And within a few weeks it will be launched. So it is not like that I am proposing something and then I will execute that. I have already initiated. If we talk about the queer community, I have talked to various people of queer community. And I got to know that there are few specific problems that they are facing. But for that I have to talk to the institute specifically. If we talk about the ERP, then there are only two genders mentioned, male and female. And right now the institute is not recognizing It will take time. I believe if I get elected as vice president I will make sure that all the problems that they are facing should be heard.
TSA: Okay so can you elaborate on your first proposal about the incubation cell? Who will be the people responsible? What will be the committee that will be running that cell? Maybe elaborate on that and how will it be implemented?
Sagar: If we talk about the implementation, so we have the structure of IIT Bombay and IIT Madras. There we got to know that incubation cell and entrepreneurship cell are different. So we will act as a bridge between all the incubation centres. Like right now we have four incubation centres inside the campus. AI4CPS, Agribusiness, MN Farooqi and STEP. But there is no umbrella organisation who is looking after all these incubation centres. We will propose a student body which will have representation in all the incubation centres. And if a startup wants to get funding from these incubation centres then the student can directly reach out to that particular body. Because right now what is happening, we have faculties who are deciding whom they want to give funding. But we do not have student representation. And moreover we will also call the incubation centres which are not in the institute. We have got soft confirmation from them. We got soft confirmation from Vardhani Foundation. In fact we got soft confirmation from Startup India. They want to set up their incubation centres inside the institute. I believe we have a repo of IIT Kharagpur. But we are not up to the mark. So this is all.
TSA: Okay so what will be the final outcome of it all. What is exactly a startup going to get if they pursue this path of talking to the incubation centre. And how will these institutions actually help you? Like MN Farooqi Center. What is the current status of that?
Sagar: If we talk about the current status, they have recently released a Google form regarding who wants to get their funding. But for the past few years they are not working properly. So I also want to renovate all the incubation centres which are present inside the campus. So the incubation cell will not be just limited to the current incubation centres only. It will also involve research. Like you see, IIT Madras opened a research park 6 years ago. So we are trying to include that structure in our incubation body also. And if you talk about particularly the audience whom they will be catering to, it will be the startup founders. Because right now what is happening is if I get to know my senior has raised some funding; So I will also get intrigued whether I should also start my own startup.So they will get funding, resources, contacts of angel investors or venture capitalists. So on ground level they will get benefited.
TSA: Okay another question. So is it not a very easy task to pursue entrepreneurship as a student? You have academic load. You have other things that will always keep bothering you. So what is it like being in an incubation centre? I believe you will also provide resources to the students in that aspect, help them handle everything and balance everything together. What is your take on that?
Sagar: Yeah you guys are right. A student has to manage academics. A student has to manage extracurricular, co-curricular activities. But I believe if someone wants to start his own startup, then the person should be motivated enough. If we talk about myself, I have my own startup. And I believe I have managed well between my academics and my own startup. So I believe if a person is motivated enough then the person can pursue their startup. We have past experiences of our seniors, who have excelled their startup to a great level during their academic life. So I believe it depends upon the person.
TSA: So can we talk about your initiative Datsol solutions which you have proposed and initiated. So for how long have you been a part of Datsol solutions? And can you explain the functioning of the new app that you have proposed? And how is it going to help the community as a whole?
Sagar: So I am not a part of Datsol Solutions directly. I am a part of Lets Lance. The App is a joint collaborative effort between Lets Lance and Datsol Solutions. So we were talking to the Dean of Students’ Affairs and we got to know that there are some issues. Then we got an idea that we should have a SOS kind of application where if a woman is facing any concerns, then they can reach out to that application directly.
In India there is a 1–1–2 mobile application. It has an SOS feature. We were trying to replicate that feature, specifically for institute girls. So for that we have started developing an application around December, and right now it is in beta phase, it hasn’t been launched. But I believe in a few weeks it will get launched. Then only I will be in a better position to explain.
TSA: So how does it work exactly? As soon as someone presses the SOS button?
Sagar: As soon as someone presses the SOS button, the security council will get informed. And they will contact you. And if within 15 minute, they weren’t able to contact you, they will reach that location directly
TSA: Okay. So what would your role be in the incubation cell?
Sagar: Are you talking about as a vice president or as a member of the incubation cell?
TSA: Will you be a member of the incubation cell?
Sagar: As the Vice President I will not be a member. But as the vice president is the highest student elected body, I will look after all the workings of the cell. So if I get elected, as I have a passionate background from the start, I will look after the functioning of the incubation cell. I personally have few contacts of incubation centres which are not present inside the campus. So I will contact them, to empower the startup community.
TSA: You had mentioned that you have a startup of your own. So that shouldn’t lead to any conflict of interest, with you and your involvement in the incubation cell right?
Sagar: Obviously I will not have the sole authority to decide whom we want to give fundings to. We will have mentors and faculty members. So I don’t believe we will have conflict of interest. It will depend upon the other members too, whether they want to give funding or not. And if we talk about my own startup, Then right now we do not have funding. We are sustainable on our own.
TSA :Okay. Another question here. So you were saying that you would want to be a member. Like you would be a member of the incubation cell itself. Yes or no?
Sagar: I am not saying-
TSA :If not directly, But like indirectly you will be supporting the cell?
Sagar: Yeah obviously. It comes under the purview of the vice-president.
TSA: So yeah. So if you look at the current Vice-President of the Technology Students’ Gymkhana, we are presuming you have discussed everything with the current Vice-President, Mr. Samath Singh and the previous vice-president, Mr. Brahmajot Singh about the scenario of cells, and how everything functions in KGP.
Sagar: Yeah.
TSA: So what was their role exactly when they were leading, because we have had the entrepreneurship cell for quite a while in KGP. And I believe it is somehow helpful with startups, getting funds and helping them reach out to various venture capitals. So what can your specific role be in this? And how have they moulded the entrepreneurship scenario in their tenures?
Sagar: So if you talk about the tenure of the current Vice-President Mr. Samath Singh. I think he has done a remarkable job. Like he has started the cohorts under the AI4ICPS. It was started during the tenure of Mr. Samath Singh, and if I get elected then I will be working on the same lines . As I said I will propose an incubation centre. And I will try to call more and more incubation centres, which are not present in the institute. If you talk about the four incubation centres that I had mentioned in my previous statement, all these incubation centres cater to specific domains. Like STEP caters to product based start-ups, MN Faruqi Innovation Centre caters to hardware based start-ups; AI4ICPS caters to the AI based start-ups. But there is no umbrella organisation, So I will be working on how we can call more incubation centres. And also apart from this I will try to call more incubation centres. So to get co-working spaces. Right now we do not have enough co-working spaces where people of different genders can work together.
TSA: Okay. So what I believe is setting up a cell is a huge task. And a big thing to do.
There are a lot of resources that go into it. So what are the various resources that you are required to set up such an institution? Besides contacting the right authorities?
Sagar: If you have read the proposals, I have mentioned all the groundwork that I have done. In fact earlier I already mentioned that we got soft confirmation from two incubation centres already. So they are ready to set up their centres inside the institute for themselves. And regarding the feasibility of that, if you see there was a Vice President in the academic year 2015–16, Mr. Atal Ashutosh Agarwal. In his proposal he proposed a Students International Relations Cell. So I believe it depends from person to person. I feel I am motivated enough. And I have personal experience.And I believe the administration is also curious to empower start-up.
TSA: So across the years the Entrepreneurship Cell has launched many initiatives that lie across the same range right? So will there be a clash of conflict of interest?
Sagar: No, there will not be a conflict of interest. Obviously we will work together collaboratively. Because if we talk about the vision of entrepreneurship cell, they want to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation. But what after that?
So we will come then, if a student wants to start their own start up. And he has already started. Let us assume. Then we will provide enough resources. We will provide enough contacts. We will get them funded if they want to, after a person has started a startup. Entrepreneurship basically works in the sense that they want you to start your own start-up. We will come into the role after that.
TSA: Okay moving on to the second proposal which is the one revolving around the research scholars and the M.Tech students. One thing we would like to know is why you picked these three specific problems that you addressed within that. And you know what is generally happening around you, what is the state of postgraduate students? If you have interacted with them, you would come to know that the stipends are quite often delayed. So is not that the one thing that actually kind of puts them down or holds them back, while being a part of the student community here at KGP? And are there any specific initiatives in that specific area that you would want to take up?
Sagar: I totally agree with your point. But I have done enough groundwork regarding the dealing of stipend and it does not come under the purview of the Vice President directly. It depends upon the institute. And it depends upon the student and the central government. So I do not have the proper authority to decide whether they should get a stipend or not. But whatever the problem that I have mentioned in my proposal, these are ground level problems that they are facing on a day-to-day basis. One of the major problems that they are facing is that there is not a grievance community where they can give feedback to their supervisor. Also, the supervisor is not accountable to any of them. Like a research scholar is accountable to his supervisor. However, the supervisor is not accountable. So, in IIT Kharagpur, the supervisor can easily exploit any of the research scholars. We want to introduce a grievance committee that will look after the relationship between a supervisor and a research scholar. And they should keep checks and balances on both sides. Not specifically inclined to the administration or student body.
TSA: Okay one thing we would want to talk about here is that we assume it also revolves around establishing a feedback loop right? So, let’s just say that there is one professor. Under that professor, there are only a limited number of research scholars. So if we talk about something like anonymous feedback, this one student might file anonymous feedback. But because the number of students is pretty low, It will be easy for the prof to figure out who filled it and who did not.
Sagar: Exactly. I totally agree with you. The same problem research scholars are facing.But what I am proposing is a grievance committee which constitutes a neutral faculty member, which will also constitute a student body. Right now we have a proper committee, a doctorate scrutiny committee. But they do not have representation from the student side. I am proposing a student grievance committee where we will have representation from the student side also. So the faculty will be accountable to the students. Whether we decide later if the vice president will be a part or not or a research scholar representative will be a part of that.
TSA: Okay. One more thing about this stipend part of it like the one we discussed
earlier. So usually there is a delay in the stipend. So whenever a research scholar, moves from junior research fellowship to senior research fellowship, there is an increment in the stipend. So what usually happens here is because of that, their enhancement seminars are usually delayed. That is actually one of the reasons why the stipend is also delayed and that is not exactly under the control of the administration but is under the control of the supervisor. So, if you set up a grievance committee why would you not look into things like this too?
Sagar: Yeah, we will look after all the things, I am not saying the grievance committee will look after only the feedback. As I said, the supervisor will be accountable for each and everything. Delaying of the enhancement seminar, delaying of the registration seminar. In fact if you talk about the final year research scholarthe supervisor can exploit him while giving the synopsis seminar and defence of the thesis. So it will look after all the things.I am not restricting it to just feedback, but feedback is one of the major parts where research college students are complaining.
TSA: Apart from that, there is a section in placement and internship opportunities where you have mentioned that PhD people face a huge problem because of the clash of the placement season and their doctoral thesis dissertation.
Sagar: Exactly.
TSA: But I can’t really find any section on what you know about it, or if you know any implementation of it. How are you planning to work on it and how are you planning to improve it? What is your plan of action for that?
Sagar: So, if a research college student has done a synopsis seminar and defence of the thesis in the middle of the year, then the person is not allowed to sit for the placement process. So for that, I am talking to the ERP section and what I am proposing is that they should accept a few of the research scholars who want to sit for the placement and have finished their synopsis seminar and defence of their thesis in mid of the year. The person should be allowed in the placement process in December. I have already mentioned what you are discussing in my graph book.
TSA: And what about the other people? So will there be a fixed number or a fixed percentage? What exactly are we talking about here? You just mentioned a certain number of research scholars will sit for placement.
Sagar: So it depends upon year on year. Right now if you talk about this year, only 15 research scholars got placed, and I think more than 500 students have applied for placement, but only 15 students got it. So this is very less and most of the research scholars students did not get a chance to — in fact get a fair chance to sit for the placement process. So, I am trying to solve that problem. I am not commenting on whether they should get placed or not but at least they should get a chance to sit for the placement process. So, I am commenting on that in my proposal.
TSA: Okay so moving on to the next proposal. This is the one about career development cells and how you would want to optimise the whole process. You have talked about shifting the position of the placement committee member from a 4th-year student to a 3rd-year student. What is your exact purpose behind it and how do you determine that in this one particular year, you have more academic load than the other? Is it based on some survey or…?
Sagar: I am not saying we will shift the position from fourth years to third years; what I am saying is we will delegate the work between the fourth-year and third-year students. As I already mentioned we have a structure of IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, and different IITs, which are working very successfully. So, the CDC portal was introduced in the year 2000, and if you talk about the placement committee members, we would also have around 15 to 16 placement committee members. Right now, we have 19 members. So, the proportion of student intake to placement committee members is not viable. So, we are trying to delegate the work between the fourth-year, second-year and third-year students, and apart from that we are trying to include the departmental placement committee so that we can call more and more companies, cause if you talk about a few specific departments like mechanical and mining, there is a huge potential there. The current placement committee members did not get a chance to call more and more companies. The department placement committee will look after that. And also if you talk about the next academic year, IIT Kharagpur will not take admissions to 5 year courses. So, if a student is coming as a four-year student, most probably the person will have the mentality to do an internship and get placed. If you talk about the position of responsibility, the person should need atleast one year, so that the person can focus on their placement in the next academic year. So, that is why I have tried to delegate the work between the second-year, third-year, and fourth-year students.
TSA: So, you mentioned that delegating the work between the second-year, third-year and fourth-year students would increase the number of core placements.
Sagar: The number of core opportunities will reduce the burden from specific placement committee members and will increase the efficiency of current members.
TSA: Ok, but do you think that second and third year students will have enough exposure to find core opportunities in their department?
Sagar: The department change criteria has been abolished, so from the very first semester, or second semester you would have some courses from your department available. So, I think in the coming years, the students will have a chance to explore their department.
TSA: Was there a mention of a change of curriculum for the first semester?
Sagar: There will be a change in curriculum. If you look into the institute’s MOM, in which these decisions were made, it is clearly mentioned that from the very first semester only there will be a few courses of your department. Right now, you have clearly mentioned that the first semester and second semester there are generalised courses, but from next academic year, it will not be like that. So, the person will have some exposure to their department.
TSA: You also talked about the CDC portal and the website of the career development cell itself. So, we have seen a lot of proposals about the career development cell in previous years as well, and I believe Mr. Samarth Singh also had a very similar proposal. A few aspects of the proposal that you have covered as well. So, currently what is the situation about that and how do you plan to take it on from where it is now and, and apart from the placement committee scenario, how is your proposal different from the others.
Sagar: One of the key points in my proposal is to introduce a departmental placement body, which was not covered in the proposal of Mr. Samarth Singh. And as you have mentioned about the website of the career development centre, the website is not equipped with all the resources that students should have. Right now, if you see the career-related websites of other IITs or other colleges, they have proper resources available so that the person can avail. Right now, we have to contact seniors to get resources. So we are trying to solve that problem. If a student is not involved in any of the societies, organisations, or their hall, even then the person will be able to get necessary resources. We will have a proper roadmap, that if you want to pursue a career in this particular portfolio, then these are the road maps that you can pursue.
TSA: Okay, can you elaborate your fifth proposal in which you’ve mentioned how you wish to revamp the whole structure of HMC and its functioning and you want to make it easy for the students who you know wish to change their halls after they have been allotted a different hall.
Sagar: We will not change the halls for students, we will just increase the representation of students in the Hall Management Centre, and for that even we have talked to the current chairperson of the HMC, professor Dillip Kumar Singh, and even he has shown interest in our proposal. Right now, what is happening is that there is uncertainty in the minds of various students, and which hall they will get allotted to after their second semester. I believe if there will be a student representation then it will make the job easier.
TSA: But don’t you think that will lead to an increase in the amount of chaos because there are so many freshers who have specific impressions of halls’ performances. What if it leads to overcrowding of students in one particular hall?
Sagar: If you have read my proposal then I have clearly mentioned the composition of the hall allotment committee and the composition of hall management committee so I think that whatever the decision that committee will take, the students have to abide by that. It is not like that the hall of residence is particularly famous for any thing that you mentioned. It depends upon the boarders and how they are equipped with any of the portfolio of the new committee, whether social, cultural, sports and games or technology. I think the hall allotment committee will come to a conclusion after considering various factors and only then we can do something
TSA: Moving apart from the proposals, this year we saw many disciplinary committee actions against students who were found in possession of intoxicants. What’s your opinion on that?
Sagar: I recognize that the disciplinary committees are instituted to uphold the institutional values but my opinion is that we should look into the academic perspective of that particular person. The person came here to take a degree so I believe the punishment should not hamper their academic career. We can have different punishments, from imposing financial penalties or imposing community service but I believe the academic career of the person should not be hampered. My opinion is that if I get elected as vice president then I will represent that particular person in whatever the disciplinary committees have and i will make sure that the decisions should be such that that the person should get rid of that habit not just an imposition of harsh punishments.
TSA: There is an ongoing accommodation problem in IIT KGP. I think in girls’ halls five people are in one room. We also know that now two new halls are being built. Could you provide us some ideas about how you will address this issue?
Sagar: We have inaugurated two new halls of residence. In upcoming semesters, the problem will get solved because we have opened the Savitribai Phule and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Halls so we can shift. But obviously the committee that I have proposed, the whole allotment committee will decide which type of students will get which type of hall.
TSA: Are you confident that these two new halls will satisfy the current requirements?
Sagar: I have talked to the hall management centre and the current students intake are proper enough to equip with the halls of residences whatever we have.
TSA: We have a small question here actually. You said that the new halls that have been built are enough for the students, could you please elaborate on what is the capacity of these two halls combined?
Sagar: So if we talk about the capacity of Savitri Bai Phule, they have the capacity of around 900 students and only right now 450 students are living there. And if we talk about the capacity of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall, I am not sure but I think it is above 1000–1200 and right now none of the students got allotted to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It will solve the problem of accommodation but obviously we will have to look into the factors to determine which students will get which hall.
TSA: Last year, there were no research scholars taken in because of accommodation problems. What do you think will be the scenario next year and how do you plan on improving it?
Sagar: Accommodation was one of the factors due to which Indian Institute of Technology of Kharagpur did not take the admission of PhD students. There were a lot of other factors also but I believe like in this year only, the PhD admissions had already been taken and in the upcoming August or September around, there will be new admissions of the PhD students. I think research culture is one of the major factors in the NIRF ranking or the QS ranking. So I believe the administration is also doing a great job in empowering the research culture but we also have to grow as a whole community, we need to look at how we can empower the research culture and to include undergraduate students, post-graduate students or research college students. And right now, we have a central research facility but the lab facility is not well equipped with advanced technologies if we compare it with foreign universities. And if we compare it to other IITs, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is an institute of eminence. So we should have proper facilities whether from labs or accommodations. So I believe administration is also doing a great job and as a student representative, I will also make sure that there should be proper communication between the student and the administration.
TSA: Another question right. I believe you must have interacted with the Civil and Maintenance Department here at IIT Kharagpur. So what was their take on the number of halls that are present there and what is the you know future track of things that they will take up? Any idea about that? And your role in it?
Sagar: As the Vice President, one of the major roles and responsibilities is to bridge the gap between the administration and the student body. But right now, I am not aware of any future plans of the Civil Construction and Maintenance Department because right now, I do not hold the position and these data are confidential. But I believe like right now for a few years, we have proper accommodation. But we have to make sure which students are getting which type of halls. But I believe right now the halls of residence which are present are well enough to accommodate each and every one.
TSA: Could you elaborate your sentence, which type of students will get which type of halls? What do you mean by this?
Sagar: So there are two campuses, the North Campus and South Campus. And if you see there is a whole gap. Like the North Campus has well facilities, Gymkhana etc. There are various halls of residence inside the North Campus. There are proper restaurants. But if you talk about the South Campus. South Campus does not have Gymkhana itself. And do not have proper restaurants or proper halls of residence. So there.
TSA: Could you explain what is North and South Campus?
Sagar: If you talk about the Savitri Bai Hall of Residence and Atal Bihari, it comes under South Campus. And if you talk about the other halls of residence, it comes under the North Campus. So if you see there is a gap between them. So we have to look at which type of halls are getting which type of students. If you take an example of Gokhale Hall of Residence, all the freshers are allotted Gokhale Hall of Residence. Like some of the around I think 130 freshers got allotted to Gokhale Hall of Residence. And there are no seniors who are present there. So I think there is a gap that we want to bridge. There should be a proper representation of each and every year in every hall of residence. So that if there is any concern, the person can reach out to seniors directly.
TSA: You said that there should be a distribution amongst various years of study. But how would you actually ensure that? Taking into account that you could only actually do that if you have first year students right now and they happen to stay in that same hall until they become seniors. Yes or no? It is very difficult for seniors in a particular hall to move to another.
Sagar: Obviously there can’t be a uniform distribution in every hall of residence. But we can look. Like there should be a senior in every hall of residence. As I have taken an example of Gokhale Hall of Residence. I personally interacted with various freshers and got to know that there is a lack of interaction between seniors and juniors in that hall of residence. If a person is not a part of any of the organizations, then there is a gap. If a person wants to reach out to any of the seniors. Then the person is not able to reach out to any of the seniors. But if there will be a distribution that there should be a senior inside that hall of residence. I personally have initiated hall mentor mentee in my hall of residence because I got to know that there is no second year in my hall of residence. And first year students are hesitant to interact directly with third year students. That’s why I initiated the hall mentor mentee meeting. So we can take these types of initiatives if we want to.
TSA: I agree with your point that the interaction is in a poor state. What I am trying to say is how would you convince seniors to go into halls of residences like that. Let’s just say there is a shift happening to the Savitri Bai Phule Hall of Residence right. What I believe is it would be very simple for the first and second years to shift from one hall of residence to the other. Instead of somebody like a senior who is in a third year or fourth year or fifth year. These people will still end up having no seniors there in one way or the other. Because I believe as third year students we are kind of attached to our halls. And it is kind of difficult for us to shift from the north campus to the south campus again as you mentioned earlier. So how will you tackle this particular problem? This is going to happen exactly in the next academic session and not something that is far-fetched. So what is your plan on a smooth shifting in the number of students from here to there.
Sagar: For that I believe the hall allotment committee that I have proposed will look after all these factors. It will have representation for the student side and representation from the administration side. So if any student is facing the type of issues where the person wants to change their hall of residence in their third year or the second year. Then I think the student body that I have proposed is accountable enough. And before taking any decision I think there will be a collaborative decision between the administration and the student body. Obviously we can’t satisfy everyone. But there should be a decision that is in the best interests of the students. Because I have already mentioned that there should be a representation from the student side. So obviously before taking any decision, a committee student will talk to the students who want to get their hall shifted. Then obviously there can be a decision. But obviously I cannot comment right now because there is uncertainty.
TSA: So while talking about the proposals you mentioned the fact that you have tried to cover the most alarming problems right now on campus. There is also one issue that I feel is the medical issue. The medical system here is not that robust. Do you have any plans regarding that, because we witnessed the inauguration of another hospital. But I don’t think it’s operating at its full capacity. And apart from that even BC Roy witnesses a lot of accidents where basically the medical facilities were not up to the mark.
Sagar: I agree with your point that medical facilities are not up to the mark. And I don’t want to be diplomatic here.
But currently I have talked to the chief medical officer of BC Roy who is Mr. Prasanta Kumar. And they told me that there are a lot of decisions that they will take care of in the next semester. Like the digitalization of BC Roy technology hospital. So that’s why I did not include these things in my proposal itself. Because there is already a discussion going on about this. And I believe in the upcoming few years there will be a robust medical system. As you had pointed out, there is a new hospital that has been inaugurated. They are not running full capacity due to the lack of human staff. But I believe I have talked to the dean human resources. And I said that this summer only they will recruit new staff. And from August itself the hospital will start at full capacity.
TSA: I think the lack of I mean staff there is because it is like really in a remote place. Outside that to outside the campus right. It is not available to our students. Like it is not feasible for our students to go.
Sagar: This is one of the factors, and apart from that doctors do not want to come here. Because they think there are not a good number of patients that they can cater to. So because obviously doctors need patients and they can cater to. So right now we are talking to the dean human resources about what we can do to recruit more human staff. And I think if I get elected a vice president, then obviously after talking to the revenue stakeholders, we can come to a conclusion on what we can do to make the medical facilities available at the institute more robust.
TSA: Okay another question. Since you were talking about the dean of human resources right. You have talked about having various kinds of counsellors in the counselling centre who cater to various categories and various specific different problems in specific cases. So what is your take on that and how do you plan on initiating the hiring itself. Because I do not see it as very feasible for counsellors to come here. And I have not particularly met one counsellor who only deals with something like LGBTQIA+ students’ issues.
Sagar: So regarding the counsellors’ hiring, it does not come directly under the purview of the Vice President, but obviously the vice president has a say. So after talking to various people in Queer community, I got to know that there are particular counsellors who cater to that community only. And right now hiring of counsellors depends upon the central government. There is a portal in the central government where counsellors can apply, if they want to come to any of the institutes. What we are proposing is that we can have a visiting counsellor from Kolkata itself. Because I believe there are a lot of counsellors in Kolkata who are very famous and students want to talk to them. Because right now we have only 6 counsellors inside the counselling centre. We have 8 counsellors but the 2 counsellors were visiting counsellors only. And they will be leaving this summer. So right now what we are doing is that we will mandate a few counsellors. Who will be visiting from Kolkata on a per-day basis?
TSA: Another question. So what is the number of counsellors and what is the state of the counselling centres from the past 2 years? If you could just give me the statistics of how many counsellors were there last year. How many permanent counsellors, how many visit counsellors, and how many are there in the current state?
Sagar: So last year there were 8 counsellors and right now we have only 6 counsellors. Permanent counsellors. So instead of increasing the number of counsellors, there is a big decrease in the number of counsellors. That’s why we are proposing that we should have a visiting counsellor. One’s who are famous and have well known experience in dealing with a variety of cases.
TSA: Are there no visiting counsellors as of now?
Sagar: Right now we have 2 visiting counsellors but they will be leaving by this summer. So there will be a gap.
TSA: Okay so I believe that since you talked to Mr. Samath Singh already. He had this initiative about gatekeeper training which could help with the mental well-being and improving the mental state of the campus residents. So what is the current status of that and how has it been implemented and how do you plan on taking it from here in this case. I believe it was a good proposal, and what is your take on that?
Sagar: So my take would be that we will increase the frequency of the gatekeeper sessions. Because right now, during the last semester, there was a gatekeeper session. But this semester there are no gatekeeper sessions. So if I get elected then I will increase the frequency. The gatekeeper sessions are, I believe, a very great step taken by the current vice president. As we should raise awareness among the position holders about the particular cases that they should deal with the confidentiality and how sensitive cases they are. And if you know that there is already a gender sensitization course that has been introduced from the next academic year. So I believe the institute is also taking a few decisions that will solve these types of issues.
TSA: So just a question since you said there has only been one gatekeeper training session. So were there any particular reasons as to why there weren’t a number of them instead of that there was just one session. Were there any drawbacks of it, were there any challenges that were faced because of which they were hampered?
Sagar: So the major challenge that I can think of is to call each and every position-holder on the same page. What I am proposing is that we will increase the frequency of the gatekeeper session and we are trying to hold the gatekeeper sessions in every hall of residence. But if we will conduct the gatekeeper session on an institute basis, we have to call the position holders of each and every hall of residence. We have to call the position holders of Gymkhana. There are a lot of activities that happen simultaneously in the IIT. So what we are trying to do is we will conduct the gatekeeper sessions on a hall of residence basis. So that hall president, second senate member and other hall council members can take part in that.
TSA: Moving towards the end. The position of the vice president of the Technology Students’ Gymkhana is indeed very big and you have to balance a lot of stuff. There will be academic load, there will be the vice presidential responsibilities, then looking into your own personal goals and everything. How do you plan on balancing all of it?
Sagar: So if you see my journey, from the very first semester I have had experiences of balancing my academic life, personal life between different organisations. In fact, in the fourth semester only, I started my own start-up, so I have taken on another burden. But I believe I have proper time management skills. Or you could say hard-working skills. So I think if I get elected as vice president then vice president will be my first and foremost priority. And the rest of the roles and responsibilities I will diversify.
TSA: So there have been numerous rumours about how the counselling centre does not have a lot of security and a sense of safe-keeping the information of the students who actually go there. And apparently it shows up on your CDC portal as well. So what is your take on that and if that is the case how would you plan to address it?
Sagar: You can never know whether this information is available to the career development centre. But what I am aware of is that if you see the website of the career counselling centre only then it is clearly mentioned that all the information will be kept confidential with the counselling centre only. But obviously there are few specific cases in which the dean of student affairs or other relevant people should be informed. So I believe if I get elected as vice president then I will keep the proper checks and balances and there should not be a mishandling of information.
TSA: Okay that is mostly it from our side. We will leave you with your parting words.
Sagar: Please visit my SOP which is scheduled on 11th of April. And the last words will be, if we want to grow the community of students at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur then we will have to come together as a whole community. And I want to create a community where everyone should get respected irrespective of their caste, creed and religion. So I believe if I get elected as vice president then this is the main problem on which I will be working.
TSA: Thank you for your time.