Our honoured Chief Guest Mr. M.J.Akbar, Your Grace the Rt Reverend Karam Masih, Bishop of Delhi and Chairman of the Supreme Council and Governing Body, Guests, Senior and Junior Members of the College, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Once again it is time to bid adieu to the graduating class, who after a concerted period of instruction and exposure are preparing to go forth into the world to negotiate their own place in it. This is a significant and sensitive moment of transition particularly as they will be entering a world that is dominated by phoney slogans and usurped by the superficial and the momentary. For such an occasion we are delighted to have in our midst one who has always sought to raise a sane voice against the winds of insanity. Mr. M.J.Akbar, who has served in Parliament, a writer of great renown and a doyen in the world of journalism is here with us today to deliver the Dismissal Service address. Mr Akbar started his career as a journalist in 1971 and after Parliament. In 1991 he was appointed as an advisor in the Ministry of Human Resources and helped policy planning in key areas of education including the National Literacy Mission and the protection of heritage. In 1993 he returned to journalism to create the first Indian ‘daily’ with an international focus and edition. Thus The Asian Age came into being with editions from London and six major cities in India. Mr Akbar is also an author of books that have examined the challenges facing our nation. Among his many works are India: The Siege Within: Challenges to a Nation’s Unity,  Riot After Riot, Nehru: The Making of India, Kashmir: Behind the Veil;  The Shade of Swords: Jihad and conflict between Islam and Christianity. Mr Akbar, we are indeed honoured to have you here with us this morning. We are also happy to have with us the Rt. Revd. Karam Masih, to preside over this function whose encouragement and blessings are a special source of strength for us.

And now, with your permission, Sir, I present a brief report of the activities of College during the academic year 2003-2004.

 FACULTY  

            The difference between teaching a subject and educating an individual is the difference between a teaching shop and an educational institution. This difference is fashioned by a faculty that constantly seeks to evolve from being academics to becoming educators. College is privileged to have academics of the highest order who are also educators in the most sensitive understanding of the word.  During the academic year under report a large number of my colleagues participated in orientation and refresher courses. Ms Sonia Davar completed her Ph.D while Ms Tasneem Suhrawardys Ph.D dissertation is currently undergoing evaluation. Dr S.V.Eswaran published as many as eight research papers in journals of international repute and successfully guided one Ph.D scholar apart from delivering a number of academic talks, carrying out research projects from grants sanctioned by the DRDO, the UGC and the DST, and serving as an expert on a number of Government of India committees. Dr Parvesh Sharma published three research papers in journals of international standing and gave a presentation at an international conference on Nanoscience and Technology in Calcutta last December. In a national seminar at Pune organised by Oxfam Dr Vijay Tankha presented a paper on violence. While Dr Geetha Venkataraman and Dr Amber Habib attended the Joint India American Mathematical Society Conference in Bangalore last December, Dr Habib was a Resident Faculty at the Mathematical Training and Talent Search Programme, Mysore, for four weeks in June 2003. Dr Upinder Singh’s book, “The Discovery of Ancient India: the archaeological beginnings” is in the press while Dr Rohit Wanchoo presented a paper on “The Peculiarities of Hinduism and Hinduttva” at the conference of Indic Religions held in New Delhi last December. Heartiest congratulations to these Senior Members on their accomplishments and achievements.   

            In the passing away of Dr. D.P.Goel on October 10, 2003, a little over a month after his retirement, we lost a very valuable and committed colleague who served College with great dedication for thirty four years. Revd Valson Thampu left College on voluntary retirement in November 2003 after a distinguished career of thirty years. In the same month Dr Tara Chand retired from service after having served College for thirty eight years. Dr Tara Chand’s exemplary commitment to College reflected through his proficiency as a teacher and counsellor, his highly successful tenure as Dean, marked by his ability to negotiate complex issues with ease, equity and humour, has created new paradigms of functioning for us. We place on record our undying gratitude to these colleagues.

            Our programme of ‘Education Beyond Curriculum’ acquired new dimensions during this year. The Centre for Mathematical Sciences continued to scale new heights. Among its accomplishments this year was the two-week long visit by Professor Sir Michael Atiyah, widely regarded as being among the greatest living mathematicians today who, apart, from the interaction with the Junior Members, also gave a public lecture on “Science and Society”; the public lecture by Prof M.S. Raghunathan on “The Indian Mathematical Scene in the Twentieth Century”  that was attended by  almost all the leading mathematicians of the country; and the setting up of a telephonic and email ‘helpline’ for class twelve students as they approached their Board examinations. The ‘helpline’ was a resounding success as Junior and Senior Members responded to appeals for help from a large number of students from as far as Guwahati and Dubai. The American Studies Programme celebrated the completion of a successful year with the distribution of certificates of participation and merit to twenty-two Junior Members by Mr Robert O’Blake, Charges de Affair at the American Embassy. The two new thrusts this year – the School for Media Studies and the School for Legal Studies went off to a flying start. With the help of feedback from Junior Members and faculty we are in the process of re-evaluating and honing these programmes so as to make them even more exciting and relevant.  

 SCHOLARS

We continue to strive to maintain a cosmopolitan composition among the Junior Members so that College is, as someone said, ‘an India in the miniature’. We rejoice in the consequent richness and vitality of our diversity as we encourage Junior Members to overcome the clannish myopia that sometimes afflicts some parts of our nation. Junior Members gave a good account of themselves in the 2003 university examinations obtaining top positions in almost all subjects according to the university results available to us. In Physics Honours the Ist year class secured the top five positions. The IInd year class took the first three positions including six of the top ten positions while the outgoing class bagged nine of the top thirteen positions with Aditya Aggarwal winning the University medal for the topper. The Chemistry Honours results were equally encouraging. The Ist year Junior Members secured ten of the top twelve positions, while the IInd years bagged ten of the top fourteen positions including the first three places. Swati Aggarwal of the outgoing class won the university topper medal with eight of the top fifteen positions coming to Stephanians. In History Honours too the results of the outgoing class were outstanding. Of the eighteen first divisions in the entire university, seven were secured by Stephanians including the top position being bagged by Shruti Singh. In the B.A (Pass) III year examination Christina Toppo won the Delhi University award for securing the highest marks in History and Political Science combined. In Economics Honours seventeen of the outgoing Junior Members secured the first division with Bhaavit Agarwal getting the top position. In BA Honours in Mathematics all the outgoing Junior Members except one passed in the first division with some of the top positions being bagged by us. In B.Sc Honours in Mathematics all except two passed in the first division and again some of the top positions were bagged by us.  In English Honours the second and the third positions in the university were secured by us while in Sanskrit Honours we secured the first position in the Ist and IInd years and the second position in the III year.  At the M.A. Final level, Junior Members secured the top positions in Physics, Mathematics, English and History.    

The scholastic acumen of the Junior Members went beyond university examinations. Two Junior Members from the Chemistry Department and three from the Physics were awarded the highly prestigious Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana Scholarships. Five Junior Members of the Chemistry Department were selected for carrying out various projects at the Indian Academy of Sciences Bangalore and three were awarded fellowships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. A paper on superluminal transmission of signals written by Manas Kulkari and N.Seshadri (II year Physics) was accepted for publication in an international journal. For undergraduate students just out of I year, this was a highly commendable achievement. Moyukh Chatterjee and Jessica Paul (III year English Honours) were among the ten winners of a national essay contest organised by The Hindu newspaper. Salil Oberoi continued to maintain College tradition of winning the Rhodes Scholarship.

SPORTS AND GAMES

            Our insistence that sports and games must be an integral and integrated part of College life flies in the face of the increasing win-at-all-costs professionalism where sportspersons are treated like gladiators dedicated to their particular sporting discipline to the exclusion of everything else. This is coupled to a new phenomenon of luring leading sportspersons from other colleges through the process of migration in order to create a formidable team. As we refuse to adopt such a strategy we continue to fight a lone and often losing battle. Despite this our sportspersons have given a creditable performance. Leading the group is Birendeep Sodhi who won two gold medals at the National Shooting Championship and then went on represent India at the World Championship in Cyprus and later at the World Cup in Lonato, Italy, where he won two medals. He also won three medals in the Asian circuit including one silver medal in the Afro Asian Games. At present he holds the seventh position in world ranking. His team mates Navpreet Singh and Sonal Ramendra represented Delhi University at the All India Inter University Shooting Championship where Sonal made the highest score and won the individual Gold. The College Women’s Basket Ball team comprising Chandni Chhajer, Rashi Mayor, Radhika Kocchar, Sumna Khullar, Rabiya Sood, Shakun Singh and Chandni Kanwar swept away all the available titles starting with the College Invitational Basket Ball tournament, the YMCA tournament, the keen fought Royal Club Basketball tournament, the Delhi State Open Basketball Championship, and finally, the Delhi University Inter College Basket Ball Tournament where we won the championship for the tenth year in succession. While Chandni Chajjer captioned the Delhi University Basket Ball team, Shakun Singh and Rashi Mayor participated in the Under 21 Invitational held in Punjab. Under the Captaincy of Abimanyu Arya and with Varun Kataruka, Yashwardhan Singh and Digvijay Ahlawat, the College Squash Racquets team won the Delhi University inter-college championship for the sixth year in succession. The Delhi University Squash Racquets team comprising Varun Kataruka and Yashwardhan Singh won the All India Inter University Squash Championship. As members of the Delhi State team they also won the All India Inter State National at Kolkata. Our Women’s Lawn Tennis Team comprising Vishika Chetri and Satvika Saboo won the Delhi University Inter College Championship. They also represented the Delhi University, with Vishika as the Captain, at the All India Inter University tournament held at Bangalore. Parantap Chaturvedi and Wrik Ganguli represented the Delhi University and won the All India Inter University Championship. Anoop Jairaj played for Delhi University at the All India Inter University Chess Championship while Gagan Deep Singh was selected to represent the University at the inter university championships. Our Soccer  players Gyanendra Karki and Rajneet Lathar were selected to play for the Delhi University at the inter university tournaments while Rajneet also played for Haryana in the Junior Nationals. Cricketers Salil Oberoi, Amit Rajan and Mansur Ali played in the Ranji Trophy matches while Puneet Sadana and Digvijay Singh represented Delhi University at the All India Inter University Basketball Championship. In aquatics Rashmi was declared the Best Swimmer in the Women’s category at the Haryana Open Championships with four gold and one silver medal. At the Haryana State Games Rashmi bagged six medals. Congratulations to all these sportspersons for their efforts and achievements.

 CLUBS AND SOCIETIES

            Ladies and Gentlemen, our clubs and societies play a vital role in providing Junior Members with the essentials of education in terms of communication, innovation, value creation and self-discovery. The range of activities promoted by our clubs and societies spreads from that of the smallest but the most active Bazm-e-Adab and the equally small but energetic Sanskrit Hindi Sahitya Sabha to the dynamic Gandhi Study Circle, the sensitive Social Service League, the vibrant Debating Society, the volatile Shakespeare Society, the brain teasing Quiz Club, the lively Music Society, the sedate Cine Club, the innovative BA Pass Society, the earnest Astronomy Society and a host of subject societies, not to forget the Informal Discussion Group and the Planning Forum. If one were to choose one expression for this wide range of activity that expression would be the Jewish concept called tikkun olam. “Olam” means the world, and “tikkun” is the act of healing through creation and transformation. Tikkun olam means to heal, to repair, and to restore through the act of creation; it means to strive toward perfecting a world that is imperfect. Whether it be theatre or debate or computers or any of the many other activities carried out by our many clubs and societies, the attempt is always to improve and transform oneself as well as the world in which one lives, and as a by-product activate a therapeutic mechanism for the maladies of day-to-day living.  

 I am happy to report that our Clubs and Societies have had a packed calendar with a number of ‘firsts’.  As a result of the strenuous efforts made by the Social Service League the College Library is now equipped with a special computer terminal, software and hardware to enable the visually challenge to have access to books through the mechanism of having the text read out to them by the machine. This project is the first of its kind in any educational institution like ours and has added a very valuable dimension to the College Library in terms of our sensitivity towards those less fortunate than we are.  The College Hiking Club also recorded a “first” by getting an artificial rock climbing wall constructed outside the College Gymnasium. This wall has been donated by Mr Rohan Datta an ex President of the College Hiking Club in the memory of his classmate Easwaran Bharatan. Yet another first was initiative when the Bazm-e-Abad commissioned Afeefa Khalid of the BA III to hold special classes to teach Urdu to those interested in this rich language. Apart from a number of Junior Members from different courses who joined up, this offer was taken up one Senior Member and two foreign students as well.  The Debating Society also registered a ‘first’ this year by collaborating with the India Habitat Centre in organising the “Young Visionary Award”. Of the six finalists two were from College and one of them, Garima Dutt, secured the third position. The Debating Society had a successful run this year. Apart from the Mukarji Memorial Debate where the trophy eluded them, the debaters won awards in as many as twenty debates in Delhi and around the country. When it comes to winning prizes and awards, the Sanskrit Hindi Sahitya Sabha is second to none. During this academic year the Sabha won as many as twenty-three prizes at various inter-college competitions. Both the English and the Hindi sections of the Shakespeare Society had a commendable year. Apart from a very competent mind-term production (Arthur Miller’s the Crucible)  as well as the annual production (Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night), the English section of the Shakespeare Society participated in the theatre festival held at the India Habitat Centre where they staged three excellent plays that met with all-round appreciation. The fact that the Hindi section of the Shakespeare Society rechristened itself as the Shakespeare Sabha gives an indication of a new found confidence which was very much in evidence in their annual production which was widely appreciated. A sense of self confidence was also seen in the BA Pass Society in bringing out their own journal “Pensamiento” and organising an excursion to Mussoorie. The History Society, with its “walks” around old Delhi and an excellent journal ‘Tareekh’, the Economics Society with their ‘Economics Journal’ as well as their  interaction with eminent personalities like the European Union Trade Commissioner Mr Stephano Gatto, media personality Mr Sayeed Naqvi, the Acting Ambassador of the United States to India, the founder of Sulabh international Mr Bindeshwar Pathak, the Chairman of NASSCOM, Mr Kiran Karnik, the Gandhi Study Circle with their talks, publications and meetings, the exciting after-dinner talks of the Informal Discussion Group, the programmes of the Planning Forum, the excursions of the Hiking Club and a host of other activities maintained the high standards that our clubs and societies operate under. In the midst of all this the Students Union Society continued to do commendable work under the guidance of its President, Thomas Varghese.

 CONCLUSION

   As I conclude this report please allow me to say that a report of this kind is meaningful only in the context of a specific understanding of education. Education today is going through disturbing times. The trends and policies of the day compel us re-vision the concept of authentic education. The forces of uniformity and standardisation have questioned the traditional objectives of education that valued heterogeneity, diversification and individuality. At another level the subordination of learning to power, whether it be the power of the State or the power of the market-forces, is creating a situation where a university education, instead of being a life altering experience, is becoming a commodity, and a transit camp to the work place. The primacy that vocational skills are acquiring over classical education is reflective of a culture where subjects are measured by their usefulness as instruments of social control even though it is well accepted that social systems are created, sustained or challenged only by litterateurs, philosophers, artists and scientists. There is a systematic undermining of education as an agent of enhancing the humanising power of the intellect. There is, therefore, a visible loss of interest in the practical moral dimensions of day-to-day living. The populist rhetoric, coercion, corruption that fills up a large part of our public life is almost a natural outcome of such a situation. The archetypal post-modern man is fast becoming one who cheats and lies but preserves a respectable façade. He is aware that he is dishonest but this does not bother him as long as he believes that others think he is honest and he derives his self-respect from this illusory perception. As we deal with these and related issues thrown up by new interventions in education, our work as educators is cut out for us.

As we struggle to measure up to the tasks confronting us, we seek your guidance and blessings, Sir, for the success of our efforts.

Thank you very much, once again, for being with us on this important occasion in our annual calendar                                               

 AD DEI GLORIAM