College takes lead to respond to Beggars' Colony issue

In a story of catastrophic negligence and apathy that sent ripples across the city, 12 people died in a matter of 14 hours at the Beggars’ Rehabilition Centre on Magadi road on Monday. The causalities had fallen severely ill after they were served lunch on Independence Day. What compounded their misery was that they were left unattended, even as their suffering intensified.

Inmates at the beggar's colony

Recognising the immediacy and inhumanity of the incident, Fr Ambrose Pinto, the Principal of St Josephs Arts and Science College, convened a meeting to facilitate action on the issue. Representatives from the NGOs of Sangrama, SICHREM , Global Concern India, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Indian Social Institution and Centre for Social Concern from St Josephs College were present at the meeting. A few volunteers of NSS and students from MSW and Mass Comm were also in attendance.

The condition of the inmates

has been deplorable

A plan was chalked out to approach the situation. A commission consisting of NGO members and students was sent out to investigate the story. The living conditions prevalent in the Beggars’ colony, the process of admission and removal of the inmates, the health care and sanitation facilities that the inmates have to grapple with are just a few of the issues the commission will be confronting.

Fr Pinto said, “We need to approach the whole case as agnostics. We do not believe anything that we have heard about the incidents in Beggars’ Colony, but we would like to find out ourselves what actually has been happening there.”

The purpose of the meeting was to elicit a response and mobilise action from members of civil society against the atrocities that unfolded over the course of the last two days.

Reflecting on the need to gather public support on the issue, Mr Kiran, from the MSW Department said, “Every human being has a basic fundamental dignity to life. Violation of that right must be confronted. We cannot allow the perpetrators to live in a camouflage of denial.”

A candle-light vigil was held on Friday at Town Hall in protest of the incident.

- Parinitha Shinde, Maria Laveena, I M S Com

- Pics by James Prashanth Lobo, I M S Com

156 units of blood collected at SJC

156 units of blood were donated to the blood bank of the K C General Hospital, Malleshwaram, here on Wednesday. The blood was collected at the blood donation camp organised jointly by the NCC, NSS and CSC of the College. Out of the 161 students who volunteered for donation, five were rejected due to their under weight.

The Camp was inaugurated at 9 a.m. by the Registrar of the College Mr Raymond. The blood donation began an hour later at 10 a.m. Dr Renuka and Dr Kiran of the K C General Hospital were present at the venue along with three lab technicians.

“The blood collected here will be kept in our blood bank. It will be available for the poor patients who are in need,” said Dr Kiran. He also added, “Platelets are in great demand these days along with the negative blood groups. But platelets can only be extracted if the donor is above 65 kgs, who is capable of donating 500 ml of blood.”

All the donors were students from the UG and PG sections of the College.

“This is the first time I have donated blood. I’m feeling a little tired and weak, but I’m really happy that I have donated,” said Pema, from I CEB.

“NCC and NSS has been organising the blood donation camps individually, but this is the first time we are doing it together,” Said Himanshu Sharma, the Cadet Junior Under Officer of the NCC.

The number of units collected last year by the NCC was 90, but the joint venture this year has added 66 more to the tally.

- Talen Claude, I M S Com

Build new India, students told

“Let us contribute to the building of a new India,” said Fr Ambrose Pinto, in his message to the students on the occasion of the 64^th Independence Day. He was speaking after unfurling the national flag here on Sunday, August 15.

He informed the students about the current situation in India and touched upon issues such as discrimination, corruption, developmental problems etc. He called upon the students to contribute to the development of India, and emphasised that “True freedom is not possible unless we contribute and participate.”

Vice Principal, Fr Clarence D’Souza reminded the students of the freedom struggle and related the struggle to the present day scenario of economic inequality. “Freedom has been achieved, we can boast about our culture and diversity; but freedom has to be filtered to a greater section of society,” he said.

Fr D’Souza added that, from 1947, freedom movements painted the colours of free India and today we carry those colours with pride and national fortitude.

The spirit of Independence Day was brought alive, when the tri-coloured flag was hoisted by Fr Ambrose Pinto, and the national anthem was sung. The National Cadets Corps (NCC) and students of various associations greeted the Principal and the Vice Principal.

- Steffi, James, Anna, Supriya, Sruti, I M S Com

Students test oratory skills on Campus

Chemical Society of St Joseph’s College organised a lecture competition on Friday. The aim of the event was to test the oratory skills and subject knowledge of students.

The judges were Dr Mohan Das and Dr Nayeem Ulla Khan. Ten students participated in the competition and spoke about their topic for 10 minutes.

Some of the topics were ‘Evolution of antibiotic’, ‘The ultimate question of life’, ‘Dream’, etc.

Supreeth, a II Msc Chemistry student, said, “In the competition the students had interaction, which gave them confidence and initial step of presenting well in their communication.”

Peter of II Msc Chemistry won the I place: Vidya of I Msc Microbiology won II and Sneha of I Msc Chemistry won the III place.

- Vigneshwaran S, I M S Com

‘Help children develop leadership qualities’

Samantha Wilson, an executive learner and coordinator at Child Leader Project (CLP) from California has called upon students to inspire leadership among children.

She was addressing the students of St Joseph’s College here on Thursday. The seminar was organised by the Centre for Social Concern.

The lecture highlighted on indoctrinating the excellence of leadership in children right from childhood.

“The need of the hour is to create leadership awareness among children globally,” said Samantha Wilson.

“We don’t want politicians, as politicians merely talk and do not act, but rather we need young active change agents in the society,” she added.

Samantha Wilson also emphasised the dire need of young entrepreneurs who would be change makers in society.

- Shoaib, I M S Com

‘Radiation Stories’ screened in campus

Telling an untold story of radiation on people of Kanyakumari, ‘Radiation Stories’ a documentary made by award winning director and media activist Amudhan R P was screened here on Wednesday.

An interesting discussion too followed the screening.

The documentary concentrates on the people of Manavalakurichi district in Kanyakumari, who are suffering from various problems such as cancer, mental retardation etc due to high levels of natural radiation which has been further aggravated by sand mining by the Indian Rare Earth Limited (IREL).

Mr Amudhan who spoke about the issue and the way he filmed and edited the movie, said that he wanted to look at the “other side” of every issue and hence worked on this documentary to bring to the forefront the suffering of a whole community.

- JAMES P LOBO I M S Com

Zubaid Fathima wins mehndi competition

Zubaid Fathima of I CBBT won the mehndi competition here on Tuesday.

The competition was organised by the Hindi Parishad.

Mrs Jyothi, lecturer from the Microbiology Department who judged the event said, “Fathima’s designs were elegant and contained complex and neat curves and their finishing was perfect.”

She added, “The designs were complex but everyone managed to finish it in the given time.”

Ayesha Siddqua and Naizath bagged the II and III positions respectively.

On a historical note, mehndi is a ceremonial art form that was brought to India by the Mughals in the 12th century. Identified by its intricate patterns and designs, mehndi is symbolic of Indian culture. Accordingly, it is being given its due place on the campus as well.

- Supriya, I M S Com