Parisā (Political Science)

About Parisā (Political Science) of Aryabhatta College

Parisā – The Political Science Society is a vibrant student’s body engaged in organizing co-curricular and extra-curricular activities meant to bring out the best in students and help foster their personality development.

The society was christened as “Parisā” in the early part of 2022, based on the Pali word “Parisā” meaning – an assembly of people (parisad). It also got its brand-new logo at the same time.

Since its inception, the society has successfully conducted many events to boost the academic strength of its students. It has conducted many such activities with eminent speakers and field experts including :
✓ Public Talks
✓ Open House Sessions
✓ Interactive QnA Sessions with Subject Experts
✓ Seminars and Webinars
✓ Guest Lectures
✓ National/International Conferences
✓ Book Discussions
✓ Film Screening and Discussions
✓ Field visits
✓ Study Tours

Parisā has been a host to noted subject experts such as Prof M.N. Thakur, Prof M.P. Singh, Dr. Shakti Sinha, Prof Ashok Acharya, Prof Peter Desouza, Prof Salil Misra, Dr. Ajay Gudavarthy, Prof Ujjwal Kumar Singh, Prof Anupama Roy, Prof Ashutosh Kumar, Prof S K Chaube, Prof Swarn Singh, Dr. Hugo Slim, Mr. Urmilesh, Dr. Chandan Mitra, Mr. Nilanjal Mukhopadhyay, Ms. Arfa Khanum, Dr. Swagato Sarkar, Prof Surajit Mazumder, Dr. Sheshadri Chari, Prof Vinay Srivastava.

PARISĀ Elections

❖ Upholding the democratic spirit, the society conducts elections to elect representatives from among the students to the Core Committee of the society.
❖ An independent Election Commission consisting of faculty and student members, carries out the election procedure.
❖ The election procedure starts with the formal announcement of election schedule by the Election Commission of Parisā.
❖ The members then start campaigning for themselves.
❖ On the day of voting, all the students of Parisā gather in a general body meeting. Each candidate then addresses the gathering and appeals for vote.
❖ All the members then cast their vote through a secret ballot. The voting is done on the principle of One Person One Vote.
❖ This exercise helps the students in understanding the dynamics and working of elections in a democratic system.
❖ The elected members look after all the works and functioning of the Parisā.

EVENTS

Webinars:

❖ The Department of Political Science organized its first webinar of this academic year. On September 10, 2021, Dr Dhananjay Tripathi, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations of South Asian University, was invited for a webinar on the topic ‘Afghanistan Crisis: India’s Security Concerns’. Dr Tripathi expressed the multidimensional concerns of India in Afghanistan. He also mentioned many relevant authors and their books which he himself took reference from and quoted it as a must read for those interested in Afghanistan.

The session was very informative and brainstorming. The potpourri of questions posed to the Speaker was the evidence of an avid audience. Around 60 people participated in the session including students and faculty across various departments. The zealous participation by everyone resulted in a fruit full discussion and an enthrallingly successful webinar.

❖ Next in the line, the department organized a webinar on ‘Different Imaginations of Indian Constitution’ on January 19, 2022 with Prof Ujjwal Kumar Singh of Department of Political Science, Delhi University. This webinar was done as an activity under ‘Azaadi ka Amrut Mahotsav’ – celebrations on 75th year of Indian Independence. The session proved to be a wide engaging discussion. The speaker talked about Indian Constitutionalism and its different aspects.

❖ Remembering Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary, the Department of Political Science in collaboration with Gandhi Study Circle of the Aryabhatta College organized a webinar on January 30, 2022. The topic of the webinar was ‘Enduring Gandhi: The Deathlessness of an Idea’. We had Prof Lajwanti Chatani, Political Theorist, MS University, Vadodara, as our speaker and Dr Mahindra Nath Thakur from Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, as the Chair for the session.

❖ With the goal of familiarizing students with the dilemmas and life of an IAS officer, the department invited an ex-bureaucrat, Mr. Anil Swarup on February 11, 2022, to speak about ‘The Good, Bad and the Ugly in the Indian Administrative Services: Reminiscence of an IAS Officer’. Mr. Swarup, a Former Secretary to the Government of India, and the author of two books titled ‘Not Just a Civil Servant’ & ‘Ethical Dilemmas of a Civil Servant’ respectively, is also the Founder Chairman of Nexus of Good Foundation. In the session, Mr. Swarup shared his various experiences and anecdotes from his 38 years of journey as a civil servant. Mr. Swarup expressed that for him, the ‘good’ part of the IAS was predominant which also made him enjoy every moment of his existence as a civil servant. Following his talk, Mr. Swarup was flooded with questions and doubts from the audience. The audience, which got highly motivated, left no stone unturned to satisfy themselves with regards to various number of doubts they had in with them ranging from the difficulties an IAS may face, to ways of keeping oneself motivated.

❖ In its another endeavor under the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, the Political Science Department organized a webinar on a cheerful afternoon of February 18, 2022 on the topic – ‘India’s Constitutional Democracy: Achievements and Concerns’. We had Prof Ashutosh Kumar from Punjab University as the speaker for this session. Mr. Ashutosh mentioned breathtaking views about the democracy which is the eminent part of the constitution. He highlighted some achievements & failures of the Indian Democracy. In the end of the session, He also threw light on “the preamble of the constitution”

Documentary Screening:

Under the Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav, the Political Science Society of the college organized a Documentary Screening on – ‘Making & Working of the Indian Constitution’ on March 8, 2022. The documentary was made by Dr Devendra Singh, Department of English, Aryabhatta College. The documentary gave the students a deep insight on the constitution making process of Indian Constitution.

PARISOTSAVA’22- Academic Cultural Fest

In the pleasant month of April 2022, PARISĀ – The Political Science Society organized its two-day Academic-Cultural Fest- PARISOTSAVA’22 on 21st and 22nd of the month. A potpourri of events and competitions were held under Parisosatsava’22. These ranged from Bilingual Debate, Quiz, Caricature making and Paper Presentation to sports such as Table Tennis, Tug of War along with a Talent Hunt. The two-day fest opened with an address by Dr Mahindra Nath Thakur and closed with a musical evening. The fest was declared open by the Teacher in- Charge of the Department of Political Science, Mr. Anand Saurabh.

The fest saw  a whooping participation from colleges across Delhi University. Over 1,000 students attended our fest.

1. Rendezvous: The two-day fest opened with a session by eminent Political Science professor, Dr Mahindra Nath Thakur from Centre for Political Studies, JNU. This session was titled ‘Rendezvous’. Dr Thakur interacted with the students and faculty members on the topic- Do We Need a New Political Science? His lecture was accompanied by aPowerPoint presentation. This session grabbed everyone’s full attention and it gave the much-needed head start for the rest of the fest.
2. Ranneeti: The first competition under the banner of PARISOTSAVA’22 was ‘Ranneeti: A Bilingual Conventional Debate Competition’. The motion of the debate was – This House Believes that Social Media Creates More Confused People Than Informed People. A total of 20 teams participated in the event from various colleges and universities across Delhi University. The speakers brilliantly delivered their arguments in favour and against the motion. The event concluded successfully after a speech from the adjudicator and giving away certificates to the winners.
3. Concurous: The next event on Day 1, was ‘Concurous: The Political Quiz’. The enthusiastic quizzers were challenged in the filed of Political Science for 2 stages. Top 5 teams from the Preliminary Round made their way straight to the Finals. In the finals, the participants were quizzed on Political Theories, Prominent Political Figures, The Indian Constitution, Public Policy and International Relations. A dozen teams participated enthusiastically in the quiz.
4. Vimarsh: In its first effort of such kind, Parisā organized ‘Vimarsh: A Paper Presentation Competition’. The theme for the paper presentation was – The Changing Contours of India’s Foreign Policy. The teams had the choice to choose any subtopic under the main theme. All the teams had to submit a full-fledged paper and then present their paper in front of the panel. Each team was allotted a duration of 10 minutes for presenting their ideas. Thereafter the floor was opened for questions from other teams, judges and the audience. The event turned to be a mind-boggling exchange of ideas.
5. Satire-Eh-Mein: In ‘Satire-Eh-Mien- The Caricature Making Competition’, participants showed their artistic and subtle humor skills on the topic of ‘Electoral Politics’. The participants deftly brought the satirical incidents of elections to life via their flawless caricatures.
6. Pratibha: In another attempt to bring out the best in the students, ‘Pratibha- A Talent Hunt Show’ was organized under Parisotsava’22. Students from across the colleges of Delhi were given a stage to showcase their talent. The participants of the show mesmerized the audience through their poems, songs, dance and standup comedy. The judge of the show, closely evaluated all the performances and then announced the results.
7. Dum Laga Kar Haisha: In the sports arena of Parisostsva’22, the first competition was ‘Dum Laga Kar Haisha- The Tug of War’. It was organized in the college ground. Under this event 8 teams from different colleges participated with zeal and enthusiasm. Each team was composed of 9 members consisting 4 girls and 5 boys respectively. The competition started with the knock out matches followed by the semifinals and the final match respectively.
8. Table Tennis: Moving further in the sports section, Parisā organized a ‘Table Tennis Tournament’ for both boys and girls. 8 boys and 8 girls participated in the competition. After the knock out matches, top 4 scorers from each category of boys and girls, reached the semi-finals. Then the final match was played between the best of both the categories. The certificates for winners and runners up were given in both the categories.
9. ZAYB: PARISOTSAVA’22- The enchanting two-day fest came to a close with a mesmerizing section called ‘ZAYB- The Musical Evening’. Parisā invited IGNIA- THE BAND to adorn this occasion with their melodious renditions of some of the popular songs. The event was the grandest avenue of Parisā. It was attended by over 1000 students from across the colleges of Delhi. The mood of the huge audience was lifted up by the live musical performance. It made the day memorable for everyone.

• The department organised a webinar on 30th January 2021 on ‘Satyagraha Savitri and a new art of Martyrdom: Mahatma Gandhi, Aurobindo and cultivating a new civilization of Life, Death and Ahimsa’. Professor Ananta Kumar Giri, eminent Gandhian Scholar and Sociologist, Professor at Madras Institute of Developmental Studies, Chennai was the resource person and the session was chaired by Prof M.P. Singh, National Fellow, IIAS Shimla.

• The Department organized a webinar on 16th March 2021 on ‘Civil Disobedience: The Indian Tradition with special reference to Shri Dharampal’s work’. Prof Satish K Jain former Professor of Economics at JNU was the resource person and the session was chaired by Professor Gita Dharampal, eminent Gandhian Scholar and Dean of Research at Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon.
• The Department organized a webinar on 16th March 2021 on ‘Civil Disobedience: The Indian Tradition with special reference to Shri Dharampal’s work’. Prof Satish K Jain former Professor of Economics at JNU was the resource person and the session was chaired by Professor Gita Dharampal, eminent Gandhian Scholar and Dean of Research at Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon.
• A webinar was conducted under the aegis of Department of Political Science, Aryabhatta College on the topic- ‘Processual Public Policy in India: Some Reflections’ on 11th FEBRUARY 2021 by the esteemed speaker Dr. Tanvir Aeijaz who believes that one of the serious causes of backwardness of least-developed countries has been the lack of proper implementation of policies.