Dear Reader
Two years of the pandemic led to adaptation on all fronts, including everything being shifted online. We, at BSP, had to do the same - relying on surveys and online interviews to carry out our journalism. With the return of offline college, we aimed to do something similar in this Inquirer - bring back offline journalism.
Our cover story this time around was our most ambitious yet. We aimed to do a deep dive into the infrastructure of IIT Delhi, from issues to funding, old infrastructure to new - we wanted to cover every aspect of it. The infrastructure of any institution forms its backbone, especially when it comes to a residential, academic institution like IIT Delhi. We aimed to report on the good, the bad and everything in between. This materialised into painstaking offline inspection of all the infrastructural facilities on campus, data collection through surveys and multiple interviews. We’ve compiled our findings under 5 main subheadings: the Hostels, SAC and the sports facilities, Main Building and Blocks, LHC and the Hospital and Healthcare.
Another very important aspect that is usually overlooked is accessibility in infrastructure. IIT Delhi, as a public institution, should ideally have infrastructure catering to everyone’s needs; however, that is not always the case. The needs of the communities forming a minority of the student population are often not seen to, and to highlight the importance of the same, we bring to you “Searching for a Restroom” - an Op-ed by Vaivab Das, PhD scholar at HUSS, IIT Delhi and SAC representative for Indradhanu. In this op-ed, they highlight how social stratification manifests itself in infrastructural facilities as well, and highlight the need for the recent Gender Neutral Restrooms (GNRs) drive that was successfully carried out at IIT Delhi.
Lastly, with things getting back to the new normal, this year we also welcomed the first batch in the last two years to have their first year completely offline (so far, at least). Our third article is a regular for the Inquirer, our annual Freshers’ Survey. We have tried to capture the essence of this batch, from their academic habits to their beliefs, backgrounds and aspirations, and see any changes in the previous trends post-pandemic.
This Inquirer wasn’t free of its struggles and roadblocks. Our inexperience with such detailed offline journalism, administrative issues, and just pure bad luck in some cases led to a significant delay in our release. However, the magazine is representative of the efforts put into it, and we hope that it leaves you with some valuable insights too.
Warmly
Afreen, Sana and Sara
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