Complete:
eCertification Portal- The new eCertification portal was already up and running by May 2019. Further, the features of flagging and notification were successfully added to the portal.[Existing]
Policy change - There were also many new policy reforms and changes brought by SAC in this year like lifting the time restrictions for allowing students in hostel common areas of the opposite gender, allowing PORs to be retained in cases of CGPA falling below 7 during the tenure. The council also agreed to develop Nalanda Ground into a sports field to tackle the problem of shortage of playing spaces, and to add a long table and charging ports in the Ex-Hall.[Majorly New]
Coursera for Campus Programme- Coursera was contacted by SAC to extend their campus programme to IIT Delhi students in light of the lockdown which was duly done within time. [New]
Mandating the submission of reports of the action taken for all boards as well house secretaries[New]
Instituting a Student Assembly having representations from all boards and various academic disciplines[New]
Hygiene check of hostel messes followed by professional hygiene training for hostel mess staff[New]
Structural changes in the SAC- The whole structure of SAC was revamped, replacing the existing 2 SAC reps/hostel system to 1 secretary to SAC from each hostel to increase accountability and make the system more robust.[New]
New Food Outlets- A new food outlet ‘Celebration Express’ had started it’s sale from the Southee’s kitchen in front of Aravalli hostel and was expected to start it’s sale in Himadri hostel (from a food truck) from March end but the campus unfortunately closed on March 12th due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Similarly, Swiggy India had been contacted and it was opening a Kiosk in the LHC Cafeteria on 14th March,2020 but that did not happen due to the pandemic.[New]
Donation of Excess Food from Messes (started in 3 hostels and would now be expanded further)- Zomato Feeding India has started running its operations in three hostels (Karakoram, Shivalik and Satpura) wherein they take the leftover food from these hostels’ messes and distribute it to ‘hunger spots’. This project would soon be extended to other hostels as well.[New]
Central platform for work plan: Initially it was thought to have a workplan for each day for the upcoming to be added by reps for each initiative at a common platform. As the week would pass, each block would be colour coded green or red depending upon whether the task was completed or not with a brief account if needed. However, while implementing it, it was not found to be feasible as it was realised that most of the delays were from the administrative end. Instead of a weekly plan, the overall plan and status of the projects was updated periodically. Also, to hasten processes and increase accountability, the whole structure of the SAC was decided to be revamped replacing the existing 2 rep per hostel system to a more coherent and robust 1 secretary having greater accountability from each hostel. All the SAC mandated all boards and House secretaries to release Annual reports of the work done in each domain.[New]
Air purifiers in Common Areas of Hostels and Institute to create low pollution areas- A project to install air purifiers in the common areas of the hostels was also undertaken and successfully executed. An IIT Delhi startup, Nanoclean, was contacted and negotiated with. The price was fixed and the information was conveyed to the caretakers of each hostel. Several hostels have installed the air purifying filters in the ACs present in messes and common rooms. [Existing]
Distribution of anti-pollution masks and nasal filters to students during peak-pollution period[New]
New SAC website.
Partially done:
Hygiene checks of Food outlets: The agenda was taken to the CELC Meeting where along with the proposals for professional checks,GSec BHM also proposed a plan for review of the hygiene to be done by the CELC members. This was approved and will follow from next year onwards since CEMC was already in the process of replacing/extending the older outlets.[New]
RFID Messing system and pay per meal system: The RFID Messing system which was expected to be completed by May 2019 faced a major setback when the vendor put forward unreasonable terms and conditions which were not approved by the council. As a result, a new tender was floated after discussion with institute experts of each domain. The interested companies were then called in for a presentation. Parallely, all the hostels were visited and locations for installing the devices were chalked out with the caretakers/mess supervisors. One vendor was then allotted the tender. The system requirements were approved by the council. Unfortunately, lockdown happened then and the office of the company remained closed. Hence, the project got delayed due to the COVID pandemic. However, the project has been resumed now and almost all the administrative work has been completed. Just the final purchase order after the approval of Associate Dean Hostel Management is left. The project is in the execution stage and is expected to be completed in 2-3 months, well before the campus reopens fully. After the RFID based attendance system starts working, data would be collected for 3-4 months and then a suitable plan for pay per meal messing system would be chalked out. [Existing]
Improvement in Hospital Services: It was thought upon to introduce a digital system for the medical insurance reimbursement process but after getting into details, it was concluded that the present system is already efficient. After a lot of discussions, it was found out that a physical booklet must exist in order to aid the processes of recommendation/prescription to AIIMS or other hospitals. A survey form was floated among students to know about the availability of medicines. The results of the survey were communicated to the hospital staff. To ensure clean bedsheets in the hospital, the Express Laundromat was contacted and now regular cleaning of bed sheets is taking place. The problem of the rude behaviour of certain hospital staff was also identified and communicated to the hospital doctors. There was also identified a need for an online appointment and cancellation system for the specialist doctors that come on a weekly basis. The matter was taken up to the CSC which would be taking over the job to create the required backend for the same. [New]
Tablet-Based Feedback System for Food Outlets: The idea was proposed and passed in the joint SAC Meeting. Several vendors were contacted out of which Timble Technologies was finalised. A detailed plan with Timble technologies was worked out and the final system plan was even passed by the CELC. Timble gave the presentation of the final plan. The SRS (Software Requirements Specifications) was prepared and sent to Timble. But due to the lockdown, there was a delay from Timble for signing the SRS document. It was signed and shared in August. Release of a Purchase order for this project is in process now.[New]
Incomplete:
Intra campus delivery System: The objective was to establish a delivery project from all major outlets within the campus. Problems in the existing Alluzo app were identified. Alluzo was contacted to explore the option of outsourced delivery but Alluzo did not show any interest. Then Dunzo was contacted but again it did not show any interest. Various startups were also contacted for the same but none of them showed real interest in this project, so it ultimately had to be given up.[New]
Cycle sharing scheme: SAC looked at two major domains to work in. The first was to improve Cycle Sharing and the other was to arrange for the possibility where anyone can sell their old cycles which could be sold back into the campus if mending is possible. It was decided to stop cycle selling camps at the beginning of the year and to make a suitable subscription scheme on cycles to be rented for an entire semester. The details weren’t finalised. Same was with the cycle buyback scheme. Putting down the policies for Buyback and the right price adjustment for semester/yearly subscription is still underway. Possibility of introducing e-bikes on campus is also being looked into since the company Greenolution has been bought by another company and the new company is interested in dealing with e-cycles. [Existing]
End Term Report:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NJafc70KL1UGzWbSK74b7W2JgtZl6MJX/view?usp=sharing
From GSec’s table:
Upcoming challenges for the incoming Gsec:
1. Building relationships with the administration, staff and fellow Gsecs.
2. Playing a role in finding the balance between academic integrity, mental health and long term welfare of the students.
3. Setting the right tone for SAC with its new structure and keeping the team motivated remotely.
Analysis by Shashwat Saxena
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