An interview with Presidential Candidates

Charan Meka

What Clubs and Departments have you worked in so far? I have been working actively for DePP since my first semester, I first worked informally for DoSM in the first semester and got a sponsorship of about 85k for ATMOS ’16. I got inducted and have been working in DoSM since. I have also worked for Controlz in ATMOS ’16 and Firewallz for ARENA. I was a member of the BITSMUN OC and lead the spons. team as the sponsorship head this year, and VM OC for which I was the offline publicity head. I was also part of DoPE.

What kind of leadership experience do you have? While leading the BITSMUN sponsorship, I was given the task of bringing in a sponsorship of 1 lakh or above, which is a tough task considering the fact that BITSMUN attracts a limited number of people. Moreover, the event was preponed as it was clashing with another event. But at the end the sponsorship money has been transferred to the SUC and the event was conducted smoothly. This Verba Maximus saw the highest footfall and being the offline publicity head, I take part of the credit. BITSMUN and VM were perhaps the biggest leadership challenges that I took and I can proudly say that I successfully tackled both.

What makes you think this experience will help you going about your work if you get elected? Working with different teams over the two years I learnt that each person has a different mindset and I can cater to these mindsets and bring out the best in people. Also each department or organizing committee has a different way of working and since I have been a part of most, I have collected these experiences.

Any significant works outside of the general departments and clubs? I was a part of the Admissions Division. I worked to get companies to put up stalls and sell their products on campus during admissions and on being assigned work by Abhinav Eittireddy I got 10k in 2 days. We were responsible for the smooth working of the admission process. I am also an ARCD volunteer. I am the treasurer of Brindavanam. I have also worked for NSS and Nirmaan.

A general vision for the campus? My vision is to increase the general participation and interest in clubs, departments and associations all the while maintaining their standards. I also feel that we need to be more united on campus. Not just on organizing committees or teams but between the general public. If we are united then I’m sure we can tackle any obstacle, be it in getting better facilities or organizing the fests better. I want to make the campus into a big group of many people instead of many groups of a few people.

Aman Syed

What departments and clubs have you worked in so far? The 3 departments that I am a part of are DoSM, DoPE and DePP. Other than that, I was in the Department of Arts and Deco in my first year. I’m a member of BITS Embryo, the CSA Core Committee, I’ve been the BITSMUN Online Publicity head for BITSMUN ‘17, was a part of BITSMUN OC ‘16 & ‘17, Verba Maximus OC ‘17 & ’18, ELAS and the Gitanjali Core Committee.

What kind of leadership experiences you have in these departments and clubs? This last year in DoSM was an amazing lesson in leadership and persistence for me; my team was the one of two teams working all the way till Pearl out of the 15 that started. Coming to DoPE, I was in-charge for the biggest night; handling Amit Trivedi’s pro-show taught me a lot about crisis management. Under DePP, I helped handle Online Publicity for Atmos, and Corporate Publicity for Pearl.

What makes you think that this experience will help you if you are elected? The bottom line of the Presidency is to convey the problems of the General Body to the Administration and then get back with the solution. The President is the representative of the GB and that needs a good leader. I feel that my experience working with a wide range of people in the Administration, departments and clubs will help me lead the campus effectively. Coming to fests, the three major aspects that affect fests are Sponsorship, Publicity and Pro-shows, and I have been a part of all three.

Any significant work apart from clubs and departments? I’ve been a member of the SWD Nucleus for a year and I learnt a lot about the unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy that stops a lot of the changes we’re trying to implement on campus. This experience with the SWD Nucleus required me to be in constant touch with the Administration and it would help me implement my manifesto successfully.

Any general vision of the campus? My manifesto is campus-specific, written for the General Body. The fests have been going pretty well and that’s why I haven’t focused much on them. We need to shift our focus towards the general issues that the campus is facing. My vision is that since we give a huge fee to the campus, the administration should care about the basic amenities such as good food, proper library facilities, great instructors and good hostels. Apart from fests, I would be working majorly for the campus and I have done that for over a year now. I have seen the previous two SUCs work for the campus and I plan on taking it forward.