Candidates contesting for the post of VP, Gymkhana

First Candidate

Name : Digvijay Gagneja

Department : Electrical Engineering

Hall : Nehru

Credentials :

1. Head incharge of Finances of Kshitij 2009.


2. Conducted Successful Guest Lectures by ‘Mr.Prahlad Kakkar’ and ‘Dr. Philip Emeagwali’ who captivated an audience of jam-packed TOAT.


3. Conducted workshop on Forensic Science by CBI and the workshop on Filmmaking.


4. Initiated and was instrumental in the creation of the online payment gateway for Kshitij.


5. Soc-Cult Participation: Won GOLD in Inter-Hall Western Vocals, Open-IIT Elocution, SILVER in Inter-Hall Western Groups, Western Vocals, English Elocution, BRONZE in Inter-Hall Choreography, Open-IIT English Dramatics.


6. Tech Participation: Won SILVER in Inter-Hall AD-Design, Part of Inter-Hall Case-Study Team of Nehru hall.


7. Sports Participation: Part of Basketball team of Nehru Hall of Residence.


8. Member of the Western Technology Music Society.


9. Offered an Internship in ITC, the first company visiting campus for selections.


10. Anchored Kshitij’s Internal Workshop by iVIZ and External Workshop in Kolkata


11. Responsible for a smooth registration process of nearly 3000 outstation participants during Kshitij 2009.


12. A great academic track record with a CGPA of 8.49 in the department of Electrical Engineering

Proposals : (As given by the candidate himself)

1. Establishment of a body for student’s welfare : I propose to create a body to achieve following three major objectives:

a. Establishing a centralized mechanism to provide opportunities for students at IIT Kharagpur to work under the professors in their projects during the summer and winter breaks. This will aim to inculcate and give impetus to students’ research interests, especially the first and the second years.

b. Providing a stipend to the students working on these projects during the summer and winter breaks from a Students’ Welfare fund.

c. Formalizing a Training Procedure for the Final Year students who have registered for final placements by means of GDs, Assessment Tests and Interviews.

(for more info click here)

2. Students at IIT Kharagpur have exhibited an inherent interest in social work which is exemplified by the presence of societies such as Gopali Youth Welfare Society, Jagriti, Sambhav, Parajak etc. Of late, it has been observed that top academic institutions as well as recruiting companies give significant weightage to social initiatives undertaken by students. Thus, I propose to channelize this drive through collaborations with various NGOs who would be willing to educate students about such social initiatives and provide internship opportunities to students from IIT Kharagpur. This would be an excellent opportunity, especially for first and second year students in their summer vacations to be a part of some social initiative.

3. Structural reform in the Training and Placement Cell: I propose to assign the student heads of the societies of different departments, centres and schools as representatives for the Placement Committee.

Their functions would be:

1. To arrange for the contacts from the corporate and academic domains from the faculty of their respective departments and furnish them to the placement committee.

2. To study the profiles of companies that shall be visiting campus and recommend to the placement committee, whether the company can recruit students from their respective department on the basis of the courses offered in their departments that suit the company profile.

3. To prepare and conduct mock tests based on the format and questions asked by companies in the past years in their respective departments.

4. I propose to start the streaming of News Channels on LAN. This is keeping in view the fact that a sound knowledge of current affairs is considered an essential prerequisite in most recruitment and CAT interviews. The interviewers are most often not satisfied with the command that the students hold over pertinent national/international issues. My proposal would give students an opportunity to stay well informed by tuning into these news channels at their convenience from the comfort of their rooms.

(To see the details of each proposal click here)

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Second candidate

Name : Shubham Matah

Department : Chemical Engineering

Hall : Azad

Credentials :

1. Been associated with Kshitij for the past 3 years: Volunteer, Core Team Member & Core Team Head (Sponsorship).


2. Sponsorship Head of Kshitij 2009; brought Sponsorship worth INR 9.25 Lacs.


3. Brought Incubation worth INR 25 Lacs for BPlan competition.


4. Incharge of Fest's Audio-Visuals, Photography & Videography.


5. Soc-Cult participation : Won GOLD in Inter-hall Western Groups '08, SILVER in Inter-hall Choreo '09.


6. Tech participation : Won GOLD in Inter-hall Ad Design '08.


7. Sports & Games participation : Won SILVER in Inter-hall Cricket.


8. Anchored National Education Day celebration of IIT Kharagpur & Kshitij's Kolkata workshop.


9. Interned in Ranbaxy after 2nd yr; going to Bharat Petroleum after 3rd yr.

Proposals : (As given by the candidate himself)

1. I propose to form an‘Alternate Careers Group’under the Technology Students’ Gymkhana in order to provide students with information & resources related to alternate career paths such as Civil services, Actuarial Sciences, FRM, CFA etc.

2. I propose to introduce the following changes in order to improve the placements of students at IIT Kharagpur :

- Conduct mock screening tests, resume-making workshops & mock personal interview sessions in order to better equip the students for the placement season.

- Increase the Post-Graduate student representation in the Placement Committee.

- Include Department representatives in the month of January to supplement the Placement Committee.

- Prepare a database of relevant Job openings appearing in various employment newspapers & websites to ensure that students don’t miss out on such opportunities.

(something similar to http://www.stat.nus.edu.sg/alu_careers.htm)

3. I propose to provide different student groups at IIT Kharagpur with additional infrastructure for conducting meetings. The additional infrastructure is available in the Centre for Theoretical Studies Visitors’ Hall.

4. I propose to have a tie-up with Big Bazaar for home delivery of merchandise at discounted prices via tele-shopping as well as internet shopping that will cater to the need of the students and staff of IIT Kharagpur.

5. I propose to get Sponsored Industrial BTech and MTech Projects for the students. This will be done through a student group formed under the aegis of SRIC that will be entrusted with the task of contacting companies to obtain projects.