By Gazal Gupta, Batch of 2013
Project work, internship application, checking your mail or just simply surfing, there are enough reasons which denote the existence of internet in our lives. It’s hard to quantify just how valuable Internet has become to human existence. What’s surprising is that NSIT which boasts of being one of the premiere institutes in India fails to fulfill basic necessity such as Internet. The internet facility is neither available in the administration area nor in the hostels.
I remember the good old days when we needed Internet and someone would say “Abe admin chalte hain mast speed aati hai” and we used to reply, “kis college main hostel main net nai hota”. Little did we know that we will lose that option too in the coming months. The problem started with the new rules being formulated like the reduced timings and the registration of laptops a necessity for using the admin wifi. However, this seems just meagre as compared to the fact that at present we cannot access internet facility anywhere in the college. Now, if we need net, we have to search for someone who has a data-card or go all the way outside to a cyber cafe.
Alumni Speak
Animesh Garg, Batch of 2010, MS, Georgia Tech
The internet being absent from an academic institution is crippling. Despite the expensive leased line that we have from reliance it is utterly disappointing that due to an impasse in administration, the members of NSIT have to suffer. It should be dealt on a first priority basis.
Deepank Gupta, Batch of 2009, Software Engineer at Google
Absence of wifi has caused problems for the students and professors alike. I believe that internet should be more reliable and college should encourage students and faculty to use college wifi rather than discouraging them.
The authorities justify their stand on the basis of the internet facility in the computer rooms. But these cannot be accessed by students 24×7. Moreover, the students also face certain challenges in using these poorly maintained computers with outdated software and technology. Wireless net access should be made available to all the students and not just in certain pockets of the girl hostel.
Forced to study without an internet connection, students decided to tilt the conscience of the authorities towards the welfare of students. Students took the initiative of organizing an ‘Internet Satyagraha’ where they distributed flyers saying “My College doesn’t provide us with Internet” and wore these flyers on their clothes. Despite the huge turnout of students all our college authorities did was turn a blind eye to all of this. I wonder what really happened to the students who organized it. Whether the Internet Satyagraha has awakened the conscience of the administration is debatable. What one cannot debate is the strong presence that internet has in our lives.
The worst part is that IIIT-Delhi, a college with a temporary campus in our college provides wireless services to its students. While most of the colleges out there are providing internet facilities to their students there seems to be nothing which shakes up NSIT or gives us a ray of hope that the college internet we used to enjoy shall be revived. Alas, for now we have no other choice but to rely on data cards and small wireless routers in the hostels.
Student Speak
Swarandeep Singh, Batch of 2011
Engineering colleges are famous for their research work but due to the absence of internet facilities students are not able to continue their research work.
Parigha Gupta, Batch of 2012
We are forced to sit on stairs in freezing weather with mosquitoes around, all because wifi is not available in most of the rooms. It should be distributed all over rather than the current localization.
Mudit Sadana, Batch of 2013
Internet is a necessity and I hope wireless network is installed at the earliest so that we don’t have to roam around to access it.
The college authorities should understand that when all the top engineering colleges offer internet facilities to their students, why a premium e-school such as NSIT denies its students of such a necessity. We assure the authorities that students will also be reasonable and understand the concerns of the administration regarding the restriction to certain sites. Further technology can always help control access to undesirable content. If there issues then the authorities should discuss the same with the students so that they are addressed and some action can be taken. All the same we hope that the college authorities soon rise from their slumber to see the path of progress.