Supernumerary at work: The story of the improving ratio

What, why and how?

The problem at hand was simple - there aren’t enough women in the IITs. There wasn’t even a large enough population of women attempting to get into the IITs. This was (obviously) no reflection on calibre, or anything of the sort - the median CGPA of girls in IITD was nearly 1 point higher than the median for boys, as of 2012. Yet, numbers dwindled, and the IITs had to act, an 8% representation of women was simply unacceptable.

Thus came the “cure” (borrowing the parlance of the hour) - supernumerary seats for women. It was a way to counterbalance the multitude of barriers that stand in the way of the average woman compared to the average man. To that effect, the expectations set on this cure, to be fair, were high. From the ground up, it was an attempt to create a positive cycle whereby the social barriers that exist could be broken.

First, the aim was to increase the number of women taking admission into IITs once they had cleared JEE Advanced. In the past, 12% percent of the 20% of women that cleared the JEE Advanced would not take advantage of the opportunity at hand, due to various hidden social pressures. The introduction of this quota meant to break that cycle, to improve the number of women actually joining IITs. Long term, the goal was to break the social stigmas that exist around women in traditionally male dominated branches like Mechanical Engineering, or Civil Engineering.

Second, the aim was to improve the number of women attempting the exam in the first place. The hidden shackles of social pressure, the issues faced at coaching, could perhaps be influenced by this incentive (going to an IIT) that the scheme creates. Long term, by creating more role models in the field, it meant to create a culture that could promote inculcation of young women.

Lastly, it meant to create a better, more open environment in the colleges themselves. With more peer interaction for women, and the benefit of more perspective into the problems that exist, the IITs could create social change through technology better. Every girl that entered the college would be able to “fit in” and find a peer group with similar tastes more easily. Of course, more open cross gender interaction wouldn’t hurt either. Sexism, in both a professional and non-professional setting, continues to be a real problem, and this attempts to do its part in solving that by enforcing more interaction at younger ages.

Of course, as with any cure, this one came with its set of side effects. The primary one in this case was that of uproar from male candidates, who felt they were somehow losing their seats to undeserving candidates with lesser ranks. While the semantics of how the scheme works lends itself to such a debate, it is not one we should necessarily get sucked into. The reality is, this point of view exists, and its existence means a certain regret and hostility toward the women availing this scheme exists too. It is the effect of this hostility that should concern us.

With 2020 being the third year of the supernumerary scheme, we attempt to assess how the increment in the influx of women in IIT’s has affected the scene at different steps: from coaching, to admission, to life at IIT, including relationships with professors, TAs, lab assistants, and peers. We juxtapose that with the stigma supernumerary is often accompanied by, and understand how well the scheme has achieved (or begun to achieve) its (rather lofty) goals.

Before the hallows of IIT

The two or more years leading up to JEE are arguably one of the most intense times in an IITian’s life. These years, requiring consistent focus and hard work, are also shaped by an aspirants’ peer group, their exposure to the right guidance and study material, and a supportive environment, among other things. One of the objectives of supernumerary seats was to increase the number of women appearing in JEE Advanced and consequently opting for IIT post-qualifying, something that is sensitive to creation of role-models, the stigma around specific disciplines and engineering in general, and whether or not parents invest in the future of girls as an engineer.

“Yes, indeed, people feel inspired once they see someone achieving their goals, they feel "yeah, it is possible….If they can do it, then why can’t we". - Aishvi, 2015 Entry

“I was aware of the lack of women at IIT because it was evident in my coaching institute as well. However, that did not discourage me personally because I knew of a couple of other women that had made it to IIT.” - Kritika, 2016 Entry

Role model creation was agreed upon by most to be an essential phenomenon in encouraging women and their parents to pursue IIT’s dream. However, the extent to which this has happened, specifically for women, recently remains a point of contention.

“If I have to talk about my hometown, after my selection, many people contacted my parents and sent their children to coaching institutes and after that many success stories...so, yes, it’s improving every day, and I am hoping it will improve further. But it’s mostly boys and their parents who contacted us. The number of girls has increased from zero to a positive integer….So eventually I feel it will grow” - Aishvi, 2015 Entry

“I have seen the effect of the creation of role-models only through relatives and friends. My Chachu enrolled my cousin sister in the coaching institute because I too had joined one in 9th. So, in that sense, the effect can be seen. And this extends to males as well, not just females.” - Jasleen, 2016 Entry

While most agree that there has been a positive shift due to the increased number of women at IIT, they believe that there are still ways to go and more concrete effects can only be seen a few years further down the line.

“I feel that the number of girls attending IIT coaching centers in my hometown has increased. My sister is 6 years younger than me and went to the same coaching as I did. I remember being pleasantly surprised to see a significantly higher proportion of girls. The creation of role-models is a long-term goal. While we have made good progress, I think we have a long way to go, as it is not only about role-models at school or university level but also in careers across a diverse range of sectors. These are systemic changes and will happen over a period of time and I feel we are taking steps in the right direction.” - Aditi, 2015 Entry

Connotations about individual branches being less suitable for women permeating in the mentality of coaching institutes and families has come across as a recurring theme. This sentiment is shown by parents, family members, and, at times, coaching institutes and teachers. An argument can be made that the stigma around specific branches and IIT inhibit women from enrolling in IIT over other colleges post qualifying JEE. It can also potentially harm these disciplines by making it harder for qualified female engineers to opt for them.

“During our counselling, our teachers were like branches like mechanical are not suitable for girls.” - Vanshika*, 2017 Entry

“...this mentality persists everywhere that how girls would take up mech and civil. As such there was no issue regarding accepting seats, parents/ relatives at times think that it would be tough with no or very few girls in the dept and doing all that MCP labs wale kaam. In our senior batch, there was only 1 girl initially in mech dept, so that makes girls a bit hesitant at the beginning..” - Ankita, 2017 Entry

Many believe that these norms are sensitive to role-model creation and, therefore, can improve with supernumerary.

“Luckily for me, my parents were fine with it. In fact, my mother is a mechanical eng herself.

But yes, my relatives were trying to push me towards the medical field because apparently, it suited me more and I ended up taking math along with biology in 11th.” - Anushka*, 2017 Entry

“During my counselling I choose chemical over mechanical. And this was advised by my father and sisters even though they are also IITians. This was mainly because future prospects in core mechanical is sort of industry based, sometimes on remote locations. This year one girl contacted me and was confused about choosing mechanical because of the same reasons. But after talking to 2-3 girls from mechanical she felt more comfortable and finally took mechanical in IITD. So, yes, more role models are encouraging more girls to take up mechanical - Divyanshi, 2018 Entry

“...I guess it would help if we had more women in unconventional branches and so it seems like these branches are doable because as a 17-year-old you’re impressionable and end up thinking that you should not take that risk when someone is telling you that it won’t work out.” - Anuja, 2016 Entry

Societal pressure against engineering for women, parents preferring institutes closer to home, and not co-ed ones were also highlighted.

“In my coaching, in Meerut, in the non medical batch, there were 2 girls out of a 100-150, and in the medical it was more like 4-5, out of 50. I’d say this was largely because of gender roles in the town, where women were conditioned to want careers that won’t build familial pressure, or stay within the town. Other times it was just the attitude of vaise bhi shaadi karni hai. This came from both family, and the girl herself.“ - Poorva, 2017 Entry

“...parents didn't care enough for girls to get an engineering degree. Most of my friends were dependant on an option of going to some DU college ..as it is considered most convenient for girls at my place...maybe that could be one of the reasons why girls didn't give much importance to JEE” - Savi, 2017 Entry

“I’ve noticed that girls that were living in Delhi, took up IITD even if it was biotech or textile specifically to be closer to home and so that hometown phenomena that your house is close by and put it above your branch preference are there.” - Anuja, 2016 Entry

Many agree that an increase can help these women opt for IIT, which has occurred through supernumerary, causing a change in the general societal attitude as well as there now being a better chance of women qualifying.

“There aren't many girls getting into eng colleges because there aren't many opting for math after 10th, and even if they do, not all get the right coaching because maybe they don't have a good coaching institute in their area, and they have to travel to another city.

Whatever may be the reason, without family support, getting the right resources to crack the exam is tough. With more girls in IIT, it helps with the change in the attitude of society in general, so more girls would be encouraged to take up maths in 11th”- Anushka*, 2017 Entry

“I agree with parents letting girls go to coaching classes more or even letting them take a drop year, which is very uncommon for girls because now they have a stronger chance.” - Anukriti, 2016 Entry

Another important aspect of JEE is the life inside coaching institutes - the place where most end up spending hours each day. There is a general trend wherein female students feel much comfortable interacting with other female students and the dearth of women in the senior batches or coaching institutes, in general, has a detrimental effect on the preparation and the peer interactions of female aspirants.

The peer interactions came out to be an important aspect that suffered due to the lack of female students. The effect of these came through as pronounced in not just the personal day-to-day life but also the academic life.

“I used to tell my teachers that I do not want to stay in alpha because there weren’t any girls and I didn’t have any friends. And the second batch, beta, had a lot of girls and so I started taking classes in beta. My family and teachers told me to go back to the alpha because I had worked very hard to get there but I was not comfortable.” - Ananya*, 2015 Entry

“It also had a negative effect on my confidence in some ways, not seeing enough women in the institutes.” - Kritika, 2016 Entry

“And when you have doubts, you wouldn’t always go to the teachers you’d try and resolve it in your peer groups and since I was more comfortable with girls and there weren’t as many girls it came to a point where I started taking additional coaching in Kurukshetra to resolve those doubts, I later dropped it because it got too hectic. But it later got better as I made more friends in those two years. “ - Ananya*, 2015 Entry

According to the interviewees, the years post supernumerary saw an increase in the number of women going to coaching. However, the sentiment of little peer interaction and its consequences remained largely ubiquitous, a possible reason for the same being that there still were fewer female students in the top batches or those who were as invested in JEE preparation as their other male peers.

“One of disadvantage that I felt during my coaching was that since there were a small number of girls so my discussion group was limited, at that time I was not very comfortable in asking boys doubt and stuff” - Divyanshi, 2018 Entry

“...there were very few girls who were seriously competitive about the exam and were prepping to the same extent as me so I did face limitations in terms of having an extensive study group, guys usually cluster together and we feel some amount of inertia breaking into that group...” - Urvashi, 2017 Entry

“There were only 3 girls who used to be in the top 50 in the entire Fiitjee center. So because of that, it was difficult to have a circle with girls as your friends. Boys would sit and do things together all the time which didn't affect the academics but the bonding.” - Ayushi, 2018 Entry

A common theme of safety issues behind girls traveling to and fro from coaching was observed. This was present in both the post and pre supernumerary years, however, the increase in the number of women traveling seems to have made the situation better.

“I am from Rohtak and went to coaching in Delhi, Pitampura. There were security issues in traveling but my family managed. However, there were just 2 girls in a batch of 60 and there were no other girls from Rohtak at the time and this could be one of the reasons that they stayed behind and attended the local prep classes. ” - Kritika, 2016 Entry

“...the teacher would get surrounded by a herd of guys, asking doubts after the class and that used to stretch for long and when that got over, it would be too late.

Also, several times, classes used to end late, which again led to those issues. I even wished I was a guy then..” - Ankita, 2017 Entry

Many interviewees also reported a general attitude of condescension and patronization from the coaching teachers. This attitude can play a part in reinforcing the stigma around women in STEM and could have a further detrimental effect on female aspirants’ confidence. This, too, was observed to have been predominant in both the years pre and post supernumerary.

“I noticed a bit of a condescending attitude with me. They would break down things for everybody but it seemed like they were trying a little harder with me and that sort of came to notice.” - Anuja, 2016 Entry

“One of the teachers asked us regularly if we understood the topic, I think in their mind they were just trying to ensure that we were doing okay in the topic and weren't lagging behind. But the specific need to ensure we (girls) weren't lagging behind and asking it specifically to girls in a class with students who all kind of had a similar performance didn't feel okay to me. So technically it wasn't a problem for any of us but it was an experience.” - Shivani*, 2017 Entry

At the hostel corridor

"I have always envied the prolific junior-senior interaction prevalent in boy's hostels," a feeling which resonated in most of the conversations we had with the female students. Hostel culture here simply refers to the atmosphere inside the hostels. It's been observed that there is a stark difference between the hostel cultures within boys and girls hostels. Poltu/election equations concerning institute PORs are also affected by the constricted interactions inside girl's hostels. Krishna, BSA DGsec 2019, recalled that there was very little enthusiasm from her hostel when she was competing for the post and hence only a few rounds of discussion in the hostel rooms regarding the same. While you would often find a junior laying loose in his seniors' room in a boy's hostel, it is a rare occurrence at the girls’ hostel. The mess environment is much friendlier and noisier, and so are the hostel events at the eleven boy's hostel, while the two girls' hostels are relatively insipid on the same fronts.

“...for some reason, the boys seem closer to their respective seniors, who are more in number, than girls. Maybe more women could help with that. But in general, limited interaction does have a negative effect because you understand IIT mostly by advice from seniors.” - Kritika, 2016 Entry

“...and then there is a difference between the hostel cultures of boys and girls. For example, in boys hostel seniors call the juniors in their room and they used to talk all night long or like they just meet in the mess and start a conversation but here we don't have anything as such. Seniors mostly keep to themselves hence the junior senior bonding is very low and in my opinion it's kind of an important aspect of college which we are missing.” - Ayushi, 2018 Entry

Having a business-like relation with the hostel seniors is a common complaint by many female students, but none could directly relate it to the fewer number of girls as compared to boys. To an extent, it does play a role but it cannot be, at the same time, considered as the sole reason as even the female students from the 2018 entry batch, with supernumerary seats, have observed similar limitations in the interaction with their seniors as well as the junior batches.

“...there is very little hostel bonding culture both within a year and across years and I do feel it's helpful but absent in girls hostels. I am not sure if it's because there are a lesser number of girls. It could be since most girls then end up forming stronger peer groups with guys given their abundance” - Urvashi, 2017 Entry

Hostel culture and junior-senior interaction not only play a significant role in the academic side but also dictates/reflects the representation at BSA and several clubs, both BRCA and CAIC. Various female students from 2015 to 2018 batches feel that lesser interaction and bonding with hostel seniors is one reason for the lesser representation of girls in these clubs.

“...how much encouragement freshers get from hostel seniors for joining a certain club also influences their decision. I didn’t know about the Aeromodelling club until my third year, because of course there were very few seniors in my hostel who were a part of that club.” - Aditi, 2015 Entry

Positively, supernumerary seats have brought about an impact in this arena. With an increasing number of girls, a greater and a more wide spread representation has been observed amongst various clubs.

“…for aeroclub the overall participation has increased a lot and I was involved as a fresher and also in the recruitment process of the incoming juniors earlier this year. I did not see any sort of discrimination towards either gender” - Muskaan, 2018 Entry

“...I've been involved in dramatics and have noticed an increase in the number of girls in institute teams. One of the reason is that more seniors lead to a better participation from the hostel and hence more girls are encouraged to get involved further” - Divyanshi, 2018 Entry

“...when I had joined there were barely any girls in the coding clubs or other clubs and now I think that general culture is coming more into girls’ hostels” - Anuja, 2016 Entry

“...representation of girls in Music Club significantly improved in my second year, when the 2019 batch joined the clubs. Since there are more girls now the probability of finding interested people has automatically increased and hence it’s just easier taking part in an activity when you know there is at least one more girl with you.” - Naveli, 2018 Entry

As far as BSA is concerned, only a feeble zealousness or "hostel spirit" is observed during competitions, especially during GC, as only two hostels compete with each other, assuring a podium finish in any case. Whereas in boy's hostels, GC is one of the most awaited and highly celebrated events and is largely responsible for cross-year and intra-year bonding, at least in the initial years of your stay at IITD. While the supernumerary policy has led to an overall increase in the representation of female students in most clubs, its effect is yet to be seen in the domain of sports and the inner ecosystem of female hostels.

Peering at thy peers

A description of peer groups is in place because this term will be used wantonly. Peer groups mean, according to Wikipedia, "people of similar economic and social stature. The members of this group are likely to influence the person's beliefs and behavior." We will be referring to a broader definition of a peer group along the lines of a support system, "friends" namely.

To set up the canvas before we start painting the picture of peer groups at IITD, it is of foremost importance to understand that peer groups are formed in spaces of mutual respect and belonging. STEM or to take a further step, IITs, on the whole, have historically witnessed a dismal female to male ratio, propounding its own set of problems.

“Honestly, I was unaware of the skewed gender ratio. We do not see that in schools, and how gender issues can affect us personally is opaque, at least it was to me as a child. IIT was just another exam away, and that was the target.” - Arundhati, 2015 Entry

The cruciality of a congenial peer-group is apparent in everyday actions, in the aid you provide each other in assignments, in the preparation for quizzes, minors & majors, and in the many facets of your life that demand sharing, and by extension, a caring and supportive environment. The abysmal count of female undergraduates in the institute, in the years preceding Supernumerary, and the casually sexist attitudes of the male populace at IITD, are two prominently recurring themes in our respondents’ tryst with their peers.

“I was the only girl in mechanical. With boys having friends from among hostels, alienation is imminent, to begin with. I ended up making amazing friends, but that does not mean I would not have benifitted from at least one more person studying the same subjects or working on assignments same as mine in the hostel.” - Arundhati, 2015 Entry

"The reality is that girls have to deal with very small peer groups, and it was a problem in the past for me, which is why I think it's good to get more girls in. When I was in EE, I had all three peers in my hostel. Once I changed to CS, there were none. I had to go to Bharti Building or further for any semblance of help." - Poorva, 2016 Entry

"Ya, so like when ever we went to the workshop for our work, the staff would be quite happy to see that girls are also doing these kinds of works. But, like the seniors quite more insinuated that girls don't do this, you may not be able to do, so let boys do this. It was quite difficult for me to adjust with the seniors already in there, they had a different mindset kind of. Also, the environment was not much comfortable due to which I left the club.” - Rupanjali*, 2018 Entry

"QC and Lit on the other hand had major problems. The general aura was the girls aren’t great at either of the two, the representation was very skewed and I had often noticed women being talked over by guys in QC and Lit events." - Ragini* , 2015 Entry

"Yes! I know very few men from my batch who would not crib about girls having easier in placements, and that for me is the starting point of the roadblock in finding like-minded peers" - Samriddhi, 2015 Entry

In the years supernumerary policy was not present, it seemed a boon to have students and seniors in your hostel from the same department. Supernumerary seats have, to say the least, increased the odds to find like-minded peers, both inside and outside of your hostel. A hostel study group means that you don't have to face assignments and "that one prof" alone. Help is just a room away. Before supernumerary seats were introduced, branches such as mechanical, civil, computer science had a dismal number of female students.

Hostels serve as the first point of contact for any fresher and are seen to facilitate the formation of peer groups through certain activities or events, and in the broader sense, through the trickling down of hostel culture, say the GC fervour in Jwala. Increasing the number of female students thus creates a higher likelihood of finding multiple students interested in a club, and for interest to convert into commitment a sense of belonging is needed. Hostel, undeniably, holds a large chunk of that.

"Number of girls simply...lesser the people, lesser are people with common interests". - Savi, 2017 Entry

"It's just easier taking part in an activity when you know there is at least one more girl with you." - Naveli, 2018 Entry

Changes accompanying supernumerary seats may not have been monumental, however, significant developments have taken place. All of the responses that pertained to the academic difficulties faced by departments with a low number of females came from the 16' 17' batches. These batches did not have any supernumerary seats, and as for the 18’ batch when the policy came into being, none were recorded.

“Seat Stealers”

While we, earlier in the article, discuss the potential positives of the scheme, and whether they worked, we haven’t considered the (very real) potential for negative consequences. We attempt to explore the possible harms the supernumerary scheme may have, and anecdotes of how they have manifested.

Perhaps the most classical - a standard problem seen in reservation. A sentiment is observed to exist - that one availing of the supernumerary scheme, has essentially nicked the seat off a more deserving candidate. Of course, as with any sentiment or narrative, people report it to varying degrees, ranging from not hearing of it, to having experienced it first hand.

“Girls were blamed for stealing ranks” ~Priya*, 2018 Entry

“People who I thought were my close friends regularly made comments about how dumb girls are.” ~ Maria, 2018 Entry

“More of it appears online certainly. But there is definitely a belief that it's easier if you're a girl and some people make comments on the same.” - Kaavya, 2017 Entry

“No, I haven't ever felt discriminated against directly. But I have seen comments related to that being made on social media by people I know.” ~ Muskaan, 2018 Entry

This sentiment largely extends itself to the academic performance of girls. While the scheme originally does set out to improve interaction, and thus decrease casual sexism, it is possible that the problem has gotten worse. It may be that given the higher median performance of girls, a culture of offhand remarks is created, one where girls are written off as getting higher marks - because they are girls.

"Girls go to profs and cry to get their marks increased." ~ Deepika*, 2015 Entry

This argument remains largely divided, with sets of people feeling that there was sometimes extra help provided to girls, especially in physically oriented labs like MCP101, while others felt that help was deserved, since they worked at it harder.

“For example while smoothing out the metal edges (in the MCP101 lab), they [TAs] used to come and assist girls more than guys because we didn't do it properly and lacked the physical strength. Similarly, while working in a group the heavy machinery part was done by the guys.” ~ Vanshika*, 2017 Entry

“There was a sense of unfair hostility, at least personally that I felt, which was a sentiment that TAs helped me more, or I got more marks. This was probably just because I was more eloquent with my doubts, and many other boys really weren't.” ~ Poorva, 2017 Entry

Perhaps a simple explanation to explaining the better performance of girls could be to realise that girls managing to occupy these seats are already part of a more high achieving bracket, simply because they have had to overcome the barriers society puts in place for them. The average girl, thus, has probably had to work harder, deal with more, for the same result - rank, marks, whatever it may be.

On the other hand, the existence of partiality is not an idea that can be dismissed offhand. An outcome of patriarchy, is sometimes a culture of patronizing women - helping them, because the belief is that they can’t help themselves. It is not unlikely that we may find a case like this, especially in fields that are not traditionally considered to be fit for girls - things like physical labour, or engineering.

However, regardless of the true reasons behind the existence of it, the presence of such a narrative does cause a problem. It could lead to very real effects, not dissimilar to how bullying does. Most commonly, the effect of this hostility is felt during intern and placement season, when some feel the toxicity hits a crescendo.

“With respect to to TnP, there is an attitude that it’s easier for girls (ironic since everyone said that during third year intern, and I didn’t get a TnP one), and I am thankful I got through TnP online, where I did not have to pay attention to the snide comments that get made. The supernumerary seats thing does contribute to that sort of hostility, I feel.” ~ Poorva, 2017 Entry

“It is inevitable, I suppose. Something similar happens during the intern/placement season, quite evident with all the memes circulating around.” ~ Rekha*, 2017 Entry (in response to being asked if an undeserving tag is levied on girls)

Some feel that it affects women earlier too, though, depriving them of confidence in the early days at IITD, a time when it is already hard to adjust.

“It was being aware of the fact that you came here through quota and not because of your potential. And it becomes intimidating at the start if you’re unable to cope up and one exam going wrong goes a long way. I used to spend a lot of time boosting the confidence of my female mentees but it was not easy for then. And that barrier between male and female has increased, I noticed in my 5th year. Because earlier, your male friends used to support you even if you did not do well but now I feel that the female students are afraid to ask for help because she does not have that confidence in her.” ~ Ananya*, 2015 Entry, on why students sometimes lacked confidence.

Given these effects, it would not be far fetched to conclude that a significant harm exists. The big question then, is this harm outweighing the benefits? Fairly unanswerable, since metrics of harm and benefit, especially for narratives, are very hard to devise. Just getting arguments for and against would be a challenge.

The question we can deal with though, is whether this narrative is merited. Can it be changed? Once again, opinions are divided. The way the scheme works, the word “supernumerary”, means that seats for girls are an add-on. They are not in replacement for any general category seat, meaning nobody actually loses the seat that girls take. If there are more than 20 percent girls, they’re there because they were higher on the rank list. Why should girls have the extra seats, the advantage, the quota though? The explanation is simple, it’s not really an advantage. It is a way of balancing out all the hidden disadvantages that the average girl faces in her journey of education.

Arguments against all of this do exist, and are regularly made. However, given that it is, at the end of the day, a narrative, it is not out of the question that it will change. It is not unimaginable that people may warm up to the idea, if misinformation is removed, or the effect of casual sexism is reduced.

In a nutshell, when it comes to people - nobody can claim to know.

Can numbers make that claim, then? (Editor’s Epilogue)

Numbers can, certainly, corroborate the experience of our respondents, and attest the many points we’ve tried to state in the epic-length narrative piece above, but numbers take time to be sieved through, and the piece above should, for any careful reader, manifest itself into a queue of questions they hadn’t thought of yet. We will answer them, and a lot more, in the next segment: Supernumerary at work: What do the numbers say? In the meantime, you can reflect on the questions you have, and critique the story in whatever way you wish to. Ta Da!

* name changed on request

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Team

Journalists: Shreya Singh, Ritika Jain, Advait Prashanti Mani, Avyansh Katiyar

Editors: Raunaq Saraswat, Ishita Hans

Illustrator: Ayesha Rafi