RUSU polls feedback box to be placed at RU campus gate

Jaipur: With the upcoming elections at University of Rajasthan, students have decided to be innovative and will keep a suggestion box at the campus’s main gate. The idea is to provide a safe space for free opinions by anonymous students and staff. This is being done for the first time to bring awareness and increase voting participation.
Kush Kumar Sharma, a student from the sociology department, one of those involved in the initiative said, “Student elections are important to understand the democratic process.But the university is constantly seeing a decline in voting percentage, last time it was 49% only. Voting is an integral part of the process and lack of votes shows a lack of awareness and disinterest. This initiative aims to change that attitude.”
Students, professors, administration, campus staff, guards among others can leave their suggestions in the box as to what changes they anticipate from the student body and what qualities they seek in their presidents.
Students behind the initiative have planned to open the box every seventh day and display the suggestions on a notice board for tentative candidates to see and understand what is expected of them.
“There are around 5,000 students who study in the central library daily and are unaware of what is happening outside. Every time someone crosses the main gate, an opportunity to contribute would be available to them. This may bring a good possibility of diverse opinions,” said an in-campus hostel student.
Aspiring candidates have started taking suggestions from students on what changes they want in the campus as elections are being held after two years. Preeti Chauhan, a student from the campus said, “The number of male and female guards must be increased in the campus. The university must also explore increasing the number of seats in various courses as this is the biggest government university in the state.”
Students have also highlighted the delay in receiving official documents like degrees and migration certificates. “Students from rural backgrounds who have passed out and must travel here to collect documents suffer. Documents that should be given to them in an hour’s time are often delayed,” said another student Manjeet Choudhary.