STAB Merger

From the dissolution of Technic to change in the Tech GC format, the STAB (Students’

Technical Activities Body) constitution has undergone many significant changes this
year. The objectives were to have well defined duties for each member, greater synergies
between various clubs and increased interaction between team members. InsIghT brings to
you the salient points of the new constitution.

The Merger

• Technic and Science Club have been merged into a single body, headed by a Tech OC
  as opposed to the old model where Technic had 2 OCs and SC had 1 OC
• Robotics club has been introduced
• Number of institute posts have been cut down from 33 to 17
• STAB has shifted to 3rd year managers as against 2nd year conveners for individual
  clubs
• Tech GCs will now be one of high preparation, medium preparation and low
  preparation events each, and will be conducted by individual clubs

The positives:

On the administrative side, having all the clubs under a single hierarchy facilitates greater
coordination between clubs. Having a common head (Tech OC) implies quicker decision-
making and an efficient interface between the body and institute administration. Having
third year managers also leads to the involvement of a larger fraction of the sophie
population, as exemplified by the success of Electronics club last year.

On the activity side, GCs being conducted by different clubs expands the competition’s
base from just Tech to ‘Science and Tech’. The extensive commitment, monetary as well
as in terms of time, required to participate in GCs is a turnoff for many students. Low
preparation GCs are thereby introduced, to encourage participation from all the tech
enthusiasts.

It is the opinion of a few senior students that having a large number of GCs will kill the
enthusiasm of people thereby defeating the purpose of introducing them. However, the
policy makers feel that the system has its merits – having a wider variety of GCs would
draw in greater participation compared to the previous system where involvement in GCs
was mostly restricted to the Tech Secy and a couple of seniors. We feel that the new format
is at least as good as the old one, and mostly better. This was demonstrated in the first GC,
a low-prep event called ‘Electric Jhatka’, which saw a large participation from students who
hadn’t shown up for Tech GCs earlier.

STAB as a Closed Electorate

Even in the new constitution, the Tech OC can be elected and impeached by the STAB
members alone. The current Tech OC is ideologically opposed to general elections because
STAB doesn’t oversee all technical activities in the institute – case in point, Pratham,
Biosynth, FSAE etc. He is therefore opposed to the position of having a GS Technical
Affairs. “STAB envisages being a body which aims to promote technical activities as a
hobby. At the same time we wish to give other teams such as Robocon, FSAE full autonomy
while aiding them with administrative issues. In essence STAB is an umbrella body for
hobby clubs”, says Chiraag Juvekar, the current Tech OC.

Reporters:
ABHI SURI, ADWAITVEDANT MATHKAR, ANTARIKSH BOTHALE