MP Sandeep Dikshit and friends float St Stephen’s alumni club,college upset

Vijay Shukla of the ‘83 batch is the president of the organisation,which also has two serving civil servants. Nuzhat Hassan,who will be the treasurer,is Private Secretry to the Minister of Minority Affairs. Ashish Joshi,one of the key individuals who worked behind the scenes to form the organisation,is a Director in the Minority Affairs Ministry.

The members said the organisation will bring together different regional alumni groups to form a formal body that will take up various initiatives directed at nation-building.

“This is the first formal registered alumni organisation of the college,and we are inaugurating it on the 16th of July. A special day for Stephen’s alumni,as this was the day all of us attended our first day in college,” said Vijay Shukla.

However,the college was quick to disown the new organisation. “This association has got nothing to do with the college,except that these people were students at some point in time. There is nothing official about this,” said Karen Gabriel,media coordinator of St Stephen’s.

St Stephen’s,despite its strong alumni network,does not have a structured association. On June 5 this year,Principal Valson Thampu expanded the informal alumni body — called an alumni executive — to include a

number of prominent members. One of the tasks of the expanded executive was to register a formal alumni body. The sub-committee is still deliberating on the issue. “The alumni association we have now is very informal,and financial contributions go unrecorded. With a registered organisation,all contributions will be accounted for,” said Ashish Joshi.