As the Students’ Union Elections inch closer, the English Press Club interviewed Tarang Agrawal, one of the three candidates contesting for the post of President. He is a third-year Chemical Engineering student hailing from Nagpur, Maharashtra. 

Talking about his inspiration behind contesting, Tarang said that a lot of campus politics had been driven by ‘low-effort fixes’ and ‘recycled solutions’. He thought that BITS Pilani deserved leadership that matched its calibre, and that with the right people in office, it could reach new heights. He felt that he could bring such change on campus, hence he applied for the post of President. He mentioned that he always sought to maximise the exposure he received from attending conferences and competitions; thus, the exposure and experience he would gain from this position would benefit him and the GBM.

Talking about his journey in campus politics, Tarang relayed that none of his previous campus initiatives had been backed by the SU and that he had never worked for the Union in any capacity. He shared that he launched the BITeS app, which enabled food delivery from C’Not restaurants to the hostels. This initiative generated nearly Rs 1.4 lakh in revenue within the first six days. He mentioned that he negotiated deals with companies like Swiggy, Housr, and Uber for the students to avail discounts. He further stated that he helped the batch of 2022 during their SI and placement seasons by cold-mailing multiple companies to relax their hiring criteria. Tarang added that he also launched bitsGPT, an AI chatbot trained on multiple public websites and documents, to cover all BITS-related information, ranging from clubs to internships and placements. He explained that he did not want to curate a Google Drive like previous candidates and that the LLMs were faster and easier to navigate. He said that he wanted it to be a ‘one-stop platform’ for all, containing information about eatery timings, campus stories, academics and more, but could not implement any updates as the grey period of the elections began earlier than expected. When bitsGPT was launched, it displayed the private information of some students. Tarang stated that the issue was rectified within a day. 

Clarifying certain points in his manifesto, Tarang said that he had received the Director’s written confirmation and approval to publicise grade cutoffs on the ERP website, to declare the dual allotment cutoffs on the AUGSD website, and to start the standardisation of grading across the campus. Regarding SWD payments at S9 and C’Not, he said that they would set up an escrow account to make sure that everybody received their due wages. Another point in his manifesto was about shifting the hostel allotment process to the end of the even semester. He mentioned that the Chief Warden had asked him to come up with a plan and that he was in the process of making a rudimentary solution.

Tarang dispelled any rumours about offering contraband to potential campaigners. However, a rumour he affirmed was about incriminating activities in his first year, namely, supplying alcohol from his hostel room. He clarified that he did it for “lore-maxxing” purposes rather than indulging in banned substances.

If he were to change one thing about his predecessor’s tenure, Tarang said that he would not spend time fighting with student committees over small issues and would redirect that energy to focus on the larger problems at hand. He believed that these small fights hindered his forebearer from creating the impact he intended. 

Tarang asserted that if he were elected, he would try to fulfil his manifesto in the first month or two, barring some of the major academic points. He would then work on opposing the newly implemented attendance policy, the 58% fee hike, and the high PS-I and PS-II fees. He expressed that the Union should be fighting for the students, as they were elected to be their representatives.