So Far, Not So Good – 16 Lakh Package Is False

Disclaimer – It is our sincere hope that it is in this spirit that the post is received. Please note that this post DOES NOT reflect the opinions held by Libertatem Magazine, nor are we equipped to offer an opinion of such nature. All opinions expressed are those of the anonymous author.

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Dear Ahmedabad Mirror,

It was really surprising for the students and fresh graduates of Institute of Law, Nirma University to read an article in the Ahmedabad Mirror titled ‘Nirma Law Grad Offered Rs 16L salary‘ which has been linked for your reference.

16 Lakhs package is imaginary

Libertatem Magazine went ahead to have a conversation with Mr. Alind Chopra who (as claimed by Ahmedabad Mirror) bagged the package of Rs. 16 lakh per annum.

Alind Chopra says

“I had interned twice with Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and was thereafter given a PPO. The Campus Recruitment Committee had no role to play in my placement. Furthermore, I am surprised that the package disclosed is 16 lakhs as I have not been told my package yet.”

(Alind Chopra’s exclusive interview is scheduled to release in a few days where he speaks about his hard work during the college days, internships and job at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. Stay tuned.)

Misrepresented story reported by Ahmedabad Mirror on 12^th May

Before taking this story further, a quick glance at the placement Story by Ahmedabad Mirror dated 12^th May, 2017 would better establish the pretext.

The major concern here is for the CLAT aspirants who have recently taken the CLAT 2017 exam and might, after reading such misrepresented and factually incorrect story, consider such good placements a primary factor for choosing to take admission in this college instead of another. It makes one realize how undervalued the responsibility of shaping the future of this nation has become today; how ethics has been eroded off the ‘nation’s leading media conglomerate’.

Ahmedabad Mirror’s misrepresented reporting

It would be no exaggeration to predict that the misinformed students who have just taken the CLAT exam would choose this institution over other colleges thinking that this college has an excellent placement record, which is backed by the sensationally fabricated reports of the Newspaper. A fair number of law aspirants had been victims of similar deception 5 years ago owing to a news report stating “Nirma girls bag the highest package for law students”. Surprisingly, the story was covered by the same Ahmedabad Mirror.

Rs.34 lakhs package story reported by Ahmedabad Mirror back in 2012

For those who do not remember the news on a placement of Rs.34 lakh per annum back in 2012, the news clipping is attached hereunder to refresh memories.

It seems Ahmedabad Mirror has a flair for publishing concocted stories about ILNU’s highest package.

ILNU’s students of 2017 batch can recall this story very clearly as many of them considered Nirma University over other institutions on the basis of this news clipping. They later learned that it was an off-campus placement, acquired not through college initiative but as a Pre Placement Offer owing to the girl’s own merit. Sadly, as they say, some things never change.

The true story behind the 16 Lakhs package

Presently, only the students of ILNU are aware of the true story behind the recent placement of 16 Lakhs. Alind Chopra, who bagged the package of Rs. 16 Lakhs (which is a false figure since Alind is himself not aware of his package yet), achieved it on his own merit and not owing to any initiatives taken by ILNU’s Placement Drive. How hard he had to toil to get that job on his own and how frustrated he was at the inactivity of the Campus Recruitment Cell (CRC) of the college and the careless attitude of the administration at not having the PPO is no secret to the present students of ILNU. Owing to the fancy story covered by Ahmedabad Mirror, it appears that the Campus Recruitment Committee run by Mrs. Shailja Tripathi has belittled his entire achievement by stealing the credits and misplacing them in the name of the Placement Committee. The official truth, as disclosed from the conversation with Alind Chopra, is that he has been offered a PPO (Pre Placement Offer) but the package has not been disclosed yet.

The Placement Records for the last 3 batches

Libertatem Magazine gathered some data from the graduating batch which is revealed hereunder. As per the records provided by the CRC, only 96 students appeared and paid 5000 Rupees each for sitting in the Placements instead of 103 students as claimed by Ahmedabad Mirror, to cumulatively contribute a rough sum of Rs 5.15 lakhs.

PLACEMENT FOR BATCH PASSED OUT IN 2015 (As reported by Bar & Bench)

Institute of Law, Nirma University, Ahmedabad has placed 63 students of its 2015 batch in various law firms and companies.

Out of a batch of 209, 95 students opted to sit for placements, with the rest opting for litigation or higher studies. Among the law firms, Wadia Ghandy made the most hires – 3 in Mumbai and 2 in Ahmedabad. AZB & Partners, J Sagar Associates, and Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan were also among the hires.

The highest salary offered was Rs. 10.5 lakhs per annum and the minimum package offered was Rs. 3 lakh.

Here is the breakup of law firm placements

Below is the breakup of corporate/LPO/NGO placements

PLACEMENT FOR BATCH PASSED OUT IN 2016

ACTUAL PLACEMENT FOR 2017 (Which was misrepresented by Ahmedabad Mirror)

Wadia Ghandy, Mumbai @ 50,000 per month (6 lakhs per annum)

1. Prithwish Chowdhury
2. Lokesh Deshwal

Gujarat Gas Ltd @ 40,000 per month (4.8 Lacs per annum)

1. Swati Shekhawat

Dave & Girish Co, Mumbai @ 20,000 per month (2.4 Lacs per annum)(updated)

1. Urvashi Jaswani

RBL Bank @ 15,000 per month (1.8 Lacs per annum)

1. Harsh Sharma
2. Ankit Desai

Thomson Reuters, Mumbai @ 21,000 per month (2.52 lakhs per annum)

1. Ms. Krishna Parekh

Mindcrest LPO, Pune @ 3.75 lakhs per annum

1. Addya Mishra
2. Aditya Pandit
3. Titiksha Gupta
4. Sanket Gupta
5. Varun Pandey
6. Devanshi Bhargava
7. Neha Vijayvargi
8. Kashyap Dhanjay
9. Chinmay Vyas
10. Devyani Bissa
11. Harsh Sharma
12. Karan Valecha
13. Leema Yadav
14. Mayank Singh
15. Rishi Maheshwari
16. Saakshi Sharma
17. Shivin Mathur
18. Shristi Jain
19. Shubhangi Gaur
20. Yogesh Chhajer

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co (Off-campus Placement with no support from the College)

1. Alind Chopra

Placement Statistics misrepresented by Ahmedabad Mirror

It is obvious that the average package figure of Rs 5.25 lakhs is as imaginary as the highest salary of 16 lakhs. Evidently, the reporters of Ahmedabad Mirror are so bad at research that they should take researching tips from students of ILNU or should invest time in proper research before publishing their stories.

*Derived by adding up annual salary of all placed student/ number of student placed

The story by Ahmedabad Mirror also bragged about the soft skills training exercise provided by ILNU, which in reality was more of a CV building exercise that should have happened in the 2^nd or 3^rd year rather in the 5^th year for bagging good internships. The P.I. session (Personal Interview) was more of a mockery with each interview lasting for a maximum of three minutes owing to the shortage of time. But, we should not take anything away from them.  It is surprising to note that throughout the tenure of five years, the scrutiny and evaluation of the students’ internship were far more grueling wherein the students were marked down and also awarded an NT (which is a term used for “backlog” as per ILNU’s dictionary) if they did not do well. If only there was some accountability attached to the CRC run by Mrs. Shailja Tripathi, the students may have had a fair chance of questioning as to where their five thousand rupees disappeared.

Although the students have passed out and would not benefit from this but it is hoped that it might bring in few changes.