Think20 in association with SRCC launches first-ever college-level debate, Vice President participates

Apr 26, 2023

New Delhi [India], April 26 (ANI): ORF as the Secretariat of the Think20(T20), in association with Sri Ram College of Commerce launched the inaugural edition of the Arun Jaitley Memorial Debate on Wednesday.

On this occasion, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar gave away the awards to the winners of the debate competition.

The debate took place during the 100-year centenary of the University of Delhi, as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. The preliminary round began on April 3, 2023, with 60 college debate teams invited to participate from across the country. Out of these, 20 teams were selected to proceed to the semi-finals on April 25, 2023, and the grand finale took place on April 26, 2023.

The multi-stage national event is envisaged as an annual debating tradition and offers a unique debating platform to showcase the best talent of debaters and budding thought leaders at the national level engaging in valuable exchange of ideas and showcasing debating at its best.

The debate also acts as an idea, thought, and policy forum exploring a multitude of perspectives and arguments on contemporary issues.

The topics of the debate were global issues including geopolitics, which were decided by the jury members as India is the host country of G-20 this year.

The Vice President praised the students' participation and awarded them with a trophy and other prizes.

Lavanya Puri and Robin Ahuja from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Delhi University have won the first prize.

"Debate was a memorable experience for us. Since this was an invitational debate competition, we were contacted by the organising committee to fill a form which required us to send our debating credentials to them," the SRCC debate organiser said.

"After filling out the form, we were shortlisted to compete in the semi-finals which was conducted on 25 April 2023. The topic was announced one day prior. We researched the topic thoroughly and also did brainstorming sessions wherein we thought of different arguments related to the motion," the organiser added.

Winners praised the format of the debate and college and said, "All in all we are grateful to SRCC for providing us with such a blissful opportunity."

Ajay S. Shriram, Chairman, of SRCC Governing Body; Professor Yogesh Singh, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi; Prof. Simrit Kaur, Principal of Shri Ram College of Commerce, faculty members, students and others were present at the event. (ANI)