10th Dr. Amidas Goradia National Inter School Debate, 6 December, 2012.

"It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it." Joseph Joubert.

Our School hosted the 10th Dr. Amidas Goradia Inter- School Debate on 6 December, 2012. The debate attracted a large number of students from 28 prominent schools of Delhi and outside.

Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for HRD presided over the function. Author, columnist, elocutionist, human rights activist and former UN envoy, Dr. Tharoor is an impeccable blend of charm, wit and elegance. Dr. Tharoor's contributions have fetched him a string of awards and honours including the Commonwealth Writer's Prize, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman and the title "Global Leader of Tomorrow".

Sir Mark Tully, eminent author and former Bureau Chief of BBC, graced the occasion as chief guest. He worked for the BBC for 3 decades until 1994. He held the position of Chief of Bureau, BBC, Delhi for 20 years His books include No Full Stops in India, Heart of India, India in Slow Motion and, recently, India's Unending Journey. Sir Mark Tully was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1985 and was awarded the Padma Shree in 1992. He was knighted in 2002 and received the Padma Bhushan in 2005.

The distinguished panel of judges included eminent personalities from academics and the media Amitabh Joshi, Vatsala Kaul Banerjee, Prof. Sanjeeva Prasad, Premchand Palety and Anuradha Preetam. Mr. Amitabh Joshi is Delhi Bureau Chief of SAP Media Worldwide after having been senior news producer at Aaj Tak and Headlines Today. He won the Indian Television Academy Award in 2002. Mr. Premchand Palety is Chief Executive of Centre for Forecasting & Research (C fore). His articles on management education have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Mint, Outlook, etc. Ms. Anuradha Preetam is a free-lance journalist and has been associated with Aaj Tak, Zee News and BBC. She is associate editor with the Sunday Indian Magazine. Dr. Sanjiva Prasad is a Professor of Computer Science at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Ms. Vatsala Kaul Banerjee is Publishing Director, Hachette India.

Dr. Tharoor addressed the gathering in his inimitable style and laid stress on the importance of debate and argumentation. He was of the view that debating improves critical thinking by providing a constant consideration and synthesis of others viewpoint. He laid stress on the fact that deliberation encourages people to acknowledge others viewpoint and consider them in relation to their own view point. Citing from Dr Amartya Sens The Argumentative Indian, he emphasised the importance of deliberate discussion in a democracy. An interactive session with the students followed where Dr. Tharoor expressed his views on politics vs. civil services as a career, censorship of press and education. The audience was captivated with his erudite and thought provoking words and the range of his expertise in various fields.

The most popular topic was Government must censor social media as it struck a chord in the students hearts following the arrest of 2 girls in Maharashtra for their facebook updates. In the same pulse, Amrita Dutta of our own team spoke in favour of the motion while Umang Bajpai questioned the house against the motion.

Interjectors from various schools raised pertinent questions challenging the views of the speakers. Nakul Chadha, our interjector too offered challenge.

The speakers left a mark on the judges who were impressed by the maturity of thought, the quality of their expression and the poise with which they communicated the case. The competition showcased oratory abilities and critical thinking skills of several debaters and proved once again that debating is not a dying art.

The schools that participated were:

1. Modern School, Barakhamba Road 2. Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj 3. Springdales School, Pusa Road 4. Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan 5. Bluebells School International 6. Apeejay School, Saket 7. Apeejay School, Sheikh Sarai 8. Don Bosco School, Alaknanda 9. Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar 10. Ryan Iinternational School, Vasant Kunj 11. The Indian School 12. Chiranjiv Bharti, Sushant Lok, Gurgaon 13. Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hissar 14. Maharaja Sawai Mansingh Vidyalaya, Jaipur 15. Colonels Academy, Indore 16. Prestige School, Indore 17. Choitram School, Indore 18. Sarla Birla Gyan Jyoti, Guwahati 19. Maria's Public School, Guwahati 20. Birla Boy's High School, Kolkata 21. The Sunbeam's School , Varanasi (Bhagwanpur) 22. The Sunbeam's School , Varanasi (Lahartara) 23. The Sunbeam's School , Varanasi (Sun City) 24. The Sunbeam's School , Varanasi (Varuna) 25. Delhi Public School, Mathura Road 26. Birla Vidya Niketan,Pushp Vihar 27. Amity International School

The team from Don Bosco was the winner and Modern School, Barakhamba Road, was runner-up.

Siddhanth Law of Don Bosco School bagged the Best Speaker prize and Shivan Chawla of Ryan International School was 2nd. Ummang Sharma of our School received the Judges- Choice Award.

The award for best interjector went to Amogh Sood, Don Bosco School and Nihal Burman, Marias Public School Guwahati took the 2nd prize in the same category.

Report by Ms. Neelima.