21st Dr Amidas Goradia National Debate in English

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate

Hubert H. Humphrey

The Indian School hosted the 21st edition of the Dr Amidas Goradia National Debate in English on 9 and 10 August 2022 via the Zoom Pro platform.

The prestigious debate saw the participation of 39 prominent schools from Delhi and cities across the length and breadth of India. It also included the participation of Indian School, Muscat.

Principal, Ms Tania Joshi, warmly welcomed the participating schools and appreciated their role in helping the debate grow over the years.

Ms Brinda Goradia Shroff, chairperson of the School Managing Committee, introduced our illustrious chief guest, Smt. Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi and Bharat Ratna C. Rajagopalachari.

Ms Shroff, in her brief welcome note, said it was a privilege to have the distinguished humanitarian address the gathering on the 75th anniversary of India's independence and exhorted the participants to take wins and losses in their stride as these equally contribute to learning.

Smt Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, author and former Vice Chairperson, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, congratulated The Indian School for its inspirational role in celebrating the 150th birth commemoration of Sri Aurobindo and the 125th birth commemoration of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose; Bicentenary of Fyodor Dostoevsky and the centenary birth commemorations of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Federico Fellini; 100th anniversary of the publication of James Joyce's Ulysses in novel form and T.S Eliot's The Wasteland.

Smt Bhattacharjee explained how Gandhi's passive resistance never meant being silent spectator but devising a constructive way of thinking and working. She described non violence as the tool of a brave person.

Mr Parnab Mukherjee, leading alternative theatre person, visual art curator, spoken word artist, and campus public speaking expert moderated the debate with elan.

The debate was co judged by Mr Partha Banerjee, eminent playwright, and Mr Abhishek Pal, independent writer.

The multi-module debate commenced with preliminary rounds of extempore, turncoat and bridge.

The extempore provided a forum for the well informed participants to speak their minds on diverse topics like a faded handwritten letter inside a diary; elephants in the room, bird in a cage, dried up river, facing the mirror -seeing no reflection, etcetera.

The topics for the turncoat debate covered a diverse range of contemporary issues like " This house regrets the commodification of indigenous cultures; " The UN will be a metaphor for a failed international platform unless it redeems itself in Ukraine"; " Global corporate greed and not Covid 19 is the biggest and harshest ongoing pandemic"; " Instead of improving information access to all, the internet has led to an increase in information bias" and several more in a similar vein.

Each round saw the participants express, articulate and accentuate their lines of thought and perspectives with conviction, confidence and flourish.

The qualifying teams in the first semi-final included Sunbeam School Lahartara, DPS, Greater Noida, DPS, R K Puram and Sanskriti School.

The second semi-final round witnessed Indian School, Muscat, Welham Girls' School, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Kolkata (AGAINST) and the host school, The Indian School, engage in a well-contested battle to reach the final round.

[gallery link="file" order="DESC"]

The four teams to emerge victorious: Sunbeam School, Lahartara, Welham Girls School, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Kolkata and The Indian School, hotly debated the motion: "This house believes that the present physical and mental condition of humanity is preferable to its condition in 100 years".

The block and tackle round was an exercise in flustering and tormenting the ebullient speakers.They fiercely and seamlessly presented their motion by switching to the annunciation of block and tackle by the skilled moderator.

The speakers adroitly maneuvered the following block and tackle motions without losing their calm.

This house believes that Commonwealth reminds us of colony and colonialism ( The Indian School, New Delhi.)

This house is a constructed illusion (Mahadevi Birla Academy, Kolkata)

This house believes that the time is now ( Sunbeam School, Lahartara)

This house believes that world peace is a constant delusion ( Welham Girls', Dehradun)

The Indian School debating team comprising Manan Kakkar (11 A), Ekveer Sahoo (11 A), and Arham Khan (12 A) won the First Runners-up trophy, but being hosts, they declined, and it rolled over to the team from Welham Girls'.

Manan Kakkar was declared Overall Best Speaker.

Damak Saxena (12 D), Jasleen Kaur (12 C), Sejal Gupta (11 A), Shamit Sharma (11 C) and Vahid Ghanbari Sissan (12 D) compered the proceedings.

As he announced the winners, Mr Parnab Mukherjee, appreciated the efforts of The Indian School to keep advancing the spirit of debate for a glorious 21 years.

The Prafull Foundation magnanimously sponsored the impressive list of awards to encourage young talent and promote excellence in public speech.

The following took trophies home:

1 .Best Delegation (overall) - Sunbeam School, Lahartara, Varanasi

2. First Runner-up- The Indian School

3. Joint Third Position -

1. Welham Girls' School, Dehradun

2. Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Kolkata

4. Best Outstation team - Indian School, Muscat

5. Joint Best Delegation - Research

1. DPS, Greater Noida

2. Sanskriti School

6. Three Best Speakers - Turncoat

1. Priyal Jain, Ahlcon International School

2. Syana Warsi, Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute,Srinagar

3. Chandrani Sur, Sunbeam School, Mughal Sarai

7. Three Best Speakers - Extempore

1. Aashman Tiwari, St. Columbas School

2. Archir Luhana, Navrachana Higher Secondary School, Sama

3. Kavyam Khanna, Strawberry Fields High School

8. Best Reply Speech - Vidushi Jaidka, DPS R.K.Puram

9. Three Best Speech writers - Bridge Round

1. Jyotsana Raj, DPS, Gaya

2. Jiya Rajwani, Tagore International School, East of Kailash

3. Srishti Ranjan, DAV Public School, Hazaribag

10. Two Best Speakers (semi-final I )

1. Swayam Ranjan, DPS, Greater Noida

2. Bhumika Sharma, Sunbeam School, Lahartara

11. Two Best Speakers (semi-final II)

1. Tamanna Ghosh, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Kolkata

2. Himanshi Gupta, Welham Girls' School, Dehradun

12. Best Speaker (finals)

Rutvi Mahendra, Sunbeam School, Lahartara, Varanasi

13. Overall Best Speaker - Manan Kakkar, The Indian School

14. Best Speaker (block and tackle)- Ahana Banerjee, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Kolkata

15. Best Interjector- Vidushi Amresh Mohan, Welham Girls' School, Dehradun

16. Most Promising Speaker (turncoat)- Himanshi Gupta, Welham Girls' School, Dehradun

17. Most Promising Speaker (extempore)- Vidushi Jaidka, DPS R.K.Puram

18. Most Promising Speech writer - Aryan Dwivedi, Birla Vidya Mandir, Nainital

For More Pictures...Click here