Intra Departmental Debate Competition Report

Saturday saw the first edition of the INTRA DEPARTMENTAL DEBATE COMPETITION held by the Metallurgy department of IT BHU , under the students chapter of IIM , the Varanasi branch of the Indian Institute of Metals , Kolkata.

Previously , 21 teams of 2 members each, ranging from students from the first year to the fourth year participated in a preliminary round that saw many able debaters compete against each other for selection into the final round. For the final round held on 17th January , five teams were selected to speak on the topic "Metallurgical Engineering Undergraduates: Job vs Higher Studies".

The teams comprised of
Deep Jariwala and Avishek Sarkar from third year
Rudra Pandey and Ayush Kapoor from third year
Naman Kaushik and Baliga Abhijit from second year
Tapan Acharya and Divyajyoti Das from first year
Rahul Singh Chauhan and Piyush Pandey from third year
A sixth team , Himanshu Agrawal and Jitendra Kumar Singh from 2nd year , was selected on the basis of a lottery to compete with other five teams.

Gracing the occasion were the faculty members of the department of Metallurgy, including Prof. Ghose, Prof. N. Prasad, Prof. G.V.S. Sastry, Prof. Ojha, etc. Judges for the event were Prof. N.Prasad, Prof. Ghose and Shri J.P. Gautam.

Master of Ceremony Gaurav Garg from 3rd year Metallurgy kick started the event with a welcome speech. The first speakers were Deep Jariwala and Avishek Sarkar. Putting their points fluently and directly, the speakers engaged the audience into the topic.

The crowd also participated actively in the discussion by grilling each speaker about his views and clarifying their doubts. All in all, the experience was enlighting. As the final round wrapped up, the MC requested Prof. A.K. Ghose to mount the stage to present his precious views on the day`s discussion. Prof. Ghose lauded the students on thier effort at managing the inaugural debate and especially praised the organising students of 2nd and 3rd year to have carried out the proceedings efficiently. He then provided critical views about the speakers of the day, pointing out both their positive and negative points. He then invited Dr. N. Prasad, Dr. G.V.S. Sastry and Dr. S.N. Ojha to point out the advantages of both going for a job and pursuing higher studies. Each professor, though biased towards higher studies, did provide highly enlightening views on the scope of the subject, which proved very informative to the students, especially those of the first year.

Finally, the judges were ready with the scores and MC Gaurav Garg announced the names of the winners. The third year team of Rudra Pandey and Ayush Kapoor was adjudged the best team of the day, while Naman Kaushik and Baliga Abhijit from second year came a close second. Prizes for the best speaker went to Ayush Kapoor and Naman Kaushik.

MC Gaurav Garg thanked all the faculty members for taking their precious time out to attend the inaugural Intra Departmental Debate. Winding up on a congratulatory note, Prof. Ghose said he hoped the department held such informative discussions and events in the future.