Amity I Believe

AMITY I BELIEVE DEBATE CHALLENGE

I believe ... in standing up for what is right, even if it means standing alone!

OCTOBER 3-4, 2013

AMITY UNIVERSITY LUCKNOW CAMPUS

            Amity Business School Lucknow in association with TimesPro, organized

“Amity I Believe Debate Challenge” on October 3-4 2013, “Amity I Believe” is designed as an annual inter-institute debate competition of amity Business school. The purpose was to provide a platform to the youth to exhibit their leadership and communication skills. It required students to engage in foundational research, encourage the development of listening and oratory skills, create an environment where students must think critically and tolerate differing viewpoints. It also provided an outlet for the youth to express what they believe in.

            It was a two-day event with its preliminary round on October 3, 2013 and the final on October 4, 2013. Participation was invited from students in different institutes/ colleges of Uttar Pradesh and other states. A rigorous social media advertising using a blog and Facebook was carried out to reach out to the potential participants who could register themselves online.

The event received an enormous response from all across India. Total 53 teams of two members each, participated in the event. These teams wee from various colleges and universities of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The response from AUUP Lucknow campus was overwhelming. More than 40 teams had registered from AUUP Lucknow Campus itself, which led to an internal screening round on 28the September to find out the best teams from each institute. Seventeen teams finally participated from AUUP Lucknow Campus.

            The topic for the preliminary round was declared in advance. It was “An individualistic approach is more relevant than following societal norms”. The topic for the final round was declared after the declaration of results of the preliminary round. It was “CAG and Judiciary are to be blamed for India’s economic travails”.

Amity I Believe

The details of the teams are as given below:

Due to a large number of participants, two consecutive panels were set up in the preliminary round for the screening of finalists. The judges included Prof. Vineet

Amity I Believe

David (Department of English, Lucknow University), Mr. Anant Kulkarni (Senior Vice President, ICICI Pru), Ms. Anima Chakravorty (Head of Department-English, IT College, Lucknow), Ms. Arshita Das (Vice Principal, La Martiniere Girls College, Lucknow), Dr. Kumkum Ray (Director, Amity School of Languages, Lucknow) and Prof. S.M. Johri (Director, Amity School of Communications, Lucknow) who all are luminaries from their respective field. During the screening round, the teams were not allowed to disclose the name of their affiliated institutes so as to eliminate any biases.

After a grueling preliminary round, top six teams were shortlisted for the final round, which was held on 4^th October, 2013. It was a proud moment for Amity University that all the 6 teams, which qualified for the final were representing AUUP Lucknow (Ritwik Sharma & Syed Ifrah Ali; Ritika Dhillon & Abdul Rehman Malik), One team from amity Law School Lucknow (Siddhant Kohli & ananttika singh), one team from Amity School of Communications Lucknow (Kumar Mayur Senapati & Pavni Mehrotra), one team from Amity Law School Noida (Suhas K. Hosmani & Arjun Gupta and one team from Amity Business School Noida (Zoya Mushtaq Ansari & L. Kranthi Kumar).

The panel of judges for the final round consisted of eminent personalities like Hon’ble Justice Vishnu Sahai (Judge High Court-Retd.), Dr. Amrita Dass (founder Director, Institute for Career Studies), Mr. Kumar Lalit (Head HR, Tata Motors), Mr. Sharad Pradhan (Senior Journalist, Representing American News Agency, Reuters) and Mr. Mahesh Kumar (Business Head, Times Centre for Learning). The moderator of the debate was Prof. Meenakshi Pawha (Department of English, Lucknow University).

The event started with an opening address by Maj. Gen. K.K. Ohri, Pro Vice Chancellor, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow Campus. It was followed by a welcome address by Prof. V.P. Sahi, Director Amity Business School & and a briefing by Prof. R.P. Gupta, Chairperson, Organizing Committee.

The format for the finals was based on Mace Debate Format, and had three rounds: round 1-I Believe, Round 2- The rebuttal & Round 3- Free Voice. In the “I Believe” Round, The main speaker of each team had to present his views on the subject in 5 minutes. In “the Rebuttal”, the participants had to answer questions put forth by the opponent team members. The “Free Voice” session was opened to the floor, in which the teams handled queries from the audience. The session was engrossing and the audience had the pleasure of listening to some of the best oratory skills at Amity. It was followed by summing up by the moderator. Hon’ble Justice Vishnu Sahai, in his address to the audience emphasized on the qualities of a good debator. He also presented his view on the topic of the debate.

Amity I Believe

The trophies & prizes were distributed to the winner team of Siddhant Kohli & Ananttika Singh (ALS, Lucknow), 1^st runner up team of Kumar Mayur Senapati & Pavni Mehrotra (ASCO, Lucknow), and 2^nd runner up team of Ritwik Sharma & Syed Ifrah Ali (ABS, Lucknow), gifts were also presented to the other three teams qualified for the finals, as a token of appreciation. Certificates for participation were distributed to all the 106 participants of 53 teams.

Timespro was the associate partner of the event and offered a magnanimous sponsorship amounting to Rs. One lakh. Samsung India Limited sponsored the prizes for the winner and first runner up team. It included two Samsung Tab3 T2110 and two Samsung Trend S7362 (smart phones) worth Rs. 56,000. Fastrack watches were presented to the 2^nd Runner Up & the three finalist teams.

The event was attended by a gathering of more than 500 people, which included students, faculty members from the colleges participating from outstation as well as Lucknow. The event also witnessed the presence of heads of departments/ institutes of Amity University, faculty and students of Amity Business School. It was heartening to note that many faculty members from other departments of Amity University Lucknow Campus made it a point to attend the debate. The participating students were offered T-shirts with Amity I Believe Debate Challenge logo printed on it as a souvenir especially prepared for the event.

The event culminated with the announcement of the foundation of the Debating Society of Amity University Lucknow Campue. At the end of preliminary and the final rounds, Vote of Thanks was given by Dr. Fatima Beena and Dr. Pallavi Srivastava, respectively. Mr. Samarth Pandey was the anchorperson on both the days, who with his wits and humour, had the audience went satisfied with the quality of deliverables. The outstation candidates also went back happy and satisfied with the signature experience of being at Amity University Lucknow Campus

AMITY I BELIEVE DEBIT CHALLENGE

I BELIEVE DEBATE CHALLENGE

I BELIEVE DEBATE CHALLENGE

I BELIEVE DEBATE CHALLENGE