English Debating Society for the year 2015-2016

Faculty in-charge: Dr. Nitish Nawsagaray

The English Debating Society (“Debating Society”) has organised and undertaken various events in the academic year 2015-2016. This academic session saw the sustained participation of students in various inter and intra college events, Parliamentary Debates (“PDs”), Conventional Debates, Model United Nations (“MUNs”) and Elocutions, more than ever before.

Qualifiers
The Debating Society organised the Intra College Parliamentary Debate qualifiers between 31st July and 2nd August 2015. The ranks obtained by the students in these qualifiers served as a basis for selection for participation in inter college debates. This year saw the participation of 85 debaters and 16 adjudicators. Given the overwhelming response of debaters from the 1st year, the qualifiers were conducted in two independent rounds, one for Novices (those teams who have participated in less than 2 Inter-college PDs) and the other round for the seniors. Ziauddin Sherkar (II B.A.LL.B.) and Mohith Gauri (III B.A.LL.B.) won the Senior qualifiers. In the Novice finals, the team comprising Pranav Bafna, Shreya Choudhary and Sruthi Bandhakavi (all I B.A.LL.B.) were adjudged winners against the team of Divya Tyagi, Siddhant Nanodkar and Siddharth Bharti.

4th Justice V.M Tarkunde Memorial National Parliamentary Debate Competition
The 4th Justice V.M Tarkunde National Parliamentary Debate was conducted through 9th – 11th January, 2016. The competition saw participation from 38 teams and 63 adjudicators representing 14 institutions across the country. Students of Vellore Institute of Technology represented by Abhirup Mukherjee, Abhilaksh Sharma and Rohit Sinha won the debate whereas the runners up were a cross team comprising students from MIT, Sloan and IIT- Bombay represented by Partha Sarthi Sharma, Ajinkya Deshpande and Avinaash Anand. Partha Sarthi Sharma from MIT, USA was awarded Best Speaker and Binil Matthew from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi was awarded the Best Adjudicator. Debopriyo Moulik was awarded Best Internal Adjudicator.

The competition was possible with the help of our sponsors – Kranjawala & Co., SCC Online, Rolls Mafia, a popular eatery on Bhandarkar Road Pune and Sling, an app based platform to teach English.

This year, in view of the significant novice participation, saw the addition of Novice Break, a separate round of qualification for debaters with less than 3 prior debates experience. The winning team was from the Vellore Institute of Technology and the event was chaired by Isha Jain.

Film and Televisions Institute of India, our next door neighbours went through a period of unrest and were on strike for a record 139 days. Amidst all the debate regarding the validity and need of the strike, 3 students from FTII and Debopriyo Moulik, Raghav Venkatesh and Shubhanyu Singh representing ILS had a very interesting debate regarding the main issues of the strike.

Produced below is a list of the various activities and achievements of the students in various MUNs, PDs, Conventional Debates and Elocutions.

1. Model United Nations-
   This year saw a massive jump in the MUN participation from ILS. A list has been enumerated below:
   • Rotary India International MUN – Saurav Roy received a High Commendation in the Organisation of Islamic Conference, Ziauddin Sherkar co – chaired the UN High Commissioner on Refugees.
   • Pune MUN – Saurav Roy was the Chairperson of the World Health Assembly (WHA), Ziauddin Sherkar was the Secretary of the Disarmament and International Security Committee General Assembly, Aditi Patil was the Chairperson the Committee of Social Humanitarian and Cultural. Kunal Sarpas (III LL.B.) was adjudged the best delegate For UNCTC.
   • College of Engineering Pune MUN – Saurav Roy received High Commendation in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
   • Indira MUN, Mumbai – Saurav Roy received a Special Mention in the Disarmament and International Security (DISEC).
   • Dynamic Training MUN – Saurav Roy was the chair of the WHA
   • Symbiosis School of Economics MUN – Saurav Roy was the vice-chairman of the ECOSOC, Ziauddin Sherkar won the Best Delegate Award in the ECOSOC.
   • Symbhav MUN, Pune – Saurav Roy was the chairperson of the DISEC. Ziauddin Sherkar was the chairperson of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC).
   • India International MUN, Nashik – Saurav Roy was the Chairperson of the UNHRC.
   • Chaitanya Bharti Institute of Technology MUN, Hyderabad – Ziauddin Sherkar chaired the UNHRC.
   • Mount Carmel College MUN – Ziauddin Sherkar won the Best Delegate award of the UNHRC.
   • GLC MUN, Mumbai – Ziauddin Sherkar was the Vice President of the UN Security Council.
2. Parliamentary Debate–
   Students have represented ILS in various inter-collegiate Parliamentary Debate Competitions namely:
   • St. Xavier’s Bombay – Teams: Debopriyo Moulik and Raghav Venkatesh (Quarter Finalists)
     Adjudicators: Tanya Srivastava (Quarter Finalist), Ananya Iyer (Quarter Finalist)
   • NALSAR, Hyderabad- Teams-Raghav Venkatesh and Debopriyo Moulik (Quarter finalists). Adjudicator- Tarun Srikant (Finalist).
   • Symbiosis Law School, Pune – Parvesh Baba and Lisa Mishra (Quarter Finalists), Mohit Gauri and Ziauddin Sherkar (Finalists), Debopriyo Moulik and Raghav Venkatesh (Runners up)
   • Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune – Teams: Debopriyo Moulik, Raghav Venkatesh (Winners), Ziauddin Sherkar and Mohith Gauri (Semi finalist), Lisa Mishra and Parvesh Baba (Novice Semi Finalist).
     Adjudicators: Tarun Kumar (Adjudicated Novice Finals)
   • GNLU, Gandhinagar – Parvesh Baba and Lisa Mishra (Quarter Finalists).
   • Christ University, Bangalore – Anant Mishra and Sruthi Bandhakavi (Novice Semi Finalist).
   • NUALS Cochin – Anant Mishra, Diksha Mishra and Vamika Jha (Winners), Rajmohan C.V., Anoop George and Nikhil Dubey (Runners up)
   • Indian Women’s Debating Championship, Mumbai- Akhila Palem and Tanisha Bhatia (Quarter Finalists), Sarvy Darbhamulla and Kavya Bharadkar (Quarter Finalist).
     For the first time, we had a clean sweep at a debate by the 1st year students. The NUALS, Cochin Parliamentary Debate saw an ILS v. ILS finals. Our first year students have done us proud by nearly breaking in every major debate. Also, for the first time, ILS won the SSE Debate, Pune in many years. Out of the 11 Debates we participated in this academic year, we broke into quarter finals in 8 debates, Semi finals and finals in 5 debates and won 2 tournaments.
3. Debates and Elocutions-
   In the Nani A. Palkhivala Elocution Contest held by Symbiosis Law School, Pune, Kunal Sarpal was place 3rd. Alefiyah Shipchandler and Saurav Roy were the finalist in the Rotary Club Debate. In the College of Engineering Pune Conventional Debate, Rishab Desai and Saurav Roy did us proud and won the debate. In the Armed Forces Medical College Debate, Pune, Raghav Venkatesh and Shubhanyu Singh were judged winners.

Alumni Participation
The society would like to extend its sincere appreciation and thanks to the Alumni – Mr. Jai Dehadrai, Mr. Govind Manoharan, Mr. Ishan Tuljapurkar and Mr. Shantanu Singh, for all their valuable contribution towards the 4th Justice V.M Tarkunde National Parliamentary Debate and its success.

Students Participation Tally
With the participation of 75 debaters and 36 adjudicators in 11 Parliamentary and 4 Conventional Debates over the year, we have won 2 parliamentary Debates and 2 Conventional Debates and adjudged runners up in 2 PDs and 2 Conventional Debates.

Apart from that, we have been in the semi finals and quarter finals of 5 debates.

ILS Marathi Debating Society
The Marathi Debating Society’s 2015-16 season began with a session on ‘the Basics of Debating and Elocution’. Mr. Nachiket Joshi conducted the session. He explained in detail the nuances associated with debating. This session was attended by over 100 students.

The Society also conducted an intra-college elocution qualifying competition in the month of August. The ranks obtained in the same served as the basis for participation in Debate and Elocution competitions outside the college. This year saw increased participation in various state-level Debate and Elocution competitions, some of which have been produced below:

1. Elocution Competitions:

   Sr. no	Name of Participants	Name of Competition and College	Prizes/Awards Won
   1	Krushna Karche (2nd LL.B.), Mahesh Gadade (2nd B.A.LL.B.), Swapnil Falke (2nd BALL.B.), Deepak Chatap (2nd B.A.LL.B.)	“SANWAD” State Level Elocution Competition, Organized by M. Dahanukar College, Mumbai.	–
   2	Satyajit Lange (1st B.A.LL.B.), Amar Raut (1st B.A.LL.B.)	State Level Elocution Competition, Organized by Seetaram Divekar, college, Varvand, Taluka Daund, District Pune.	–
   3	Sagar Samant (1st B.A.LL.B.), Vaibhav Mahajan (2nd LL.B.)	“KAVERI” State Level Elocution Competition, Organized by Shyamrao Kalmadi College, Pune.	–
   4	Mahesh Gadade (2nd B.A.LL.B.), Swapnil Falke (2nd B.A.LL.B.)	“NIRMAL” State Level Elocution Competition, Organized by Anatrao Thopate College, BHOR, District Pune.	–
   5	Deepak Chatap (2nd B.A.LL.B.), Vaibhav Mahajan (2nd LL.B.)	“VAKTADASHASAHASTRASHU” State Level Elocution Competition, Organized by LOKASATTA NEWS MEDIA.	–
   6	Krushna Karche (2nd LL.B.), Swapnil Falke (2nd B.A.LL.B.)	State Level Elocution Competition, Organized by Fergusson College, Pune	–
   7	Neha Desai (4th B.A.LL.B.), Arti Ranade (4th B.A.LL.B.)	State Level Elocution Competition, Organized by Geeta Dharma Mandal.)	First Prize
   8	Harshita Shahapurkar (2nd B.A.LL.B.), Vaibhav Mahajan (2nd LL.B.)	Sunavani-State Level Elocution Competition, Organized by Dr. D.Y. Patil College Mumbai.	First Prize
   9	Aishwarya Ambulkar (1st B.A.LL.B.), Prajkata Nagarale (1st B.A.LL.B.)	Swatantraveer Sawarkar State Level Elocution Competition, Pune.	Consolation Prize

2. Debate Competitions:
   10 students participated in 5 State Level Debate Competitions:

   Sr. no	Name of Participants	Name of Competition and College	Prizes/Awards Won
   1	Mahesh Gadade (2nd B.A.LL.B.), Deepak Chatap (2nd B.A.LL.B.)	Rambahu Mhalagi State Level Debate Competition, Pune.	–
   2	Mahesh Gadade (2nd B.A.LL.B.), Vishakha Gadekar (3rd B.A.LL.B.)	State Level Debate Competition, Organized by M.P. law college, Aurangabad.	–
   3	Mahesh Gadade (2nd B.A.LL.B.), Aishwarya Ambulkar (1st B.A.LL.B.)	State Level Debate Competition, Organized by, G.H. Raisoni College, Pune.	Best Speaker
   4	Mahesh Gadade (2nd B.A.LL.B.), Swapnil Falke (2nd B.A.LL.B.)	“Anant” State Level Debate Competition, Organized by Anatrao Thopate college, BHOR, Dist: Pune.	–
   5	Dhanashree Kendhe (3rd LL.B.),Krushna Karche (2nd LL.B.)	Justice Ranade State Level Debate Competition, Pune.	Consolation Prize

3. Essay Competition:

   Sr. no	Name of Participants	Name of Competition and College	Prizes/Awards Won
   1	Prajakta Nagrale (II B.A.LL.B.)	Seva Prabodhini” State-Level Essay Writing Competition	Consolation Prize

7th State Level Marathi Elocution Competition:
Marathi Debating Society organized the 7th edition of the ILS State-level Elocution Competition on 15th December 2015. 29 students from all over Maharashtra participated in the competition. The participants were given four topics to speak in the preliminary round. The final round was extempore round. The competition was judged by Adv. Pritesh Deshpande, Mr. Swapnil Bapat, Mr. Yogesh Parale, and Ms. Swati Kulkarni.
Following are the winners of competition:

1. First position – Arjun Nalawade, Pune University, Pune.
2. Second position – Ishawari Pendhase, S. P. College, Pune.
3. Third position – Aditya Kulkarni, Sathe College, Mumbai.