Delhi Public School R.K.Puram hosted the 17th Annual Dhruv Rajgarhia Memorial Inter School Debate on 10 August, 2018. The event saw active participation of 15 schools from all over Delhi, NCR.
Dhruv Rajgarhia, a young student of the school passed away in 2002. Dhruv is affectionately remembered as a keen sportsman, an eager debater, a peacemaker and somebody with an unparalleled zest for living. The debate was instituted by his grandfather, Late Shri K. L. Rajgarhia in his memory, with the aim of building up debating and oratorical skills amongst the students.
The Rajgarhia family and Ms Jonaki Sarma, the Teacher In-charge for the event, along with her team of teachers, graced the occasion with their presence.
The judges for the event were: Mr Daanish Kaushal, representative for the Hindu College English Debating Society at Delhi University; Ms Shagun Sethi, former Head Girl of DPS RKP and President of Debating Society at JMC; Ms. Devika Oberai, Secretary of Debating Society at JMC; Ms Pramiti Singh, Vice President of the Debating Society at JMC; Mr Anany Jain, former member of Debating Society of College of Business Studies at DU; Mr Vijeeth Srinivas, studying at Kirori Mal College; Ms Sheryl Sahni, studying at JMC; Ms Radhika Sharma, student of Law at King’s College, London; Mr Jatin Jha, Ex-president of DebSoc and currently studying at Hindu College; Mr Niket Khadgawat, studying at Hansraj College; Ms Spriha Saxena, President of Debating Society of IP College and Jagnoor Singh, member of Debating Society of Sri Venkateswara College.
The debate consisted of two parts – The first was the Preliminary Round, and the second constituted the Quarter, Semi and Final rounds.
The Preliminary round composed of 3 events – a Classical, an Extempore and a Turncoat debate.
The participants articulated and exemplified their dynamic viewpoints before the house.
The motion for the Classical Debate – “This house would make posthumous organ donations opt-out in India” – was given two weeks prior, with the stance assigned on the day of the event.
The Extempore Debate required the participants to demonstrate their stance on motions such as “The house believes that true women’s liberation is compatible with the existence of organized religion” and “The house believes that government should prioritize policies that reduce social inequality over economic growth”, which were given on the spot.
The Turncoat Debate required the participants to speak both, for and against the motion which was given on the spot. Motions like, “The house believes that the LGBTQ+ community should be more prominently featured in children’s’ education and media” and “The house believes that the feminist movement should campaign for the equal sexualisation of men in the media as opposed to campaigning against the sexualisation of women”, were given.
The three best speakers in each of the categories of the Preliminary round were awarded.
The second part of the event consisted of an Asian Parliamentary Style Debate. There were two teams- the opposition and the proposition, each consisting three participants representing The Prime Minister, The Deputy Prime Minister, Government Whip, Leader of Opposition, Deputy Leader of Opposition and Opposition Whip.
Eight of the original fifteen teams qualified for the Quarter Finals. The motions put before the teams were- “The house believes that post genocide regimes should destroy all places of extermination”, “The house believes that people who abuse drugs should be treated as public health concerns instead of criminals”, “The house believes that versions of history taught by states to the education system should not be designed to promote national pride”, “The house supports moral policing of school and undergraduate students in romantic relationships”.
After an intense discussion, four teams went on to compete in the semi-finals. “Eugenics should be used to improve the quality of human population” and “The house believes that media organisations should disseminate sensitive information pertaining to national security” were the motions presented to the semi finalists.
The two best teams headed for the anticipated finals. It was the only round to feature a reply speech. The Finals took place on the motion- “In democratic post colonial states, the house would ban parties from using their involvement with the independence movement as their current rhetoric”. The students spoke with eloquence and argued their case with great zeal. All the judges of the event were present to adjudicate it.
The Prize Distribution was conducted by Mr Rajgarhia, Mr Mukesh Kumar, the School Supervisor and Ms Jonaki Sarma, the Teacher In-charge.
| POSITION | NAME | SCHOOL | |
| TURNCOAT DEBATE | FIRST | KANIKA KAUR | SPRINGDALES, DHAULA KUAN |
| SECOND | AATIF HUSSAIN | THE INDIAN SCHOOL | |
| THIRD |
RAYANA HUSSAIN
|
THE BRITISH SCHOOL | |
| EXTEMPORE DEBATE | FIRST | AVANTIKA CHODHA | THE INDIAN SCHOOL |
| SECOND | YASHWARDHAN CHAWDHARY | SPRINGDALES, PUSA ROAD | |
| THIRD | MOHIT MOHAN | SPRINGDALES, DHAULA KUAN | |
| CLASSICAL DEBATE | FIRST | ADITYA SHUKLA | DPS, VASANT KUNJ |
| SECOND | HIYA CHOWDHARY | SPRINGDALES, PUSA ROAD | |
| THIRD | HARDIK CHETAL | GD GOENKA, VASANT KUNJ |
| QUARTER FINALISTS |
SEMI FINALISTS |
FINALISTS |
| SPRINGDALES, PUSA ROAD | SPRINGDALES, PUSA ROAD | SPRINGDALES, DHAULA KUAN |
| SPRINGDALES, DHAULA KUAN | ||
| THE INDIAN SCHOOL | SPRINGDALES, DHAULA KUAN | |
| DPS,VASANT KUNJ | ||
| THE HERITAGE SCHOOL ROHINI | THE INDIAN SCHOOL | THE INDIAN SCHOOL |
| DPS, DWARKA | ||
| DPS, MATHURA ROAD | THE HERITAGE SCHOOL, ROHINI. | |
| DPS,MATHURA ROAD |
The 1st Best Speaker Award went to Avantika Choda, The Indian School.
The 2ND Best Speaker Award went to Kanika Kaur, Springdales, Dhaula Kuan .
The 3rd Best Speaker Award went to Aatif Husain, The Indian School.
The overall winner was Springdales, Dhaula Kuan.
The runner up was The Indian School.
