DEROZIAN X’24 SHOWCASES DEBATING SPIRIT OF STUDENTS ACROSS UG SCHOOLS OF XIM UNIVERSITY
Bhubaneswar(09/03/2024): The Department of English, School of Liberal Arts, XIM University Bhubaneswar organised its Annual Debate Competition, Derozian X’24 on March 8 to showcase the debating spirit of the students across the UG schools of this Jesuit University.
The purpose of this annual event is the promotion of critical thinking so the students are able to effectively question the stereotypes for the betterment of society.
The motion of this year debate completion is “AI will degrade our science and debase our ethics.” The event was organised by Dr.
Abhik Mukherjee, the Literary Club Coordinator, Department of English.
Another faculty coordinator was Fr.Bipin, Department of English.
A student committee coordinated by Ayushi Nanda, a first year English (Hons.) student was formed for the smooth conduct of the event.
Kayna Virdi, the emcee of the event welcomed numerous faculty members, undergraduate students, and esteemed guests, including the Dean of the School of Liberal Arts, Dr.P V Padma, and the Head of the Department of English, Dr.Sudha Mishra, to witness the annual debate competition, Derozian X’24 and she compèred the whole event suavely.
Dr.Sudha Mishra set the tone for the event with a warm welcome address, followed by a thought-provoking keynote address delivered by Dr.Abhik Mukherjee.
On the onset of the astonishing debating, Yasaswee, one of the student coordinators clearly explained the rules and regulations of the competition.Ten students, five representing each motion were selected to compete for and against the motion.
Anwesha Khilar (School of Liberal Arts), Basudev Nayak (School of Law), Devanshi Das (School of Commerce), Prakriti Mitra (Xavier Law School) and Shivam (School of Sustainability) debated for the motion and Gauransh Chhabra (School of Commerce), Adyasha Priyadarshini (Xavier Law School), Shaija Sinha (School of Commerce), Sai Subham Kumar Behera School of Law), Anam Saqib (School of Computer Science and Engineering) spoke against the motion.
Dr.Pradip Kundu, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Dr.Manisha Chakraborty, Professor of Law helped in the evaluation process of competitors’ performance.
The debaters who spoke for the motion emphasised on the ethical and technological threats AI is capable of posing to the society, especially to the unprivileged part of society by controlling their choices and encroaching on their privacy.
On the contrary, the debaters who spoke against the motion focused on the great technological marvels that AI could do to us by making our life simpler and more exciting in great many ways.
All the debaters unravelled some mysterious and complicated aspects of AI that the greatest scientists, philosophers, linguists, thinkers and social reformers across the globe expressed so far and they substantialised them with many practical and real-life examples to defend their take on AI.
Ayushi Nanda moderated the argument and question-answer rounds skilfully.
The debate continued for one and half hours.
Anwesha Khilar from the School of Liberal Arts (SLA) and Anam Saqib from the School of Computer Science and Engineering (SCSE) were awarded the Best Speaker in favour of the motion, and against the motion respectively.
Cash prizes totalling 8000 were awarded to the deserving winners, acknowledging their exceptional Derozian spirit, debating skills and relevant knowledge.
Every participant also received a medal and a certificate for their extraordinary debating performance that made them eligible to compete in this event.
The annual debate competition, Derozian X’24, epitomized the spirit of intellectual inquiry and academic rigor that define the Department of English and School of Liberal of Arts XIM University Bhubaneswar.
