The newly elected union of the debating society of Daulat Ram College with its members organised the first debating event of the year, the Intra-College Conventional Debate 2015 on the 26th of September. The motion at hand was “This house believes that marriage is an outdated institution.”

The total number of teams that participated was 14. The judges of the event were Dr. Seema Rani, a teacher from the Hindi department of the college, Ms. Abhipsa Chakraborty, from the English department and Ms. Megha, a graduate of DRC and currently pursuing M.A from Delhi University.

The event kicked off with the felicitation of the convenor of the society and the judges by presenting them bouquets. Then a general introduction of the debating society was given and soon the waiting participants were called on stage to present their debates. As the topic is quite controversial, there wasn’t any dull moment throughout the event.

As the topic is quite controversial, there wasn’t any dull moment throughout the event. It was interesting to get such different perspectives of the students for both, for and against the motion. The few debates that were presented to affirm the motion were strains of patriarchy seen in such an institution, no more than a regressive idea, no space to acknowledge LGBT rights or a homosexual union. Also, live-in relationships were proposed as an alternative because they’re hassle-free. These arguments were refuted by points such as marriage being a stable environment for the development of the kids; people sustaining faith in marriage even after divorce; if the sanctity is nullified then why is the world seeking approval of same-sex marriage; live-in relationships seen just as an excuse to not bear responsibilities and so on.

After the participants had spoken, there was also a small ceremony where the union members were presented with badges of their respective posts by the teachers-in-charge to formally mark their advent in the society. Then, the judges addressed the audience and told them how it’s an endless debate and there will always be two sides to a coin but they are also happy that the students of Delhi University are doing justice to its standards are well-aware and open enough to debate on such topics.  The winners were announced as follows: Akansha Sharma and Aparajita Talwar both of final year, Political Science (H) as the best team of the event, Nisha, 3^rd year, Political Science (H) as the Best Speaker (For), Himadri Bhatt, 2^nd year, Political Science (H) as the Best Speaker (Against) and Arunima, 1^st year, Political Science (H) as the Best Interjector of the event.

“It was great to see such an exceptional participation from students considering it was our society’s first intra-college event. We deliberately kept a topic which every student could relate to. And, seeing it execute well encourages us to organise more such events in the future”, said Disha Singh, president, Debating Society of DRC, after pulling-off the event successfully with the help of her team.

Nishita Agarwal

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Image Credits: Aakriti Jindal