– Gazal Jain
Jaipuria Noida

On Friday, the 30th of August, judges entered the auditorium a little before 3PM, escorted by the coordinators of the finance club along with the faculty members. The audience and participants were already in their places; everyone was waiting with bated breath for the debate competition that was about to begin at Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida.

“Is the Food Security Bill the need of the hour?” was the very current and extremely relevant topic of discussion for the day. Prof. Anurag Singh, the faculty coordinator of the Finance Club, along with Dr. Shikha Bhatia, Prof. Moid, Prof. V. K.Tomarand, of course, Dr. Rajiv Thakur, Director, Noida were present on the occasion. Mr. Anoop Jairath, a C.A. by profession and with work experience of around 25 years, was one of the judges. The other judge was Mr. R.C.Gupta. There were 24 participants in the debate, hailing from 10 management institutes in Delhi and the NCR, including 4 participants from Jaipuria Noida, all of whom were raring to go.

The event commenced with a formal welcome being extended to the judges, followed by words of encouragement by the Director. The debate ensued, with speakers for and against the motion taking alternate turns; there were various rebuttals as well. Those who were in favour of the motion believed that the Bill was useful because it could lead to the upliftment of the poor and could raise their standard of living. According to those opposed to the idea, it was nothing but a stunt staged by political parties to grab votes, especially since elections were just around the corner. Put simply, many speakers seemed to imply that the general message going out to people would be “If food is free, why work?”

Once all the participants were done, it was time for the inauguration of the e-newsletter launched by the finance club- Hiranya- The Crunch. It was launched by Prof. Anurag Singh and the President of Hiranya, Kartik Mishra. The publication included articles by students and columns by faculty members, touching on current affairs and many more relevant subjects. Before the declaration of the results, the judges expressed their gratitude and shared their experiences, while also congratulating the participants and organisers.

Finally, the results were announced and Prashant Tiwari (against the motion) from Apeejay Institute of Management bagged the winner’s trophy. Yogesh Sood from JRE School of Business was the 1st runner –up, and Geetika Goel from Jaipuria Noida came in as the 2nd runner –up. The event was an outstanding success, leaving the organisers overwhelmed with joy. They are now looking forward to more such gatherings, where knowledge and excitement come together for better and bigger reasons.