13th Season of the Dr. D.R. Singh Memorial British Parliamentary Debate, Ludhiana

Participation of PGDM-International Business Students in 13th Season of the Dr. D.R. Singh Memorial British Parliamentary Debate, Ludhiana

 
Date: 10th & 11th February, 2023
Organized by: Ludhiana Management Association in association with the PCTE Group of Colleges, Ludhiana

About the 13th Season of the Dr. D.R. Singh Memorial British Parliamentary Debate: The Dr. Singh Memorial The British Parliamentary Debate is an annual event of the PCTE Group of Colleges. The topics of the debate cover recent geopolitical and international trade developments. The British parliamentary debate has a set format where two teams (the Proposition and the Opposition) consisting of four members each are made to face each other. The four members of each team decide and take on four different roles, namely, leader, deputy leader, member, and whip. Every member is given a stipulated time to deliver his part.

On February 9, 2023, four students of the PGDM-International Business batch 2022–2024, namely Rahul Baheti, Varnika Bharadwaj, Devika Krishnanand, and Kirtan Tambakuwala, left for Ludhiana to participate and represent BIMTECH at the 13th edition of the Dr. DR. Singh Memorial British Parliamentary Debate. After their arrival in Ludhiana by train, the students were accommodated at the International Hostel of PCTE College. The 2-day event was to be held on 10th and 11th Feb 2023. 

On February 10, 2023, the event started with an inaugurator ceremony in the presence of Mr VK Goyal, Executive Director, SEL & Former President, LMA, and Mr Shobhan Soi, General Secretary, LMA, and was followed by an orientation session on British Parliamentary Debate by Ms Harpreet Kaur Kang, Senior Vice President, LMA, and Dean International Affairs, PCTE. The event was held in a knockout format and started with a Round of 64; the BIMTECH team was given a pass by due to the absence of their opponent team in the first round. In the Round of 32, BIMTECH faced the team from Shoolini University, Solan. The topic for the debate was “The house believes that Japan is missing out on the world map”, After an hour of preparation, the debate started, and BIMTECH turned out to be the winner, advancing to the Round of 16.

In the pre-quarterfinal stage (Round of 16), BIMTECH faced IIM Jammu, and the topic for the debate was “The house believes that China cannot surpass USA supremacy”, After 40 minutes of preparation time, the debate started. After a very fierce competition from both sides and 1.5 hours of judging time, IIM Jammu won the round by a close margin. The event went on, with the quarterfinals being held on the same day.

On 11th Feb 2023, day 2 of the debate started. The semi finals and finals were to be held on Day 2. Team NIT Jalandhar won the competition, and Ramjas College and Delhi University were the runners-up. The BIMTECH team returned to campus on February 12, 2023.

Learnings from the event: Although the results didn’t go their way, the BIMTECH team returned with experiential learnings that would stay with them for their lifetime. The event not only broadened the geopolitical knowledge base of the participants but also taught them the structured approach to public speaking. Right from the pre-event preparation to on-ground preparation under high-pressure situations, all the experiences filled the participants with more confidence, which will definitely help them in their MBA journey. 

The team would also like to take this opportunity to thank the event organizers and the hospitality team at PCTE College for their warm hospitality. The team would also like to thank Dr Anuj Sharma, Chairperson, International Business Programme, BIMTECH, Dr. Monika Jain, Course Co-ordinator and Ms. Rupali Singh, Senior Manager, IB Program, BIMTECH, for giving them this wonderful learning opportunity. Special thanks to Dr. Khanindra Ch. Das for their constant guidance throughout the event. A special mention goes to our alumnus from the PGDM-IB batch 2018-20, Mr. Sanikant Kumar, who is working as a faculty member at PCTE College and guided the team throughout the event and helped them with everything in Ludhiana.