National Level Debate Competition “Vaktavya” Held at Xavier University, Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar: RMAX, the Rural Managers’ Association of Xavier School of Rural Management, Xavier University, Bhubaneswar, organized “Vaktavya”- A National Level Debate Competition in association with Bakul Foundation on 30th July 2017. Every year the participating teams discuss and debate on topics pertaining to rural scenario, business and policy matters. The panel for this year had Mr. Sujit Mahapatra, Founder of Bakul Foundation, Mr. Biswajit Bhuyan, an alumnus of Xavier School of Rural Management and Management Trainee at Annapurna Microfinance Pvt. Ltd., Prof. T. Kumar, Assistant Professor, Xavier School of Rural Management, Xavier University, Bhubaneswar and Prof. P.K Mishra, Assistant Professor, Xavier School of Rural Management, Xavier University Bhubaneswar.
In his keynote address, Mr. Sujit Mahapatra stressed on intolerance and the lack of space for dissent in the country and how it has led to the fall of debating culture. The floor covered the following topics :
• Cashless economy refers to financial transactions without using physical cash. Is it really worth to become a cashless economy?
• Union Budget is the annual report of India’s finances for the financial year. Is Union Budget 2017-18 beneficial for the common man
• Do we really need smart cities
• “Digital India” was launched by the Government of India to achieve three inter-connected goals, which are : Availability of high speed internet, E-Governance, Digital Empowerment. How far was it a success
• Jio business model is sustainable or not
• Donald Trump’s presidency- Impact on India
• Merger of PSU banks is really necessary
Twenty college teams from the likes of Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur, Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune, School of Agri-Business Management, PJTSAU and Xavier University, Bhubaneshwar, participated in “Vaktavya” 2017. The winning title was clinched by the Team Blink comprising of Sourav Acharya & Siddhant Sahoo from XIMB-XUB. The runners up were Team Gaonwaley comprising of Sambit Bastia & Souvik Gupta from XSRM-XUB.