Sizzling debates mark the ‘Worlds’

Eight students on stage making a case, arguing, countering, questioning if India should adopt radical free market policies, deregulate labour markets, privatise state enterprise and allow more foreign investment. It’s the final round of the annual World Universities Debating Championships (or Worlds, what everybody in it calls it), in Chennai on January 3, and the students debating Indian economic policy are from Harvard, Cambridge, Glasgow and Sydney universities.

No doubt, it’s fun to watch. Retorts fly, few smirks are hidden and audacity isn’t in short supply. The debaters make up with style where they skid on fact. Occasionally, it feels smoke-and-mirrors, but they are articulate, and quick with comebacks and counterpoints. Little wonder then when we are informed that McKinsey has first dibs on the resumes of participants and has been a close observer at Worlds for a few years now, often offering those catching its eye internships and full-time positions with the consultancy.

Conducted by the World Universities Debating Council, Worlds is considered one among the most prestigious inter-collegiate debating tournaments globally. This is the first time an Indian university (Rajalakshmi Institutions, Chennai) is hosting it. This year, over 1,200 students from 62 countries participated in the five-day-long tournament, through nine preliminary rounds, the knockouts and the finals. The participants are categorised into three groups, based on whether they are native speakers of English or have learnt English as a second or a foreign language. This year was also the first time that Indian students (from IIT Bombay), who debate in the second language category, reached the knockout stage, with 32 other universities from around the world.

format A debate topic can be practically anything. Debaters are given the motion and the positions they are to take (for or against the motion) only about 15 minutes before the debate starts. Electronic devices are banned in the time they get to prepare, so Google is not a click away. Abhay Singh, President of the Indian Debating Union, a guest at Worlds and a seasoned debater himself, says professional debaters carry with them thick stashes of printed notes on facts, pointers on a variety of subjects and notes from previous debates. He has one too, which he flips through when he needs to quote Carl Jung on ancient India during our interview.

The UK-based Harish Natarajan, chief adjudicator at Chennai Worlds, has attended the championships seven times, three as a participant and the remaining as judge. To participate, he says, being a specialist in a subject isn’t good enough. Your range of knowledge must span science, politics, philosophy, literature and everything that comes in between. Singh says that debating is a life skill which teaches you the art of persuasion. No surprise then that an overwhelming of Worlds regulars study law.

Regardless, it is normal to be blindsided when a range of subjects are flung at you thick and fast. Mifzal Mohammed, a law student at the Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia, says a motion during the prelims on commoditising indigenous culture completely threw him. He laughs trying to explain how he got his head around the subject but looks none the worse for wear now. Besides, his university is also hosting the Worlds next year, so it’s still exciting.

On stage, arguments fly back and forth on vote bank politics, Gujarat’s growth rate, blackouts, potholes, Chennai’s metro rail project and the Industrial Disputes Act before it settles, predictably, into Walmart and India’s intentions with foreign retailers. Eventually, Josh Zoffer and Ben Sprung-Keyser of Harvard, who supported the free-market motion, win worlds 2014. In the English as a second language category, Dessislava Kirova and Kai Dittmann of Berlin University win the final debate on whether countries must pay other countries to settle asylum-seekers within their borders. In the English as foreign language category, Vicario Reinaldo and Fauzan Reza Maulana of Bandung University, Indonesia, win after debating whether multinational companies should be liable for human rights abuses that occur in their supply chain. As much as this is about a meeting of student intellectuals, the cross-cultural contact matters as well, says Vignesh Viswanathan, convener of Chennai Worlds and an alumnus of Rajalakshmi Institutions. “We’re often limited in our exposure to tech fests and symposiums. Worlds is about meeting people from different countries and challenging your preconceived notions about them.”

tanya.et@thehindu.co.in