Talk De Bait - Debate Competition | LYCEUM

Lyceum, the Postgraduate Students' Association of the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, came together and organised the debate competition ‘TALK de BAIT’, which provided the students with a space to showcase their talents and recreate the classroom debates in a formal setup. 

The program commenced with a small welcome message and introduction of Judges Lakshmi Karlekar and Susmita Paul by the Emcees. Ms. Lakshmi Karlekar is a Ph.D. Research Fellow at the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, Christ University. Her thesis is on Comparative Analysis of China and the United States Geopolitical Energy Security Syndrome in Central Asia in the 21st century. She is currently the Coordinator for two projects, namely:   Cooperative Federalism in Europe and South Asia; and New Populism and Responses of the 21st century. Her academic and professional expertise lies in critically evaluating the contemporary Chinese trends with its impeding hegemonic tendencies and ambitions, which are raising tensions in its neighbourhood, and drawing international attention. Susmita Paul is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Political Science from Christ University, Bangalore. Her research area focuses on Human Trafficking across West Bengal and Bangladesh border and state and non-state actors' role in mitigating the challenge.

Harshitha Pudota and Vaishnavi Verma, the emcees for the event, proposed the guidelines for the debate. Each participant were allotted 3 + 2 minutes to present their stance. (3 minutes: to present the argument + 2 minutes for questions from the opposition) The participants were to be evaluated according to the discretion of the judges. The participants were students from 1MAIS and 3MAIS. Aditya Sinha, Lyceum Core committee member, was the moderator for the session.

Shubi Sharma from 1MAIS supporting the “The United States – Assistance in De-escalating the crisis” stance started her arguments by stressing that the existence and recognition of Taiwan are mainly because of the US. She also mentioned that Taiwan’s strategic location would make the US support it in times of crisis.  For the questions of surety over US involvement in crisis-stricken countries, citing Ukraine and Afghanistan, where the US left in the mid-way or not a full-scale involvement, the debater declined the claims and told the US would come for Taiwan’s aid since it has self-interest in the region. Devyansh Dullar from 1MAIS, supporting the “The United States – Assistance in escalating the crisis” stance, started the argument that the US using the disguise of moral responsibility is attaining its self-interest goals in the region. He stressed that even the US has agreed and accepted the One China policy, so it is not Taiwan's sovereignty which is at stake but the mission of China containment by the US. He also gave sharp answers to his fellow debater's questions. M.H. Venkatakrishnan from 1MAIS, in favour of the argument, developed his arguments over Taiwan's public opinion and nationalism. Following Venkatakrishnan, we had Denzil from 1MAIS, who made strong claims and bold statements against the US. He pointed out their earlier involvement in spreading democracy during the cold war and the war on terror. Questions from the audience got prominence because of the controversial statement made by the speaker.

Sheikh Snober from 1 MAIS, with her loudest argument in favour of the US, had not only supported the stance that US was de-escalating the crisis, but also proposed policies to build a multilateral network to counter China. Jairam from 3MAIS started his argument with the loudest cheer from the audience. He traced down the US involvement in the region throughout history and concluded with the strong question of why the US sent Nancy Pelosi, the most hated woman in China for a diplomatic visit. Followed by Jairam, we had Gowri Lakshmi from 1MAIS in favour of the US, talking about the strategic importance of Taiwan and US interest in the region. Following Gowri, the final debater for the day, Siddid Dey Purkayastha from 1MAIS quoted Isaiah Berlin's reference to Hedgehog and fox and continued his argument by mocking the US idea of liberty in Taiwan as its oil and semiconductor. 

After the heated debate, Lyceum had a small “Fun with the Flags” session to cool down the audience before announcing the results. The judges gave their advice for the participants to improve their skills in future debating sessions. Special mention was given to Denzel Joyson A J. M. H. Venkatakrishnan assumed third place, followed by Jairam, the first runner-up. Devyansh Dullar won the First prize in the debate competition.