Pro.Verb: Day 2

The second day of the Pro.Verb debate started off with media politics as the first theme.

Statements of context were provided before finally releasing the motion. For the first motion, the context was in relation to ‘WOKE’ as a political term of African-American origin, its societal implication and its connotation in the publicity world.

The motion then put forward was – “This House regrets the rise of woke advertising.”

While some parties misunderstood the essence of the topic to be racism directed specifically towards the African-American community, a few teams brought up issues that were quite significant.

Even though the primary motive of any corporation would be to maximize profits, if their campaign helped create social awareness, it was an aid to the government, as well as the social activists of our society. To this, the government’s rebuttal was the concept of ‘building white hospitals with black money’.

After a short break, the crowd reassembled in the auditorium for the release of the second motion. The context provided was closely related to the beliefs of evangelicals in the African-American community and their revolutionizing presence in the”Roe v Wade” verdict of 1973. It then progressed to the present scenario in which the verdict is at a crossroad due to the retirement of Justice Kennedy from the Supreme Court. This makes a spot available for a pro-rated life Justice to be nominated. Brett Kavanaugh is a viable contender, who has radically different views from the rest of the world in relation to sensitive issues such as women’s rights, organized labour, and gun reform.

The motion following the context was – “This House, as Black evangelicals, will actively work for the withdrawal of Brett Kavanaugh as a Justice in the US Supreme Court.”

After an hour of active session, the participants were dismissed for lunch, the crowd favourite seeming to be Bingeyard, Manipal’s very own food truck. In this time, MTTN interviewed one of the heads of Hospitality from the School of Communication (SOC), Uvika. She carefully explained that the responsibility of her volunteers was highly engaging. Seeing to it that all the needs of the participants are catered to, especially the outstation ones, is their major task. The participants do not go too far from their lodging without a volunteer. They must be provided with meals at proper timings and adequate transport facilities are also arranged. There is always one volunteer reporting to each participant, catering to his/her specific needs. Guiding them around Manipal is also part of the work. The volunteers are at constant duty, both during the event, as well as when the debate is not in progress. It is their job to keep the participants well informed and up to date.

When asked about the efficiency of Pro.Verb as a national competition, a participant from NIT-Calicut, Meera, defined it as a ‘well-oiled machine’. Meera took part for the second time this year.

As the crowd assembled for the final round of the day, participants were evidently stressed. This was due to the elimination which would follow. Before the release of the third motion, standing positions of the debating teams were shown. The leading positions were held by the three teams from Manipal Institute of Technology, followed by the three teams from Kasturba Medical College.

The third motion was then released – “This House will ban the use of DPAs (Deferred Prosecution Agreements) by the prosecutors.” A DPA is a voluntary alternative to adjudication in which a prosecutor agrees to grant amnesty in exchange for the defendant agreeing to fulfill certain requirements. This is unlike plea bargains, where the defendant would plead guilty for availing reduced sentences.

As the debates for the day ended, the discussion had covered a wide range of topics that related to various aspects of politics, society, and economy. Several insightful remarks and opinions were provided by students as well as professionals from all across the country.

The end of the fourth round marked the conclusion of the preliminary section of the fourth edition of the M.V Kamath Memorial Debate. As the teams started heading to the accommodation or out to explore Manipal, preparations for Break Night started immediately. The chairs were moved, the room cleared, fairy lights put up everywhere, and coloured cellophane that jazzed up the boring old ceiling lighting. Break Night started at seven o’clock. Club Unraveled, SOC’s first music club, started the party off with an instrumental number. As the evening progressed, participants that had been so intensely debating against each other just a few hours ago were now seen freely socializing.

Club Unraveled continued the act, with a mashup of covers of songs like ‘Flashlight’ by Jessie J, and ‘Fix You’ and ‘The Scientist’ by Coldplay. This was followed by all the members of the club going on stage to sing ‘Counting Stars’ by OneRepublic. The mood was set, the voices bubbling, the only thing left to do was to get down on the dance floor. And SOC didn’t disappoint. Their impressive DJ set started off with crowd favourites like ‘Bum Bum Tam Tam’ and the recently released ‘Taki Taki’. Staying true to Manipal tradition, the playlist then turned into one filled with Bollywood dance music. Not long after, the party was paused to announce breaks.

This was preceded by an introduction of the core adjudicators, and appreciation for all those who helped make Pro.Verb 2018 a successful tournament. Eight teams and eight adjudicators broke into the semi-finals of the tournament. Four of the breaking teams are from MAHE, namely MIT 1, MIT 2, MIT 3, and KMC 2, the other teams being PES 1, BMSCE 1, CMR 3 and NIT-C 1. MIT 2 held the first position in the tournament so far, with a team score of 11 and 619 speaker points. As with any debating tournament, Pro.Verb too had reserve teams. The reserve teams were PES 3 at ninth place, with MSR 2 and DOC 2 tying at tenth place. The breaking adjudicators included the four core adjudicators, Hrishikesh V and Vinamre from PES, Ahmad Rehan Shaikh from BMSCE, and Milind Goyal from SOC.

The party continued after the announcements, going along with the previous theme –  a few Bollywood songs, a few South Indian songs, and a whole lot of dancing. Dinner was provided for all the participants, after which the teams headed back to their accommodation to be well rested and prepared for the semi-finals and finals tomorrow.

Written by Salekha Reddy and Tejas Mishra for MTTN

Image Courtesy: Goutham Manoharan

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