Ved Vyas DAV Public School bag interschool debate competition

New Delhi, Oct 18 (UNI) The Ved Vyas DAV Public School debating team was adjudged winners of the Ninth Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq Interschool Debate Competition held here today.

The first runner-up trophy was bagged by Carmel School, Bhopal while the second runner-up trophy went to Maharaja Sawai Mansingh School, Jaipur.

Kshitij Garg, representing Maharaja Sawai Mansingh School, Jaipur, won the Best Speaker (for the motion) trophy while Akshit Batra of Doon School, Dehra Dun clinched the Best Speaker (against the motion) trophy.

The topic for the final round was "There is no water crisis in India. We have it flowing from all sides and no one is complaining". Taken from the theme of this year's Human Development Report, the topic focused on the importance of water.

The jury of the debate competition was headed by actress and Censor Board Chairperson Sharmila Tagore. Other members of the Jury included Mr Ayaan Ali Khan, Mr Paul Deverill from UNICEF and Mr Pradeep Sharma from UNDP.

Thirteen regional winners from schools representing Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dehra Dun, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Srinagar took part in the competition.

The debate, being held for the ninth year, was organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was the chief guest, congratulated the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation for taking issues relating to human development to the school children and suggested that the debate be extended to the whole of South Asia region.

Teams from more than 500 schools took part in the regional round at 13 locations in the country.

UNI SD VD RN2011