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Debating Matters is a debate competition for high school students in India. The link to the official Debating Matters Website is:
Debating Matters Website
The competition consists of three stages; the online elimination test, the regional finals and the [...]
“Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian Economy”- said Mahatma Gandhi five decades ago.
But today agriculture and allied sectors account for only 18.6% of the GDP and employ 60% of the total workforce and there is a continuous steady decline in this share of the GDP.
The progress of large developing countries has fuelled the muse of socio-economic observers for a decade hitherto. The world sotto voce acquiesced to the might of North America and the European Union until China and India jolted this somnambulism. The population of the world is more than six billion, of which less than one billion is in the industrialized countries; more than five billion is in the developing countries and more than 2.5 billion is in Brazil, South Africa, India and China or the BASIC nations (Nayyar, 2008). Thus, 40 per cent of the population in the world and 50 per cent of the population in developing countries lives in BASIC countries accounting for about 10 percent of the world’s GDP and more than 40 percent of that of the developing world (Nayyar, 2008). Rapid growth driven by strong domestic fundamentals in these four emerging economies is already changing power equations in the world economy. The BASIC countries accounted for 50% of the world economy in the early 1800s and although per capita data is far lower than that of the developed nations, it is only a matter of time before the world heads back to its BASICs.
“What can you say about a woman eight months pregnant who begged to be spare? Her assailants instead slit open her stomach, pulled out her fetus and slaughtered it before her eyes.”
“What can you say about a family of nineteen being killed by flooding their house with water and then electrocuting them with high-tension electricity?”
“What [...]
India is poised to become a knowledge economy and an information society. The country for long been associated with mystic saints, malaria and snake charmers is increasingly being seen as an economic powerhouse. Indian corporate class and technical institutes such as IITs and IIMs are the principle levers of such a change in world’s attitudes towards India. The topic raises a pertinent question at a time when corporate India is traversing boundaries at a never before seen pace. Nehru, the architect of India’s modern temples exhorts his countrymen on the occasion of India’s independence, “The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?”.[1] The same exhortation needs to be made to our corporates and the country at large in regards to the opening of more IITs and IIMs.
We present our argument in favor of the statement that India must first prevail over Hindustan in the path to global dominance. We have hereby defined what we mean by global dominance and Hindustan and proceed with our argument
In the hour of crisis, the mortals find solace in spirits and the men search for it in Karma. Long revered and worshipped have been those who have stuck to the legion and their common good, paving a path for justice to prevail over the dreary sands of countless deviations. This is how the less travelled path finally emerges after the winds start to settle. In a world where wisdom and opportunism are often considered synonyms, the lesser mortals trudge the easier road in the name of art and culture and vicariously disburse a feeling of creativity and thought leadership. The true leaders emerge out of practice, possibility, preparation, performance and poise. And they are the ones who we look up to as moral guides.
India, a nation of 1.1 billion people, has been always disproportionately unsuccessful at the Olympics. At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, host country China picked up 100 medals (51 golds), even a small country like Belarus managed 19 medals to India’s one gold, and two bronze — its highest tally ever1. India’s ratio of medal tally to wealth(GDP) is a mere 0.000119. The main reason attributed to this is India is a one sport nation. People of India treat cricket as a religion, as their fifth Veda, akin to a national game though it is not, thanks to its Board, Government, sponsors and the media. IPL, a new and exciting brand of Cricket has proved an enormous success raking in 10,790 crore2. But it has achieved this at the cost of other sports.
Does the epithet “Sone Ki Chidiya” hold true for India still?
Any attempt to capture the history of a nation- its land, its people, its beauty, its glory, its trials, its failings- all in a single word or expression is bound to meet with failure. “Sone ki Chidiya” is no exception. Before pondering into the relevance of this expression in modern times, one must question the very assumptions upon which this expression is based – Because, only when we truly understand the past, can we fairly judge the present. Does the term “Sone ki Chidiya” aptly
There’s a raging debate today whether FDI in India drives growth or stunts it. Direct investors, typically, have a longer-term perspective when engaging in a host country. Since FDI causes sharing of risk between the host country and the investing firm, it provides a stronger stimulus to economic growth in host countries than other types of capital inflows. FDI is more than just capital, as it offers access to internationally available technologies and management knowhow.
The latest movie trade reports suggest the immense success of the movie ‘2012’which is placed in the backdrop of a possible holocaust leading to the end of the world. While the movie is appreciated by one and all globally, it is an irony that a similar impending doomsday is being created by our actions. And hitherto, we all have differing stances about the same. Are we not at the edge of the precipice, and if we are not, are we not sliding fast to be at the tipping point? And the baton of onus keeps changing hands; so does the role of the perpetrator and the defender in …
The worldwide media attention received by the recent Copenhagen Climate Summit shows that climate talk has moved beyond mere symbolic rhetoric to assume more serious tones. While many had initially viewed the summit with renewed hope, the disappointing ….
