Conquer the Podium” Debate Competition at JEC on 17 March 2023:

The Literary Club and Debate Society of Jabalpur Engineering College organized an event “Conquer the Podium “ on 17 March 2023. In this event, two topics were selected, for discussion: “ Should Humans be Allowed to Colonize Space?” and “ Is Reservation for Women Justified?”. The programme commenced with the welcome of the judges, Dr Anubha Maheshwari, Prof & Head, Department of Chemistry and Prof Avita Fuskele, Department of Information and Technology. At the outset of the event, participants were briefed on the rules of the competition. From each team, one speaker expressed his opinion for the motion and the other spoke against the motion. More than 30 students

participated in the competition. The stage was conducted by Satyam Pandey and Kishita Patel. Arguments in favour of “Should Humans be Allowed to Colonize Space ” were that at some point of time, the earth’s resources will get exhausted or we will become extinct due to reasons like natural calamities, so it is necessary that humans need to colonize space and find suitable planets for their living. On the other hand, arguments against the notion were that we humans live on earth, thus we have no right to colonize other planets and harm the life that is already flourishing in them because they provide them with a proper environment for existence. Arguments given by the participants in favour of the second topic,” Is Reservation for Women Justified?”, were based on the fact that reservation for women in jobs helps in the empowerment of women and makes them economically independent Participants speaking against the motion opined that there are chances of misuse of the reservation by women candidates in education and job sectors. This debate competition was a testament to the participants' effective communication skills as they all presented their views accurately and confidently. Dr.P.K Jhinge, Principal JEC, appreciated the efforts made by the members of the Literary Club and Debate Society for organising this competition under the able guidance of Prof Avita Fuskele.