Daly College- Democracy or DeMOCracy

Brief:

On 11th September, 2021, a few delegates from Dhirubhai Ambani international school represented the school at Daly college international for a virtual conference on the topic ‘democracy or DeMocracy’ in the evening. The conference had multiple keynote speakers, exciting activities and enthralling videos planned for us. It was an eye opening conference that enlightened and explained to me the vital points regarding our nation’s democracy.

Introduction:

It started off with an introductory video of the Daly college, showing what the college stands for and it’s various different aspects. It made us get more familiar with the whole setup.

After the video, the principal of the college, Mr.Neeraj Bedhotiya gave an introductory speech and described the topic for the conference. He spoke about what he expects the delegates to do and what we will take away from this conference.

First keynote speaker

After the introductory speech, the first keynote speaker, Mr.Javed Ansari, a senior journalist from Delhi working for India Today was introduced. He expressed his views on the current Indian journalism set up, the problems he faced and solutions he found and the current democracy setup in our country, how it is not perfect and how there is a disconnect between politicians and people of our country.

He feels social media is doing more damage than good and supported this statement with a personal experience when he interviewed Rahul Gandhi and an edited video circulating throughout the country reached him.

He also spoke about his experience in Pakistan when the Pakistani reporters asked him what happens to a leader after losing the election, which was very well replied by Mr. Ansari by stating that their leaders don’t get banned after losing, unlike some other countries.

There were a lot more issues he covered in the question answer session, how the youth today can dominate politics tomorrow, how we can look at the past records of a leader and think a lot before making a decision, the emerging issues of minorities submission in Afghanistan, dying democracy of India and a lot more. It was a very informative and educational session.

Baraza group:

After his speech, we were put in different bazara groups where we first introduced ourselves to each other and then proceeded on to an enthralling activity. We were given 6 different candidates and their resumes and we had to decide whom we would choose to be the next leader of our country. The decision needed a lot of thinking as there were a lot of cons and pros in each candidate present and a rushed decision could not be made. After being given some time, we started giving our answers and gave a justification as well on why we thought the chosen candidate was suited to lead our nation. This led to a lot of debates, discussions, arguments and question-answers which eventually helped us understand how all candidates were correct if looked a certain way. This activity showed the different perspectives and answers that people have for the same question.

Second Keynote Speaker:

After the bazara session, we came back to the main meeting where the prestigious second keynote speaker, Mr. Pushyamitra Bhargav was introduced. He is a senior and well known advocate in the Madhya Pradesh high court. His speech revolved around how democracy in India can still survive and what role the citizens play in it. Demonstrated his views on political parties and the propaganda they have, through the judicial eye. His speech gave me a new outlook and showed a different stance on our democratic set up.

Conclusion:

Overall, the conference was a completely worth it experience. The details covered helped us understand the issues and benefits in our country’s democracy and how we should have a sense of responsibility towards our country’s future. I was honoured to be a part of this prestigious and overwhelming conference and would like to thank all the teachers on behalf of our team.

Delegates:

Sahil Jaiswal, Diya Hebbar, Manan Maheshwari, Bhavesh Agarwal, Arishta Goel, and Rihaan Bhansali