Diaphonia '22

The Debating Society organized its first offline event after the pandemic, Diaphonia, an interdepartmental debating competition, on November 19, 2022. The event was held at the Loreto College auditorium. Six departments participated enthusiastically to defend their stance on the motion, This house believes that mass surveillance is a pervasive violation of human rights. The debate was moderated by the President of the Debating Society, Neha Sen. Mrs. Sarika Mishra and Dr. Julie Banerjee Mehta, alumnae of the College and eloquent debaters, were the judges for the event. As the deliberations progressed, topics like privacy, social media, surveillance, and state control were fervidly debated. Each speaker was given 2.5 minutes to present their stance, followed by a minute for rebuttal, where the students skillfully and meticulously answered the various questions put forth by their fellow opponents. The event concluded with the judges carefully analyzing the speeches on the basis of content, presentation, rebuttal, and language; and finally announcing the results. Third Year students of the Department of Political Science, Akanksha Tiwari and Misti Sarkar, won the Best Speaker For, and Against the Motion, respectively. Together, they received the Best Team award for the Department of Political Science. The event ended with words of encouragement and support for the participating students from the esteemed judges.