The debate was organized by Catalyst, a students’ forum at XIME. The debate was moderated by Mr. Venkatesha Babu, Associate Editor of Business Today. The topics for the debate were ‘Media Industry- A Hype or a Reality’ and ‘Is Sensex really a true indicator of economic prosperity?’
One student from each of the colleges discussed their views on one topic. Sanchayan Nath, IIM-B and George Abraham, XIME debated on the topic ‘Media Industry- A Hype or a Reality’. This was followed by Abhishek Panda, IIM-B and Sandipan Mitra, XIME expressing their opinions on the topic ‘Is Sensex really a true indicator of economic prosperity?’ The participants were allowed to speak for three minutes, followed by questions from the moderator, Mr. Babu and then the discussion was thrown open, inviting questions and views from the audience comprising of IIM-B and XIME students.
Very interesting opinions and views came up during the course of the debate. In the first debate, on the media industry, the triviality of the content portrayed in the media today was questioned. The discussion then ventured onto the “road much traveled and debated on” about the “regulation of media”, Mr. Babu was of the opinion that media in a democratic country cannot have government censorship and the only feasible solution to this was ‘Self regulation’. The topic on Sensex brought up the issues such as volatility of the Sensex, and the small percentage of the retail investors facing the wrath of FII and other institutional investors. The credibility of the phrase ‘Stock Market an Indicator of economic prosperity’ in the context was discussed. The audience strongly supported the view of the Sensex being an indicator of growth, while Mr. Babu stressed on the need for a better indicator and a decreased dependency on the Sensex.
The participants reasoned, defended and argued with conviction about their Standpoint.