Mukarji Memorial Debate (The Debating Society of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi)¶
The 73rd Mukarji Memorial Debate 2021¶
R1¶
THS the rise of artists direct-to-consumer content (like Onlyfans)¶
currently most artists sign with studios/labels which then own the content. typically the contracts between the label and artist entails the label helping market/produce the product in exchange for a certain cut of profits. Onlyfans is an app where artists/content creators can publish content only (typically sexually explicit) and hide it behind a paywall. Buyers can pay the artist to get behind the paywall
THR the globalisation of KPOP¶
Korean Pop (K-Pop) has recently become a world-wide hit due to BTS, EXO, Black Pink
THS art that invents new mythology instead of re-imagination of the art of pre-conflict society¶
R2¶
THS a patent waiver from the WTO for COVID-19 vaccines¶
India and South Africa have started discussions at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) about whether an intellectual property (IP) waiver for Covid-19 vaccines, thus allowing companies to manufacture patented vaccines without a license
THO culture of shaming during the COVID-19 pandemic¶
TH as a developing country during the COVID pandemic would choose to prioritise vaccinating young individuals over older segments of the population¶
R3¶
THBT tax resistance is a legitimate form of protest¶
Tax resistance is the refusal to pay income tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself
THBT Krypton should adopt an aggressive expansion/resettlement policy instead of adopting artificial population control measures¶
Krypton is the planet where everyone is ruled under a single government regime. Through its incredible technological progress, it has achieved the ability to engage in interplanetary travel. However due to its incredible progress, it has achieved maximum resource utilisation/extraction from the planet. This has led to the threat of destruction to the planet. Due to over population in order to counteract the threat, safe artificial free birth population control has been established wherein the krypton decides how many people are born
THBT the state should implement the right to have a child conditional on the financial ability of prospective parents(s)¶
R4¶
THBT countries are justified in imposing severe economic sanctions against countries that consistently use “sharp power”¶
"Sharp Power" is a tool used by governments to influence decisions in other countries. Countries can exert sharp power by infiltrating the government of other countries (putting their own citizens in positions of power), and other public positions consistently.
THO the Deplatforming of Trump.¶
Deplatforming is the action or practice of preventing someone holding views regarded as unacceptable or offensive from contributing to a forum or debate, especially by blocking them on a particular website. Recently Facebook has removed a video of former US President Donald Trump from the page of his daughter-in-law Lara Trump and said they would remove further content posted in the voice of Donald Trump.
TH as India would aggressively sanction Chinese chipsets.¶
White goods refer to electrical goods and components used inside cars, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners. India typically imports a large number of electronic chipsets from China to fit into these white goods. Some developed countries have the ability to manufacture these chips but do not produce these chips on the same scale as China.
R5¶
THBT consultancy firms/merchant banks should not be allowed to enter into settlement agreements when charged with fraud involving public money.¶
A settlement agreement is a legal contract that resolves the disputes and settles prosecutions among parties by coming to a binding agreement.
For publicly listed companies, THW not allow directors to avail director liability insurance when charged with a penalty.¶
Currently, directors of companies are fined for certain crimes in the companies legislation in all countries. These fines can range from small amounts to really big fines depending on the severity. To protect the directors, companies sign Director Liability Insurance which insures the total or a part of these fines for companies when the director is fined.
THR the fall in central bank’s (Reserve Bank of India) minimum mandated interest rates in India¶
The minimum mandated interest rate refers to the "Repo-rate" i.e. the rate at which RBI lends funds to commercial banks (both private and state banks). In 2011, the repo rate was 8.5 percent, it is currently 4 percent.
R6¶
THR the rise of Byju’s¶
Byju's is India's largest Ed-tech company(valued at about 11-12 billion dollars. They have coaching centres all over the country and have apps for learning as well. They train students to crack a variety of competitive exams. They have been highly criticised for their coaching methods and high fees. The exponential growth of Byju's is a marker of the spurt of Ed-tech firms in India.
THBT education should be moved on to the state list in India instead of the concurrent list¶
The Constitution of India contains three lists that decide the legislative powers of different law-making bodies. the Central List contains subject matter over which the central govt has exclusive authority legislate, and the state list contains subject matter that is exclusively within the legislative powers of the state govts of India. The concurrent list contains subjects that the state govts and the central govt can legislate on. However, in case of any conflict between the laws and policies of a state and the centre on a subject, the centre will prevail
THW mandate that graduates from publicly funded universities must work in their field of study for a few years in their home country after graduating (eg: an Indian engineer from an IIT must do an engineering job in Indiaafter graduating for 3 years)¶
Octofinals¶
THBT evil should not be characterised as banal¶
the concept of the "banality of evil" claims that great acts of evil can be committed by ordinary individuals. Under this theory, most perpetrators of great evil are ordinary people, with no motive for their actions other than promoting their own advancement in the system
THBT parliamentary debating (the activity) has done more harm than good for an individual¶
THR the emphasis placed on living in the present¶
Quarterfinals¶
THR the widespread narrative that motherhood is a rewarding experience¶
THR the prevalent narrative in children’s stories that good always triumphs over evil¶
THP a world where the dominant narrative is that all religions have a common origin, as opposed to having their own independent origins¶
Semifinals¶
TH, as the German Government, will revoke all rent caps¶
The govt in Berlin has imposed a hard cap on rent (i.e. you can only charge xEuro/sq ft). Consequent to the cap being implemented, Berlin has seen a severe shortage in the availability of living spaces as landlords protest by not giving their spaces for rent and lobbying for policy change.
THP that governments allocate housing for refugees in central municipalities/urban areas instead of setting up refugee municipalities which are on the outskirts¶
Some egalitarian governments in Europe have allocated certain neighborhoods for the refugees coming in from the Middle-East/Africa. These neighborhoods are typically located on the outskirts of major cities (eg: Stockholm). These neighborhoods are typically new municipalities that are occupied primarily by refugees.
TH, as a developing country, will aggressively prioritize developing new Megacities¶
Megacities in developing countries are financial powerhouses like Dhaka, Mumbai, Bangkok, Jakarta etc. with a large population, having more than 10 million people. Developing nations have also started building new megacities. For example, Bangladesh is building a new city called Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Industrial City. Typically these cities are also deemed to be SEZs.