Event On : 03 Nov 2017

iLEAD hosted the prestigious Jefferson Debates 2017 like the previous years with much more spirit and enthusiasm. The platform became the breeding ground for speakers from reputed educational institutions to express their opinion about various burning issues. This year the topic of debate was "Entrepreneurs are born and not made". Seventeen educational institutions participated in this event in which 8 were against the motion and the rest for the motion. Each team had two speakers saying both for and against the motion.

The teams which participated in the debate included- JD Birla Institution, United World school of Business, Future Institute of Engineering and Management, Brainware University, Shri Shikshayatan College, Heritage Academy, Army Institute of Management, Heramba Chandra College, MCKV Institute of Engineering, iLEAD, Calcutta University- Law Department, Maharaja Manindra Chandra College, JCC Law College, Vidyasagar University and Indian Institute of Human Rights combined as one team, IIHM, St. Josephs College, Scottish church College and IISWBM. The event was moderated by Jay Treloar, Assistant Public Affairs officer of US Consulate General, Kolkata.

The debate session had two rounds. The first round was where each team sent two of its participants to speak for or against the motion. The second round was where the team speaking for the motion and against the motion chose one speaker from their section who would conclude the debate by summing up the point they emphasized about the topic. The distinguished judges were Ms. Ananya Bhatacharya, a well known social entrepreneur, Ms. Kasturi Bhattacharya, a speaker of Bloomberg UTV and Mr. Shubhra Bishnu, founder of Orange Tree Global Corporation. Mr. Jay Treolar started the debate session by introducing the teams and the audience about the rules of the debate.

The essence of the message of people speaking in favor of the motion was that the inborn intellect and will power of an entrepreneur can be taught by any course or professional institute. It is either within somebody or not. The people speaking against the motion focused on the fact that entrepreneurs are born out of certain circumstances which are to be learnt and cannot be imbibed just from birth.

The session ended with the announcement of the winners, runner up and the best overall speaker awards. The 2nd runner up position went to Heritage Institute of Technology.

JCC college of Law, Vidyasagar University and Indian Institute of Human Rights jointly won the 1st runner up prize. St Xavier's College bagged the first prize for this year's Jefferson Debates

The awards were given to the teams by the distinguished judges. Mr. Treolar thanked the participants and the audience in making the event successful like the previous year. The best overall speaker for the session was awarded to Mr. Biswajit Gain who is from St. Xavier's College. The motion was won by the side which stood for the point that entrepreneurs are born and not made. The event ended with a promise of next year's debate and another debating session.