Udaipur: The fortieth Niaz Ahmed Memorial Debate was held on 13 Feb 2019 at the Department of English, MohanlalSukhadia University Udaipur on the topic- Censorship for Media is Essential in the Present Scenario

The function made a stimulating start with Prof PradeepTrikha, Head, Department of English welcoming the participants and outlining the history of Niaz Ahmed Memorial debate and its legacy in the department since 1979.Prof. J.P. Sharma, Vice Chancellor MohanlalSukhadia University  who was the Chief Guest, made a thought provoking  and engaging remarks during the Inaugural where he highlighted the role of people in the contemporary Indian scenario; how the media and press was shaping things culturally and politically in present times in so many different ways. In all there were twenty participants from different institutions of the state of Rajasthan such as Mewar University, Chittaurgarh, B.N. University, Udaipur, RNT Medical College, Udaipur, Faculty of Management Studies, MLS University, BN Girls’ College, Udaipur and several other institutions. The first prize was bagged by Ms. MansiSolanki, BN University,the second prize by Ms. ArchiSaraswat  from Faculty of Management Studies and the third prize by Mr. DevendraKashyap from RNT Medical College. However, the running trophy was bagged by the BN University team.    Special Guest, Prof. SharadSrivastava, formerly Dean of the University College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Head, Department of English, while acknowledging the facts outlined by Prof. J. P. Sharma, pointed out that there was a greater challenge before the younger generation to look into the political designs of the media, he talked about ‘post-truth’ and ‘Raffle deal as too how the media now-a days is sensationalising the issue. He said censorship on media cannot be the solution. The judges of the debate were Prof. P.K. Singh, Faculty of Commerce, Prof. Arti Prasad, Department of Zoology, MLS University and Prof. HemendraChandalia, Head, Department of English JRN University, Udaipur.                      

Prof. Chandalia, said that censorship of media in contemporary society will do more harm than good.  He emphasized on the need for building awareness among the people to make the right choices while taking stock of the media. In her Presidential remarks Prof. Sadhna Kothari, Dean , UCSS&H said that the functions like debates offer enough opportunity to the students for the personality development and develop leadership qualities. The debate program was convened by Dr. BhanupriyaRohilla, Ms. Kopal Vats and Dr. Minakshi Jain proposed the vote of thanks.