Highlights of Econvista 2014
ECONVISTA 2014: Through The Looking Glass
By Ipsita Dasgupta, Symposium Coverage Team, Econvista'2014
The Economics Department of Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR), New Delhi, recently organized their Annual National Economics Students' Symposium titled ECONVISTA'2014, on 24th and 25th January, 2014. The two-day convention saw an array of events ranging from generic ones such as debate, quiz and paper presentation to creative firsts like policy dilemma, treasure hunt, word JAM, etc. It was sponsored by Pine Labs, co-sponsored by the State Bank of India and event sponsored by Teach for India.
Econvista 2014 was the second edition of the LSR Economics Department's national symposium. It was officially declared open on 23rd January by the Principal of the college, Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath. The Student President of the LSR Economics Department, Charvi Kain, described Econvista'2014 as “bigger and better than last year's, with eight outstation contingents participating along with numerous DU colleges. The competetive events saw more variety and innovation as compared to last year, such as Policy Dilemma which followed a unique snakes and ladders format”.
The theme for Econvista'2014 was 'Political Economy: At the crossroads', with reference to "the upcoming General Elections in India and the ramifications of changing political atmosphere in policy making”.
The event was attended by over 20 colleges including St. Xavier's College Jaipur, Jadavpur University and Lady Brabourne College from Kolkata, Christ University Bangalore, IIT Kanpur, IIT Chennai, ICFAI Dehradun and Symbiosis Pune from outside of Delhi, along with numerous Delhi colleges including St. Stephen's, Miranda House, SRCC, DCAC, DTU, IIT Delhi, Hindu, Hansraj, etc.
PRELUDE TO ECONVISTA 2014
The Prelude to Econvista 2014 was a three day affair from 21st to 23rd January, a build-up to the main event through a series of guest lectures by eminent personalities in the field of economics and social sciences. It saw discussions and debate over a wide range of topics pertinent to contemporary studies regarding the theme of Econvista 2014 ─ “Political Economy: At the Crossroads”.
Ms. Smita Mitra, the first guest lecturer who works with the UN Women, spoke on the topic 'Economics of labour migration', with special focus on gender migration. Talking about the feminization of migration, she laid emphasis on government neglect of the issue in countries in the Middle East, Japan, Bangladesh, Nepal and even India. There were discussions South-Asian gender migration, Kapala system, violence and sexual harassment faced by female migrators.
Dr. Ashok Gulati, Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), was the second speaker to deliver a guest lecture in the Prelude. He threw light on the Political Economy of food and agricultural subsidies, with three specific dimensions to his lecture─ food subsidies in context of the Food Security Act, agricultural subsidies and the role of WTO. He also talked about the possible future of food security in India, with reference to socio-economic models, saying that “Socialism isn't the redistribution of property, but the redistribution of poverty”.
The last speaker to grace the Prelude was Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, whose topic of speech was the challenges of urbanization in India. She spoke about public-private sector partnership in urbanization, culture as a tool of urban development and infrastructure of urban development with focus on JNNURM.
The Prelude served as a platform for the students to enrich their understanding of the theme and its ramifications.
THE MAIN EVENTS: ECONVISTA 2014
The first flagship event of Econvista 2014 was its very own brainchild ─ The Policy Dilemma. An elimination round of Multiple Choice Questions was followed by selected teams in round two being given a hypothetical country with hypothetical political, social and economic data. The feedback to the first round varied from “deceiving and beyond-the-scope questions about economic theories and concepts” to “standard questions, generalized theme, mostly on developmental and welfare economics”. In the second round, the teams had to act like policy makers for their country and work out ideal policies for the betterment of their economies with the given data. The event was the first of its kind, with a unique snakes and ladders format for the second round. Student President Charvi Kain said it could “possibly become a trademark event of Econvista in the near future”, owing to its resounding success in its first edition.
The Saroj Gupta Memorial Paper Presentation, “the most prestigious event of the symposium” according to Student Treasurer Aarushi Kalra, saw thoroughly researched and presented papers on a variety of topics like medicine and healthcare, investment policies, privatization and inflation and prices. The winner of the event was Sambodhi Sarkar of St. Stephen's College, who enthralled the judges and the audience in equal measure with the presentation of his paper on Real Estate sector of India, with emphasis on black money and tax revenue issues.
Eco-Matters, the debating competition on day 2 saw over 25 teams from across the country debate over the topic of “Politics diminshes economic prospects”, while Eco-Know-Me tested the economic knowledge as well as awareness of the teams over three rounds of hardcore quizzing.
Eco-Journalism gave participants the opportunity to dissect political parties' manifestos from an economist's perspective and “report, critique and decipher” the policies. The Economist, presented participants with crisis situations to deal with and solve with their economic intellect ─ the challenge to being the next Keynes over three rounds of passionate debate, discussion and problem solving.
Apart from the flagship events, Econvista'2014 also had three interactive events. Thinkonomics, a word JAM, saw participants in teams of two explaining certain economic terms to their partners without actually saying the term aloud in round one and acting the term out in round two. It was easily the most fun-filled and noisiest event of Econvista 2014. Rivaling it in fun was Econmystery, the treasure hunt which brought sports and economics together. Selecting four teams from 35 by a short quiz, the event made the participants sweat it out in the winters looking for answers within a specified time period. The Animated Economy gave an opportunity to the artists at heart, making them first guess an economic situation from a quick display of five pictures and then letting them get their “creative juices flowing” on paper.
Eco-Trails was the ongoing online event of Econvista 2014 which combined economics with the writing skills of participants, giving them a wide range of topics, one each week starting from 15th December, 2013, to present their ideas through their words.
Econvista'2014 came to an official end on 25th January, 2014, with the closing ceremony featuring a song performance by Abhilasha Sinha, a student of LSR, followed by a video of selected moments of Econvista 2014 by the Event Coverage Team. Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata took away the prize for the Best Outstation Contingent. The prize distribution gave way to the much awaited cake cutting ceremony and post-closure celebration. The event came to a close with a sound promise of coming back bigger and better next year.
By Ipsita Dasgupta, Symposium Coverage Team, Econvista'2014
The Economics Department of Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR), New Delhi, recently organized their Annual National Economics Students' Symposium titled ECONVISTA'2014, on 24th and 25th January, 2014. The two-day convention saw an array of events ranging from generic ones such as debate, quiz and paper presentation to creative firsts like policy dilemma, treasure hunt, word JAM, etc. It was sponsored by Pine Labs, co-sponsored by the State Bank of India and event sponsored by Teach for India.
Econvista 2014 was the second edition of the LSR Economics Department's national symposium. It was officially declared open on 23rd January by the Principal of the college, Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath. The Student President of the LSR Economics Department, Charvi Kain, described Econvista'2014 as “bigger and better than last year's, with eight outstation contingents participating along with numerous DU colleges. The competetive events saw more variety and innovation as compared to last year, such as Policy Dilemma which followed a unique snakes and ladders format”.
The theme for Econvista'2014 was 'Political Economy: At the crossroads', with reference to "the upcoming General Elections in India and the ramifications of changing political atmosphere in policy making”.
The event was attended by over 20 colleges including St. Xavier's College Jaipur, Jadavpur University and Lady Brabourne College from Kolkata, Christ University Bangalore, IIT Kanpur, IIT Chennai, ICFAI Dehradun and Symbiosis Pune from outside of Delhi, along with numerous Delhi colleges including St. Stephen's, Miranda House, SRCC, DCAC, DTU, IIT Delhi, Hindu, Hansraj, etc.
PRELUDE TO ECONVISTA 2014
The Prelude to Econvista 2014 was a three day affair from 21st to 23rd January, a build-up to the main event through a series of guest lectures by eminent personalities in the field of economics and social sciences. It saw discussions and debate over a wide range of topics pertinent to contemporary studies regarding the theme of Econvista 2014 ─ “Political Economy: At the Crossroads”.
Ms. Smita Mitra, the first guest lecturer who works with the UN Women, spoke on the topic 'Economics of labour migration', with special focus on gender migration. Talking about the feminization of migration, she laid emphasis on government neglect of the issue in countries in the Middle East, Japan, Bangladesh, Nepal and even India. There were discussions South-Asian gender migration, Kapala system, violence and sexual harassment faced by female migrators.
Dr. Ashok Gulati, Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), was the second speaker to deliver a guest lecture in the Prelude. He threw light on the Political Economy of food and agricultural subsidies, with three specific dimensions to his lecture─ food subsidies in context of the Food Security Act, agricultural subsidies and the role of WTO. He also talked about the possible future of food security in India, with reference to socio-economic models, saying that “Socialism isn't the redistribution of property, but the redistribution of poverty”.
The last speaker to grace the Prelude was Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, whose topic of speech was the challenges of urbanization in India. She spoke about public-private sector partnership in urbanization, culture as a tool of urban development and infrastructure of urban development with focus on JNNURM.
The Prelude served as a platform for the students to enrich their understanding of the theme and its ramifications.
THE MAIN EVENTS: ECONVISTA 2014
The first flagship event of Econvista 2014 was its very own brainchild ─ The Policy Dilemma. An elimination round of Multiple Choice Questions was followed by selected teams in round two being given a hypothetical country with hypothetical political, social and economic data. The feedback to the first round varied from “deceiving and beyond-the-scope questions about economic theories and concepts” to “standard questions, generalized theme, mostly on developmental and welfare economics”. In the second round, the teams had to act like policy makers for their country and work out ideal policies for the betterment of their economies with the given data. The event was the first of its kind, with a unique snakes and ladders format for the second round. Student President Charvi Kain said it could “possibly become a trademark event of Econvista in the near future”, owing to its resounding success in its first edition.
The Saroj Gupta Memorial Paper Presentation, “the most prestigious event of the symposium” according to Student Treasurer Aarushi Kalra, saw thoroughly researched and presented papers on a variety of topics like medicine and healthcare, investment policies, privatization and inflation and prices. The winner of the event was Sambodhi Sarkar of St. Stephen's College, who enthralled the judges and the audience in equal measure with the presentation of his paper on Real Estate sector of India, with emphasis on black money and tax revenue issues.
Eco-Matters, the debating competition on day 2 saw over 25 teams from across the country debate over the topic of “Politics diminshes economic prospects”, while Eco-Know-Me tested the economic knowledge as well as awareness of the teams over three rounds of hardcore quizzing.
Eco-Journalism gave participants the opportunity to dissect political parties' manifestos from an economist's perspective and “report, critique and decipher” the policies. The Economist, presented participants with crisis situations to deal with and solve with their economic intellect ─ the challenge to being the next Keynes over three rounds of passionate debate, discussion and problem solving.
Apart from the flagship events, Econvista'2014 also had three interactive events. Thinkonomics, a word JAM, saw participants in teams of two explaining certain economic terms to their partners without actually saying the term aloud in round one and acting the term out in round two. It was easily the most fun-filled and noisiest event of Econvista 2014. Rivaling it in fun was Econmystery, the treasure hunt which brought sports and economics together. Selecting four teams from 35 by a short quiz, the event made the participants sweat it out in the winters looking for answers within a specified time period. The Animated Economy gave an opportunity to the artists at heart, making them first guess an economic situation from a quick display of five pictures and then letting them get their “creative juices flowing” on paper.
Eco-Trails was the ongoing online event of Econvista 2014 which combined economics with the writing skills of participants, giving them a wide range of topics, one each week starting from 15th December, 2013, to present their ideas through their words.
Econvista'2014 came to an official end on 25th January, 2014, with the closing ceremony featuring a song performance by Abhilasha Sinha, a student of LSR, followed by a video of selected moments of Econvista 2014 by the Event Coverage Team. Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata took away the prize for the Best Outstation Contingent. The prize distribution gave way to the much awaited cake cutting ceremony and post-closure celebration. The event came to a close with a sound promise of coming back bigger and better next year.