Pune, April 10, 2012- Ms. Shivani Mathur (Jaipur) and Ms. Saaniya Raashid (Nagpur) have emerged joint toppers in the All India FLAME Essay Challenge competition for graduate and post-graduate students organized by Pune-based FLAME School of Communication (FSC). They topped the list of participants who wrote 2000-word essays on ‘‘Is Indian Democracy Alive and Kicking?’
Ms. Shivani Mathur is a BSc (Home Science) student in ICG, IIS University, Jaipur while Ms. Saaniya Raashid studies BBA in Tirpude Institute of Social Work, Nagpur. They shared the Rs 10,000.00 award.
The second prize of Rs 7500.00 was shared by Mr. Sandeep Reddy Biddala, an undergraduate student in IIIT, Hyderabad and Mr. Satya Prakash Pandey, a post-graduate student of National Institute of Technology, Surathkal, Mangalore, Karnataka.
The third prize of Rs 5000.00 was awarded jointly to Mr. Gurtej Singh, a post-graduate student of Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune, and Ms. Nupur Agarwal, a post-graduate student of Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad.
The FSC Dean, Prof. Achyut Vaze, announced the names of the winners among 579 students that had registered online. The competition was meant to be an all-India extension of the debate on the same theme organized by FSC students Feb 20-22, 2012 on the FLAME campus.
Prof Vaze said, “We decided to offer opportunity to students also from other institutes and places in the country to express themselves on the same theme ‘Is Indian Democracy Alive and Kicking?’ They could express their views through essays. We asked them to write essays on the same theme and we offered prizes for the best essays.”
They were expected to discuss the current status of the Four Pillars of Democracy: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, and Media. The posers were: Do you think these pillars have withstood the rough weather they have been facing during the post-Independence era? Can the people have faith in the democratic system at a time when these pillars have been criticized from all the quarters?
The panel of judges consisted of Prof. Vinay Hardikar, a senior faculty at FLAME, Mr. Joseph Pinto, a veteran journalist and journalism educator, and Prof. Dr. Kiran Thakur, the competition co-ordinator.
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On receiving the news about the result, Shivani Mathur said, ‘I am on cloud 9. I am running short of words to express my joy at this hour.” She felt that the FLAME Essay Challenge was a unique opportunity for all college students to think about contemporary issues of national importance and form a firm opinion to take the country forward. “As I went in the depth of its theme, I felt proud of being an Indian. Indian democracy is one of its kind- motley, yet vibrant. I put in my heart and soul to give my best and developed the essay in ten days. I revised and updated the essay after the UP poll results. I never expected to be Numero Uno in the competition, but I am on cloud 9 now.”
She said the theme of the essay was topical and very interesting. Such initiatives are required to create interests of the youth in our country’s political working.
My interest in the U P elections had prompted me to write this essay on our present political situation. I used to wonder that our people are so educated and progressive and in spite of this, they let the government become self-benefiting. It was intriguing for me to think why somebody does not raise this issue, why young people do not come forward to take some corrective measures when ours is a large and well-known democracy. The ‘Lokpal’ movement made me realise that people have now become interactive and are conscious of their rights and duties and the day is not far when we will have a responsive government. I sincerely believe that now onwards things will not be the same and a new vibrant democracy will take the country forward.
Satya Prakash Pandey
‘Is Indian Democracy Alive and Kicking?’ is a topic on which everybody wants to talk in today’s situation. Students are also not untouched by it. When I got the notice of this essay competition, conducted by Flame School of Communication, Pune, immediately I registered myself on its web. The theme selected by the School is really appreciable because every problems attached with the democracy is because of the reluctance of the educated in taking full participation into the politics. This essay competition will not only increase the interest of youngsters into the politics but also they will ponder about the current situations of democracy in India. I myself did a lot of homework for this essay and got to know many a things. After completing the essay the next stoppage was to know the result and when on 9th April I saw my name at second place my one week of research and hard work got paid off. It feels very nice to participate and get some place in such competitions. I would like to thank Flame School of Communication for the initiative of conducting All India competitions on such relevant topic.
Gurtej Singh
"Winning any competition at the all India level is a great achievement and I feel FLAME did a great job in organizing it. Handling 550 registrations and then shortlisting entries is no mean task. I am sure the quality of essays was top notch as an esteemed panel of judges made the decisions. I congratulate the other winners on their efforts and feel even more confident at being recognized as one of the winning entries. The topic of Indian democracy is very much pertinent in today's time and its relevance and future scope is something that really needs to be thought about by the youth. I thank FLAME for bringing this theme for an all India competition for students to actively participate and think about such topics. I hope FLAME continues the good work in coming years"
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