The State prelims of 27 debates involving 81 teams with one debate between three teams will be held on the 23rd and 24th of August, 2007.

Statements for State Prelims

1. Clothes maketh a man.
2. There is no absolute good.
3. Good upbringing results in a person becoming good.
4. It is okay to have a politically weak Prime Minister.
5. Mathematics need not be taught at school level.
6. Parents’ ambition is a hindrance to a child’s independent growth.
7. Science would have not lost much by keeping Pluto as a planet.
8. Scientific education does not inculcate scientific temperament.
9. The whole world is a stage and life is a drama.
10. There are ethics in the field of medicine.
11. There is a little stupidity in everybody.
12. Travel makes a person wiser.
13. Wisdom is a consequence.
14. It is more dangerous when bureaucrats are corrupt than politicians.
15. For Indians history is no more than text book stories.
16. Environment is an issue for poor countries.
17. Television is inducing bad morals.
18. Love is a thing of the past for the present generation.
19. People are losing value for money.
20. It is okay to earn wealth by any means as long as you are not physically harming anyone.
21. Politicians are indispensable.
22. We can live without mobile phones.
23. It is important to look good.
24. In India poor people will remain poor even in 2020.
25. Newspaper is more interesting than school textbooks.
26. Peace initiatives with Pakistan is the only way to resolve disputes.
27. Our governments do not understand our needs.
28. A progressive person should not believe in God.
29. Development of technology is intellectual mischief.

Participants are expected to be prepared for all the statements.

The statement for debate will be available per debating group only 2 hours in advance from among the statements in the list by way of a blind draw.

The debates will be between three teams at a time. The total duration of each debate will be 15 minutes. Each team (any of the team members may speak) is given a maximum of one minute per argument. A total of 5 minutes will be made available for each team in slots of 1 minute each.

Team names per debate will be announced at 9 am at the venue on the day of the event and the call number and time of each debate will also be given. The first debate will start in approximately two hours after the first announcement of the first statements.

After the completion of the argument by each team or at the expiry of the one minute time, or whichever is earlier, the opportunity will pass on to the next team. On completion of the arguments, or on completion of eight rounds, or on expiry of 15 minutes stipulated per debate, or whichever is earlier the debate will be concluded and the judges will complete evaluation.

Any team may finish their arguments at any stage, any round or at any time within stipulated time. If all the three teams finish the arguments early then the debate will be deemed concluded. No extension of time will be given to any team after the debate is over, however interesting or incomplete the argument maybe. At the end of debate, the highest scoring team among the three teams per debate is declared the winner for the debate