The Oasis English Press reached out to Yuvraj Chauhan, the Oasis Coordinator for The Debating Society (DebSoc), to know more about DebSoc’s preparations for the fest.

Yuvraj said that DebSoc will be organising an intervarsity Asian Parliamentary Debate, titled Niqash APD this Oasis. He explained that this tournament was organised to increase the reach of DebSoc, BITS Pilani, in the north Indian debating circuit. This includes the various constituent colleges of Delhi University and the different IITs. He explained preparatory work to include multiple verticals, along with ensuring a good judging panel and a good set of motions. Some of these verticals include Outreach and Publicity. Yuvraj credited the 2021 batch of DebSoc for manning and ensuring seamless workflow across all verticals. He explained that the work in Outreach entailed reaching out to various debating societies across the nation and inviting them to the tournament. He added that the work in Publicity entailed publicising the tournament and uploading relevant details on various social media platforms.

Yuvraj explained that the biggest hurdle DebSoc faced was in the form of the apprehension of the StuCCA in granting funding to the tournament. He explained that this was because this was the first time DebSoc was conducting an event during Oasis. He added that prior to this, DebSoc only conducted the institute’s flagship debate, The BITS Pilani Parliamentary Debate, a kernel event as part of APOGEE. He said that with the success the first edition of Niqash saw, he hopes that it is made a kernel event for Oasis as well. 

Yuvraj said that he greatly enjoyed his time as the Tournament Director for Niqash APD and added that he is very excited for the finals and semifinals of the tournament. Yuvraj concluded by urging the BITSians to enjoy the fest to the fullest.