Students from IITs have brought laurels to their institute in various technical events. But now, they are showing the way when it comes to other activities too.
A team of ten students from IIT-Madras has been adjudged the most outstanding delegation at the New York Global Young Leaders Summit International Model United Nations. The event had around 600 participants from 60 different countries.
The summit was held to gather students from across the five continents and offer confrontation on policies between culturally-diverse leaders, with the United Nations as the backdrop. The delegation from IIT-Madras was chosen to represent two countries — India and Iran.
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Seven committees of the UN — the General Assembly (three committees — the Disarmament and International Security Committee, the Economic and Financial Committee and Social and Cultural and Humanitarian Affairs), Security Council, United Nations Development Programme, Human Rights Council and the Special Session on Millennium Development Goals were simulated.
“While there were participants who were extremely sound with policies and issues and articulate about solutions, there were also many who found it difficult to speak in English. The experience, overall, was very enriching,” said Aniruddh Padia, a participant.
“Even the delegates who met us after the event expressed surprise because we come from a technical institution. Maybe looking at problems logically and doing an exhaustive research really helps,” said Ashwin Kalkar, another participant.
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“It is only in congregations such as this you realise problems are dealt with a different intensity in every country. Something like reservation that is so common and widely debated here, was not even considered by delegates from America because they already have a good representation,” said Aniruddh.
Recruited by employers on the first day, and top scorers in academics too, most of the students in this team of youngsters are from various branches of engineering. A few are from the humanities stream too. Three of the students also won the Outstanding Delegate Awards in their respective committees.
“Being diplomatic is the key here but you have to be convincing too, which was challenging,” said Ashwin.