TOPICS FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

TITLES
1. Education and success-Is there a correlation?
2. We don't learn from history, we repeat it
3. Do we need a global policeman?
4. Indian villages-our strength or our weakness?
5. Agrarian Economy in India-boon or bane.
6. If there were no armies in the world...
7. Indian customs-are we in a time warp?
8. How green was my valley..."Are we paying the price of nature?
9. Management Education-Is it necessary to succeed in business
10. The role of NGOs in economics and politics.
11. NGOs- Do they serve peoples interests or are they pressure groups?
12. Death of Socialism.
13. Role of women in development.
14. Kids today are not what they used to be.
15. Casteless India-A pipe dream.
16. Should Trade Unionism be banned in India?
17. Repeated elections-Should taxpayers pay for it?
18. Indian bureaucracy-foundation strengths or colonial hangovers?
19. "In India, the whole is less than the parts"-Do we lack in team spirit?
20. Generation X- Drivers of our future or lost souls?
21. Do we need a cut in the defense budget?
22. Does India need a dictator?
23. Is coalition politics here to stay?
24. Is India moving away from a secularist state?
25. Education in India-or the lack of it.
26. What ails Indian sports?
27. The Age of Information.
28. Is Philosophy just arm chair theory?
29. Success is all about human relations.
30. Borderless worlds-Dream or reality?
31. Quality is a myth in India.

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 I. Education and success-Is there a correlation?
This is a topic, which provides ample scope for dialectics. One can argue for and against it.
1. One of the best examples is Bill Gates who went on to become the richest man in the
world despite dropping out of his education.
2. Closer home we have the example of Dhirubhai Ambani.
3. What a person learns and what he really wants to do has no correlation many a times.
4. A person succeeds only if he likes what he does.
5. The argument for education will be that, in practice, it is your marks and qualifications
that open doors for you.
6. While one can become successful without education, education brings about richness in
one's life.
7. One is able to appreciate many facets of life due to the extended knowledge that
education provides.
8. It opens a new window and provides a different perspective towards things, ability to
distinguish between ethical and unethical, moral and amoral.... etc....

II. We don't learn from history, we repeat it

1. Relevance of history.
2. Reminder of our past telling us what to do and what not to do.
3. Still we have numerous examples, which have occurred again and again for e.g. Time and
again we have had innumerable wars and bloodshed.
4. Hitler made the same mistake as Napoleon and Napoleon in turn the same ones as
Alexander and all the three wanted to rule the world.
5. Countries making similar mistakes in world war II as they did during world war I
....etc....
6. But despite this there are also many examples which have not been repeated( or rather not
brought out to the fore as they were not repeated).
7. This could mean we have indeed learnt from history and avoided those mistakes.
8. In fact that has been the purpose of teaching history so as not to repeat them.
9. Today fear of war is directly due to the record history places before us...etc....

III.Do we need a global policeman?

1. The role of some countries in "disciplining" others.
2. Assuming on it to decide what is right and what is wrong for the whole world.
3. Bullying others into submission by its sheer economic power.
4. Overriding the brief of world bodies in world politics
5. Suggest alternatives like more authority to world bodies like UN etc, which is more
representative of everyone's interests.
6. More assertiveness to be shown by other nations to such policing nations making more
nations self reliant so that we have less of "Big Brother" Syndrome.... etc.....

IV. Indian villages-our strength or our weakness?

1. A typical Indian villages and its myriad problems.
2. Lack of basic amenities and infrastructure.
3. Their contribution to the economy both in goods and services vis-à-vis their urban
counterparts.
4. They could be an even bigger drivers of our economy if they are made self reliant by
improving infrastructure and reducing the general disparities between cities and villages
...etc...Etc.

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 V. Agrarian Economy in India-boon or bane
1. Speaking for the topic one can argue the following- time and again it has made us self
reliant in food.
2. This increases our bargaining power tremendously in the world economy.
3. Internally also food prices can be kept low and this will have a direct bearing on inflation.
4. This would bolster the economy and provide us freedom from world bodies and other
nations.
5. Against the topic-agrarian economy is at the mercy of climatic conditions.
6. A bad summer , monsoon, or winter could bring the nation down.
7. It will have a spiral effect as increased prices will lead to inflation and problems
associated with it.
8. World bodies and other nations will dictate terms..etc....

VI. If there were no armies in the world...

1. Wishful thinking indeed!
2. It would be the key element for world peace.
3. There will be no instrument to wage a war.
4. It will also remove fear and distrust among various nations.
5. We wont have a defense budget.
6. This means more funds channelised into other productive areas.
7. Reduced terrorism and very little separatist groups
8. But the disadvantage could be imposition by one group, anarchy, laissez faire politics,
lawlessness..etc..

VII. Indian customs-are we in a time warp?

1. Some undesirable practices over a long time.
2. Dowry- prevalent even among the educated class, Sati- recent example of a lady in North
India.
3. Child marriages-still prevalent in backward areas etc.
4. Reason on why do we still follow such customs.
5. Traditional subjugation of women-present even in big cities among upper class society.
6. Allied problems due to such customs-intolerance, fundamentalism, exploitation, etc.
7. Suggest ways out of this like education the masses, indicating the outmodedness and
irrelevance of such practices today...etc...

VIII. How green was my valley..."Are we paying the price of nature?

1. As every one tries to be one up on the other in the race for industrialization, deforestation
is taking place on a large scale.
2. This effect is more pronounced in developing countries .
3. It has made a perceptible difference in the last 50 years with rising temperatures.
4. Global warming. Greenhouse effect. Ozone layer depletion. El Nino type effects.
5. Similarly it has affected other living beings-both plant and animals driving many of them
to extinction..Etc...
6. But people have realised it now.
7. A lot of NGOs and voluntary bodies are working on it.
8. Infact there is even a Greens party in Germany which has been winning elections using
the environmental plank...etc....

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 IX. Management Education-Is it necessary to succeed in business
1. This is again a topic where we can have for and against arguments.
2. There are many examples of great visionaries and leaders in business who have
succeeded without any formal management education.
3. People have simply done it by their will, passion and desire.
4. But management education has also produced many bigwigs.
5. A management education gives a perspective towards analysis and problem solving.
6. It enables one to take decisions in a scientific manner , it enables you to handle the stress
and strains of a demanding job...

X. The role of NGOs in economics and politics

1. NGOs have become very powerful today.
2. They have a major role to play in politics as they swerve peoples opinion.
3. They enjoy a lot of support and goodwill of the people.
4. They can also make or break a business.
5. They protect the interests of the people and represent a collective voice against anything
that goes against their interests.
6. Most of the times NGOs are more capable in securing a fair deal for the general good.
7. Also the NGOs have shown that they are in a better position to handle social issues than
most governments ...etc...

XI. NGOs- Do they serve peoples interests or are they pressure groups?
1. Most of the points discussed in the topic The role of NGOs in economics and politics
can be taken up here too.
2. Recent example of the WTO at Seattle where the NGOs were one of the most important
voices heard.
3. NGOs today have become powerful and can force almost any issue.
4. But this could also lead to a tacit misuse of them by interested entities.
5. Also, different people have different interests, so if each NGO represents narrow
interests it will affect the broader interests of society.
6. They are also seen as pressure groups and we have examples of innumerable projects
being shelved for the fear of them...etc...

XII. Death of Socialism

1. Socialism is not really dead but is still present in countries like Cuba and China.
2. But across the globe, it has diminished greatly and even in these countries, it is in a
watered down version.
3. There were a lot of good points about socialism but ultimately as it has turned out it has
not worked out well.
4. It talked about equality for all.
5. But if everybody got everything equally then there is no individual motivation.
6. People who think they can do something better than others would also want to enjoy the
rewards that go with it and so prefer capitalism.
7. Though inherently good, socialism did not reward individual merit. So people turn to
capitalism...etc...
XIII.Role of women in development
1. Women have today proven that they can be as good as men in any field if not better.
2. Examples of developed nations where women are more emancipated.
3. There is also a lot of statistics, which show that wherever women have been encouraged,
those countries have progressed.
4. This is a key reason for the prosperity of the Western countries.
5. This is in contrast to third world countries where women are marginalized.
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 6. One must also talk about India and how critical is the womenfolk to its
development...etc...

XIV. Kids today are not what they used to be

1. The environments in which kids grow today are different.
2. Kids today are exposed to different kinds of media like radio, television Internet etc.
3. They learn many things quickly and mature faster.
4. They have a lot of information in their access compared to before.
5. There are a lot of negative influences too. Kids are more demanding.
6. Also exposure to these media can cause negative effect on them.
7. From the education point of view, competition

XV. Casteless India-A pipe dream

1. In India , people have been divided and classified since times immemorial.
2. We have the example of the Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras etc from the
early days.
3. Today we have a plethora of castes and subcastes.
4. Instead of bringing everyone under par, the government policies have widened the rift.
5. We have to slowly but surely defuse this issue.
6. Education and literacy are potent weapons which we must use in our campaign against
casteism...etc..

XVI. Should Trade Unionism be banned in India

1. We have the traditional capitalist vs. workers conflict.
2. Outdated labour laws in India.
3. At times demands of trade unions are very unreasonable.
4. Strikes bring the entire production to a halt thereby causing reduced supply which in turn
causes a push in the price and hence inflation and cripples the economy.
5. But the other point of view is that workers need a means to voice their issues and
grievances.
6. Trade unions should take a balanced view before they make demands ...etc...

XVII. Repeated elections-Should taxpayers pay for it?

1. Era of coalition politics.
2. No clear mandate is being given to any single party.
3. Coalition supporters with a handful of seats have become very powerful that it can pull
down a government at any time.
4. This leads to repeated elections.
5. Suggest solutions like if a party decided to enter a coalition it must not withdraw from it
till at least three years.
6. Alternately, political parties can be made to fund midterm elections.
7. This will not only save taxpayers money but will also be a big demotivator for parties
calling for fresh elections during midterm...etc...

XVIII. Indian bureaucracy-foundation strengths or colonial hangovers?

1. A legacy of the past, one of the good things handed over by the British.
2. It began as an efficient system for discharging government duties but today has become
mammoth.
3. Problems faced with such a bureaucracy- layering, red tapism, delayed decision making,
complex decision-making process.
4. Today we are witnessing a lot of change not only in the way business is done but also in
way governments function..
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 5. Offer some solutions on strengthening the existing bureaucracy.
6. Today Information technology has enabled us to work with optimal staff.
7. Processes are run on their own with minimal human interference.
8. We need to change our bureaucracy accordingly.
9. Another angle by which this can be tackled is to improve the quality of people entering
the Civil Services, which would call for policy, based reformation of the selection
procedure.

XIX. "In India, the whole is less than the parts"-Do we lack in team spirit?
1. Indians are said to be brilliant as individuals but poor as team players.
2. It is said that Indians can’t work as a team. Even our cricket "team" is a bunch of 11
individuals playing together.
3. That is why we do not move ahead as an economy...etc..
4. But on the other hand, take a look at our society and our social milieu, the vast range of
cultures and languages we have.
5. Despite all this we have been able to retain our unity and stay as one.
6. If this is not "team spirit" then what is?...etc

XX. Generation X- Drivers of our future or lost souls?

1. Talk of today's teen and youth.
2. They are very open. they do not stick to old legacies.
3. They are very forward looking and ready to accept change.
4. They can lead India into the challenges of the 21st century.
5. But they are also a bit confused.
6. Today the vast media choice before them exposes them to different cultures.
7. Globalization has also brought a new change in lifestyles.
8. They are caught between their own culture and values on one hand and that of another
kind brought to their living rooms daily...etc...

XXI. Do we need a cut in the defense budget?

1. India is a land where there is a lot of poverty and many people are barely able to manage
a meal a day.
2. We spend a huge proportion of our budget in maintaining armies.
3. We could cut on these and channelise some of the funds to social development in the
form of education, health, industry etc.
4. On the other hand we have the threat of war always looming in front of us.
5. In fact some may argue that we need to allocate more resources for our defense budget as
a lot of our armaments are old and outdated and we need to modernise and upgrade
them...etc.

XXII. Does India need a dictator?

1. The current political structure.
2. Drawbacks of it.
3. Bureaucracy, layers in decision-making, anarchy.
4. Dictatorship would mean centralized power and faster decision making.
5. But, country run on whims and fancies of an individual.
6. Freedom on individuals could be clamped. Etc....
7. Present a balanced argument for and against and take up your position on the issue.

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XXIII. Is coalition politics here to stay?
1. Nature of coalition politics.
2. Indecisiveness of elections.
3. No particular party is getting the peoples mandate.
4. Advantage of coalition politics in enabling formation of government.
5. Flipside of coalition politics- a party with a handful of seats become powerful.
6. Government falls before tenure.
7. Fresh elections each time.
8. Suggest a way out of this problem, for e.g.: once a party pledges support to a coalition, it
will not withdraw its support until it has watched a governments performance for atleast
three years...etc
9. The future -will it only have coalitions, emerging political trends...etc...

XXIV. Is India moving away from a secularist state?

1. Define secularism.
2. Constitution calls our country such a state, but how things have changed over the last 50
years.
3. Spread of nationalism.
4. Division into majority and minority groups-e.g. benefits given to minority groups
perceived as a threat by others.
5. Role of non-tolerant neighbors in fuelling fundamentalism.
6. It is a passing phenomenon.
7. We have the national character to overcome this.... Points along these lines can be
discussed.

XXV. Education in India-or the lack of it.

1. Discuss current education system.
2. Discuss our sociological structure.
3. Poverty, which forces kids to drop out to supplement family income.
4. Vicious circle-poverty due to lack of education and vice versa.
5. Suggest solutions to get out of this-for e.g., governments are doing a commendable job
with the midday meal schemes but we need more of such efforts.
6. Going down further, why restrict it to government alone? Why cant private people,
NGOs and other voluntary bodies come forward to do the same?
7. How about tapping corporate funds for such causes...etc.....

XXVI. What ails Indian sports?

1. A nation of 950 million, we fail to produce great champions barring the occasional
Vishwanathan Anand or Geet Sethi.
2. Sports system steeped in bureaucracy.
3. Overriding popularity of cricket leading to neglect in other sports.
4. Traditionally, sports not accorded much importance by us as a career.
5. Need to develop sports from the primary school level-"catch em young".
6. Various incentives to be given to budding sportsmen like academic credits, sports in lieu
of a few other subjects etc.
7. Development of sports infrastructure, making it amenable and affordable...etc.....

XXVII. The Age of Information.

1. Today a plethora of sources to provide information-Newspapers, radio, Television,
Internet etc.
2. Information available at the touch of a button.
3. Greater decision-making power to the individual.
4. Also easier decision making for the individual.
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 5. Information is the key to ones success today.
6. One who is more informed forges ahead.
7. The flipside-information overkill. At times deciding is tough due to too much information
...etc.....

XXVIII. Is Philosophy just arm chair theory?

1. Talk what you know about this topic.
2. Talk of its relevance in day to day life (or irrelevance if you feel so..).
3. Talk of its influence in literature e.g.
4. Influence of Kant on the romantic poets especially Wordsworth or of Bacon , Voltaire et
al on the "Enlightenment" period etc.
5. Talk of its influence in politics e.g. Influence of Nietzsche on Hitler and subsequent
genocide during Nazi regime etc.
6. Talk of ethics and morals and their importance in life.
7. Talk of Indian philosophy. The Gita.
8. Discuss whether we use any of these in our lives and their importance in moulding our
values...etc...

XXIX. Success is all about human relations

1. The most important skill for success in to have people on your side.
2. One can get a lot of work done by superiority and hierarchy but one cannot be a leader of
men unless one maintains excellent human relations.
3. Its importance not only in professional life but personal life too.
4. Knowledge and expertise does one no good if one cannot maintain proper human
relations...etc.....

XXX. Borderless worlds-Dream or reality?

1. Globalization of business.
2. Opening up of the various economies.
3. Cross cultural exchanges.
4. More and more people getting an opportunity to work in different lands among different
peoples and absorbing a bit of their values and culture.
5. This leads to greater tolerance and understanding of others' problems.
6. The other side-people despite all this have nationalistic and regionalist chauvinism.
7. A world divided into first, second and third worlds.
8. People still talk of "their" economy and not world economy.
9. Europe has shown a step in this direction with EU but its feasibility remains to be seen.
10. So while people clamour for globalisation, they still think only in terms of their national
interests...etc...

XXXI. Quality is a myth in India.

1. The Indian products and manufacturing techniques.
2. Why are we unable to sustain against global competition.
3. Our mindset towards quality. Indian attitude of "chalta hai" which leads to an
undemanding customer which in turn lets people get away with substandard products and
services.
4. Today competition is forcing our industry to adhere to global standards so we are getting
there in terms of quality.
5. Examples of our software industry, which is recognized for its ability to meet global
standards etc.
6. Since the topic is general, we can extrapolate it to our quality of life-the air, the water, the
facilities we have, the infrastructure we have, the services we get and put up with.... etc....
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