Material World Anniversary Debate 2008 Reports


Perhaps the overpowering presence of academia in the Material World Anniversary Debate Panel this year saw an unconventionally “less competitive” debate with speakers complementing each other in their deliberations.

If DP Chattopadhyay of Globsyn Business School (the only panelist who did not refer to any paper for his deliberations) with his captivating extempore and a very stylish accent used human anatomy to highlight the importance of peaceful coexistence of the hard and soft skill, RP Yadav, CMD of Genius Consultants resorted to poetry…

“Song Without Music
Ice cream Without Ice & Flavor
Food Without Salt & Spices”

Such was the feeling of bonhomie that Prof Chattopadhyay turned down the Chair’s (Mr. Biswajit Matilal, Veteran Media and PR Personality) offer to refute the opponents’ views in the second round. “Chairman Sir, I would neither counter the views of the opponents’ nor reinforce the views of my colleague.” he asserted.

It was left to Rajib Kumar, CEO of Material World and Jt. Secretary, National HRD Network, Kolkata and Dr. Subhashis Majumder, Principal, Bhavan’s College of Communication and Management to fight out in the end. Kumar’s views appear above; Dr. Majumder underlined the poor state of hard skills training in institutions.

In the end everybody was talking the need to balance though…Dr. Majumder’s opinion of the need to find equilibrium between hard and soft skills was welcomed by Kumar. But then he asked…who decides on that equilibrium? Education after all is a business today.

And the light mood continued when Kumar responded to Yadav’s family example with “Yes…we sure need soft skills training in the family. All married men know that.” The audience and the panel burst into laughter.

Even the generally sober Mr. Matilal couldn’t help grinning and chipped in ”I can see Mrs. Kumar’s face. Mr. Kumar should remember he has to return home after this.”