A tribute to a benevolent donor saw the boys and girls of the La Martiniere schools match wits on globalisation.

The Chater Memorial Debate, hosted by La Martiniere for Girls in memory of Sir Catchick Paul Chater, a British businessman of Armenian descent and a student of the La Martiniere College in Calcutta, who had made a big donation to La Martiniere schools in a time of crisis, featured six schools from across the city. Four teams made it to the semi-final round and ultimately, it was a clash of the Martinians - La Martiniere for Girls and La Martiniere for Boys - in the final. The topic: "This house believes that globalisation is another form of imperialism". La Martiniere for Girls spoke for the motion and the boys against it.

The lead speaker for the motion was Roshni Chakraborty, a Class XI student. "Let's go back to the age of colonialism, where imperial powers used to dump goods in their colony nations. Does this not sound similar to what is happening to the economies of Southeast Asian nations and North African nations today? This too is a form of imperialism by countries who wish to exert their superiority, economic or otherwise, over weaker nations. In modern parlance, however, we are terming this as globalisation," she argued.

Countering her arguments was Abhishek Basu of Class XII, the lead speaker of the opposition. "The fact that we stand here dressed in western attire is the direct effect of globalisation. If one talks about the imperialistic policies of the US vis-à-vis a few countries in West Asia, one should note that these also happen to be places with minimal western influence. In this respect, globalisation can never be termed as another form of imperialism," he said.

Muskaan Sofet of Class XI highlighted the economic aspect of globalisation. "Today, multinational brands are coming to our country and usurping our own companies. We are calling this globalisation. But this process is having a huge impact on local businesses and the economy at large. In the garb of globalisation, the richer economies are actually trying to spread their own markets. Isn't this a form of imperialism?"

The speaker who stole the show with his arguments was Satyajit Bose of LMB. "When one country has absolute control over another in economic, political and social spheres, it is called imperialism. The process of globalisation affects select sectors and leaves the rest of the economy intact. Globalisation may lead to imperialism, but can never substitute it," he argued. The Class XI student was adjudged the Best Speaker.

Principal Rupkatha Sarkar was proud to see the girls collect the trophy for Best Team. "This is our first endeavour to hold the Chater Memorial Debate and there are two reasons why we did it. First, debating is a skill that requires participants to listen and then logically put arguments forward. In today's world, these qualities are important. Also, we wanted to hold this debate in memory of a man who lived in the school campus as a boarder and went on to become immensely successful in life. But he did not forget his roots and when the need arose, he bailed out his alma mater," she said.