prayas 2015
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A newsletter prepared by Journalism Honors of Media Studies for Department of CommerceTRANSCRIPT
Prayas 2015, an inter-collegiatefest organized by the Departmentof Commerce, Christ Universitytook off in a sublime fashion onthe 8th of September 2015. TheMain Auditorium came to lifeduring the grand inaugurationceremony, as the 3 day eventcommenced with a bang.
The fest, which carried the theme‘Faux Economy’, had whetted theappetite of Commerce studentsalready and the inauguration livedup to the hype too. The ChiefGuest of the Inauguration-Mohandas Pai, who currentlyholds the post of the Chairman ofthe Manipal Global Education andis a renowned educationist andphilanthropist too, was present tograce the occasion. Mr. Pai is aformer member of the InfosysBoard of Directors and has playeda role in making Infosys what it istoday. He was accompanied byhonorable dignitaries, whoincluded Vice Chancellor FatherThomas C. Matthew and SeniorProfessor of Commerce Mr.Thomas Joseph and the likes.
The event kick started with the
screening of the Prayas 2015
official promo, which gave a
complete overview of what the fest
would be about and highlighted
the problems and deficiencies the
world economy is currently facing
and set the mood. The fest was to
consist of a variety of events and
competitions such as Best
Manager, Business Quiz, Human
Resource, Mock Stock and many
more. 12 teams, hailing from
colleges from all across the nation
would form a total of as many
conglomerates, and the team with
the highest points would
eventually emerge triumphant.
The dignitaries, along with Mr. Pai
lit the lamp and were requested to
take their respective places on the
dais. A Senior Professor,
Department of Commerce, Mr.
Thomas Joseph was invited onto
the stage to address the audience.
Mr. Joseph warmly welcomed thehonorable Chief Guest andexpressed his deepest pleasure athaving such a distinguished guestgracing the fest. A bouquet waspresented to Mr. Pai, whoaccepted it with immense joy. Mr.Joseph referred to the BComstudents as the ‘heartbeat’ of thefest and commended their ideasand efforts that went into turningthe event into a successful one.
Dr. Father. Thomas C. Matthewwas invited onto the stage toenlighten the crowd with hisinspiring words. He emphasized
the concept of ‘emotionalintelligence’, which is somethingthat countries such as Singaporehave been adhering to and dubbedit as a reason for Singapore’scompact growth. He stressedupon the fact that emotionalintelligence isn’t valued much inIndia but its importance iscertainly on the rise. Hecongratulated the facultymembers, teachers andparticipants on bringing the festinto being.
Mr. Mohandas Pai, was then requested to take overand compel the students into thinking more and toact as a source of inspiration to them. Mr. Paielaborated the fact that the economy is slowingdown and how the rate of interest, is slowing downtoo. He said that the world is a whole new commonmarket, while the financial markets are nothingshort of shaky in the modern day and pointed outthe uncertainty that has crept up in the markets andalso upon the volatility that currently lurks in it. Hereferred to the invention of the Steam Engine as a‘disruption’ in the, then, world market and said thatit broke down the supply chain that once existed inthe economy.He called us, the next generation as the ‘would- bemovers and shakers in the market’ and reflectedupon the fact that the easy days are gone.He received a token of thanks from Dr. Father C.Matthew as the crowd thanked him with a huge
round of applause. The cultural event, whichconsisted of a dance performance by the collegerenowned dance team- YUVA, followed up. Theperformance by the Darpan 2015 Dance Competitionrunners up was energetic and entertaining.Mr. Karthikeya Prakasham, the revered coordinatorof the Bcom Regular students thanked everyonepresent for gracing the occasion. Mr. JacksonMendoza, the coordinator of the cultural programswas given a special thanks by Mr. PrakashamThe spell binding inauguration ceremony providedthe Prayas 2015 fest with the perfect foundation tohopefully make all the other events as good as itturned out to be. After all, hope is the only thing inthis world that plays a pivotal role in overriding thepessimism in us and bringing in a new ray ofoptimism and positivity.
KAUSTUBH PANDEY
Mr.Mohandas PaiPhoto : Ankit Sharma
PRAYAS 2015
Onset of PRAYAS 2015: Inauguration
The Keynote address for Prayas 2015 wasdelivered by Mrs. Shalini Pillay, Head of PeoplePerformance and Culture of KPMG, India. Sheis, in effect, responsible for all the HR functionsof the company. The event was held in the MainAuditorium, from 3:00-3:30pm.
Mrs. Pillay, largely spoke about the possibleexpectations of the corporate sector from thestudents of Commerce. She reiterated time andagain, the importance of being an activeindividual, and not being passive in theiroutlook – like trying to draw meaning from abalance sheet, without looking at it with acompletely objective attitude. Mrs. Pillaystressed on the aptitude factor, and emphasizedthe importance of being an avid reader, so as tosurvive in this dynamic world.
The question and answer session started on arather hesitant note, but escalated into anenergetic exchange. Extremely pertinentquestions were asked, to which the respectedguest had quick and insightful answers that willno doubt help the students grow. She impartedher knowledge by sharing with the audience, herjourney in life and explaining that curiosity isthe key to success. On being asked about howone makes their way into big companies such asKPMG, Ma’am insisted that soft skills andpersonality play the most important roles.Madam left the audience with the promise thatshe shall clear all further doubts in a separateand more informal session.
The ‘Best Manager’ competition
commenced with the first round on 8th
September in the DMK Conference
Hall with great gusto. This competition
gave a real life experience of the grilling
interview sessions that the commerce
graduates go through.
The event included twenty eightcolleges from all over India with twelvecolleges qualifying for the final round.There were four online rounds makingit convenient for more colleges toparticipate, and eight physical rounds.The judging panel consisted of 5th yearlaw student Aishwarya Madhe for thefirst round, Anisha George andParvati.A, who are Ex-Christites, alongwith RJ Nathan and RJ Michelle, wereinvited to judge the challenging roundof interviews which kept theparticipants on their toes and made an
interesting event for the audience inthe last round.
The judges wanted to check the
capability of the participants in a panic
situation, and how they would take care
of their shareholders as well as the
society. The judges asked the
participants why they wanted to be
managers, and how they would take
care of the stock market during a bomb
blast by creating a real life situation
with sound effects and a company like
setup. The title and associate sponsors
for the event were KPMG, CMA and
MILES. The last round was held in the
Main auditorium on 10th September
from 12 to 1:30 pm which witnessed a
very attentive and enthusiastic
audience
SHREYA V RAMAN
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Her parting advice to the young crowd was totake the opportunities that they come
across and make the most of them – the biggestmistake is to let good opportunities pass you by.
The vote of thanks for Mrs. Shalini Pillay was
delivered by Subhashree Ma’am, following
which the respected speaker was given a token
of appreciation. The lecture proved to be an
enlightening experience for all present there
SREYA DEB
MRS SHALINI PILLAY – PHOTO : Ankit Sharma
PRAYAS 2015
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
The public relations event consisted of five
rounds. The first round was conducted on 8th
August from 3:15p.m to 5p.m in room 202,
second floor and block four. A total of eight
students in charge were appointed out of which
three were the main heads while five were sub
heads. There were a total of twenty judges
appointed from the alumni and teachers of the
university itself.
The first round was about labor laws in Qatar
where the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held. It
was further divided into three sub rounds
namely the press conference round, LMPs (Last
Minute Productions) and government
discussion.
The participants played the role of PR
representatives of companies and had a question
and answer session with two judges at a time.
This session was known as the grilling session.
The Human Resources Competition was one of themost gripping and engaging events that took place ina span of three days.
The competition consisted of a total of 6 rounds,which was initially contested by 12 teams but thenumber was later zeroed in to 6 teams, as the roundsprogressed. The participants hailed from differentzones across the nation. The teams such asHydrogen, Shamrock, Ortid and Inspirin werecompeting to be crowned the winner of theprestigious Human Resource competition.
The venues varied from ‘SOHO St.’ restaurant to theSeminar Hall of the University and succeeded ingrabbing the attention of the judges such as Mr.Gopal and Mr. Ram Mohan themselves and Mr.Prabhu too, fascinating them and keeping them onthe lookout for something more.
The event had a spread of activities, ranging fromdiscussions involving participants regarding theworking of the company, ‘Housing.com’, to apresentation of the strategies of the individualparticipants when the company ‘Bit Am Com’ is inturmoil.
The event rightly fulfilled the tag of Prayas 2015’s‘Faux Economy’ as the participants deliberatedabout the global issues that prevail around theworld.
KAUSTUBH PANDEY
PHOTO : Ankit Sharma
PHOTO : Monica Sharma
PRAYAS2015
By the last round, six participants were eliminatedand only six remained. The topic of the last roundwas the Syrian Crises. One of the participants,Surendra, explained his role of being a PRrepresentative of a company in Syria. Theparticipant played the role of being a mediatorbetween the government and the ISIS and as astakeholder it was his responsibility to come outwith the best solution that benefitted both thecompany and the groups in conflict. Anotherparticipant Chirag explained the importance ofdiscussing this issue as it is a major determinantin current world politics and thereby spreadingmore awareness about it.
ARPIT KAUR BHATIA
HUMAN RESOURCES COMPETITION REPORT
PUBLIC RELATIONS EVENT
BullRun- a mock stock tested the participant’s
knowledge and understanding of the financial
markets as a whole, through various rounds of
events.
A team of two from 12 different colleges, each,
participated in the competition. The first round,
which took place on the 8Th Sept , was a
presentation on how PayTM went public and their
competition with Flipkart wallet. External Judges
of this round were Mr. C Subramaniam ,CA and
Ms Kanishka Kabra ,also a CA. Joining them were
Ms Soumya V Iyer and Mr. Naveen Kumar from
the Department of Commerce. The second round
was Integration with Finance on the topic of
Lego’s entry into the Indian Market.
The Entrepreneurial Development
event, undertaken by the Christ
University under the Prayas 2015 fest
kick started on the 8th of September,
2015 in a unique fashion here in the
Assembly Hall
The participants were from St. Joseph’s
College, Bengaluru ,St. Xavier’s College,
Kolkata, I Lead, Kolkata Symbiosis
College, Pune ,Loyola College, Chennai ,
Kristu Jayanti College, Bengaluru as the
title of the winner was well and truly up
for grabs.
The main focus of the event was to
developing entrepreneurial skills
among participants, help them detect
problems in start-ups and finding
solutions to it. The event consisted of 6
rounds. In the final round the
participants were given a task that USA
has approached them to make a man-
made island for the rehabilitation of
refugees. The panel consisted of
Members of the IMF, Oval Office of
USA and the United States of America.
The student Coordinator, Nishmita said
“The event is set apart from all other
events, as it has a little bit of everything,
where you can develop Business
Management skills. Creativity is most
important.”
NIVRITI RIJHSINGHANI
PHOTO : Ankit Sharma
PHOTO : Shivansh Dhasmana
PRAYAS 2015
The 9th saw the third round, Traditional Outcry,
followed by the fourth round of a very absorbing
card game. The cards had various companies’
names on them and their market predictions.
This round was a favorite, but unfortunately it
had to come to an end owing to time constrains.
The game continued early the next day and there
was active participation from all the teams.
The next round was an integration of the
participants with the Integration team in which
each teams had to pitch their portfolios.
The last round, Pre-Set Price Outcry, focused on
how intensely students followed markets. Teams
were made to trade companies such as Dabur and
HDFC in a trade period of 20 years, 1994-2014.
(In which each year was four minutes long).
K NIRUPAMA CHANDRA
MOCK STOCK – BULL RUN
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The Marketing event held at the Conference Hall,
Block II, successfully kicked off at 3:00 pm on the 8th
of September. The event witnessed participants from
St. Joseph’s, Bengaluru, Jain CMS, Bengaluru, St.
Xaviers, Kolkata, Symbiosis, Pune and 8 other
prominent schools and colleges from all over the
country.
The event, judged by Mr. Aditya Mitra commenced
the first of its seven rounds wherein it encouraged it’s
participants to think out of the box and to cope with
the changing dynamics of the economy.
“How can you create the ideal product for your
customers when you’re not even aware of your
potential market?” asked Niharika, a volunteer and
Christite. The next 6 rounds witnessed a sequence of
various aspects on how to handle dictatorship,
marketing strategies, etc. When asked for feedback,
one of the judges, Anto Philip, a B.Com graduate and
alumni of Christ, praised the organising committee
for their efforts and described the event as a “learning
curve”.
With Vinay Mudaliar as the quiz master, on the 9th
of September, the Business Quiz: Enigma witnessed
some nail biting competition.
IIT Madras, St. Xavier’s Kolkata, Symbiosis Pune,
National Management School Mumbai, Jyoti Nivas
College Bengaluru and Christ University Bengaluru
were a few of the institutions participating. Only 6
teams made it through the elimination round which
comprised of questions from every sphere of
business.
There were a total of four rounds, the first being the
elimination round. At the end of each round there
were questions for the audience, and t-shirts were
given out for the correct answers.
The last three rounds comprised of interesting
questions, hilarious answers, lightning fast buzzers
and negative marks which bought a lot of tension
into the room.
The fourth and the final round was coincidentally
named ‘PRAYAS’, with six questions having
answers starting with the letters of ‘PRAYAS’ in
order.
PHOTO : Monica Sharma
PHOTO : Monica Sharma
PRAYAS 2015
Sreya Murali, an EPS graduate and alumni,
emphasised the importance of factual evidence.
She also spoke gloriously about the importance of
conceptual clarity. Overall, the event was
educational, creative and served as a learning
curve for all of its participants.
This event was specially sponsored by DIGJAM
Fine Suitings and Unilet Electronics.
RAMYA SAMBAMURTHY
The tension in the room reached its pinnacle when
the BBM department of Christ and IIT Madras
found themselves tied. The tie breaker was a
buzzer round, after which IIT Madras’, Arshabh
Menon and Kavin Aadithiyan, emerged as the
Enigma winners.
SHIREEN NOUSHAD
MARKETING
ENIGMA-BUSINESS QUIZ
The Finance Event for Prayas 2015, was a 3 day
event starting from the 8th of September, and
concluded on the 10th of September 2015. The
event had 9 rounds with 12 teams from all over the
country consisting of 2 students each. The event
was headed by a jury of 2 people on all 3 days with
the judges being Mr. Sandeep, Senior Tax Manager
at Ernst and Young, US and Mr. Raghavendra,
Assistant Professor for Commerce Department,
Christ University for the 3rd and the final day of
the event. Loyola College Chennai , St Joseph
College of Commerce Bengaluru , CMS Jain
Bengaluru, St. Xaviers College , Kolkata ,
Department of Professional Studies , Christ
University , Symbiosis , Pune were the 6 teams that
reached the final round of the event. The teams
were given the case and profile of a coal company
in US going through bankruptcy two weeks in
advance, and the event was a debate on whether or
not there should be a case filed for the bankruptcy
of the company, with 3 teams speaking for the
motion and 3 teams speaking against the motion.
Each team was given a total time of 7 minutes for
presentation, 3 minutes was given as common time
for rebuttal from both the teams and 2 minutes was
given for questions from the judges.
The event kept the participants on the edge of their
seats, and left them with a question as to who
would emerge victorious.
SAKSHI SRIVASTAVA
The Integration Competition, held in the span of
three days, consisted of 6 rounds, wherein the 12
teams were slowly cut down as the rounds fleeted
past.
There was a distinct variety in the type of
competitions the event constituted, ranging from
participants representing three world countries
fighting for the right to establish a Disney theme
park in their nation to the trials of economic hit
men at the International Criminal Court. The
competition adhered to an elimination format.
The event allowed the participants to enrich their
economic thinking and played a role in improving
their ability to answer quick fire questions based
on commerce.
A member of the Hydrogen group during the final
round was quoted as saying “It was a big learning
experience and helped us learn things we haven’t
learnt before”. When asked about whether they
were told about the International Criminal court
setting, she replied “Not at all. We were just
informed about the basic premise and setting,
that’s all!”
SHIVANSH DHASAMANA
PRAYAS came to a grand close on the 10th ofSeptember at 2 pm. A large number of colleges hadparticipated in the event and managed to make it asuccess.Father Arun Antony Chully addressed the audienceon how the event had impacted the students as wellas the university at large. He enlightened theaudience on how higher education is about two typesof learning- experience and applied learning.All the activities that took place in Prayas pushed thestudents to think, to brain storm, to work in teamsand enhance their skills.He emphasized that most enterprises agree that it isextremely difficult to do business in India. It is thegeneral thumb rule that business is possibleanywhere if you manage to succeed in India. It isevents like these that enrich experience and impartrequired diligence. Constant learning makessuccessful and sustainable people.Father summed up by thanking all the organizers
and congratulating all the participants andappreciated the effort put in. “It is my firm belief thatwinning is not the end prize but the process ofpractice, patience, organizing and working smart.That makes a real winner.”
K NIRUPAMA CHANDRA
PHOTO : Ankit Sharma
PRAYAS 2015
FINANCE INTEGRATION COMPETITION
VALEDICTORY
EDITING DEPARTMENT : ELISHIA V, SHIREEN N,ARPIT B, SREYA D, NIVRITI RDESIGN DEPARTMENT : AISHIK P, AAKASH S, RAMYA S, SHIVANSH D
SPECIAL THANKS TO ;
FATHER ARUN ANTONY FATHER BIJU CHAKKO NITHILA VINCENT(HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)NARESH RAO ( HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA STUDIES)AASITA BALI (PROGRAMME CO-ORDINATOR OF MEDIA STUDIES)
TITLE SPONSORS
PRAYAS 2015
ASSOCIATE SPONSORS