India, March 5 -- The culmination of the Hindustan Times Centennial Debate at Bikaner House on Tuesday morning brought an end to a months-long event that saw about 50 colleges participate in regional rounds that spanned three cities. The national final was judged by a stellar jury comprising former Union minister of state and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, former chief justice of the Jammu & Kashmir high court justice (retired) Gita Mittal, and Bharatiya Janata Party national vice-president and senior parliamentarian Baijayant 'Jay' Panda.

Over nearly two hours, they judged a pool of 12 speakers from the top six teams from the regional rounds - the winners and runners-up from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru - square off on the topic ...