A look at the economics of life

The Economics Forum of St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science recently held the fifth chapter of ‘E Bizz’, a national-level economics and entrepreneurship summit.

The two-day event aimed at creating economic awareness among students and to test their analytical and presentation skills in the area of economic and entrepreneurship.

The chief guest for the event was Sudhakar Rao, former chief secretary of State. At the inaugural function, Sudhakar shared many anecdotes with the students. He said, “The real fun of economics is when one is able to relate  the subject to everyday life.

Economics is not just about the syllabus but how well one takes into account the external forces that affect us daily.”

Most of the events that took place examined the global market scenario and identified the various issues pertaining to the country. Zoya, a student who was in charge of the debate competition said, “We wanted to create a general awareness on the current issues faced in the country. We kept two rounds for the participants, where in they could write for and against topics like health, corruption etc. On the second day, they would get a chance for rebuttal.”

The highlights were the ‘Young Economist’ and ‘Mock G-8’. The ‘Young Economist’ event had four rounds including an essay, multiple choice quiz, paper presentation. Those who get shortlisted will have to face an economics-based quiz to bag the title.

The ‘Mock G-8’ competition will create a G-8 like ambience for the participants, where they can debate, discuss and deliberate over global issues. The fest had students from all over the country including St Xavier’s College, Mumbai and Ahmedabad; Madras Christian College, Chennai; IIT Madras, Chennai; Canara College, Mangalore among others.

Richie, a student of Symbiosis University, Pune, said that he came for the fest with an aim to learn and get an overall experience.

“Economics is such a subject where you can’t just stick to the syllabus. One must be aware of one’s surroundings. That’s why I have prepared more on my general knowledge,” he added.

Other events that kept the students busy were ‘Group Discussion’, ‘Business Plan’, ‘Crack The Case’, ‘Advertising and Sales’ and ‘Best Manager’.