Group Discussion Session on 14th August at GERMI- A Review
We convened for a Group Discussion Session on 14th August at the GERMI Conference Hall in PDPU. The GD was organised by Ankit Bansal and Tharun Kumar with the help of Mr Ramachandran K who was instrumental in getting the venue and inviting senior GERMI members.
A total of nearly 30 students assembled for the GD at the allotted venue at the end of regular classes. Prof T Harinarayan, Director GERMI-RIIC, Dr R Gopichandran, Principal Research Scientist at GERMI RIIC, Mr Ramchandran K, Research Associate GERMI RIIC, Dr Omkar Jani, Principal Research Scientist, GERMI RIIC and Dr Bijaya Behera attended the session and gave us their valuable inputs.
Before the commencement of the GD session, Prof Harinarayan and Dr Gopichandran gave us some guidelines and inputs regarding the handling of Group Discussions and commended the batch for taking steps to improve our communication and presentation skills. Dr Omkar, Dr Behera and Mr Ramachandran also shared some of their thoughts and encouraged us to have more such sessions in future.
Three topics for Group Discussion had already been circulated amongst the participants through this blog by the organisers.
The topics were
1. Petroleum Product Pricing in India
2. Coal Bed Methane Development in India
3. BP Oil Spill
The first group discussed on Petroleum Product Pricing in India.
Key issues raised during the GD are as follows
1. Impact of deregulation of prices of petroleum products on common man
2. Deregulation of diesel
3. Subsidy provided by Government
4. Impact of subsidy on Government's revenue and profit margins of Upstream NOCs
5. Reduction of taxes if deregulation takes place
6. Impact of diesel prices on economy of households
7. Increase in exploration and production activity by Upstream NOCs.
8. Private players in oil product marketing
Although several important issues were raised, I feel that many other important issues could have been raised like negative impact of subsidies, LPG subsidies and finding solutions to ensure subsidies reach only those who really deserve it. The whole group as well as the faculty members present felt that we should have managed the time more efficiently and concluded the GD. Every judge gave their opinion on the performance of the students. The review was largely positive although suggestion were given on improvement of body language, eye contact, fluency and counter arguments.
Toward the end of the first GD, Vinay Babu sir also came.
The second group discussed on Coal Bed Methane Development in India
Key issues raised during the GD were as follows
1. India, having one of the largest resources of coal and CBM
2. Government policies regarding CBM
3. Technology and R&D
4. 1997 GoI policy on CBM
5. Companies involved in CBM in India
6. Issue of carbon credits and use of CBM
7. Water pollution and other environmental concerns.
`At the end of the GD, the group concluded that there is a huge potential of CBM in India, the development of which would bridge the Supply Demand Gap and that more investment and foreign expertise is required for the development of CBM .
All the faculty members present were forthcoming with their views on the performance of the students and the improvements which should be made.
Vinay Babu sir felt that the students had done their homework with the topic and he felt that random non-technical topics must be given in a GD. He suggested that the GDs test the spontaneity and communication skills of the participants rather than their technical knowledge. According to him the members of the group needed to work on their communication skills, body language and eye contact.
Behera sir felt that homework before Gd brought out stability and ensured richness of content. He was also in favour of random topics as before interviews the candidate won't be aware of the topic.
Behera sir felt that the group lacked cohesion even though the students were confident and tried to make their presence felt. He had suggestions on improvement of comfort levels and soft speaking skills.
Dr Omprakash Jani felt that the discussion wasn't going in a particular direction. He wanted the students to debate more and raise more questions.
Ramchandran sir felt that the group became divided into two and suggested that the students be fearless during their GDs and convey the same through positive body language.
At the end of the second GD, the panel felt that the third group must be given a random non technical topic. After some deliberation the topic suggested was Commercial Cinema vs Art Cinema.
Key issue raised
1. Money factor in movies
2. Impact of movies on society
3. Recall value of movies
4. Depiction of society
Although many issues were raised it was felt that there was no discussion on the definition of commercial movie and art movie.
The GD was probably the most lively and entertaining of all three GDs .
Omprakash sir was of the opinion that the group swayed away and that more direction needs to be given to the discussion.
Vinay Babu sir felt that the topic was quite interesting. According to him art movies are being given commercial touch to enable them to recover their costs
Behera sir had some advice on the content and way of discussion. He felt that the group should have discussed the types of impact made by the two segments of movie. According to him commercial movies and art cinema leave an impact on different parts of the society in their own way.
He felt that the group possessed good verbal skill and body language although he was critical of the content. There was less intervention by group members during the GD and he felt that the spontaneity needed to be there in the discussion.
Ramachandran sir felt that some of the group members were not ready to compromise on certain issues which was evident by their aggressive body language. He had suggestion regarding improvement of body language.
Overall, the panel felt that all students must improve their general awareness in order to have better content for the GDs and more confidence.
The two hour session was quite productive and all the participants went home with a lot to ponder upon. Apart from skills in GD, knowledge levels also increased. Suggestions by the panel would be kept in mind while participating in GDs in future and while organising such events in future. Hat tip to Ankit Bansal and Tharun Kumar for organising the GD. We are thankful to Mr Ramachandran K for helping us in organising the whole event. We are grateful to Prof T Harinarayan, Dr Gopichandran, Dr Omprakash Jani, Mr Vinay Babu and Dr Bijay Behera for taking time out of their busy schedule and attending the session.
Hopefully we organise more such sessions in future
Anmol Garg
3rd Year SPT
Upstream
