Social Media debated - Anurag Joshi & Sakshi Valanjoo

Good morning to one and all present over here, I am Anurag Joshi of XC and I am going to speak a few words on the topic:

SOCIAL MEDIA: A BOON

Connectivity is probably the biggest factor that promotes an individual to get involved with social media. Even if I am in India I can be in contact with my friends wherever they may be.

It is beneficial for old people too, as senior citizens can be in contact with each other without disturbing the other members of the family.

Recently a terrorist named as Shahbad was encountered by our Indian army. When he uploaded his video on YouTube, his last location was traced by our army and then he was encountered and killed. Now India is not like as it was in the past, it is developing with a great speed. We have launched a project named as ‘I in the sky’. This means that India is the only country after USA that has its own independent GPS system. Though this system can’t be used by local people it can be used by our Indian army. So social media helps the army to keep a track on terrorist activities at the borders.

E-Commerce gives an individual a wider spectrum or a varied dimension related to the price, quality and rating of a product.If the customer is not satisfied by the product, he/she can send back the product or lodge a complaint and the amount paid is refunded into the account immediately.

Our P.M. had launched a blog named as ‘NaMo India’. With the help of this blog one can be in touch with the P.M. and problems faced by the citizens are resolved efficiently.

Social media is also beneficial for the Upliftment of the villages. We all know that education is at the root of economic development and social media goes to the roots of India and educates the village folk. Farmers are taught innovative agricultural methods, effective use of fertilizers and seeds to enable them to get a surge in their profits.

Slowly we are observing a change in the attitude and the mentality of the people. Earlier the people didn’t respect women, but after reading messages and opinions on social media related to the girl child or gender equality we have started becoming broad minded. Every incident that happens is discussed. It is due to social media that the Honourable Prime Minister was able to successfully launch and bring into effect Demonetisation and the Voluntary Income Disclosure Scheme. India is marching towards becoming a Global Leaderand one of its allies is the Social Media.

So social media is helping us in the all- round development of the nation so according to me Social media is of a Boon to Society.

III THANK YOUlll

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SOCIAL MEDIA IS A CURSE TO SOCIETY

Good Morning to the respected judges & my dear friends.

My name is Sakshi Valanjoo & I am here to oppose my friends’ view. I believe that social media is a bane to the society.

I oppose my friend’s view about E-Commerce.

E-Commerce sites may dupe an innocent customer. It is difficult to ensure security & privacy of online transactions. Delays & wrong deliveries are frequent issues in E-Commerce. A customer had ordered Nikon DSLR and do know what he received? Instead of Nikon DSLR, he received Patanjali Soaps.

Recently, there was a case wherein 6 victims suffered from cyber bullying. It is a way of bullying someone by using electronic forms of contact. Through cyberbullying one can misuse the electronic information & mass media to harass & devastate people. It includes sending threats & obscene messages. The problem is that there is very little distinction left between the real& the virtual world anymore. Victims suffer silently from low self-esteem, depression & suicidal tendencies. A recent case concerns Varnika Kundu. She was kidnapped & assaulted by 2 stalkers late at night. Certain perverted individuals embarrassed her on social media by posting false pictures of her with the stalker.

Teenagers, are the most affected by addiction of social media. They spend hours everyday, updating their status and stories, uploading pictures, chatting with friends & what not. There is a desperate desire to check & share messages continuously. Therefore the focus becomes the digital world & a person becomes less engaged in the physical world of relationships. Health problems is one of the greatest issues created by social media. It leads to wrong postures, neck pain , vertebrae disorders, damaged eyesight, disrupted sleep & so on. Social media can put a company’s reputation at risk and easily ruin someone’s credibility. In December, 2013, a Lacoste employee lost his job for posting the confidential agreement on Instagram.

I also disagree with my worthy friend’s opinion on Anti-Terrorism. Terrorist organizations depend upon the open media systems of democratic countries to create pain & instill terror. They release threatening videos of beheading & such atrocities. The same connectivity which my worthy friend was extolling had proved to be disastrous to our country in the Taj Attack.

Online games are very attractive & addictive. Irritation, isolation, migraine, fatigue are the effects of these online games. The life-threatening game ‘Blue Whale’ includes dangerous levels & has struck terror in parental minds. The last level is to commit suicide & Harpreet Singh has been the first Indian victim.

Considering all the negative aspects of social media, I firmly assert that it is bane to society & must be curtailed.

THANK YOU.

Religion debated - Niharika Sawant & Kunal Sakhrani

RELIGION IS BENEFICIAL FOR SOCIETY

Niharika Sawant X- B

‘What have you brought, that you have lost? What have you created, that got destroyed? Whatever you have to do, you have to do here, and whatever you have to give, you have to give here itself,’ Says a famous spiritual text.

When the existence of man started on earth, he was not aware of any rituals and customs to be followed. But with time, he started to feel that the forces of nature were his caretakers. He felt divine powers emerging from the sun,wind,soil andwater. Slowly and gradually man started to differentiate people according to their beliefs and this gave rise to ‘RELIGION.’

The literal meaning of term religion is ‘a community of people having similar beliefs’. As of now, there are 4,200 religions in the world.

If we go through ancient history, we come to know that many beneficial acts have taken place because of religion.Teachings of Buddhism made Samrat Ashoka stop bloodshed and violence and motivated him to adopt the path of peace. During the conflict era between the Mughals and Indians, Rajput ladies used to tie Rakhi to invading Afghans, thus creating a bond and reducing enmity. Religion gives a kind of shelter to all the distressed devotees, encouraging them to share their problems and this gave them mental support.

In Mahabharata, Lord Krishna stated ‘do good and don’t expect any fruit for your labour’. This quote tells us to stay away from unhealthy emotions and desires, like anger, jealousy, hatred, greed which are the biggest enemies of man. Because of the teachings of certain saints, man is afraid to perform bad deeds as he believes that he won’t make his place in heaven and will goto hell. As people fear God, they stay away from sin. All religions encourage honesty, charity and righteousness.

Religion by itself is not bad. Religion is the base of brotherhood. While giving a speech in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda started his speech by saying ’all my brothersand sisters’. Lokmanya Tilak organized Ganesh Chaturthi and other festivals in order to bring equality in society. So, in a way, religion helps to enhance divinity in society. The castes and sub castes were basically created for smooth functioning of government.

Some anti-social elements, commit crimes under the name of religion.They explain that their religion tells them to do so. These people are misguided and have been brainwashed into committing acts of cruelty. Quran preaches that the gruesome acts of beheading, rape and enslavement are not allowed.Jesus tells that he will be with us forever.

At the end I would say, that religion, when understood and practiced correctly, is definitely beneficial to the society.

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Religion is a Bane to Society

Good morning respected judges and my dear friends.

I am Kunal Sakhrani from XB. I will be opposing the views presented by my worthy opponent with my speech.

My worthy opponent stated that religion is a blessing. I disagree with this statement. Religion has not always been a blessing to our society. History’s most savage incidents took place when religion exercised a stronghold on the culture, some examples are the crusades , holocaust and the apartheid.

Religious beliefs are responsible for a great deal of prejudice and intolerance among people,nations and cultures. Attitudes of ,”You don’t believe what I believe so you are inferior or an infidel” have created animosity between people and neighbouring countries.

My worthy opponent stated that religion is the base for brotherhood. I disagree with this statement.

On 6 December 1992,members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal destroyed Babri Masjid which caused great humiliation among Muslims. Eventually a great riot broke out and countless people were killed .

I would like to ask you all a question,“Don’t we still meet superstitious people? Don’t we still come across innocent people falling prey to occult practices of so called godly men? I believe you all know who RadheMaa is. A fake woman who calls herself a godly saint. Recent cases of lynching of people, who were believed to carry beef and slaughter cows, have created havoc and fear in the society. Are these people truly spiritually inclined?

My worthy opponent stated that religion gives peace of mind, divinity and brings people together. I totally disagree with this statement. I believe that you all know what an honour killing is. Honour killing is the homicide of a family member because he or she has brought shame upon the family. In 2013, in Garnauthi village of Haryana , a young couple belonging to different sub castes was murdered as they had run away and were planning their marriage. But here is a shocker, this killing was approved by the villagers. What kind of religion permits you to take lives?

I would like to conclude by saying that where there is truth and righteousness there is no need for religion.

Thank You.

Tarun’s Drawings

- Tarun Mallya VII C

Festivals and Celebrations @Balodyan

Indian culture in the modern times is highly influenced by the western culture, but India's core traditions and cultural values remain intact. Nuclear families, career oriented parents and other external influences are keeping the future generation away from the Indian culture.

Celebration of festivals is the essence of Indian culture. V.P.M's Balodyan section celebrates all the Indian festivals in a traditional manner throughout the year. This helps in imbibing our traditional culture and values on the minds of the children. The children are also made aware of the importance of the same in the modern times.

Festivals like Ashadhi Ekadashi, Gurupournima, Nagpanchami, Rakshabandhan, Krishna Janmashtmi, Ganesh Chaturthi were celebrated in a traditional manner with a great pomp and splendor in V.P.M's Balodyan section. The children were encouraged to be dressed up in traditional attire for each celebration. The stories related to the festivals were narrated to the students. The children also enjoyed singing songs and aartis on the occasions.

While adopting the new concepts and technologies, the students of Balodyan are closely associated with the Indian culture, values and traditions.

Highlights:

Nagpanchami:

Rakshabandhan:

Krishnajanmashtami:

Ganesh Chaturthi:

AWARDS and REWARDS – Felicitation ceremony

- by Aaryaa Gholkar - IX C


It has been rightly said that ‘A dream doesn’t become reality through magic, it takes sweat, determination and hard work. These virtues are always displayed by the students as well as teachers of VPM’s Vidya Mandir School. The institution also believes in commending the performance of the students to inspire them to scale greater heights and accolade the efforts of the teachers responsible for the outstanding accomplishment of students.

As every year, this year also a Felicitation ceremony was organized to honour meritorious students. This year it flaunted a different grandeur as the venue was the newly decorated and furnished school hall. On the day of felicitation, the school hall was magnificently yet ascetically decorated. Proud parents of the achievers started to pour in at 5.00 p.m on 23^rd July, 2017, to witness the ceremony. Chief guests Mr. and Mrs. Tawde arrived at the scheduled time and were welcomed with an excellent Lezim performance by a group of girls clad in traditional sarees.

The ceremony started with the traditional lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guest who was accompanied by his wife, Principals of both Marathi as well as English sections and other dignitaries of the school. The programme was set in motion with the school choir melodiously singing a welcome song and a prayer. Thereafter the Chief Guest was offered a Bouquet and his formal introduction was given by Mrs. Mahimkar.

The prize distribution started with students getting scholarship certificates and cash awards. The teachers who had mentored the students through these exams gave a very inspirational account of their experiences with the participants.

Then the prizes for Elementary and Intermediate drawing grade exams were given, followed by felicitation of Cambridge students excelling in the course for improvement of English speaking skills, grammar, etc. Everyone was impressed on listening to the students of Marathi medium delivering a speech proficiently in English. In this felicitation event over 150 prizes were given.

The Principal, Mr. Sudhir Desai, gave a very motivational speech. Finally, the Chief Guest Mr. Hemant Tawde, who is also an ex-student of Vidya Mandir, gave a speech to children about enhancing their abilities and giving back to the society by way of selfless service.

After his speech the special occasion was concluded with a thanks giving speech by Mrs. Pratima Chawla and with the school choir singing the National Song.
The function was compered by Mrs. Sujata Hede and Mrs. Ujwala Shinde

The Musical tree

- By Agasti Deshpande - Std. VIII

Once there was a little girl named Neema. She used to livewith her family in Chakrata, a small village in the hills of Uttarakhand. Her mother was a farmer in the neighbouring village and her father was a shepherd. He used to take all the sheepfor grazing every 10‘oclock in the morning.

One day her father noticed that the sheers which he had been using were broken. He told Neema that he has to go the neighbouring town to bring some equipment and that he would be back in two days, so she has to take the sheep for grazing. Neema did as her father told her.

She took all the sheep for grazing. While all of them were munching on the green grass, Neema rested below a tree. When she woke up, she saw that it was almost 3’oclock! She hurried up and gathered all the sheep and started counting them. She noticed that two of them were missing!

For a better view, she climbed on the tree and started looking around. She saw them on the neighbouring hill. Neema put all the sheep in a fence and quickly started running to the other hill. As she reached the other hill, she caught both of them and attached a rope to their neck-strap, held the other end and started making her way to the other hill where all the sheep were.

Amoment later, she heard a sweet sound coming from the other side of the hill. She liked the melody, so she tied the rope to a tree and started following that sound.

Suddenly, Neema found herself sloshing through a fog and what she found was a place where there were uncountable flowers of various types. Later on, as she was jumping through flowers, she took a big leap and fell into the mouth of a big red flower. As she freed herself from that flower, she suddenly started feeling dizzy and she fell on the ground unconscious.

When she woke up she found herself on a bed which was made of leaves. She had a wet napkin on her fore-head and she saw something being cooked on stove. Suddenly, Neema saw a tall figure coming through the wooden door. When she looked a little harder, she realized that it was a TREE!

Neema was amazed by what she saw. The tree asked her if she was okay. She nodded. The tree took the pot from the stove and poured some soup out of it. The tree said that he had rescued her from that flower which squirted out some spores which makes people go to sleep. Neema drank the tasty soup and felt rejuvenated. She thanked the tree and hurriedly started running back towards the hill, where all the sheep had been kept, with the two sheep. Neema asked the tree to join her.He agreed.

The tree told her that she should not tell anyone about this secret place or else man would destroy it all. Neema promised that she wouldn’t tell anyone about it. As she reached the hill she was shocked! All the sheep had broken out of the fence and were roaming all around the hill.

Just then the tree, grew a stick out of his hand and then poked holes through it and turned it into a flute. He blew the flute and a sweet music came out and itattracted all the sheep and they started listening intently. The sheep approached one by one and they made it to the farm house. Neema was amazed as she realized it was the tree who had been making music after all.

Just then she saw her father coming up the hill. She was so happy as she had so much to share with him. She told her father that she wanted to introduce someone to him. She looked behind but she saw that the tree had just disappeared. The only thing that she could see was the flute made by the Musical Tree lying on the grass.

Oral health awareness campaign

Many dental issues tend to get ignored in case of kids, and eventually, they would be losing their teeth. But the primary teeth serve important functions like saving space for the permanent teeth and helping with chewing and speaking. So the oral health and hygiene of the tiny-tots should be given utmost priority.

Understanding the need of creating awareness about the oral health amongst the children, V.P.M’s Balodyan Section organized an ‘Oral health awareness campaign’ in association with ‘Indian Dental Association’ (IDA) for all the students of Balodyan section, on 18^th August’2017. The children were explained the consequences of poor oral hygiene and poor food choices, the need to brush their teeth twice, the correct technique of brushing, gargling after every meal and avoiding sweet treats as much as possible.

The campaign focused on instilling the importance of oral health and hygiene in the young minds.

Play with clay in VPM’s Balodyan

- compiled by Mrs. Sonali Diwadkar

Play is the work of children. The children develop physical and social skills during their play. V.P.M’s Balodyan section ensures the development and learning of the children through play-way method. Various activities are conducted to hone the creativity of the children.

Clay modeling Activity was conducted on 18^th August’2017 for Jr.K.G and Sr.K.G classes in Balodyan section. The children enjoyed creating various articles with clay. They created fruits, vegetables, food items, utensils, dolls, etc. with the clay. They enjoyed experimenting with clay. Clay gave them an opportunity to be creative as well as learn about the texture, shape and form whilst having lots of fun. Clay modeling also helps in the development of hand and eye co-ordination and fine motor skills.