The National level Fr. Conceicao Rodrigues Memorial Debate is a Debate Competition in Mumbai, hosted annually by Fr. Conceicao Rodrigues College of Engineering, Bandra. Inaugurated in the year 1999 as a debate competition for colleges within Mumbai, it became a National level Competition in 2012. It is a two-day event usually held in the month of September. The debate aims to provide a forum for today’s youth to articulate views and engage in a dialogue on various affairs that affect the life of the common man, directly or otherwise. Venue The debates on the first day are carried out in various rooms in the Fr. CRCE campus at Agnel Ashram, Bandstand, Bandra. The final day is held at the state of the art College Hall ‘Samvaad’. Format The competition follows a knock-out, non-parliamentary format of debate. The language used in all the debates is English. There are 32 participating colleges from all over Maharashtra,Gujarat, Karnataka and Odisha. Each participating college sends a contingent of 2 students.As of the year 2016, only the topic for the first round (League round 1) is given one week prior to the competition. The topics for the rest of the rounds(League rounds 2, 3 and Quarter-finals) are given 15 minutes prior to the debate. For the semi-finals and finals the topics are give one day in advance. The debates are judged by invited judges who represent various fields of education, social services, entertainment and industry. It is organized entirely by the Students’ Council of Fr. CRCE and the specially formed Debate Committee. The knock-outs and the quarter finals are carried out on the first day of the two-day event. The second day witnesses the 4 teams going through the semi-finals and finals to win the Fr. C. R. Memorial Rolling Trophy and cash prizes. The Best Speaker is also awarded a special prize. As of the year 2016, the format of the competition was changed to a league system. The 32 participating teams are divided into two pools viz. A and B. Each team then competes for three rounds(League round 1, 2 & 3). The winner of each round is awarded a point. The top eight teams qualify for the quarter-finals. The format for the quarter-final, semi-final and final is knock-out style. Rules and regulations One speaker of the team makes the opening speech while the other makes the closing speech. The proposition starts the