International Relations Committee, IIM Bodh Gaya organized its flagship “Model United Nations”- MUN on 26th February 2022. For the first time, the event was held as an Inter College conference under the mentorship of senior members of the IRC team. MUN is an educational simulation designed in such a manner to familiarize students with diplomacy and international relations in and around the United Nations. At the conference, students work as representatives of a country or organization. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) were the two committees for this year’s conference. MUN instills students with debating, writing, critical thinking and public speaking skills and thus is very advantageous for an MBA student.
For this year, WHO’s agenda was “Reimagining and Restructuring Healthcare system in view of the Pandemic”, to explore the solutions for improving and revamping healthcare systems in light of the vulnerabilities exposed to it by the recent outbreaks. It was chaired by Mr. Parth Gilotra, pursuing Computer Engineering, also a part of Delhi MUN Circuit for 5 years and co-chaired by Mr. Abhishek Agarwal, Bachelors in Engineering Physics from IIT Hyderabad.
The stakeholders from affected communities came together to create a more resilient and flexible healthcare system capable of adapting to changes in trying times. Whereas, “Russian-Ukrainian Crisis” was the main agenda for the UNSC. It was chaired by Mr. Shreyas Salve, pursuing Masters in Marketing Research and Analytics at Centennial College, Canada. It involved the ongoing and protracted conflict primarily involving Russia and pro-Russian forces on one hand, and Ukraine on the other. The conflict had led to the removal of Russia from G8, International sanctions, and condemnation against Russia, partially contributing to the Russian financial crisis. The delegates were expected to explore a resolution to this continuous crisis. Institute’s students Utkarsh Amal and Mayur Khandait were Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General of this edition of Model United Nations at IIM Bodh Gaya. Minalee, Nandana and Jyotirmay were part of the International Press Team. The Secretariat Team included Sagar Lawade, Sagar Srivastva, Minalee whereas the Delegate Affairs Team had Maroof, Nikhil and Hitesh as its members.
On 26th February 2022, the conference opened with a welcome speech by Dr. Vinita S. Sahay, Director, IIM Bodh Gaya where she talked about the importance of political peace and cross-border cooperation. Continuing, she added that such events not only increase the confidence of the students but also increase their general awareness and appreciation for teamwork and coordination. She also appreciated the efforts put in by the committee by stating “This is an opportunity which the International Relations Committee creates to help in learning diplomacy and deliberation as well as this will develop into the skill sets required in the corporate life and career.”
Following the director’s address, all the participants were guided to their respective break-out rooms where the discussions began. The executive board introduced the session, rules and regulation and briefed about the agenda. The motion was raised for the general speaker’s list. The delegates introduced their countries and their stand on the issue raised. The discussion went further with speeches, moderated and unmoderated caucus. Towards the end, The Executive Board suggested a few solutions regarding the above-mentioned agendas.
There was Q&A session by the International Press where delegates were questioned about their proposals and details of the event. A resolution was made on the basis of the maximum votes passed under the examination of the Executive Board.
The event was closed by the closing remarks given by the EB, where they considered all the arguments raised by all the committees and summed up all the discussions. A vote of thanks was also extended by Dr. Medha Srivastava, Chairperson, International Relation Committee, IIM Bodh Gaya.