Debating Philosophy, Tourism, and Space Colonization at the 2026 Yale Hindi Debate

On April 10, 2026, several dozen students and faculty from over twelve different universities across the country gathered in Horchow Hall for the national round of the Yale Hindi Debate, the only Hindi-language national debate in the United States. 

The annual event, which was started in 2009 by the Yale South Asian Studies Council (SASC), has seen several changes throughout the years, including the recent introduction of different debate topics for each skill category, with speakers in the Non-Native/Non-Heritage category debating “Happiness lies in money,” speakers in the Heritage category debating “Excessive/mass tourism is a threat to the local environment and culture,” and speakers in the Native category debating “Investment in space colonization is a necessity, not a luxury.” 

The preliminary round of the debate was held in Horchow Hall on March 27th, 2026. Yale students from Accelerated, Intermediate, and Advanced Hindi classes debated the same topics for each category, and winners from each category advanced to the National Hindi Debate.

According to Swapna Sharma, Senior Lector in Hindi at SASC, the Yale Hindi Debate “supports not only language learning but also leadership and community building. Student representatives and co-presidents actively help organize the debate by suggesting topics, coordinating events, and communicating with participating universities, which gives them valuable leadership experience.”

Judged by Anita Mehta (Hindi instructor at Vassar College), Chander Shekhar (Professor of Persian at the University of Delhi and currently Henry Hart Rice Visiting Professor at the Yale MacMillan Center), and Richard Delacy (Preceptor in Hindi and Urdu at Harvard University), competitors were scored for their argumentation, the presentation of their three-minute speeches, and their answers to questions posed by students in the audience.

Rahul Yates, a junior at Harvard University studying Government and South Asian studies, was participating in the debate for the second time—except that instead of participating in the Non-Native/Non-Heritage category, which he competed in last year, Yates competed in the Heritage category. He said it was interesting to debate about the impact of tourism on the environment because “I’ve never thought about how to say that in Hindi.”

The event also featured two performances of different dance styles from unique parts of India. Ishita Valluru, a Program Coordinator for SASC, performed  Kuchipudi, a classical dance-theater art form originating in Andhra Pradesh. Yale Jashan Bhangra (YJB), a competitive dance team founded in 2005, showcased the traditional Punjabi dance style of bhangra in a brief performance featuring several undergraduate YJB members. These performances were followed by a catered dinner. 

Tom Guan from Yale University placed as Best Speaker in the Non-Native Non-Heritage category, with Benjamin Keller from Pennsylvania State University placing as second. Arush Srivastava from Yale University placed as Best Speaker in the Heritage category, with Rahul Yates from Harvard University placing as second, and Mitsu Raval from Wesleyan University placed as Best Speaker in the Native category, with Rishi Sankhe from Yale University placing as second. Aryavardhan Agarwal from Duke University won the Best Interjector prize. 

Students from North Carolina State University, Ohio University, New York University, the University of Texas at Austin, Vanderbilt University, and Columbia University also competed in various categories. 

The 2026 Yale Hindi Debate was organized by Swapna Sharma and fellow Lector in Hindi, Mansi Bajaj, with student organizers Dhriti Gupta ‘27 and Aryav Bothra ‘26, and support from members of the South Asian Studies Council staff.