Bangalore Model United Nations 2009 - 19th, 20th, 21st November - www.bmun.in

Model United Nations is an authentic simulation of the U.N. General Assembly and other multilateral bodies.  The simulation of International organisations began even before the birth of the United Nations, when students held a series of Model League of Nations in the 1920s.  The Model U.N. program is a successor to a student-directed simulation of what preceded the U.N. itself,  but it is not documented exactly how the Model U.N. began. 

Model U.N. promotes student teacher interest in International relations and related subjects, increases the capacity for students to engage in problem solving, teaches aspects of conflict resolution, research skills, and communication skills, and creates the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.  It brings together people from different parts of the country and also from different parts of the world.  The popularity of Model U.N. continues to grow, and today, more and more high school and college/university students worldwide are participating every year.

Bangalore Model United Nations - 2005: On the 9th and 10th of December, our school presented the Bangalore Model United Nations 2005.  There were 40 delegates in all, representing the various countries of the world. The session was presided over by Secretary General Bhishaan Shah, President - Prithvi and Moderator Varun Sharma of Std XII.                                      

On both days there were heated debates between delegates of different countries and the delegates of Iran, Israel, Spain and Cuba especially stood out.  The agenda item was International co-operation in the Fight against Terrorism.  The Press Corp did a wonderful job in bringing up the tempo of the debate, and the Logistical Staff deserved a round of applause.  Kudos to the 11th grade who made the entire show a huge success. Prizes went to NPS, Indiranagar (the delegation from Israel), Mallya Aditi International School, representing Spain and Vidya Shilp Academy representing Cuba. Ankit Gupta won the Best Delegate award.  Indonesia won the Best Country Profile.

The Chief Guests were Dr.Chengappa, Asst. Editor of the Deccan Herald, Dr. Evelyn Hust of the Max Mueller Bhavan and Mr. Eric Rousseau, Director of Alliance Francaise and Mr. Arun Kumar of NIAS. All of them addressed the gathering.

Bangalore Model United Nations - 2006:  VNS hosted Bangalore Model United Nations 2006 on 17th and 18th November 2006 with 43 delegations representing various countries.

With the war on terror and with countries going to war or which are at the brink of going to a war, VNS has thought it was appropriate to set the agenda as 'Restoration of peace and governance in post conflict situations'. The session on the first day was chaired by Prithvi S Acharya with Sankrit Iyer as Vice Chair and Varun Rao as Moderator.  After the speakers list was opened there were heated debates initiated by delegates of Vietnam with USA, India, China and Lebanon joining the fray.  The moderated caucus provided a forum for all the delegates to convey to Israel that their move was not completely justified and bombing of such severe intensity was uncalled for.

The substantive session on the 2nd day was chaired by Varun Rao and the deft handling of the session made the BMUN-2006 a resounding success with 3 resolutions being passed and only one resolution failing to get a majority vote.

The crisis well fabricated by the secretariat and announced by the chief spokesman of the Press Corps representing Rajneil R Kamath created a sense of high drama which enhanced the credibility of the BMUN.  In fact, the highly interactive press conference provided the necessary contrast to an otherwise format session.

The Guests of Honour  Dr. Rajeev Gowda, of social sciences, IIM, Bangalore enlightened the delegates on how to tackle conflict and post war situations.  All his quizzing genius was brought to the forefront when he held a wide variety of issues ranging from the Marshal Plan to McDonald's theory of conflict.

Air Marshal B.K. Pandey, who had been posted as Air Attache' in Kabul gave a vivid account of the culture and history of the place and her relations with other countries.

Dr. Chengappa, Assistant Editor of Deccan Herald spoke in length on the role of the UN in reinstating peace in war torn countries and helping them reconstruct and rebuild their infrastructure.

The remarkable e'lan with which the delegates conducted themselves in the MUN made the job of picking the best out of these exceptional delegates.  The delegate of US, Kiran Pathkota clearly stood out as did the delegations of Lebanon and USA.  Also while viewing the documents submitted earlier, China was selected for having submitted the Best Position Paper and Lebanon the Best Country Profile.

President of General Assembly was shared on the two days by Prithvi S Acharya and Varun Rao.  The Vice Chair was Sankrit Iyer. Rajneil R Kamath, Spokesperson of the Press Corps was a young Karan Thapar in the making.

The Back offices of the Press Corps worked with truly clockwork precision and efficiency.  Two issues of the Crossfire reporting the events of each day were published much to the delight of the participating delegations.  Kudos to them.

Bangalore Model United Nations - 2007:  The Bangalore MUN 07 was headed by our very own immediate past student Prithvi Acharya, Secretary General and Amlan Mohanty, Deputy Secretary General, who kept a close watch over the proceedings in each of the three houses. Excluding this the entire session was covered by a fifteen member press team, headed by Smaran Shetty and ably supported by Abhay Jaipuria who provided the technical know how for the publication of the crossfire.
No team works without supervision. Our student co-coordinators Devashish Lingam and Trishala Rasya left no stone unturned and ensured that the logistics team worked without a hitch towards making this 3 day event an unforgettable experience and immense success.
The Model United Nations is not merely an exercise in learning skills of diplomacy, rather it reinforces the fact that the world we live in is of profound diversity and complexity and that global issues are often seamlessly interwoven into the fabrics of various countries. The United Nations stands to be the only way, to solve, and more importantly to resolve global issues. The concept of Model United Nations is the only way to link the UN with the students who must carry the responsibility of the future.  This year the Bangalore MUN expanded its scope to include three committees and two agendas each, which were discussed and debated over two and a half days with 68 teams participating from across south India. The chosen agendas were of contemporary relevance and interest to the student community. 

Bangalore Model United Nations - 2008:  Organising and participating in Bangalore MUN is a challenge to both the organisers and participants.  However we lived up to the expectations of the earlier years and this year being the 25th year of VNS, Bangalore MUN was a larger than life experience with 215 delegates participating from various schools from Bangalore and Chennai. The agendas play a very vital role in MUNing. This year, The Director of Information, Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre, New Delhi was the Chief Guest. Anil Sondhi, Advocate was the Guest of Honour and Dr. Jyothi Hosagrahar Someshwar was the key note speaker for the valedictory function.

Bangalore MUN 2008 started on an exhilarating note and witnessed heated discussions throughout the event.  All the houses were stormed by critical discussions on their various agendas.  It was observed that the delegates were so absorbed in discussions that they lost track of time.  Though the delegates of UK [Mallya Aditi International School] swept away many prizes in their respective houses, all the participants were well versed in their subject matter and Bangalore MUN 2008 proved to be an electrifying and enlightening experience.

We had made a promise last year, that the Bangalore MUN 2008 will live up to the Motto of 'Citius, Altius, Fortius' and we are glad to inform you that each year the show only seems to get bigger and better !