Asian Parliamentary — usually just called Asians — is the dominant university-level debate format across India, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Three speakers per side. Seven-minute substantives. A four-minute reply that re-frames the round without bringing new matter. Tournaments like UADC, IIDC, NSDC, and IRC all run on this format, so if you're debating on the Indian college circuit, this is the structure you'll see in nine out of ten rounds.
POIs are allowed between the first and sixth minute of every substantive speech (the first and last minutes are protected). Standing for a POI is part of the round's information; taking two POIs per substantive is the norm at most Indian university tournaments. Good POIs aren't just rhetorical jabs — they pre-empt the next speech on the other side or expose a specific mechanism flaw.
Standard prep is 30 minutes. No phones, no laptops, no internet — printed material is fine. Most Indian institutions enforce this strictly, especially at IIDC, NSDC, and most invitationals. The skill that wins here is being well-read on a wide motion bank ahead of time: international relations, political philosophy, economic theory, current Indian and global policy debates. Spending prep on "what is this thing" puts you ten minutes behind.
Asian Parliamentary, usually called Asians, is a three-on-three impromptu debate format used at almost every university tournament in India, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Each side has three substantive speakers giving seven-minute speeches, followed by a four-minute reply. Tournaments like IIDC, UADC, NSDC, and IRC all run this format.
Substantive speeches are seven minutes. The reply speech is four minutes and is given by either the first or second speaker of each team. Government delivers the reply last; Opposition delivers the reply first.
Thirty minutes between motion release and the start of the round. Printed material is allowed; internet and phones are not. This is enforced strictly at most Indian invitationals, including IIDC and NSDC.
No card-cutting and no quotation-based evidence. Asians is impromptu, so speakers use background knowledge, named examples, and case studies they already know, but never read prepared evidence. Inventing a "Smith 2022" citation gets penalized.
Asians is three-on-three with a single Government and Opposition team racing to win. British Parliamentary is four-team (Opening Gov, Opening Opp, Closing Gov, Closing Opp), and each pair has to beat the other side AND outrank their own bench partner. Asians runs IIDC and UADC; BP runs WUDC and most intervarsities.
A four-minute biased adjudication of the round. The first or second speaker of each team delivers it, telling the judge how their side won the clash. No new arguments. Only weighing, comparison, and a clean story of why the bench prevailed. Opposition replies first; Government replies last.
Yes. If the Prime Minister's definition is unfair, a truism, or a squirrel (an irrelevant interpretation), the Leader of Opposition can challenge it and offer a counter-definition. The judge weighs which framing the round runs under. This is one of the moves that makes Asians more strategically open than fixed-resolution formats.
Asian Parliamentary. Almost every major Indian university tournament runs it as the main event: IIDC, NSDC, IRC, UADC, plus most invitationals run by Delhi University, the IITs, NLS, and the IIMs. BP shows up at intervarsities and WUDC qualifiers but is the secondary format on most circuits.
The hardest thing about practicing Asians on your own is that you need five other people to run a real round. Most Indian university debating societies run rounds two or three times a week — but between sessions, the only way to keep your case-building sharp is to draft cases, take POIs, and deliver speeches against something that pushes back. The AI on Debate AI plays any of the six seats: it'll be your 1st Opposition while you give a PM speech, or your 2nd Government while you whip, and it stays in format throughout — accurate role expectations, no evidence-card fabrications, reply speech structure when reply mode is selected.
Short guides on the moves that win specific Asian Parli speeches.
Pick any seat — PM, LO, Deputy, Whip, or Reply. The AI plays the rest of the bench at the level you set. Impromptu motions on the same areas Indian tournaments run.
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