Mumbai: Eight students made it to the finals of the Speak for India Maharashtra edition scheduled on Monday. The event, an initiative by the Federal Bank Hormis Memorial Foundation in association with The Times of India and Maharashtra Times, will be held at Lala Lajpat Rai College of Commerce & Economics.
The semi-finals of the Maharashtra Edition was held on Sunday at Guru Nanak Khalsa College of Arts, Science and Commerce and saw 32 students from across the state battling it out for a place in the finals. The college students walked up to the stage, took the mic, locked eyes with the audience and started speaking with extreme confidence. They were eloquent, bold and charismatic, and showed no signs of being intimidated by the occasion. Vinay V Nair, advocate Supreme Court, Prof Dinkar Gitte, principal of Navi Mumbai’s KLE College of Law, and Abhishek Ajit Deshmukh were the judges for the semi-final.

For the final event on Monday, Ashish Shelar, Minister of IT and Cultural Affairs, Maharashtra govt, will be the chief guest, with actor Vikrant Massey as the guest of honor.
The eight finalists were Abhay Krushnakant Aalshi- VG Vaze College (Mumbai), Aditya Deshmukh- Joshi Bedekar College (Thane), Saumya Bansal- Dr Ambedkar College of Law (Nagpur), Yash Chavhan- AISSMS IOIT (Pune), Krishikaa Mishra- DY Patil College of Engineering (Pune), Shlok Shah-MPSTME (Mumbai), Chaitanya Kundalik Kamble (KH College (Kolhapur) and Priya Soly, St Xavier’s College (Mumbai).
Speak for India provides a platform for college students from across Maharashtra to voice their views on contemporary issues and become the change-makers of our society.