Mimamsa-IISER


Mimamsa is a national level intercollegiate science quiz organized by IISER Pune. It was started in 2009 based on the ideas of Dr. Sutirth Dey, a Faculty Founding Member from biology department. It aims at creating a unique set of questions that focus on concepts and their interdependence. Mimamsa strives to convey the implicit beauty of science. Over the years the means of implementing this philosophy have been honed to give rise to one of India’s toughest science quizzes. The fact that Mimamsa has gained national acclaim and renown is substantiated by the results of the quiz over the years. It has expanded to encompass all major regions of the country.

History

Mimamsa was started in the year 2009. It was the brainchild of Dr. Sutirth Dey, along with several students who felt that science should be explored beyond the classroom. The philosophy of Mimamsa is embodied in the name itself, which means critical inquiry and investigation. The team wanted to break the mould of trivia-based quizzes and encourage participants to question their understanding along with their knowledge. Mimamsa is an undergraduate level quiz, for students studying in 1st to 3rd years of any undergraduate course in the sciences, engineering or medicine.
YearWinnerRunners Up
2019IISc BengaluruIIT Bombay
2018IISc BengaluruIIT Bombay
2017IIT BombayIIT Madras
2016IISc BengaluruIIT Bombay
2015IISc BengaluruIIT Madras
2014IISc BengaluruSt. Xavier's College, Kolkata
2013IISc BengaluruNISER Bhubaneswar
2012IISc BengaluruIIT Kanpur
2011Osmania Medical College, HyderabadFergusson College, Pune
2010Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, PuneFergusson College, Pune
2009Fergusson College, PuneInstitute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Pune

2009

The idea for Mimamsa was conceptualised in September 2008. The first edition, which took place in January and February 2009 included only colleges from Pune, though a college from Hyderabad also participated. The prelims had no online registration process and included only on the spot entries. The Mains were planned to have 4 finalists, a tradition that has been continued till date. Five colleges participated, out of which the finalists were: Fergusson College, Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Garware College, and Wadia College. Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Pune emerged as the runner-up in Mimamsa 2009 and Fergusson College, Pune emerged as the winner.

2010

Mimamsa 2010 followed the same pattern as that of the previous year. It was expanded to the cities of Mumbai, Nasik and Hyderabad, in addition to Pune. The prelims witnessed a dozen teams competing for the top 4 positions, and 50 participants in the individual category for the top 5 spots. Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Pune emerged as the winner in Mimamsa 2010. The individual winner was Yashoda Chandorkar from Fergusson College, Pune.

2011

Mimamsa 2011 was the first time the individual entries were scrapped. The centres were the same as 2010, i.e. Mumbai, Nasik Hyderabad and Pune. Out of 84 teams in the prelims, BITS Pilani Hyderabad, Osmania Medical College, Fergusson College and University of Hyderabad made it to the top four finalists and were selected for the Mimamsa mains. Osmania Medical College of Hyderabad emerged as the winner in Mimamsa 2011.

2012

Mimamsa 2012 was expanded to cover nine cities all over India. The centres were Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Kolkata and Hyderabad, in addition to the host city, Pune. 142 teams participated in the prelims. The team comprising students of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, emerged as the winners of Mimamsa 2012.

2013

Mimamsa 2013 covered seven cities across the country, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. IISc Bengaluru emerged as the winner.

2014

Mimamsa 2014covered seven cities and IISc Bengaluru emerged as the winner.

2015

Mimamsa 2015 prelims saw a participation of 250 teams in 9 centres across India – Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram. IISc Bengaluru emerged as the winner.

General overview

The prelims generally take place during the second week of January and cover all the four subjects: mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. The question paper is designed for an hour, with equal weight given to all the four subjects. The mains are generally held during the second week of March and spread over two consecutive days, comprising questions in all the four subjects. The questions designed in the mains, scrutinise every possible aspect of scientific reasoning and thus are divided into different categories.

General rules

The brief thought questions consist of four minutes of thinking time, one minute of presentation time and are marked out of ten points. The deep thought questions have seven minutes of thinking time and three minutes of presentation time. Each deep thought is worth 20 points. The 'oculomotor' round is a buzzer round wherein all questions are based on audio-visual cues with a negative marking scheme. The rapid fire round tests the speed and logical flow involved in arriving at an answer. The poster presentation, introduced in 2018, consists of all the teams presenting a poster on a topic of their choosing. The specific rules of each round may vary from year to year.

Philosophy of Mimamsa

According to Darshan Joshi, during its first few editions, Mimamsa was just an activity of Science Club of IISER Pune. The philosophy of Mimamsa is encrypted in the name itself which literally means investigation, inquiry and in-depth analysis. The idea was to come up with a science competition based on these principles rather than the usual quizzing philosophy which does not require participants to think. This is why Mimamsa is conducted over 2 days. The goal of the questions is to test the understanding of science rather than scientific information. This is why questions in Mimamsa are so different. The idea that through the process of solving the question one must develop a better understanding of science is also part of the core philosophy. Mimamsa prioritizes discussion and investigation over just a right or wrong answer.