Day 1: February 9
11:00 am
Inaugural session by Smriti Irani, Union Minister for Human Resource Development
11:45 am
Should politicians have a say in formulating education policy?
- Praniti Shinde, Member of Legislative Assembly, Solapur
- P Rajeev, State Committee Member of CPI (M), Kerala
- Poonam Mahajan, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
- Kavitha Kalvakuntla, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
- Chair: Shankkar Aiyar, Author-Analyst
12:45 pm
How early should children start learning about their country?
- Shiv Visvanathan, Professor, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, Sonipat, Haryana
- Sanjeev Sanyal, Economist-Writer
- Lata Shenava, Trainer & Life Coach
- Chair: P Kanagasabapathi, Professor, Management, SASTRA University
02:30 pm
Does skill building happen largely in elite institutions?
- Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
- R Ravichander, Group President & Head-Business Development, South, YES Bank
- Venkatesh Kini, President, Coca-Cola India
- Sarathbabu Elumalai, CEO, Foodking
- Chair: Debashis Chatterjee, Professor, IIM Lucknow
03:30 pm
Should our higher education system be more India-focused?
- Anirban Ganguly, Director, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation
- Ritabrata Banerjee, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
- Rajeev Gowda, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
- Chair: Shankkar Aiyar, Author-Analyste
04:45 pm
What sort of ecosystem enables an institution to provide quality education?
- Dhruv Galgotia, CEO, Galgotias Education Group
- S Vaitheeswaran, MD & CEO, Manipal Global Education Services
- DP Singh, Director, NAAC
- Chair: Sanjay Dhande, Founder Director, Mahindra Ecole Central, Hyderabad
05:45 pm
A special session for students with Santosh Sivan, Cinematographer-Filmmaker
Day 2: February 10
11:00 am
Opening Keynote Session: Does our education system need to be Indianised?
- Farooq Abdullah, Former Union Minister
- Ram Madhav, National General Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party
- Chair: Prabhu Chawla
11:45 am
Can religious institutions create secular minds?
- G Joseph Antonysamy, Principal, Loyola College, Chennai
- Madhu Kishwar, Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
- Dinesh Singh, Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Delhi
- Chair: Kancha Ilaiah, Director, Center for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Hyderabad
12:45 pm
How can we get more women into Science?
- Sunil Mukhi, Professor and Chair, Physics Programme, IISER, Pune
- Rohini Godbole, Professor, Centre for High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
- MM Pallam Raju, Former Minister for HRD
- Chair: DR Lakshmi, Adviser, Indian Institute of Geomagnetism
02:45 pm
Is India's next education boom hiding in its villages?
- S Vaidhyasubramaniam, Dean–Planning & Development, SASTRA University
- Rangaswamy Elango, President, Kuthambakkam Panchayat, Thiruvalluvar, Tamil Nadu
- Jayanti Ravi, Secretary, Rural Development, Government of Gujarat
- Chair: K Vaidiyanathan, Editor, Dinamani
03:45 pm
Are today's students less hungry for knowledge?
- Prabir K. Bagchi, Vice Chancellor, SRM University
- M Venkataramanan, Principal, DG Vaishnav College
- Lalitha Balakrishnan, Principal, MOP Vaishnav College for Women
- Anand A Samuel, Vice Chancellor, VIT University
- Chair: Rajat Datta, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
05:00 pm
Closing address by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder, Art of Living
