Day 1: March 3
10:30 am
My Vision for Education in India: Inaugural Keynote Address by Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar
11:15 am
Should there be profit in education?
- Sachin Pilot, Former Union Minister
- Shaheen Mistri, Founder, Teach For India
- R Sharath Kumar, Actor-Politician & Founder, All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi
- Chair: Preeti Sinha, Senior President & Global Convener, Yes Institute
12:15 pm
How do you apply design thinking to education?
- Hari Krishna Maram, Chairman & CEO, Imperial College
- Kannan Moudgalya, Professor, IIT Bombay
- Shaurya Doval, Director, India Foundation
- Chair: Achuthsankar S Nair, Director, Dept of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, University of Kerala
02:30 pm
How do you navigate a non-traditional career path?
- Ayaan Ali Bangash, Musician & Composer
- Michael Foley, Managing Director, Foley Designs
- Rema Rajeshwari, SP, Mahbubnagar District, Telangana
- Chair: Gautam Chintamani, Author
03:30 pm
How can a 'make in India' education be made aspirational?
- P Rajeev, Ex-MP; Member, CPI(M) State Committee, Kerala
- Dr SG Badrinath, Visiting Faculty-Canara Bank Chair in Banking & Finance, IIM-Bangalore
- S Vaidhyasubramaniam, Dean-Planning & Development, Sastra University
- Chair: R Venkata Rao, VC, National Law School, Bangalore
05:00 pm
What do our institutions need to do to produce more creative professionals?
- Chinmayi, Playback Singer
- G Dhananjayan, Producer-Writer & Founder, Bofta Film Institute
- Sharan Apparao, Art Curator & Gallery Director
- Chair: Swarnamalya Ganesh, Dancer-Actor
06:00 pm
Pushing the frontiers of Indian education:
Keynote address by Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons
Moderated by S Vaidhyasubramaniam, Dean-Planning & Development, Sastra University
Day 2: March 4
10:30 am
Religious education: Is it relevant in secular India?
- Arif Mohammad Khan, Former Union Minister
- Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd, writer-academic-activist for Dalit rights
- Rakesh Sinha, Thinker-Writer-Academic
- Chair: Manish Tewari, Former Union Minister
11:30 am
Is India investing enough in healthcare?
- Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, Former Union Minister
- Dr Georgi Abraham, Consultant-Nephrologist, Madras Medical Mission
- Dr Sunil Thomas Chandy, Director, CMC, Vellore
- Chair: Dr S Gurushankar, Chairman, Meenakshi Mission Hospital
12:30 pm
Women's education in India: How serious are we really?
Dr Kiran Bedi, Lt-Governor of Puducherry, in conversation with Gautami Tadimalla, Actor-Activist
02:30pm
How do you bridge ancient wisdom and modern knowledge?
- Dr Sudha Seshayyan, Director, Institute of Anatomy, Madras Medical College
- Revd Valson Thampu, Former Principal, St Stephen's College
- Chair: Mani Rao, Author-Poet-Scholar
03:30 pm
Do our law schools produce world-class lawyers?
- Arvind P Datar, Senior Advocate, Madras High Court
- N Venkatraman, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court
- Chair: Jayna Kothari, Executive Director, Centre for Law and Policy Research
05:00 pm
Are funds coming in the way of our providing good public education?
Closing Keynote Address by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi