Thinkedu conclave 2018

panel of speakers

M Venkaiah Naidu Vice-President of India

Scheduled at: January 17 11:00 am
Inaugural Address

M Venkaiah Naidu

Vice-President of India

Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu took office as Vice-President of India, on August 11, 2017. Previously, he served as Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Urban Development and Information & Broadcasting in the Modi Cabinet.

A prominent leader of the BJP, he served as its national president from 2002 to 2004. Earlier, in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he was Union Minister for Rural Development, where he aggressively pushed reforms in the rural sector and introduced schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

Shri Naidu is not new to the spotlight. He was a brilliant orator even in his student days when he championed the cause of farmers and the development of backward areas.

His oratory skills and political activism propelled his political career and he was elected as an MLA to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly twice from Udaygiri constituency in Nellore district in 1978 and 1983. He quickly rose to become one of the most popular leaders of the BJP in Andhra Pradesh.

After serving in various party posts at state & national level, he became an RS member from Karnataka in 1998, and was re-elected in 2004 and 2010. He was party spokesperson from 1996 to 2000, when he showed his flair for quirky alliterations and similes. Unlike many politicians from southern India, Naidu is also proficient in Hindi.

In 2003, he succeeded Jana Krishnamurthi as the National President of the BJP in 2003. On 28 January 2004, he was elected unopposed for a full three-year term. But a man of morals, he resigned from the post after the BJP-led NDA lost the 2004 general elections, and was succeeded by LK Advani. However, he remained at the forefront of the BJP as a senior VP and important campaigner.

Naidu is also involved with the Swarna Bharat Trust, a social service organization founded by him in Nellore. The trust runs a school for poor, orphaned and special-needs children and imparts self-employment training programs, especially for women and youth.
Prakash Javadekar Union Minister for HRD

Scheduled at: January 18 10:30 am
Keynote Address

Prakash Javadekar

Union Minister for HRD

Prakash Javadekar represents the Bharatiya Janata Party and is Union Minister for Human Resource Development. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra in 2008, and re-elected from Madhya Pradesh in 2014. Previously, he was Minister of State (Independent Charge) - Environment, Forest & Climate Change; Minister of State - Parliamentary Affairs; and Minister of State (Independent Charge) - Information and Broadcasting, Rajya Sabha member (2008-14), Executive President of State Planning Board Maharashtra (1995-1999) and member, Press Council of India.

He was a Member of Legislative Council from Pune Division Graduate Constituency from 1990 to 2002, and member of Committee on WAKF, member of Standing Committee on Defence, among others. From 1969 to 1977, he led student's movements under ABVP, organised Satyagraha against Emergency Rule and was imprisoned (1975-1977), was an elected Senate Member of Pune University for 12 years (1975-1987), National Secretary and General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (1984-1990) and has been a full-time BJP worker since 1981.

His social work includes chairmanship of Gramshakti, an NGO working in rural development area. Between 1996 and 2000, he completed successfully GoI's Watershed Development Project in Kolvan Valley of Mulshi Tehsil of Pune District. Earlier, he worked in tribal area of Thane District for revival of a Development Project, launched by Bank of Maharashtra.

He has written over 300 articles in various newspapers on contemporary subjects and many booklets on unemployment, infiltration, IMF loan and other political topics.
Smriti Z Irani Union Minister for Textiles and I&B

Scheduled at: January 18 02:30 pm
Does our education system encourage creativity?

Smriti Z Irani

Union Minister for Textiles and I&B

Born in March 1976, Smriti Zubin Irani was elected to the Rajya Sabha, from Gujarat in 2011. In August 2017 she was re-elected to Rajya Sabha, again from Gujarat. She is currently the Union Minister for Textiles and Information & Broadcasting. She was the Union Minister for Human Resource Development from May 2014 to July 2016. She is India's youngest minister in the government and the first woman to hold office as Union Minister for HRD and Textiles. She has previously served in the organization of various posts such as National Secretary (twice), is a five-term Member of the BJP National Executive, Vice President of BJP Maharashtra Youth Wing, BJP Maharashtra State Secretary, National Vice President and as National President of BJP Women's Wing has significantly and successfully pursued Permanent Commission for Women in the Indian Army by facilitating legal aid to women officers. She has also launched 'Saksham'- the 1st ever Vision Document released by any political organization in India, which underlines policies, programs and implementation tools for the uplift of the Differently Abled in India. In the 126th Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union, Ms Irani was unanimously elected as a Member representing the Asia Pacific Region to the Task Force responsible for establishing the 1st ever Committee for Young Parliamentarians in the IPU. At the same Assembly, she was unanimously elected by Member Nations as Rapporteur for the Standing Committee on Sustainable Development, Finance and Trade. The World Economic Forum named her the Young Global Leader from India for the year 2015.
V Narayanasamy Chief Minister, Puducherry

Scheduled at: January 17 06:00 pm
Does a better education system lead to a cleaner political system?

V Narayanasamy

Chief Minister, Puducherry

Velu Narayanasamy has been serving as Chief Minister of Puducherry since June 2016. He is a member of the Indian National Congress and has previously served as Member of Parliament, representing the Union territory in the Lok Sabha. He was a Minister of State in Prime Minister's office in Manmohan Singh's second government as well as Minister of State, Parliamentary Affairs in the first UPA government. He served three tenures as Rajya Sabha MP and was a member of the Lok Sabha from Puducherry constituency from 2009 to 2014.
Jayant Sinha Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation

Scheduled at: January 17 06:00 pm
Does a better education system lead to a cleaner political system?

Jayant Sinha

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation

Jayant Sinha is the Minister of State for Civil Aviation. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, representing the BJP, from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, in May 2014. The former Minister of State for Finance was an investment fund manager and management consultant before he entered politics.

He holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School, an M.S. in Energy Management & Policy from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Technology degree with Distinction from IIT Delhi.

During the 2014 election campaign, Sinha worked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help frame the national economic policy and was an active contributor to the BJP's efforts to develop new campaign management technologies and systems.

In his current ministry, Sinha has worked to strengthen the airport infrastructure plan through the National Civil Aviation Policy to double the number of airports. He has also helped launch AirSewa for passengers to register their grievances through the mobile app or a web portal to provide a systematic approach to the redressal process. In October 2016, the minister signed an MoU between the Ministries of Civil Aviation and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship to train people in the various trades associated with the civil aviation sector to meet the potential of 60 lakh jobs in the next ten years.
Kiran Bedi Lt Governor, Puducherry

Scheduled at: January 18 11:30 am
How do you train students for Innovation & Leadership?

Kiran Bedi

Lt Governor, Puducherry

Kiran Bedi is the Lieutenant Governor of the union territory of Puducherry. She took to politics after retiring from Indian Police Service (IPS) in 2007. She was the first Indian woman to join the officer's ranks of IPS in 1972.

During her policing career, she served as the chief of New Delhi Traffic Police, DIG of Police in Mizoram, Advisor to the Lt. Governor of Chandigarh, Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau, and Civilian Police Advisor for United Nations Peacekeeping operations. She was honoured with the United Nations Medal for her work. She introduced a number of reforms in the management of Tihar Jail, Delhi when she was the Inspector General of Prisons during the years 1993-1995. The various programmes introduced by her under this mission witnessed positive changes in the lives of prisoners.

Bedi is also noted for her role as a social activist. The winner of the Magsaysay Award in 1994, she was one of the active members of the Anna Hazare-led civil society that launched a movement for the enactment of a strong anti-corruption law, the Jan Lokpal Bill. She formally joined the BJP on 15 January, 2015 and was selected as the party's chief ministerial candidate for the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.

Bedi did her Bachelor of Arts in English (Hons) from Amritsar's Government College for Women and her Master's in Political Science. She earned her degree in law from the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi in 1998 while in service as the Director General of Police. Subsequently, she went on to obtain a doctorate from the Department of Social Science at IIT Delhi in 1993.

The last position that Ms Bedi held in the IPS was that of the Director General of India's Bureau of Police Research & Development. She was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Law in acknowledgment of her "humanitarian approach to prison reforms and policing" in May 2005.
D Jayakumar Minister for Fisheries, Tamil Nadu

Scheduled at: January 17 11:00 am
Welcome Address

D Jayakumar

Minister for Fisheries, Tamil Nadu

D. Jayakumar is the Fisheries Minister in the Tamil Nadu government. He is the MLA from Royapuram constituency in Tamil Nadu as a member of the AIADMK. He is a lawyer by training. Earlier, he was the Speaker of the TN Legislative Assembly.
K Pandiarajan Minister for Language and Culture, Tamil Nadu

Scheduled at: January 17 03:00 pm
How do we give cultural soft skills a hard push?

K Pandiarajan

Minister for Language and Culture, Tamil Nadu

Ma Foi K.Pandiarajan is the Minister for Tamil language and culture in the Tamil Nadu government. He was born in 1959 in a small village called Vilampatti near Sivakasi. He lost his father, a match factory worker, when he was just three months old. He studied throughout on scholarships and did his Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore in 1981, and his MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur, where he studied Human Resources Management. He started his career in Kolkata soon afterwards. Later, he moved to Chennai and settled in Anna Nagar and started Ma Foi, India's largest HR Services firm with just `60,000 in 1992. He went on to create employment opportunities for more than 3,50,000 professionals. Shri Pandiarajan has been instrumental in starting various companies and has nurtured many entrepreneurs. He has been actively involved in CII, FICCI and many other associations like Chennai Angels and Native Lead. He is the recipient of the Eisenhower Fellowship awarded by the United States for his contribution to Human Resources & Consulting.
Sugata Bose MP & Professor, Harvard University

Scheduled at: January 18 03:45 pm
Is Nationalism missing from Indian Education?

Sugata Bose

MP & Professor, Harvard University

Sugata Bose wears many hats. He is the Gardiner Professor of History at Harvard University. He has served as Director of Graduate Studies in History at Harvard and is the Founding Director of Harvard's South Asia Institute. Bose was educated at Presidency College, Calcutta, and the University of Cambridge where he obtained his Ph.D. His field of specialization is modern South Asian and Indian Ocean history, and his scholarship has contributed to a deeper understanding of colonial and post-colonial political economy, the relation between rural and urban domains, inter-regional arenas of travel, trade and imagination across the Indian Ocean, and Indian ethical discourses, political philosophy and economic thought.

Bose's many books include A Hundred Horizons: the Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (with Ayesha Jalal, 3rd edition, London and New York: Routledge, 2011) and His Majesty's Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India's Struggle against Empire (Cambridge, MA: the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press and New Delhi: Allen Lane, Penguin, 2011).

He was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014 on a Trinamool Congress ticket, from the prestigious Jadavpur constituency in Kolkata. In Parliament, he is Member, Committee on Government Assurances; Member, Standing Committee on External Affairs; Member, Committee on Provision of Computers to Members of Lok Sabha; and Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Jairam Ramesh Former Union Minister

Scheduled at: January 17 04:00 pm
Do we need more Indian-educated economists

Jairam Ramesh

Former Union Minister

Jairam Ramesh is an economist and politician belonging to the Indian National Congress. He studied engineering, management and technology policy at IIT Mumbai, Carnegie-Mellon University and MIT. He is a Member of Parliament representing Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha since June 2004. Previously, he has been Union Minister for Rural Development, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Power, Commerce & Industry, and Environment and Forests. He was instrumental, as Environment Minister, in banning the use of bulls as performing animals, leading to the ban on Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu in 2016.

Currently, Ramesh is a member of the International Advisory Board that gives strategic policy advice to the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme on the strategic direction of the International Environmental Technology Centre. A prolific writer, Ramesh has been a columnist for several newspapers and anchored a number of popular television programmes on business and the economy. He is the author of Making Sense of Chindia: Reflections on China and India; Mobilising Technology for World Development; To The Brink and Back: India's 1991 Story, and One History, New Geography. His newest book, Indira Gandhi: A Life in Nature, tells the compelling story of the former Prime Minister, as a naturalist.
Kanimozhi Member of Parliament

Scheduled at: January 18 02:30 pm
Does our education system encourage creativity?

Kanimozhi

Member of Parliament

MK Kanimozhi is a politician, poet and journalist. She is a Member of Parliament, representing Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha. She is the daughter of the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Karunanidhi and his wife Rajathi Ammal, and has a master's degree in Economics. She is the chief of the DMK's wing for Art, Literature and Rationalism and is seen as her father's "literary heir".

Before her entry into politics, Kanimozhi was involved in journalism, and worked at The Hindu, Tamil weekly magazine Kungumam and a Singapore-based Tamil newspaper called Tamil Murasu. Her literary works in Tamil include Karuvarai Vaasanai, Agathinai, Paarvaigal and Karukkum Marudhani; they have been translated into English, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu by the Dravidian University.

The MP is known to support pan-Tamil issues. She is particularly interested in the welfare of women, transgenders and the differently-abled. She also spearheads DMK efforts to organize job fairs across rural Tamil Nadu to facilitate employment opportunities for young people in small cities, towns and villages. She began the fairs as an experiment in June 2008 at Kariyapatti, a village in Virudhunagar district. By March 2010, the fairs had provided jobs to over one lakh unemployed youth spread across Nagercoil, Vellore, Udhagamandalam, Tiruchirapalli and Virudhunagar.
Tiruchi N. Siva Member of Parliament

January 17 06:00 pm
Does a better education system lead to a cleaner political system?

Tiruchi N. Siva

Member of Parliament

Tiruchi Siva is a Member of Parliament, representing Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha. He is from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, and was elected in 1996, 2002, 2007 and 2014. He is a speaker and a writer. Siva is known for moving a popular Private Member Bill, which got bipartisan support in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill seeks to help transgender people get benefits akin to those enjoyed by the scheduled castes and tribes. The MP is also taking steps to ensure that that they are not denied enrollment in schools or jobs in the government and are protected from sexual harassment. He has a master's degree in English literature and has published two books in Tamil, Kutravaali Koondil Socrates and Thalainagiril Tamilan Kural.
V Maitreyan Member of Parliament

Scheduled at: January 17 06:00 pm
Does a better education system lead to a cleaner political system?

V Maitreyan

Member of Parliament

Dr Vasudevan Maitreyan is an oncologist and politician who belongs to the AIADMK. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from 2002 to 2004 and was Deputy Leader, AIADMK in the House during that period. He has been Member, Standing Committee on Defence Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of HRD; Special Permanent Invitee, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Home Affairs; Member, Hindi Shiksha Samiti; Member, Committee on Official Language; Member, Court of the Jawaharlal Nehru University; Special Representative to the Government of Tamil Nadu at New Delhi; Chairman, Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests; Member, Committee on Ethics; Member, General Purposes Committee; and Member, Sub-Committee to examine various provisions of the Enemy Property (Amendment & Validation) Second Bill, 2010 of the Committee on Home Affairs, among other things.

Earlier, he was executive member of the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP. He served as General Secretary of BJP's Tamil Nadu unit from 1995 to 1997, was Vice-President from 1997 to 1999 and President from 1999 to 2000. In 2000, he resigned from the BJP and joined the AIADMK.

The first qualified oncologist in the country, he has contributed several articles in Indian and foreign medical journals on different types of cancer; and wrote a chapter on "Epidemiology and Etiology in Cancer" in G.B. Sainani (ed.) A.P.I. Text Book of Medicine, 5th Edition, 1992.
Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri Mata Amritanandamayi Math

Scheduled at: January 18 05:15 pm
Keynote address

Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri

Mata Amritanandamayi Math

Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri is the foremost disciple of the world renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, affectionately known as 'Amma'. He has been with Amma for the last 38 years. Swamiji is Vice-Chairman of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math and President of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. He is a renowned author and translator, having written "The Colour of the Rainbow: Compassionate Leadership" as well as two biographies of Amma. He has also translated into English more than 10 volumes of conversations between Amma and devotees, for which he also served as compiler. He is a magnificent singer, composer of bhajans, and orator. He has travelled around the world more than 30 times with Amma in her service. In 2015, on Amma's behalf, he participated in the "Summit of Conscience for the Climate" in Paris. Interestingly he also represented Amma at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, when a documentary on her, _'Darshan: The Embrace,'_ was selected for screening there.
Arvind Swamy Actor

Scheduled at: January 18 06:15 pm
Should cinema be tasked with the responsibility to educate?

Arvind Swamy

Actor

Arvind Swamy is a film actor, model, entrepreneur and television presenter who is best known for his work in Tamil cinema. He was introduced as an actor by Mani Ratnam in the film Thalapathi (1991) and subsequently starred in successful films such as Roja, Bombay, Minsaara Kanavu and Alaipayuthey. Both Roja and Bombay won awards at the State and National Film Awards and Minsaara Kanavu won four National Film Awards.

In 200, Swamy semi-retired from acting after playing a guest role in Alaipayuthey and began concentrating on his business interests which ranged from software engineering and construction to international trade and global outsourcing. He returned to acting with Kadal (2013), Thani Oruvan (2015), Dear Dad (2016), Dhruva (2016) and Bogan (2016).
Anita Rampal Professor, Education Dept, Delhi University

Scheduled at: January 17 12:00 pm
What should India's new Education Policy look like?

Anita Rampal

Professor, Education Dept, Delhi University

Anita Rampal is Professor of Education and former Dean, Faculty of Education, Delhi University. She has been a Nehru Fellow, UGC Research Scientist, Chairperson of the NCERT Textbook Development Teams at the Primary Stage, and chair of various national and international committees. She is currently on the Executive Committee of the International Commission on Mathematics Education, and is working on a collaborative project on Education for Sustainable Development. She has been associated with the People's Science Movement, the National Literacy Campaigns, and other education initiatives in different states. Her special interests include Policy Analysis, Curriculum Studies, Teacher Education, Science-Technology-Society (STS) Education and Critical Mathematics Education (CME), and she has designed courses for the Department of Education, Delhi University as well as the National Council for Teacher Education. Her publications include research papers and books in English and Hindi, textbooks and articles for children, and she has produced films on women's education and political participation.
Ashwani Mahajan National Co-Convener, Swadeshi Jagran Manch

Scheduled at: January 17 04:00 pm
Do we need more Indian-educated economists

Ashwani Mahajan

National Co-Convener, Swadeshi Jagran Manch

Dr. Ashwani Mahajan is an author, columnist, National Co-Convener of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Associate Professor at PGDAV College, University of Delhi. He teaches at the Department of Economics located at PGDAV College. His publications include Datt & Sundharam Indian Economy (12 editions from 61st to 72nd edition, co-author), Datt & Sundharam Bhartiya Arthvyavastha (Hindi) (6 editions from 50th to 55th editions, co-author). These books are widely read pan India by students, teachers, researchers, policy makers & civil services aspirants and are included in the curriculum of almost all universities in India. He has many more publications including Econometrics, Agricultural Economics, Environmental Economics, and Encyclopaedia of World Economic Crisis 2 Volumes. Dr. Mahajan has published more than 400 articles in various national dailies & periodicals including Deccan Herald, The Statesman, Pioneer, The Excelsior, The Economic Times, Business Today, Organiser, Dainik Jagran (Hindi), Rajasthan Patrika (Hindi), Amar Ujala (Hindi), Hindustan (Hindi). He has also published a number of research articles in reputed journals like Mainstream and others.

As National Co-Convener of Swadeshi Jagran Manch he has been instrumental in getting changes in economic policies, by virtue of his in depth study of economic issues faced by the nation. His successful policy interventions include withdrawal of controversial ordinance on land acquisition, getting field trials of GM crops policy revisited, FDI policy of the government especially retail trade, e-commerce etc. He has been guiding the government on the matters of public policy and also the Foreign Trade Policy. As a researcher and activist on World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international trade agreements, he has attended four ministerial conferences of WTO held at Geneva, Bali, Nairobi and Buenos Aires, as representative of Swadeshi Jagran Foundation, which is an accredited NGO with WTO.

Dr. Mahajan is an economist of repute and his opinion is sought by different TV channels on current economic issues and is a known face as a commentator on economic issues. He frequently appears on different channels including DD News, Zee Business, DD Kisan, ABP News, CNBC, News X etc. Different anchors have interviewed him exclusively, including Karan Thapar. Different newspapers and periodicals, which include Statesman, Asian Age, Deccan Chronicle, India Today, Outlook, Rediff and many others have published exclusive interviews with him, which are available on web.
Bhaskar Ramamurthi Director, IIT Madras

Scheduled at: January 17 01:00 pm
How do you tap technology to help non-urban areas prosper economically?

Bhaskar Ramamurthi

Director, IIT Madras

Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi got his B.Tech in Electronics from IIT Madras in 1980, and his M.S. and Ph.D is Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara, in 1982 and 1985 respectively. After working at AT&T Bell Laboratories for a couple of years, he joined the faculty of IIT Madras, his alma mater, in 1986. He took over as Director, IIT Madras in September 2011.

His areas of specialisation are Communications and Signal Processing. His research work is in Wireless Networks, Modulation, Wireless Data, and Audio and Video Compression. He is a founding member of the TeNeT group of IIT Madras, active in developing telecom and networking technologies, and incubating companies to develop and market products based on these.

He is currently also honorary Director of the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology, a public-private initiative at the IIT-M Research Park to make India a wireless technology leader. He is on the Board of Bharat Electronics Limited.

He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He is also an Honorary Fellow of the International Medical Sciences Academy. He was awarded the Vasvik Award for Electronic Sciences and Technology for the year 2000, the Tamil Nadu Scientist Award for Engineering and Technology for the year 2003, India Semiconductor Association TechnoVisionary Award for the year 2011, Doyens of Madras Award for the year 2014 and ACCS�CDAC Foundation Award for the year 2015.
Debashis Chatterjee D-G, International Management Institute

Scheduled at: January 18 11:30 am
How do you train students for Innovation & Leadership?

Debashis Chatterjee

D-G, International Management Institute

Professor Debashis Chatterjee has taught leadership classes as at Harvard University and at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), Calcutta, Lucknow, and Kozhikode for nearly two decades. He has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship twice for Pre-Doctoral and Post-Doctoral work at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His published work include 17 books, including Leading Consciously (Foreword by Peter M. Senge), Can You Teach a Zebra Some Algebra?, Timeless Leadership and Invincible Arjuna, that have been translated into several international and national languages. He has trained over 20,000 managers globally in Fortune 100 Corporations and over 15,000 school principals and teachers. His most recent book Invincible Arjuna has emerged as a path-breaking book in the education space in India. He has served as leadership coach to political leaders and CEOs of major Indian organizations, and as Dean of an international business school in Singapore. A pioneer in the field of Asian models in leadership, Professor Chatterjee is former Director of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (2009-2014) and Dean and tenured Professor at IIM Lucknow. He is credited with transforming IIM Kozhikode from an obscure regional school to an institution of national impact and global recognition. Currently he is Director-General of IMI Delhi, India's first corporate sponsored business school where he heads three campuses. He serves as Independent Director on the Boards of several multinational and Indian Companies.
Dinesh Singh Former VC, Delhi University

Scheduled at: January 17 03:00 pm
How do we give cultural soft skills a hard push?

Dinesh Singh

Former VC, Delhi University

Dinesh Singh is a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi. He holds a Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mathematics from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, and a Ph.D. from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London. He returned as a lecturer to Delhi University in 1981, and progressed along the academic track until his appointment in 1997 as Professor-the youngest in the history of the Faculty of Mathematics. During that phase he had also spent periods visiting at the Indian Statistical Institute, IIT Delhi and various institutions abroad including UC Berkeley, the University of Houston as well as institutions across the UK, Europe, Egypt and Australia.

At Delhi University, he was hailed widely as a visionary leader and policy maker and termed a 'rockstar Vice Chancellor'. Prof Singh is also regarded as an innovator, radical thinker and inspirational leader who can mesmerise exceptionally large crowds with his oratory in English, Hindi and Urdu. He holds an outstanding academic record as a mathematician and his research-in functional and harmonic analysis and in operator theory-is of the highest quality, with publications in journals such as the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, Bulletin of The London Mathematical Society, Studia Mathematica, Journal of Operator Theory, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, and Mathematische Nachricten. His research was recognised by the award of the AMU Prize by the Indian Mathematical Society in 1989, and the Career Award in Mathematics by the University Grants Commission in 1994. He collaborates widely and in particular with mathematicians at the University of Houston, Texas, where he has been an Adjunct Professor since 1999 and with mathematicians at the University Of Waterloo. His research has also been hailed globally and is reflected in the numerous citations in books and papers that his work has received.
Dhruv Galgotia CEO, Galgotias University

Scheduled at: January 18 12:30 pm
How do you prepare for the workplace of the future?

Dhruv Galgotia

CEO, Galgotias University

Dhruv Galgotia did his schooling at St. Columba's and his MBA from IMI, New Delhi and took over Galgotias' publishing and retail divisions at a very young age. Having a keen interest in the education sector and desirous of turning Galgotias into one of India's most preferred institutions, he then joined Galgotias University as CEO and began working on key areas like technology, academic processes and innovation.

Galgotia makes full use of the advances in technology and likes creating student-friendly systems which help in enhancing dissemination of knowledge, skills and development. He has worked closely with students to develop several projects including mobile and computer applications, vehicles (such as ATV /Moonbuggy / F1 car /Efficycle) which have won several awards and recognition.

He has keen interests in sports and is a national-level swimmer who has won over 150 medals in swimming and represented Delhi in several competitions.
Faizan Mustafa Vice-Chancellor, NALSAR

Scheduled at: January 17 05:00 pm
How do we train our lawyers better?

Faizan Mustafa

Vice-Chancellor, NALSAR

Prof. Faizan Mustafa is a senior law teacher and renowned jurist of constitutional law, who is currently Vice- Chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. Earlier, as Founder Vice-Chancellor of National Law University, Odisha (NLUO), he put to use the concept of 'integration of knowledge' and introduced highly innovative legal education curricula. He integrated B.A.LL.B with BBA.LL.B and allowed students of one stream to take courses of the other. For the first time in India, he also introduced the specialization of Legal Journalism at NLUO.

Well-known for his institution-building abilities and his democratic leadership, Prof Mustafa is Advisor to National Law School & Judicial Academy, Assam. He is also visiting faculty to several reputed institutions in India and abroad.

As Founder Director of KIIT Law School, Bhubaneshwar, he experimented with a novel B.Sc. LL.B course with six papers in Biotechnology and three in Environmental Science to cater the needs of patent lawyering. Prior to that, he was the Dean, Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University where he introduced courses like IPR Law, Human Rights Law and Tourism Laws. He also served with distinction as Registrar of Aligarh Muslim University. Aligarh Muslim University is listed in the Indian Constitution as an 'institution of national importance' and its Law School is consistently ranked among the top ten Law Schools of the country.

Prof Mustafa has written eight books and contributed over 150 articles. He is also writing a volume on the Reinstatement of Indian Laws which is a huge project of the Supreme Court of India and Indian Law Institute. He was also one of the contributors to famous Encyclopedia of Legal History published by the Oxford University Press, US.

Prof. Mustafa campaigned for the enactment of the Right to Information Act and wrote two books on the subject back in 1996 and 2003. He has worked in the area of Copyright Law and was awarded a Ph.D. in the Intellectual Property Law in 1996. He has also written a book on Religious Conversion Law. India's only book on 'Strict Liability in Criminal Law' was written by him in 1991 and he was awarded the Commonwealth British Fellowship to further pursue this subject. Health Care Law is another area on which not much has been written in India but he wrote a book on "Aids, Law and Human Rights" in 1998. The VC has also written papers on Muslim Law to demonstrate that Muslim Personal Law is neither 'law' nor 'sacred' and many of its features are at variance with Islamic Law.
Hemalatha Annamalai CEO, Ampere Vehicles

Scheduled at: January 17 01:00 pm
How do you tap technology to help non-urban areas prosper economically?

Hemalatha Annamalai

CEO, Ampere Vehicles

As founder and CEO of Ampere Vehicles, Hemalatha Annamalai's mission is to build a local Tesla Motors by providing middle-class Indians in rural and semi-urban areas with cost-effective electric vehicles that offer them convenience and freedom, while simultaneously helping the environment and reducing India's oil imports (which she believes, is "our collective responsibility"). Hema calls personal mobility a "basic need that's on par with food, clothing and shelter and defines the dignity of an individual." With her fleet of e-cycles, e-scooters, e-trolleys and special-purpose vehicles that cater to the differently-abled, the CEO's dream is to put Coimbatore on the map as an electric vehicle city and turn it into a role model for other cities looking to go the electric way.

The fifth of six siblings, Hema has a computer science engineering degree from GCT Coimbatore and an MBA in international marketing from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. She worked at Wipro Bangalore for a while before turning entrepreneur at the age of 27. Hema says she went solo because she wanted the freedom to do her own thing but very quickly realized that the independence came with strings attached. "As an entrepreneur you need to be extremely disciplined. Everything needs to be planned in advance and you must have a strong support system in place at home," she says.

Her other advice to anyone looking to turn entrepreneur is 'identify a mentor early'. Hema says she was lucky to have the support of Ratan Tata who met her at her request but was so impressed by her ideas that he ended up investing in the company. Going forward, Hema is looking to dispel the notion that there is no place for women in manufacturing. "Already, one in every four Ampere employees is female. I want women to be in the forefront of everything I do," says the CEO.
Madhur Bhandarkar Film Director & Writer

Scheduled at: January 18 02:30 pm
Does our education system encourage creativity?

Madhur Bhandarkar

Film Director & Writer

Madhur Ramchandra Bhandarkar is a four-time National Award-winning film director, producer and script-writer best known for making hard-hitting, realistic cinema that has not just critical value but also the best commercial success rate in the country. He is best known for the films Chandni Bar (2001), Page 3 (2005), Traffic Signal (2007), Fashion (2008), Jail (2010), Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji (2011) and Heroine (2012). Often called "the Indian answer to Hollywood filmmaker Quentin Tarantino," Bhandarkar was conferred the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award from the Government of India, in 2016. His fascination for cinema began when he was a kid. He wanted to be a part of them in some way or the other. At the age of 16, he ran a video cassette library in Khar (W), a suburb of Mumbai, and delivered cassettes door-to-door. This gave him access to a large collection of movies, which he devoured and studied film-making through. Bhandarkar's most recent film is Indu Sarkar, which documents the 19-month period of the Emergency in India in the Seventies.
Meghdut Roy Chowdhury Director, Global Operations, Techno India Group

Scheduled at: January 17 01:00 pm
How do you tap technology to help non-urban areas prosper economically?

Meghdut Roy Chowdhury

Director, Global Operations, Techno India Group

Meghdut Roy Chowdhury is an entrepreneur, public speaker and change maker. He started his first company at the age of 19, while pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering. He went on to join the prestigious European business school, HEC Paris, and subsequently did his Master's in Management with multiple exchange semesters at Stanford University, US and Tel Aviv University, Israel. He has a major in International Business and a minor in Intercultural Negotiations. An avid traveler, Meghdut has visited over 40 countries in the last three years. He speaks fluent French and is currently running a recording studio, a restaurant and a co-working space/incubator called 'Technopreneurs Surrogate Ventures' for startups in Kolkata. He has recently also taken on the role of Director, Global Operations, at Techno India Group and hopes to bring a new wave of innovation and fresh perspective to the education sector in India.
Mohan Raja Film Director

Scheduled at: January 18 06:15 pm
Should cinema be tasked with the responsibility to educate?

Mohan Raja

Film Director

Mohan Raja is a renowned director of South Indian cinema, and has produced more than 20 films in Telugu and Tamil. After making his debut with the Telugu movie Hanuman Junction (2001), he went on to remake several successful Telugu movies into Tamil, beginning with Jayam (2003) which also launched his brother Ravi as a leading actor. After a period of mixed success, he returned with his first original script, Thani Oruvan (2015) which went on to become one of the most profitable Tamil movies of 2015. His most recent film Velaikaran is currently running in theatres and doing splendidly well.
Parmesh Shahani Head, Godrej India Culture Lab

Scheduled at: January 18 12:30 pm
How do you prepare for the workplace of the future?

Parmesh Shahani

Head, Godrej India Culture Lab

Parmesh Shahani is the head of the Godrej India Culture Lab, the author of the book Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India (Sage Publications, 2008), and the Editor at large for Verve magazine. He is a TED Senior Fellow, a Yale World Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and an academy member for the Global Teacher Prize. Parmesh has an MS in Comparative Media Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Praveen Chakravarty Resident Senior Fellow, IDFC Institute

Scheduled at: January 17 04:00 pm
Do we need more Indian-educated economists

Praveen Chakravarty

Resident Senior Fellow, IDFC Institute

Praveen Chakravarty is a political economist and Resident Senior Fellow at IDFC Institute. Chakravarty's research focus is empirical research using diverse datasets for policy outcomes. It encompasses public policy issues in finance and macro economics and also political economy using electoral data. His work has been published in all mainstream publications in India. He writes a popular monthly column titled "Noise to Signal" in BloombergQuint.

Chakravarty previously served as Managing Director of Thomas Weisel Partners in the US and BNP Paribas India. He is a member of the Secondary Markets committee of the Securities & Exchange Board of India and an Independent Director in the TVS Group of companies in Chennai. He co-founded Mumbai Angels in 2006, India's largest angel investing group.

Chakravarty also worked with the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) in the UPA 2 government led by Dr.Manmohan Singh. He is the Founding Trustee of IndiaSpend, India's first non-profit data journalism initiative. He is a board member of Centre for Civil Society, India's highest ranked think-tank.

Chakravarty holds an MBA from The Wharton School and an undergraduate degree from BITS Pilani.
Rajeev Sethi Designer & Curator

Scheduled at: January 18 02:30 pm
Does our education system encourage creativity?

Rajeev Sethi

Designer & Curator

Rajeev Sethi is South Asia's leading design professional and thinker, noted internationally for his innovative contribution to preserving and celebrating the Indian Subcontinent's rich cultural heritage. For more than 45 years, through his work in design and architecture, performances and festivals, exhibitions and publications, policy and program, he has identified ways to bring contemporary relevance to traditional skills of vulnerable artisan communities and creative stakeholders. With innovative positioning and proactive interventions, he has created a basis for the maintenance of time honored legacy industries in an era of industrial mass production and globalization.

Sethi has moved effortlessly from one discipline to another with his consistent vision for cross cultural and intermedial curatorial and scenographic practices creating some of the most memorable artistic endeavors setting world standards. His formative years were spent in Paris working with Pierre Cardin, and he was mentored by designers like Ray and Charles Eames, and eminent Gandhians like Kamla Devi Chattopadhyay and Pupul Jayakar who encouraged him to direct his talents to India. He has since gone on to champion the cause of Creative and Cultural Industries for the region, which is reflected in the setting of Rajeev Sethi Scenographers Pvt. Ltd. and the Asian Heritage Foundation. Rajeev Sethi Scenographers is a private limited company established in 1999-2000. It was an unprecedented for profit enterprise offering a plethora of design-led initiatives marked by an inclusive/ integrative process spanning craft skills, performing arts, new media, liberal arts and architecture, etc. leveraging creative and cultural resources towards cutting-edge scenographies around the world. Formed as a non-profit NGO in 1995-96, the Asian Heritage Foundation seeks to facilitate the positioning of Asia's creative skills, and provides an ecosystem of empowerment with innovative entrepreneurship to script a sustainable future for a challenged cultural continuum.
Rajeev Srinivasan Adjunct Faculty, IIM-B

Scheduled at: January 18 11:30 am
How do you train students for Innovation & Leadership?

Rajeev Srinivasan

Adjunct Faculty, IIM-B

Prof Rajeev Srinivasan is an adjunct faculty in innovation at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He spent twenty years in engineering and management roles in the US, with Bell Labs and in Silicon Valley. He was responsible for Unix product management for Sun Microsystems, and introduced Java to India. He also founded several startup companies, and advised venture capital firms. He has taught innovation at several IIMs for a dozen years, and was director of a business school. He was a member of the 6-person panel that wrote India's first Intellectual Property Rights policy in 2016. Most recently he managed Maker Village, an electronics startup incubator funded by the Government of India. He is an academic adviser to NetExplo, an innovation-focused UNESCO affiliate in Paris. He graduated from IIT Madras and the Stanford Business School. He also writes widely about technology strategy and foreign affairs.
Rajiv Mathur Senior Head, Skill Advisory Services, NSDC

Scheduled at: January 17 12:00 pm
What should India's new Education Policy look like?

Rajiv Mathur

Senior Head, Skill Advisory Services, NSDC

Rajiv heads the newly-formed vertical, called Skills Advisory Services, at NSDC to support the Private Sector in its skill development initiatives via various products and services. In his earlier assignment at NSDC, as Head of Standards and Quality Assurance, Mathur was instrumental in the formation of the Sector Skill Councils and managing relationships with them. Some of the niche works here were the creation of 2200 plus Qualification Packs and National Occupational Standards across 38 Sectors, Development of Curriculum and Content for various job roles which form the backbone of PMKVY trainings in the country, Training of Trainers, Benchmarking of Indian Standards with that of our countries - notable being with UK and Australia. In addition, he and his team worked very closely with State Governments, State School Boards, Private Universities, Skill Missions, AICTE and UGC, among others, to align them into Skill Development.
Rakesh Sinha Honorary Director, India Policy Foundation

Scheduled at: January 18 03:45 pm
Is Nationalism missing from Indian Education?

Rakesh Sinha

Honorary Director, India Policy Foundation

Prof Rakesh Sinha is a renowned political scientist and an academic at University of Delhi, and an Honorary Director of the non-profit think-tank, the India Policy Foundation. He is an ideologue and earnest believer of Indian philosophy, egalitarianism and cultural nationalism. His books, monographs and articles have positioned him as impolitic, uncompromising and an upfront thinker in media and public forums. His publications include Biography of Dr KB Hedgewar (in five languages), Shri Guruji and Indian Muslims, Rajnitik Patrakarita, Secular India: Politics of Minorityism, Philosophy of Social Revolution, Terrorism, Indian Media, Swaraj in Ideas: Quest for Decolonisation of the Indian Mind; and RSS in Intellectual Discourse.

Prof Sinha is a regular columnist in newspapers and magazines and appears by invitation on national and international electronic media for debates on contemporary issues. He is also Member of Indian Council of Social Science Research; Member of Governing Board, Centre for the Developing Societies; Member of Selection Committee, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs; and Member of Science & Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology.
Rama Kirloskar Managing Director, Kirloskar Ebara Pumps

Scheduled at: January 18 12:30 pm
How do you prepare for the workplace of the future?

Rama Kirloskar

Managing Director, Kirloskar Ebara Pumps

Rama Kirloskar is the Managing Director of Kirloskar Ebara Pumps Limited, a joint venture between Ebara Corporation, Japan, and Kirloskar Brothers Limited, the parent company of the 129-year-old Kirloskar Group. Previously, she was General Manager and Head of the Product Portfolio Management at Kirloskar Brothers Limited, where she was responsible for driving the Go-to-market strategy, product value management and restructuring of the mass production business; material grade rationalisation and streamlining of the foundry business and product rationalization of the made-to-order business.

She holds a double major in Mathematics and Biology from Bryn Mawr College, US. After graduation, she went on to work at Polaris Venture Partners, a multi-stage venture capital firm that principally invests in technology, healthcare and consumer products, headquartered at Waltham, MA, US. Subsequently, she worked at the Koch Institute at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her research led her and the team to begin working with Visterra Inc., an MIT biotechnology start-up company that uses its proprietary platform to design therapeutics for infectious diseases. She is one of the authors of a recent publication in the journal Cell of the paper titled "Structure-Guided Design of an Anti-Dengue Antibody Directed to a Non-Immunodominant Epitope".

Kirloskar is passionate about bird-watching and wildlife conservation. She also enjoys basketball and has represented Maharashtra in the Basketball National Championship. While in the US, she took part in varsity track, cross country and basketball. She was also a member of her college chess club and the flying club where she was able to fly the Grumman AA-1B/C Trainer and the Cessna 172.
Ritu Anand Senior VP & Deputy Head - Global HR, TCS

Scheduled at: January 17 03:00 pm
How do we give cultural soft skills a hard push?

Ritu Anand

Senior VP & Deputy Head - Global HR, TCS

Dr. Ritu Anand is Senior Vice President and the Deputy Head - Global HR at Tata Consultancy Services. She heads the Talent Management and Diversity functions in TCS. In this diverse role, she oversees key aspects of HR, including compensation & benefits, company policies, career, performance and leadership management. She also leads workplace diversity initiative in TCS. She has a Ph.D. in Psychology and has been with the firm for more than 25 years. She is an independent director and an advisory member for several organizations. She is most passionate about people and what drives them. Developing women leaders is an area that she is personally committed to and has done tremendous work both in and outside TCS in this area. An iconic leader, a charismatic speaker and a role model in the HR community.
Sanjay Vijayakumar Chairman, Start Up Village

Scheduled at: January 17 01:00 pm
How do you tap technology to help non-urban areas prosper economically?

Sanjay Vijayakumar

Chairman, Start Up Village

Sanjay belongs to the new breed of Indian Entrepreneurs who are young and fearless. Starting an entrepreneurial journey at the age of 22 while in third of engineering, Sanjay lead and created a team of engineering graduates who were passionate about technology to build up MobME Wireless, one of India's most exciting and innovative mobile -internet companies. MobME quickly raised angel funding from investors based out of India, Middle East and Silicon Valley. Defying convention in India, Sanjay turned down MNC job offers to scale up MobME, building a team of over 250+ people spread across offices in Trivandrum, Cochin, Mumbai and Delhi and presence in 17 locations in India.

In 2006, MobME was rated as one of India's 100 Innovative Startups by Nasscom and in 2007 was the Youngest of the Nasscom 100 IT Innovators alongside TI and HP. MobME was also amongst the Wall Street Journal 10 Startups to watch for in India in 2008. In 2009 and 2011, the company won the prestigious Nasscom Leadership Awards. In 2012, Nasscom rated MobME as one of India's top 10 Emerging IT companies. MobME recently raised 7.5M USD from Silicon Valley Head Quartered Sequoia Capital for it's a mobile payment product ChillR, which is "whatsapp for money".

He is also Chairman of the Board for Startup Village, India's first Technology Incubator in PPP mode promoted jointly by MobME along with Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. Government of India nominated Sanjay to the board of Indo-US Science and Technology Forum established by Govt of India and United states to strengthen bilateral relationships in technology.

Government of India has bestowed Startup Village with the best Technology Incubator in India at National Technology Day 2015. Sanjay is member of the Board of Governors of Startup Mission for Government of Kerala, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh to help build world-class startup ecosystems in these states.

He is also a Board member of Startup Policy Implementation Committee of AICTE, the regulatory body for engineering education in India and Board of APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, which has over 200,000 students, and 150 affiliated engineering colleges. A regular speaker at National and International Conferences, Sanjay is also an advisor to Fortune 500 Company Bharat Petroleum.

Sanjay is also a Rajeev Motwani Fellow instituted in the memory of late Stanford Professor Rajeev Motwani, mentor to Google Founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, A Scholar of Aspen Institute, Colarado, he was selected by World Economic Forum as a Global Shaper for making significant contribution to the community. India Today has rated Sanjay as one of the 37 Indians driving the future of India and Forbes selected him for the Just 30 Club. Asia Society also selected Sanjay amongst the Asia's 21 young leaders under 40.

A graduate of Industrial Engineering from College of Engineering, Trivandrum, Sanjay is a passionate basketball player, Sanjay has lead the college team to various tournaments and played state level Basketball in Kerala before being bit by the entrepreneur bug. He now dreams of the day when the sun sets at dusk in the valley, it would rise to see the Dawn of a Silicon Coast in India.
Sunaina Singh Vice-Chancellor, Nalanda University

Scheduled at: January 17 03:00 pm
How do we give cultural soft skills a hard push?

Sunaina Singh

Vice-Chancellor, Nalanda University

As Vice-Chancellor of Nalanda University, an internationally acclaimed and historical university, Prof. Sunaina Singh is among the most prominent leaders of higher education in South Asia. A distinguished academician and administrator, she also holds the position of Vice-President, Indian Council for Cultural Relations since 2016. She has the distinction of being the first Indian woman to head, as President, the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, the bi-national research institution with headquarters in New Delhi and Calgary under the MHRD and Canadian Government.

Prof Singh is a rich blend of scholarship, professional integrity and administrative competence. Her impeccable and proven track record as an able and a visionary administrator has enabled her to excel in her leadership role, a fact acknowledged by the many prestigious awards she has won. They include Education Leadership Award, 2017 (Dewang Mehta National Education Awards); Bharat Gaurav Award, 2016 (IIFS); Chanakya Award for Excellence in Good Governance, 2014 (Public Relations Council of India); Woman of the Year Award, 2014 (by the United Andhra Pradesh Government - Citizens Council of AP); and the Certificate of International Leadership National College, Nottingham, UK. (2013).

During her tenure as President of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Prof. Singh launched path-breaking initiatives that heralded a new vision and outlook for the organization. She was honoured with a citation by the India-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC), Calgary, for her contribution and initiatives in strengthening bilateral ties and collaboration in higher education, in 2011.

In 2010, Prof. Singh was nominated by ICCR to the India Studies National Chair at Shanghai University, China. In 2005, she received the Postdoctoral Faculty Research Award from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Canada, and in 1984, the Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholarship Award.

In both her roles as an academic and as an administrator, her focus has always been on quality. Few academics can match her integrity, intellectual caliber, and dedication to teaching, research, and administration. As a Visiting Professor at reputed Universities abroad, she has played a crucial role in drawing the attention of the West towards Indian culture and literature, pedagogical systems, epistemological concerns, and university administration.
S Prabakaran Co-Chairman, Bar Council of India

Scheduled at: January 17 05:00 pm
How do we train our lawyers better?

S Prabakaran

Co-Chairman, Bar Council of India

S Prabakaran is an Indian jurist, senior advocate in the Supreme Court of India and the Co-Chairman of the Bar Council of India. He is the first from Tamil Nadu to be elected to the prestigious position of Co-Chairman of the Bar Council of India. He is an internationally recognized jurist and has the unique distinction of being the very first Lawyer from the Madras High Court to become a Member of the American Bar Association. He has also represented the Bar Council of India before the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Law and Regulations on the contentious issue regarding the entry of foreign law firms in India.

He was elected the youngest President of the Madras High Court Advocates Association and secured the same position for three consecutive years. He was elected as the Member of Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and later as the Member of the Bar Council of India. He is currently the President of the Tamil Nadu Advocates' Association and the Co-Chairman of the Bar Council of India.

Prabakaran is known to be a dynamic and inventive reformer, and a leader of the legal fraternity. He primarily practices at the Supreme Court of India but also appears in various High Courts and at arbitrations, sometimes as counsel and other times as an adjudicator. He specializes in Alternative Dispute Resolution, Appellate Practice, Banking Law, Bankruptcy Law, Business Law, Commercial Litigation, Constitutional Law, Construction Law, Consumer Law, Contract Law, Criminal Law, Cyber Law, Defamation, Drug Control Law, Employee Benefits Law, Employment Law, Environmental Law, Family Law, Health and Safety Law, Immigration Law, Insurance Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law, International Human Rights Law, Juvenile Law, Litigation, Medical Law, Poverty Law, Public International Law and Tax Law.
Sudha Ramalingam Senior Advocate & Law Professor

Scheduled at: January 17 05:00 pm
How do we train our lawyers better?

Sudha Ramalingam

Senior Advocate & Law Professor

Sudha Ramalingam is a practicing advocate in Madras High Court and a Recipient of the Fellowship from the Advocacy Institute, Washington D.C. (1995). She is the Managing Trustee, Manonmani Trust and used to be Vice-President, People's Union for Civil Liberties and Legal Cell Member, Tamil Nadu Women's Commission.

Ramalingam has worked for the Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees and participated in the South Asian Consultation of the UNHCR at Bangkok. She was part of fact finding teams probing into human rights violations, custodial rape/ death, prison conditions, caste clashes, minority rights, Dalit issues, aqua farms and other environmental issues, and has filed public interest litigations on important issues such as prison reforms and human rights violations in police custody. In addition, Ramalingam helped victims of Premananda, the fake godman, get justice, from the inception of complaint to securing punishment for accused and monetary compensation for victims.

She writes in English and Tamil dailies and and participates in talk shows on the radio and TV, on journals on socio-legal- political issues. With a strong interest in education, Ramalingam imparts legal training in legal literacy programs conducted by the government and non-governmental organizations and in schools, colleges and other fora. She also participates in training programmes for policemen, college and schoolteachers, training and sensitizing them on human and legal rights.
Sunil Paliwal Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Tamil Nadu

Scheduled at: January 17 12:00 pm
What should India's new Education Policy look like?

Sunil Paliwal

Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Tamil Nadu

Sunil Paliwal is the Principal Secretary in Tamil Nadu's Higher Education Department. He is from the 1993 batch of IAS officers, Tamil Nadu cadre. Paliwal has held several administrative and executive positions in the Government of Tamil Nadu. He has been OSD, Personnel & General Administration and, earlier, Executive Director of the TN Industrial Development Corporation. He has served as Director of Lactochem, Mepco Industries, TIDEL Park, TICEL Bio Park, Ennore SEZ Company, Titan Holdings, Tanishq India, and Titan Mechatronics Ltd. He holds a B.Tech and an M.S. from IIT Kanpur.
K Vaidyanathan Editor, Dinamani

Scheduled at: January 18 06:15 pm
Should cinema be tasked with the responsibility to educate?

K Vaidyanathan

Editor, Dinamani

In 1989, K Vaidiyanathan launched a syndicate news service in English called Newscribe, which was subscribed by 24 newspapers in 10 languages. Among those newspapers were The Tribune, Lokmat Times, The Aaj, Punjab Kesari, Janma Bhoomi (Gujarati), Nagpur Times, Pudhari (Marathi), Dharithri (Odia), Tuglak Tamil Weekly and Samyukta Karnataka. During his 18-year long tenure with the company, Vaidiyanathan had the opportunity to interview and interact with several national and regional political leaders in India. Besides, politics, sports, music and cinema found a place in his area of journalistic interests. In 2007, he took over the editorship of the Dinamani Tamil daily, which has a long history in upholding nationalism and Tamil values. The daily was launched on the 13th death anniversary of Mahakavi Bharathiyar in 1934 with the intent of upholding the values held by the great poet and to support the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. After Vaidiyanathan's asociation with Dinamani, the newspaper has reinvented itself as the torch bearer of culture and nationalism.
R Vaidyanathan Professor, Public Policy, SASTRA University

Scheduled at: January 18 03:45 pm
Is Nationalism missing from Indian Education?

R Vaidyanathan

Professor, Public Policy, SASTRA University

Dr R Vaidyanathan is a retired Professor of Finance from IIM- Bangalore and the Cho S Ramaswamy Chair Professor in Public Policy at Sastra Deemed University. He is a two-time Fulbright scholar and a Fellow of ICSSR-Visiting Faculty at various universities in the US/UK. He has the rare privilege of being in various committees of regulators like SEBI/RBI/IRDA/PFRDA. He is consultant to many organizations and is on the board of many corporates. His book India Uninc-Role of Non-Corporate sectors in India focuses on Indian/Asian value systems and has been well received by planners and policy makers. His most recent book, Black Money and Tax Havens, has been acclaimed by experts. Dr Vaidyanathan is on the Advisory council of the Vivekananda International Foundation and also Honorary Dean of Economic Studies.
S Vaidhyasubramaniam Dean, SASTRA University

Scheduled at: January 17 12:00 pm
What should India's new Education Policy look like?

S Vaidhyasubramaniam

Dean, SASTRA University

Dr S Vaidhyasubramaniam is Dean, Planning & Development, SASTRA Deemed University. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School with interest in Public Policy & Higher Education Management. He is also a Ph.D. in MBA Education in India from SASTRA University as a visiting Scholar at University of Virginia. Other feathers to his cap are an MBA from Asian Institute of Management, Manila, Philippines and B.E. in Electronics & Instrumentation Bharathidasan University.

He has worked with Siemens (India), MERALCO (Philippines), and Johnson & Johnson (USA & India). He is a member CII (SR & TN) & ASSOCHAM committees on Higher Education and various academic bodies.

He received the Young Manager Award from Madras Management Association in 1996, and has been resource person for LKY School of Public Policy; NUS and Asian Development Bank; member, Academic Bodies of various colleges; a regular columnist for The New Indian Express and occasionally writes for The Hindu, Tuglak and Dinamani.
C Velan CEO & MD, IT Park & Regional Head, Tata Realty & Infrastructure

Scheduled at: January 18 12:30 pm
How do you prepare for the workplace of the future?

C Velan

CEO & MD, IT Park & Regional Head, Tata Realty & Infrastructure

Dr C Velan graduated in Civil & Structural Engineering with Post-Graduate degrees in Business Administration, as well as Environment. He also has a Ph.D for his research on "Sustainable Design of Green Buildings". With over 30 years of professional experience from various corporates, he is currently working as Executive Director & CEO, Ramanujan IT City in Chennai, and also heads the South India Operations at TATA Realty and Infrastructure Ltd. He is also one of the Executive Committee Board members in the Indian Green Building Council since 2013.

Dr Velan has spent 30 years of his working life in manufacturing and service industries such as Eicher Motors, Seshasayee industries, Colorchem and Ascendas. He has a Fellowship from Indian Green Building Council; was Best CEO of the year from Construction Infrastructure Architect world magazine; is an Executive committee board member in Green Building Congress; and Member of MRICS (The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors). Dr Velan has presented and published various papers both in National and International Journals & Conferences.
Venguswamy Ramaswamy Global Head - TCS iON

Scheduled at: January 18 12:30 pm
How do you prepare for the workplace of the future?

Venguswamy Ramaswamy

Global Head - TCS iON

VenguswamyRamaswamy heads the iON, a strategic unit taking TCS IT services to the SME segment. SwamyHe was instrumental in setting up the unit, and the main architect behind the cloud computing solutions it offers. Earlier, as director of TCS' Global Consulting Practice, he was pivotal in building the consulting organization. Consulting Magazine noted this to name him amongst the top 25 consultants of the year 2007.

Swamy has held important positions including managing the largest customer relationship for TCS. With an abiding interest in modern software quality methods, he also headed the Process Consulting group.

He was closely involved in TCS' globalization initiatives for the last few years. He helped in making delivery footprints in strategic locations like Hungary and China. His role as head of Corporate Resource Management saw centralized processes for mobilizing delivery skills across TCS global operations.

A Six Sigma Master Black belt, Swamy is an exponent of new ways to quality. His speeches in business forums are marked by ideas about new business models, often making innovation stand in subtle contrast to quality. A fitness enthusiast and regular marathon runner, he lives in Mumbai with his wife Lakshmi and two children.
R Venkata Rao Chancellor, NLS Bangalore

Scheduled at: January 17 05:00 pm
How do we train our lawyers better?

R Venkata Rao

Chancellor, NLS Bangalore

Prof R Venkata Rao has been serving as the Vice Chancellor, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, India since May 2009. His academic qualifications are B.A.(Hons.) Litt., M.A. (Litt), M.L. and Ph.D and LL.D (Honoris Causa) 2017.

Previously, he served for 31 years in the Faculty of Law, Andhra University, Vishakapatnam, in various capacities as the Dean, Faculty of Law and Chairman, Board of Studies in Law. He has the distinction of receiving the Best Teacher Award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh, India in 2006, the Best Researcher Award from the Andhra University, India in 2003 and Gold Medal for the Best Ph.D. Thesis.

He has guided successfully 2 LLDs, 18Ph.Ds, and over 75 M.Phil Scholars. He has published more than 130 papers in Journals of National and International repute apart from presenting several papers in National and International Seminars.

Prof Rao has been an Independent Director in prestigious PSUs like Bharat Electronics Limited and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bengaluru and Goa Shipyard Limited and Member, Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, New Delhi. He is widely travelled and is associated with prestigious bodies like the Executive Councils of different National Law Schools in India and is on the Advisory Board of Institute of Genetic Awareness and Applied Research, Nova, Southeastern University, US, among others.
YV Reddy Former Governor, RBI

Scheduled at: January 17 04:00 pm
Do we need more Indian-educated economists

YV Reddy

Former Governor, RBI

Dr YV Reddy has worn many hats. Currently, he is Honorary Professor, Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad. He was Chairman of the 14th Finance Commission of India, a Constitutional body with the rank of Union Cabinet Minister, from February 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014. During 2008-13, he was very active in the academic arena, and was associated with University of Hyderabad, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and Columbia University, New York. Between September 2003 and 2008, he was Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

In 2010, he was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan. In 2008, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics. He was also awarded Honoris Causa by University of Mauritius. He has served as a member of the United Nation's Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, and been on the Advisory Board of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Prior to being appointed RBI Governor, he has served as Executive Director, International Monetary Fund; and as Secretary, Government of India; and Principal Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh.

Dr Reddy has written extensively on economic issues � particularly relating to fiscal policy, central banking, and the global crisis. His most recent publications include: Advice & Dissent: My Life in Public Service; Financial and Fiscal Policies (co-authored); Economic Policies and India's Reform Agenda: New Thinking; Of Economics, Policy and Development � An Intellectual Journey by I.G. PATEL (co-edited); Global Crisis, Recession and Uneven Recovery, and India and the Global Financial Crisis � Managing Money and Finance.
Zafar Sareshwala Chancellor, Maulana Azad National Urdu University

Scheduled at: January 18 03:45 pm
Is Nationalism missing from Indian Education?

Zafar Sareshwala

Chancellor, Maulana Azad National Urdu University

Janab Zafar Yunus Sareshwala, the Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), is a technologist, businessman and philanthropist. He has a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management. He is one of the founders of the Parsoli Groups and Director of Parsoli Motor Works Pvt. Ltd. He is considered an entrepreneur in Islamic Banking and Finance, and has delivered lectures on Islamic Banking and Finance in conferences across the world.

The Chancellor is a man with a vision. He aims to equip Urdu-knowing people with the best in higher education and ensure their mobility in the competitive market. At MANUU, he endeavours to establish a link between University and Industry and focuses on the employability of the students.

Sareshwala possesses over 25 years of experience in marketing financial products and services across the globe. In 2006, Parsoli launched the Parsoli Islamic Equity Index. In an effort to create awareness and educate the markets in India, the entrepreneur started a series of televised conferences entitled 'First Islamic Investment Opportunities' across the country. Sareshwala's determined efforts have borne fruit with growing awareness and acceptance of Islamic financial products and services in India.

Thinkedu conclave 2018

panel of speakers

M Venkaiah Naidu

Vice-President of India

Prakash Javadekar

Union Minister for HRD

Smriti Z Irani

Union Minister for Textiles and I&B

V Narayanasamy

Chief Minister, Puducherry

Jayant Sinha

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation

Kiran Bedi

Lt Governor, Puducherry

D Jayakumar

Minister for Fisheries, Tamil Nadu

K Pandiarajan

Minister for Language and Culture, Tamil Nadu

Sugata Bose

MP & Professor, Harvard University

Jairam Ramesh

Former Union Minister

Kanimozhi

Member of Parliament

Tiruchi N. Siva

Member of Parliament

V Maitreyan

Member of Parliament

Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri

Mata Amritanandamayi Math

Arvind Swamy

Actor

Anita Rampal

Professor, Education Dept, Delhi University

Ashwani Mahajan

National Co-Convener, Swadeshi Jagran Manch

Bhaskar Ramamurthi

Director, IIT Madras

Debashis Chatterjee

D-G, International Management Institute

Dinesh Singh

Former VC, Delhi University

Dhruv Galgotia

CEO, Galgotias University

Faizan Mustafa

Vice-Chancellor, NALSAR

Hemalatha Annamalai

CEO, Ampere Vehicles

Madhur Bhandarkar

Film Director & Writer

Meghdut Roy Chowdhury

Director, Global Operations, Techno India Group

Mohan Raja

Film Director

Parmesh Shahani

Head, Godrej India Culture Lab

Praveen Chakravarty

Resident Senior Fellow, IDFC Institute

Rajeev Sethi

Designer & Curator

Rajeev Srinivasan

Adjunct Faculty, IIM-B

Rajiv Mathur

Senior Head, Skill Advisory Services, NSDC

Rakesh Sinha

Honorary Director, India Policy Foundation

Rama Kirloskar

Managing Director, Kirloskar Ebara Pumps

Ritu Anand

Senior VP & Deputy Head - Global HR, TCS

Sanjay Vijayakumar

Chairman, Start Up Village

Sunaina Singh

Vice-Chancellor, Nalanda University

S Prabakaran

Co-Chairman, Bar Council of India

Sudha Ramalingam

Senior Advocate & Law Professor

Sunil Paliwal

Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Tamil Nadu