CHENNAI: With renewed conversations and invigorating debates, the 13th edition of the ThinkEdu Conclave, presented by SASTRA University, witnessed a mesmerising milieu of more than 25 speakers on Wednesday, at Chennai, with the highlight being the session with the union minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
The two day event with more than 15 sessions on Day 1, garnered a crowd of more than 300 students and 275 delegates.
The day flagged off with the lighting of the lamp by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan; Prabhu Chawla, Editorial Director, The New Indian Express (TNIE); Santwana Bhattacharya, Editor, TNIE Group and Lakshmi Menon, Chief Executive Officer, TNIE followed by the inaugural address by the governor, during which, he spoke about his role as the governor of the state of Kerala and maintaining the autonomy of the universities.
The fiery panel “Poll Position: Who will win the people's mandate” saw Khusbu Sundar, politician and actor, John Brittas, member of Parliament (MP), Professor Gourav Vallabh, national spokesperson for the Indian National Congress and DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai speak about who will India vote for in the upcoming general elections.
While jobs and employment are major concerns weighing the youth down, Ruchee Anand, Senior Director, Talent and Learning Solutions, India at LinkedIn, in a session with Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation, Innocent Divya, said that there will be a substantial shift in the job market due to the rise in technology with the emphasis being laid on artificial intelligence (AI). A session with thinker and author Ram Madhav covered topics like Bharat, Hindutva and beyond.
The second half of the conclave had speakers such as MP Shashi Tharoor, who spoke about whether citizens were better off today than they were a decade ago. In a session with minister of housing and urban affairs, petroleum and natural gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, he spoke passionately about the government's growth model that is centred on a system of development focussed on women.
The concluding session saw Gopalkrishna Gandhi taking an enthralled audience through Gandhi's journey.
The Day also witnessed a plethora of intriguing sessions featuring M Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Debashish Chatterjee, Director of IIM Kozhikode, VK Tewari, Director of IIT Kharagpur, Michaela Küchler, Consul-General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Chennai, and Nanditha Krishna, Author, and Historian, among others.
Highlights for Day Two
Constitution as Guiding Light: Why We Need To Know The Law
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Former Supreme Court Judge
Getting the Economy Right: The Rise of India
V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India
Passion and Progress in Cinema
Siddharth, Actor
The Divine Voice: Touch of Class
Aruna Sairam, Vocalist
The Right Prescription: Revamping Medical Education
Dr Sharad Kumar Agarwal, National President, Indian Medical Association
Dr S Sacchidanand, Former Vice-Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences
Dr Sudha Seshayyan, Director, SASTRA University
