Think India Conference 2012 at IISC Bangalore

This year’s ‘Think India’ conference is being held at the Satish Dhawan Auditorium, Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bangalore. This two day event (28-29 Jan) has a list of eminent speakers from across the nation. The event, inaugurated today by Sateesh Reddy, Director of Inertial Systems, DRDO, has a thought provoking agenda. The inauguration speech paved the way for what would be an interesting journey for young students, social entrepreneurs and all those who believe in the motive of the conference – A vision for a vibrant nation.Amidst the greenery and calm of the beautiful IISC campus, the setting is perfect for an event of momentous nature and stature. The inauguration was presided by ABVP National President, Milind Marathe, who had an interesting take on the NGO's. “Today, people proudly say that we are an NGO. But my question is that why take this stance wherein a government organization would be deemed inefficient. Why not just call it a ‘voluntary organization’? You’re doing it voluntarily so why not call it what it is? Why not work within the government and see your efforts bear fruit?” said Prof. Milind Marathe. The next session was anchored by IIM Lukhnow’s Prof. Awasthi and Sri Bal Apte, an eminent MP spoke about India, its past, present and the future.

The post lunch session which usually ends in a drone had something special in store. A noted thinker, Shri Ram Madhav kept the audience enchanted with his strong views on India’s adversary, China. The two pronged theory being adopted by China wherein it engages with India on one front and on the other front, it geographically encircles India from all the sides to gain strategic advantage was thought provoking. “India has had enough of peace rallies and soft approaches. It is high time we take a strong stand and the youth of India has to play the biggest role to help India achieve what it envisions”, encouraged Mr. Ram. The following sessions were speeches by real-life models wherein Anand Kumar, the founder of Super 30 gave an impressive talk to the budding entrepreneurs in the distinguished crowd. The crowd comprised of students and alumnus from Institutes of National Importance like the IIT’s, IIM’s and NIT’s.

Sunday also has a luminous speaker line-up comprising of the likes of Shri Shraddhalu Ranade who is a scientist and a renowned educationist and Dr. Y.B.Ramakrishnan who is the chairman of Bio-Fuel Task Force, GoK.

As an integral part of the event, there are six running competitions which include an essay competition, a photo competition, paper-presentations with Idea Impact, street plays and poster competition. The organization committee has done a commendable job with the event and more initiatives like this will definitely keep the wheels of the young Indian minds churning.

- Jubin Mehta