Chandigarh is the place to experience vibrancy in the life, be it the regime of events, intellect, art, culture, vivid amount of conferences or anything else you may think of. One such unique initiative that has been taken is the Young Thinkers’ Conference that was held in Chandigarh on 13-14 October, 2016. This was the first time such a conference was held in the city.
What is Young Thinker’s Conference?
Well established and successful in Delhi, this is the first time the infiltration and implementation of this idea is happening outside Delhi. This Young thinkers’ Conference is being hosted by British Deputy High Commission and Indian School of Business at the Indian School of Business’ (ISB’s) Mohali Campus. This conference is an initiative of British High Commission, and basically this is a foreign and security policy aimed at bringing out together the best of experts and thinkers on one platform under one roof. These thinkers discuss on various issues based on one common single theme for one panel and this conference in total has four such panels. Based on the themes, the ideas are then judged for each panel differently by a senior journalist which are then moderated out. This provides a great opportunity to young thinkers to stand out of the crowd and speak out for themselves.
British Deputy High Commissioner, Chandigarh is very excited for the event and has also expressed his gratitude to ISB for their kind collaboration. The process of bringing together the experts and senior journalists have been started already. This conference is expected to bring out the new perspectives and insights in various issues and topics and “their is enough for everyone and a wide range of topics are present on the platter for any and every kind of a person to work upon in any domain of foreign or security policy” says British Deputy High Commissioner, Chandigarh Dvid Lelliott. Its a great oppurtunity to bring out the young thinkers of the nation to brainstorm and develop new understandings and strategies. This conference would contain people who may already be experts in the topics but alongside most importantly it would have any person who will be curious in discussing about the relevant topics. Its a great learning experience for each and everyone alike. And this is one of its kind initiative doing so at such a high stage with such a potent and calibre.
This two day conference would have discussion topics like:-
- “What is the impact of growing involvement of woman in foreign policy ?”
- “How should peacekeeping adapt to evolving challenges ?”
- “India-UK: New Opportunities”
- “Are economic considerations adequately reflected in foreign policy ?”
Speakers at Young Thinkers Conference, Chandigarh
British High Commissioner Sir Dominic Asquith will deliver the special keynote on Friday morning. Among the special list of speakers and panelists will be personalities like: Manjeet Kripalani (Executive Director, Gateway House), Gaurav Gogoi (MP Kaliabor, Assam), Ambassador Meera Shankar, Ambassador Veena Sikri, Lt. Gen Abhijit Guha (Retd.), Asa Torkelsson (Deputy Country Head, UN Woman), Lt. Gen. JS Lidder, Jyoti Kamal (Senior editor, CNN IBN), Gowhar Geelani, Mani Shankar Aiyar (Former Minister), Shaban Khalid (President, Commonwealth Association of Young Entrepreneurs) and Praveen Swami (Editor, Strategic Affairs, Indian Express).
Seeing the list of speakers and panel of experts present, one can definitely say that its a great opportunity to grow intellectually and a great platform to open new hidden gateways to serving the society better with the ideas and insights.