POST CONCLAVE REPORT

Yi organized two day Youth Conclave on 21-22 November 2014, on the theme ‘Learn, Explore and Imagine’ at Hotel Taj Krishna, Hyderabad. The theme of this conclave stemmed out of the epic, Mahabharatha. Prior to the stat of the event, a few days before, the official logo of the summit was launched by V V S Laxman, Former Member of the Indian One day and Test Cricket Team and fondly called as, ‘Very very special’ by the cricket fraternity for his consistency in batting and in being a team player. The conclave started with the opening remarks by Prasana Rajagopalan, Chair – Yi Southern Region & Director, Oceanland Shipping and Logistics Ltd who welcomed the members to the conclave. The gathering of around 250 people included members from Young Indians, Confederation of Indian Industry, media professionals and students from various cities. In his opening remarks, he stressed on the theme of ‘Learn, Explore & Imagine’ and articulated that the major thrust areas of this conclave i.e civic responsibility, responsible leadership and youth entrepreneurship. He also highlighted the broad themes of the previous summits and conclaves.

D N V Kumara Guru, National Chairman, Young Indians & Director – External Relations, Indian School of Business moderated the first session of the day which had Kingshuk Nag, Resident Editor, Times of India, C Parthasarathy, Chairman, Karvy Global Services & Suresh Chitturi, Chairman, CII Andhra Pradesh & Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Srinivasa Hatcheries Ltd. The theme of this panel was same as that of the theme of the summit. Elaborating on the focus of this panel, Guru mentioned that the fact of learning, exploring and imagining was part of any normal’s life but the importance kept changing from person to person and depending on the situation that the person has been put in. He requested for the panelists to give the opening remarks for the panel, before getting the audience involved in the interactive session.

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Kingshuk Nag spoke in detail of the current scenario of the country and mentioned that India attained its republic for the second time with the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He highlighted that the country gave an absolute majority to the current government with a view for them to use their powers for the country’s benefit. He was pleased with the number of young voters who turned up to vote and the importance attached by them to this process. C Parthasarathy said that it is the right time for India to capitalize on its advantages and become a developed nation. He also said that it was important to get involved in continued learning and be a part of continuous change. “We must change and revive ourselves, in our professional and personal lives, every three years”, he said and also

mentioned the importance of continuously upgrading onself in the process. ‘In the profession that I am in, I will need to refer, reform by taking in feedback from various stakeholders from across the spectrum’ he mentioned. Suresh Chitturi started his remark by mentioning that it was time that the youth set the agenda and contribute to the momentum for the country. “While I think we should not be hung up too much with the past, it is also important for the youth today to identify their strengths and work on it. No other country on this planet can give you as many opportunities as India does and there is no better time for all of you to jump in. India has enough for all of us to contribute in our own, small and big ways” he remarked. He also fondly remembered his association with Young Indians and said that he was excited to be in the company of so many young people who also share a common vision in youth leadership and nation building.

Post the panel discussion, Rana Daggubati, Film Producer, Visual Effects Coordinator, Actor & Photographer shared his experiences in the film industry and talked about the changing role of youth in the country. He also talked about the role of the film industry in engaging youth in economic development. ‘I have learnt, explored and imagined before standing in front of you as a film actor that most of you know of me as. I was in Chennai trying to learn behind the screen and I can do a bit, but realized that acting should be my priority” he said and recalled the support structure in his home that gave him the opportunity to explore new domains and take risks fearlessly. He also took questions from members on his current projects

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and his experience of working with different directors and the way he gets ready to take up challenging roles and tasks. This was followed by the presentation of recognition to the past chairs of Yi (Hyderabad Chapter)

Following this, there was a special session with Diyanat Ali, Founder, Great Hyderabad Adventure Club who spoke on “Adventure & Youth” as his topic and shared his life story on his inclination towards adventure sports. The day one ended with a Hyderabadi Play “Biryani & Haleem” by Sutradhar Theater which was an adaptation of Hugh Chesterman's “The Pie & The Tart”. The theme of the play was about the role of food for our survival.

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The Day 2 of the conclave started with the panel discussion with Aruna Bahuguna, IPS, Director, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy and Pullela Gopichand, Former Indian Badminton Player and Founder of Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad. Aruna made a presentation which summed up her thoughts as: ‘Explore: Exploration leads to new data’; ‘Learn: New data leads to new connections’ and ‘Imagine: New connections leads to new imaginations/dreams’. She also highlighted 5 stories of exploration through the names of Ernest Shackelton, the explorer of the Antartica; Ed Witten, Nobel Prize Winning String Theory Therapist; Alexander Fleming, Discoverer of Penicillin; Charles Darwin, Theory of Evolution and Thomas Edison, Inventor. She also mentioned that the key characteristics of an explorer included; Having the desire to see and understand the world; Exploring till one finds the right fit; having an open mind; seeking the right mentors and overcoming failures. Gopichand recalled his days as a Badminton player and his pride in representing the country on numerous occasions. He mentioned that trust in oneself with complete commitment was extremely important for the youth to make it big. “To that extent, I think the organisers have chosen the best 3 words that define the characters that are most needed in the youngsters today. I did with people of various kinds each day –some who get depressed soon, some who cannot overcome failure, some for whom success gets into their head quickly and many of such types – but I always tell them one thing. Stay humble. In any scenario, think of it as a passing phase and to learn to enjoy that phase they are going through at the moment” he mentioned.

Post panel discussion Sanjaya Baru, Director, Geo-Economics and Strategy, International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that learning accordingorganized thinking, which is structured, whereas explorers create paths. “A Path is made by walking’, he said when he was talking about the importance of the young minds to become explorers, which the Indians have been doing in the past. He also shared his experiences of being around the world through the various portfolios he handled as a senior bureaucrat and mentioned that the quantum of learning varied from each country, but he was sure that the vision was in the right direction. He mentioned that his engagement with the Young Indians was for a few years now and that he saw them engaging with speakers of various backgrounds and that was a good sign of an organization that wanted its

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members to learn and explore new terrains. Deenanath Harapanahalli, Founder & CEO, The Atlanta Foundation (TAF), addressed on the bicycle revolution in India. He talked about the importance of physical fitness as a means of achieving awakened leadership. He opined that the business leaders must pay importance to physical fitness which will keep them sustainable in a leadership position. Through his wonderful presentation, he touched upon the various kinds of leaders, which were: Inspired Leaders; Insightful leaders; Awakened leaders and Energetic leaders. He summed up his talk by mentioning, “Whatever you do, do it with purity of intent and a sense of mission”.

Indraneel Ganguli, Senior Vice President & Global Head- Brand, Marketing & Communication, Tech Mahindra talked about ‘learning from failures’. He spoke about the failure of Satyam and how one learnt in the process of bouncing back into the world. ‘Our first task was to build a new identity. That was to start from scratch” he mentioned and also highlighted the various methodologies adopted by his organization, after Mahindra stepped. Few of the examples that he highlighted were the formation of a ‘Connected’ network within the employees that was missing, according to him. He also mentioned that under the new brand identity, initiatives like ‘Young CEO’s, Shadow Board, 1000 Leaders, AIMERS and Global Leadership Cadre were formed. “The biggest challenge was for us to bring

back the morale of the employees of the organization who could not believe that their hardwork and sweat had gone into negative results at the top. In more than one, the caption that we have for Mahindra, which is ‘Rise’ signified that we wanted our people to come back from their past and rise upto the occasion which I am sure we have done well, as the results are there for people to see” he said. This session was followed by an interaction with Sania Mirza, Professional Tennis Player who shared her experience as an ace sports person in India. The session was moderated by Bhaven Shah, Chair, Yi (Hyderabad Chapter). Sania briey mentioned about her ups and downs in her professional career and how she responded to various situations. “I have seen it all in my life – I have been high and have been low, but I always knew in the depth of my heart that I was doing the right things to get me moving ahead in my sport and life. The one thing that I have been extremely conscious about is not being let down by the critics and their comments that take an effect on you mentally – but I have been performing against their thoughts” she said. To a question from a member on how she handled pressure, she said that it was for her

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to keep her nerves down and focus on the game. “It is also the pressure that gets the best out of me” he claimed. She also mentioned on the huge support that her family had given her in all these years and acknowledged that they did agree to her wish to become a professional tennis player many years when sports in India was not a profession that most parents would agree to. Talking at the panel discussion Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Journalist, Author & Director, Reachout Foundation, talked on the Danger of a single story. He said it was important to go into details in decision making and that every conict situation has one main story with

several narratives and that it was important to capture those narratives. He also made his point that India’s most important need to was to maintain cordial and friendly relationship with all its neighboring countries which at the moment was at various levels. V Raghunathan, Chief Executive Officer, GMR Varalakshmi Foundation shared the importance of Exploiting our Full Potential. During his interaction, he said, “To reach your desired destiny, it is imperative that you exploit your full potential. Any successful person will agree that despite life’s challenges, you must raise above your circumstances to achieve success. High-achievers are the people who position themselves high above the common crowd and keep going no matter what. Most of us have heard something like this before: “You have a

lot of potential,” or “You have so much potential, work hard and you will realize it.” The only problem is no one seems to know how to tell us where to start or how to achieve our fullest potential. After all, potential is such an ominous term and indeed is your personal choice to make it happen each and every day. You can’t measure it. You can’t quantify it. You can’t define it, but yet it is heavily embedded inside of you” Parag Shah, Chief Mentor, MIDAS and Founder Director, FLAME spoke about “Dreaming Big”-highlighting through his presentation the making of an entrepreneur through; critical thinking skills, creativity and innovation & effectuation and incubation. G V Ramana Rao, Director-EMLC &

Research, GVK Emergency Management Research Institute, during his interaction spoke about GVK 108 emergency services. He said the most of the beneficiary of their services were young Indians. “Reduction in poverty and increase in quality of life can be achieved by caring, valuing and respecting life with humaneness, humility and commitment to serve people”, he added. He also urged everyone to experience joy of giving back to society which increases Dopamine (satisfaction), Oxytocin (attachment) and Frontal Cortex Activity (Morals). He also mentioned on some statistics, which made people proud of the service: 90% of the staff in EMRI are youth; 38% of beneficiaries were pregnant and in the young age group; 66% of RTA

victims are in less than 30 yrs age group; Till date, 60% beneficiaries out of 3 million are youth and that over 85% of them were rural people, BPL families and transferred to Government hospitals.

Suneet Singh Tuli, President & CEO, DataWind Ltd & Maker of Aakash Tablet interacted on Bridging the Digital Divide - How Internet can help alleviate Poverty. He mentioned that the Aakash tablet computers will help improving the quality of the Indian education system and the world, by

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bridging the digital divide. ‘We will continue with our efforts to provide affordability to the billions that have been left out of the internet age.” said Suneet during his interaction with the conclave participants. It has the potential to revolutionize educational access in the developing world. We intend to use technology in order to fight poverty with a passion", said Sunnet Singh Tuli. He also spoke about his experiences and thoughts on the use of technology in various aspects in India and in using it to reach to the villages and rural areas of the country.

Akun Sabharwal IPS, Assistant Director (Outdoors), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy also spoke at the conclave. He addressed on Youth Leadership engaged in Nation Building. He educated participants on Leadership Development framework which consist of assessment, support & Challenge. Akun stressed on leading self & others by Yatra Patra & Vision Mandala. Jai Prakash Narayan, Founder, Lok Satta, talked about various issues that the young generation has to understand and address. He talked about three critical areas, which needed intervention and policy correction – Power, Education and Health. “The power challenges in our country actually are not about power generation but distribution and cost recovery. Right to Education Act is a colossal

fraud, as there is a phenomenal demand for quality education in India. The Public Sector healthcare spending in India is one of the lowest in the world (1% of GDP)”, he said. The Yi youth conclave was attended by Yi members from around the country and also had the 3rd meeting of the Yi Governing Council on the 21st of November 2014.

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Felicitation for the Past Chairs and Senior Members of Yi (Hyderabad Chapter)

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Glimpses of the conclave