Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi,  Union Minister Suresh Prabhu, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, actor-director-producer Kamal Haasan, journalists Barkha Dutt, Nidhi Razdan and Ravish Kumar, fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, author Amish Tripathi, Quality Council of India Chairman Adil Zainulbhai; KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar, Yes Bank CEO Rana Kapoor and Nitin Paranjpe, former CEO of Unilever India and current president of Unilever Home Care where among the speakers at this years star-studded Harvard India Conference that was held on Feb 10 and 11 at Harvard University. Students of the business school and the Kennedy school at Harvard organized the conference. Their theme was “India – Disruptive Innovations.” Discussions took on issues related to Aadhaar, Unified Payment Interface, technology-based education and health delivery and low-cost solar power.

Indian leaders used the opportunity to be at Harvard to represent their political point of view. For Tamil Star Kamal Haasan, who is about to launch his party, this was an opportunity to attract the attention of the diaspora and try to get their support for his political ambition.  There were several interesting discussions on major topics like education and health care where multiple points of view were presented. Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia took the opportunity to highlight the impressive work he has done for the public schools in Delhi.  The famous designer Sabhyasachi shared his life story and also shared his views on upcoming fashion trends. The second day, business leaders presented their views.

Amongst the inspirational tales, the one heard was that of the P C Mustafa, son of a daily wager who grew up in Chennalode, a remote village in Wayanad district of Kerala, which had neither electricity nor roads. He went on to create CEO of ‘iD Fresh Food’ a company with 100 Crore turnover.  

 A variety of panel discussions helped attendees dig deep into a wide range of topics including education, health social media and others. The keynotes at Harvard Kennedy were really popular and often had standing room only.

The community also used the opportunity to host the speakers from the conference at other events and hear from them. 

The conference was intellectually stimulating and we look forward to next years event.