Theme
The ever-changing socio-cultural scenario around us can be hard to navigate or even unpleasant at times. These are times when one feels their voice is not loud enough in his/her own life choices or when one feels locked up in a system charted by others.
This year’s theme, Escape Room, represents a gateway to a better world, better opportunities, and a better life. It embodies people who have clawed their way out of unkind and harsh situations by using everything that is accessible to them. They worked hard day in and day out to improve their situation and opened doors for others to do the same. Be it a technological innovation or a voice raised against the wrong, an example one set, a monotony one broke, an act that inspired others, a lead one took standing for a team or a section of society, and many more. It could be a story of an extraordinary ‘escape’ that happened in one's ordinary life. These stories can inspire more and more stories to happen and make the world a better place.
At TEDxSIUNashik 2021, we will broaden our horizons to garner actionable insights on how people stayed resilient during those times, unclasped those chains, and broke free.
Speakers
Mr. Apurv Misal
Founding Team Member, Head -Marketing & Sales, Phool.co
Mr. Eldho Pachilakkadan
Founder of India's First Raw food restaurant - Primate, Naturalist, Evolutionist and Writer
Mr. Apurv Misal
Founding Team Member, Head -Marketing & Sales, Phool.co
Apurv is a founding team member of PHOOL and he spearheads growth and revenue for the brand. PHOOL is a Kanpur based social impact enterprise that upcycles temple flower waste into organic consumer products such as incense. It employs more than 60 women coming from marginalised sections of the society.Apurv always believed social impact needs a better platform, sharper storytelling and the magic of marketing to ensure financial stability . Having previously helped early and mid-stage Fintech as well as E-commerce startups like Chumbak scale revenues , he believed PHOOL had the potential to become India’s first fragrance D2C brand. Scaling the brand from 10 orders per day to more than 1000 orders per day, braving a pandemic and bouncing back stronger, Apurv's journey with PHOOL has been an adventurous one. Part of the Stanford Seed program for startups , Apurv believes escaping his comfort zone was the best thing he could do towards his personal growth !
Mr. Eldho Pachilakkadan
Founder of India's First Raw food restaurant - Primate, Naturalist, Evolutionist and Writer
Eldho Pachilakkadan, Founder of India’s first raw food restaurant and Founder of Utopia United Foundation, an NGO focusing on developing sustainable spaces and communities and also, Founder of ‘Birds’ Art Gallery. He is also a Founding Member of TNHS (Travancore Natural History Society). He is a Naturalist, Evolutionist, a writer, Farmer, Artist, Filmaker and many more. Eldho who was an architect for 16 years realized after a long stint, where his heart was and where he would like to have his future at. He shaped his destiny his way , converting 10 acres of barren land into a wild fruit forest to learn the ways of nature. An advocate of raw food, Eldho walks his talk and also, his family practices what they preach – cooked food is not real food.
Dr.R.Vasudevan
Indian Scientist, Plastic Man of India, Recipient of Padma Shri
R Vasudevan, a Padma Shri awardee, has contributed considerably for the environment through innovative ways of handling plastic waste. Fondly called as “Plastic Man of India”, he has been the brain behind laying the modern plastic roads which are highly durable and cost effective. He is a scientist, currently serving as the Dean, Department of Chemistry in Thiagarajar College of Engineering. His 42 years of teaching experience with publications in reputed international and national Journals paved way for obtaining the patent on laying flexible pavements from waste plastics. Meet the man who could guide us to handle plastics responsibly in a way that do not necessitate ban of plastics.
Col. (Dr.)D.P.K. Pillay (Retd.)
Shaurya Chakra,Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA
Col. Pillay is a war wounded and decorated veteran who is fondly remembered for his selfless action of rescuing wounded children before saving himself in Manipur for which he has been decorated with a Shaurya Chakra for gallantary beyond call of duty. He is also engaged in development and employment generation in the region where he was nearly killed. He has held key positions in Ministry of Defence and handled issues ranging from defence policy and strategy, implementation of the reform of national security system, defence cooperation with foreign countries. He represented India at various international forums including the UNOG for CCW conferences, UNGA, Shangri La Dialogue, ASEAN and UNEP, among others. He also served as Senior Defence Specialist in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). Selected as Military Advisor by the ICRC for After Action Review in the conflicts of the Middle East region. Col Pillay is strong research professional with a PhD in National Security Policy Studies and now is pursuing research at IDSA and was nominated as a "Researchers who changed the world" by Routledge London.
Dr. David Gallo
American Oceanographer and Explorer
David Gallo is an American oceanographer and explorer. For nearly 30 years he was Director of Special Projects at the Woods Hole labs, a globally recognized scientific laboratory. With more than 16 million views his TED presentation “Underwater Astonishments” David has been among the all-time top TED Talks. He was one of the first scientists to use a combination of robots, autonomous vehicles, and submarines to explore the deep seafloor. He co-led an expedition to create the first detailed and comprehensive map of the RMS TITANIC as well as leading the successful U.S. effort to locate missing Air France flight 447. Dr. David is a proud member of the United States Nifty Fifty Scientists and Engineers. He has given 8 TED and more than 15 TEDx presentations and has appeared in numerous documentaries (Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic) and televised international news programs. In July 2014 he was invited by the Court of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to be the featured guest and speaker at the Ramadan Majlis. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a National Fellow of The Explorers Club, a TED-All Star, a TED-Speaker Mentor, and a recipient of several prestigious awards.
Mr. Rifat Jawaid
Founder of Janta Ka Reporter
Rifat Jawaid has been a journalist for over 24 years with 12 years spent working for the BBC in London across divisions and platforms including leading a global team of over 400 journalists spread across continents. Known for high-impact journalism, Rifat also had a brief stint with India Today Group where he worked as the Managing Editor-Newsgathering for four TV channels namely Aaj Tak, Headlines Today (Now India Today), Dilli Aajtak and Tez. He also worked with The Statesman and Rediff.com as the featured writer and eastern India correspondent respectively early in his career. Rifat launched the digital-only news website, Janta Ka Reporter, in 2015. The website became one of the biggest disruptors in Indian media within three years of its launch. In 2019, media outlets such as Business Standard and The Week included Janta Ka Reporter in the list of top 10 disruptive digital media houses to watch out for in 2019-20.
Ms. Megha Jose
Founder - The Pawsome People Project
Megha Jose completed her undergrad in Computer Science and Engineering and worked with Cisco as a Project Manager for 3 years before quitting and joining her family business. She currently works as a Director in her family business, Fortune Wealth Management. As an animal lover, Megha started The Pawsome People Project in 2019 when she returned to Coimbatore. She started the NGO with an aim of creating a community of animal lovers and fostering peaceful co-existence between street dogs and humans. Her long-term vision for the NGO is to train street dogs as service dogs and help differently-abled people in India. Pawsome now has over 300 volunteers in 5 cities in India and has sterilised 208 dogs, aided in 111 adoptions and 77 fosters, and rescued 133 street dogs. Megha and her team have been featured nationally by India Today, Hindustan Times and many other media houses for their work during the pandemic. Megha’s journey with Pawsome was also featured globally by her favourite football club, Chelsea Football Club. She is an ardent fan of Chelsea and also spends her free time playing football.
Ms. Swati Vashishtha
Journalist, Photographer, Cultural storyteller
Swati Vashishtha is an independent journalist, writer and photographer with keen interest in visual arts, aesthetics, culture and art history. An experimental storyteller and podcaster, Ms Vashishtha has her bylines in national and international news organisations like The Wire and NPR. Swati’s powerful reportage as CNN IBN’s Chief of Bureau in Rajasthan for twelve years along with her eloquent photography has been recognised with awards such as the Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II Award. Her editorial work in digital, television and print journalism has been with India Today TV, Hindustan Times, ANI Reuters and the Tribune. Ms Vashishtha has essayed the life of social activist Aruna Roy in the book “Equal Halves” published by Juggernaut Publications. Her travelling photo exhibition ‘Jaipur – Then and Now’, a dialogue between the Pink City’s past and present, in collaboration with INTACH, MSMS II Museum Trust and Rajasthan Forum, debuted at JLF 2014 and continues to travel to reach a different audience each time.
TEDx 2021 SPONSORS
Mohsin Memoni
CEO,Memcorp Immersive Learning
Mohsin Memon, CEO, Memcorp Immersive has extensively used games to impact lives. Switching his career as a Project Manager in a Fortune 500 IT Company eight years ago, he chose to work with a group of passionate people to build games for learning.
He believes people learn best when they play and he dreams of a world in which students go to school not to study or learn but to play; a world where learning happens as a byproduct of experience. He's been invited to speak at NASSCOM, spoken at 5 TEDx events and won 'The 20 most admired companies of 2018' award by the Mirror Review magazine. When he's not working, you can find Mohsin either playing board games, video games, trekking, surfing or doing his favorite thing of all - snowboarding in the Himalayan Mountains.
Prof. Dr. T V Ashokan
MBBS, DPM (Psychiatry), M.D. (Psychiatry)
Prof Dr. T. V. Ashokan is a leading Psychiatrist and General Physician from Chennai who has pioneered numerous researches in Psychiatry for the past 30 years. He has publications in the fields of Postpartum Psychiatric Illness, Forensic Psychiatry, Bipolar Disorder and Sex.
He is well known as a discussant on sex and mental health in various television channels. The messages he conveys through these discussions and the articles he writes in leading magazines have clarified various misconceptions about sex and mental health. He has served numerous positions of prestige, such as Asst.Editor-Indian Journal of Psychiatry, President - Indian Psychiatric Society, President - Asian Federation of Psychiatric Association, and South Asia Zonal Representative- World Psychiatric Association among many others.
Mayank Gandhi
Activist, Statesman, Manager
Activist, Statesman, Manager and Urban Planner, Mr. Mayank Gandhi is a rare combination of deep commitment, and quick thinking. Uplifting underprivileged since 2003, Mr. Gandhi has been instrumental in carrying out major structural reforms across the country. Currently leading the effort against drought and helping to improve the lives of farmers in rural Maharashtra, Mr. Gandhi is a champion of rural transformation and strives tirelessly to the goal of a better India.
Revanta Sarabhai
Actor, Dancer and Choreographer
Mr. Revanta is an actor, dancer and choreographer. Having made his solo Indian classical dance debut at the age of 8, he has been performing professionally and touring internationally with the Darpana Performing Group since 1999. Combining his classical dance with contemporary practice, Revanta creates cutting-edge work that is honest, immersive and relevant to the society and times we live in. Revanta made his film debut in 2017 and has since played the lead in four feature films.
Rohtash Mal
CHAIRMAN AND MD, EM3 AGRISERVICES PVT LTD ; CHAIRMAN EQUITIGRO
He revolutionized the Indian farming sector by making state-of-the-art equipments affordable to farmers, by pioneering the rent and pay-for-use model in India. The Founder and Chairman, EM3 Agriservices Pvt Ltd, a large scale start up in the Agri Tech and Agri Services space, is a reputed organization builder of four startups and two turnarounds. With 40+ years of leadership experience in large corporate companies such as Escorts Limited, Bharti Airtel Limited, Maruti Suzuki Ltd., Ballarpur Industries Ltd., Khosla Ventures, Equitigro and Turnaround Management Consulting, he is a member of the Executive Advisory Committee of Simon Business School, University of Rochester, CII, TiE and India Angel Networks. He is also an alum of IIT (1976) and IIM(1979).
Partha Sinha
Vice Chairman & MD, McCann World Group India from January 2016.
Partha Sinha has been Vice Chairman & MD, McCann World Group India from January 2016.
Partha started his career with Citibank NA where he was the marketing manager for Credit Cards. From there, he moved on to Ogilvy and Mather where he started the discipline of strategic planning in India. He then joined an internet start up, prior to joining Zee Telefilms as their Marketing Director for Zee Telefilms. He was responsible for the marketing and programming strategy of 14 channels of Zee Telefilms.
Partha then moved on to Publicis, as the chief strategy officer of South East Asia. He left Publicis to start BBH in India where he was a Managing Partner. After a successful launch of BBH, he was brought back within the group to Publicis worldwide. He left Publicis to join McCann in the beginning of 2016.
Partha has a B.Tech degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad. Partha is an occasional columnist with the Economic Times and the Financial Express and teaches at IITs and IIMs. Married to Chaitali, a Chartered Accountant by profession, they have a son Atreyo. Partha is an avid reader, sports enthusiast and loves Indian classical music.
Radhike Khanna
Founder Trustee at OM Creations & Shraddha Charitable Trust - India
Dr. Radhike Khanna, Trustee and Consultant of Shraddha Charitable Trust, is also the current Vice-President of the SPJ Sadhana School, Mumbai. She is a PhD in Special Education and holds a doctorate in Special Education from Knightsbridge University, England. She has done courses in Autism in Berard Method of Auditory Integration Therapy. Dr. Khanna has also completed a course in Public Engagement and attended the International Conference in Learning Disabilities, both at Harvard. She is the only Auditory Integration Therapist and S.S.Screener in the country.
She believes in unleashing the creativity from within each child, and is instrumental in bringing about an attitudinal change where society as a whole started to accept mentally challenged children. She has spent over 25 years of her life to give mentally challenged women a sense of self-worth and dignity, and has received numerous awards and recognition for her contributions, including the National Award for the best individual/professional in the field from President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in December 2005 and NCPEDP-Shell Helen Keller Award 2008. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has also conferred her with the prestigious 100 Top Women Achievers Award for her outstanding contribution in the category of "Disability and Disadvantage" in 2016.
Ritesh Bhatia
Founding Director of V4WEB Cybersecurity
Mr. Ritesh is the founder of V4WEB Cybersecurity and a well known Cybercrime Investigator and Cybersecurity Consultant with an experience of 20 years in cyberspace. He is popularly known for his Cybercrime Investigations and has been successful in solving many cases for corporates, law enforcement agencies and individuals in India and abroad. He has also played the role of his real life self as cybercrime investigator in MTV's award winning show - MTV Troll Police. His recent case on busting a WhatsApp group that was circulating child sexual abusive material was well appreciated not just by the Indian police but also by Interpol.
He frequently appears on national television channels such as NDTV, Mirror NOW, CNBC, Zee, Aaj Tak, and many others which seek his opinions on the trending cyber crimes. He has also been interviewed by international media houses such as BBC and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. His views on trending cybercrimes and cyber security have been published by many national publications including Times of India, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, DNA, Mumbai Mirror, Mid-day, India Today, The Week, Open Magazine and many other regional newspapers.
Mr. Ritesh has been a very sought after speaker to discuss issues related to new age cybercrimes, dark web, mobile security, data privacy, cyber security and prevention. He has been a distinguished speaker at many national and international conferences and organisations such as the United Nations, UNICEF, RBI, Anti Narcotics Cell, Economic Offences Wing, Indian Air Force, State Police, leading corporate houses, schools and colleges and many more where he spoke on new age cybercrimes, data privacy and dark web
Sunil Khandbahale
Founder And CEO Khandbahale.com
Mr. Khandbahale is a Sloan Fellow and earned a masters in business management MBA degree at MIT Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has developed a dictionary search engine program for Marathi and in 2005, set up an online dictionary portal, khandbahale.com, for various Indian languages.
In 2012, he launched 12 Language Dictionary on 12 December 2012 at 12 hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds. In early 2013, Mr. Khandbahale launched his twelve-languages dictionary on an SMS platform.
He also founded KHANDBAHALE.ORG, an organization which develops language-related projects such as Global Language Networking, Global Language Heritage, Global Language Friendship, Global Language Environment. He is a founder and secretary of the Global Prosperity Foundation, an NGO that focused on education, health and environment. In 2013 he was given an award as a youth icon by the Maharashtra Times. On 27 December 2013, he co-founded Kumbhathon with MIT Professor Ramesh Raskar, an innovation platform to spot problems and probe solutions in Nashik. In 2014, in conjunction with Mumbai University, he started developing an English to Sanskrit thesaurus for use with mobile phones.
He is a receipient of several awards like - Best entrepreneur of the year "Yashokirti Award", from the Computer Society of India., Best Local Language Website Award from the Internet and Mobile Association of India, International "Manthan Award" from the United Nation’s World Summit on the Information Society, "Youth Icon" Award from the Times Group, National ICT VASVIK Industrial Research Award
Vithal Nadkarni
Consulting Columnist and Writer & Vice-President of The Asiatic Society of Mumbai
Mr. Vithal is the former Science Editor of The Times of India and a Vice-President of The Asiatic Society of Mumbai. He is a writer and columnist, with over three decades of experience working with some of the world's biggest newspapers and science magazines.
With a passion for learning, Mr. Vithal is well read on a diverse range of topics from theology to modern science which has enabled him to be equally at home on both sides of the science and arts interface.
He is a self-confessed wanderer and seeker of mysteries, who has a coffee-table cultural biography of River Narmada, and a book-length encounter with The Serpent Within to his credit. TEDxSiuNashik
Sumaira Abdulali
Convenor at Awaaz Foundation
Ms. Sumaira is an environmentalist from Mumbai, India, founder of the NGO Awaaz Foundation and Convenor of the Movement against Intimidation, Threat and Revenge against Activists (MITRA). She was Co-Chairman of the Conservation Sub Committee and Honorary Secretary of Asia's oldest and largest environmental NGO, the Bombay Natural History Society, and is currently a Governing Council Member.
Through legal interventions, advocacy and public campaigns, contribution to documentary films, television debates and press articles she has successfully mainstreamed and built consciousness about previously unknown environmental hazards, notably noise pollution and sand mining, and has won national and International awards for her work. She also set up the first network for protection of activists in India after an attack on her by the sand mafia is 2004.
She has been referred to as "one of India's foremost environmental activists."
Seema Avasarala
Chief Operating Officer and Co - Founder OyeHelp Technologies Pvt Ltd.
Ms. Seema a true entrepreneur at heart has always thought of technology as a tool to bring accessibility in healthcare thereby creating an ecosystem that encourages well-being. Through her venture OyeHelp she hopes to achieve the same by providing easy-to-use E-clinics for Health professionals. She strongly feels that technology is is curretnly under utilised the healthcare system, be it delivery, accessibility of doctors to patients from where they are, EHR etc. If simple matters like appointment adherence can be improved through technology, its a move towards better health. If patients can have easy access to their health records and have them be digitized so that they can map, track and be proactive towards their health vs reactive, this can help give their health and general well-being a huge positive push. While working for the National Literacy Mission Government of India, Ministry of HRD, she was nominated as an Expert Educationist. She was involved in strategizing and innovating educational reforms with regards to senior and higher education courses under the expert guidance of the HRD ministry. The core intention of her involvement was to bring about a paradigm shift in the arenas of traditional education in a modern changing world.
Krishnan S V
Co- Founder , Dialogue in the Dark, India. Diversity & disability inclusion catalyst, corporate fundraise advisory.
Mr. Krishnan has conceptualized and developed India's Innovative National corporate social movement to empower 1,00,000 PWD's (Persons with Disabilities) with wage / self employment opportunities in collaboration with NSDC ( National skills development corporation).
Over the last 8 years, "Dialogue in the Dark" India welcomed nearly 5,00,000 visitors and sensitised them about the abilities of the disabled leading to skilling of 5000 disabled & job creation for over 4000 disabled people in India. Dialogue in the dark has helped generate Rs 250 million (nearly US$5 million) of income in the hands of these PwD's.
Dialogue in the Dark aims to remove the traditional barriers that limit the societial interactions of an individual on the basis of certain pre-conceived notions of "similarity" through a transformational learning experience. Dialogue in the Dark, reverses the power dynamics, where people who can see have to reply on people withour sight to be their guides through a dark room. A dialogue in stimulated by visitors sharing the experience of the guides, of being blind, who present their capabilities and share their expertise. This authentic sharing sets a common ground, build trust, brings people together and create an emotional link with the guide, and further more with the subject of diversity and inclusion.
Pankaj Mittal
COO for Aurigraph & Lead Investor at CIO Angel Network (CAN).
Mr. Pankaj is a business transformation strategist with over 22 years of progressive leadership experience in the IT, security and telecom industries in India and abroad. He is an active Angel Investor & has a portfolio of 15+ companies under his kitty. He currently sits on multiple boards of various companies and speaks frequently at Technology & IT seminars and workshops. He has been on panel of various IT Initiatives as well like - Member National committee for ecommerce- CII, CIO- 5am Ventures, Member of CIO Klub Pune, DSCI Pune Chapter member, TiE Pune Member/Speaker, Board Adviser- Troology Technologies, Technology Adviser (CTO)- vElements, Member Delhi Startups Community.
He has worked with companies like SLK Group, Ericsson, SingTel, Tata Communications, and Vodafone etc. and specializes in - Digital Operations & delivery (Blockchain, AI/ML, IoT & RPA), Strategic Alignment of Technology with Business, Business Development & Go to Market for Product/Services, Cost Optimization, IT Strategy, IT Security & Audits.
Manjari Chaturvedi
classical Dancer, Director & Choreographer, TedX Speaker, Cultural Academia.
Ms. Manjari , the leading exponent of classical dance in India, is an unusual dancer, she has blazed her` own path, that no one traversed earlier, in the field of performing arts. She has taken the traditional form of Kathak to a different level altogether and has created her own style, her own brand of dance. Her productions as a dancer are projects that are meticulously researched, documented, as she first studies the original traditions and then finds her own artistic expression of the subject and that expression is always unique, as never seen before, as she pours her heart and soul into the dance. Manjari has extensively worked on gender-sensitive subjects through her medium of dance, exploring the many traditions woven into poetry, music, and dance. A force and a name to reckon with, she has blazed her own path in classical Indian Dance with her work in the last twenty years on spirituality and dance. She re-lives traditions in a modern context, at times re-living an era that has been lost to time and creating that ecstatic dance of mystical surrender. She has been the part of the Sufi Symposium at the prestigious Smithsonian Museum Washington D.C. and of the conference on Living heritage by UNESCO and is the Jury and member of “Think Tank on Asian dance” for the prestigious Asian Dance Committee in Korea. In the past decade, Manjari Chaturvedi has collaborated and performed with a wide range of international artists as Global Fusion with Tim Ries (Saxophone, Rolling Stones, USA) And Ustad Shujaat Hussain Khan (Sitar, India), Taufiq Quereshi (India), Kailash Kher (India), Kevin Hays (Piano, USA), Dhaffer Yoseuf(Oudh, Vocals, Tunisia), Rahim Al Hajj ( Oudh, Iraq), Patrick Possey (Saxophone, USA), Firas Shahrstan (Qanun, Syria), Micheal Glenn (Bass, USA).