CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Diya TV) — Eminent Indians, including Union Minister for Communication and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad, fashion designer Anita Dogre, and film director Karan Johar will headline and address the upcoming 13th annual India Conference at Harvard University, to be held on Feb. 6 and 7.
Prasad will deliver the keynote of the conference, during a panel conversation addressing changes in India’s political climate in the past two years; this year’s theme will be: “India in Transition: Opportunities and Challenges.”
Made up entirely of business leaders, entertainment professionals, government officials, philanthropists and entrepreneurs, the conference will allow for the engagement of conversation surrounding India’s path to social and and global leadership. Other panelists, include columnist Ashutosh Varshney, Biju Janata Dal party member Jay Panda and Lok Satta Party founder Jayaprakash Narayan.
Former Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao is scheduled to deliver a keynote address on foreign policy.
“The panel will examine the foreign policy achievements of India in the last two years, its key blind spots and will discuss an effective strategy that can not only initiate but also sustain the initial momentum that India seemed to have originally achieved,” event organizers said in a statement.
Other discussions at the conference will address matters such as net neutrality, access to justice and women empowerment. The panel will address the topic of freedom of speech, and the 43-year-old film director Karan Johar will deliver a keynote titled, “The Hashtag Democracy” of his own. Anita Dongre will share her journey of taking Indian crafts to global consumers.
Dongre has a long and storied journey on her path to success—the fashion designer recently spoke about how exciting, and humbling, it was to receive the conference invitation.
“It is a privilege to be among the top names representing the Indian fashion industry at one of the finest institutes of the world,” Dongre said in a statment. “Grassroot has been a long cherished dream for me,” she added. “I have always wanted to create a bridge between the crafts of India from our remotest villages and the global consumer. And I am glad that we have created a sustainable platform for the artisans.”
