IDEAS INDIA 2010

December 16 – 17, 2010

Hotel Le Meridien, Windsor Place, New Delhi
(As on 29/11/2010)

Thursday, December 16, 2010

0900 hrs Documentation/ Badge Collection

1000 – 1100 hrs 1. Plenary Session: Mother Teresa and Value Based Leadership
‘Mother Teresa created a multinational enterprise of service that
encompassed 123 countries with 4,000 nuns and her leadership was
based on spiritual quotient that sprung from and was nurtured by her faith.
What can we learn from her? And how do we incorporate value in today’s
leadership?
1100 - 1200 hrs 2. Plenary Session: Leading India into the 21st Century.
India has gained a lot of prominence in the global economic arena and
the 21st century is being touted as the Asian century. India is one of the
fastest growing economies and this is a transformational phase for the
country. It is predicted that by 2035 India will have the world’s largest
labour market and given the dynamic nature of the country’s private
sector, as well as the entrepreneurial spirit of the youth, there are many
reasons to project continued growth. What will it take to continue and
sustain this growth? How can India live up to the promise of growth and
prosperity, and what more needs to be done for the country to become
a global power?

Keynote: Gita Gopinath, Professor of Economics, Harvard University

1200-1215 hrs Tea/Coffee Break

1215 - 1315 hrs 3. Plenary Session: Creating Jobs for India’s Youth

Despite India’s tremendous growth, it has not been able to generate as

much jobs as China has done. Much of this relates to the fact that
almost 60% of India’s population is still employed in the agricultural
sector which contributes to less than one-fifth of the country’s GDP.
Given that the majority of the workforce cannot be absorbed into the
services sector, one of the options is to expand the manufacturing
sector (like China) while also paying attention to vocational skills
training. Upgrading agriculture in India will also need focused attention.
Is India’s educational structure geared towards meeting these needs?
What more needs to be done to ensure that India’s human resources
become our core advantage, and not our fundamental liability?

Keynote: Roberto Zagha, Country Director, World Bank India

1315 – 1400 hrs Lunch

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1400 – 1500 hrs 4. Plenary Session: Opportunities for Growth through Innovation
The global financial crisis has changed the contours of the international
economic system, as well as growth patterns in the world. Today,
innovation is the benchmark of competitiveness, whether a company is
local or international. While the US economy continues its recovery from
the downturn, the entrepreneurial spirit of her people continues to thrive
-- as it does in India. How can the US and India partner with each other
to more effectively encourage this burgeoning entrepreneurial spirit, and
how can deeper capital markets and, more broadly, the economic
ecosystem support this?

Keynote: Lael Brainard, Under Secretary for International Affairs, US

Department Of Treasury

1500 – 1600 hrs 5. Plenary Session: Poverty in India: Will it be Eradicated?

Despite significant economic progress, one quarter of the nation's
population earns less than the government-specified poverty threshold.
This financial iniquity leads to a vicious cycle of illiteracy,
unemployment, deprivation and malnutrition. What is being done to
uproot poverty and what needs to be done? Can we see complete
eradication of poverty when India reaches 75?

Keynote: Abhijit Banerjee, Professor, Department Of Economics, MIT

1600-1615 hrs Tea/ Coffee Break

1615 – 1715 hrs 6. Plenary Session: The Mirage of Universal Healthcare in India
US just passed the healthcare bill increasing healthcare availability to 32
million people. UK already has well placed national healthcare system
that provides quality healthcare to all its citizens. Is universal access to
quality healthcare a possibility for a developing country like India? Can a
national healthcare program be achieved? Where are India’s healthcare
entrepreneurs that can provide low cost quality healthcare to people in
an efficient manner? Given the unique challenges of high population
growth, and accessibility issues, what are the innovative solutions to
healthcare that need to be looked at?

Keynotes:
• Amitabh Chandra, Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy
School of Government
• David Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied
Economics,Harvard University

1730-1830 hrs Performance on Rabindra Nath Tagore

Translations & Readings by Sugata Bose
Songs by Pramita Mallick
1830 hrs Reception

Friday, 17 December 2010

1000 – 1100 7. Plenary Session : Developing Kashmir: Mobilising & Employing

hrs the Youth
After a period of relative peace, Kashmir has once again erupted with
disgruntled youth taking the centre stage of protests and demonstrations
against the government over the past few years. Apart from the

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 complicated politics and strategic issues at stake, the core issues relate
to unemployment, the failure of traditional industries, low economic
growth etc. Even though Kashmir continues to receive enormous federal
aid, the largess does not seem to be improving the daily lives of the
people. How can these fundamental issues be addressed? This session
will seek to explore the changes need to be made in implementation of
government programs, to spur private sector growth and encourage
entrepreneurship in the state to bring the state back from the brink and
into the path of peaceful development.

1100 – 1200 hrs 8. Plenary Session: The Philanthropy Factor: Does it Exist in India?
Philanthropy and personal giving comes very naturally to people in
India.However, is philanthropy in India just a personal quest, in terms of
the help extended to local community initiatives, helping out relatives,
giving to the less fortunate etc? Or is philanthropy transitioning beyond
the personal realm in a structured way? How can philanthropy become
an institutionalized movement that would help each individual make a
difference to the wider community and society? Is this possible?

Keynote: Jane Wales, President and Co-Founder, Global

Philanthropy Forum

1200-1215 hrs Tea/Coffee Break

1215 – 1315 hrs 9. Plenary Session: The Great Indian Elections

The Indian Elections are the world’s largest and the most complex
democratic exercise. How can we improve the participation of the
electorate in the process? How does India elect good and efficient
leaders? Is there a way to improve the transparency of the elections?
1315- 1415 Lunch
1415 – 1515 hrs 10. Plenary Session: India & the World - Surviving the Global
Crisis
Has the World Economy come out of the crisis yet or is it heading
towards another one? Has the Global meltdown thrown up a new
Economic order? What will be India’s role in future to stave off another
such crisis?

Keynote: Bengt Holmstrom, Paul A. Samuelson Professor of

Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1515 - 1615 hrs 11. Plenary Session: Beyond IITs and IIMs: Building World Class
Universities

Given the level of emphasis families in India place on education in India,

the country should ideally have been a Mecca of universities. While the
IITs and IIMs are well known institutions of learning, why has India not
been able to scale up the excellence level of other universities? Can
private sector intervention help upgrade universities? Or will the Foreign
Education Bill help bring in much needed capacity? What is stopping
India from developing universities and institutions of higher education?
This issue is all the more important if India is to prevent the flight of
students looking for better quality of education overseas.
1615 – 1630 hrs Tea/Coffee Break

1630 – 1730 hrs 12. India: The Land of Opportunity?

Today India as a country is not only being seen as a rising strategic and

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 economic power, but more importantly, as presenting unprecedented
opportunities to India’s youth. While there is no denying the challenges
still faced by the Indian state, the entrepreneurial spirit of the Indian youth
is finally finding expression in the context of the economic boom in the
country. Young people in India are finding their own voice and charting
their own destinies, often times despite the challenges presented by the
state. What is it about India today that is fostering this spirit of leadership
and empowerment amongst the youth, and what are the enabling factors,
in society and policy that will ensure the sustenance of this trend. This
session will hear from young Indians who have made their mark on
society and economy to discuss some of these key issues.

1730 hrs Closing Remarks by Mr.Gautam Thapar, Chairman, Aspen Institute

India