TED is a non-profit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading”. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It is a platform to bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less. Ideas have endurance without death and spreading ideas is TED’s mission.
IIM Ranchi successfully hosted the fourth edition of TEDx at Radisson Blu, Ranchi featuring a diverse line of speakers who have realised their vision in a variety of fields including social activism, entrepreneurship, sports, media, arts and public administration. The theme of the event was “Inside Out”.
The event started with showcasing some videos of TED talks. Speakers shared stories resonating with their lives. The first speaker of the day was
Dr. Vikram Patel, a renowned psychiatrist and listed amongst the world’s 100 most influential people by TIME magazine. He talked about why chronic medical conditions like diabetes, depression etc should be a concern for the Indian society. Taking a leaf from the story of his mother’s illness he went ahead stating that the society should move towards collaborative care and a team care model. According to him, the patient should be the centre of the model and should be surrounded by people-centre, specialists and case managers. Dr. Patel also serves on four committees under the Government of India including ‘The Mental Health Policy Group’ which drafted India’s first national mental health policy.
The second speaker, Mr.
Sankalp Kohli is an acclaimed novelist and a storyteller. Starting with the life story of Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, Mr. Kohli explained the importance of storytelling in our lives. Stories are present all around us and the best stories are those which unite facts with emotions. He ended his talk with a very persuasive quote “What is truer than the truth – a story”.
Hetal Dave, the only female sumo wrestler in India captivated the audience with her struggles as a kid and in the field of sumo wrestling, being a girl. Her experiences helped her in becoming stronger and through challenges she built the grit. Her interest in Sumo stems from judo which she has been practicing since the age of six. She has represented India in tournaments in Estonia, Poland, Finland and Taiwan and achieved the 5
th rank in the women’s middleweight category at the 2009 World Games.
Subhash and
Sanjeev, pioneers in experimental education at Auroville talked about the importance of education and how they are helping students develop themselves through learning. They talked about the success of their program which is widespread in Tamil Nadu. They plan to increase the coverage of their learnings methods all over the country. Through this they plan to build a very educated and robust society. Social visual programming and language and active learning environment will enable shifting focus from teaching to innovative practices of learning.
Aarti Kumari, the next speaker described her escape from child trafficking. She has transformed her life from a victim to a saviour. Awarded as Times Now Amazing Young Achievers Award 2014, she rallies forth spreading awareness through plays and nukkad natak. Her courage and spirit to fight all odds in her life was very inspiring and gratifying.
Parth Sarthi, leading activist in “Stop Acid Attacks movement” talked about how acid attack is a violence which not kills but disfigures for life. It leaves a scar forever in mind. He talked about his café Sheroes and how everyone should contribute to making the life of these victims normal. What started as a campaign has now grown into a full-blown effort to help acid attack victims.
Ramanuj Mukherjee, co – founder of education startup iPleaders talked about a quest for access to justice in India. Bringing out the legal challenges which we face on a daily basis, he talks about strengthening the judicial system. He has also founded CLAThacker.com in 2008 to make legal education and knowledge that helps.
Along with this we had performances showcasing the rich culture of Jharkhand. The event hosted performances by
Troupe Warriors and
Praveen Kakkar who made an incredible painting during the performance. He drew a lady Manjri who is a hardworking labour of Jharkhand showing the strength and inspiration that exists in a Jharkhand woman. A group from Shivangani Dance World, through a dance performance, showed the valour of Birsa Munda and his contribution to Jharkhand and India at large.
The students of IIM Ranchi put up extreme efforts to make this event a huge success and live up to the concept which TED holds “Ideas Worth Spreading”.