Speakers 2012
Sherry Turkle
THE TECH FREUD Churchill said “we shape our buildings and then they shape us.” Sherry Turkle, however, is more concerned with how “we build our technologies and they, in turn, shape us.” Often called the Anthropologist of Cyberspace, Turkle is a psychologist and sociologist who has spent almost three decades watching our increasing preoccupation with Read More…
Shubhranshu Choudhary
THE CITIZEN JOURNALIST Why does conventional journalism leave outside its ambit some of the most repressed, unheard voices of the country, voices that have a more urgent need to be heard than most because they battle some of the most compelling issues of our time. Is there a way to engage the most remote into Read More…
Sitaram Yechury
THE COMMITTED COMRADE With a degree in Economics from Delhi’s prestigious St. Stephen’s College, and a Master’s in the same subject from Jawaharlal Nehru University, jail should not have been where 23-year-old Sitaram Yechury went next. But his political leanings were even stronger than his educational ones, leading him to join the Students Federation of Read More…
Stalin k.
THE DOCUMENTER OF INJUSTICE “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, said Bishop Desmond Tutu, “then you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” It’s clear that Stalin, documentary filmmaker and founder of the world’s largest community media structure Video Volunteers, is not neutral. Growing up in Gujarat, Stalin was bitten by the human Read More…
Steven Cowley
THE FUSION FANATIC If fusion is the holy grail of energy, Steven Cowley is its patron saint. Even though that puts him in a significant minority. As Chief Executive of the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority (and director of its Culham laboratory), Steven is at the absolute cutting-edge of energy research. He’s also passionate about it to Read More…
Sunil Kant Munjal
THE MOTORCYCLE MAKER Next time you are stuck in a traffic jam in any Indian metropolis, look carefully at the motorcycle forcing its way through the cars and auto-rickshaws – it is probably a Hero. Now if you look beyond the picturesque name the roaring engine bears, Karizma, Hunk, or Impulse, you will get to Read More…
Swami Shivananda
THE GANGA’S SERVANT There’s no shortage of those that venerate the Ganga. Very few, though, take that reverence beyond hyperbole, to do something to protect the life-giving river that is at the heart of India. Swami Nigamananda – who fasted for 115 days before he died in a hospital in Dehradun on June 13, 2011 Read More…
Tim Wu
THE INTERNET GUARDIAN Tim Wu and Apple are likely keeping a wary eye on each other every day of their lives. As a vociferous proponent of a ‘free’ Internet, Tim’s idea of public enemy number one is any corporation that aims to control information and content. That puts the notoriously closed Apple firmly in his Read More…
Ulka Mahajan
THE VOICE OF THE EARTH It is clearly an understatement to say that tribal populations are treated with indifference in India, and Ulka Mahajan would certainly not disagree. A post-graduate from Nirmala Niketan in Mumbai, Ulka Mahajan has since 1990 been dedicating her life to the struggle of tribal populations, primarily to the primitive Katkaris. Read More…
