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As SRCC’s Youth Conference 2018 progressed, the stage was graced by many more brilliant speakers from varied backgrounds, with equally varied thoughts, views, and opinions, to share.

The second day at the Youth Conference 2018 at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) started with an enthusiastic first session. Manoj Kohli, the Executive Chairman of Softbank Energy, a global company with the aim of spreading and enlarging renewable energy, addressed the gathering. An alumnus of SRCC, Mr. Kohli talked about his college days at SRCC almost 40 years ago (he graduated in 1979). After his graduation, he also talked about his work in the telecom industry including his stint as the Managing Director and CEO (International) at Bharti Airtel.

Mr. Kohli spoke about the ways in which he believes success can be attained by students. Using what he called the “Four-C’s formula of Character, Courage, Creativity, and Circus (striking a balance), he gave a lengthy exposition based on his experiences. “However, success and happiness has to go together,” Mr. Kohli said, underlining the importance of family values, personal relationships, and ethics in the professional life. He left with a standing ovation from the audience who were visibly enthralled by his speech.

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, added to the list of famous personalities to share their experiences at the conference. He talked of his days at SRCC. “I am a storyteller. The drive to tell my stories is what keeps me going. I have come a long way and there is a long way to go,” he said when asked about his days and dreams. On being asked about Rang De Basanti, he said, ”All the seven characters are original inspirations. It was a life we lived at University of Delhi.”

The next speaker for the day was Arjun Vajpai. This 25-year-old mountaineer from Noida talked about his experiences climbing six eight thousand meter mountains of the world. On being asked what kept him going, he said, “If you are not living on the edge, you’re taking too much space. It’s that simple.” Arjun  Vajpai is the youngest to climb 6 peaks above 8,000 m.

Following next was Anu Aga, social worker, billionaire and Chairperson of Teach for India. In her address, she recounted her experiences and journey from a Fulbright scholar to the chairperson of Thermax.

Next up was Political scientist, and a University of Delhi faculty, Bidyut Chakrabarty. He talked about the inspiration of Indian Constitution and its derivation from sources like Vedas and the Enlightenment philosophy.

In an anti-climatic wrap, the band of Awaaz which was supposed to be the last act of the day could not perform as the conveners abruptly shut down the programme. The organizers cited security issues for the abrupt cancellation.

 

Image credits: Adithya Khanna for DU Beat.

Sara Sohail

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Nikhil Kumar

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Day 1 SRCC’s Youth Conference kicked off with a packed hall, waiting to see their favourite speakers. 

Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson, India Council of Research on International Economics Relation, kicked off SRCC Youth Conference 2018, charming the audience with her intellect and personality. An exemplary leader, who has been a member of the elite academia for Economics in India for decades, Dr. Ahluwalia spoke to an eager audience in an engaging session, where she urged the leaders of tomorrow to stride towards economic prosperity utilising technology and modernization, while underlining the importance of basic values, which form the sine qua non of societal welfare.

 

The second speaker for the day, Actor and model, Freddy Daruwala, decided to do something different in life at the age of 24.

“Do not restrict yourself with things that you think that you can do,” he said. He advised the crowd to protect their dreams from the naysayers and negativity. After finishing his studies, Freddy decided to take up modelling. However, after a while, he started feeling that the profession wasn’t contributing to his personal growth anymore and switched to acting. “Change is the only thing that will rejuvenate you,” he explains.

The Race 3 star finds inspiration in Amitabh Bachchan and Freddie Mercury, to name a few. He also talked about the importance of breeding a healthy body, and creating an environment based on love and trust.

 

His session was followed by author R. Gopalakrishnan’s session. The author of 6 books informed the audience about his upcoming book, scheduled in the next month. R. Gopalakrishnan, who was very fond of reading the Time Magazine when he was young, narrated how he once encountered a copy that featured the photograph a retail company chairman being physically pulled out of his office by police, upon the orders of President Roosevelt, the then President of America. Elaborating, he talked about the ‘winner effect’ and how it turns leaders into gamblers. “The moment you have power and hierarchy, your brain gets damaged,” he said, explaining how the brain undergoes damage and physical change.

Upon being asked about whether it is good to be stubborn, he answered that one should be prepared for the consequences.

 

The day soon approached closer to the highly awaited session, of Buzzfeed India comedian Srishti Dixit. She talked about experiencing introversion upon shifting to Bombay. She advised young content creators to be creative, funny and relevant without getting exhausted, and also to seek therapy whenever necessary.

 

She said she has a ‘kyaut relationship’ with comedian Mallika Dua, and nicknames comedian Tanmay Bhat, who keeps telling her to pursue stand-up comedy as her ‘stand-up papa’. She talked about the constant pressure of being relevant, which she is afraid might fade away as she gets older. She also revealed that her biggest fear is becoming irrelevant and being replaced. She feels uncomfortable about being identified as a role model since she is afraid of messing up and disappointing people.

When asked if she plans to come up with her own YouTube channel, she said that BuzzFeed India is her YouTube channel.

 

To end the day on a high note, comedian Rahul Dua, first runner up of Indian comedy series Comicstaan, performed stand-up comedy in the SRCC auditorium. The session was made interactive by targeting random people and groups and making jokes about them. Students responded with bursts of hoots and laughter as Rahul cracked relatable comedy. The audience was reluctant to let him go when he announced about wrapping up his session. Upon concluding, he received a standing ovation.

Day one of the SRCC Youth Conference, 2018 thus came to an end.

 

Feature Image Credits: Aakarsh Gupta for DU Beat.

Ananya Acharya
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Nikita Bhatia
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Shri Ram College of Commerce’s annual Youth Conference of 2015 ended on 19 September with the theme, “..and the victor carries on..” after seeing eminent speakers from various fields address and inspire the students.

Related reading: Day 1 of SRCC Youth Conference 2015

Mr. Kaushal Mehtani, Director Finance with the BIG 4 was the first speaker of the day. He advised students to have a clear goal in life but also not to follow it blindly but rather, cautiously.

The crowd was visibly excited at the entry of legendary veteran cricketer, Mr. Kapil Dev. Talking about how playing for the nation was the best thing he did in his life, he asked students to follow their passion just the way one falls in love. This speaker session was a rather interactive one where audience got an insight into Mr. Dev’s life and ideas.

The main attraction, arguably, of the day was Mr. Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Being an exemplary actor and with the ‘unconventional’ (a word he claimed to dislike) choices of roles he makes, the actor talks about his early days and how getting just a 40 seconds scene in a movie seemed momentous then. What made him stand apart from the rest was the fact that when others lost hope, he carried on like a real victor.

The next speaker was Ms. Shikha Sharma, CEO Axis Bank. She said, “In a competitive world like this, forget your gender. Don’t consider yourself unequal and also don’t expect any privileges. Companies run on purely on talent.” She spoke of her vision of 33% of rural India going digital in the coming few years.

The one man orchestra and record holding beat boxer, Vineeth Vincent, stole the show and many hearts (surely those of boys too) with his fine tunes and funny stories. After which, the founder of the company Alma Mater, Varun Agarwal took over the stage. He talked about his bestselling book, How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-founded a Million Dollar Company and gave the audience some tips on how to stop procrastinating.

Once the side-kick in the Pretentious Movie Reviews, Biswa Kalyan Rath is certainly a world- class comic in his own right today. Keeping up with his style of comedy Biswa this time targeted the overly enthusiastic festival celebrations that nobody can escape. In spite of being the last speaker of the day, Abish Matthew was delightful as ever with his tongue-in-cheek humour. He also presented a song for the audience with a guitar about how youngsters shouldn’t waste themselves over drugs. “Bob Marley and The Who are who they are because they drank doodh,” went the lyrics.

 

We covered the event live on our Instagram and Twitter handles!

Tanya Aggarwal: [email protected]

and Ankit Kumar: [email protected]

SRCC Youth Conference, is a two day long conference organised by Shri Ram College of Commerce, features distinguished personalities from diverse fields every year. They narrate some of the emboldening moments, downfalls, and visions of their lives and thereby inspire the building pillars of this nation, i.e. youth. It is being held on the 18th and 19th of September this time.  The theme for the conference this year is ‘But The Victor Carries On,’ which accentuates primarily on the will to achieve something despite all the odds and to believe in one’s own competences.

 

Shri Rajnath Singh, Union Home minister and former BJP President, was the first one to take the stage and he subsequently emphasized on India becoming the world leader and an economic and intellectual power by utilising the youth of the country (referring to the latest example of Sunder Pichai becoming CEO of Google) and economic development being a significant backing. He also talked about Thomas L. Friedman’s article ‘Infosys vs Al Qaeda’ and over their disparities- Boon or Bane? Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia , the ‘Maharaja of Gwalior’ and  former Union Minister of State for Power and a  Member of Parliament from the State of Madhya Pradesh from the Guna constituency, highlighted the importance of being empathetic towards our fellows, especially in times of need and desolation. According to him, we as leaders must talk less, listen more, look at the things that are not there and ask why not, and last but not the least, follow our passion heedlessly. Rahul Kanwal, news anchor and Editor-at-large of Aaj Tak and India Today Television, invited questions from the audience and thereby led to an enriching interactive session. On being asked about his views on modern media losing its spirit in the chase of stories, he responded by saying it is quite like the chicken and egg adage. He elaborated it with the recent publicity of Sheena Bora case; how a successful story might not be a great one and might as well be a TRP killer instead.

 

Kalki Subramaniam, transgender rights activist and celebrity from Tamil Nadu, was the fourth speaker of the day.  She spoke about her being transgender but feeling feminine at the same time and encouraged the audience to appreciate their individuality. She talked about how she was abused by not only her classmates but also her teachers and expresses her resentment while she was sent to a mental health facility so she could be treated of this “disease.”

Benny Prasad, Guinness Record Holder and musician, spoke about his struggles in life like how his school gave him a 10th class passing certificate on a condition that his parents would take him away and  consequently the school could hold its record of 100% pass percentage. He convinced the audience to never trust the world thoughtlessly as they might toss you away after the completion of their self-motivated interests. He was followed by Arunabh Kumar from TVF Pitchers fame who talked about going from job to job looking for the work that would satiate his desires- after having worked in 17 different jobs, he said he’s finally living the life with The Viral Fever.

The first day of the conference was ended by a Music Panel Discussion with Mr. Nikhil D’Souza, Ms. Sona Mohapatra, Ms. Hard Kaur and Mr. Vijay Nair moderated by RJ Swati. Where Hard Kaur, well known for speaking her mind, talked of the hardships she faced in order to retain her identity and get accepted as a serious musician at same time, Sona Mohapatra and Nikhil D’Souza brought up the topic of Bollywood vs. independent music. To close on a high note, the artists performed for the audience.

Watch our Instagram and Twitter handles for live coverage on day 2 too!

Update: Here’s all that happened on day 2 of SRCC Youth Conference 2015.

Tamanna Goel: [email protected]

Photographs by Mridul Kumar: [email protected]

Live Coverage: Tanya Aggarwal: [email protected] 

and Ankit Kumar: [email protected] 

The 4th edition of SRCC Youth Conference is going to be held on 18th-19th of September this time. YC is known for its charm of blending the two-days with speakers from different fields together and serving intellect and entertainment on the same platter.

‘But, the victor carries on’ is what it lives by and leaving its audience inspired for greatness is what it strives for.

The speakers released so far include:

Keynote Speakers:

  1. Rajnath Singh (Union Home Minister, Former BJP president)
  2. Shikha Sharma (Managing Director & CEO of Axis Bank)
  3. Kapil Dev (Former World Cup winning captain of the Indian crocket team)
  4. Rahul Kanwal ( (News anchor and Editor-at-large of Aaj Tak and India Today Television)
  5. Varun Agarwal (Author of best selling book “How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-Founded a Million Dollar Company” and founder of company Alma Mater”
  6. Kalki Subramaniam(Transgender rights activist, actor, writer and celebrity from Tamil Nadu)
  7. Benny Prasad (Guinness Record holder; travellor; musician; inventor of a new kind of guitar of his own)
  8. Vineeth Vincent (Beatboxer)

Music Panel Discussion: The Rolling Tones

  1. Nikhil D’souza (Guitarist; singer)
  2. Sona Mohapatra (Bollywood play-back singer; singerof many superhit songs from recent movies)
  3. Hard Kaur (British rapper; Bollywood playback singer)

Stand-up Comedy:

  1. Abish Mathews 
  2. Biswa Kalyan Rath

With the biggest surprises yet to be unfurled, Youth Conference has set expectations soaring to the skies.
The event is open to all college students and entry is free. Register here to attend the Conference here: www.youthconferencesrcc.in. Find all details regarding registration and speakers on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/srccyouthconference

An event that first took place last year, the SRCC Youth conference is an initiative of the students of Shri Ram College of Commerce. With the second edition of the conference slated for August 17, 2013, the theme of this year’s event is CHANGE.

This year, the conference has been structured to include more than just the speaker sessions. Concurrent with the first Youth Conference, there will be three speaker sessions wherein people from different fields will share the same dais, articulating their experience and thoughts in regards to the theme.

Two speakers having a political background then present the two sides of the same coin, giving the audience both a view and a counter view on an apolitical subject. Finally a panel discussion comprising of speakers hailing from the social and arts field to end the conference.

Anmol Verma, a Core Committee member of the Youth Conference team, commented “We have changed our structure itself. We have brought a panel discussion and have also tried to make it more interactive with students present.  We have also brought speakers who have come from various fields so that students have a variety of thoughts to listen to. Our main aim is to take this year’s youth conference to a higher level altogether. ”

The speakers for Youth Conference are well known in various spheres of the society. The speakers include Mr. Prabhu Chawla, Editorial Director of The New Indian Express Group, Mrs. Sonia Singh, Editorial Director of NDTV, Dr.Kiran Bedi, Retired IPS officer and Social Activist, Mr. Praveen Swami, National Security Analyst, Firstpost and CNN-IBN, Mr. Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-chief of India TV and Rashmi Bansal, author.

The event will be a full day conference scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and will take place in the SRCC auditorium.