The conference began with recorded interviews of :

Dr.Manmohan Singh

While many might refer to him as the accidental prime minister, many argue that he is the gentleman prime minister. He is extremely well regarded for his diligence and academic approach to work, as well as his accessibility and his unassuming demeanour. Apart from being an ex Prime Minister, he is a keen educationist and academician, having taught at Delhi University and studied at the University of Cambridge..

Mani Shankar Aiyar

A diplomat turned Congress politician, Mani Shankar Aiyer is known for always speaking his mind. He is the author of many books such as ‘Confessions of a secular fundamentalist’ and ‘A Time of Transition: Rajiv Gandhi to The 21st Century’. He elucidated, through his humorous speech, his take on education, politics and more!

LIVE TALKS OF THE FOLLOWING :

SHANTUM SETH:

Shantum Seth is a teacher in a Zen Buddhist tradition and has been leading pilgrimages through Bihar, UP and Nepal since 1988.Shantum is actively involved in teacher training through ‘Cultivating Mindfulness in Education’. He is a Senior Advisor to the World Bank on Pilgrimage Tourism and has worked in the corporate sector and later in social development, including fifteen years of which were with the United Nations, managing programmes on volunteer promotion and artisan support across 16 countries.

He has been featured on BBC film documentaries on the history of Buddhism and has contributed to a number of books in various fields.Shantum Seth studied at The Welham Boys’ School, The Doon School and St Stephen’s College in India and then graduated in Development Studies with his thesis in Gandhian Economics from the University of East Anglia, while also graduating in Footwear Technology and Management in England.He lives with his wife and daughters in Landour.

VINEET PANCCHI:

He is a filmmaker, musician, leadership trainer, Urdu poetry enthusiast, and loves to work with children and young adults, and advices then to never grow old.He believes that everyone should do what they love, and nothing else, and that money is the last thing people should work for. He is a 44 year old and believes to live his life like a happy go lucky teenager.

YASH JOHRI:

Yash Johri is presently a student at the Faculty of Law, Delhi University. He’s an alumnus of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. At University he majored in International Politics with a focus on China, South East Asia and India from the lens of international law, foreign policy as well as politics. He also minored in Mandarin (Chinese), and has attained proficiency. While at Georgetown, Johri was a founding member of the Georgetown University India Initiative and was the founding editor of GU India Ink, a blog dedicated to covering policy and politics issues related to India from Washington DC.

NAVIN GULIA

An Ex-Army Officer and a World Record Holder in Adventure Sports, Navin Gulia is a multiple awardwinning, internationally acclaimed, Author, Adventurer, Thinker, Orator and Social Worker.

He is a World Record Holder in adventure driving, for driving non-stop from New Delhi to the world’s

highest mountain pass Marsimik La at 18,632 feet height, in 55 hours of non-stop driving.His English book ‘In Quest of the Last Victory’ published by Pearson Longman is a best seller in its category and so is his Hindi book ‘Veer Usko Janiye’ published by Prabhat Prakashan.He is a social worker and runs an organisation called ‘Apni Duniya Apna Ashiana’ for the welfare of under privileged children.

The various awards and recognitions that he has received for his work include –President National Role Model Award from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam 2007 and the Chief of Army Staff Commendation 2005.

JO CHOPRA

Jo Chopra McGowan is the Executive Director of the Latika Roy Foundation, a Dehradun based organization providing services to children with disabilities. She is a writer, a photographer and a convicted criminal who has been arrested and jailed in the United States for protest activities half a dozen times.

AKSHIT BATRA

Akshit Batra is an MBA at the Indian School of Business Hyderabad and was awarded the coveted Torch Bearer Award at ISB for excellence while at school. He was also awarded the Make in India Award by the Bharat Nirman Foundation in association with the Central Government’s Make in India Initiative.

He was the youngest Indian Delegate at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. He is also an International level debater, MUNer and Founding Chair of CII Young Indians Dehradun Chapter.

KALIKESH NARAYAN SINGH DEO

Kalikesh Singh Deo is a second-time sitting Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha from the Bolangir constituency of Odisha and a leader of the Biju Janata Dal.Mr Deo is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas and theConsultative Committee on Finance and Corporate Affairs. His developmental focus remainsprimarily on livelihood, child rights and climate change issues. He is an active member of the GlobalCoalition against TB and HIV.He has represented India in shooting and basketball.An alumnus of The Doon School, we thank you for being here with us today, understanding that you have just flown in from Washington.

BABAR AFZAL

A true example of a Positive Extremist from Kashmir, Babar is working to bring peace and social positive change into the region through Pashmina.

An Ethical Hacker who quit his corporate career working as a professional for organizations including McKinsey and others all over the globe and chose to become a Shepherd in the Himalayas to save the Pashmina Goats and the Authentic Pashmina Eco System of India. Babar is a Pashmina Artist, Pashmina Activist and a “Pashmina Goat Shepherd”.

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The school was delighted to celebrate Independence Day 2015 with the eminent Chief Guest Maj. Gen. (Dr.) G.D. Bakshi, SM, VSM (Retd.), Defense Analyst, who gave a robust defence of serving your nation, your men and yourself last and for being proud to be Indian in the pursuit of service to the country in a time when many young people are very self absorbed.

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The Headmaster, Dr. Peter McLaughlin, said: ‘’The Duchess of Cornwall was especially interested in our girls’ education and women’s empowerment social service projects carried out by our boys, so we were pleased that she had an opportunity to meet women and girls involved in them, as well as children from a number of the schools we finance and support across the state. We think that it is vital for our boys, many of whom go on to leadership roles in India and across the world, to take responsibility for the plight of women and girls in India, as well as their fellow citizens of all ages, through these service programmes and our collaboration with NGOs working in a number of social service fields.” The Duchess spoke to women who had been given vocational training through the school, and microfinance and other support to start their own businesses, including food processing, clothes design and tailoring, and to boys involved in drug rehabilitation, waste management and child education projects in and around Dehradun. Her Royal Highness also tried block printing on fabric with children from the poorest sections of society who go to The Doon School for ceramics and textiles lessons on a regular basis.

At the conclusion of her tour, the Duchess thoroughly enjoyed the music programme in the school’s Rose Bowl amphitheatre, which featured “The Brotherhood of Man”, a song from the school’s recent production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and a Rajasthani folk song by the school’s choir and orchestra. The Duchess had earlier witnessed a mass inter-house PT display held on the school’s Main Field, and at the end of the performances a commemorative cake and PT gong were presented by the Duchess to the winning house in front of a large audience of Doon School boys and hundreds of underprivileged children from what the Headmaster called “our little brother and sister schools”. The Duchess told the Headmaster that she was very impressed with the courtesy of the boys, the discipline displayed in the PT display and the range and quality of the school’s music.

Attached photograph: Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cornwall, in conversation with Dr. Peter McLaughlin, Headmaster of The Doon School, during her tour of the campus (7th November 2013)

Visit by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall on www.princeofwales.gov.uk

The visit was recorded by international press and placed on the official site of the Prince of Wales.

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HRH The Duchess of Cornwall visited the school, which in 1930s India pioneered the concept of schoolchildren taking on social service as the core of their education in India, and met women and children benefitting from projects initiated and aided by Doon School boys and teachers. Amongst their numerous local and regional programmes, The Duchess was particularly interested in the boys’ support for women’s empowerment through microfinance and vocational training of girls in villages, as well girls’ education in the numerous slum and village schools directly supported by The Doon School. The school’s aim is to produce ethical citizens and principled leaders to fulfill its mission of creating a genuinely meritocratic India in the twenty-first century. As part of her visit, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall also saw underprivileged children who regularly work with boys in the school’s art studios, interact with the children and staff of ‘Waste Warriors’, an NGO committed to ending waste and visual pollution in Dehradun and other districts, and see a photographic record of the relief and community support work that over two hundred boys from The Doon School recently began in the hill villages of Uttarakhand devastated by the floods of June 2013. The Doon School has committed itself to a long-term relief and reconstruction effort to rebuild villages, schools and livelihoods in the region. The Headmaster, Dr. Peter McLaughlin, said: “We have been told that The Duchess of Cornwall is especially interested in girls’ education and women’s empowerment across the globe, so we were so pleased that she had an opportunity to see our work in that domain. We think that it is vital for our boys, many of whom go on to leadership roles in India and across the world, to take responsibility for the plight of women in India through these service programmes and our collaboration with NGOs working in a number of fields.”

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The school welcomed two very different speakers at the end of October 2013. Dr Shashi Tharoor, an ex- diplomat at the UN and currently Minister for Human Resource Development.
Within a wider speech, he spoke to the school about the need for young people to engage in the political process by voting and not registering their opinion.

Entrepreneur Sanjeev Bhikhachandani founder of Naukri.com came to talk to the boys about the need for relevant and useful innovation and the fact that innovation is the core of any successful business, together with not wasting money.

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Mr Shekhar Gupta has won numerous awards for journalism including the Padma Bhushan.

His speech was replaced by a question and answer session with many boys having a wide ranging set of questions for him.

Mr Gupta was accompanied by the Chairman of Governors, Mr Gautam Thapar.

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