Hyderabad|India|February'2010: Mr.Nadendla Manohar, Deputy Speaker - Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly urged the youth to consider politics as a career and recommended citizens engage and be a part of the system and make it better instead of just sitting back and blaming the Government. Speaking on “Improving the interface between Government and individual” at the TEDxHitechCity program held at ISB, Gachibowli. He said that all should contribute to make things better. Don’t be mere observers and let us try and make a difference and contribute to make the government better. TEDxHitechCity, a one-day event with the theme ‘Beyond Boundaries’ was attended by 450 people from different walks of life. People from five different states and quite a few countries attended the program which continued till late evening yesterday. The event featured an unusual mix of people and immersed the audience in a multi-disciplinary series of talks / performances covering technology, design, arts, social work, policy, etc.

Mr. Manohar spoke about how initiatives like RTI empower every citizen to seek information and help in transparency. He said that he was working for the e-Petition concept to be introduced in the State Legislative Assembly with an aim to bring the common man closer to the working of the Legislative Assembly. The project will allow people to file their petitions on-line and seek redressal of their grievances, he said.

The program devoted to ‘ideas worth spreading’ saw a series of short talks by achievers from various fields interspersed with TED videos. It was co-curated by Ms. M.S. Prasanti and Mr. Srikanth Krishnan under official license from TED. This event was supported with sponsorships by Microsoft India Development Centre, ADP India, MedRC and Progress Software.

The program started off with the session christened ‘Earth’, which saw a scintillating dance performance by Dance, Singer and Actress Smitha Madhav proving that art does not have boundaries and barriers. Kanna Ramsubramaniam, Principal Program Manager, EM Labs group from Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC), Hyderabad enthralled the audience with the electronic gadgets setup of his home and linked how it shrunk time, distance, size, stress and cost. Prof. D. Balasubramanian, Director - L.V.Prasad Eye Institute spoke about the promise of stem cells and showcased the research which gives promise of growing cornea and retina from harvested stem cells. Sarath Guttikunda talked about the power of information in tackling air pollution.

The second session ‘Water’ had the much awaited Director Nagesh Kukunoor speak about his personal experience of exploring the unexplored area between commercial and art cinema. He shared his experiences and his quest to be not slotted in a genre and always try to be different in this next project. Karuna Gopal of Foundation for Futuristic Cities vowed the audience with her vision for futuristic cities and the challenges faced by major cities including Hyderabad. Deepak Menon, Group Design Manager, MSIDC gave a phenomenal presentation on the user experience aspect of design and how it shapes products, especially his examples from diverse areas (from a coffee sachet to automatic transmission in automobiles) drove home the message of the importance of user experience in design. Syed Maqbool Ahmed of University of Hyderabad gave an engaging talk on Chandrayan's journey to the moon and the challenges he faced in designing the instrument that eventually found the proof of water on the moon. He was a scientist at ISRO Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Thiruvananthapuram and headed a team which designed Chandra’s Altitudinal Composition Explorer (CHACE) for Chandrayaan I.

The ‘Fire’ session had Animation artist screenwriter and media educator Prosenjit Ganguly talking about the power of story-telling and how kids as youngest as 8 years can conceptualize and story board animation movies. An animation film showcased by him on what going to school meant created ripples of laughter among the audience. Dr. Neeraj Raj, Founder - MEdRC EduTech spoke about the challenges facing health care demand especially in rural areas in the various approaches to bridging the shortage of doctors and health care workers in rural India. He spoke on innovations in the digital approach in the healthcare education system. Sarath Chandra, Founder - Butterfly Fields talked about the changes coming up in school and education environment. His video of Government school children competing in teams to build a structure with straws that can carry the maximum weight had the audience cheering. Founder of Right to Walk Foundation Kanthi Kannan spoke about the importance of walkways and questioned if walking should be considered a fundamental right in her presentation. Political Science professor Jyotirmaya Sharma of University of Hyderabad challenged the audience to introspect and question the myths of nationalism in his talk questioning the need for democracy in India. Vijay Anand of 5th Pillar in his presentation talked about the innovative idea of a zero rupee note as a tool to fight corruption.

The concluding session ‘Wind’ saw Vasudeva Verma from IIIT had the audience applauding his demo of a call to the 108 service being translated live from Hindi to Telugu. Raj Shekher from Hobby Hub asked people to increase the nature quotient by getting back in touch with nature and fight nature deficit disorder. The youngest speaker at TEDxHitechCity, 18 year old Chaitanya, Founder Secretary of Passionate Foundation got a standing ovation for the great work done by his organisation of providing an egg and a banana to more than 3000 students across various city schools. The event concluded with an excellent performance by poet Iqbal Patni who rendered free verse in sync with the unveiling of beautiful paintings by noted artists from Icon Art gallery.

Reachout's News Bureau
February' 2010