India Dialogues conference held at the University of Columbia, NYC. Top level economists, educationalists etc spoke for the cause. Also talked about the relation between India and USA.

1. REPORT
INDIA DIALOUGES
Submitted To: Amrish Kr. Choubey Sir
Submitted By: SiddhiSharma
Programme: BBA(IB)
Semester: 3
Enrol. No: A1833317045
Institution: AIBS

2. INTRODUCTION
India Dialogueswas a day-long conference of policy
practitioners, academicians,future policy-leaders’media and
the IndianDiaspora in America being held at Columbia
University.
We engaged, learned, interacted and networked with
distinguishedexperts from government, the corporate
sector, multilateral,and academiato explore emerging
challenges of the region and innovativesolutionsfor them.
Through the conference we gained a holistic perspective of
the potentialeconomic, political,social and cultural
trajectory of Indiaand the region in the coming years.
The discussion themes for this year were:
 India:Ambition and Reality
 Making Inclusive Growth a reality
 Breaking the trap: Next generation of reforms for
doubledigit growth
 The politicaleconomy of development:The Elephantvs
The Dragon
 RevolutionisingIndian Educationthrough technology
 Governance and Blockchain

3. 1. ASHVINI TEWARI
Mr. Ashwini Kumar Tewari is the Country Head of the US
Operationsof State Bank of India since April 2017, which
includes its offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and
Washington DC.
Mr. Tewari handle assignments in diverse areas of Credit,
InternationalBankingand Retail Banking, includingBusiness
Re-engineering and Technology.
At the conference his main focus was on Trade and Banking:
Ties and Learning with US. He told us about the relations
India has with the US and what are the future growth plans.
He also told us how both the economies partiallydepend on
each other.
LinkedIn profile
linkedin.com/in/ashwini-tewari-00324b1

4. 2. ABHA SINGH
Abha Singh is a former civil servant and an advocate
practicing currently in the High Court of Judicatureat
Bombay. She is also a renowned social activist and has
contributed considerablyin the realm of women's rights,
gender equalityand Justice. She spoke on the topic #MeToo
at Workplace – Its Impact on “Corporate India”. She shared
with us her insightson two cases of MeToo in India:
1. Renuka Mukherjee vs. VodafoneEssar Pvt. Ltd. 2017
2. Gayathri Balaswamy vs. Novasoft Technologies 2014
She told us about the POSH Act and how it defines Sexual
Harassment i.e.,
“Sexual Harassment includes any one or more of the
following unwelcome acts or behaviournamely:
 Physical contact and advanatages
 A demand or request for sexual favours

5.  Making sexually coloured remarks
 Showing pornography
 Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal
conduct of sexual nature
She also talkedabout the history of Sexual Harassment Laws
in Indiaand what is the need of the hourand what needs to
be done effective immediately.
Email: abha@abhasingh.in
Contact: +919820034635
Websites: abhasingh.in;rannsamar.org
Twitter: @Abha_ypsingh
3. RATNA SAHAY

6. Ratna Sahay is Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital
Markets Department (MCM) at the InternationalMonetary
Fund (IMF). She joined the IMF in 1989 and during her
tenure, she has led surveillanceand program missions to
several emerging market and low-income countries, headed
analyticalprojects and policypapers, and represented the
Fund in variousfora.
She was calledto talk on the topic “India’sEconomic
Ambitions:Can the financialsector deliver?”
The outlineof her speech was:
 India’sFinancialSystem: Taking Stock
 Recent Reforms: What has been done?
 Strengthening the financialsystem
She showed us some graphs about the growth of Central
Bank etc. Then she told us the reforms that has been made in
the past 8-10 years, like:
2010- Creation of FinancialStabilityandDevelopment
Committee lead to better interagency cooperation.
2015- Introduction of Inflation Targeting Framework in the
RBI and started Asset Quality Reviews.
2018- Introduction of Banking Reforms Roadmap. Indra
Dhanush Plan to improve governance and operationsin PSBs.
She thought that in order to strengthen the financial system
the government should address flow problem by enhancing
risk management of banks and financialstrengths of
corporates.

7. 4. POONAM GUPTA
Poonam Gupta is a Lead Economist for India at the World
Bank. She joinedthe World Bank in 2013 in the Chief
Economist Office. She has extensive operationaland policy
experience across countries and regions, includingon China
and India. Her topic was “India’sGrowth Story: Long term
trends and recent dynamics”.
According to her, some of the long-term trends in GDP
growth were:
 Acceleration and stabilityacross sectors and states.
 Consumption,Investment and Exports.
 Contributionof factor inputs and productivitygrowth.
She also talkedabout the Emerging Policy Priorities such as:
 Roadmap of a financialsector for a 2.5 trillioneconomy,
growing at double digit nominally.
 Reinstating the competitivenessof exports- real
competitivenessand nominalcompetitiveness.

8.  Land and Labour reforms.
5. MONTEK SINGH AHLUWALIA
Montek Singh Ahluwalia isan Indianeconomist and civil
servant who was the Deputy Chairmanof the Planning
Commission of India,a position which carries the rank of a
CabinetMinister. He tendered his resignation for this post in
May 2014 following the impending end of the UPAII regime
at the centre. He talked about “Making inclusivegrowth for
India a reality.” He also talked about how India has made
progress in every sector of economy and more in the area of
poverty, infant mortality etc. He said that he believes that
the most of the worst reason of our gone past is the concept
of the fastest growing economy in the world and being told
so. He also talked about how to balancethe Per Capita
Income. He believed that “Supply created its own Demand”.
According to him perception of the rest of the world is that
Open markets reduce the intra-country equalityand he said

9. that things like growth of India, rise of Chinaand reduction in
poverty are the matters that the open markets should really
be proud of and take credit for. He said that the most
positive thing about India’sgrowth is that “The productivity
gap is so wide that unless you are completely incompetent,
we should be able to narrower that gap.”
6. SURESHNAIDU
Suresh Naidu is an Assistant Professor of Economics and
Internationaland Public Affairs at ColumbiaUniversity. One
strand of Professor Naidu’sresearch has lookedat the
politicaleconomy of coercive labourmarkets and another
strand has looked at the economic incidenceof political
transitions. His main focus was on India’s inclusivegrowth at
the conference where he talked about protection of law and
said that everyday life should be governed by law whether it
is business or household.He thinks that the policies will

10. alwaysbe pushing strings because the reach of the law into
private lives is troublesome. He also talked about Civil
Liberty. He also spoke about how to conserve climate with its
rapidlychanging nature economicallywith optionslike the
Solar Energy Act.
7. VIJAY VAITHEESWARAN, YASHENG HUANG,
DEVESH KAPUR
Mr. Vijay Vaitheeswaran:
Vijay V. Vaitheeswaranis an award-winningcorrespondent
for The Economist.
He is currently the magazine's ChinaBusiness Editor. His
editorialresponsibilitiesrange from business and finance to
science, technology and innovation.
Websites:

11. needspeedgreed.com (Personal Website)
ideas.economist.com (Company Website)
Mr. Yasheg Huang:
Yasheng Huang is an American professor in international
management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where
he founded and headsthe ChinaLab and India Lab. His
research areas includehuman capitalformation in China and
India. He is also the authorof Capitalismwith Chinese
Characteristics, a history of economic reforms in China.
Website
web.mit.edu/yshuang/www/ (Personal Website)
Mr. DeveshKapur:
Devesh Kapur is the MadanLalSobtiAssociate Professor for
the Study of Contemporary India, Director, Centre for
Advanced Study of India,University of Pennsylvaniaand Non-
Resident fellow at the Centre for GlobalDevelopment,
Washington D.C.
Email:dkapur@sas.upenn.edu
They discussed on The Political Economy of Development-
The Elephant versus the Dragon (India Vs China). Each one of
them pointed towards the developmentof Indiaand China’s

12. economies and laidemphasis to its Human Resource. They all
agreed that things like Globalisation,Infrastructure and
giving enough opportunitiesto entrepreneurs will lead to
better economies. After focusing on the opportunities,they
also talked about the challenges faced by both the
economies like lack of expertise, lack of job opportunitiesetc.
They also talked about buildingreforms like bringing
connectivityin market to increase its scale etc. They also
talked about the expertise of each country and what could
we learn from each other like entrepreneurship from China
etc.
8. M. S. VIJAY KUMAR
Vijay Kumar is executive director of J-WEL and associate dean
for open learning at MIT. He has been providing leadership

13. for technology enablededucational innovation atMIT for the
past 22 years. His research and his advisory engagements are
directed towards strategy, planningand implementing
technologicalinnovationsglobally. He talked about
Revolutionising Indian Education through Technology by
increasingthe scale and quality of education.According to
him an opportune moment for educational transformation
includes Demand:
 Demand for educated workers.
 Rapid developmentagenda.
 Agility needed for rapidlychanging knowledge and skills.
He also talked about Disruptive Innovation/ Transformation,
where he talked about Supply:
 Digital learninginnovationacross supply chain of
education.
 The open movement.
 A new ecosystem for learning.
He also laidfocus on Judicious Blending, in which he talked
about being Online and Onsite. He then taught us the
science of learningand how we learn:
 Constructing a model of the world
 Applyingit
 Use of knowledge embeds lessons
 Doing it in small chunks
He explainedto us the Fly-by-Wire and MicroMasters
CredentialSystems. He also talked about J-WEL and told that

14. it helpsin Sustainable,High Impact Transformationof
educationacross the world through research, policy,
pedagogy and practice.
9. CHRISTOPHER SEALEY, HANNA HALABURDA,
RAMAKRISHANA DESIRAJU, RAMESH GOPINATH

15. Mr. Christopher:
He is a creator and organizationbuilderfocused on
improving both business and society. As cofounder of
blockchain-basedhealthcarestart-up, Cover US, Christopher
aims to close the financialgap in healthcare by putting
patientsat the centre of their medical data value chain for
the first time. He is also a founding General Partner in Chain-
link -- a hedge fund of funds in the crypto asset space.
Ms. Hanna:
She is a Visiting Associate Professor at NYU Stern School of
Business and a Senior Economist at the Bank of Canada. Her
research uses game theory to study how technology
influences network effects and interactionsin the
marketplace and how these changes affect business models.
Mr. Ramakrishna:
He is a Vice President & General Manager of Strategy &
Enterprise Initiativesat IBM Corporate Headquarters.
Working for the Chief Strategy Officer & SVP, he is
responsible for globalstrategy and competitiveness across
the variousIBM business units.
Mr. Ramesh:
He is the globalleader for FinancialServices at IBM Research.
He took the role of the director of IBM Research - India,
where he was responsible for strategy and execution of the
lab's research agenda, working in close alignment with IBM
business units.

16. They discussed on the Governance and Blockchain in India
and the US. The discussion started with the introduction of
Blockchainto the audience and by pointingout its
importance and advantages in the modern world. They gave
the example of Bitcoin Currency, which is purely based on
Blockchaintechnique. They also said that blockchainsystem
brings transparency, efficiency and ease in the management
system. They also talked about the rules and policies that
look over these technologies and how to amend and imply
them into our economies.