The Ideas For India conference: diverse conversations around India’s growth story

Bridge India, a London-based think tank, has conceptualised a unique Ideas For India conference. The inaugural three-day event will be held in London from April 22-24, 2020. Ideas For India will bring together business, policy and diaspora leaders from the UK, India and Europe, to collectively deliberate upon the next wave of India’s growth as a formidable global economy and nation.

Who is Bridge India?

Bridge India is a progressive and not-for-profit think tank, dedicated toward delving into public policy discourses for the betterment of India. Often, the “India Story” is presented through a narrow lens in the international community, with limited viewpoints on the business environment, economy or policy landscape. However, India’s massive scale and diversity renders it as a land of juxtapositions. Within this context, Bridge India seeks to highlight and celebrate this nuanced perspective, in order to facilitate a better understanding for the India-watchers.

A glimpse into the inaugural conference

The Ideas For India event is likely to bring afield 400+ attendees, including, 50+ foreign delegates and representatives from 10+ countries, across 12+ sessions, keynotes, panel discussions, focused roundtables and exclusive breakfast briefings, to curate and create a distinctive configuration of a million ideas for India.

Ideas For India has been designed in a manner that Day 1 will take place in the British Houses of Parliament; Day 2 will contain focused, parallel business and policy dialogue sessions; and Day 3 will include an all-day business conference followed by an invite-only black-tie dinner. A vast range of topics will be encapsulated across the various sessions to provide a 360-degree view of the India Story. Some of these relate to: India’s attractiveness as an investment destination, India’s energy security, fake news in India, artificial intelligence, data privacy and security, India’s position in the world, delivering for the bottom 90% of India, to list a few.

Some esteemed speakers who have confirmed their presence at the event include: Lord Karan Bilimoria (President, Confederation of British Industry), Mohandas Pai (Chairman, Manipal Global Education), Karan Thapar (TV news anchor), Nakul Saxena (Head of Policy, iSpirt Foundation), Sitaram Yechury (General Secretary, CPI (M)), Abhinandan Sekhri (CEO, Newslaundry), Dinesh Dhamija MEP (Chair of India Caucus, European Parliament), Siddarth Zarabi (Executive Editor, Business Television India) and Nitin Mantri (President, ICCO).

Rohini Lakhani, a team member of Bridge India said: “The event space in the UK-India corridor is a crowded one, but what is unique about Ideas For India is that it brings together senior stakeholders from business, policy, academia and elsewhere, not just from the bilateral corridor and on one side of the political spectrum, but in a genuinely diverse manner to explore collaboration opportunities between Europe and India, as well as globally. Our big focus will be to debate and discuss the big ideas that could drive India’s growth both as an economy and nation over the coming decades.”

According to Speaker Nakul Saxena, Director of Public Policy at iSPIRT Foundation, “The nature of growth in India is changing. Capital and access to the internet has disrupted business models in India, creating a virtuous cycle of growth for many of India’s tech startups. As India rebrands itself and evolves as an economy, technology, innovation, data privacy and related topics will be at the heart of this growth. I’m delighted to be able to contribute to such ideas for India at this conference.”

Pushparaj Deshpande, Director of the Samruddha Bharat Foundation opined that “The Indian diaspora has risen to the top of their professions globally and can contribute significantly to India’s growth as an economy as well as a heterogeneous democracy. I look forward to engaging in this unique forum to bring together leaders from just from India but globally, in a unique, diverse yet intimate forum.”

In order to convene and drive the debates and conversations across Europe and India, India Outbound has been brought on board as a media partner for the Ideas For India inaugural conference. All our partners have come together to ensure that this conference provides a unique, inclusive and focused forum and starts an annual conversation that yields invaluable insights into India’s current and future growth story.

For further information, please visit www.bridgeindia.org.uk/event/ideas-for-india-april-2020.

For details related to speakership, sponsorship, exhibition or any other event-related information, please email sanjana@bridgeindia.org.uk.

source https://indiaoutbound.org/the-ideas-for-india-conference-diverse-conversations-around-indias-growth-story/

Yes, Trump will possibly survive impeachment

The United States is currently in the middle of an upheaval. The chaotic aftermath of the US strike against Iran and a shock turn in President Donald trump’s impeachment drama are triggering a monumental Capitol Hill clash over trust and presidential power. Besides the raging uncertainty over the trial, the developments in the Middle East shifted the focus in Washington, even as Trump remains fixated as ever on the impeachment saga. He now faces a trial in the Senate, possibly in January, where he is likely to be acquitted in the Republican-controlled Senate.In theory, a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate would be required to convict Trump and remove him from office.
 
With no direct negotiations between the Senate leaders, combined with John R. Bolton’s (the former White House national security advisor) willingness to testify at Trump’s impeachment trial indeed puts a new face to the process. According to many, Bolton’s statement could spur a dramatic turn that could alter the political dynamic of the impeachment trial in the Senate where Trump’s presidency hangs in the balance. But that appears unlikely. First, given that Trump enjoys an 80% approval rate among Republicans, it is hard to see mass defections among the Senate Republicans. Further, the approval rate suggests that the Republicans will double-down on their far-right vision of America and stick with Trump, irrespective of the malfeasance that came to light.
 
Even the fact that opinion polls among people have fairly remained immobile signifies the growing inelasticity of American politics and demonstrates the support that Trump enjoys outside Congress. Consequently, on a purely tactical level this move,could actually end up enhancing his support base,instead of eroding it. All of these do indicate that there is no way to send Trump packing. But the fact that he is poised to win in 2020 and serve another four years, is what makes impeachment a warranted move.
 
In this regard, the Democrats have rightly sounded the bugle by holding an impeachment procedure against him. At the heart of Democrats case is the allegation that Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid, sought by Ukraine, to combat Russian military aggression, to pressure Ukrainian President Volody mr Zelensky to launch an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Second, Trump also wanted Zelensky to investigate a debunked conspiracy theory, that Ukraine, not Russia, colluded with Democrats in the 2016 election. The premise on which the impeachment clause was included by James Madison and co. was to guard against the potential incapacity, negligence and perfidy of a President. Another dangerous possibility, according to them was that the “President might betray his trust to foreign powers.” Trump through all his high crimes and misdemeanors made his impeachment inevitable.
 
In all, impeachment nonetheless is a gamble for the Democrats as a full-blown trial distracts them from their core election agenda. But with the current dysfunction in American politics, impeachment almost becomes a shield against the dangers that a president like Trump poses. So even though impeachment might include partisanship, it ultimately asserts the supremacy of law in a political system.
 
India Outbound
January 9, 2019

source https://indiaoutbound.org/yes-trump-will-possibly-survive-impeachment/