PV Sindhu, Shashi Tharoor To Anchor Harvard’s India Forum

BOSTON, MA -The 23rd India Conference at Harvard, a major student-led global forum examining India’s rise across business, policy and culture, will bring together leading voices from sport, politics and the creative industries here next month, with Olympic champion P.V. Sindhu, parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor and designer Manish Malhotra among its headline speakers.

Scheduled for February 14 and 15, the annual conference will be held jointly at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School, continuing a tradition of more than two decades of student-driven engagement on India’s evolving global role.

Olympic medalist and world champion badminton player P.V. Sindhu will take part in a moderated panel exploring the evolution of India’s sports ecosystem and the link between elite performance, leadership and national identity.

The session will align with the conference theme, “The India We Imagine,” highlighting how sporting excellence and professional management shape India’s international sporting image.

Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist and the first Indian to win gold at the Badminton World Championships, has emerged as one of the country’s most recognizable sporting figures.

Her appearance will include a discussion alongside Satyam Trivedi, chief executive of GMR Sports, focusing on how athletes and sports leaders together project India’s cultural confidence and global ambition.

The conference will also feature a keynote address by Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament and chairman of India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs.

A former United Nations under-secretary-general and a widely read public intellectual, Tharoor will anchor the conference theme through the lens of India’s constitutional ideals, democratic traditions and international engagement.

Organizers said Tharoor’s participation reflects the conference’s emphasis on serious civic and intellectual debate, examining how ideas of India are articulated, challenged and carried forward by institutions and citizens. His address is expected to draw on decades of experience in diplomacy, politics and writing on India’s place in the world.

Adding a cultural dimension, acclaimed fashion designer Manish Malhotra will speak on how fashion, film and creative entrepreneurship shape India’s global cultural identity.

Now in its 23rd year, the India Conference at Harvard is among the largest and most influential student-led India-focused conferences in the United States

This year’s program will feature more than 70 speakers over two days, including a fireside chat with actor Priyanka Chopra, a policy hackathon conducted with the governments of Jammu and Kashmir and GDi Partners on climate risk and sustainability, and a startup pitch competition offering over $20,000 in prizes. (IANS)