Theme: Black, White and Grey

Welcome to TEDxPWS! Pathways World School Aravali's inaugural student led TEDx event.

A TEDx is an independently organized event affiliated with TED, the world famous organization where well-renown speakers across the globe share revolutionary ideas based on particular topics of their expertise. These magnificent talks share a broad theme that resonates with the global community.

We chose the theme "BLACK, WHITE AND GREY" for our event since it embodies our vision of the world. In today's day and age, grey areas have been developed that challenge our simple ideologies of black and white, truth and wrong or even the bridge between innocence and maturity. The significance of the spectrum between these two polar colours is prevalent in all facets of life.

Pathways World School, Aravali
Pathways World School, Aravali
Off Gurgaon-Sohna Road
Aravali, Haryana, 122102
India

Ajeet Bajaj

Adventurer

Mr. Bajaj is an adventurer with a passion for high-octane sports. Although he is widely known for having skied in the North Pole and South Pole within the course of a single year, he has also won the bronze medal in the national games for kayaking and a silver and two bronzes in international rafting competitions. His career spans far and wide: he has been the Captain of the International Team for World Whitewater Champions, a climbing instructor at the French National School of Alpinism and Skiing, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and former President of the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India along with being highly experienced in sports like rock climbing, snorkelling, scuba diving, and bungee jumping. It is this unending zeal and passion for his field that led him to be the honoured recipient of the prestigious Padma Shree award.

Ankur Thakuria

Mr. Thakuria has reached the epitome of achievement at a very young age. Still in his early 20's, he has already reached milestones in his life, having earned the honour of invitation to several prestigious events and gatherings. An educator for the world's largest anti-drug organization and the youngest Indian Climate Leader, Mr. Thakuria is also a youth diplomat for several inter-government events and talks such as G20 Presidency. He is an inspiration to the youth of today. He completed his schooling only 5 years ago and is now a fellowship holder at Cairos Society and an active member of Teach for India, where he works tirelessly towards improving the educational facilities in our world. He is a young change-maker and is passionate about youth empowerment.

Darshak Hathi

Darshak Hathi, the International Director of the Art of Living foundation, is a socio-spiritual activist. He considers it a great honour to have Sri Ravishankar as his personal mentor, and he has dedicated his entire life to providing service to humanity. He was a core member of the India Against Corruption movement led by Anna Hazare, and during this movement he even spent two days in jail. Mr. Hathi has initiated and participated in numerous projects such as child protection in Uttar Pradesh with UNICEF, Bharat Jago Abhiyam, a peace initiative program in North-east India, and many more. Due to his dedication towards mankind, he has been awarded the Servant of the Poor award by the Confederation of NGO's of India in 2010.

Nelofer Khan Habibullah

Formally trained in medicine, Nilofer 'Nilo' Khan Habibullah wears many hats. Nilofer is a global health and human rights activist, an accomplished writer, poet, storyteller, voice actor and a pencil artist. Recipient of the Medical Journal of Australia-Nossal Global Health Prize 2013 for her essay on the lack of humanism in medicine and health; written within a week after her mother's premature death due to terminal cancer; and facilitator of a young human rights activists caucus at the United Nations on World Youth Day 2013, she combines powerful personal narrative and storytelling to spur young health professionals to reinstate the 'care' back in healthcare. Founder of several young health professionals' initiatives during her time as a medical student in Central America, she has led several grassroots organizing campaigns on health, HIV/AIDS, health inequity, and cultural competency training for sexual health professionals, among other issues.

Pramath Sinha

Pramath Raj Sinha is Managing Director of 9.9 Media, a niche media company he founded. He spent 13 years as a partner at McKinsey and Company. Before founding 9.9 Media, he was the MD & CEO of the ABP Group, one of India's leading and most diversified media conglomerates. Pramath is the Founding Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB), an initiative led by a group of leading Indian business leaders, which rapidly became a top 20 B-school in the world. He is also the Founder & Trustee of an acclaimed new liberal arts university, Ashoka University, which launched the popular Young India Fellowship five years ago. Pramath received M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.Tech. in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Ria Sharma

Ria Sharma is the founder and CEO of the renowned organisation, Make Love Not Scars, which works towards helping and rehabilitating acid attack survivors. Ria graduated from Leeds College Of Art in 2014. Make Love Not Scars was initially a college project she was working on but one thing led to another and the organization was born. An outspoken young individual, Ria is quick to voice her opinions on social issues. Ria was awarded the prestigious Rex Karamveer Chakra and global fellowship this year. At Make Love Not Scars, unlike most NGOs dealing with similar causes, they have an extremely individual-centric approach: each survivor is different, and their lives are not composed solely of their misfortune. Make Love Not Scars works on all aspects of rehabilitation such as medical, legal and financial support. They constantly work towards raising awareness as well and having existing laws implemented.

Shyamji Gupta

Shyamji Gupta, a social activist, was one of the first people to join Ekal Vidyalaya, an NGO responsible for providing primary education and holistic village development for villages in rural and tribal India, back in 1989. He was responsible for advising the organization with local knowledge of the area and was a chief contributor to expand the Ekal network from 60 schools to over 1200 schools. Each village has a concept of a one-teacher school where a literate teacher from that village is trained by Ekal volunteers so that they can regularly conduct classes. He has also helped create Ekal Vidyalaya volunteer establishments all across the globe. Today, Ekal Vidyalaya has over reached over 50000 villages educating over 1.5 million children, and they plan to double this number by the end of the year 2015.

T L Satyaprakash

As the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon, T L Satyaprakash has certainly lived up to his task. About a year ago, his first day on the force saw him signing a deal to open Common Service Centres in 8 villages of the district. The Haryana Government recently gave Mr. Satyaprakash the task of inquiring about the Gurgaon land deals and holdings of Congress chief, Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, Robert Vadra. After getting his graduation in 'Planet Breeding', Mr. Satyaprakash has held several other important posts. An IAS officer of the batch of 2002, Mr. Satyaprakash was earlier posted as the Director of Industries & Commerce, Haryana and Managing Director of HSIIDC (Haryana State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation) at the Chandigarh Headquarters.