Here's a playlist of the TEDx talks from our event: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMFojo62TuHF1adtdN6X9kfX3zNJ3xmf2.

You can view our recorded livestreams here:

Day 1: https://youtu.be/ryW1Or_RE7Q
Day 2: https://youtu.be/qcq8L3LrM

In the spirit of ideas worth sharing, Sunbeam Bhagwanpur is proud to host Varanasi's first ever youth-led TEDx event, TEDxYouth@SunbeamBhagwanpur. Spanning two days, twenty-odd speakers and attendees from around the world and across age groups, our event promises to be a confluence of ideas like no other. Join us for thoughtful and entertaining 18-minute talks, followed by breakout sessions where you can dive deep into ideas discussed in the talks. TEDxYouth@SunbeamBhagwanpur will also feature live Q & A with our speakers, seminars, workshops and other fun activities! If you can't catch us on Zoom (tickets are 100% free!), be sure to watch the livecast on YouTube and Facebook.

Online
Sunbeam Bhagwanpur
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221005
India

Akshra Dalal

Director of JD Institute of Fashion Technology

Akshra Dalal spearheads the academic endeavors of JD Institute of Fashion Technology, in India and abroad. A graduate in luxury brand management from Regents University, London, Ms. Akshra Dalal is a versatile combination of student counselor, corporate trainer, curriculum developer, and an advisor, associated with JD Institute of Fashion Technology. She is leading the academic division in the institution across India. She has always believed in quality education and keeping the curriculum relevant in a time of rapid change. Amongst many unique projects, she has led the London Research Programme in association with the University of Arts London. She has been playing an active part in the expansion of the Academy overseas. She is also featured in Outlook Splurge as one of the promising entrepreneurs in design education. She has contributed her expertise in many education forums such as CII GUJARAT EDUCON, Times Fashion Week to name a few.

Amandeep Panwar

Founder and CEO of BharatRohan Airborne Innovations

Amandeep Panwar gained his Bachelor's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Babu Banarasi Das National Institute of Technology and Management. As he and his co-founder Rishabh Choudhary were testing drones in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district, they learned of the plight of farmers who could not identify threats of pests, disease outbreaks and nutrient deficiencies early enough. This led to the duo starting their agritech firm BharatRohan Airborne Innovations in 2015. Their drones use hyperspectral imaging cameras to pick up minuscule colour changes in crops that foreshadow problems. The startup’s subscription service offers farmers advice through the crop season, boosting their yield and cutting production costs. It serves over 4,000 farmers across 10,000 acres of land today.

Bryan Caplan

Professor of Economics at GMU; author of Open Borders

Bryan Caplan is Professor of Economics at George Mason University and New York Times Bestselling author. He has written The Myth of the Rational Voter, named "the best political book of the year" by the New York Times, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, The Case Against Education, and Open Borders (co-authored with Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal's Zach Weinersmith). His latest project, Poverty: Who To Blame, is now well underway. He blogs for EconLog, and has published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, TIME, Newsweek, Atlantic, American Economic Review, Economic Journal, Journal of Law and Economics, and Intelligence, and appeared on ABC, BBC, Fox News, MSNBC, and C-SPAN. An openly nerdy man who loves role-playing games and graphic novels, Bryan Caplan lives in Oakton, Virginia, with his wife and four kids.

Daniel Markovits

Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School; author of The Meritocracy Trap

Daniel Markovits is Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Private Law. He works in the philosophical foundations of private law, moral and political philosophy, and behavioral economics, publishing in a range of disciplines, including in Science, The American Economic Review, and The Yale Law Journal. His current book, The Meritocracy Trap (forthcoming, Penguin Press), places meritocracy at the center of rising economic inequality and social and political dysfunction. After earning a B.A. in Mathematics, summa cum laude from Yale University, Markovits received a British Marshall Scholarship to study in England, where he was awarded an M.Sc. in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the L.S.E. and a B.Phil. and D.Phil. in Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Markovits then returned to Yale to study law and, after clerking for the Honorable Guido Calabresi, joined the faculty at Yale.

Disha Ravi

Climate change activist

Disha Ravi is a youth climate change activist and a founder of Fridays for Future India. Earlier this year, she was arrested in the infamous 'toolkit' case where a standard social justice communications and organising document shared online by Greta Thunberg was alleged by the Indian government to be an instrument of sedition and fomenting unrest. After 10 days in police custody, Ravi was granted bail by the Supreme Court. In line with her mission to make plant-based food accessible and affordable by everyone, Ravi currently works as a culinary experience manager with GoodMylk.

Dr. Anamika

Sahitya Akademi Award-winning poet

Anamika is a contemporary Indian poet, social worker and novelist writing in Hindi, and a critic writing in English. She has eight collections of poetry, five novels and four works of criticism in her credit. Currently, she is Reader at the Department of English, Satyawati College, University of Delhi. In 2020, she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award.

Dr. Divya Jaitly

Serial entrepreneur and award winning public speaker

Dr. Jaitly's string of entrepreneurial successes has made her a Youth Icon and an experienced Mentor. A gifted Orator, she is also a renowned TV anchor and TEDx speaker. Currently, she is heading her own Corporate Communication firm focusing on Brand Strategy and Performance Consulting for organisations worldwide. Having been certified by Harvard and Wharton in their 'Leaders of Learning' and 'Strategic Business Management' programs respectively, she is a strategic advisor to many companies on Leadership Building and Diversity Management . Helping entrepreneurs find sustainable and scalable business ideas, she is in the Young Leaders Council at the All India Management Association (AIMA) and has been the former chairperson of the Indian Women Network at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Pune, Maharashtra. A pioneer in bringing formalised education in the Event Management industry in India, she is an Ex Miss India finalist and truly a woman of substance.

Kalpit Veerwal

JEE Main Topper 2017; founder of AcadBoost and Kiyo

Kalpit Veerwal has been an extraordinary student throughout his life - aceing several exams like NTSE, KVPY, International Olympiads, and winning several prizes and scholarships in his academic life. Most notable of all, at the age of 17 he achieved All India Rank 1 in JEE 2017 among 1.2 Million students, becoming the only person in history to hit the full score of 360 out of 360, a feat registered in the Limca Book of World Records. He holds a Bachelors in Computer Science from IIT Bombay - finishing the degree a semester early. Now an entrepreneur, he runs an educational technology company called AcadBoost that he started at 19 which trains school and college students for competitive exams, while also helping them learn practical skills to grow their careers. In his free time, he likes making education videos on YouTube - inspiring millions of schools and college students with the power of the internet.

Kruttika Desai

Film, theatre and television actress

Kruttika Desai is an Indian film, theatre and television actress who rose to fame playing "Mangala" in an early TV series of India - Buniyaad. She is known for her portrayal of Vishkanya in Chandrakanta and Ambaji in Ram Milaayi Jodi. She has appeared on the talk show Mansi, Air Hostess, Superhit Muqabla, Hungama, Noorjahan, Deewar, and Uttaran. Desai is involved in "Akansha", a theatre workshop for street children and has also acted in a number of Gujarati plays including Shodh Pratishodh.

Moa Subong

Band leader of Abiogenesis

Moa Subong is a musician who has developed a musical instrument called BamHum, which is a new wind musical instrument made out of a bamboo. The name BamHum is derived from the two words, bamboo and humming. Playing the BamHum is simple, which is to simply hum a tune into the hum hole, which produces a melodic tune. Moa composes originals, he sings and plays the guitar, the harmonica, the BamHum and the Tikzik (also invented by him). He has tried his hands as an actor, sportsman, audio and video editor and is an inventor of two versatile musical instruments. He along with his wife Arenla M. Subong founded the band Abiogenesis and developed a new world music genre called Howey, which is a fusion of modern rhythm with Naga folk tunes. Guru Arenla M. Subong is a well-known singer, musician, dramatist, script writer, composer and choreographer in Nagaland. Arenla is the vocalist and the lead BamHum player in Abiogenesis.

Mohit Sharma

Co-founder and CEO of Oye! Rickshaw

After getting his B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from IIT-Delhi, Mohit Sharma gathered industry experience in the automobile industry before going on to found Jangid Motors. There he developed India's first indigenously developed electric rickshaw and sold over 9000 vehicles, earning a net revenue of over INR 600 million. In 2017, he co-founded Oye! Rickshaw which aims to connect homes and offices to metro stations and bus stands for daily commuters’ first and last mile connectivity needs through their e-rickshaws and auto-rickshaw driver partners onto a mobile technology platform. With an employee base of 250+ electric vehicles and 7000+ drivers, Oye! Rickshaw are working towards making the most suitable, convenient, environment-friendly, and pocket-friendly mobility option for the people of India. They are currently active in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Karnal and Noida, and plan to expand aggressively in the coming time.

Nav Sawhney

Founder of The Washing Machine Project

Nav Sawhney is the founder of The Washing Machine Project. Sawhney was born and brought up in London but his family are from unpartitioned India. During the 1947 Indian Independence, Sawhney’s father and his family fled their home from what now is Pakistan with only the clothes on their backs. Having built lifesaving cookstoves in rural India and being a trustee of an international development charity, Engineers Without Borders UK (EWB-UK), Sawhney has founded The Washing Machine Project. 70% of the world’s population lacks access to an electric washing machine. Handwashing clothes sounds like a simple task but for many women around the world, it poses a significant obstacle to their wellbeing and livelihood. By providing displaced and low-income communities with a manual washing solution that saves time and water, The Washing Machine Project aims to empower women with the time to take charge over their lives.

Nimesh Pinnamaneni

Co-founder and CEO of HelixWorks

Nimesh Pinnamaneni heads Helixworks, where he works to "put the data in DNA". Merging engineering and biology, Helixworks has developed DNA storage material that stores digital information directly inside a physical product. allowing rapid verification of ingredients and information to fight counterfeiters, protect brand assets, track product movement, and run analytics, all without a third-party network or centralized database. Pinnamaneni is building the future of data storage in an information-rich world, by solving difficult technical challenges to develop DNA storage products that are dense with real data, exceptionally economical, easy to read, offer unprecedented security and privacy, can be inserted into almost any object, meet FDA and EPA standards, and carry the lowest error rate of any product on the market today.

Prateek Trivedi

Journalist and news anchor

Prateek Trivedi is a celebrated journalist and news anchor who is best known for hosting the TV show 'Bhaiyaji Kahin' on News18. In 1995, he joined Nehru Yuva Kendra and subsequently started working as a journalist. He had started his career with Amar Ujala. He worked as a print media journalist with Amar Ujala for almost two years. In 1998, he started working in electronic media with Sahara Samay, as a local news reporter for Meerut. In 2000, he started working in the Rajat Sharma’s show, Aaj Ki Baat and worked there for almost four years. He joined Aaj Tak in 2004 and worked there for ten years. In 2014, just before the Lok Sabha elections, he rejoined Rajat Sharma’s INDIA TV as an editor. By the end of December 2014, he left India TV and joined News India 18 as a senior editor, where he runs the live reporting show 'Bhaiyaji Kahin'.

Raghu Mahajan

Theoretical physicist at Stanford

Raghu Mahajan is a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University. Having secured All India Rank 1 in the 2006 IIT-JEE, he quit IIT after two years of studying the computer science and engineering programme and headed to MIT to pursue physics and mathematics. In his final year there, Mahajan travelled to Africa and designed a cheap table-top oil press. He is a volunteer with the MIT D-Lab, where has helped build a composting toilet, innovative water pump designs, soil blocks for cheap and sturdy construction, and peanut shellers. Mahajan also helped the Aam Aadmi Party develop their election manifesto in 2015. Having earned a BS in Mathematics and Physics from MIT, a Masters degree in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in Theoretical and Mathemetical Physics from Stanford University, his current research is focussed on low-dimensional models of quantum gravity and black holes.

Rahul Bagga

Actor, producer and mushroom grower

Rahul Bagga is an Indian actor and producer who worked primarily in Bollywood. Bagga began his career as a television artist in the series like Powder in 2010. The actor toured in movies like Mastram in 2013, Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho in 2015, and Tera Mera Tedha Medha in 2015. He has been part of TV series like Stories by Rabindranath Tagore and short films like Pressure Cooker in 2016, Cot in 2016, Do Cup Chai in 2017 and Facebook Wala Pyaar in 2019. He is known for his role in Ludo (2020) and Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana (2012). Currently, he tends to his mushrooms as a certified farmer.

Rahul Dev

Journalist-activist and founder of the Samyak Foundation

Rahul Dev, a bilingual journalist, has worked both in print and TV, English and Hindi news media. He started his career with The Pioneer in Lucknow and worked for The Week, The Illustrated Weekly of India, and Probe India before switching to Hindi journalism with the Maya magazine. Since then, he has been Editor of Jansatta, the Hindi daily of the Indian Express group, Editor-in-Chief of the daily Aaj Samaj and the weekly India News. He has also headed the news channels Aaj Tak and CNEB as Editor-in-Chief and CEO. Currently, he is Honorary Adviser, Speaker’s Research Initiative (SRI) at the Lok Sabha. He is also an advisor at the Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary University and a Managing Trustee in the Samyak Foundation.

RamG Vallath

Motivational speaker and author

A motivational speaker, best-selling author, science editor, life coach and co-founder of a tech startup -- at the age of 52, Ramgopal (RamG) Vallath dons many hats. His enthusiasm and positive approach towards life has kept his spirits high on its bumpy road. Coming from a village Malayalam-medium government school, RamG beat all odds to obtain a B.Tech from IIT Madras and an MBA from the Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) in Jamshedpur. He became one of India’s youngest telecom business heads as a COO at Airtel, and later went on to work as a director in Dell and HP. Unfortunately, from the age of thirty-three, he was afflicted by a rare autoimmune disorder that affected his nerves and weakened his muscles. However, being brought up on a daily dose of PG Wodehouse and hands-on scientific experimentations, RamG kept his cheerful attitude and underwent a risky clinical trial that resulted in him rebuilding his wasted muscles and reinventing his career.

Robin Hanson

Professor of Economics at GMU; author of The Elephant in the Brain

Robin Hanson is associate professor of economics at George Mason University, and research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He wrote The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life When Robots Rule the Earth in 2016, and The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life, with Kevin Simler in 2018. Professor Hanson has 1007 media mentions, given 370 invited talks, and his blog OvercomingBias.com has had eight million visits. He has pioneered prediction markets, also known as information markets and idea futures, since 1988. He was the first to write in detail about creating and subsidizing markets to gain better estimates on a wide variety of important topics. He has written and spoken widely on the application of idea futures to business and policy, and has advised many ventures. He suggests "futarchy", a form of governance based on prediction markets. He also coined the phrase "The Great Filter" to analyze why the universe looks so dead.

Salik Shah

Founding Editor of Mithila Review

Salik Shah is an Indian science fiction writer and filmmaker from New Delhi. His work has been nominated for Elgin, Toto and Kumaon Literary Festival’s Fellows of Nature awards. One of his short stories appears in a course syllabus at SOAS University of London. He is the founding editor of Mithila Review, Asia’s leading science fiction and fantasy journal, and a founding member of Plurality University (Paris). He is a Future of India Fellow and The Seasteading Institute Ambassador with media appearances around the world. You can find him @salik on Twitter and on his website: https://salikshah.com.

Sanjay Masoom

Lyricist and screenwriter of Kaabil and the Krrish series

Sanjay Masoom has been a screenwriter for a string of hit films, such as Krrish (2006), Jannat 2 (2012), Gunday (2014), Krrish 3 (2013), Raja Natwarlal (2014), Koyelaanchal (2014) and many more. He won the IIFA Award (Best Dialogue) for his work in Krrish 3. Masoom has also penned the dialogues of 3 AM: A Paranormal Experience (2014), Ghayal Once Again (2016) and screenplay of Kaabil (2017). More recently, he was dialogue writer for the hit TV series Aashram (2020).

Shivani Varma

Kathak dancer

Shivani Varma is a performing artiste training in the Indian classical dance form, Kathak, since childhood. She is the disciple of Guru Shovana Narayan, and is an empanelled artiste with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). She is a disciple of Guru Shovana Narayan. She is currently receiving advanced training under the guidance of Pt. Birju Maharaj in Delhi. Her early training was by Guru Manish Gangani and later by Guru Tirath Ajmani. She was awarded the ‘Swayamsiddha Samman’ for her contribution to the field of classical dance in April 2019. In May 2017, she was awarded for her singular contribution, as a dancer, to the cause of harmony by the India Harmony Foundation. A recipient of the ‘NavKiran award’ in 2013, Varma has had the honor of performing for her country at both the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games, held in Delhi in 2010. Varma has performed at the legendary classical dance festivals of Khajuraho, Konark and Hampi.

Swami Oma the Akk

Spiritual guru

Adhyaatm Murti Oma the Akk started his discourse on Tantra, Astrology and Vedic philosophy at the age of 12. He established the spiritual NGO “Akk – Oma’s Cosmos for Akk Revelation’ in 2001 to organize programmes and discourses on various issues. He established ”Akk Jagrit Matdaata Manch” in 2013 to make the people of India aware of their democratic rights, and has combined astrology, color therapy and psychoanalysis to produce unique handmade fashionable clothing under the label of "Vasan." He has also launched nationwide movement BAA – Bharat Against Abuse – in June 2019 to put an end to daily verbal rapes through female oriented abuses as an effort to make this society a better and safer place to reduce cases of sexual molestation.

Tejas Subramaniam

Incoming freshman at Stanford University; best speaker at World Schools Debating Championships 2018

Tejas Subramaniam is an incoming freshman at Stanford University, interested in quantitative economics, moral philosophy, and effective altruism. He is an Emergent Ventures grantee for research on sexual violence, and has debated thrice for the Indian national debating team, culminating in winning the World Schools Debating Championships in 2019 and being the best individual speaker. Having earned a MicroMasters credential in Data, Economics and Development Policy, he has previously interned at J-PAL and at the Mercatus Center in George Mason University. Subramaniam is currently a summer research intern at Rethink Priorities, where he is working on farmed animal welfare.

Unmukt Chand

Cricketer

Unmukt Chand made waves on India’s Under-19 cricket team, leading them to their first World Cup victory outside the Asia bubble. Now, he serves as captain for the Uttrakhand team from Rajat Bhatia, preferring play time over big checks. Chand spent his first time on the Delhi U-19 team scoring 499 runs, quickly becoming the team captain. This led up to him earning a spot on the India U-19 cricket team as the captain, running the quadrangular series with Australia, India, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies, as well as Australia, England, India, and New Zealand. When India matched England, Chand’s 94 points in the semi-final sealed India’s victory. Additionally, he was named “CEAT Indian Youngster of the Year” in 2012. Chand’s impressive junior track record helped him graduate to Delhi’s senior team, where he competed for the Ranji Trophy, contributing 151 runs, individually. Chand's autobiography, The Sky is the Limit, documents his journey to fame.

Viveck Vaswani

Actor, writer and producer

Viveck Vaswani is an actor, producer, teacher, writer, and the man who famously gave Shahrukh Khan his big break in Bollywood. An alumnus of Campion School and Cathedral and John Connon, Vaswani started off with acting in India's first TV soap opera 'Khandaan'. He then produced a Marathi film called 'Kis Bai Kiss', and a major television serial called 'Nai Dishayen. He has acted in more than a 100 films and numerous television shows. He has produced 13 films and 2 television shows. Vaswani has been Advisor/ Consultant/ Strategist to a number of established companies as well as startups in the entertainment business. He teaches Live Action Production, and Documentary & Films at Pearl Academy, Mumbai campus. Additionally, he also serves on the advisory board of School of Media at Pearl Academy.