Theme: Flip the Coin!

It is said that a still society is a stale society. Evolution is what has kept us going and will keep us going. If there is one thing history has taught us, it is that nothing in this world is ever black or white. And this, in its very totality makes us humans. The moment we accept the fact that we might not be fully white is the moment where arguments turn in discussions, resentment in curiosity and revolt into revolution.

The modern society is riddled with dilemmas arising from the traditional beliefs and modern ideas. It's high time since we took a look at the other side of the coin and what better way to do it than having the people who are the beacons of change show us the way. We, at TEDxGCEK, invite you to do what we as mankind are destined to do. Evolve.

So c’mon, let’s flip the coin!

Auditorium
Government College of Engineering, Karad
Karad, Maharashtra, 415124
India

Abhishek Dhawan

Entrepreneur

Abhishek Dhawan has completed diploma in diet and nutrition advisor at the centre of excellence and course in Human neuro-anatomy from University of Michigan. He wrote articles on health and diet. His research paper was selected for Swarna padak experimental nutrition award at 51st Indian Dietic Association Conference. He has been awarded Regional Local Entrepreneur Award, EFOI work Award. He was featured as Youth Icon for Sakal newspaper in September 2014. At a point in his life, he had been suffering from a number of life-threatening diseases to which many doctors around him couldn’t find a solution. As a result, he went on this life-changing journey by studying and learning about all of his illnesses and treated himself to get to his best self. He says, ‘Its only you, when you decide to come back, your neurotransmitters and hormones work hard to support your thought and you see the change’.

Aravindhan Anbazhagan

Educationalist

Aravindhan Anbazhagan is working as a Development Associate with ‘Teach For India’, a non-profit organization in the education sector. Aravindhan strongly believes in building a community of passionate and committed student leaders, who will eventually bring a change in the country and the entire world. During October 2014, Aravindhan actively held 15+ leadership and officer roles as an IEEE student and Young Professional volunteer. His inspiring work along with the impact has been featured on the New Indian Express. He represented IEEE Madras Section as a delegate thrice at AISC (2013-15), thrice at AICSSC (2013 -15) and twice at R10 Asia-Pacific SYW Congress at Colombo and Bengal. He led the Program Committee of the All India IEEE Computer Society Students & Young Professionals Congress 2018. His main motto is to collaborate and impart the right spirit and the right inspiration to the young India.

Dr. Swati Daithankar

Bharatnatyam Dancer

Swati Daithankar is a renowned Bharatanatyam dancer who has completed her Ph.D. in Bharatanatyam as her subject. She has been awarded “Nritya Alankar” from Akhil Bhartiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal. For 2000-02 she secured National Fellowship for “Yoga and Bharatanatyam” from Govt. of India. She has performed in major dance festivals in India and abroad namely Europe, USA and Singapore. She has developed dance project “Sur Shyam Ranga”. She is recognized as faculty of dance in Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth and Pune University. Nupurnad Academy of Music and Dance is her brainchild; which is successfully pursuing the horizon of classical dance, namely Bharatanatyam! Also the morals behind the stories where good characters become victorious and fight the evils help the upliftment of the society and emotional dance on stage is far more impactful and thought provoking and helps the generations to transform themselves on a higher level.

Grand Master Akshar

Healer / Spiritual Leader / Yoga Master

Grand Master Akshar Nath founded ‘Akshar Yoga’, the largest yoga chain in India. He has custom designed yoga courses that are suitable for working professionals as part of their Corporate Wellness training and for children through Student Wellness programs. He is also featured in the best-selling publication, ‘Lead or Bleed’. Tradition blended with innovation, he discovered and created the balance required to keep yoga fresh and exciting. To mitigate any cause for disconnection from this specific market segment; he introduced Power Yoga, Aerial Yoga and Akshar Yoga Wheel. Endowed with blessings of the mystical arts, he can read and understand energies transforming negative energy into positivity. Armed with the knowledge of many confidential meditation techniques, Grand Master possesses a familiarity of parallel life and transcendence. He is empowered by special Mantras and has healing capabilities which include Aura Healing, Chakra Balancing, Positive Affirmations and more.

Jaywant Patil

Farmer + Entrepreneur

After being a part of Nirman, an initiative started by revolutionary social activists Dr. Abhay and Dr. Rani Bang in Gadchiroli in 2010, Jaywant chose organic farming as a chance to do something more meaningful in life. For 4 years he managed his job in IT during the week and the farm on weekends. He then gained conviction about farming being a dignified and economically viable source of livelihood. Soon he bid farewell to the lucrative IT profession and charted his way to the hinterlands of India to make a difference in the lives of the rural farmers. The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education has incorporated Jaywant Patil’s story organic farming initiative as a Chapter in its 11th Standard’s Marathi language Textbook ‘Yuvakbharati’ since 2016

Navya Singh

Miss Trans Queen

Navya Singh is a freelancer model. She is a brand ambassador of Miss Trans Queen India 2018, trained by famous modelling agency called Cocoberry. She was featured in 2017’s Cosmopolitan and Grazia magazine. She also walked for fashion shows like India Glam Fashion Week, Lakme Fashion Week, Fashion Guru and Miss India Khadi. She is also a social activist, working for transgender empowerment. She is the face of campaign called #WhyNotMe, for inclusion of transwomen in Bollywood. She believes in humanity because it is a huge community.

Paras Saluja

Entrepreneur

Paras Saluja is an entrepreneur and founder of Shayna Eco Unified, the first Indian company to use CSIR-NPL’s technology of “Recycling of plastic waste into tile design structure” to manufacture interlocking and wall plastic tiles from plastic waste. His realization for waste plastic management happened when he reached Mt. Everest base camp and saw plastic dumps on the heavenly place. Since then, he invested his time & energy in strategizing an effective and end-to-end plastic waste management solution which was both capable of backing up rural infrastructure and eliminating the open defecation ethic followed since ages. Paras's effort was recognized under Government's ‘Start-up India’ campaign. . He is skilled in Research and Development (R&D), Distribution Strategies, Business Innovation, Marketing Strategy and Product Development.

Ragini Shankar

Indian Violinist

Ragini Shankar began her training in Hindustani (North Indian) Classical Music on the Violin at the tender age of 4. She has also excelled in her academics being a top-ranked in Mechanical Engineering and also holds a Masters’ degree in Music. She has performed in many prestigious music festivals all across India like the 'Sawai Gandharva'. Apart from having appeared on many platforms all over the country, she has also performed abroad extensively in countries like USA, Canada, UK. She is a part of renowned Bollywood lyricist Irshad Kamil’s ‘The Ink Band’. Her recent collaboration includes ‘strings’, fusion band which gives a grand new majestic sound to popular Indian tunes. She has been conferred with the ‘Jaya Smriti’ presented by film actress and dancer, Hema Malini, 2012. Also, she has been awarded with the ‘Jashn-e-Youngistan’ award by the Vice-President of India for Indian Classical music in 2018

Samrat Phadnis

Journalist

Samrat Phadnis is currently the editor of Daily Sakal, Pune Edition. Previously he was Resident Editor of Times of India, Kolhapur Edition. He has total experience of 25+ years of Journalism. He had worked with all major newspaper brands such as Lokmat, Sakal & Times Group. He is known for his excellent knowledge of Digital and Multimedia Journalism. He has got many awards such as WAN-IFRA award. His talk will let student understand changing scenario of Media and how common man is getting influenced by the same. He will throw light on various aspects of social media journalism, digital journalism and aspects like fake news.

Veena Gupta

Women Safety Expert

Veena Gupta has more than two decades of experience in Executive Protection, Risk Management, and Security Solutions. She is the founder of Seam Group Services (Security and Risk Management services), brings with her proven expertise and an untiring zeal to excel in her field. Bestowed with the title of Lady Bodyguard, Veena is pre-eminent name in the security services domain. She won the title of Mrs. India Queen of Substances as First Runner up. She has undertaken initiatives teaching self-defence & women empowerment. Veena, continuing with her passion for the upliftment of women, founded WESS (Women Empowerment, Safety and Security), an NGO which shares a common dream of promoting women empowerment and safer community in India.