This year, on the theme “Question the Future”, we intend
to engage the most promising minds with understanding the intricacies
hidden in the challenge of making a better tomorrow. The task of
understanding the path of India in the coming years presents a
multi-dimensional issue. We intend to focus on the following major
topics – Healthcare, Finance and Governance.
The three tracks we have chosen are issues that are lacking in
implementation in India and through the symposium the flaws deeply
wrought in each will be exposed, its gaps scrutinised and viable
solutions proposed.

FINANCE
A pre-requisite for all growth and development related activities is an
innovative and strong financial policy. Hence we present the Finance
track which largely deals with realizing the role of finance and
entrepreneurship in different aspects of growth. Focal points of the
discussion will be the debate between the regulation and competition of
enterprises, financing green technologies and financial inclusion. Green
technologies are the need of the hour with wide spread concern over
global warming and climate change and hence their financing plays a
central role in today’s development sphere. Entrepreneurial ventures
involving green technologies will be explored, as will the direction
that these should take in the coming years. Focus will also be laid on
the interplay between regulation and a perfectly competitive market for
enterprises and the necessity to strike a balance between the two. The
recent times have witnessed a sudden spike in the growth of the banking
sector. But as is the case with other growth, it hasn’t been inclusive
and a large section of the society has been left out. From this rises
the need for financial inclusion. Besides trying to understand the need
for financial inclusion, studying its impact on other forms of
development is of great significance. An attempt will be made to come up
with innovative solutions and ideas to see the inclusion of all into
the financial boom.

GOVERNANCE
The implementation of any policy decision has been a major cause of
concern in India. At this Symposium we deal with the issue of
Governance. We will deliberate upon how technology can aid governance.
We shall try and understand major initiatives like the UID project and
how it will help, apart from providing social security and identity to
the people, in identifying and providing financial, educational and
healthcare services to the underprivileged. We will also look at other
issues, most important among them being corruption, which is rampant in
the political system of our country. Measures to curb corruption such as
decentralization of governance, which will improve public participation
in decision making, will also be discussed. Over the four days, this
track aims to find linearity between healthcare, education, access to
technology, etc., crucial for the proper governance of any country.

HEALTHCARE
Health care, or the lack of access to it, is one of the most plaguing
issues facing our country today. With the highest population growth
rate, and being the second most populous country in the world,
deficiencies in the health care program affect a great number of people.
Health care problems in India include affordability, lack of awareness
of how to maintain one’s health including obvious preventions and timely
cures, and most importantly lack of hospitals and doctors catering to
the urban and rural poor. While the U.S allocates 12% of its national
annual budget to health care, India allocates a mere 1%. Thus a Green
Revolution, as was done in the agricultural sector to significantly
increase food productivity is now required in the health sector. The
ultimate goal of health care in India would be to ensure a fundamental
right to demand health services. But this is our opinion of what the
‘ultimate goal’ of healthcare should be. At the Symposium 2011, scrutiny
of every view and opinion is encouraged until we collectively reach a
viable solution is capable of withstanding all challenges.