August 24, 2023: India Today is all set to host the State of the State: Uttarakhand First summit on Friday, August 25 at Dehradun’s Seyfert Sarovar Premiere. The day-long event with power-packed sessions aim to deep dive into issues relevant to the state of Uttarakhand with discussions on how to supercharge Uttarakhand’s development in terms of tourism, energy, connectivity, healthcare, education and industry.
India Today’s highly anticipated ‘Uttarakhand First Summit’ promises to provide a deep delve with Uttarakhand’s leading lights in the fields of politics, administration, education, tourism and more.
The summit will be headlined by an inaugural address by the Hon’ble Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The second and third session will deliberate on how to make Uttarakhand a healthcare destination, in terms of broadening the reach of Ayurveda and Yoga. The former (‘Taking Ayurveda to the World’) will see perspectives from Patanjali CEO Acharya Balkrishna, while the latter (‘Making Uttarakhand India’s Yoga Capital’) will include an expert perspective from Dr Bharat Thakur, chairman and founder of Artistic Yoga.
The summit will also see the participation of several senior political leaders and administrators, from Uttarakhand chief secretary Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (‘Making Uttarakhand the Switzerland of India’), energy secretary Dr R. Meenakshi Sundaram (‘Reinventing the Uttarakhand Model’) and Union minister of state for defence and tourism Ajay Bhatt (‘The Big Challenge: Improving Connectivity, Securing Borders’).
The last session prior to lunch will focus on how to develop Uttarakhand into a hub for luxury and adventure tourism, and will see the participation of Vaibhav Kala, founder of Aquaterra Adventures India, Sanjay Sharma, founder of Eco Glamp, Kanatal, Col. Ashvini Pundir, additional CEO (Adventure), Uttarakhand Tourism and Padma Shri Ajeet Bajaj, MD of Snow Leopard Adventures.
The summit will also see a conversation with singer Sonu Kakkar (‘My Musical Journey: Creating New Sounds and Textures’), as well as with Dr Ravi Joshi, vocalist and professor at Kumaun University’s DSB Campus, Nanital (‘The Hills Come Alive with the Sound of Music’).
Later sessions in the day include a conversation between Raj Chengappa, Editorial Director – Publishing, India Today Group and Shaurya Doval, founding director of the India Foundation on new opportunities in the hills. This will be followed by a conversation on the state’s education sector (‘Extending the Learning Curve to the Future’), which will see the participation of Uttarakhand’s Education Minister Dr. Dhan Singh Rawat, author and sociologist Dipankar Gupta, Doon School headmaster Jagpreet Singh and Welham Girls’ School principal Vibha Kapoor.
The summit will also see a discussion on the cost of development, including experts like Himalayan Environment Studies and Conservation Organisation founder and Padma Bhushan Anil Prakash Joshi, Ganga Ahwan Movement convener and member of the CharDham project Hemant Dhyani, Uttarakhand disaster management secretary Ranjit Sinha and Environmental Science professor S.P. Sati of the College of Forestry, Ranichauri and VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar.
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In terms of industry, the summit will include a conversation between Vinay Shankar Pandey, secretary to the chief minister and MSME and Investment commissioner, Vipul Dawar, MD of Indo-German Brakes Pvt Ltd and Uttarakhand CII president Bipen Gupta (‘Reviving Brand Uttarakhand’). On a somewhat related note, the summit will also see perspectives from Abhinav Kumar, ADG Intelligence and Security on public safety (‘Securing Festival Hubs’).
The last two sessions on the day will see a discussion on the Bharat Jodo Yatra (‘A Mission to Unite India or the Congress?’) with former chief minister and former Union minister Harish Rawat and a conversation on how to prepare the state for the massive development leap by 2047, which will see the participation of former chief minister and former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.
