2020

8th July 2020

Mr. Ankit Bhatia is the founder of Moolya Foundation which aims to bring greater inclusivity for common people in public affairs. He is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and John Hopkins University. It was our privilege to host him at a Samvad event where he passionately spoke for the topic of Public Policy.

He spoke of the importance of young people in the field and especially engineers due to the data-driven direction that the world is going in. He gave his own example of how some work done by their team was initially presented at a parliamentary hearing. After multiple iterations over the same work, the policy was finally approved by the president of India and had an actual impact on people’s lives.

He gave the broad areas in which one can work in the field of public policy: Researcher in think tanks, policy consultant for corporate policy making, International Development Agencies such as branches of WHO, to tackle problems on the field, public policy NGOs are a really solid option, to actually work on the implementation of crafted policies, one could work with bureaucrats and Entrepreneurship in Public Policy.

He then introduced a policy making challenge competition organized by Moolya Foundation in which we could take part and be part of a real policy making process.Ankit sir was extremely pleased with the response he received and appreciated our interest in the subject. Niket concluded the meeting with a vote of thanks to Ankit sir for such an engaging session on Public Policy.

23rd June 2020

We began with a club introduction for the attendees which consisted of VNIT students as well as members of the Green Ice community.

Alark answered the basic question about mountaineering: What is the process? Bimal sir went on to speak about the various institutes such as the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (Uttarkashi), Himalayan Mountaineering Institute(Darjeeling) and the National Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (Dirang). Alark gave us a deeper insight into the NIMAS institute, and his past involvement with it.. He also spoke about the Basic Mountaineering Courses and the objectives that they fulfill.

Alark then moved on to talking about allied sports by beginning with Rock Climbing. He talked of its origins and its increasing popularity in recent times including its recognition as an Olympic sport.

Bimal sir gave us in depth knowledge about the mental aspects of mountaineering that trouble participants and ways to overcome those fears and fight those mental battles. Thereafter Alark introduced the need for communities for such activities, Bimal sir talked in detail about the Green Ice community which he has founded in the city of Baroda.

Bimal Sir also talked about his experiences in Skiing and Paragliding. He inspired us by giving the example of a really young girl who was part of the skiing course he had taken showing that allied sports are for people of all ages and physical fitness levels.

Suhrid concluded the meeting by giving a vote of thanks to Bimal sir and Alark for their informative and engaging presentation.