The Internet gives us information and teaches us about things we want to learn. But, beyond that, TED and TEDx conferences are delightful for the bunch of creative people who share stories and ideas we need to learn. Hyderabad had a new chapter of TEDx event, with TEDx Secunderabad holding its maiden outing on Saturday, reports Amar Tejaswi.
Supported by the US Consulate and started by a team led by Nabeel Adeni, TEDx Secunderabad brought together 10 speakers and three musicians from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan with the theme: “Unlocking South Asia’s potential.”
A Beacon for the Slums
TEDx Secunderabad opened with young Bangladeshi innovator Sajid Iqbal talking about his vision to bring light to the dark and congested slums in his country. His organisation, Change, has pioneered the Solar Bottle Light which reaches light to the slums during the day through a bottle of water, equivalent to a 60Watts bulb. Not just. “We have developed a low-cost solar lantern equivalent to a 10 Watt bulb and lighting systems using recycled materials, making it cost effective,” Sajid Iqbal says.
Simple Joys in Farming
An engaging speaker, Sri Lankan Sunesh Rodrigo says he is addicted to “food porn” and quit his job to do farming. Only that he found out it’s not as simple. Rodrigo doesn’t just want to do farming alone, but also play offline Farmville while raising crops on his land and inviting at least a thousand more people to farming.
“Through farming, you learn the simple joys of life. You should take to growing at least one crop or vegetable wherever you live. That would be two billion vegetable crops in South Asia,” Rodrigo says. He intends to start a farming movement through social media with the hashtag #foodIgrowSA.
Challenge for Women
Everyone agrees women would have to play an integral role in the society but many would disagree that it is already happening extensively. One of them is Manipuri writer activist Binalakshmi Nepram, named one of the 100 most influential persons in the world, by helping reduce armed violence.
Speaking of a paradox in the northeast, she says women are the biggest victims of gun violence but are never included in peace talks. Nepram has written four books and even pays for the pension of needy women from the royalty she receives for her books.
4-day week hikes output Well-known tech incubator Sijo Kuruvilla George says a shift in work environments from formal to completely informal is imminent and inevitable. It even helps employees perform better. He speaks of firms around the world which are shifting to four-day weeks and, contrary to general belief, increasing productivity.
The work culture is about working less but producing more. “But you get an extra 20 per cent time for yourself through a four-day week.
Google made it mandatory for employees to use this 20 per cent time to work on a project of their choice. And the result was Orkut, Gmail, AdWords,” he says.
Women must Join Politics
On the other hand, Pakistani socio-political activist Sidra Saeed thinks scientists and women need to join politics. In fact, not just women and scientists, everyone should join a political party. “A popular notion is that women are less powerful than men. But when women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa voted after several decades, they knocked out the conservatives,” she says.
Internet in Education
Not just political and women empowerment, education is also key to the growth of South Asia. Researcher Dr Ritu Dangwal thinks internet is the future of education. “In about two decades, classes will be teacher-less, like we have driver-less cars. Memorising things isn’t relevant anymore when in the real life, you have internet to tell you everything. Teachers will become evaluators and internet access must be allowed in exams with questions that are not predictable,” said Dr Dangwal. She is working on a project, School in the Cloud, to allow students browse the internet and pick up reading comprehension skills.
Skills for Employment
But jobs are critical to the economy and youths. Abhinav Madan of the Gram Tarang Employability Training Services is helping train rural youths to get jobs in metropolitan cities. He says there are dropouts not because of poverty but because our education doesn’t provide us skills to get jobs.
Dignity of Labour
Bhutanese MP Novin Darlami says the stigma of a blue collar job must go. “There are enough of hard labour jobs, but the youths do not want them,” he says.
