ISB’s Deccan Dialogue to focus on Covid management

Telangana Industries Minister K T Rama Rao, central ministers, bureaucrats, diplomats and industry captains to speak at the digital event

Indian School of Business (ISB) in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India, is organising the third edition of Deccan Dialogue today, on a digital platform.

This annual flagship event of ISB offers a platform for various stakeholders to engage and deliberate on emerging aspects of diplomacy, development and India’s external engagement. DNV Kumara Guru, director, External Relations, ISB shares with Y V Phani Raj, theme, uniqueness and the expected outcome from the event. Excerpts:

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Virtual platform

The ongoing pandemic has disrupted our lives in more ways than we can imagine. Our previous two editions of Deccan Dialogue held at our Gachibowli campus in 2018 and 2019 attracted around 600 participants on an average.

However, in the spirit of having to carry on with life normally to the extent possible, we decided to hold Deccan Dialogue on a virtual platform. The Ministry of External Affairs has been very supportive towards this and has joined hands with ISB on this digital journey.

Significance of theme

We live in very uncertain times. An invisible virus has managed to upset global superpowers, expose the fragility of our lives and has disrupted well-established protocols in every aspect of life. The third edition of Deccan Dialogue will deliberate on the theme of ‘Crisis and Cooperation: Imperative in the times of Pandemic’.

It is imperative that all stakeholders keep pace with the changes and engage in a policy dialogue where international, national, and local stakeholders can come together to jointly address and respond to the crisis. Covid-19 has brought out some important challenges across the globe that would need coordinated and co-operated action. The event will focus on finding out better strategies to build a self-reliant India, in the post-Covid scenario.

Speakers’ profile

External Affairs minister Dr Jaishankar is delivering the keynote address while ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and K T Rama Rao will be speaking at the valedictory session. Former Foreign Secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran, Secretary Economic Relations Rahul Chhabra, Ambassador Dammu Ravi, Ambassador C Rajasekhar and Israel Ambassador to India Ron Malka will be speaking at the event.

We have captains of industry like Sunil Kant Munjal, past president of CII, Sangita Reddy, president of FICCI and Debjani Ghosh, president of Nasscom and Dr Krishna Ella of Bharat Biotech. Dean Rajendra Srivastava from ISB is joined by Deputy Dean Milind Sohoni, Senior Associate Dean Chandan Chowdhury and Professor Sarang Deo. Over 1,500 delegates have registered to attend from across the country.

Key takeaways

We see two key takeaways. First, the role of States is increasingly important as we focus on decentralised cooperation as the way forward. States like Telangana are leaders on this front and we are delighted to play a small but significant role in the State’s development agenda.

Second, for far too long public discourse around foreign policy was limited only to Delhi with a token presence elsewhere. Through MEA’s partnership, ISB has been able to slowly build a brand called Deccan Dialogue that will put Hyderabad on the map of this country as the venue for a world-class conference on foreign policy, business and diplomacy.

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