Hardeep Puri, Prashant Bhushan at Harvard meet

Boston, March 24 (IANS) Leaders representing India's government, business, politics, law, media and entertainment, including Hardeep Puri, India's Permanent Representative at the UN and Supreme Court lawyer and civil society activist Prashant Bhushan, will be speaking at a two-day conference here this weekend to discuss India's global standing and its future.

The discussions are part of the 9th Harvard India Conference with the theme of India: The Next Frontier, co-hosted by Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government March 24-25 at Cambridge, Massachussetts and Boston.

"India's role is subject to constant speculation, optimism and debate," said the note on the conference's objectives. " India: The New Frontier, aims to capture the nuances and contours of this debate and creates a forum for close observers of and participants in India's decision making to articulate their concerns, expectations and vision."

The conference, it said, "promises to present a clear, unbiased perspective on where India is headed over the next decade, taking with it the lives and destinies of a billion people and the attached fortunes of an integrated, increasingly dependent world."

Panel discussions with experts in their respective fields would focus on future of the Indian economy, healthcare, education, entrepreneurship, retail and energy, according to organisers.

Hardeep Puri, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Bharat Desai, chairman of Syntel Inc, Prof Nitin Nohria and Prof. Tarun Khanna, both of the Harvard Business School, are the keynote speakers at the conference.

The India-heads of Apax partners, TA Associates, TPG, New Silk Route & Tata Capital Firms will talk about the challenges and opportunities of the booming investing market in India.

Among a host of other speakers are Purno Sangma, secretary of India's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Bollywood personalities like Abhinay Deo, director of "Delhi Belly", and Ritesh Sidhwani, producer of "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara".

Jay Sean, popular Indian origin singer from London, will dwell on building a brand and successful business in the biggest entertainment market in the world.

The Tata group of companies, which gifted $50 million to the Harvard Business School, is the title sponsor of the conference.

The South Asian Times, the popular New York-based premier newspaper for the South Asian community, is the prime media sponsor of this prestigious event.