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Forbes India Launches its 1st Anniversary Issue

Published: May 21, 2010 11:09:38 AM IST
Updated: Jun 2, 2010 03:28:53 PM IST
Forbes India Launches its 1st Anniversary Issue
Image: Vikas Khot

Champions of capitalism and market economics shared the dais with proponents of equitable and softer growth, at the panel discussion at Forbes India's first anniversary event on Thursday evening in Mumbai. The event, held at Landmark store, Palladium, High Street Phoenix, Mumbai, saw a good turnout of luminaries from the business world.

Film actor Aamir Khan, Planning Commission member Arun Maira and Raghav Bahl, Founder and Editor, Network18, led a panel discussion on ‘Ideas to Change the world’. The magazine’s anniversary issue based on the same theme, features essays by eminent thinkers ranging from Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus to neurologist Mriganka Sur and public health activist Abhay Bang.

The trio of Khan, Maira and Bahl also launched The Best of Forbes India, a coffee table book featuring a selection of articles from magazine over the past one year. The book is under production and will be released in June.

Speaking at the panel discussion, Maira said there was a need for a softer capitalism. He talked about the need to look beyond the stock market and GDP indicators to measure the success of a society. He said that there is a need to measure inequalities in our society better and work at eliminating them rather than merely celebrating wealth creation.

Aamir Khan echoed a similar need to create a more caring society albeit through better education. He said his two block buster movies, Taare Zameen Par and 3 Idiots, offered critiques of the Indian education system, and had led him to believe that as a society we need to value human values more than monetary success. He spoke about the need to make education more inclusive and the teaching profession more lucrative so that the best minds opt for it.

“We must learn to celebrate goodness,” Khan said referring to the fact that he thinks India needs to be gentler and less competitive. Asked if being more gentle would mean being weaker, Khan said gentle could also be strong when needed.

Bahl, whose book, Superpower? The Amazing Race between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise, will be out soon, talked about how the 21st Century would be the first time since the 18th Century when India and China would be global super powers.

The discussion was moderated by Senthil Chengalvarayan, President and Editorial Director, TV18 and the host of the Forbes India Show, and will be broadcast on CNBC TV18.

You can view more launch function photos here: http://bit.ly/9A76n3


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