Guest Lecture – Dr. Deepak Vohra

Venue: Adarsh Memorial Auditorium

Date: June 21, 2022

Time: 11 am to 1.15 pm

“न हि ज्ञानेन सदृशं“. There’s no equivalent to knowledge. All that we need is to have our eyes and ears wide open to tap the opportunities to earn a wealth of knowledge. You never know when the opportunity to learn comes calling; IBAians have run into one such wonderful opportunity on June 21, 2022.

A session by Ambassador *Dr. Deepak Vohra, a senior diplomat and a Special Advisor to the Prime Minister in Africa was held.

Generation X and Y relived the 1980s, as they realised that they would never have missed the familiar face on Doordarshan then; and the Millennials couldn’t believe the fact that they were right in front of a person whom they wouldn’t even miss watching on various talk shows on television, discussing on the foreign affairs, India’s stance and chance on global platforms, the contemporary issues bothering India (from within and from outside) and many more.

Dr. Manish Jain, Founder & Chairman of Indus Business Academy, Bangalore offered a floral welcome to Dr. Deepak Vohra. The guest, then lit the lamp of knowledge accompanied by Dr. Manish Jain, Dr. Subhendu Dey, Director and Members of the faculty & staff on stage along with a student. The aura emanated from the light marked the beginning of a remarkable session that was in the offing.

Prof. Nagendra Hegde introduced the guest to the audience.

The audience was held on to the edge of the seats throughout the next 2 hours, as Dr. Vohra shared scintillating stories from his international experience. The transformation story of India from the 1970s to 2022 flew in eloquently enough to captivate the gathering. India’s journey from being conquered to a self-dependent nation was well-explained. It was very enthralling to learn how India converted its diversity into her strength every time she found herself in the mid of a crisis, be it natural disasters or threats from foreign elements, etc. It was nerve-wrenching even to hear stories of India coming to the rescue of needy nations, be it fringe African countries or big Russia. Our hearts were swelling with huge pride when we understood India’s capabilities to extend her arms to the world when it looks up to India for any assistance. He reminisced the gospel that India long believed in, All in oneness, oneness in all. The narrations couldn’t have come any better from anybody, but from a person who has seen India progressing from close quarters.

Dr. Deepak Vohra spoke about the strength of a nation (Young population) in greater detail. But, he did not mince words when alerting the young about striking the right balance between literacy and common sense, aggression and procrastination, between past, present and future. At a time, when the younger generation is possibly at crossroads, the message stands quite stern and appealing.

He handled the questions from the audience with ease in the end.

He captivated the audience with his humour, storytelling abilities and sheer by his rich experience of having travelled to different places. Dr. Vohra rose to deafening applauds of IBAinas in the end.

Dr. Manish Jain, Founder and Chairman of IBA, Bangalore handed him a memento as a token of appreciation. He was happy to share the announcement to induct Dr. Deepak Vohra into the board of the IBA Governing Council.

Dr. Vohra completed his visit to IBA with the planting of a sapling.

Indus Business Academy, Bangalore is deeply indebted to Dr. Deepak Vohra

and looks forward to continuing interacting with him.

He is from the Indian Foreign Service class of 1973, India’s senior-most Ambassador and has been described as one of the finest minds in the world.

He has served as an Ambassador of India to Armenia, Georgia, Sudan, South Sudan, Poland and Lithuania. He was an Officer on Special Duty to the Technology Adviser to the Prime Minister of India.

He has specialized in national renaissance issues for developing nations. Not many know that when Indian oil workers were kidnapped in Sudan, Ambassador Vohra offered himself in exchange for the hostages. No surprise that Sudan gave him its highest civilian honour and he was made the Prince of an African tribe.

Armenia awarded him with a gold medal and named a school after him.

In 2014, he went to a remote Ebola-affected area of Guinea to help the villagers despite the danger to his own life.

He is a Special Advisor to the Governments of South Sudan, Guinea-Bissau and the Kingdom of Lesotho. In 2015 and 2016, he was appointed Special Advisor to the Autonomous Hill Development Councils in the remote Ladakh region of India. He is the Chairman of a school for special children in Jodhpur and the President of the World Buddhist Centre in New Delhi.

He is very well acclaimed among National and International communities, who got immensely benefitted from his gutsy nature. He is an advisor and mentor to universities and companies in India and delivers lectures regularly to a national and international audience.