Convocation Class of 2022
2nd July, 2022
About the Convocation
The Convocation Ceremony for the Young India Fellowship (Postgraduate Diploma in Liberal Studies) Class of 2022, is a celebration of the academic and nonacademic achievements of Fellows. This day indicates that those collecting their diplomas have completed their graduation requirements, and also marks the end of their year-long engagement with the multi-disciplinary, experiential and multi-dimensional programme.
Hereafter, Fellows commence their life-long journeys as alumni of Ashoka University, while belonging to a global and diverse community of socially-conscious leaders and changemakers.
Convocation Programme
2nd July, 2022 | 3.30 pm to 6.00 pm
The Academic Procession Arrives
Welcome Address by the Chancellor
Prof. Rudrangshu Mukherjee
Opening Address by the Vice Chancellor
Prof. Malabika Sarkar
Keynote Address by the Distinguished Chief Guest
Prof. K. VijayRaghavan
Former Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India
Dean’s Report on the Academic Year
Aniha Brar
Awarding of Diplomas and Special Awards
The Conferment and University Oath
Film by Fellows
Vote of Thanks by the Pro Vice Chancellor
Eshwara Venkatesam
National Anthem
The Academic Procession Departs
High Tea
Distinguished Chief Guest of the YIF Convocation Ceremony
Prof. K. VijayRaghavan
K. VijayRaghavan is a distinguished professor in the field of developmental genetics. He is the former Director, National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), an institution that he was instrumental in setting up. He is also the former Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, a role that he moved on from in April, 2022.
VijayRaghavan graduated with a Bachelor of Technology degree in 1975 and completed a Master’s in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1977. He was recognised as a Distinguished Alumnus by IIT Kanpur in 2003. He undertook doctoral research from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in 1983, in the field of molecular biology. During his postdoctoral work from 1984 to 1988, he was a Research Fellow and a Senior Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology.
Among his many laurels, VijayRaghavan is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1998) and the Infosys Prize in the Life Sciences (2009). He is a Fellow of The Indian National Science Academy (1999), the World Academy of Sciences (2010), the Royal Society (2012) and the American Philosophical Society (2022). He was conferred the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, on 26 January 2013. In 2014, he was elected as a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Convocation Traditions
The Processional Music – “Full Circle”
“Full Circle” reflects the various stages in the journey that Fellows undertake at the Young India Fellowship. Beginning with confusion, moving on to acceptance and even ennui, and finally ending at selfreflection, this journey is a metaphor for life and how it comes full circle. The year, and this piece, ends on a note of individual growth and greater self-awareness. This piece was composed collectively by several musicians of the YIF Class of 2018, and has been played during the academic processions of all YIF convocation ceremonies ever since.
The Embroidered Graduation Robes
Every graduating Fellow since the YIF’s inception has worn the green and red embroidered robes as a marker of tradition. The embroidery was conceived of by Tulasi Chaudhary from the Founding Class of 2012, to represent the plurality of the world in which we live, where Fellows work to build a better tomorrow. The embroidery is a symbol of the ties of continuity and community across all cohorts, and best represents its spirit - exuberant, progressive, dialogue-oriented, sophisticated and international, while being rooted to its Indian context.
The University Oath
The ancient Indian king after whom this University is named asked the question: What is Dhamma?
He answered: It is having few faults and many good deeds; mercy, charity, truthfulness and integrity.
I commit myself to these values, and through them, move from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light and from death to immortality.
DIPLOMA AWARDEES
Diploma Awardees
Aaditya Yogesh Yawalkar
Aaliyah Ali Khan
Aanchal Jain
Aarushi Saini
Abhijit Victor Gaba
Adithya S. Menon
Aditya Mukherjee Behera
Adwitia Dey
Adwityaa Jha
Aindrila Sinha
Akanksha Nathany
Akshita Iyer
Alankrita Mishra
Ali Al Jamal
Amandeep Singh Bamrah
Amartya Raj
Amit
Amitoj Singh Kalsi
Amrita K.
Ananya Jain
Ananya Srivastava
Anasuith P. Pridhvish
Anirudh G. Iyer
Ankit Sahu
Annet Mary Thankachan
Annly Anna Kurian
Anukul Tripathi
This list is provisional as on 28 June 2022
Apala Mandal
Apurva Aggarwal
Aradhana Varma
Archana Rath
Arindam Kabir
Arjun Gupta
Arnaz Shaik
Asambhava Shubha
Ashok Birendra Yadav
Asmita Banerjee
Asmita Sethi
Ayush Rawat
Ayushi Ghai
Baidehi Ghosh
Bartika Banerjee
Bhavana Paladi
Bhavika Goel
Bhuvaneshwari Ramaswamy
Chhavi Kumar
Deepakshi Arora
Deepika D. V. S. S. D.
Devica Sud
Devika Mahapatra
Dibyangee Saha
Dipsikha Mukhopadhyay
Divya Baweja
Drishti J. Verma
Driti Girrish Wadwa
Emirilda Thabah
Eureka Selvaraj
Gautam Gambhir
Gayatri Ahuja
Geetha Rukmini Thatikonda
Gyan Bhaskar Maithani
Hannan Nabi
Harika Srinivasan
Hari Varshini Murugesan
Harsha Bharat Vade
Harshita Sharma
Hiteshree Das
Honey Madhusudan Gairola
Isha Sachin Samant
Jamuna N.
Jasmin Tripathy
Jhanvi Shah
This list is provisional as on 28 June 2022
Kaavya Kumar
Kalyani Kholia
Kanchi Malhotra
Kanishk Munshi
Kashvi Juneja
Katha Ray
Kewal Singh
Komal Bhadana
Kritika Nigam
Lakshita Arora
Lasya Kalidindi
Lekha Donur
Malavika Menon
Mallika Anand
Manasi Rathore
Manaswini N. C.
Mishie Singhal
Mobasher Alam
Mruganayani Basavaraj Nagur
Mruthyunjay Rao Khumbumattu
Muskaan Gahlawat
Muskan Garg
DIPLOMA
AWARDEES
DIPLOMA AWARDEES
Nabiha Naaz
Naeem Mohammed Panakat
Namya Meshram
Nandana Bhattacharjee
Nandini Jha
Neha Gupta
Neha Mishra
Neil Khopkar
Nihaarika Singh
Niharika Suresh
Nikita Bharat Sachanandani
Nikita Narendra Aage
Nona Uppal
Padma Rigzin
Pallab Kumar Doley
Paridhi Kapil
Peeyush Nepal
Poorvi Gupta
Pragya Pal
Pranav Annur
Pratyush Bhanja
Pulkit Goyal
Radhika Chhabra
Raunak Chaudhury
Revathy K. J.
Ridhi Kapoor
Rishika Rastogi
Rishika Saria
Riya Ramakant Baheti
Riya Sachin Arolkar
Rose Chaudhary
Sabahat
Sahana Nag H. N.
Sahil Mittal
Sahil Philip
Sai Harshita Vaddadi
Sai Venkat Nihith Bodepudi
Saloni Dhadwal
Saman Waheed
Samyuktha Vibhu
Saniya Aniruddha Deshpande
Sara Rathore
Sarandeep Singh Khurana
Sathiyan S.
Sehar Abdullah
Sejal Pradeep Chandrafari
Shabdita Tiwari
Shaifali Singh
Shankar Keshav Prasad
Sharon Joslin C.
Shashank B. S.
Shefali Mehra
Shiv Aditya Kashyap
Shiva Rajora
Shivangi Shanker K.
Shivani Chhabra
Shivanshi Khanna
This list is provisional as on 28 June 2022
Shome Kabir Advani
Shreya D.
Shruti Shaileshbhai Palan
Shubham Rathore
Siddarth M.
Siddharth Das
Sivakami Prasanna
Sloka Chandra Kasapuram
Sohom Roy
Soumil Gupta
Sreethi Musunuru
Srishti Agrawal
Steven Thomas
Subhash Bhambhu
Sujay Sunil Aiyer
Surabhi Shirish Kulkarni
Swarnima Pathak
Swati Viswajit
Swayanka Sahoo
Sweja Ramachandran
Tabish Haider Gazi
Tanushree
Tarush Rajesh Dhume
Thareek Ahmed
Udayan Singh
Vagisha Bhatia
Vaibhavi Prashanth
Vaishnavi Gupta
Varun Santosh Dani
Varun Srikanth
Vibhor Batra
Vighnesh P.
Vishesh Wadhwa
Vishwajeet Mishra
Vrinda Goel
Vrushali Mohan Ghatpande
Wangchok Namgail
Yash Manish Annadate
Yashika Mandhana
Yokitha Sivasamy
Yusra Khan
Zubin Hemant Parikh
DIPLOMA AWARDEES
This list is provisional as on 28 June 2022
Photo by Rakesh Meitei
Special Awards at the YIF Convocation Ceremony
There are four kinds of special awards given to Fellows at the time of graduation. All but the Scholar Award are nomination-based, where the strength of a nomination matters more than the number of nominations received.
The Torchbearer Award
Given to the Fellow(s) who best embodies/ embody the spirit and ideals of the YIF, as seen by their conduct in all aspects of academic and extra-curricular life at the YIF.
Awardee: Shankar Keshav Prasad
The Spirit Award
Given to the Fellow(s) who has/have gone beyond the call of duty to contribute to different aspects of life at the YIF, through their creativity, energy and unrelenting pursuit to improve the experience of all involved in the programme.
Awardees: Anirudh G. Iyer and Shivanshi Khanna
The Scholar Award
Given to the Fellow(s) who has/have achieved the highest academic rank in the class and shown exceptional commitment to learning.
Awardee: Apala Mandal
This list is provisional as on 28 June 2022
Award for Outstanding Performance in the Experiential Learning Module
Given to the team(s) of Fellows which has/have overcome challenges and exceeded client expectations to achieve extraordinary results in their project work.
Awardees:
ELM Team 7 | Ananya Srivastava, Apala
Mandal, Nihaarika Singh, Saman Waheed and Sivakami Prasanna
Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality, Ashoka University | Anthology of Trans Narratives
ELM Team 15 | Hari Varshini Murugesan, Katha Ray, Riya Ramkant Baheti, Vaishnavi Gupta and Wangchok Namgail Kaivalya Education Foundation | Content Design and Development for 21st CC Education Leadership
SPECIAL
AWARDS
Photo by Rakesh Meitei
Photo by Rakesh Meitei
FACULTY AND COURSES
Faculty and Courses
A.K. Shivakumar
Economics and Public Policy: An Introduction to Applied Microeconomics
Ananth Padmanabhan
Law and Policy in India: Foundations and Transitions
Anirban Datta
Cinema and Communication: Through the Practitioner’s Gaze
Anuj Bhuwania
Federalism in India
Anunaya Chaubey
Art Appreciation
Arun Kumar Singh
Deconstructing Select Indian Foreign Policy Challenges and Responses: A Practitioner’s Perspective
Aseem Shrivastava
Introduction to Ecosophy
Bhismadev Chakrabarti
Science of Emotions and Empathy: A Toolkit of Concepts and Techniques
Debal Deb
Ecological Economics
Debayan Gupta
The New Geography of the Information Age
Deepak Mehta
Crowds of Protest, Crowds of Occupation
Dev Tayde Grassroots Community Service
Dilip Simeon
Totalitarian Century? / The Ideology Seminar
Dwight L. Jaggard
Foundations of Leadership
Gilles Verniers
Who Governs India?
Jonathan Gil Harris
Shakespeare and the World
K. P. Krishnan
An Overview of Public Policy and Regulation in India with Indian Finance as a Case Study
Kenwyn Smith
Leadership and Group Dynamics
Madhavi Menon
Shakespeare and the World
Malabika Sarkar
John Keats, Poetry and Intensity
Meenu Gaur
Visual Storytelling and Cinematic Techniques
Mekhala Krishnamurthy
Anthropology Today
Narendra Jadhav
Issues in Social Democracy and Social Justice in India
Neilesh Bose
Religion and Secularism in Global Perspective
Omkar Goswami
India’s Economy: Past, Present and Near Future
Pooja Haldea
Applied Behaviour Science: From Theory to Practice
Pramath Raj Sinha
Building Habits, Careers and Institutions
Purushottam Agrawal
Kabir: The Poet of Vernacular Modernity
Ranjan Banerjee
Design Thinking and Innovation
Ritwik Agrawal
Philosophy and Cognitive Science
Rudrangshu Mukherjee
JM Financial Lectures on Reason and the Making of Modern India
Sanjay Kathuria
Trade, Trust and Peace in South Asia
Santosh Venkatesh
Problem Solving and Statistical Thinking in Modern Life
Shahid Jameel
Understanding Pandemics
Stephanie Balme
STI as Power: The Case of China
Surinder Singh Jodhka
Indian Society: Imaginations, Structures and Identities
Urvashi Butalia
Women, Society and Changing India
FACULTY AND COURSES
Experiential Learning Module (ELM)
Supervising Faculty
Srikant Sastri
Client Organisations
Aaroogya International Breakthrough
Bunavat Retail Pvt. Ltd.
Carnegie India
Center for the Philosophy of Freedom, University of Arizona
Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality, Ashoka University
Creative Dignity
Creya Learning and Research Pvt. Ltd.
eGov Foundation
Environment Conservation Society (SwitchON Foundation)
IIM Calcutta Innovation Park Image Foundry
Indian School of Development Management
Kaivalya Education Foundation
LEAD (IFMR) at Krea University
LetsEndorse Development Pvt. Ltd.
Loopworm
MADIEE Games
National Institute of Urban Affairs
Nymble Labs Pvt. Ltd.
Office of Lok Sabha MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu
Pratham Education Foundation
Pravda Media Foundation
Pravesh Consulting
Safe in India Foundation
Spinning Wheel Leadership Foundation
STENUM Asia
Tata Steel Adventure Foundation
Teach For India
The/Nudge Foundation
TiE Delhi-NCR
TARA Foundation
ZeroPlast Labs
ELM FACULTY
AND CLIENTS
Mentors
Abhijit Dasgupta
Aditya Yadav
Amir Ullah Khan
Anchal Kakkar
Andrew Hoffland
Anil Nair
Ankur Warikoo
Anoop Prakash
Anunaya Chaubey
Aparna Sanyal
Arjun Uppal
Ashutosh Chadha
Chandra Kant
Deepti Beri
Dev Tayde
Dharmesh Makwana
Dhiraj Nayyar
Dhruv Agarwala
Estelle Metayer
Gaurav Sangtani
Gautam Sen
Gilles Verniers
Gitanjali Gandhiok
Giti Chandra
Jaya Hangal
Johannes Burgers
Krishan Dhawan
Madhavi Menon
Maloo Natarajan
Mandar Vaidya
Meenakshi Ganguly
Melanie Bowen
Nitin Mathur
Piyush Mehra
Rahul Ram
Rahul Shidhaye
Raja Natarajan
Rajen Makhijani
Rakesh Godhwani
Ravi Bhoothalingam
Ravi Singh
Ravi Sreedharan
RCM Reddy
Rizio Yohannan
Ruchir Malik
Saikat Majumdar
Sameer Shisodia
Sameer Mohan Gaokar
Samir Kuckreja
Sanjay Kukreja
Sanjeev Aggarwal
Satyam Vyas
Savyasaachi
Sheena Gandhi
Shilpa Sharma
Smarinita Shetty
Sonali Jha Chatterjee
Sudheendra Hangal
Suman Srivastava
Sushil Jhangiani
Tejpavan Gandhok
Uma Chakravarti
Unny Radhakrishnan
Upinder Singh
Vinati Kastia
Vivek Bhargava
MENTORS
About the Young India Fellowship
The Young India Fellowship (YIF) is a one year multidisciplinary postgraduate diploma programme in Liberal Studies. Started in 2011 as the precursor to and flagship programme of Ashoka University, the YIF brings together a group of bright young individuals who show exceptional intellectual ability and leadership potential, and trains them to become socially-conscious leaders and changemakers for the 21st century.
The YIF exposes them to a diverse set of subjects and perspectives, delivered by some of the finest teachers and practitioners from India and around the world. The aim is to help Fellows become wellrounded individuals who are able to think critically from multiple perspectives, communicate effectively and become leaders with a commitment to public service. Individuals from all academic, professional, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds are welcome to the YIF – and are mentored into reaching their full potential.
Photo by Utkarsh
Budholiya
About Ashoka University
Ashoka University is a pioneer in its focus on multidisciplinary education and research at par with the best in the world. It is named after Emperor Ashoka (c. 304 – 232 BC) who represents India’s highest values and ideals.
Drawing from Emperor Ashoka’s life of learning and transformation, Ashoka University provides a holistic education that is liberal, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary, offering a diverse and inclusive space for its students to think deeply and critically, learn across disciplinary boundaries, express themselves creatively, and communicate with meaning to cause impact and change.
Students are encouraged to explore ideas, engage in research, and focus on values and ideals of the highest order to experience selftransformation within the duration of their education and beyond. The 2500 plus students on campus, drawn from 30 states and over 243 cities in India and 27 other countries, receive a world-class interdisciplinary education through undergraduate and postgraduate programmes taught by internationally renowned faculty.
Photo by Rakesh Meitei
yif.ashoka.edu.in
