KIYOTAKA AKASAKA
Kiyotaka Akasaka is the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.
Akasaka also served as Coordinator for Multilingualism in the UN Secretariat.
A career diplomat, Mr. Akasaka has served several multilateral organizations in different capacities like the Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD, Deputy Director-General in the Multilateral Cooperation Department of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, top negotiator in the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change in December 1997, the Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations. Previously, he worked at the Secretariat of the GATT and the WHO.
In his interaction with the IIS probationers, he discussed future of media and its challenges, the differences between western and eastern media, Indian print media, as well as gave an overeall picture of Japanese media.
RAJESH TAILANG
Actor/Writer/Director
He Graduated from National School of Drama with specialization in Acting.He has acted in over 350 shows of 50 major plays.He has acted in more than 500 episodes of different serials ad 17 films.
He conducted delightful lessons on being effective communicators and a workshop on Voice Modulation for the probationers.
A DIDAR SINGH
Alwyn Didar Singh is Secretary General, FICCI.He is a former civil servant who until recently served as the Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. Prior to this, he was Member (Finance), National Highways Authority of India, Department of Road Transport and Highways at New Delhi.
He has also served as Joint Secretary with the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Ministry of Commerce (Foreign Trade). Dr. Singh has hands-on experience in the area of e-Commerce and e-Business, having been Managing Director of two Information Technology enterprises in Punjab, India where he was instrumental in establishing an IT Park and satellite earth station
at Mohali in late 90’s. He has the distinction of having done the first PhD in India on the Policy and Administration of e-Commerce.Dr. Didar Singh is an internationally known expert in e-Commerce and ICT development.
He gave the probationers an insight on e-governance, its implementation and the challenges ahead.
SUHASINI HAIDAR
Foreign Affairs Editor, CNN-IBN & Anchor
Suhasini Haidar, is a Sr. editor and prime time anchor for India’s leading 24-hour English news channel CNN-IBN, also hosting the signature show, ‘World View with Suhasini Haidar’. She is a regular columnist on Indian Foreign Policy and Strategic Issues for national dailies such as The Hindu, Business Standard and The Indian Express. Over the course of her 17-year career, Suhasini has covered the most challenging stories and conflicts from the most diverse regions including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Libya, Lebanon and Syria. In India, she has covered the external affairs beat for over a decade and her domestic assignments include in-depth reportage from Kashmir. Suhasini is the only journalist to have interviewed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his family, a show that won the prestigious Indian Television Academy award as ‘Best Chat show’ for the year.
She shared her valuble experience as an anchor and taught probationers how to face camera.
UJJAWAL MAITRA
He is Producer at BBC World service Trust. Before joining BBC he had many credentials like BIG FM’s Regional Programme Head, Programming director at radio city, delhi, and Transmission executive at All India Radio.
His interaction with IIS probationers focussed on the campaign of BBC Media Action in collaboration with Bill and melinda Gates Foundation and Bihar govt aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality rate. Importance of simple yet effective communication at ground level highlighted.
HIMANSHU SHEKHAR-NDTV
IIS Officer Trainees 