14th - 16th August, 2020
I.I.M.U.N. Digital Platform
The Digital Flagship Conference of India's International Movement to Unite Nations (I.I.M.U.N.) took place from the 14th-16th of August, 2020 on a specially designed platform which gave all the attendees a 3D experience of what actually happens in conferences. The conference saw the participation of 810 students from across 90 institutions spread across 60 cities of India & 23 countries globally with a theme of Uniting the world the Indian way.
A few of the committees that were simulated at this year's conference included India-Pakistan-China Summit & Akbar's Court whilst some of the topics that the students discussed included Academia in the post-pandemic era: Home-Schooling vs Brick & Mortar system of schooling, Using learnings from Arthashastra to solve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict & Question of the Caste System
Through the 3 days of conferencing, students were engaged in discussion and debate in their respective committee rooms but during the evening hours, they visited the virtual Auditorium present on the platform where the ceremonies & MUNClave speaker series took place.
On the day of the inauguration ceremony (14th of August 2020) we hosted a panel discussion led by Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Mr. Nadir Godrej, Dr. Jamshed Bharucha, Amb. Prakash Shah, Mr. Subhash Ghai & Mrs. Naina Lal Kidwai who had an in-depth discussion on the changing environment of the Education Industry in light of the pandemic & the new education policy. This segment saw the attendance of over 200+ school Owners, Directors, Chairman and Principals. After this panel discussion was a light-hearted, fun-filled conversation between Mr. Shiamak Davar & Mr. Boman Irani which was moderated by none other than Mr. Cyrus Broacha. Another major element of the inauguration ceremony was the address given by H.E. Fabrizio Hochschild - Under-Secretary-General of the U.N. & Special Advisor to the Secretary-General. Apart from this, there were several performances depicting Indian culture and a final performance by our Official Mascott - Dr. Lesle Lewis.
On day two of the conference, we celebrated the Indian Independence Day where we witnessed a virtual flag hoisting that was done by 3 Former Chief's of the Armed Forces namely General Ved Prakash Malik, Admiral R. K. Dhowan & Air Chief Marshal P. V. Naik along with Dr. Shashi Tharoor to the melodious voice of Shaan. This was followed by a panel discussion by the Former Chiefs. On this day we also had the good fortune of hosting Dr. Lobsang Sangay who is the Sikyong (President) of the Tibetan-government-in-exile.
Over and above this, adding another feather to our cap, many segments of the ceremonies were streamed live on National Television (India) and were viewed by thousands of people. Moreover, this conference platform also had various functionalities and areas for students to visit such as a Library, Lobbying Area & a lounge where numerous partners such as the United Nations put up stalls at the conference.
