Wharton cancels Modi's keynote address

March 4, 2013

Modis_keynote_addressWashington, Mar 3: The prestigious Wharton school today cancelled the keynote address of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi following uproar from a section of university professors and students on the invitation.

The organising committee of the prestigious annual event apologized for putting the university and the Wharton School administration in a "difficult position".

It said Modi's address would be replaced by a prominent Indian leader, whose name would be released very soon.

But standing by its decision to invite Modi for the event, the organising committee hoped to invite him later some time without causing such a distraction as it has done now.

"Mr Modi's keynote address at Wharton India Economic Forum has been cancelled," the Wharton India Economic Forum said in a statement.

Modi was invited to deliver the keynote address at the Forum to be held in Philadelphia on March 22-23 via videoconference.

"We hope to have Mr Modi speak at a more appropriate forum where he can interact with students without the distraction of this kind of attention," the statement said.

A group of Wharton's professors and students had written a strongly-worded letter saying they are outraged to learn that the Forum has invited Modi as a keynote speaker.

The letter noted, "This is the same politician who was refused a diplomatic visa by the United States State Department on March 18, 2005 on the ground that he, as Chief Minister, did nothing to prevent a series of orchestrated riots that targeted Muslims in Gujarat."

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is expected to address the Forum on March 23.

"With all the chosen speakers across multiple keynotes and panels, our goal as a team is to provide a neutral platform to encourage cross pollination of ideas as we all work towards contributing to India's success.

"Through this ideology, we hope to present multiple opinions and ideas to our audiences and supporters across the world and constructively contribute to the intellectual milieu for which University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton School stand," the statement said.

Arguing that they do not endorse any political views and do not support any specific ideology, the Forum said their goal as a team is only to stimulate valuable dialogue on India's growth story, where students and audiences can interact with influential leaders from across India.

The student organising body was extremely impressed with Mr. Modi's credentials, governance ideologies, and leadership, which was the primary reason for his invitation, it said.

"However, as a responsible student body within the University of Pennsylvania, we must consider the impact on multiple stakeholders in our ecosystem," it explained.

"Our team felt that the potential polarizing reactions from sub¬segments of the alumni base, student body, and our supporters, might put Mr Modi in a compromising position, which we would like to avoid at all costs, especially in the spirit of our conference's purpose," the statement said.

Asserting that it stands by its decision to invite Modi, the organising committee said it believes that this course of action would be the most appropriate in light of the reactions of the multiple stakeholders involved.

"Therefore, we as a team, would like to apologize for being a catalyst may have put Mr. Modi and the Wharton School administration in an difficult position," it said.

The Wharton India Economic Forum, an annual student run India-centric conference started in 1996, aims to bring together business and political leaders, professionals, academics and students from across

the world to discuss India's evolution into a global economic power, the key social, political and financial challenges which still stand in its way and possible solutions.

The committee said it is in the last stages of finalizing an additional keynote address to complete its lineup.

"This keynote will be delivered by a very prominent Indian leader and will be announced very soon on our website," it added.

Among other eminent invited guests to the conference include Milind Deora, the Union Minister of State for IT and Communications; Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group; actress Shabana Azmi, poet and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar.

Earlier keynote speakers have included former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, BJP leader Varun Gandhi and industrialist Anil Ambani.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Dehradun, Jan 6: Universities are centres of learning and will not be allowed to become "addas" of politics, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' has said.

The minister was replying to questions from reporters in Haldwani on Sunday about protests against the amended Citizenship Act across university campuses.

"Universities are centres of learning where the country's future is in the making. We cannot let them become addas of politics," Nishank said.

He accused the opposition parties of trying to turn the universities into hotbeds of politics.

The new legislation passed by Parliament aims to grant citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had taken refuge in India and there is nothing wrong in it, the Union Minister said

"When Pakistan was created, the population of religious minorities there stood at 22 per cent. Today it is a minuscule 3.7 per cent. Persecuted on the basis of their religion, they sought sanctuary in India. The CAA is meant only to grant them citizenship," he said.

Terming the law humanitarian, the minister said it was going to make no difference to the status of Muslims in India and wondered why the Congress was making such a hue and cry about it.

Nishank's press conference in Haldwani was part of the BJP's campaign to create awareness in favour of the amended Citizenship Act.

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News Network
June 12,2020

New Delhi, Jun 12: Petrol price on Friday was hiked by 57 paise per litre and diesel by 59 paise a litre as oil companies adjusted retail rates - the sixth straight day of increase in rates since oil firms ended an 82-day hiatus of rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 74.57 per litre from Rs 74, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 72.81 a litre from Rs 72.22, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary in each state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or value added tax.

This is the sixth consecutive daily increase in rates since oil companies on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

In six hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 3.31 per litre and diesel by Rs 3.42.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Mar 11: In a bid to keep its flock together, the crisis-hit Madhya Pradesh Congress has decided to shift its 92 MLAs either to Jaipur or some other place.

The move comes after 22 Congress MLAs loyal to former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned on Tuesday, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse.

"We are going to take our 92 MLAs and those supporting our Madhya Pradesh government to a hotel," a senior Congress leader said on Wednesday.

The legislators would be taken either to Jaipur or some other Congress-ruled state like Chhattisgarh, a party source said.

Apart from its own MLAs, the Congress is also keeping a close watch on four Independents who are supporting the party-led state government.

On Tuesday, 22 Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh resigned soon after Scindia quit the party.

The development reduced the Congress government in the state to minority.

The state Congress unit is now making all efforts to save the Kamal Nath-led government.

The BJP on Tuesday night shifted its MLAs to Manesar at Gurugram in Haryana, sources in the saffron party said.

The Congress, whose tally before the rebellion was 114, has a wafer-thin majority in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly whose current effective strength is 228.

It also has the support of four Independents, two BSP legislators and one SP MLA, but some of them are now likely to switch sides to the BJP.

The BJP has 107 seats in the state Assembly.

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