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
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Petrol price on Saturday was hiked by 59 paise per litre and diesel by 58 paise as oil companies for the seventh day in a row adjusted retail rates in line with costs since ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 75.16 per litre from Rs 74.57, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 73.39 a litre from Rs 72.81, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

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

In seven hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 3.9 per litre and diesel by Rs 4.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of a decline in international oil prices.

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News Network
February 4,2020

New Delhi, Feb 4: Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, on Tuesday attacked the BJP over Anantkumar Hegde's controversial remark on Mahatma Gandhi and termed the party as "Ravan ke aulad" (children of Ravana). "Aaj ye Mahatma Gandhi ko gaali dete hain. Ye Ravan ke aulad hain. Ram ke pujari ka ye apmaan kar rahe hain (Today, they abuse Mahatma Gandhi. They are children of Ravan. They are insulting Lord Ram's devotee)," Chowdhury said.

Later, BJP lawmakers object to Chowdhury's statement. Hegde, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Uttara Kannada, had on Saturday said that the freedom struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi was a "drama".

"None of these so-called leaders were beaten up by the cops even once. Their independence movement was one big drama. It was staged by these leaders with the approval of the British. It was not a genuine fight. It was an adjustment freedom struggle," Hegde had said while addressing a public event in Bengaluru. While several Congress leaders, including Karti Chidambaram and BK Hariprasad, have condemned Hegde's remark, BJP leaders too have distanced themselves from it.

Top leadership in BJP is unhappy with Anantkumar Hegde over his controversial remark on Mahatma Gandhi, party sources had said on Monday, adding that he has been asked to issue an unconditional apology.

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April 16,2020

New Delhi, Apr 16: South Delhi District Magistrate Brij Mohan Mishra on Thursday said that the administration is investigating how the pizza delivery boy contracted the coronavirus.

"In the last 15 days, we discovered houses he had delivered food. We contacted people living in 72 houses and they have been asked to stay in-home quarantine. No symptoms have been seen in people related to him. 

Testing of his roommate has been done and his reports are awaited. The rest of the people don't have any symptoms, they have been placed under institutional quarantine. Those in-home quarantines are also asymptomatic," Mishra said.

"Unless a positive case comes, we feel that transmission has not taken place. The boy told us that he was continuously wearing a mask while delivering the food. We are also finding out how he got infected. We are getting the information about the places he visited for delivery. He was tested on the basis of the doctor's advice. Later, he tested positive," he said.

72 families have to stay in home quarantine in the Malviya Nagar area after the delivery boy tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said that 17 other delivery boys linked with the infected person have also been placed under institutional quarantine.

"A pizza delivery boy has been detected with COVID-19 here. 17 other delivery boys linked with him have been placed under institutional quarantine and 72 people have been placed under home quarantine," Jain said.

Food delivery app Zomato said that the staff of the infected person's restaurant has delivered some orders which were placed on its platform.

"We've been made aware today that a restaurant's employee, who has been recently tested positive for COVID-19, had delivered food in the past to a few customers in the Malviya Nagar area in Delhi. All these customers have already been contacted by the govt authorities... We are not sure whether the rider was infected at the time of delivery," the company said in a statement.

Zomato also claimed that colleagues of the delivery boy have tested negative for COVID-19.
"This restaurant had instructed their riders to wear masks and follow strict hygiene to keep customers safe from any unintended mishap.

All co-workers of the said rider have been tested negative. And as a precaution, the restaurant where this rider worked has suspended operations," read the statement.

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