Friends, Reproduced below is the standard reply (also refer the news item at sl. no. III. below) from Ms. Courtney Fingar, Editor, fDi - Foreign Direct Investment in response to the protest mails that she has received deriding the decision of the magazine to honour Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister, with the ‘FDI Asian Personality of the Year [2009]’ (ref. sl. no. II. below) award. As is quite clear, the Magazine, under the impact of massive protests has backtracked: "Following a review prompted by the ongoing investigation into the 2002 Gujarat riots, fDi has decided to present its award to Gujarat state, rather than Mr Narendra Modi, the state's chief minister." That's a victory of sorts and no doubt gratifying. But the possibility that Modi will still be there to claim the award on behalf of the state of Gujarat, by virtue of being its Chief Minister, cannot be totally ruled out.
Under the circumstances, we must keep insisting that the citation should categoriaclly refer to the Gujarat pogrom and denunciation of Modi as its chief architect. But that's rather unlikely to happen. So we have got to be proactive about any possible grant of visa to Modi without which he cannot attend the award giving ceremony. So we must be on the alert and apply your minds. *Is anyone ready to volunteer to gather info on the timing of the ceremony and the authorities who have to be approached in order to scuttle any grant of visa etc.?* Sukla I/III. Thank you for your email and for sharing your views with us -- please know that they have been taken onboard. Following a review prompted by the ongoing investigation into the 2002 Gujarat riots, fDi has decided to present its award to Gujarat state, rather than Mr Narendra Modi, the state's chief minister. fDi would like to clarify that the criteria of the award has always remained focused on rewarding the success of a region in attracting foreign investment. The award is in recognition of Gujarat state’s ability to attract an outstanding volume of inward foreign investment. Gujarat increased that volume by more than 50% over the past year for a total of 10.3% of all foreign investment into India. Mr Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time of the riots. Mr Modi’s alleged role in connection to the riots is under investigation but he denies any responsibility. fDi has also decided to highlight the geographic regions of all the other winners. The magazine is keen to maintain its primary focus on reporting on the effectiveness of different economic regions and rewarding innovative and effective promotional strategies. *Courtney Fingar** Editor fDi - Foreign Direct Investment Financial Times Business www.fdimagazine.com* ********************************************************************************** This email was sent by a company owned by Pearson plc, registered office at 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL. Registered in England and Wales with company number 53723 [The operative text is available at < http://www.fdimagazine.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/3028/Amendment_to_Asia_fDi_award.html >.] II. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/modi-named-fdi-asian-personality-of-the-year/507174/ Modi named ‘FDI Asian Personality of the Year’ *Press Trust of India* Posted: Aug 26, 2009 at 0329 hrs *Gandhinagar* Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been named the winner of the ‘FDI Asian Personality of the Year’ awards by FDI Magazine of the Financial Times group. The award recognises political and business leaders around the globe, who have been proactive, dynamic and innovative in securing foreign investment and improving the business environment of their jurisdiction, an official statement said on Tuesday. According to the statement, Gujarat had last year attracted 2.8 billion dollars in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which is 10.3 per cent of total FDI in the country. This is 57 per cent more than previous year's figures, the release said. The statement said that Gujarat has seen economic growth of about 10 per cent year-in, year-out, the fastest growth rate of any state in India. III.<http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gujarat-to-get-asia-fdi-award-not-modi/511656/> http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gujarat-to-get-asia-fdi-award-not-modi/511656/ Gujarat to get Asia fDi award, not Modi * * Press Trust of India *London* A UK-BASED business magazine announced on Wednesday that it has decided to confer the Asia fDi award to the state of Gujarat instead of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, as his “alleged role in the (2002) riots is under investigation”. “Following a review prompted by the ongoing investigations into the riots, fDi has decided to present its award to the state, rather than Narendra Modi, the state’s Chief Minister,” fDi magazine, published by business daily Financial Times, said in a statement. The statement, however, did not mention as to whether the honour was initially announced for Modi. The magazine said the award was in recognition of Gujarat’s ability to attract an outstanding volume of inward foreign investment. “Gujarat increased that volume by more than 50 per cent over the past year for a total of 10.3 per cent of all foreign investment into India,” it said. “Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time of the riots. His alleged role in connection to the riots is under investigation, but he denies any responsibility,” added the statement. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
