India's biotech queen Kiran Mazumdar elected to MIT board
Bengaluru, June 28: India's biotech queen Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw got elected as a full-term member of the MIT Corporation, the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), her company Biocon announced on Thursday.
"Shaw is among the eight members who will serve the five-year term on the Board from July 1," said the city-based biotech firm in a statement here.
Shaw, 65, is a pioneer of the Indian biotech sector and founder-chairperson of Biocon, a global drug maker for affordable and accessible healthcare.
"I am honoured to be elected as a full-time member of the MIT Board and look forward to contributing to its journey of making a difference in solving challenges of the world," she said.
A first-generation entrepreneur and a thought leader, Shaw is ranked among the world's most influential people in bio-pharma by Fierce Biotech, Forbes magazine's 'World's 100 Most Powerful Women' and Fortune's 'Top 25 Most Powerful Women in the Asia-Pacific region'.
She has also been ranked number one in the Business Captains category on 'Medicine Maker Power List' 2018, an index of the 100 most influential people the world over in medicine where she has been among the top 10 since 2015.
"It is inspiring to be a part of a premiere research university like MIT, which is engaged in advancing knowledge, leveraging science and technology to address fundamental human needs for food, shelter, energy, transportation and social harmony," said Shaw, who holds key positions in educational, industrial and government bodies, including expert committees of the Department of Biotechnology and governing councils of its institutes.
She is also on the board of directors of the US-India Business Council and the board of trustees of the Keck Graduate Institute at California's Claremont.
Shaw was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in 2006.
She has established a 1,400-bed medical centre here to deliver affordable cancer care to patients of socio-economic background and a non-profit research institute dedicated to treating human diseases.
Shaw graduated from Bangalore University and has a master's from Ballarat College of Melbourne University in Australia.
Ranked among the world's leading universities, the 157-year-old MIT is an independent, co-educational and privately-endowed institution, with 1,000 faculty members, 11,000 under-graduate and post-graduate students and 130,000 living alumni.
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Mamata visits Bhabanipur EVM strong room, warns against counting irregularities
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee early Friday warned against any attempt to tamper with the counting process, hours after she visited an EVM strong room in Bhabanipur, alleging possible malpractice.
Banerjee, who emerged around 12:07 am after spending nearly four hours at the counting centre for her Bhabanipur constituency housed in Sakhawat Memorial School in south Kolkata, said only one person would be allowed inside the designated counting area.
"Either the candidate or one agent can stay upstairs. I have also suggested installation of a CCTV camera for the media," she told reporters.
Stressing the need for transparency, she said, "It is essential to maintain transparency. People’s votes must be protected. I rushed here after receiving complaints. The central forces initially did not allow me to enter."
Sounding a stern note ahead of the May 4 counting, she added, "If there is any plan to tamper with the counting process, it will not be tolerated."
On Thursday evening, Banerjee had reached the Bhabanipur Assembly segment counting centre, which houses the strong room for EVMs used in the April 29 polling, citing suspicion of tampering with the machines.
She entered the premises along with her election agent and remained inside for hours, even as Kolkata Mayor and TMC candidate from the Kolkata Port segment Firhad Hakim reached the spot but could not meet her.
"I reached here upon learning that the chief minister has arrived. But I couldn’t meet her since she was already inside the premises, exercising her right as a candidate to visit strong rooms. I wasn’t allowed there. I will not be able to confirm what exactly is transpiring inside," Hakim said.
The development coincided with protests by TMC candidates Kunal Ghosh and Shashi Panja outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in north Kolkata, where they staged a sit-in alleging irregularities and possible tampering of EVMs stored in strong rooms, leading to face-offs between TMC and BJP supporters.
Earlier in a video message, Banerjee had urged party leaders, workers and polling agents to maintain a 24-hour vigil on EVM strong rooms, alleging that the BJP could attempt to tamper with the machines before counting begins.
Her remarks come amid heightened political tension in the state following a fiercely contested Assembly election, with parties closely monitoring arrangements and raising concerns over transparency.
