Gautam Adani defends India's handling of COVID-19
Amid talk of his infrastructure conglomerate venturing into the media space, billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday said media coverage cannot be biased under the garb of press freedom and criticism should not be at the cost of national dignity. Addressing the JP Morgan India Investor Summit, the head of the port-to-energy Adani Group defended India's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We ignored how well the nation handled the crisis: Adani
"In a rush to lay blame and find fault, it was ignored how well a nation with people more than Europe, North America, and Oceania handled COVID-19," he said. "Perhaps we could have done things better and, every life lost is a tragedy," he said.
In a democracy, accountability has to be fixed: Adani
"But the sheer size of our population arguably makes the challenge posed by COVID-19 in India greater than in any other major nation," he said. Stating he wasn't implying that there cannot be any criticism, he said in democracy, accountability has to be fixed. "Criticism cannot be at cost of national dignity. It cannot be at the cost of degrading a nation," he added.
Media coverage cannot be biased: Adani
Adani, who a couple of days back hired a senior journalist to head his group's media venture, said media coverage cannot be biased under the garb of press freedom. "There is always another side of the story which unfortunately wasn't told," he said.
Adani Group has appointed Sanjay Pugalia as Editor in Chief
Adani Group appointed Sanjay Pugalia, who previously worked with BBC radio, Navbharat Times, Zee News, Star News, CNBC, and Quint, as the chief executive officer and Editor in Chief. The appointment has triggered speculations of the Adani Group's possible launch of a TV and digital media venture. The group has so far not commented on the speculations.
India is vaccinating around 10 million people every day: Adani
At the summit, Adani said India has more people than Europe, North America, and Oceania put together, which means that India's vaccination effort is larger than the combined efforts of 87 other countries. "For comparison, while the daily vaccination count in the US is currently around 8,00,000, India is vaccinating 12 times that number or around 10 million people every day," he said.
India has suffered drastic consequences of COVID-19: Adani
India, he said, has suffered some of the most drastic consequences of COVID-19. "Whatever our views, we can all agree that India had nothing to do with the virus, yet has suffered some of its most drastic consequences," he said, adding the pace at which the country has accelerated its vaccination program, despite all the hurdles, is unmatched.
