President to inaugurate Mother Teresa centenary function

NEW DELHI - President Pratibha Patil will inaugurate a commemorative meeting here to mark Mother Teresa’s birth centenary Saturday.

Sister Prema, the superior general of Missionaries of Charity (the religious order founded by Mother Teresa), representatives of different religions and political leaders will also address the function to be held at the Vigyan Bhawan here, Father Babu Joseph, convenor of the celebrations committee told IANS.

University Grants Commission chairman S. Thorat will Friday deliver the keynote address at a national symposium on Mother Teresa, the Albanian-born nun who dedicated her life to helping leprosy patients, the poor and the abandoned in Kolkata.

Navin Chawla, former chief election commissioner and biographer of Mother Teresa, Girija Vyas, chairperson of the National Commission for Women, P.K. Abdul Azis, vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University and Valson Thampu, the principal of St Stephen’s College, Delhi, will be among the speakers at the symposium.

A dance-drama based on Mother Teresa’s life will be staged at St Columba’s school here on Friday and Sunday evening. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni will Friday inaugurate the drama to be presented by Mumbai Sangeet Abhinaya Academy. Minister of State for Agriculture K.V. Thomas will attend the function Sunday.

A photo exhibition on the life and works of Mother Teresa is on display at India Habitat Centre here. Noted photographer Raghu Rai has curated the exhibition which portrays her work for the under-privileged in India and other countries during different decades.