Sadanand Dhume a columnist and member of a conservative think tank was invited to speak at the Wharton School conference on India as was Narendra Modi, Gujarat CM.

Now Dhume has pulled out of the conference saying the school's withdrawal of Narendra Modi's invitation to speak through a video link accounts to little more than ritual humiliation and naked partisanship by the conference organisers.

Dhume confirmed he is not a supporter of the Gujarat chief minister and that Modi remains a divisive influence in India. Dhume is the third speaker opting out of the Wharton conference.

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An Uzbek woman had spent 18 years looking for her son who was taken away by her Indian husband when he was just three months old. She said her husband let her board a flight in Kenya and then fled with their infant son to India.

Through Interpol and social networks she located the whereabouts of her son in Dubai and thanks to Dubai police who arranged the reunion of the now young man and his mother they were reunited when he invited her to dinner with his European girl-friend.

At the reunion the mother gave him the teddy bear that he had when he was a baby.

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Hemant Gawande, originally from Goa, posted a goodbye message on Facebook with a picture of his slit wrists, before he jumped off the Zuari Bridge and ended his life.

Onlookers tried to persuade him not to jump and alerted the police who pleaded with the young man not to jump. But he took the fatal plunge.

Hemant had gone to Goa last November on vacation and was scheduled to return in the next few weeks. The reason for his suicide is said to possibly be an unrequited love affair with a Facebook friend.

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Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania's student body invited BJP leader and Gujarat Chief Minister to be a keynote speaker at the Wharton India Economic Forum, and he agreed to address the session through video conference.

Now the management of Wharton is reportedly having second thoughts on Modi's participating and may ask for his name to be dropped from the list of speakers.

Since its inception 16 years the Wharton India Economic Forum has emerged as one of the largest and most prestigious India-focused conferences.

Other invitees for the forum this year are Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Milind Deora, Gautam Adani, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar.

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Briefly, here are a few pointers on the various measures announced:

- If you have a taxable income of over Rs.1 crore in India, you will be subjected to a surcharge of 10 percent, which at this time is proposed only for year 2013-14.
- Now a Tax Residency Certificate will not be sufficient condition to claim treaty benefits, and at this point it is still unclear what other conditions are in the Finance Bill.
- NRIs receiving royalties from India for technical services will be taxed at 25 percent instead of 10 percent.
- Good news. The Finance Minister has raised the duty free limit for NRIs bringing gold into the country.
- A new interest rate deduction on low ticket housing loans for first time home buyers in India
- A pledge by the finance ministry to make doing business in India easy, friendly and mutually beneficial, promises improvement in policies almost across the board. SMEs are included in this ambit

Of course there is much much more to consider and measure, something best done by consultants and experts who are equipped to help NRIs with their plans.

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