The Bill has been pending in Lok Sabha since May 2010.

Meanwhile, Zimmer replied in the negative when asked if the alleged harassment of the student from his university would have any impact on visits by academicians to India.

Students were eager to undertake study trips to India, he said, adding that, "We send students across the world who face different cultures. People have different kinds of reactions. At our end, we tell students how to prepare and take care of themselves."

Michaela Cross, a Chicago university student, had described India as "a traveller's heaven and a woman's hell" after a study trip to the country.

She had given an account of the trip last year, during which she alleged she experienced relentless sexual harassment, groping and worse.

The university centre which Zimmer inaugurated today would be devoted to research activities cutting across academic disciplines and will open its doors in March next year.

It will be a home for research and education for the Chicago university faculty, graduate students and undergraduates working in India and throughout South Asia. It will also extend its facilities to Indian researchers.

The centre will promote scholarship and teaching in economics, law and policy, science, energy, medicine and public health, culture, society, religion and arts.

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