Trump signs Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative Act

By Arun Kumar
December 28, 2020 12:03 pm 

Image from article: Martin Luther King, Jr. (left) and Mahatma Gandhi. Photo credit: White House (King) and Library of Congress 

Exchange programs to focus on the legacies of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

President Donald Trump has signed into law a bill for cooperation between US and India on the Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative providing for educational, scholarly, and professional exchange programs. 

Written by late civil rights icon John Lewis and co-sponsored by Indian American Congressman Ami Bera, it provides among other things for an annual public diplomacy forum for scholars from the United States and India that focuses on the legacies of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Another component is a professional development training initiative for government employees to develop international conflict solutions based on the principles of nonviolence developed in consultation with the president and chief executive officer of the US Institute of Peace, the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs of the Department of State, and US cooperating partners.


It also provides for an undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate student exchange for students to study the history and legacies of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi, visit historic sites in India and the United States that were integral to the American civil rights movement and the Indian independence movement, and research and develop papers on the importance of peace, nonviolence, and reconciliation in current conflict regions. 

Besides providing for $1 million, a year through fiscal 2025 for the Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative, it authorizes $2 million for just FY 2021 for the Gandhi-King Global Academy, and $30 million for 2021 for the US-India Gandhi-King Development Foundation.

To be established by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the development foundation would leverage the Indian private sector to address development priorities in India.

It would receive $15 million per year from 2022 through 2025 — but only if India’s private sector commits to match US government contributions.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the bill would cost $51 million over five years.

In 2009, late Congressman John Lewis led a congressional delegation on a visit to India to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Dr King’s pilgrimage to India. 

Inspired by his visit, Lewis created the Gandhi-King Exchange Act to seek to apply the philosophies of Gandhi and Dr King to conflict resolution efforts and current policy challenges.

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