When Boston was covered with almost half a foot of snow, Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad arrived    to deliver keynote address at the Harvard India Conference at John F. Kennedy School of Government, and to interact with the Greater Boston community & technology leaders. Soon after his flight touched down at 8 am on Friday, February 5, he attended half a dozen meetings despite the jetlag and the snow storm.

Global Indians for Bharat Vikas (www.gibv.org), Global Indian Business Council (www.globalindiabusiness.org) collaborated with   the Indian Consulate, Computer Society of India,     South Asian Arts Council, and other leaders/volunteers to organize two events. The first one was a roundtable at the Taj hotel where over 35 technology leaders interacted with the minister. Several major tech companies from Boston area, such as, EMC, Fidelity Investments, Vanu Enterprise participated along with MIT Tata Center for Technology & Design, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Boston and MassTech Collaborative.

Mr. Prasad presented the progress in various sectors under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He elaborated progress in Telecommunications, Information Technology, and Postal Services. Since his appointment as the Cabinet Minister for Communications and Information Technology in May 2014, he has been spearheading the task of reviving India’s telecom sector. He noted that India is sitting at the cusp of a digital revolution. He is also leading Prime Minister Modi’s flagship project ‘Digital India’ to provide good governance through Information Technology.

The participants presented their services and products, and asked how they could get involved in 'Digital India' and "Make in India' initiatives. Mr. Prasad responded to each and every question. He encouraged all to come to India to collaborate and invest. Vanu Bose of Bose Corporation and Vanu, Inc. said: “The minister was quite impressive in his knowledge on a wide range of subjects”.

Kanchan Banerjee, Vice President of Global Indian Business Council, a networking organization for small and medium sized businesses chaired the event.  In his welcome address he noted the historical link between India and USA, and the state of Massachusetts in particular. The two great democracies have been working together in the areas of bilateral and global interests. Pramit  Maakoday, Vice President of Computer Society of India international welcomed the minister.  The event was attended by several state and city officials.  Amit Dixit of South Asian Arts Council introduced Chief John Barros, Head of Economic Development, and City of Boston who welcomed the minister on behalf of the Mayor of Boston Mr. Martin Walsh. The first Indian-American State Representative of the state of New Hampshire, Mrs. Latha Mangipudi offered cooperation between her state and India.

After the Roundtable, the minister visited the State House and had a meeting with Governor Charlie Baker.

In the evening, a community reception was organized by local Indian American organizations. Despite bad weather and poor road conditions a large number of people attended the event.

Mr. Prasad was greeted with cheers as he presented success stories of the present NDA government. He asked the audience to come to India and to do their part in helping India find her rightful place among the leading nations. The minister received a very positive response from the audience. The youngest ever Indian-American State Representative Niraj Antani from Ohio greeted the minister. Pawan Roy, executive committee member, GIBV gave the vote of thanks. Several organizations and their members participated in and supported the event: GIBV, GIBC, Om Hindu Community Center (OM-HCC.org), IAGB, Orissa Association, North South Foundation, New England Hindi Manch, Ekal Vidyalaya, SewaUSA, Samskrita Bharati and others.

Overall these programs were very successful. Hosted by the Indian Consulate in New York, the Greater Boston community is highly appreciative of Mr. Prasad’s visit.

For more information, please contact:
Kanchan Baenrjee, forkanchan@gmail.com 617-306-6609
Pramit Maakoday mpramit@gmail.com
Pawan Roy  pawan.thinks@gmail.com