The Indian American Forum for Political Education held its 10th annual internship program entitled “Empowering Our Next Generation” on April 12th at the Starr Auditorium, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. The interns chosen for the year 2003 were Divya Mittal, Ipshita Ghosh, Ipsita Banerjee, Preeti Balakrishnan, Priya Sequeira, Rusik Mundhe, Supriya Sharma,Tina Wadhwa, Vasudha Talla and Vinita Kamath.

Upendra Chivukula, Assemblyman-District 17, New Jersey, gave a heartwarming and inspiring talk on his transition from a village in Nellore in Andhra Pradesh to the political seat of his district in New Jersey. “I remain grateful to the education system in India” he said, “If I am here today it is because I am indebted to what the country of my birth has given me. Many of us come from an Engineering background but lack skills in communication and writing”. Citing his own example, Chivukula an author of six books, said he could overcome this with sheer will, determination and effort.

Hubert Jones, Commentator for WCVB- Channel 5, Five on Five, and race relations expert agreed that communities of both African American and Indian American can invite each other to form a basis for coalition politics based on trust and build strong relationships. He said “as much as we try to blend in with the dominant culture, we pay a high psychological price in giving up our own community values”. He shared his view on the path of leadership which included the need to build social capital, personal integrity and good performance, developing a voice in shaping public opinion and being a visionary.

Debashish Mishra, Chairperson of SAALT, South Asian American leaders of tomorrow, spoke on the need to establish a serious and broad agenda and creating leaderships because in his words” they are the ones who are willing to take risks. Internships programs are rare. There is a lot of demand but few resources. We should be able to afford more than what we have right now. As successful Indian Americans we should not absolve ourselves of this responsibility,” he said. “Before September 11, we were feeling very good about ourselves as a community” Yet now issues like Hate Crime, racial profiling etc have to be tackled united.

Jigna Parekh of Project IMPACT said that outreach events such as these exemplified the community’s ability to get involved and develop leadership. She also highlighted the group’s mentoring programs. “Get involved, voice your opinion, provide the youth with role models in the area of politics for future generations” was the basis of her talk.

Pooja Shukla and Aparna Upadhyay, Interns of 1997, recognized each and every one of the current interns and thanked the past interns for their active involvement and tremendous effort. . The most hearteniong aspect for them “was the fact that the young interns are so actively involved in the process that they are empowering other Indian Americans to become engaged in the political process”. Rahul Sakhuja, a past intern was the moderator in the discussion and question and answer session.

Mr. Rath, Consul General presented the Kalpana Chawla Award to Vinita Kamath instituted for the first time for an intern who exemplified the qualities of bravery, courage and commitment which Kalpana Chawla embodied. He also touched on the burgeoning Indo US relations and growing profile of the Indian Americans and how forums such as these provided a boost to the next generation on what they can do and achieve

Vanita Shastri, President , IAFPE, Massachusetts chapter, in her welcome address gave an overview of the activities of the Forum. She appealed to all Indian Organizations to unify so that “regional groups, while promoting the diversity of India can come together on common issues that the Forum can address. “ Since the scenario has changed drastically after 9/11, instances like the Lowell Hate Crime incident brought to the fore the positive effect of a unified community to solve these issues.” she said.

Sudhir Parikh, President of the National Forum congratulated the Massachusetts chapter for its ten years of good and solid work. He made a gift of $500 to the internship program and invited one and all to the May 22nd event which will honor 5 congressmen in Washington DC

Ravi Sakhuja, Chair 2003 Internship Program stated that the real strength lay among the young people. “Our aspiration is to educate the younger people and engage them in the political process”. Programs such as the IAFPE help cultivate future leaders for our community and the American society He thanked the past interns for their active and enthusiastic involvement in the forum.

The IAFPE internship program is piloting a summer program that will have biweekly action seminars wherein it will bring community leaders and activist to develop new ideas. It will also use past interns to collaborate on joint projects with the forum. Past interns will participate and develop a program on Hate crimes.

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