The United States has announced the launch of the Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative from today which honours the legacies of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and draws on the long history of friendship and shared interests between the United States and India.

The initiative brings together 20 emerging young civic leaders from India and the US to advance civil rights, social justice, and inclusion on the local, national and international levels by exploring the histories and legacies of two stalwarts.

While Mahatma Gandhi dedicated his life to the peaceful empowerment of the people of India and to the end of colonial rule, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the social movements against segregation, discrimination, racial injustice, and poverty in the United States.

After travelling to India in 1959, Dr. King effectively applied Gandhi’s principles to create positive social change through the American civil rights movement.

According to the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the exchange opens on June 15 with a one-week virtual program and orientation followed by a two-week academic residency hosted at Alabama A&M University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and the University of Alabama.

The exchange will seek to develop participants' leadership skills and equip them with the tools and networks to support the listed endeavours. In addition to classroom learning and discussion, participants will visit civil rights sites in Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Atlanta, Georgia.

In January 2023, the Indian and US participants will reconvene in India to visit important sites, communities, and organizations that build upon their academic curriculum, which is centered around the academic themes of peace, nonviolence, and conflict resolution and build their leadership capacities.

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