New York: The US House of Representatives has unanimously passed a bill to establish several educational programmes and a foundation to promote the legacies of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, the two great champions of non-violence.
The bill, Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative Act, adopted on Thursday by a voice vote, was sponsored by the late civil rights leader, John Louis, last December and the co-sponsors included Representatives Ami Bera, Ro Khanna and Pramila Jayapal.
The bill seeks to set up exchange programmes for scholars and undergraduate and post-graduate students from the two countries on social justice and human rights and the Gandhi-King Global Academy within the US Institute of Peace.
It also proposes setting up the US-India Gandhi-King Development Foundation to give out grants to NGOs in India for action on humanitarian, environmental, climate change and development issues.
One of the features of the educational component, the “Gandhi King Scholarly…