IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5517 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 7, 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To affirm the friendship of the governments of the United 

States of America and the Republic of India, and to 

establish a bilateral partnership for collaboration to advance development and shared values, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gandhi-King Scholarly 

3 Exchange Initiative Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) The peoples of the United States and India 

7 have a long history of friendship and the interests 

8 of the peoples of the United States, India, and the 

9 world will benefit from a stronger United States10 India partnership. 

11 (2) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Martin 

12 Luther King, Jr., were dedicated leaders fighting for 

13 social justice and social change, peace, and civil 

14 rights in their respective communities, and countries 

15 and in the world. 

16 (3) The use of nonviolent civil disobedience is a 

17 shared tactic that has played a key role in defeating 

18 social injustice in India, the United States, and in 

19 other parts of the world. 

20 (4) Mohandas Gandhi, who was born on Octo21 ber 2, 1869, was murdered on January 30, 1948, 

22 after dedicating his life to the peaceful empowerment 

23 of the people of India and to the end of British colo24 nial rule. 

25 (5) Martin Luther King, Jr., who was born on 

26 January 15, 1929, was murdered on April 4, 1968, 


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1 after a life dedicated to peaceful movements against 

2 segregation, discrimination, racial injustice, and pov3 erty. 

4 (6) In February 1959, Dr. King and his wife, 

5 Coretta Scott King, traveled throughout India. By 

6 the end of his monthlong visit, Dr. King said, ‘‘I am 

7 more convinced than ever before that the method of 

8 nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon 

9 available to oppressed people in their struggle for 

10 justice and human dignity.’’. 

11 (7) Fifty years after Dr. King’s visit, All India 

12 Radio, the national radio station of India, discovered 

13 a taped message by Dr. King that emphasized the 

14 intellectual harmony between the messages of Dr. 

15 King and Mohandas Gandhi on nonviolent social ac16 tion. 

17 (8) On August 22, 2011, the Dr. Martin Lu18 ther King, Jr., National Memorial opened to the 

19 public in Washington, DC. This newest memorial on 

20 the National Mall pays tribute to Dr. King’s na21 tional and international contributions to world peace 

22 through nonviolent social change. 

23 (9) The 116th Congress coincides with both the 

24 150th birth anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi and 


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1 the 90th birth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther 

2 King, Jr. 

3 (10) Mohandas Gandhi, who employed the prin4 ciple of satyagraha, or ‘‘fighting with peace’’, has 

5 come to represent the moral force inspiring many 

6 civil and social rights movement around the world. 

7 (11) Dr. King’s effective use of Gandhi’s prin8 ciples was instrumental to the American civil rights 

9 movement. 

10 (12) There is a long history of civil and social 

11 rights movements in the United States and in India. 

12 As the relationship between the United States and 

13 India evolves, a binational foundation through which 

14 the governments of each country can work together 

15 and catalyze private investment toward development 

16 objectives would provide an ongoing, productive in17 stitution and symbol of the friendship and common 

18 ideals of the respective governments and their peo19 ples. 

20 (13) There is a global goal of ending tuber21 culosis by 2030, the United States and India seek a 

22 TB-Free India by 2025, and the United States-India 

23 Gandhi-King Foundation will help address gaps 

24 across the TB value chain in prevention, detection, 

25 diagnosis, and treatment, and would catalyze marVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:08 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5517.RFS H5517

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1 ket-based strategies to bridge the service gap for the 

2 ‘‘last mile’’. 

3 (14) Leaders in both countries belonging to 

4 both major political parties have prioritized the 

5 United States-India relationship and on a bipartisan 

6 basis continue to support a strengthened United 

7 States-India partnership, recognizing that it will be 

8 one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century. 

9 SEC. 3. GANDHI-KING SCHOLARLY EXCHANGE INITIATIVE. 

10 In order to further the shared ideals and values of 

11 Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr, the Sec12 retary of State shall establish, in cooperation with the ap13 propriate representatives of the Government of India, a 

14 professional exchange program known as the ‘‘Gandhi15 King Scholarly Exchange Initiative’’. The initiative should 

16 be comprised of the following: 

17 (1) An annual educational forum for scholars 

18 from the United States and India that focuses on 

19 the social justice and human and civil rights legacies 

20 of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., 

21 which shall— 

22 (A) be held alternately in the United 

23 States and in India; 

24 (B) include representatives from govern25 ments, nongovernmental organizations, civic orVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:08 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5517.RFS H5517

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1 ganizations, and educational, cultural, women’s, 

2 civil, and human rights groups, including reli3 gious and ethnic minorities and marginalized 

4 communities; and 

5 (C) focus on studying the works of Gandhi 

6 and King, and applying their philosophies of 

7 nonviolent resistance to addressing current 

8 issues, including poverty alleviation, conflict 

9 mitigation, human and civil rights challenges, 

10 refugee crises, and threats to democracy and 

11 democratic norms in countries around the 

12 world. 

13 (2) An undergraduate, graduate, and post-grad14 uate student exchange for students in the United 

15 States and India to— 

16 (A) study the history and legacies of Mar17 tin Luther King, Jr., and Mohandas Gandhi; 

18 (B) visit historic sites in India and the 

19 United States that were integral to the Amer20 ican civil rights movement and the Indian inde21 pendence movement; and 

22 (C) research and develop papers on the im23 portance of peace, nonviolence, and reconcili24 ation in current conflict regions. 


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1 SEC. 4. GANDHI-KING GLOBAL ACADEMY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The president and chief executive 

3 officer of the United States Institute of Peace shall create 

4 a professional development training initiative on conflict 

5 resolution tools based on the principles of nonviolence. 

6 Such training initiative shall be known as the Gandhi7 King Global Academy and shall— 

8 (1) target representatives from governments, 

9 nongovernmental organizations, civic organizations, 

10 and educational, cultural, women’s, civil, and human 

11 rights groups, including religious and ethnic minori12 ties and marginalized communities in countries with 

13 ongoing political, social, ethnic, or violent conflict; 

14 (2) include a specific focus on the success of 

15 nonviolent movements, inclusion, and representation 

16 in conflict resolution; 

17 (3) develop a curriculum on conflict resolution 

18 tools based on the principles of nonviolence; and 

19 (4) make the curriculum publicly available on20 line, in person, and through a variety of media. 

21 (b) PROHIBITION.—The United States Institute of 

22 Peace may not, in the course of any activity authorized 

23 by subsection (a), enter into any contract with an outside 

24 entity to conduct advocacy on its behalf. 


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1 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNITED STATES-INDIA 

2 GANDHI-KING DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the 

4 United States Agency for International Development 

5 (USAID), with the concurrence of the Secretary of State 

6 and in coordination with appropriate counterparts in the 

7 Government of India, is authorized to establish, on such 

8 terms and conditions as are determined necessary and not9 withstanding any other provision of law, one or more legal 

10 entities to compose the United States-India Gandhi-King 

11 Development Foundation (in this section referred to as the 

12 ‘‘Foundation’’). Each such legal entity within the Founda13 tion shall be organized under the laws of India and shall 

14 not be considered to be an agency or establishment of the 

15 United States Government and shall not have the full faith 

16 and credit of the United States. 

17 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The Foundation, through one or 

18 more entities referred to in subsection (a)— 

19 (1) shall identify development priorities and ad20 minister and oversee competitively-awarded grants to 

21 private nongovernmental entities to address such 

22 priorities in India, including— 

23 (A) health initiatives addressing tuber24 culosis (TB), water, sanitation, and health 

25 (WASH), and pollution and related health im26 pacts (PHI); 


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1 (B) pollution, plastic waste reduction, and 

2 climate-related shocks; 

3 (C) education; and 

4 (D) empowerment of women; 

5 (2) should provide credible platforms and mod6 els, including returnable capital to attract and blend 

7 public and private capital, which can then be de8 ployed efficiently and effectively to address the prior9 ities identified in paragraph (1). 

10 (c) ADDITIONALITY.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Before an entity within the 

12 Foundation makes a grant under subsection (b)(1) 

13 to address a priority identified under such sub14 section, the Foundation shall ensure that private 

15 sector entities are afforded an opportunity to sup16 port the projects funded by such grants. 

17 (2) SAFEGUARDS, POLICIES, AND GUIDE18 LINES.—The Foundation shall develop appropriate 

19 safeguards, policies, and guidelines to ensure that 

20 grants made under subsection (b)(1) operate accord21 ing to internationally recognized best practices and 

22 standards. 

23 (d) LIMITATIONS.—No party receiving a grant made 

24 under subsection (b)(1) may receive such grant in an 

25 amount that is more than five percent of amounts approVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:08 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5517.RFS H5517

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1 priated or otherwise made available under section 7(a)(3) 

2 to the entity in the Foundation making such grant. 

3 (e) GOVERNING COUNCIL.— 

4 (1) PURPOSE.—The Government of the United 

5 States and the Government of India shall convene a 

6 Governing Council to provide guidance and direction 

7 to the Foundation. 

8 (2) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.—The Admin9 istrator of the United States Agency for Inter10 national Development, with the concurrence of the 

11 Secretary of State, shall appoint a majority of the 

12 Governing Council of the Foundation for a period of 

13 five years following the establishment of the Founda14 tion. 

15 (3) CHARTER.—The Governing Council of the 

16 Foundation shall adopt a charter for the operation 

17 of the Foundation, which shall include provisions 

18 to— 

19 (A) identify development priorities or a 

20 process to identify development priorities; 

21 (B) define criteria for application, merit 

22 review, and awarding of grants by the Founda23 tion; 

24 (C) establish an annual organization-wide 

25 audit by an independent auditor in accordance 


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1 with generally accepted auditing standards, the 

2 results of which shall be made immediately 

3 available to the Board, the Administrator of the 

4 United States Agency for International Devel5 opment, and the appropriate Government of 

6 India counterpart; 

7 (D) assist in the creation of project spe8 cific timetables for each of the projects funded 

9 by a grant from the Foundation; 

10 (E) establish an oversight role and march11 in audit rights for the Administrator of the 

12 United States Agency for International Devel13 opment and the appropriate Government of 

14 India counterpart; and 

15 (F) establish an annual report on the ac16 tivities of the Foundation to be made publicly 

17 available. 

18 (f) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE PROJECT INFORMATION.— 

19 The Foundation shall maintain a user-friendly, publicly 

20 available, machine readable database with detailed project 

21 level information, as appropriate and to the extent prac22 ticable, including a description of the grants made by the 

23 Foundation under this section and project level perform24 ance metrics. 


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1 (g) DETAIL OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PER2 SONNEL TO THE FOUNDATION.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Whenever the Administrator 

4 of the United States Agency for International Devel5 opment or the Secretary of State determines it to be 

6 in furtherance of the purposes of this Act, the Ad7 ministrator and the Secretary are authorized to de8 tail or assign any officer or employee of the Agency 

9 or the Department, respectively, to any position in 

10 the Foundation to provide technical, scientific, or 

11 professional assistance to the Foundation or, in co12 operation with the Foundation, to implementing 

13 partners of the Foundation, without reimbursement 

14 to the United States Government. 

15 (2) STATUS.—Any United States Government 

16 officer or employee, while detailed or assigned under 

17 this subsection, shall be considered, for the purpose 

18 of preserving their allowances, privileges, rights, se19 niority, and other benefits as such, an officer or em20 ployee of the United States Government and of the 

21 agency of the United States Government from which 

22 detailed or assigned, and shall continue to receive 

23 compensation, allowances, and benefits from pro24 gram funds appropriated to that agency or made 

25 available to that agency for purposes related to the 


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1 activities of the detail or assignment, in accordance 

2 with authorities related to their employment status 

3 and agency policies. 

4 (3) SUNSET.—The authorities provided under 

5 this subsection shall terminate on the date that is 

6 five years after the establishment of the Foundation. 

7 SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

8 (a) INITIAL REPORTS.—Not later than 120 days 

9 after the date of the enactment of this Act— 

10 (1) the Secretary of State shall submit to the 

11 Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 

12 Appropriations of the House of Representatives and 

13 the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Com14 mittee on Appropriations of the Senate a report on 

15 the Secretary of State’s plan to establish the initia16 tive authorized under section 3; 

17 (2) the president and chief executive officer of 

18 the United States Institute of Peace shall submit to 

19 the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Com20 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Represent21 atives and the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

22 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate a re23 port on the president and chief executive officer’s 

24 plan to establish the initiative authorized under sec25 tion 4; and 


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1 (3) the Administrator of the United States 

2 Agency for International Development shall submit 

3 to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Com4 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Represent5 atives and the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

6 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate a re7 port on the Administrator’s plan to establish, not 

8 later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

9 of this Act, the organization authorized under sec10 tion 5. 

11 (b) PERIODIC UPDATES.—Upon the request of the 

12 committees specified in subsection (a), the Secretary of 

13 State, president and chief executive officer of the United 

14 States Institute of Peace, and Administrator of the United 

15 States Agency for International Development shall submit 

16 to such committees an update on the progress in imple17 menting each of the initiatives or establishing the organi18 zation referred to in such subsection. 

19 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro21 priated to carry out— 

22 (1) section 3, up to $1,000,000 for each of fis23 cal years 2021 through 2025 to the Secretary of 

24 State 


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1 (2) section 4, up to $2,000,000 for fiscal year 

2 2021 to the United States Institute of Peace; 

3 (3) section 5, up to $30,000,000 for fiscal year 

4 2021 to the Administrator of the United States 

5 Agency for International Development; and 

6 (4) section 5, up to $15,000,000 for each of fis7 cal years 2022 through 2025, if the private sector 

8 in India commits amounts equal to that contributed 

9 by the United States. 

10 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS ON FOREIGN ASSISTANCE

11 FUNDS.—It is the sense of Congress that the authoriza12 tion of appropriations under subsection (a) should be re13 newable for one or more periods of not more than 5 years 

14 if the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Adminis15 trator of the United States Agency for International De16 velopment, determines that the Foundation’s work is suc17 cessful in addressing the priorities identified in section 

18 5(b)(1) and that the private sector in India has committed 

19 funds to the Foundation in accordance with subsection 

20 (a)(4). 

Passed the House of Representatives December 3, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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