The Indian Forum
Initiated by former students of the Berlin-based Mahatma Gandhi High School, the Indian Forum is engaged in development and cooperation projects in India for many years now. As a registered non-profit organization, we maintain close relations with other NGOs.
Working with children and youths is the focus of our work, and we want to help achieve young people from both countries a better understanding of each other's culture in a joint dialogue.
In the form of school partnerships as well as with projects concerning computers, the environment, and solar power, we concentrate especially on the issue of education in India. We have made it our goal, to give socially disadvantaged children in India the chance for education or further education in a school.
These goals also reflect in our articles of association.
Our Approach
Our activities in India focus on the state of Jharkhand. Despite its abundance of natural resources, it is one of the poorest regions in India, and it is inhabited primarily by India's aboriginal inhabitants, the Adivasi.
For many years we support school partnerships to Chaibasa, a small town in the South of Jharkhand. Hereby we encourage young people from India and Germany to take part in a students exchange, in order to get to know a foreign culture and to contribute to the success of an international partnership. This way, for example, we were able to equip a girls school in Chaibasa with desks and benches in a collaboration with the students from the Tagore School in Berlin Marzahn-Hellersdorf.
In addition, since 2013 we offer the possibility to support our work on site in India within the framework of the 'weltwärts' volunteer program.
Our Executive Board
Dr. Roman Bansen, chairman
Roman has traveled to the Indian subcontinent several times and has been chairman of the board since 2014. He also takes care of the Indian Forum's website and many other matters of the association.
E-Mail: roman.bansen@indisches-forum.de
Alexander Nitschke, vice chairman
Alex is a founding member of the Indian Forum and lives permanently in India with his family. He speaks fluent Hindi, and he knows the local conditions and circumstances in India quite well. He has been vice-chair since 2022.
E-Mail: alexander.nitschke@indisches-forum.de
Sebastian Keller, Treasurer
Sebastian is also a founding member of the association and, together with Alexander, is responsible for the cooperation with the Indian partners. He speaks fluent Hindi and regularly visits our partners in India.
E-Mail: sebastian.keller@indisches-forum.de
Silvia Rose, secretary to the board
As a former teacher of the Gandhi-Gymnasium in Berlin-Marzahn, Silvia has known the Indian Forum for a very long time and has often contributed at general meetings. She has been supporting the work of the board since 2018.
E-Mail: silvia.rose@indisches-forum.de
Björn Kümmel, committee member
Björn traveled to India for the first time in 2005 and has been enthusiastic about the exchange between Indian and German culture ever since. He has been involved in the board of the Indian Forum for many years.
E-Mail: bjoern.kuemmel@indisches-forum.de
Anke Keller, committee member
After many years of being involved in the work of the Forum as a cash auditor, Anke became a member of the Board in 2022.
E-Mail: anke.keller@indisches-forum.de
Mukut Bodra, committee member
Already familiar with the later founding members of the Indian Forum since their first student trip of the former Gandhi High School to India, Mukut has become a close friend and an important local contact for us over the years. In 2022, he was officially elected to the board.
E-Mail: mukut.bodra@indisches-forum.de
Accounts Auditor
Christian Schumacher, annual accounts auditor
Our Partners
Further Info: https://www.tagore-gymnasium.de/
Further Info: https://little-steps.org/
Further Info: http://gossner-mission.de/
Homepage of EKBO: https://www.ekbo.de/
Further Info: http://www.diz-ev.de/
Further Info: http://www.kklios.de/