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Achievers: Manjunath Bhandary
A Global Citizen By RICHA VARMA To view the article in magazine format,
Please click here for the PDF File  Barely 24 hours before the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, Manjunath Bhandary was engaged in discussions with officials of the U.S. National Security Council at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The topic? How frequent acts of terrorism were tearing apart India's social and emotional fabric. Bhandary, who is general secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, was beginning a stint with the American Council of Young Political Leaders, an international exchange program for politicians to increase cross-cultural understanding. For the next two weeks, as he traveled across the American heartland, he "saw a rare display of oneness in their sorrow…despite coming from different ethnic and racial backgrounds." A globe-trotting politician who traces his roots to a farming village in southern India, Bhandary, 46, says the experience moved and inspired him. In addition to his political activities, Bhandary now funds and sponsors major initiatives to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS and drug abuse through the Bhandary Foundation. His involvement with HIV/AIDS came after his participation in the 2002 World AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain. "World leaders like Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela had moist eyes after hearing the story of a woman who lost six of her children to the disease. It was then that I decided to do something about this constructively," he says. Bhandary's formative years were spent studying in a thatched cowshed that was transformed into a makeshift school every morning. "First-graders occupied the first row and others sat behind them according to their ages. We had only one teacher till the seventh standard, as there was no other school for miles. The roof was our only protection from the sun and rain," Bhandary says of his humble beginnings in Agasanahalli village in Karnataka's Shimoga district. By the time he shifted to Mangalore for further studies, the leadership bug had already bitten him and he contested student body elections at his college and university. In 1980, Bhandary began his formal political career with the Indian National Congress. His job included motivating young political workers and campaigning for his party at the grassroots level. After traveling to nearly 50 countries on goodwill and leadership missions, Bhandary still finds time to pursue his academic interests. A bachelor of engineering and an avid sports enthusiast, he is completing his M. Phil in political science from Madurai Kamaraj University in Tamil Nadu. Bhandary was also awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship in 2004, which allowed him to make a two-month tour of the United States, visiting state and municipal representatives in 22 states, including Maryland, Nevada, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Washington. "The fellowship provided a first-hand experience to examine the ways by which U.S. political leaders lead their staff, respond to their constituents and raise funds," he says. Since 2004, Bhandary has attended four network programs of the Pennsylvania-based Eisenhower Fellowship in Singapore, Sri Lanka, China and Turkey. Besides broadening his perspective, the program gave him an opportunity to explore interests such as the higher education system, health care and rural agriculture. He says he was "amazed at the level of mechanization in the U.S. agricultural sector and the technological advances that have been made in farming equipment." Please share your views on this article. Write to editorspan@state.gov |
