The History of FOI
FOI Founder
Dr. Majumdhar
Individuals and families from India started to make Arkansas and Little Rock their home in the early 70s. These small group of people of Indian origin wanted to have an organization to exchange Indian culture and values with all the communities. In 1975 such an organization was formed to bring the people of such interest together.
The organization was named Friends of India and people from any part of the world who were interested in India could become a member of this organization. Dr. Haridas Mazumdar, a Gandhian Scholar, was elected as the first President of the organization. He continued as the President until 1984. At that time, the Indian community was small and there were members from several other neighboring countries. Slowly the organization grew bigger with members from the Indian community and hence it took a character of an Indian organization. Over the years several people have served as the Presidents and office bearers and it has grown and flourished.
In 2001 January, Friends of India celebrated its 25th anniversary and brought all previous presidents together.
FOI will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2026.
Former Presidents of FOI
Former Presidents of FOI
1975 - 1984 - Dr. Haridas Muzumdar
1985 - 1986 - Dr. K Bhaskara Udupa
1987 - 1989 - Dr. Hemendra Shah
1990 - Dr. Haridas Muzumdar
1991 - 1992 - Mr. Joe Chacko
1993 - Dr. K Bhaskara Udupa
1994 - Mr. Ramakanth Rallapalli
1995 - Ms. Padma Rallapalli/Mr. Siva Soora
1996 - Dr. Tito Vishwanathan
1997 - Ms. Minoo Verma
1988 - Mr. Narinder Saini
1999 - Mr. Rajiv Sinha
2000 - Mr. Thomas Mathew
2001 - Ms. Kalpana Sharma
2002 - 2003 - Mr. Mullahalli V Manjunath
2004 - Ms. Sabitha Govindarajan
2005 - Mr. Narinder Saini
2006 - Ms. Sabitha Govindarajan
2007 - Mr. Siva Soora
2008 - Bharti Moorjani
2009 - 2010 - Dr. Hari Eswaran
2011 - Dr. Mugimane G Manjanatha
2012 - Mr. Viful Mhapsekar
2013 - 2014 - Dr. Supriya Jambhekar
2015 - Dr. Varsha Kaushal
2016 - Dr. Pramod Nelluri
2017 - Mr. Rajesh Mehta
2018 - Mr. Rajesh Bhagat
2019 - Dr. Gaurav Kumar
2020 - Dr. Avinash Thombre
2021 - Mrs. Bhakti Patwardhan
2022 - Dr. Roopa Ram
2023 - Arti Kanaskar