Zee5 partnered with ZEE5 to tour college campuses across the Unit

Zee5, a prominent Indian video streaming service in collaboration with the North American Association of Indian students organised an event with Indian activist Sudhanshu Kaushik as the guest speaker. About 100 people gathered at the event held at Trotter Multicultural Center in Michigan.

Kaushik is the executive director of NAAIS, a nonprofit organization that works towards uplifting the social and economic well-being of Indian international students and Indian Americans living in the United States.

According to Kaushik, his outfit NAAIS partnered with ZEE5 to tour college campuses across the United States and network with Indian students. Since Indians make up the second-largest minority group of international students on college campuses.

Speaking to Michigan Daily, Kaushik said, “The scale at which (Indians) are at (universities) makes them more accessible to becoming targets and victims of hate crimes,” Kaushik said. “Going beyond that, there’s just so much fragmentation, and there’s not a cohesive unit. We’re trying to create awareness of them and connect them with their city with their local regional governance, state and federal level.”

Jhanvi Garg of Indian American Student Association (IASA) underlined the significance of the discussion.

“I think that this was a great event to highlight the power that Indian voices have,” Garg said. “I think a lot of times we get shoehorned into the minority mindset of ‘we’re just Indian, we can’t really make that much of an impact.’ I think it’s a great message to our members — and the Indian youth nationally — that you really can get involved in politics and policy if you want to and they definitely should exercise their rights.”

Business senior Delna Sholapurwalla, board member of IASA, said in an interview with The Daily IASA considered the shift between virtual and in-person during the pandemic to help create engaging events for IASA members.

People like Nidhee Reddy, an LSA sophomore and a member of IASA, said she joined IASA to get more involved with the University’s community of Indian students. Discussions like these will only encourage deeper engagement.