Massachusetts State Treasurer Tim Cahill has been selected by Eisenhower Fellowships for their 2007 New England International Leadership Initiative. As part of the fellowship, Cahill will be traveling to India. He spoke to Lokvani about the upcoming trip and his interest in investing in India.

Click here to listen to the interview

You sponsored the Asian American commission and strongly support Asian Americans in the Commonwealth. What drives you to support Asian Americans?

I think part of it comes from my background in Quincy. The Asian American population grew from nothing to nearly 30% in the last 20 years. They helped transform Quincy into a vibrant town. They are really good citizens with strong educational values. They have contributed to stabilizing the house prices and improving the school system.  They came from a strong cultural tradition and keep their culture alive. Yet they are very American.

Political activism in the community is not as strong as the cultural, civic or the educational part. We want to help them become more a part of the fabric of the political arena of the State which will help strengthen the State. We hope the Commission can help make this happen.

We want to grow the population of the State and one of the best ways to do that is to make the state attractive to immigrants who want to play by the rules, come to America and benefit from America for they can give so much more back.

I hope the Commission will help Asian Americans exercise their political power for when you vote and participate as a group you are much stronger than if you work alone. Elected officials like me, the State Senators and others reach out to such groups.

The issues for Asian Americans are the same. There is a need for good services for taxes, lower taxes and better business opportunities. But the community needs a conduit for your voices to be heard and I think this Commission could serve that purpose.

As part of your Eisenhower Fellowship, you chose to travel to India to learn about Urban Development. What motivated you to choose India for this purpose?

I am very impressed with the way the country has transformed itself in the past 10 – 15 years. Earlier people left India to seek opportunities in other places. For many, America was where the opportunities existed.

However since 1991 when the government lifted its restrictions, there seems to be a dramatic change. People are now going back. I would like to learn from the government and the private sector as to how they achieved the turnaround. The growth in India is currently 8-9% as compared to the 1-2% growth in our State.

We in Massachusetts are losing population to other states. Our smartest young people are leaving. I am not sure as to what the reason is.

I have heard that in India the major impact of the growth has been felt in the cities where people rush to seek jobs. This I am told has created a situation where the slums and the high rise buildings live side by side. I am told that people are engaging in conversations around how to ensure that the growth is not creating an economic divide where the rich are getting richer and the poor are left behind. All of this is very interesting to me and I hope to learn from it.

Are you hoping to develop concrete opportunities for the state on your trip to India?

I am meeting many successful business men, venture capitalists and others who are creating job opportunities and there may be opportunities for our State to invest with those. There also may be opportunities for Indian companies to invest in Massachusetts.

As the treasurer I have 47 billion dollars in pension funds which I need to invest appropriately.  A country like India that is going through sudden growth offers great opportunity. The size of the market is huge. The size of the middle class is huge. The technical colleges set up during the post independence period have created some very smart and skilled people as part of the business arena.

Before we invest it really helps to visit the country so that we can see if the perception matches up to the reality. We made our first investment in Israel this year which happened after a trip I made to Israel. I need to ensure that any investment we make is not too risky.

As you may be aware the Indian culture and history is not correctly represented in the curriculum in the Massachusetts schools. Do you have any suggestions on correcting these fallacies?

I do not think we do a good job in educating our children about the world.  Often our world begins on the east coast and ends in Los Angeles. With globalization we need to change this. We need to learn and teach children about the cultures especially of those countries that may become dominant economic powers so that we as government leaders do not make poor decisions. We often see India as a huge monolithic country which it is not. Our knowledge of India is often limited to knowing about Gandhi. The world has changed dramatically in the past ten years. We need to do a better job of educating our children.

What can the Indian Americans in the Commonwealth do to help the government?

I think the one thing the Indian Americans should do more is get involved with politics. They can field Indian American candidates at the local and state levels. Also I think they should work on breaking the cultural barriers so that others understand their culture better.

What are you planning to do for fun while you are in India?

I hope to attend cultural events. I hope to visit the Temples of the South in addition of course to the mandatory visit to the Taj Mahal. A visit to the Bollywood studios has been arranged as well. I hope I can see some of the Tsunami sites.  I will be attending the 2007 Global Leadership Conference in Mumbai where business people from all over the world are expected to attend.  I hope I can visit the suburbs and have dinner with families so that I can get a feeling for the life of the people.

Are you planning to explore partnerships with cities?

We are planning some meeting with Mayors. I am planning to explore the concept of sister cities as well.

Thanks so much for your time.

Thank you.

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