The American India Foundation, dedicated to catalysing social and economic change in India, launched its eleventh chapter in the historic city of Philadelphia. The foundation is one of the largest development organisations in the US dedicated to helping poor and marginalised people in India.

AIF was founded by the initiative of former President Bill Clinton after the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake following a suggestion from then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Nearly a hundred people from the Greater Philadelphia region attended the event held at the Downtown Loews Philadelphia Hotel in October, according to the American Bazaar.

In the keynote address Al Jazeera America host Ali Velshi, whose great grand parents moved to Africa from Gujarat a century ago, recalled the struggles his forefathers had to endure in their adopted land. Mr Velshi praised the work AIF is doing to provide opportunities the less privileged in the Indian society.