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As already said the main objective of the Forum is education of the
public on economic issues.
Among the many
constructive and highly productive activities of the Forum over the
years are the Leadership Training Camps (good citizenship camps) that are held in different
places on a regular basis with a view to helping today’s youngsters to
become good, responsible, active and well-informed citizens of
tomorrow. Hundreds of youngsters from all over the country have
participated and benefited from this particular activity.
The public meetings
arranged by the Forum are generally on topical economic and national
subjects. For instance every year several public meetings are held in
different places with a view to analyse economic implications of the
Union Budget. The Forum was among the first few organizations in the
country to arrange public meetings on this subject ever since it was
established in 1956. In fact the legendary Nani A. Palkhivala, who
brought home to the citizens of the country the importance of the Union
Budget throughout his annual talks on the subject, first spoke on the
subject on the Forum platform in March 1958 before an audience of about
600. This annual meeting in Mumbai addressed by him drew increasing
attendances each year as a result of which the venue had to be shifted
to bigger and bigger venues culminating in the meeting being held at the
vast Brabourne Stadium, where cricket test matches were held, from 1983
to 1994. The attendance went on increasing and it was estimated that in
the last three years, that he addressed. the attendance was in excess
of 100,000, which has no parallel anywhere in the world for an
attendance at a meeting on an economic subject.
Booklets published by
the Forum are sent not only to its own members and student associates,
but also to over 9500 colleges and management institutes in the country,
all members of Parliament, over 250 chambers of commerce, press and
others. All this is done free of cost.
It is a tribute to the
Forum’s credibility that in the autobiography entitled, Two Lucky
People, by Rose and Prof. Milton Friedman, published a few
years ago, there is a prominent reference to it.
For more than 30 years
now the Forum has been organizing discussion sessions and residential
programmes for the benefit of senior corporate executives with a view to
help them analyse and discuss various legislations having implications
on the corporate sector. The main object of the seminar is to help
create good corporate citizens.
Several educational
institutions, public service organizations and NGOs in Mumbai and other
cities regularly approach the Forum for help and guidance in arranging
programmes and meetings, including for providing or identifying suitable
speakers. Many a time the Forum itself takes the responsibility of
ensuring that the programmes are smoothly organized.
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