Partha Banerjee

Partha Banerjee
Introducing Noam Chomsky at Brooklyn For Peace's 30th anniversary dinner on November 15, 2014.
Occupation	Human Rights Activist, Educator, Writer., Musician
Language	Bengali, English, Hindi
Ethnicity	Bengali
Education	Master of Science (Columbia University) Ph.D. (Southern Illinois University) M.S. (Illinois State University) M.Sc. (University of Calcutta)
Notable awards	Sevellon Brown Award, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Scripps Howard Scholarship, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Independent Press Association award for columns in ethnic media, New York. Emigrant Savings Bank award for post-9/11 grassroots work with immigrants.
Spouse	Mukti Banerjee

Sevellon Brown Award, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Scripps Howard Scholarship, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Independent Press Association award for columns in ethnic media, New York.

Dr. Partha Banerjee is a human rights activist, writer, educator, media critic, and musician. Born and raised in Calcutta, Banerjee now lives in New York with frequent visits to India.

Partha Banerjee spent the first half of his life in India, and the second half in the U.S.

Partha Banerjee grew up in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His father Jitendra Nath Banerjee was a grassroots political organizer in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its erstwhile political wing Bharatiya Jana Sangh (now Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP). Partha Banerjee received his first training in political organizing from his father while with RSS, and later by his maternal uncle Buddhadev Bhattacharjee who belonged to Congress Party. Partha Banerjee quit RSS out of ideological disillusionment with the organization's militant, fundamentalist doctrine, yet without disavowing his deep roots in ecumenical and secular Hinduism.

In 1985, Partha Banerjee came to America as an international student in biology.

Dr. Partha Banerjee has been a human rights activist and organizer with a focus on immigrants and workers. Since moving to New York, he has worked first as a grassroots immigrant rights organizer, and then as a labor educator. He has also written major articles to champion the rights of women especially women in the Indian subcontinent.

In 1985, after teaching biology at a remote, rural college in West Bengal for four years, Banerjee left for USA to pursue a Ph.D. in biological sciences. He earned his second master's degree from Illinois State University, and then went on to earn his doctorate degree in plant biology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. In 1992, he earned his Ph.D. with a dissertation research award, and started working as a postdoctoral research scientist with the state system in Albany, New York.

In 1999, Dr. Banerjee quit his science career, and moved to New York City to pursue his third master's degree, this time from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. He received a prestigious Sevellon Brown award for his understanding of American media and ethics. He also received a Scripps-Howard fellowship to travel with a group of fellow students to Israel, Palestine and Jordan, to report on religions of that region.

After a brief stint as a science journalist, and producing a number of two-minute-long stories for ScienCentral, an ABC TV-affiliate company in New York, he began working for a grassroots immigrant rights group New Immigrant Community Empowerment, in the aftermath of the tragedies of September 11, 2001. NICE became known for its work against bigotry and hate crimes. Later, New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, a statewide policy organization, hired him as its executive director. Banerjee organized a number of immigrant rights conferences, and put together an umbrella coalition of rights and justice groups.