Manjula Pradeep of the Navsarjan Trust Foundation: Recognition for Recent Activities
August 18, 2008
African American Policy Forum collaborator Manjula Pradeep’s recent activity as the Executive Director of the Navsarjan Trust Foundation in India received noteworthy attention from a national Indian newspaper and Conscious Women, a forum focusing on global issues that affect women’s health and the environment.
Leading up to India’s Independence Day celebrations, over 5,000 Dalit women sent a message to India’s government to remember them on such a remarkable day. Despite 50 years after independence and a constitutional ban on caste discrimination, Dalit women still find themselves lost in the intersection of caste and gender discrimination. As Manjula notes in the India Express article, “Around 60 per cent of the sanitary workers are women and almost all of them are forced to work with bare hands.” To learn more about these ongoing issues and the Dalit women’s campaign, please click here.
In addition to this recent work, Ms. Pradeep received recognition as “Conscious Woman of the Month” from the online forum, Conscious Women. Acknowledging the remarkable role Pradeep now plays in the Dalit social movement, the article also notes the struggle she faces as a woman with in the movement. To see more of this article, please click here.
In general, AAPF appreciates the need to highlight Ms. Pradeep’s path breaking role as a women leader with in a movement that harkens back to the Civil Rights era in the US. Just as women at the time fought for recognition with in the Civil Rights movement, Dalit women in India also must run a parallel battle within the Dalit community’s fight for equality and fair treatment. Ms. Pradeep’s increasingly public profile helps highlight this ongoing need for recognition and addressing the dual injustice faced by Dalit women.
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