Madhu Purnima Kishwar

Madhu Purnima Kishwar is Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi. The founder of Manushi Sangathan, an organization committed to strengthening democratic rights and women’s rights in India, sheis also the founder editor of Manushi—A Journal about Women and Society. Her research at CSDS, focused on the theme ‘Laws, Liberty and Livelihoods,’ is aimed at giving a pro-poor direction to economic reforms in India. She is also the Director of the Indic Studies Project and Convenor of International Conferences on Religions and Cultures in the Indic Civilization.

Kishwar has authored several books including Deepening Democracy: Challenges of Governance and Globalization in India (2005); Off the Beaten Track: Rethinking Gender Justice for Indian Women (1999) and Religion at the Service of Nationalism (1998), translated into Hindi as Rashtriyata ki Chakri Mein Dharm (2005). Much of her writing is based on her active interventions on various issues.

She has made several documentary films on varied themes including the culture of dowry; the disinheritance of women from family property; anti-liquor movements in India; state policies that have contributed to the improvement of traditional technologists in India; and License-Quota-Raid Raj affecting the livelihood of street vendors and rickshaw pullers.