India is the land of a billion people, 3 crore Gods, 22 languages and over 720 dialects. Year 2016 marks the 70th year since the independence of India from the British rule.
However the battle of independence is yet to finish.
For half of the population of this country, there is a long road of struggles to ‘Independence’.
Unless the women of our country don’t achieve freedom from the patriarchal chains of the society, we wouldn’t be truly independent.
No matter how thorny the road is, there are women who have lead the battle from the front and shaped the feminist movement in India. These women have braved the waters of misogyny and look how!
Feministaa salutes these Indian women achievers and supports their fight for freedom of women. Meet the new age Indian freedom fighters.
Indira Jaising
The first woman to be appointed as an Additional Solicitor General of India in 2009, Indira Jaising is a lawyer who has played a pivotal role in the formation of Domestic Violence Act (2005). This PadamShree awardee has relentlessly fought for women’s rights and has won several cases of discrimination against women.
Vrinda Grover
Talking of lawyers, it will be unfair to not include Vrinda Grover. She is a lawyer, researcher and a women’s right activist. She has appeared in landmark cases such as Soni Sori rape-torture case and contributed in drafting of 2013 Criminal Law Amendment to the law against sexual assault.
Pramila Nesargi
Another noted lawyer and activist who can’t be missed is Pramila Nesargi. She is the first woman to be elected in the past 50 years to the Karnataka Bar Council as Chairman of Bar Association. Well known as a Maverick lawyer, she has picked up many cases on domestic violence and sexual violence at work.
Nivedita Menon
A feminist writer and professor of political thought at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Nivedita Menon has penned a book called “Seeing like a feminist” which was very well received. She actively participates in political and social movements and is very vocal about the women’s rights issues.
Kavitha Krishnan
Kavitha Krishnan is a well known women activist and the face of the women uprising aftermath of infamous Nirbhaya gang rape case. She is the secretary of All India Progressive Women’s Association and highly vocal about how capital punishment is not a deterrent to rape. She lead the campaign of “Freedom without Fear” and her views of “Freedom of Women” were extensively published.
Sampat Pal Devi
Though you would remember her as a Big Boss contestant, there is more to Sampat Pal Devi than reality shows. She is the founder of the ‘Gulaabi Gang’ of Banda district of Uttar Pradesh, which is an extra-ordinary movement against atrocities of women of rural India. These women clad in bright pink sarees have a desire to create a gender-just society and go pillar to post to ‘combat’ oppressive men.
Laxmi Agarwal
Laxmi is an acid attack survivor and speaks for the rights of acid attack victims. She was attacked at the age of 15 and since then she has been advocating the restriction of acid sales in the country. Her petition made the supreme court order central and state governments to regulate the sale of acid. She went ahead to form an NGO Chhanv Foundation to support all the women who have been victims of acid abuse.
These top inspiring women of India refuse to follow norms set by the society. They are leading the battle of independence for new age India and we can only wish that the period of feudalism ends soon.
For half the Earth and half the sky,
We shall fight, we shall win.
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