Sudha Bharadwaj
Sudha Bharadwaj | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | India |
| Occupation(s) | trade unionist, activist, lawyer |
Sudha Bharadwaj is an Indian trade unionist, a civil rights activist against land acquisition, and, more recently, a lawyer, who has been working and living in the state of Chattisgarh for 29 years now. She is the general secretary of the Chhattisgarh People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and also the founder of Janhit (a lawyers collective) and is also associated with the late Shankar Guha Niyogi’s Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha. [1]Sudha was born an American citizen, to parents Krishna and Ranganath Bharadwaj, who were pursuing their PhD in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US. Bharadwaj was introduced to critical thought at a very young age. Bharadwaj returned to India at the age of 11, gave up her US citizenship at the age of 18, and joined the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, to study mathematics, completing the five-year integrated course in 1984. [2]
Having been exposed to horrific working conditions of laborers in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar during her time as a student at IIT, she moved to work with Niyogi’s Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha in 1986.[1] Determined to provide holistic development of the workers, Sudha got her law degree in 2000 from a college affiliated to the Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University in Raipur.
While being associated with Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, Bharadwaj fought passionately against corrupt bureaucrats to ensure proper wages were paid to the workers in the mines and plants located in Bhilai. She also engaged in issues of Dalit and tribal rights, specifically the right for land, the right for education, for health and for security against corrupt landlords.[1] Sudha also wrote a critique of Binayak Sen's imprisonment critiquing the judicial decision and condemning it strongly.[3]
Bharadwaj, till date continues her work in the state of Chattisgarh, resisting the joint forces of Police and the State to fight for the rights of the locals.
References
- ^ a b c Masoodi, Ashwaq (7 November 2015). "This land is your land". LiveMint.
- ^ "The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Opinion | Enemies of the State". The Telegraph (India).
- ^ "Critiquing The Binayak Sen Judgement". Outlook India.