Inlaks Shivdasani Fellows for Social Engagement 2023: Ittisha Sarah, Pradeep Elangovan, Sohini/ Sho and Vishal Jadhav
The 2023 Inlaks Shivdasani Fellows for Social Engagement are Dipesh Agarwala, Fakirappa Harijan, Iftikar Hussain Siddique, Ittisha Sarah, Krupa Anilkumar, Mrinalini Ravindranath, Pradeep Elangovan, Pramod Kale, Raju Kendre, Rucha Satoor, Sohini/ Sho and Vishal Jadhav
The Fellowship is designed to give graduates and early to mid-career professionals the confidence and security to explore alternatives and make independent choices about their lives while contributing to social change.
In a three part series we will be introducing the 2024 fellows. In this week’s post we have Ittisha Sarah, Pradeep Elangovan, Sohini/ Sho and Vishal Jadhav.
Ittisha Sarah
Ittisha Sarah is co-founder of the Northeast Waste Collective which is a pioneering initiative aimed at addressing the pressing challenges of waste management in the Northeast. By collaborating closely with diverse communities across the region, they have spearheaded endeavours to foster awareness, advocacy, and education, empowering individuals to take meaningful action against this critical issue. With the aid of the fellowship, she will co-design a self-sustaining waste management model with the Monpa tribe in Sangti village, Arunachal Pradesh which will also include documentation and a report.
Pradeep Elangovan
Pradeep Elangovan, is a geologist by training with a passion for oral history. He is closely associated with Fisher Rights Movements and works at SNEHA (Social Need Education and Human Awareness) in Tamil Nadu. SNEHA works towards the empowerment of coastal communities through participatory research and by creating awareness through literacy. Through this fellowship, he will be documenting the life and culture of brackish water fishers, particularly Dalit and tribal women across coastal regions in Tamil Nadu through a series of publications.
Sohini/ Sho
Sohini/ Sho is a queer feminist activist who has been working with the Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan (JJSS), a trade union of landless labourers, marginal farmers, rural youth and other oppressed communities in North Bihar for the past eight years. Sho is a part of a team trying to build a dedicated health programme for JJSS to raise the poor standards of health and healthcare in the region. With the aid of the fellowship, they hope to enable leadership and scientific thought in women across thirty villages so they can share knowledge, improve practices, seek public health care services, entitlements and engage with the administration to address gaps and malpractices, for themselves and others.
Vishal Jadhav
Vishal Jadhav is a social activist, who has worked extensively with the organization Pani Haq Samiti with the endeavour of water for all. His role involved liaising with officials of the municipal corporation and related authorities. He writes a blog on water political economic issue and also edits the magazine, Aisa Bharat Banaenge published by Centre for Promoting Democracy (CPD). At CPD, he organised events like Stories of Democracy, Samvidhan Gap-Shap, Samvidhan katta and events about constitutional values for the youth. During the fellowship he will work on improving access to water for the marginalized through community engagement, public and legal advocacy.
