{{Short description|Indian human rights activist (born 1969)}} {{BLP sources|date=June 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Manjula Pradeep | image = Manjula Pradeep addresses a crowd.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|10|6|df=y}} | alma_mater = Social Work, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (MA, 1992) <br /> LL.B., Gujarat University (1998) }} '''Manjula Pradeep''' (born 6 October 1969) is an Indian human rights activist and a lawyer. She is the former Executive Director of Navsarjan Trust, one of the largest Dalit rights organizations in India, addressing the issues of caste discrimination and gender based discrimination.
== Early life ==
Manjula Pradeep was born on 6 October 1969 in Vadodara (formerly known as Baroda) in Gujarat in an orthodox Dalit family, shortly after her family migrated from Uttar Pradesh in 1968.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=http://catcher.sandiego.edu/items/peacestudies/Manjula-Pradeep-India.pdf|title=BROKEN CAN HEAL: The Life and Work of Manjula Pradeep of India|publisher=Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice, University of San Diego, USA|year=2011}}</ref> Her birth was met with disappointment as her father expected a son, instead of a second daughter. He blamed Manjula's mother for her birth and abused both of them physically and mentally since her birth.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://defindia.org/manjula-pradeep/|title=Manjula Pradeep|website=defindia.org|date=20 February 2014 }}</ref> Manjula was also sexually abused by four men in her childhood.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://www.tarshi.net/inplainspeak/interview-manjula-pradeep/|title=INTERVIEW: MANJULA PRADEEP|work=In Plain Speak}}</ref>
Fearing caste discrimination, Manjula's father hid their surname and instead took up a generic name 'Pradeep' as a surname.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.tarshi.net/inplainspeak/interview-manjula-pradeep/|title=INTERVIEW: MANJULA PRADEEP|work=In Plainspeak}}</ref> However, that did not prevent Manjula from discrimination at school. Her teachers and peers often ridiculed her due to her caste; students would call her “ABC,” referring to “BC,” or “Backwards Caste”.<ref name=":1" />
The challenges that Manjula faced at home and in the society made her question caste and gender-based discrimination, shaping the trajectory of her future career and activism.<ref name=":2" />
== Education ==
During her undergraduate studies, one of her professors encouraged Manjula to pursue social work. This inspired Manjula to enroll into the Master's degree of Social Work at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1990.<ref name=":1" /> It was at the university, where she started challenging the male-dominated arena of Dalit politics, and became involved in Dalit and feminist activism.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=India's Dalit Moment|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.co.in/&httpsredir=1&article=1169&context=gj_etds|journal=CUNY Academic Works}}</ref>
While working at Navsarjan, her first case was of a Dalit woman whose son had died, after being abused in police custody at an Ahmedabad police station.<ref name=":2" /> This incident lead Manjula to pursue her Bachelor of Law degree at her Alma mater because she realized that the Dalit rights issue had to be fought both, in the streets and in the courts.<ref name=":1" />
== Career ==
After finishing her master's degree in 1992, Manjula Pradeep joined the Navsarjan Trust at the age of 21 as their first female employee. In 2004, she was elected at the Executive Director at the organisation.<ref name=":1" />
=== Early years at Navsarjan Trust === Her first job at Navsarjan was with the legal aid programme that helped survivors of violence and discrimination fight for justice. Manjula realised that in order to effectively defend people's human rights, she would have to study the law. “I need to know the law in order to have any power… So much for that social work degree. A law degree is what I need.”<ref name=":1" />
In 1995, she started training programs to generate awareness against the exploitation among bonded labourers, mainly women who survived on a few rupees a day and were continually in debt to the landlords whose agricultural lands they worked on. They were often subjected to physical and sexual violence. She also helped set up a union of Dalit and tribal women, ''Vadodara Khet Majoor Sangathan'', which aimed to end the injustices faced by these women. In the same year, she joined the board of the Navsarjan Trust.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9359%3Amoving-on-the-path-of-buddhism-gave-me-a-new-birth&catid=119%3Afeature&Itemid=132&fb_comment_id=1869575526395443_1878996095453386#f1cc0010515038|title=Moving on the path of Buddhism gave me a new birth}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
In 2000, in a first for the organisation, Manjula trained 40 women to take up leadership roles in Navsarjan. She also helped organize a protest attended by around 3,000 Dalits, where the term “Dalit Shakti,” or Dalit Power was first used by Martin Macwan.<ref name=":1" />
In June 2001, Manjula was one of the youngest members of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) delegation sent to the United Nations to represent Dalit rights. The NCDHR delegation was in Geneva, Switzerland to get caste-based discrimination included in the agenda for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance that would be held later that year.<ref name=":1" />
She took a sabbatical in 2002 for a year to work at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in New Delhi, India and helped develop the Swiss aid program.<ref name=":1" />
=== Executive Director at Navsarjan Trust === After Martin Macwan announced his resignation as Executive Director of Navsarjan in 2005, Manjula was elected Executive Director of Navsarjan. She reviewed the functioning of Navsarjan and made efforts to eliminate corruption within the organisation. The following year, she was invited to speak at the International Conference of Dalit Women at The Hague, Netherlands. Manjula joined the International Dalit Solidarity Network, based in Copenhagen, in 2008.
In 2008, Manjula defended the case of a 17-year-old minor Dalit girl who was repeatedly gang-raped by six teachers of the Primary Teacher's Training College (PTC) in Patan, Gujarat for six months.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Gangrape-by-6-teachers-rocks-Patan/articleshow/2757185.cms|title=TOI - Gangrape by 6 teachers rocks Patan}}</ref> In 2009, Manjula helped win this case where the teachers were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Gujarat High Court.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/patan-gangrape-case-hc-upholds-life-term-for-5-teachers/819173|title=Patan Gangrape Case: HC Upholds Life Term for 5 Teachers}}</ref> The case was a representation of the intersection of caste, gender and politics in the country.<ref name=":1" />
Following the case, Navsarjan took on more than 30 similar cases representing minors and young women.
==== Cancellation of Navsarjan Trust's FCRA ==== In August 2016, Manjula and Navsarjan were one of the key figures in the Gujarat Dalit unrest, after four tanners from the Dalit community were stripped and attacked by cow vigilantes in Una, Gujarat.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://thewire.in/rights/the-dalit-fightback-at-una-is-indias-rosa-parks-moment|title=The Dalit Fightback at Una is India's Rosa Parks Moment}}</ref> In December 2016, the Union Home Ministry canceled Navsarjan's FCRA certificate implicating that the trust was engaged in “undesirable activities aimed to affect prejudicially harmony between religious, racial, social, linguistic, regional groups, castes or communities”. The cancellation resulted in Navsarjan laying off most of its employees, and left the on-ground activities of the trust across 3,000 villages in the lurch. Manjula was asked to resign from her post as the Executive Director in December 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/fcra-licence-cancelled-ngo-navsarjan-lays-off-all-staffers-4440969/|title=FCRA licence cancelled, NGO Navsarjan lays off all staffers}}</ref>
=== Current work === Manjula cofounded the Dalit Human Rights Defenders Network (DHRDNet) to address issues of Dalit human rights violations in India. Manjula has founded Wise Act of Youth Visioning and Engagement (WAYVE) Foundation, which works for the empowerment and rights of marginalized women and youth in India, building their leadership and awareness about Constitutional Rights.
Manjula is also involved with the National Council of Women Leaders (NCWL) where she serves as the national convener. She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the National Center for Advocacy Studies, India. She represents issues facing Dalits and Dalit women in international forums, such as the United Nations and the European Union, and other international platforms.
== Awards ==
Manjula Pradeep was conferred Woman Peace Maker award for the year 2011 by the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ) of the University of San Diego, US. Over the years, she has received Femina Women 2015 Social Impact Award<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://idsn.org/two-strong-dalit-women-awarded-for-their-work-defending-human-rights/|title=Dalit leaders awarded for their work defending human rights|date=23 April 2015 }}</ref> and Jijabai Women Achievers Award in 2017 by University of Delhi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wdc.shivajicollege.info/jijabai-awardees-2017/|title=Jijabai Awardees 2017|access-date=20 May 2018|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330205740/http://wdc.shivajicollege.info/jijabai-awardees-2017/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2021, she was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-12-07 |title=BBC 100 Women 2021: Who is on the list this year? |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59514598 |access-date=2022-12-16}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pradeep, Manjula}} Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:Indian human rights activists Category:Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni Category:Gujarat University alumni Category:Indian women human rights activists