Nov 22, 2013

Tehelka case: Who is Urvashi Butalia?

Now that the committee is formed and the lead investigator chosen for investigating the plight of the young journalist, many of us would be interested to know who Urvashi Butalia is? and how does she qualify as an investigator to a case that is so important for working women and most of all the nation. Among literary circles and feminists, she is a brand-a name that epitomizes women's rights and revolutionary ideas. Her voice can be heard through her much acclaimed book 'The Other Side of Silence'. But read more to know more about her. 

Birth:Born in Ambala, Haryana, in 1952, she did her B.A in literature from Miranda House and Masters from Delhi University in 1973. IN 1977, she persued Masters in South Asian Studies from the University of London. A feminist, an activist and a thinker She started her career as an Editor in Oxford University Press in Delhi and later at the Oxford headquarters. She worked for Zed Books, a London-based publishing house, and later came back to India to open her own publishing houses Kali for Women (1984) and Zubaan Books (2003). That was the beginning of her career as a feminist as she started developing an idea of women's issues, especially related to partition history and communal riots. Gender, communalism, fundamentalism are some of her other subjects. 'The Other Side of Silence' A literary gateway to the plight of women during partition and their, sometimes brutal,experiences. The book is a conglomeration of over 70 interviews of women who survived the partition, emphasises particularly on the violence against women at the time of crisis. The times have changed, but the position of women remains the same. They continue to be violated to appease egoes, although in different scenarios that are changing with the times. Here's Urvashi again to let justice rest.

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