Madhu Purnima Kishwar

Who is Madhu Purnima Kishwar?

Madhu Purnima Kishwar is an Indian academic, and writer. She is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, based in Delhi, and the Director of the Indic Studies Project based at CSDS which aims to promote the study of "Religions and Cultures in the Indic Civilization".

Kishwar studied at Miranda House in Delhi, where she was the President of the Student's Union, and then studied history at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

Kishwar is founder editor of Manushi - a Journal about Women published since 1979. It has been described by Amartya Sen as "a pioneering feminist journal". She is also the Founder President of Manushi Sangathan,a forum for research based activist interventions which works for democratic reforms that promotes greater social justice and strengthen human rights, especially for women. In 2013, Madhu Kishwar wrote Modinama in which she was critical of the media for what she called their false propaganda about Narendra Modi's role during the Gujarat violence 2002 and in its aftermath.

The social causes Kishwar has taken up was opposed by vested interests and due to this was attacked by anti-social elements several times.