Jyoti Mhapsekar : feature on NHK part1

Born to parents who were freedom fighters, Jyoti Mhapsekar was brought up in an environment where political debates, discussions, protest rallies, and patriotic songs were common. Her father was a political worker, and her mother was a school teacher who had worked hard to establish two secondary schools for the poor in Mumbai and also a teachers' union in the early sixties. Jyoti attended both schools and went on to study zoology and then library science followed by a post-graduation in sociology.

In 1975, Jyoti was one of the members of a feminist group who established 'Stree Mukti Sanghatana' (SMS) or 'Women's Liberation Organisation' - to improve the lives of disadvantaged women. Today, SMS is the leading women's organization in Mumbai, and Jyoti is recognized as a leader in the women's movement and an accomplished playwright and songwriter. She has helped establish several organizations including the Committee of Resource Organization (CORO), and Rationing Kruti Samiti in the nineties while campaigning for literacy. When SMS won a grant to a run a nursery in an area where rag-pickers lived, it was then that Jyoti turned her attention to the plight of women engaged in rag-picking. In 2002, Jyoti quit her job as a librarian at the Academy of Architecture and has since devoted herself full-time to realizing her vision.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Stree Mukti Sanghatana
• Jyoti Mhapsekar
• Mulgi Zali Ho
• Parisar Vikas
• Jidnyasa
• cultural troupe
• theatre group
• A Girl Is Born
• street plays
• Mumbai
• Maharashtra
• NHK
• Japan Broadcasting Corporation