ABOUT DEEPA
.. and her "Vimukt Manthan" - liberated articulations..
This web page contains poetry, articles, research papers, creative writing, photos and videos culled from over two decades of work by Deepa. She is one of the first and few women leaders who have emerged from the Gadiya Lohar (Ghisadi) nomadic tribe. The Nomadic & Denotified Tribes are some of the most stigmatized and persecuted communities in India and globally - having been criminalized over 150 years ago during colonial British rule for having risen up for Independance.
This webpage shall put forward the lived and work experiences, articulations, assertions of such a unique social location.. of a representative from a community for whom both 'liberation' and 'articulation' can only be reached after sustained struggles in which generations of lives are lost.
Deepa having started working at the mere age of 14, has worked extensively for over 22 years with youth, women, communities, NGOs, colleges, as well as governments on issues of gender, health, rights, leadership, mentoring, community development, sanitation, and movement-building across Maharashtra. Campaigns she helped form have reached national and international stages. She is an anti-caste, feminist, NT-DNT activist.
She is a Samvaad 2020 Fellow – creating the first ever book documenting Gadiya Lohar nomadic tribe’s iron weapons/tools making. She is also a SRHM ‘Mentoring Programme on Rights and Evidence-based Knowledge Creation’ fellow, carrying out the first ever NT young woman-led research on SRHR of NT-DNT women. As a fellow of the Collective Impact Partnership and a Goalkeeper Youth Action Accelerator , her initiatives for preventing workplace sexual harassment and for youth mental health are recognized internationally. She is the winner of the 'Most Promising Individual' in the 2021 Martha Farrell Awards, the Grand Prize winner in UC Berkeley’s Tell Her Story contest 2018 and was a finalist in the CII Foundation’s Women Exemplar Award 2018.
The Gadiya Lohar (Ghisadi) nomadic tribe are experts in the design and manufacturing of iron tools. Below are some examples of the tools that are crafted by the community:
