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| Ela Bhatt | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ela Bhatt |
| Birth date | 7 September 1933 |
| Birth place | Ahmedabad |
| Death date | 2 November 2022 |
| Occupation | Trade unionist, cooperative organiser, lawyer, author |
| Known for | Founder of SEWA |
Ela Bhatt Ela Bhatt was an Indian cooperative organizer, labour leader, and advocate for informal-sector women workers who founded the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA). She was a lawyer, social activist, author, and mediator whose work linked grassroots organization with institutions such as the International Labour Organization, World Bank, United Nations, and global cooperative movements. Her career intersected with a range of figures, institutions, and movements across India, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Born in Ahmedabad in 1933, she studied at St. Xavier's High School, Ahmedabad and later at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda where she completed a degree in arts before pursuing law at Gujarat University Law College. Influences during her formative years included the social reform legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, the cooperative traditions of Vithalbhai Patel and the civic milieu of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Early contacts with organisations such as the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust and figures like Sardar Patel shaped her interest in labour rights and community organizing.
After qualifying as a lawyer, she worked with the Bureau of Labour and the All India Trade Union Congress on issues affecting informal workers. She engaged with trade union leaders associated with C. Rajagopalachari era reforms, and collaborated with advocates from unions like the Indian National Trade Union Congress and Hind Mazdoor Sabha. Her cooperative initiatives drew on models from the Rashtriya Seva Sangh and credit cooperatives influenced by leaders such as V. P. Menon and B. R. Ambedkar-era debates on labour rights. She liaised with municipal institutions including the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service and rural cooperatives linked to the National Cooperative Development Corporation.
In 1972 she founded SEWA, building on precedents set by movements associated with Gandhian Sarvodaya activists and trade union frameworks like those of A. K. Gopalan. SEWA registered as a union and cooperative to represent tailors, home-based workers, street vendors, and agricultural labourers drawn from constituencies similar to those engaged by Chetan Bhagat-era community projects and contemporary groups such as Dignity International. SEWA's organisational partnerships included linkages with the International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and national bodies like the Ministry of Labour and Employment (India). SEWA experimented with microfinance solutions related to models advanced by Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank advocates, while also collaborating with credit cooperatives inspired by Desai Committee recommendations. SEWA established institutions including a co-operative bank, health cooperative, and insurance schemes resembling initiatives promoted by World Bank programmes and Asian Development Bank projects. SEWA's community outreach paralleled programs by Annie Besant-linked educational bodies and rural development schemes championed by Dharavi-area activists and urban planners like Charles Correa.
She represented grassroots constituencies at forums such as the International Labour Conference, the United Nations General Assembly, and sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women. She advised multilateral organisations including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and United Nations Development Programme on informal-labour inclusion, and participated in networks including the Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) and the African Women's Development Fund. She held positions or advisory roles in institutions such as the International Cooperative Alliance, the Ford Foundation, and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). She engaged with international figures like Elaine S. Dalton-style activists, policymakers from Norway and Sweden, and development economists associated with Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz-related debates on social protection.
Her published essays and speeches addressed labour rights, cooperative strategy, and feminist economics, resonating with themes found in works by Noam Chomsky, Vandana Shiva, Arundhati Roy, and Amartya Sen. She emphasized collective self-reliance, mutual aid, and dignity for informal workers, drawing on ethical frameworks linked to Mahatma Gandhi and cooperative principles advanced by the International Cooperative Alliance. Her writings influenced policy discussions at the ILO and informed scholarly work in journals circulated through institutions like the London School of Economics, University of Oxford, and Harvard Kennedy School.
She received national and international honors, including awards associated with institutions such as the Right Livelihood Award, the Padma Bhushan (later recipients included figures like Arundhati Roy and Nelson Mandela in comparative lists), and commendations from organisations like the International Labour Organization and the United Nations. She was honoured by universities including Yale University, University of Cambridge, University of Delhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru University with honorary degrees and recognitions, and featured in global lists compiled by publications associated with Time magazine and Forbes. She participated in award ceremonies alongside laureates from entities like the Nobel Prize community and commentators connected to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
She lived and worked primarily in Ahmedabad and maintained relationships with a wide network of activists, academics, and policymakers including counterparts from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa, and Brazil. Her model of organizing influenced movements such as Grameen Bank-inspired microcredit groups, urban vendors' federations, and cooperative federations across Asia and Africa. SEWA's legacy is evident in policy shifts at institutions including the International Labour Organization and national labour ministries in India and other countries, and in ongoing scholarship at centres like the Institute of Development Studies and the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. Her life and work are commemorated in exhibitions, biographies, and curricula at institutions such as National Institute of Design, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Rural Industrialization.
Category:Indian trade unionists Category:1933 births Category:2022 deaths