Durga's Fireside Chat

Varun is currently pursuing his 4th Year B.E. in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering from RNS Institute of Technology, Bengaluru. He is a Co Founder of BluTree Technology Networks which aims at delivering affordable technological solutions to the society. He has been working on a few impactful projects like the women's safety device. This is being developed under the guidance of Durga India.

The basic idea of the solution is to make citizens responsible of their safety instead of completely relying on the authorities. There is a physical trigger device which communicates with a mobile application on the user's phone to send emergency trigger alerts to preset contacts and other DAREs. We are also working on establishing a network of safe zones across the city to provide accessable safe spaces.

We are currently in the testing phase and would love any form of support to make this solution a reality

Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.

To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.

Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!

Tara Krishnaswamy is the co-founder of Shakti, a pan-India, non-partisan citizens’ pressure group working to get more women into State Assemblies & Parliament. Shakti's volunteer  campaigns include petitioning political parties to stand more women as election candidates, Call Your MPs to pressure MPs to table the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament and the Election Commission to discipline parties towards gender-equitable nominations. She is the co-founder of Citizens For Bengaluru, a grassroots people’s movement with landmark campaigns for #SteelFlyoverBeda, campaigns for mass public transit like the #ChukBukuBeku & #BusBhagyaBeku for suburban trains and public buses, and the #BekuBedaSanthe for the citizens manifesto in Bengaluru. She lead ground campaigns for Karnataka’s Police Stations to maintain list of convicted sex offenders & secured a Government Order for the same. She introduced Urban Women's Safety Social Audit Framework and methodology. She was co-Convenor of the Nirbhaya Fund Round Table, Hyderabad for administration of the Nirbhaya Fund.  She has organized people’s movements on violence against women. She has independently authored on subjects of federalism, citizenship, gender and caste issues with First Post, The News Minute, Live Mint, News Laundry, Times of India, Hindustan Times etc. She is a TEDx speaker and has taught Master’s public policy courses in Bengaluru. She is an advisor to the Indian School of Democracy.

Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.

To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.

Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!

Meera Vijayann is an independent journalist and writer of Indian-origin based in Washington D.C. She has contributed to national and international discussions on gender rights and sexual violence in India. Her reportage and essays have appeared in Forbes, The Guardian, Entropy, Folks magazine, and other outlets.

In 2013, Vijayann won the CNN IBN Citizen Journalism Award for her reportage on the protests that followed the Delhi Gang Rape. Following her 2014 TED talk on finding a voice against sexual violence, she has been involved in encouraging survivors of sexual abuse across the world to speak out for justice. In 2017, Vijayann spent time as a Global Journalism fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs reporting how immigration and health policies affect men and women in the US and Canada. Currently, she focuses on how issues at the intersection of gender and health affect women and marginalized communities.

Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.

To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.

Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!

Japleen smashes the patriarchy for a living! She is the Founder-Director & Editor-in-Chief of Feminism in India (FII), an award-winning digital feminist media platform. She is also a TEDx speaker and was recognised as a Young Innovator in 2018 by World Summit Awards. Japleen has Masters and M.Phil degrees in German Studies and used to be a German language lecturer at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Amity University, Noida. Prior to starting FII, she worked with multiple women’s rights NGOs in India like Breakthrough India and Point of View. She has also worked with Freedom House, a non-profit based in the USA, on a research report and advocacy campaign on online violence against women. She was featured by The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in a book on ‘Women in Tech’ for her work at FII and facilitated by Maneka Gandhi and Ministry of Women & Child Development, GoI as Web Wonder Woman. She has also been recognised by the Swedish Foreign Minister for her work on the gender gap on Wikipedia. Currently, Japleen oversees the strategic vision and growth at FII. She likes to garden, travel, hike, swim and cycle and is slowly moving towards a sustainable lifestyle.

Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.

To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.

Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!

Barsha - Lead- Digital Engagement, Partnerships and Advocacy and intro about Breakthrough - An organization working to create a cultural shift and make discrimination and violence against girls and women unacceptable.

Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.

To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.

Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!

Vibushita Bhat is a nineteen-year old first year Humanities student at the Azim Premji University. She is an eager history and literature student who absolutely loves research. She has strong opinions and strong emotions and is learning how to make them her strengths and a part of her voice. She is very passionate about issues related to gender, sexuality, religion and the environment. She co-authored Durga's workshop module for children to de-mystify gender stereotypes and sexual harassment for primary and middle school students. She also writes a few conversational pieces for Durga's blog and volunteers as a facilitator during her spare time. Fun facts about her — a new dog mom, a sucker for a good cry, and a coffee enthusiast.

Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.

To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.

Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!

Anagha Shivaprakash is a proud feminist and a recent aerospace graduate navigating through her career of being one of the few women in STEM. Through her university, she was exposed to the importance of gender equity and representation. Dealing with the glaring gender gap in STEM colleges, only aggravated by lack of safe spaces, led her to join Durga. It empowered her to spread the message of gender equity to people of her age. She believes that it's each and everyone’s duty to create safe spaces for those around us. These safe spaces can help break the systems of biases that push women and people of colour out of STEM careers. She has had the opportunity to work with fellow students and juniors in trying to create a space where individuals feel safe to talk about ideas and express their views. These safe spaces go beyond the regular peer dynamics and have helped contribute to addressing grievance at an emotional level.

Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.

To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.

Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!

ElsaMarie D’Silva is the Founder & CEO of Red Dot Foundation (India) and President of Red Dot Foundation Global (USA). Its platform, Safecity, crowdsources personal experiences of sexual violence and abuse in public spaces. ElsaMarie is a 2020 IWF Fellow and a Gratitude Network Fellow, 2019 Reagan Fascell Fellow, and a 2018 Yale World Fellow. She is an alumnus of the Stanford Draper Hills Summer School, the US State Department’s Fortune Mentoring Program, Oxford Chevening Gurukul and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Leadership Program. She is also a fellow with Rotary Peace, Aspen New Voices, Vital Voices and a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader.

She is listed as one of BBC Hindi’s 100 Women and has won several awards including Government of India Niti Aayog’s #WomenTransformingIndia award and The Digital Woman Award in Social Impact by SheThePeople. In 2017, she was awarded the Global Leadership Award by Vital Voices. She is also the recipient of Gold Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year - Government or Non-Profit -10 or Less Employees in 2016. Her work has been recognised by the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations through the Intercultural Innovation Award, SDG Action Festival and the UN Foundation at the Solutions Summit 2016.

She has penned articles that have appeared in CNN, Huffington Post, WIP amongst others. She has spoken about her work at the Rotary International Assembly 2019, Aspen Ideas Festival, TEDx MidAtlantic, UN Women, State Department, Vital Voices South to South Leadership Summit.

Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.

To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.

Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!

A feminist activist by training, Kamla Bhasin has been actively engaged with issues related to development, gender, education, media and others since 1970. Currently, she works with Sangat – A Feminist Network as Adviser as well as JAGORI, a Women’s Resource and Training Centre and Jagori Rural Charitable Trust as an active member. She is the South Asia Coordinator of One Billion Rising, a global campaign to end violence against women and girls; Co-Chair of the worldwide network Peace Women Across the Globe; and a member of South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR). Prior to this, she worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for 27 years. Kamla Bhasin is deeply engaged with issues related to gender, development, peace, identity politics, militarization, human rights and democracy and seeks to explore and articulate connections between these issues and to promote synergies between different movements. Her main work is at the South Asian level, and has included capacity building of South Asian and other young activists and networking amongst civil society organizations in South Asia. She has also been conducting gender sensitization workshops for senior non-governmental organization leaders and managers, government officials, police personnel, and members of Parliament in various countries in South Asia.  Kamla Bhasin has written extensively on gender, women’s empowerment, participatory and sustainable development, participatory training, media and communication. Most of her books are written for activists and development workers. She has also written a large number of songs and slogans for the women's movement, books for children, and has created many posters and banners for various people’s movements. She is committed to the creation of a peaceful, democratic and pluralist South Asia. She lives in New Delhi, India.

Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.

To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.

Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!

Manak is a feminist, and queer activist who works on issues of gender justice, sexuality rights, health equity and inclusive education. Manak is part of the women's rights and queer rights movement in India and currently leads The YP Foundation, an organisation that develops young people's rights-based, feminist and intersectional leadership of social change.

Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.

To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.

Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!