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!
