Ela Ramesh Bhatt : Gandhian Activist
Ela Ramesh Bhatt, popularly known as Elaben, a noted Gandhian, leading women’s empowerment activist, and renowned founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) passed away recently.
- Born in Ahmedabad in 1933, she studied law and joined the legal cell of the Majur Mahajan Sangh or the Textile Labour Association (TLA).
- Bhatt founded SEWA in 1972, which has since worked at empowering women in various ways.
- She was felicitated with the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize and many other accolades.
- She was also a Member of the Rajya Sabha and of the Planning Commission of India in the 1980s.
- She served as a World Bank advisor and addressed the United Nations General Assembly.
- She propounded the idea of ‘hundred-mile communities’ in her book Anubandh: Building Hundred-Mile Communities published in 2015.
