Be fearless and forthright, and rule the world
IN SHOWCASING women during this notable month, our spotlight falls on Professor Vimla Nadkarni, a social work professor of note from India.
Nadkarni is regarded by many around the world as a woman who is driven and continues to play a leading role in the profession of social work.
A social worker by profession, Nadkarni retired as Senior Professor in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in 2013.
She was born in Mumbai, India, in 1948, soon after the country became independent.
Nadkarni was brought up in a large middle-class family with nine sisters and two brothers in the heart of the city then known as Urbs Prima.
Her family came from Sindh (now in Pakistan); her father, Mohanlal Lala, was a gold-medallist engineer, who gave India its first branded ice-cream, Joy.
She has happy memories of growing up in a cosmopolitan atmosphere.
The values and the example set by her parents were greatly inspiring and she recalls how, even in that relatively small house of theirs, her parents sheltered refugees, who left Pakistan for India.
Nadkarni is married to Vithal, a journalist and a writer, and her daughter Ambika is a scientist working in Berkeley, California (US).
Nadkarni qualified initially in the field of psychology from St Xavier’s College in Mumbai.
However, her interest in working with people prompted her to enrol for a postgraduate qualification in social work at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences also in Mumbai.
She worked as a social worker within the challenging field of medical social work at the King Edward Memorial Hospital, one of the largest public hospitals in Mumbai in the 1970s, as part of the multi-disciplinary team working on epilepsy research.
She said: “In this position, I had to learn about epilepsy itself; about the myths and misconceptions that people have about epilepsy; the stigma and impact on the life of the patient, his family and community.” Nadkarni went on to head the Department of Medical and Psychiatric Social Work at the Tata Institute for Social Sciences (TISS) for 20 years.
In 2006, she was appointed Dean of the School of Social Work at TISS.
Her academic life also traversed other avenues.
She lectured at the College of Social Work at the Nirmala Niketan (University of Mumbai) for eight years.
She served on many platforms, including being secretary general of the Family Planning Association of India from 2001 to 2002, and on several editorial boards of international journals, including the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
Nadkarni has been invited as a guest lecturer to many universities, including the University of Antwerp in Belgium.
She is well known in the social work field worldwide.
She is the immediate past president of the highest body of collectives in social work, having served as president of the International Association of the Schools of Social Work (IASSW) from 2012 to 2016, overseeing and governing academic training in social work worldwide, focusing particularly on the involvement of developing countries.
Nadkarni’s contribution to academia is evident in her numerous articles on poverty, public health, HIV/ Aids and human rights, published globally in journals and books.
Of note is the demand for her expertise by organisations in India and other countries around the world.
When speaking of her work with the vulnerable and the poor, Nadkarni is humbled by the impact of her projects on urban and rural health, HIV/Aids counselling initiatives and community based drug demand reduction. One can hear her passion about conservation and the environment.
Her spare time is filled with travel plans and her love for music.
Her message to women and girls is to “be fearless and forthright, and rule the world. Don’t give in easily to oppressive forces in our societies but fight for your rightful place in society with self-confidence and self-esteem. Be a student throughout your life as knowledge is power. Don’t hide behind the veil; be communicative, compassionate, caring and ethical, and bring positive changes in your life and the lives of others”.
Nadkarni will be in South Africa in October. She has been invited as a key note speaker at the International Social Work Conference in Johannesburg where she will share her expertise on decolonising and indigenising social work, particularly from her work in India.