SOCIAL WORK
TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Mumbai
The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) hasn’t forgotten Rohith Vemula, the University of Hyderabad research scholar whose suicide in 2016 sparked nationwide protests. It also remembers the contributions of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, tribal activist Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda, Santhal rebellion fighters Santhal Phulo and Jhano Murmu, Naga leader Rani Gaidinliu, among others. Theirs are some of the photos that hang at the entrance gate of the campus along with posters carrying slogans such as “Struggle for social justice”, “Educate, Agitate and Organise”, “Bring Back Najeeb” and “Never Give Up”.
These are signs that TISS has been witness to a student strike, the first major one in the institute’s 72-year-old history. It all started on February 21, 2018, when the students demanded that the institute recall its decision to withdraw financial aid to students from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, who were eligible for the Union government’s post-matriculation scholarship. It’s a pertinent cause at TISS where in accordance with the government mandate, 49.5 per cent of the seats are reserved for ST/ SC/ OBC categories. In addition to it if these students “come in general merit list, they are not considered in the reserved category,” says Manish K. Jha, professor and dean of the
62% OF ALL THE STUDENTS IN THE TOP 10 COLLEGES ARE WOMEN
school of social work. Currently, almost 55 per cent of students at TISS come from the three quotas. It’s why students like Jyoti Prasad Bori, a member of the Mising tribe in Assam, can travel from Silapathar to Mumbai to do research on rural development, governance and education. “A questioning mind is not appreciated by any government,” says Jha. “Here at TISS we encourage students to challenge the received wisdom.” Most may see TISS as a leftist bastion like the Jawaharlal Nehru University, but Jha believes that the institute is apolitical. “We are temperamentally pro-poor. We take sides with the underprivileged and marginalised. We keep demanding things from the state and that’s why we look adversarial,” he says.
Their field trips expose TISS students to the disparity in society which makes them adopt a cause and actively work towards it. “I don’t think anybody in TISS teaches you to associate with a political ideology,” says Archita Sharma, a 27-year-old student who was an engineer at Accenture in Pune before she came to TISS. “They will teach you about queer group issues, gender, caste and class hierarchy, marginalised communities and to be a feminist. It changes you completely.” Sharma’s action research project saw her engage with women of Warli tribe to revive their traditional art
form of painting and create a supplementary source of livelihood.
The social work programme continues to be one of the most sought after at TISS since its inception in 1936. With 40 teachers and 500 students in the post graduation programme and 50-60 research students, social work also has the largest representation on campus. Currently, the department offers nine two-year-long master’s programmes in community organisation and development practice, Dalit and tribal social work, health and mental health, livelihood and social innovation, criminology and justice, women-centred practice, disability and studies, children and families, and livelihood and social innovation. Of these, Jha says, most enrolments come for the first and last courses. It’s the field action projects that continue to be TISS’s most valued asset, bringing both national and international recognition. “At any given point of time, we have 40 active projects,” says Jha. Some of the prominent ones include Prayas which works with undertrials and their families predominantly in Maharashtra; Koshish, a programme in aid of the homeless population; Women’s Cell, which works with victims of domestic violence and with police stations in eight states by establishing special cells; and iAccess for the disabled community. Located in Deonar which holds India’s largest dumping ground and the M-East ward, where 78 per cent population resides in slums, the institute also works towards improving the health, education and sanitation of the local population.
Some of its field projects have received government recognition. Childline, first set up by erstwhile professor Jeroo Billimoria in 1996, is now a project under the Union ministry of women and child development. Its helpline number provides assistance to distressed children from vulnerable back-
grounds. Billimoria, who studied social work at TISS and whose mother was a TISSian, values her stint there. “TISS has been a part of my growing up and my entire life,” she says, adding how perseverance, tenacity, acceptance of and respect for all, optimism and joy for life are some of the attributes she imbibed here.
Anu Aga, who specialised in medical and psychiatric social work, is another famous alumnus. Aga fondly remembers the head of her department. “She used to tell us about the worst that can happen to any of us when we visit unsafe places,” says Aga, who headed Thermax, a heavy engineering firm. “Once we accepted the worst possible possibilities, we could overcome our fear and be willing to undertake any challenge. I was able to internalise her advice and it was a liberating experience,” she says.
Diversity is a matter of pride at TISS. “We have more girls than boys,” says Jha. “Though the gender gap was more earlier, girls still dominate.” Women’s safety is given credence with ‘Gender Ki Baatein’ dropbox that encourages students to file complaints on sexual harassment or assault. From June 2018, TISS will be one of India’s first universities to have a gender-neutral floor reserved in its hostel as well as gender-neutral toilets on campus. On students’ suggestion, the application form will also include Mx for those who don’t want to be identified as Mr or Ms.
An esteemed alumni, a progressive outlook along with classmates from diverse backgrounds—these are some of the aspects of TISS that draws students like Kritika Katyayan. A resident of Shakti Nagar near Varanasi, Katyayan’s final year project looked at the impact of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots on intercommunity relations with special focus on how it affected women. And the first thing she learned at TISS? “You learn to unlearn things,” she says.