Manjula Pradeep Executive Director Navsarjan Trust,

Manjula Pradeep is the Executive Director of Navsarjan Trust, one of the largest rights organizations addressing the issues of and gender based discrimination in the state of in the western part of India. Ms Pradeep holds a Masters degree in Social Work and is a graduate. She has been working with Navsarjan since 1993. Apart from handling issues related to Dalit rights violations, Ms Pradeep is particularly concerned with addressing serious offenses relating to Dalit women and young girls, such as murder, sexual abuse, sexual trafficking and sexual harassment in the workplace. She also trains grassroots activists and supports other advocacy organizations nationally. Navsarjan Trust addresses the core issues relating to Dalit rights for the implementation of land reforms, eradication of manual scavenging, fighting discrimination in education and employment, implementation of minimum wages pertaining to agricultural labourers, abolition of bonded labour practices and strengthening Dalit women leadership. Navsarjan also runs a vocational training centre to ensure economic empowerment of Dalit youth. Ms Pradeep is a member of the executive group of the International Dalit Solidarity Network and also serves as Secretary of the Executive Committee of the National Center for Advocacy Studies, India. She represents issues facing and Dalit women in international fora, such as the and the . She is a member in the steering committee for Women in Governance (India). She is one of India’s foremost Dalit woman leaders.