Inside Chhattisgarh (Paperback)  | Released: Nov,2014

For thirty years, until his conviction in 2010 by the High Court, pediatricianBinayak Sen and his sociologist wife Ilina worked among people inChhattisgarh’s tribal heartland. They came here seeking fresh ideas forchange—and stayed on.This fascinating memoir illuminates their journey and how their worldimploded.Ilina vividly describes their years at the trade union CMSS, led by theiconic Shankar Guha Niyogi, where Binayak and three doctors started ahospital, and she organized workers’ education, joined the feisty womenmine-workers’ struggles, and discovered the rich local history, cultural andfarming traditions. These experiences later found expression in Rupantar,their own NGO, and when the new state’s government sought their advicefor its women’s policy and for Mitanan, a precursor of the national ruralhealth mission.Candid and deeply felt, the book celebrates Chhattisgarh but also lamentsthe lost opportunity for its inclusive and violence-free development. About the AuthorIlina Sen has been active in the women’s and other rights-based movements for over three decades. Educated at Shillong, Kolkata and at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, her research, writing and action has focused on women’s politics and livelihood issues, as well as issues of sustainable development, agro-biodiversity and peace. During the years her husband, Dr Binayak Sen, was in prison on charges that many considered were trumped up, she was actively involved in the campaign for his release. She has been professor of women’s studies at the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya [International Hindi University], Wardha, and at the Tata institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Currently, she is senior fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Her major publications include A Space Within the Struggle (1990) and Sukhvasin: the Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh (1995).