Aruna Roy
The 2016 Professor of Practice in Global Governance
Aruna Roy is a prominent socio-political activist and is a part of many socio-political movements in India. After graduating with an M.A. in English Literature, she was in the civil service from 1968 to 1975. In 1975 she resigned from the Indian Administrative Service to work with the rural poor in Rajasthan. She moved to Devdungri, Rajasthan in 1987, along with Shankar Singh, and Nikhil Dey to collectively build a peoples’ organisation - the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS -1990). She has worked with democratic campaigns for the access of the poor to constitutional rights for equality and justice- the Right to Information, Employment, Food Security and PUCL. She worked as a member of the National Advisory Council from 2004-06, 2010-13. As member of the Council she played a crucial role in the passage of national legislations for the Right to Information and the Right to Employment (MGNREGA) in 2005.
She is a prominent member of many campaigns, and currently the President of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW). She was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2000, the Nani Palkiwala Award and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academia and Management in 2010, and listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by the TIME Magazine for 2011.
She was conferred the degree of doctorate (honoris causa) by the University of Hyderabad (UoH) on 2nd October 2013. The MKSS Collective has received many awards including the Rule of Law Award in the World Justice Forum held in Barcelona, Spain in June 2011.The MKSS has been a part of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) an international platform, and was in the Steering Committee till 2014.