She has worked as a dhobi. Her social circle was completed by labourers and their families. She has faced threats from the land mafia, but has empowered women from the lower strata of society against all odds. She also worked with slum dwellers and the Karnataka Government on urban housing projects, besides promoting several programmes for rural artisans, economic empowerment of a tribal community and various vocational and self-employment generating schemes. And, she is also a Padma awardee! Anita Reddy wears her cap of many feathers with aplomb. Yet, she maintains that she is a simple person at heart. She says that a chance situation took her to the slums in 1978. “One thing led to another… I saw that for generations, people living in the slums had been marginalised. Over a period of time, my work grew from micro-level welfare activities such as helping them get ration cards, water and electricity connections, to macro-level projects.”
This was when her work related to resolve issues on land ownership for the poor, slum community shelter projects, leadership development and empowerment programmes for women and youth began to take shape.
Anita credits her father Dwarakanath Reddy, an industrialist, for pushing her into social service. She says that along with her aunt Indiramma, her father is her biggest inspiration. “My father inspired me and taught me that hard work pays. In his own way, he taught me to be confident, driven and strong. My father and aunt used to listen to philosophical discourses. This early exposure helped shape me.”
Studying abroad
She says she truly understood dignity of labour when she went to the U.S. to pursue higher education. In Houston, she worked as a merchandise handler and launderette. “In other words, I worked as a coolie and a dhobi. I even worked with a senior citizens' home. I dropped out of college and returned to India.”
On her return to the country, she started to work with people in the city slums. In 1980, she formed AVAS (Association for Voluntary Action and Services). While working on the model slum re-housing projects, she had to face several hurdles. “I had to face the land mafia and persons with vested interests. Once, I was even chased by a mob of around 300 people. I had to learn to conduct meetings with slum dwellers in graveyards!”
She says that these were the best years of learning, as she was “guided by the community.” She adds that while interacting with the women from the slums, she found that they were most oppressed and needed someone with them. “When I stood by their side, they grew stronger; they ensured that their voices did not go unheard. It was the result of one continuous process of not giving up.”
In 1996, her father formed the Dwarakanath Reddy Ramanarpanam Trust (DRRT) as a tribute to Ramana Maharishi. He had bequeathed all his wealth to the Trust and asked Anita to manage it. The Trust, along with AVAS, worked on protection of rights of the urban and rural poor, empowering them economically and providing better housing and infrastructure in slums.
Anita used her social entrepreneurship skills to help rural artisans, especially Kalamkari artists, by setting up DWARAKA (Development of Weavers and Rural Artisans in Kalamkari Art). “The idea was born when I found an artist going door-to-door trying to sell his art panels. DWARAKA has now become an independent society. The world has woken up to a dying art form. Artisans, who were earlier debt-ridden, have been rejuvenated.”
She is now working on her dream project — an institute to promote theatre, music, sports, art and craft, Gandhian studies. This institute — DRIK (Dwarakanath Reddy Institute for Knowledge) — has been set up on a 40-acre plot at Chikballapur. “I want to bring alive the flavour of what I experienced during my schooling in Rishi Valley. Through this institute, I hope to empower children through education. We are also using the campus to look at different methods of organic farming, rainwater harvesting etc.”
Family support
Anita says that all this would not have been possible without the “immense support” from her family. She met her husband Pratap Reddy, son of Karnataka's first Chief Minister K.C. Reddy, when she was just 15-years-old. “He knew what he was going in for. He has been my pillar of strength. I have always responded to a cry, no matter at what time. He let me do what I had to.”
She adds that though her life revolved around work, she did not compromise on being a mother to her three children — 29-year-old Pooja, 27-year-old Siddharth and 21-year-old Raam. She proudly says that her children are achievers in their own right. Her daughter Pooja has completed Ph.D. in languages and is working on a literacy programme. While her elder son Siddharth is managing their family business, younger son Raam is studying at a film school in Prague. “But, I do hope that they will take forward my work.”
Maintaining that she works with her “heart, not head,” she reiterates that social activism needs a passion from within. “I consider myself privileged; nobody pushed me into it or stopped me. I draw inspiration from my unlimited heroes,” she signs off.
