Usha Ramanathan is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

human right activist. She is the South Asia Editor of ''Law, Environment and Development Journal'' (LEAD Journal), a peer-reviewed academic journal jointly published by IELRC and SOAS.

Background and personal life

Ramanathan was born in a

South Indian South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

family. She is an alumnus of

Madras University The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

. She studied law at Madras university, the

University of Nagpur Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU), formerly Nagpur University, is a public state university located in Nagpur, Maharashtra. It is one of India's oldest universities, as well as the second oldest in Maharashtra. It is named a ...

and

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

. She is married to Justice S. Muralidhar, presently chief justice of the

Orissa High Court The Orissa High Court is the High Courts of India, High Court for the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Odisha. The then Bengal Presidency was a vast province including present day Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West ...

Career

Ramanathan is research fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, teaches environmental law, labour law and consumer law at the Indian Law Institute and is a regular guest professor many universities around the world. Her research interests include human rights, displacement, torts and environment. She has published extensively in India and abroad. In particular, she has devoted her attention to a number of specific issues such as the Bhopal gas disaster, the Narmada valley dams and slum eviction in Delhi. She is a frequent adviser to non-governmental organisations and international organisations. She is for instance a member of Amnesty International's Advisory Panel on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and has been called upon by the World Health Organisation as an expert on mental health on various occasions. Her writings can be found in the Frontline, The Hindu, The Wire and the Indian Express, amongst other leading newspapers.

Access Now Access Now is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 with a mission to defend and extend the digital civil rights of people around the world. Access Now supports programs including an annual conference on Human Rights (RightsCon), an index ...

organisation gave her the 2018 'Human Rights Hero' award for tireless efforts to highlight the issues related to

Aadhaar Aadhaar ( hi, आधार, ādhār, lit=base, foundation, bn, আধার) is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by the citizens of India and resident foreign nationals who have spent over 182 days in twelve ...

References

Indian human rights activists University of Madras alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{India-activist-stub