An untimely death

The women's movement lost another great presence a couple of days ago: Bina Srinivasan, a smart, tough, beautiful Indian woman with flaming red hair; fighter in the international women's movement and a vocal and ardent struggler involved in the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) dam movement. Bina was not only an NBA supporter but also a very senior women's rights activist. For many years she was active with "Swashraya", an organisation working in the bastis with the poorest of poor rag-picking women in Vadodara. She contributed to the women's right's movement at the national level in a very significant way. I had the privilege of spending brief moments with Bina during the 2007 Feminist Dialogues in Nairobi and found her to be as noble and pleasant as her friends recall. She passed after a battle with pneumonia. She will be missed by the women's movement, the NBA and more. As if our world could afford to lose such committed women. . . .