Dr. Harsh Mander

Harsh Mander is a PhD from Vrije University in Amsterdam. His thesis was titled Vulnerable People and Policy Development in India: Designing State Interventions for Hunger, Homelessness, Destitution and Targeted Violence.

Mander is a human rights and peace worker, writer, columnist, researcher and teacher, works with survivors of mass violence, hunger, homeless persons and street children.

He is the Chairperson, Centre for Equity Studies, devoted to the analysis and development of public policy and law for justice and rights of disadvantaged groups.

He founded, convenes and edits the annual India Exclusion Report. These attempt to document the experience of disadvantaged people of the state; and on evidence-based analysis and advocacy for more just and equitable laws and policies. 

To counter the rising hate violence against minorities, he led the national initiative called the Karwan e Mohabbat or Caravan of Love. The Karwan visits the families of those who lost loved ones to hate violence and lynching, for atonement, solidarity, healing, conscience and justice; and to promote goodwill and trust between communities.

He is a prolific writer. He His more than 25 books include: ‘Partitions of the Heart: Unmaking the Idea of India’; ‘Locking Down the Poor: The Pandemic and India’s Moral Centre’; ‘Looking Away: Inequality, Prejudice and Indifference in New India’; and ‘Ash in the Belly: India’s Unfinished Battle against Hunger’.

The Peace Research Institute Oslo has included him in its 2022 shortlist of people recommended for the Nobel Peace Prize