Saheli Papers: Laxmi Murthy, Vani Subramanian, Vineeta Bal, 2025-07-23
Scope and Contents
This series contains interviews with the creators or donors of archival records deposited at the Archives at NCBS, to better understand the provenance of the material.
Dates
- Creation: 2025-07-23
Creator
- Murthy, Laxmi (Interviewee, Person)
- Subramanian, Vani (Interviewee, Person)
- Bal, Vineeta (Interviewee, Person)
- S, Deepika (Interviewer, Person)
- Dhingra, Mansi (Processing Archivist, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for access unless mentioned in specific folders of the finding aid.
Conditions Governing Use
This interview serves as a provenance record of the Saheli Papers deposited at the Archives at NCBS. In this interview, Laxmi Murthy, Vani Subramanian and Vineeta Bal, speak of their involvement with Saheli and the beginning of their association with the group.
They speak about Saheli’s organisational structure, informal membership, and broad focus in areas of women’s rights, education and health. They describe work at Saheli and early campaigns, including the involvement of all three in Saheli’s health group which focused on reproductive rights and reproductive technologies. They trace the Saheli’s impact and influence, and the slowing down of the organisation’s activity in recent years amid a shifting landscape for activism.
The discussion moves to the intention, approach and action behind storing Saheli’s documents, and the kinds of documents maintained by Saheli. The three speakers highlight how damage from a fire affected the material stored in their office, and share the reason for making some of the material available in a public archive in Bangalore, Karnataka.
(00:00:30) Background of the speakers and their association with Saheli
(00:01:04) Laxmi Murthy introduces herself and shares the beginning of her association with Saheli in 1987.
(00:07:50) Vani Subramanian introduces herself and how she began working with Saheli in 1986.
(00:11:11) Describing changes in perspective of the members on issues, for example regarding women’s representation in the media, including a law on Indecent Representation.
(00:13:18) Work and areas of focus in Saheli in the 1990s, Vani’s interest and reasons for joining the group.
(00:17:39) Vineeta Bal introduces herself and her inclination towards joining Saheli in the 1990s.
(00:22:13) Discussing the health group of Saheli, work around report writing and information collection critiquing research in health.
(00:31:40) Different approaches like Nukkad Natak (street play) for spreading awareness about topics like hazardous contraceptives.
(00:36:43) The period of influence of Saheli, the period after liberalisation, privatisation of healthcare and shrinking of autonomous women’s groups in the aftermath.
(00:41:40) Shifts in Saheli’s organisational activity and programme activities since the 1990s-2000s.
(00:51:11) Approach, policy and intention around documenting Saheli’s work, institutional periodic archiving of perspectives through reports, souvenirs and newsletters.
(01:01:09) Uneven documentation across activist groups and between members within an organisation, blurred boundaries between personal and activist time and space, also resulting or reflecting in the incidental documentation.
(01:05:38) Recounting the fire incident at the Saheli office in 2011 and the damage that resulted from it.
(01:16:50) Gaps in the documented material.
(01:22:05) Rationale behind donating the organisation’s material on health to a public archive in Bangalore.
[01:27:38 - 01:27:57 – Restricted access. Contact archives@ncbs.res.in]
[01:30:25-01:30:49 – Restricted access. Contact archives@ncbs.res.in]
Biographical / Historical
Laxmi Murthy is a journalist and researcher based in Bangalore. She is the Director of the Hri Institute for Southasian Research and Exchange and serves as a Consulting Editor with Himal Southasian, Kathmandu.
Active in the women’s movement since the 1980s, she was closely associated with Saheli, an autonomous women’s collective, for over two decades. Her work with Saheli centred on research and advocacy around women’s health.
She is also the co-author, along with Rajashri Dasgupta, of Our Pictures, Our Worlds: A Visual Journey Through the Women’s Movement, a book that captures a visual history of the Indian women’s movement.
Vani Subramanian is a documentary filmmaker and women’s rights activist. She has been associated with the feminist collective Saheli since the late 1980s. She is the Creative Director of reFrame Institute of Art and Expression, a platform dedicated to engaging with contemporary social and political challenges.
Her filmmaking explores the relationship between everyday life and broader political realities, addressing themes such as gender and space, sex-selective abortion, and communal intolerance, among others. Her film Meals Ready (1996) received the Second Best Film Award at Film South Asia 1977 in Kathmandu.
In addition to her creative work, she has served as visiting faculty at several academic institutions, including Cornell University and the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.
Vineeta Bal is an immunologist and women’s rights activist. She is a scientist at the National Institute of Immunology and an Honorary Faculty Member in the Department of Biology at IISER, Pune.
She completed her MBBS from the University of Poona in 1979, followed by an MD in Microbiology from the University of Bombay in 1982, and went on to undertake postdoctoral research at the Haffkine Institute in Mumbai and at the University of London, UK.
Associated with Saheli since 1990, her work there has focused on women’s health. In addition, she has also been examining inequalities faced by women scientists in their professional careers. She was part of the Task Force on Women in Science set up by the Government of India.
Full Extent
95 Minutes
Language of Materials
English
Repository Details
Part of the Archives at NCBS Repository
National Centre for Biological Sciences - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Bangalore Karnataka 560065 India
+9180 6717 6010
+9180 6717 6011
archives@ncbs.res.in
