Aruna Mahananda

My name is Aruna Mahananda, hailing from Kalahandi Districts of Odisha, India. Currently, I am an M.Phil Scholar from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India. I graduated in Political Science (Hons.) from Sambalpur University, Odisha in the year 2016. After that, I did a Master in Social Work with Specialization in Criminology and Justice at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai in the year 2018. Apart from classroom learning, I have done advocacy for different organisations covering various issues. I have worked as a ‘Criminal Justice Social Worker’ in Prayas, a Field Action Project of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai for more than two years and worked for prisoners rights and rehabilitations. I am one of the co-founders of Nirveda Odisha- A Media through the Bahujan (SC, ST, OBC and Minority) of Odisha since 2016, working with rural marginalized peoples and conducting various sessions on the importance of Independent Media for the marginalized community. I have been working as a program coordinator of Kalinga Mitra Trust (KMT) since 2014, offering Higher Education mentoring and counselling services, assisting positive outcomes for marginalized young people. I have been working as a Mentor at Eklavya Foundation since 2020 and providing adequate assistance and support to rural youths for higher education. Apart from this, I am affiliated as a ‘Mentor’ since 2019 with GEN (Global Empowerment Network), a US-based initiative of socially responsible people who believe in the innate capacity of education to empower marginalized communities since education emancipates human beings from oppressive systems.

In addition, I have been working as an 'Independent Researcher' and doing advocacy on Human Rights and the Annihilation of Caste.