Priti manjhi is our fellow from the small town in Gaurella, Chhattisgarh.

Influenced by her grandfather who was a freedom fighter and father who is a member of Congress party, Priti began her political career while being in school itself. With the goal to serve her community and people she chose medicine as her career and earned an MSC in Nursing.

Like many other women her village is also a victim of physical harassment perpetrated by the upper caste men towards Tribal women. Infact she highlighted many instances of sexual violence which are unreported due to police insensitivity towards them.

She has also witnessed many injustices against girls in schools and colleges like limited access to educational and economic opportunities.

Another issue close to her heart is the lack of infrastructural development in her village, especially the Chambal-Amarkantak region which is prone to flooding

There is a lack of basic amenities like roads and other infrastructure, even 70 odd years of independence.

All these experiences crystallized her interest to join active politics full-time as a representative of her community. She quit her job as a nurse at a government in Bilaspur and pursued politics.

Against such atrocities she started marches, protests from Village to Village. She also began creating social media awareness on the issues of the tribal regions in Chhattisgarh.

She continued her political activities all the way to Delhi when she participated in other protests like against the unjust laws of NRC and CAA and has actively engaged with like minded tribal and dalit leaders.

However she felt that there are many hurdles that women especially of the Adivasi communities face in the political system.

Therefore, when she came across the Indira Fellowship, she saw it as a great platform for women like her to be in the forefront of politics as well as a revolution for change. She wants to bring the issues of tribals in mainstream media especially rights of forest dwellers, sexual abuse of women (rapes, acid attacks sexual assault and harassment etc.), deaths of innocent tribals in police encounters in regions like Bastar.

She feels the fellowship will help her become the representative of her community in the dominant political atmosphere, where she feels their voices are silenced.