Anita Reddy is an Indian social worker from

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

and the founder of ''Association for Voluntary Action and Services'' (AVAS), known for her services for the rehabilitation and upliftment of the slum dwellers in

and

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. She is the managing trustee of DWARAKA and DRIK Foundations, working for children's education and women's livelihoods. The Government of India honored Anita Reddy in 2011, with the fourth highest civilian award of

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

Biography

Reddy was born in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

in a wealthy family of Ranjini Reddy and Dwaraknath Reddy, an industrialist and philanthropist. Her schooling was at the

Rishi Valley School Rishi Valley School is an Indian boarding school, founded by the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. The school has a holistic approach to education in the spirit of Krishnamurti's pedagogical vision. Community service and extracurricular activitie ...

and college in WCC, after which she went to California, USA. Later she married her childhood friend, Pratap Reddy, the son of the first Chief Minister of Karnataka, K. Chengalaraya Reddy. Her social career started in the late 1970s when she started working with slum residents. Soon, she founded the ''Association for Voluntary Action and Services'' (AVAS) in 1980. Her first initiative was to contribute to the living conditions in the slums by remodeling the housing facilities. Reddy's activities gathered momentum when her father founded the ''Dwarakanath Reddy Ramanarpanam Trust'' (DRRT) in 1996, bestowed his wealth to the trust and asked Reddy to manage it. With added resources, Reddy worked for the empowerment of the poor people and establishment of better facilities in the slums. Another achievement credited to Reddy is the formation of the ''Development of Weavers and Rural Artisans in Kalamkari Art'' (DWARAKA), a society for the artisans. The society aims to revive the dying art form of

Kalamkari Kalamkari, also commonly spelled as qalamkari, is an ancient textile printing art, that finds its roots in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kalamkari gained popularity in the South India during the reign of Vijayanagara Empire. ''Kalam'' imp ...

and provide the artisans a base for storing and marketing their products. The next project Reddy plans for is the setting up of a leadership development institute, under the ''Dwarakanath Reddy Institutes for Knowledge'' (DRIK), for which she has set up a 40-acre piece of land at

Chikballapur Chikkaballapur or Chikkaballāpura is the district headquarters of the newly created Chikkaballapur district in the state of Karnataka, India, which was carved out from Kolar district. It is located within 3 km of Muddenahalli (the birthp ...

called the DRIK VIVEKA campus. The institute promotes theatre, music, sports, art and craft and Gandhian studies, for the poor under the cultural empowerment network called DRIK-Jeevanotsava. Reddy represented the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

at the

Habitat II Habitat II, the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 3–14 June 1996, twenty years after Habitat I held in Vancouver, Canada, in 1976. Popularly called the "City Summit", it brought together ...

, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Human Settlements Conference in Istanbul, Turkey held from 3 to 14 June 1996 and the UN Conference held in Kenya as a part of the ''Year Of The Shelterless''. She sat on the ''Housing Task Force'' set up by the

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as GoK or GoKA, formerly known as Government of Mysore (1956–1974), is a democratically elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka ...

for submitting a report on the housing for the urban poor and was a member of the ''Karnataka Slum Clearance Board''. She also holds the positions of the Managing Trustee of the Ranjini Dwaraknath Reddy Trust (RDRT) and the trustee of the Karnataka chapter of

Sarvodaya Sarvōdaya ( ''wikt:सर्व, sarv-'' "all", ''wikt:उदय, uday'' "rising") is a Sanskrit term which generally means "universal uplift" or "progress of all". The term was used by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi as the title of ...

. Reddy also promotes ''Jeevanotsav'', a cultural platform and the ''K. C. Reddy Swim Centre'' in Bengaluru which has produced national level swimmers such as

Nisha Millet Nisha Millet (born 20 March 1982) is a swimmer from Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. An Arjuna Award winner, she was the only woman in the 2000 Sydney Olympics swim team for India. Career Millet had a near-drowning experience at the age of 5 years ...

and Meghana Narayanan, She serves as the Organizing Secretary of ''Women’s Voice'' and as the secretary of the ''State Level Slum Dwellers Federation'' (KKNSS). She also organizes School based campaigns and dialogues. In her current role, she is steering the idea of establishing ARC - Arts, Rights and Communities, first-ever learning center that would enhance indigenous traditions and heritage knowledge in poor children in many communities including Government schools. It would enable youth to discover the inherent strengths of the area they live in and the wealth of history relevant for the regions development.

Awards and recognitions

Reddy is a recipient of Mahila Sadhaki Award of the Guild of Women Achievers in 1997. A recipient of the Jean Harris Award from Rotary International and the Woman Achiever Award from the Ladies Circle India, she was declared as the ''Person of the Year'' by the ''Namma Bengaluru Foundation'' in 2010–11. The same year, in 2011, Reddy received the fourth highest Indian civilian award of

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reddy, Anita Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work Scholars from Chennai Year of birth missing (living people) Indian women philanthropists Indian philanthropists 20th-century Indian educators 20th-century Indian women Women educators from Tamil Nadu Educators from Tamil Nadu Social workers from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian women educators