Asha Kanjiraparamban

Asha is a social work postgraduate from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala with grassroots experience in working with communities and a wide spectrum of actors including the government and civil society groups.

She was pro-actively involved in developing model social audit manual on ICDS with Social Justice Department of Kerala Government. She has engaged with Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan for grass-root mobilization in rural Rajasthan and worked on rights-based legislations like Right to Information, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Right to Hearing Act 2012 (Rajasthan).

At SRUTI, Asha has been engaged with issues of natural resources, governance, agriculture, migration, education and livelihood. She has co-researched in the study titled “A review of the Fourteenth Finance Commission Grants to Gram Panchayats and the Gram Panchayat development plans” – on the issue of democratic decentralisation and efficient financial planning.

She is fascinated by the design, delivery, and impact of interventions undertaken by civil societies in supplementing the government as well as making up for its absence. Rights based legislations are also a piece of jigsaw in the development sector which she has worked upon and intends to explore further. She is interested in researching agrarian reforms and effective decentralized governance through participatory engagement.

Asha holds a curious interest in exploring and understanding small-scale, cottage industries, alternative livelihoods and the markets of these traditional products. She likes to keep herself updated with such initiative run markets and platforms and loves interacting with them.