Shaweta Anand, PhD
Dr. Anand is a well-trained public health researcher, teacher, and eloquent storyteller. She started her professional career as a field-based journalist covering human rights challenges faced by dwellers of resettlement colonies of Delhi. She completed her doctoral degree in the field of public health from the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her doctoral work captured the perspectives of trafficked and rescued child laborers at residential childcare institutions in Delhi using the lens of the provisions of the Indian Juvenile Justice laws. Her MPhil research explored the belief systems of trafficked women who took to commercial sexual exploitation for a living. This experience led her to explore some of the political dynamics and sharp differences within discourse among international and national women’s groups, particularly their theorizations about the female body, gender, sexuality, and sex work, along with their foremost experience of marginalization within the mainstream women’s movement.
Dr. Anand has worked among people from the vulnerable and marginalized communities of Delhi, particularly those living in the slums, through various roles over the years. She has worked in NGO projects as a researcher, volunteer, and even as a governing board member for one of the organizations she was associated with. She has been invited as an expert and resource person for sensitizing government officials with regard to the rights and felt needs of rescued child laborers by the Ministry of Labour, Government of India. She has also taught field-based social science and media-related subjects to students briefly at Delhi University.
Courses Taught
Introduction to Humanities and Social Sciences
Theoretical Debates in Humanities and Social Sciences
Research Ethics
Mentoring of Field-Based Project Work
Selected Publications
Anand, Shaweta (2025). ‘Ethics of conducting Research with Marginalized Children: A case study of Children in Need of Care and Protection in India’ in an edited volume by Dr Sunita Reddy. Springer-Anthropos India Foundation (Forthcoming)
Anand, Shaweta (March 5, 2024). ‘Hunger and malnutrition: Why is India in denial? Not just Global Hunger Index, the government’s own data also points to hunger and deprivation’. Column in Health on Air. Link: https://healthonair.in/columns/hunger-and-malnourishment-why-is-india-in-denial/
Anand, Shaweta (2023). ‘Juvenile Justice Law and Well-Being of Rescued Child Labourers in India’ in Child Protection and Child Rights in India. edited by Dr. Sunita Reddy and Dr. Javaid Rashid. Anthropos India Foundation
Anand, Shaweta (2022). ‘Interaction between Child Welfare Committee members and rescued child labourers: Some observations from the field’. Child Hope, Jan. – March Issue. V. V. Giri National Labour Institute. Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India
Anand, Shaweta (2017). ‘Rescued from work: The question of rehabilitation’. Child Hope, July – Dec. Issue. V. V. Giri National Labour Institute. Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India
Anand, Shaweta (2015), ‘Need to study perceptions of well-being and ill-being of trafficked and rescued children’. Social Action Journal. 65 (4)
Select bylines on Violence Against Women: https://tosearchistofind.blogspot.com/search/label/Violence%20Against%20Women?m=0
Selected Presentations
Presentation of findings from the field in an ICSSR-JNU research project entitled ‘Risks, Vulnerability and Safety of Slum Children in Delhi-NCR’ among stakeholders (July 11, 2024)
‘Why budget allocation for child welfare and child protection policies needs to increase in India?’ (Oct. 14, 2023), Panel Discussion on Child Rights and Child Protection in India, India International Center, Lodhi Road
‘The state politics of subjugation and regulation of rescued adolescent children: Foucault’s biopolitics revisited’ at the 6th World Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities, Zurich, Switzerland on July 9, 2023
‘Rescued Children and the Question of their Rehabilitation’ at The Society for the History of Children and Youth Conference at University of Guelph, Canada on June 8, 2023
‘Meaning of ‘child welfare’ for rescued child labourers within the juvenile justice system in India: A clash of perceptions between care-givers and care-receivers’ at the 3rd Global Conference on Children and Youth, United Kingdom, June 4, 2023
‘Gendered Childhood and Enactment of Livelihood Capabilities: A Case Study of Trafficked and Rescued Working Children in Delhi’ at the 6th International Conference on Advanced Research in Social Sciences, Cambridge, United Kingdom on June 2, 2023
‘Role of Child Welfare Committees in well-being and ill-being of trafficked and rescued children in Delhi’ at the National Conference on Health, Safety and Well- Being of Workers in Unorganised Sector and Informal Economy, Central University, Tamil Nadu, March 23-24, 2017
‘The Conceptual and Methodological Challenges of doing Qualitative Research with Trafficked Children’ at International Peri-Doctoral Workshop organised by Social Medicine Centre, JNU, Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, Edinburgh University and Heidelberg University, at JNU, New Delhi, Feb. 15-17, 2016
Education
- PhD, Public Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
- MPhil, Public Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
- MA, Political Science
- BA, Journalism, Delhi University
