Dr. Bharati Hemant Lavekar is an Indian politician and member of the Shiv Sangram. She is a first term member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and filed her nomination as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.
While activists and politicians are both technically working to bring change at the policy level and are two sides of the same coin, the current status quo often compels them to be on the opposite sides of a tourney instead. But Dr. Bharati Lavekar, the incumbent MLA representing Mumbai’s Versova constituency, is one of those policymakers staying true to her original intent and “fighting the good fight” by amalgamating her politics and activism into an all-powerful way of life. Bharati has made it her life’s mission to fight for the rights of women and children. And with her election to Maharashtra’s Legislative Assembly, she is making sure her roars reverberate farther and wider. Born and raised in Marathwada, Bharati finished her Bachelor of Journalism from Marathwada University, procured an MA in Political Science, and even did a PhD in uniform civil code.
She entered politics almost 25 years ago, but her spirit has always been that of an activist. That’s why she’s dedicated to women and child rights, which also forms the core focus area of her NGO, Tee Foundation.
During an interview, she also spoke about Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar who met her and spoke endlessly about the woes women go through when it comes to napkins and menses.
Akshay Kumar spoke a lot about napkins and I was happy that he was talking about it so freely. His movie ‘PadMan’ is a progressive step towards spreading awareness and I am so glad that he is coming out with such a great movie, such movies should be made more often.”
In 2011, Dr Bharati adopted 120 villages within the Shirur taluka. She says, “To put an end to female foeticide in these areas and also encourage parents to have daughters, we came up with a scheme wherein we would deposit a sum of ₹5000 into the account of the girl child if born post-August 15, 2011.”
She even raised her voice on issue of Mangrove destruction in the city. Mangroves that line up Mumbai’s Versova shoreline have been eroding due to the mindless dumping and burning of waste. But today an innovative solution to protect these mangroves was launched on the occasion of World Environment Day. According to UNESCO, everywhere mangroves are disappearing three to five times faster than overall global forest losses, and this has a serious ecological and socio-economic impact. In Maharashtra, a Mangrove Cell to conserve and manage the mangroves of the state was created by the government on January 5, 2012. The move to create this cell was pivotal as mangrove, an ecologically fragile stretch is critical for protecting shorelines, maintaining water quality, filtering pollutants and so on. In case of the Versova shoreline, the state forest department has created a natural barrier in the form of a bio-fence to protect the mangroves from garbage dumping. Bio-fencing is a large barrier – a frame made of iron with different kinds of plants embedded on it.
Talking about the idea and funds,Dr Lavekar had said,
People of Versova have become used to dumping waste in mangroves. From wrappers to carton boxes, they would dump anything and everything. Every time I would see waste lying, I would think of a solution that could stop people from littering and at the same time make the place greener. That is how the idea of bio-fencing came in. As soon as I proposed the idea before Sudhir Mungantiwar, forest minister, he appreciated and whole heartedly accepted it. As far as finances are concerned, development funds allotted to my constituency and money from state mangrove cell are being used to create 180 square metre bio-fence. We have also installed CCTV cameras to keep a check on bio-fencing.
Surjitt Sahani
