Wed, Oct 29, 2025. 4 PM

 

Abstract:

In her talk, Shreelata Rao Seshadri revisits independent India’s aspiration of establishing “people’s health” as a social contract shaped by state vision, citizen participation, and global influence. The talk traces how public health policies and programs evolved over time in response to national and international priority setting, shaping the relationship between health systems/medical institutions and communities. The dynamic tension between collective and individual responsibility for ensuring ‘people’s health’ has been a recurring motif, and has been resolved in multiple ways, a sign of the times. What started as not merely a welfare ambition but a democratic project to humanize postcolonial development has had a checkered journey, one that requires continuous renegotiation and re-imagination, and importantly, stewardship that sees achieving people’s health as lived citizenship.

 

Bio:

Shreelata Rao Seshadri has worked for three decades in the field of public health in various capacities. She is currently Professor and Director, Ramalingaswami Centre for Equity and Social Determinants of Health, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Bengaluru. She was previously Professor and Anchor of the Public Health Initiative at the Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. Prof. Seshadri’s professional interests are focused on environmental health, nutrition, health policy, programs and systems, on which she has published numerous books and articles. She has a regular column in the Kannada daily, Prajavani.

 

N S Abhilasha is currently coordinating a joint project implemented by the India Foundation of the Arts (IFA) and the Archives at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS). Abhilasha has recently completed her PhD in history from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati. Her research focuses on the history of infectious diseases and health in colonial eastern India. She was an Inlaks Research and Travel Grantee in the year 2022. She has published in academic journals like Indian Economic and Social History Review (IESHR).

 

This talk is part of a project in collaboration with the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) under the Archives and Museums programme, which has been made possible with support from Tata Trusts.