JEAN DREZE
Rights Activist
Stoic, simplicity incarnate, in his perennial kurta, he can be deceptive. He has co-authored books with Amartya Sen, and Sen owes a lot to his sensibility to be where he is in the safe globalised zone of ‘reforms with a human face’. Not for Dreze. He can be doggedly dogged. If he was beaten up during the long march for ‘jobs to all’ recently, it has only made him more resolute. From being part of hunger strikes for the right to food campaign in Rajasthan, to the employment guarantee act, this economist has proved that a country is what you do for its people. Rest is theory.

HABIB TANVIR
Playwright Activist
He was only spoofing the Brahminical caste society with his play Ponga Pandit, but his play was stoned across the Hindi heartland by the Hindutva rabble during the bjp regime. He didn’t care; this man is relentless. From his first production, Mitti ki Gadi (a translation of Shudraka’s Mrichchakatikam) to Charandas Chor and Asghar Wajahat’s Jisne Lahore Nahin Dekhya, Habib Tanvir, with his eclectic Chhattisgarhi folk troupe, has broken every rule of progressive world theatre, only to push it forward. “The fight against Narendra Modi is the only fight right now,” he told Tehelka when he was being hounded. This man won’t bend.

MAHASWETA DEVI
Writer
“I am not an intellectual,” said Mahasweta Devi, some years back, “Sagar Sabar is an intellectual. He has made a home on the tree, he understands the seasons, the language of the leaves, the sound of the earth, the rivers, the birds. I am not an intellectual. Sagar Sabar is.” From Hajaar Chaurishir Ma, on the Calcutta Naxalite who becomes a mere prison number, tortured and eliminated, to Birsa Munda, the adivasi rebel, and the literary documentation of the entire tribal history of what is now Jharkhand, to her current obsession with the rights of denotified ‘criminal’ tribes, this woman is what she is: Hajaar Chaurishir Ma.

VIJAY TENDULKAR
Playwright
Undisputed usherer of modernity in Marathi theatre. Author of more than 50 plays, each provocative and unforgiving in its indictment of issues like Brahminism and middle-class venality. Always intellectually agile and relevant, with plays like Sakharam Binder and Ghasiram Kotwal, he braved the lumpen ire of the Shiv Sena in the 1970s. Did not back off even when police vans had to patrol his lane in Mumbai. His voice can be counted on to argue against communalism and political apathy. His remarks on Modi after Gujarat — I wish I could wield a gun instead of a pen — created a furore. Declared the enfant terrible of Indian theatre five decades ago, at 77, he is still able — and willing — to swim against the stream.

UR ANANTHAMURTHY
Writer
Kannada litterateur UR Ananthamurthy has proved that knowledge stirs people into action. Whether it is demanding a ban on mining to save the Western Ghats or speaking up against untouchability, the writer puts his heart into any cause he takes up. He has not minced words in letting everyone know what he thinks about the likes of Narendra Modi and Pravin Togadia.
He celebrates the diversity of the land. In an interview, he said: “For them (the Europeans), a nation is one language, one race, and one relationship. If we pursue this notion, India will break. So, the only way to stay together is to decentralise.”

RATAN THIYAM
Theatre Personality
Ratan Thiyam is embarrassed no end when described as an intellectual. “For me, a person who has a great mind, loves his people and country, is a pillar of wisdom, thinks with imagination, intelligence and logic, and looks to create a better world to live in, is an intellectual,” he says. Thiyam feels a public intellectual has a clear moral centre, a clear conscience and strong moral values. Writer, director, designer, musician, painter and actor, Thiyam is one of the most important and influential theatre personalities, renowned for his spectacular aesthetic and potent thematic explorations. Except for a two-year stint as director of nsd in the early 80s, Manipur has remained both the physical and aesthetic foundation for his work. His plays incorporate ancient Indian theatre traditions in a modern context and express a deep concern with the search for spiritual and social equilibrium amid violence and war. His latest play, Nine hills and a Valley is, incidentally, based on the recent upheavals in his state.He describes himself as a constant observer of events around him. “I am a humanist, always looking to remove misunderstandings between people, communities and regions.” Thiyam considers Noam Chomsky as someone he can describe as a public intellectual.

RAM JETHMALANI
Lawyer
Over six decades, he has loomed large as one of the finest legal brains in the country and spoken out fearlessly and prolifically in the public domain, helping shape opinion on crucial issues like Emergency, Bofors, the Indira Gandhi assassination case, Mandal, the Tehelka witch-hunt, the SAR Geelani case, Gujarat riots, communalism, accountability of judges, and innumerable other issues. Brings formidable eloquence, intelligence, knowledge and legal acumen to every issue he takes up. Not a textbook case for holding consistent positions, he could be disqualified many times for what might look like political opportunism. But a curious, individualistic morality governs his actions and even at 82, he refuses to be dismissed — exuding an edgy, ready energy and willingness to engage that few others can match.

PRASHANT BHUSHAN
Lawyer
Inherited refined qualities, like his father — and both have fought public interest cases without money — If there is a conscience in the Indian judiciary, he represents it, among the few who still believe in judicial justice. Acidic when arguing against Supreme Court judgements which go so terribly wrong, or on contempt, he has the guts to do to what he thinks is right. The nation needs many more intellectual lawyers like him, who can stake their best against a no-win situation. But the fact is he wins, as in the Neera Yadav case.

SUNITA NARAIN
Environment Activist
Feisty director of Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Never the one to shirk battle, whether taking on Coke or fellow environmentalists. Is central to the examination of any environmental issue. Started working with Anil Aggarwal in 1980, imbibing the rigour that marks cse’s work. The first battle won was over air-pollution in Delhi, when auto manufacturers were left with no answers in the face of the data compiled. Came into her own when cse took on cola majors over pesticide levels. As head of the Tiger Task Force, she managed to tread the middle path between tribal activists and the tigerwallahs.

MADHU KISHWAR
Feminist-Activist
Thought provoking, strident, an invigorating speaker and scholar, she has consistently fomented debate and pushed boundaries for 30 years. As founder editor of Manushi, a pathbreaking journal on women and society in 1979, she distinguished herself as one of India’s foremost thinkers on women’s rights and social justice. Has campaigned for diverse issues like dowry, sati, female foeticide, representation of women in politics and, most recently, the rights of rickshaw pullers. A decade ago, declared she was not a feminist. Recently has moved away from earlier liberal, radical positions to more complicated traditionalist ones. Is now vigorously anti-West; is in favour of joint families; advocates less glamourous and more respected careers for women; is disillusioned with legal redressal. Her evolving positions perplex and disturb, but they are passionately argued and cannot be ignored.