Mithun Som is a public health researcher based in Hyderabad. Her area of interest is occupational health, rural and urban health systems, gender, migration and urban spaces. Her current work is on young migrant women coming to city for jobs and education.

She has done her PhD from Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Her thesis focussed on the functioning of the women community health workers within the power dynamics of the village and the health system. She has earlier worked in organizations like PRADAN (in Godda district, Jharkhand), where she interacted closely with the women on issues of livelihood; and National Health System Resource System (NHSRC, New Delhi) where she was involved in the evaluation of the implementation of Janani Surakhsa Yojna in eight states. During her earlier stint in Anveshi, her work was around the health of the informal workers focusing on occupational health issues and sanitation workers’ death.

Work/Research Experience

  • Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies, Hyderabad (Jan 2016 to present) Working as a project fellow in ‘City and Sexuality: A study of youth living and working in Hyderabad’. As part of this, did a study on the aspirations and transformation of women migrating to the city of Hyderabad.
  • Actionaid, Hyderabad (2nd to 12th Feb 2015) Worked as  a  consultant to  develop a  document on  women’s  safety titled ’Safety of Women and Girls in Andhra Pradesh-our asks’ which was presented and discussed with Andhra Pradesh Government.
  • Shaheen Womens Resource and Welfare Association, Hyderabad (Sept 2014-Dec 2014) Did a small study of the Muslim women and girls in old city area of Hyderabad. The study focused on health issues in relation to living conditions, social issues, occupational issues and access to care. It also looked at home based work of women in the old city of Hyderabad.
  • Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies, Hyderabad (Nov 2012- Nov 2013) Did an in-depth study on factory workers in Jeedimetla, Hyderabad focusing on issues  of occupational health. Based  on the experiences of the workers, the issues of agrarian crisis, migration, industrialisation, informalisation of labour and shrinking options of public health care were delved in to understand the problems of health. Also did small studies on Employee State Insurance (ESI), and death of a manhole worker in GHMC based on primary data.
  • National Health System Resource Centre (NHSRC), N.Delhi (Jan 2010- Jan 2011) Was involved in Janani Suraksha Yojna (JSY) evaluation, commissioned by the  Health Ministry, in  the eight EAG  states.  The evaluation was  done in  two phases; phase I was qualitative and phase II was quantitative. Work included developing the questionnaires and methodology for both the phases, studying the health services system of the district and writing reports for five districts (four states) in phase I of the evaluation, training the agencies contracted for phase II data collection in their respective states and coordinating with these agencies, consolidating the data and developing variables and tables for phase II. Was also part of the National Evaluation Team (NET) set up for evaluation of ASHA and had conducted the study in the state  of Orissa.
  • PRADAN, Jharkhand (July 2000 – Aug 2002) Was based in Poraiyahat block of Godda district (Jharkhand). The work included forming and grooming of Self Help Groups. It also included conducting various trainings for the women members, accountants and auditors of the group, conducting livelihood planning exercises, liaisoning with banks for linking these SHGs and organising a sammelan of about 5000 women.

Education

  • PhD (2010) from Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Thesis was titled- Social and Programmatic dynamics of the Mitanin Programme: Implications for NRHM.
  • M.Phil (2004) from Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Dissertation was titled An Exploratory Study of the Mitanin Programme: An Innovative Experiment in the Training of women Health Workers in two Pilot Blocks of Rajnandgaon and Dhamtari District in Chattisgarh.
  • M.A (in Social Work) (2000) from Department of Medical and Psychiatric Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Dissertation was Sangharsh aur Nirman: A Case Study of Shaheed Hospital (Chhattisgarh).

Conferences

  • “Reimagining Family and Kinship: Reflections of Migrated Women Living in Hyderabad” presented at Examining the Processual in Kinship and Family in South Asia, IIT Hyderabad, 31 January-2 February 2018.
  • “Migrant Women’s Aspirations in the City” as part of the panel “Gender, Movements and the City” at the International Conference Critical Studies VI – Refugees, Migrants, Violence and the Transformation of Cities, in Swabhumi, Kolkata. 23-25th August, 2017
  • “City as a place for dreams and aspirations”, at Muffasil in the metropolis: two day national workshop, organised by Anveshi, Hyderabad, 28-29 April, 2017
  • “Migration, Informal Work and Impact on Health” presented at Migration, vulnerability and health: workshop on health issues faced by migrant households and current response mechanisms, TISS Mumbai, 8-9 April, 2016.

Invited workshops

  • “What does education in city spaces mean for different women?” at Interrogating Marginality: Education and the Urban, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, 12- 14th November, 2018.
  • “You know na, how society is?” Migrant women’s negotiations around marriage at Rural Urban Entanglements in India, Hyderabad Central University, July 23-24th, 2018.
  • “City as a new home: Journeys of migrant women” at Do Din (theme – Precarity), Hyderabad Urban Lab, 23-24th December, 2017.
  • “Young women living in Hyderabad city: Negotiating their spaces”, Research conclave on early and child marriage in India, organised by PLD and AJWS in Feb 27- March 01, 2017
  • Consultative Workshop on an Indian “Health Equity Watch” organised by Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi on 21-23 June, 2013.

Journal and other Publications

  • Co-edited with Rani Rohini Raman, Madhurima Majumder, Madhavi Mirapa and A Suneetha. (2019) Metropolis as Patriarch? The feminine experience of the city, Anveshi Broadsheet on Contemporary Politics,  No. 14.
  • Som, M. (2019) City of hope in Metropolis as Patriarch? The feminine experience of the city, Anveshi Broadsheet on Contemporary Politics, No. 14. pp-5-8
  • Som, M. (2019) My tryst with local transport in villages, towns and cities in Metropolis as Patriarch? The feminine experience of the city, Anveshi Broadsheet on Contemporary Politics,  No. 14. pp-25-27
  • Som, M. (2018) Migrating to the Big City: Nurses Working in Hyderabad, Medico Friends Circle Bulletin, No. 377-378. pp-44-47.
  • Som, M. (2017) Coping with Chronic Illness Among the Poor in the Old City area of Hyderabad, Medico Friends Circle Bulletin, No. 373-374. pp-32-34
  • Som, M. (2016) Life and Work in Jeedimetla, Medico Friends Circle Bulletin, No. 367-368.
  • Som, M. (2016) Voluntarism to Incentivisation: Changing Priorities in Mitanin’s work in Chattisgarh, Indian Journal of  Gender Studies, Sage. Vol. 23 (1), pp 26-42.
  • Som, M. (2014) Women as Primary Providers of Healthcare in the Mitanin Programme: Gender, Social and Organisational Constraints, Samyukta: A  Journal of Women’s Studies, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp 153-167
  • Som, M. (2014) Why did Satyam Die? Medico Friends Circle Bulletin, No. 357-360, pp 22-26.
  • Som, M. (2013) ESI Scheme: A preliminary note in ‘Health Care on the Agenda, Crisis or Opportunity?’ Broadsheet on Contemporary Politics, Vol. 2 No.1, Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies. Hyderabad.

Reports

  • Som, M. (2015) Health Study of Muslim Women in the Old City of Hyderabad. Shaheen Womens Resource and Welfare Association. Hyderabad.
  • Som, M. (2015) Safety of Women and Girls in Andhra Pradesh: Our Asks. ActionAid. Hyderbad.
  • National Health System Resource Centre. (2011) Programme Evaluation of the Janani Suraksha Yojna. NHSRC, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GOI. N. Delhi.
  • National Health System Resource Centre. (2011) ASHA—which way forward? NHSRC, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GOI. N. Delhi.

Media Projects