This article attempts to describe the experiences of violated women and the struggles of social workers to contest violence against women in the Indian context. It begins with a brief account of an "indigenous model": the establishment of a service for violated women in India within the police force--the Special Cell on Violence Against Women. The article traces the strategic location, vision, growth, present position, expansion, and replication of the Special Cell in India, and discusses the necessity of working simultaneously with violated women, formal systems, and social structures; its contribution to the campaign for a Domestic Violence Act; and the resultant outcomes. The arduous nature of the work required for violated women and the women's own assessment of the Special Cells were accessed through a rigorous evaluation study, which is presented in the article, providing an answer and affirmation to the question: Why work with the Establishment--the State.
This article attempts to highlight the role of Field Action Projects (FAPs) and field education for students of social work, the role that institutions of higher education can play in grounding students in critical areas of practice and innovation towards relevant interventions at multiple levels in society. The article is divided into two sections. The first section delineates the historical underpinnings of professional social work education in the country and the importance of field work and field action in social work education. The second section discusses two FAPs in the area of socio-legal practice and its impact on the field, policy and curriculum which Tata Institute of Social Sciences has initiated and developed over the past three decades.
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