That Committee is for You by Lakshmi Ramesh
The concept I focus on in my contribution is the collective effort required for an institution for justice and conflict resolution to function. My understanding of this comes from my interaction with committees that are set up in higher education institutions, especially residential ones. While serving as president of the Student Representative Council at my college, I learned that the effective functioning of committees that are set up to resolve cases of disciplinary transgressions, sexual harassment, or abusive work environments, which are essentially beureaucratic mazes that rarely lead to change, require three continuous movements:
The first is that there must be an awareness of the requirement for such a redressal mechanism. The administration must be willing and able to provide a channel to seek redressal.
The second is the constant public scrutiny and accountability of the administration in regards to the systems it has set up.
The third, and arguably the most important, is the environment that the campus community builds for itself. It has been essential in every experience of mine that any victim has a support system of people who are aware of the functioning of the redressal systems, who can provide guidance.
(Disclaimer : The artwork in the exhibition represents the views and the work of artist alone)