From Riverstones To Widows Of Vidarbha – The Journey Of Dr Kota Neelima

The Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, born author and researcher, who later grew up in Delhi and still continues to reside there with her family. Neelima is a Ph.D holder in Political Sciences from University of Delhi and MA in International Relations from the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

She did not restrict herself to just her studies as her incredible career really shows with over 23 years of journalism experience having worked for The Sunday Guardian and The Indian Express. Neelima writes on rural distress, farmer suicides, poverty, women issues, women farmer suicides and also writes on electoral reforms.

A well-established author with a total of five books that are recognised and read by the masses, had only just begun her career as an author in the year 2007 with her first launch of the book ‘Riverstones’. In her first book, she talks about the deliberate policies of the government that neglected farm crisis and led to an increase in the number of farmer suicides. The books are based on her experiences as a journalist and researcher fictionalized for a story that will help spread awareness about problems faced by the society.

She continues talking about more societal problems in her other books and in her most recent book, ‘Widows of Vidarbha, Making of Shadows’, she talks about the lives of widows left behind by farmer suicides due to agricultural distress. These widows between the ages of 26 and 63, were followed for three years to track their survival and the impact of such lifestyles had on their children.

Along with writing books on problems faced by the society, she also found success as an impressionist-abstract artist whose inspired by Indian Philosophy and informed by rural distress and poverty in India. Raising awareness for improvement in the rural society of India has always been her inspiration and motivation.