Medha Patkar is a politician and activist working on certain political and social issues raised by tribals, dalits, farmers, labourers and women facing injustice in India. She is an alumna of TISS, a premier institute of social science research in India..

Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is a multi-campus public university in Mumbai, India. It is Asia's oldest institute for professional social work education and was founded in 1936 in the then Bombay Presidency of British India as the Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. In 1944, the institute was officially renamed the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and in 1964, the Government of India declared TISS a deemed university under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act (UGC), 1956.