New Delhi, Nov. 7 -- Ela Bhatt is usually considered one of India's foremost social activists, but to restrict her contribution to that would be a singular injustice. Trained as a lawyer, she combined Gandhian idealism with a nation-builder's mindset to set up the Self Employed Women's Association of India (Sewa), one of the largest cooperatives anywhere in the world, with a membership base of 3.8 million women across 20 states. As an institution builder, Bhatt demonstrated that people at the bottom of the economic pyramid, particularly women, could organise capital, own enterprises, access financial services and create livelihoods on their own terms.

Born in September 1933 to Sumantrai Bhatt, a successful lawyer, she received her early ...