6 days ago
Women’s Rights Activist Sonya Gill, PARI Co-Founder, Dies at 70
Sonya Gill was a woman who worked for many years to support women’s rights.
She helped start a news organisation called the People’s Archive of Rural India.
She started it with her husband, journalist P Sainath, in 2014.
Gill also worked with the All India Democratic Women’s Association in Maharashtra.
She helped organise women, including women living in Mumbai’s chawls.
She continued working with the association while she was ill.
Sonya Gill died on August 25, 2026, at the age of 70.
Many people said her death was a great loss to the women’s movement.
Sonya Gill, a women’s rights activist and PARI co-founder, died on August 25, 2026, after a prolonged illness.
Gill co-founded the People’s Archive of Rural India with journalist P Sainath in December 2014 and remained its trustee.
She previously served as secretary of the Maharashtra unit of the All India Democratic Women’s Association.
The association credited Gill with grassroots organising, including work supporting women in Mumbai’s chawls.
Activists and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders remembered Gill as a committed feminist, organiser and mentor.
- Who
- Sonya Gill, women’s rights activist, organiser and co-founder of the People’s Archive of Rural India, died at 70.
- What
- Gill died after a prolonged illness; tributes highlighted her work for women’s rights, grassroots organising and rural journalism.
- Where
- The reports do not specify where she died.
- When
- Tuesday, August 25, 2026.
- Why
- The reports say she had been battling a prolonged illness but do not identify a specific cause of death.
Key facts
- Age
- 70
- Date of death
- August 25, 2026
- Organisation co-founded
- People’s Archive of Rural India
- PARI founded
- December 2014
- Previous role
- Secretary of the Maharashtra unit of the All India Democratic Women’s Association
- Family
- Wife of journalist P Sainath
- Tributes
- The All India Democratic Women’s Association and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders described her death as a major loss to the women’s movement
Quotes
All India Democratic Women’s Association
The women’s rights organisation in which Gill served as Maharashtra secretary
“She will always be remembered as a committed communist, fierce feminist and tireless organiser who worked wholeheartedly to advance the working-class movement in the country, especially in Maharashtra.”
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“She was a dedicated organiser, a committed fighter for women’s rights and a comrade whose warmth, grace and determination touched all those who worked with her.”
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Sources
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