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228. Moving towards Inclusivity (with Parmesh Shahani & Shrabonti Bagchi)
How to make Indian Workspaces LGBTQ Friendly
Speakers
The reading down of Section 377 by the Supreme Court in 2018 has led to a fundamental shift in the rights of India’s LGBTQ citizens and necessitated policy changes across the board—not least in the conservative world of Indian business.
In his path-breaking and genre-defying book, Parmesh Shahani draws from his decade-long journey in the corporate world as an out and proud gay man, to make a cogent case for LGBTQ inclusion and lay down a step-by-step guide to reshaping office culture in India. He talks to inclusion champions and business leaders about how they worked towards change; traces the benefits reaped by industry giants like Godrej, Tata Steel, IBM, Wipro, the Lalit group of hotels and many others who have tapped into the power of diversity; and shares the stories of employees whose lives were revolutionised by LGBTQ-friendly workspaces.
In this episode of BIC Talks Parmesh is in conversation with journalist Shrabonti Bagchi. This session was originally part of Bangalore Literature Festival 2022.
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Speakers
Parmesh Shahani
Parmesh Shahani is Vice President at Godrej Industries Ltd. and the founder of the Godrej India Culture Lab. He is a passionate advocate for LGBTQ inclusion in corporate India and has guided many of the country’s leading companies on their inclusion journeys. His first book Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India (Sage Publications) was released in 2008 and re-released in June 2020 as an updated edition. His second book Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace (Westland Business) was released in August 2020. Parmesh holds an MS in Comparative Media Studies from MIT. He has been a TED Senior Fellow, a Yale World Fellow, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. He is a member of the FICCI task force on diversity and inclusion and a board member of KHOJ International Artists’ Association.
Shrabonti Bagchi
Shrabonti Bagchi is the senior editor with Mint Lounge and has been a writer and editor with mainstream media publications for over 15 years. Shrabonti started out at The Times of India’s online venture, going on to work with print publications such as Business Standard and The Telegraph, where she wrote on business, personalities, lifestyle and social trends, design, culture and what was then the nascent startup environment. These were her focus areas in her next two jobs as well – at the DNA newspaper and with The Times of India’s Bangalore edition, where she worked in a senior editorial position. After five years at The Times of India, Shrabonti joined FactorDaily.com, a digital news website with a focus on technology, where she covered the intersection between technology and society/culture in India.
