Dr Armaity S. Desai was former principal, College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai; former director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and former chairperson, University Grants Commission. She passed away on September 27, 2025, at the age of 91.

I stared at a blank page, numbed by the thought that Dr Armaity Desai, the former director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), was gone. As words tumbled out, a smile began and expanded across my face.

I was fortunate to have known Armaity Desai for over 50 years at different stages of life. She was primarily a social worker and lived that in her various roles as a fieldwork supervisor, social work educator, research guide, principal and director of the institutions she was part of. At the College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai, she often wore a gajra and matching bangles with a smile for everyone. The bangles and gajra disappeared over the years, but the smile and greeting continued throughout her life.

She was extremely encouraging as a field supervisor – my recordings were full of positive tick marks and very significant points for reflection. I used to wait eagerly to get my recordings back and attend the fieldwork conferences. Deciphering her handwriting was a major challenge, and as her student, I had to master it in order to read her comments.

Contributions to education

She initiated several new courses such as Integrated Social Work Practice (ISWP) and made sure to hand over the courses to younger faculty. She never held on to knowledge and shared professional knowledge freely. The younger faculty were often encouraged to attend conferences, including on international platforms where the organisers were sceptical about our attendance. On one occasion, she insisted that a faculty member (myself) and a project staff member share a hotel room with her for a conference. The organisers were stunned, to say the least, but she stuck to her decision. During these occasions, we experienced her caring nature and the way she took care of us. For her, hierarchy was functional and not relational.

At the College of Social Work (CSW), Dr Dorothy Baker, the principal, and Armaity Desai together made such a remarkable, unique duo, which enabled the faculty group and the students to build up a CSW culture of fostering innovation, scholarship, discerning between authority and power, experiencing the true meaning of dialogue, and listening to each other – and so much more. All this was done in an atmosphere of ‘informal formality,’ camaraderie and humour. She had an amazing ability to facilitate group situations, including conflictual ones. During the organising of a major inter-college festival at TISS, the student who opposed the idea the most was convinced to be the convenor.

She was a great visionary and strongly believed in the third goal of higher education, i.e., extension work and sharing knowledge and skills with the larger community. Keeping this goal in mind, she encouraged faculty at Nirmala Niketan and TISS to creatively initiate new field action projects and create new services where none existed. She encouraged more than 20 'Field Action Products' in the College of Social Work and TISS. Field action initiatives like Childline, Special Cells for Women and Children, and Prayas expanded to attain national-level importance.

My colleague at TISS, Vijay Raghavan, who leads Prayas and teaches at TISS, reminisces fondly about Armaity Desai and the unstinting support she gave in the initial years of Prayas, when he had joined the project as a young social work graduate from TISS.

“She connected us with the Tata Trusts and took keen interest in the development of the project, as she believed it was very important to work with marginalised people within the criminal justice system. Over the years, whenever she would meet us in the corridors of TISS or later (after she left TISS) in some meetings, she would want to know what the new developments were and discuss how social workers could be institutionalised within the Criminal Justice System (CJS),” says Raghavan.

Armaity Desai was instrumental in bringing together several Colleges of Social Work in India to collect data and use our social work and research skills during the Bhopal Gas tragedy and other disaster situations. She also instituted the TISS policy that if reports conducted for government agencies were not disseminated to the public within six months of completion, TISS would release them into the public domain. As the UGC Chairperson, she initiated several schemes for gender justice, such as the Capacity Building of Women in Higher Education Institutions.

“Armaity Desai was a difficult leader to emulate. I learnt more from her than I had anticipated, namely, how to work in a group and take all the members along, how to accept the learnings and suggestions from the group members, and how to set an all-India vision. She was a leader at the top who took decisions collectively, and we all felt that we shared equal responsibility and credit for the success of the programme,” says Karuna Chanana, retired professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

B.G. Deshmukh, the then chief secretary of Maharashtra, was amazed that Desai chose the most barren land in Osmanabad district for building the TISS rural campus. Her strategy for establishing the campus for the most marginalised with the participation of local communities, by initiating projects that met their needs, was also path-breaking. To quote her, “We build people, not structures.”

Endearing memories

She was very approachable and soft-spoken, but could be firm and straightforward when required to express her convictions for justice and truth. In spite of opposing views, she encouraged participation at all levels and gave everyone a chance to express their opinions. When a social worker expressed her desire to change her job because she wished to work at the grassroots, she quipped, “Where do you think you are working now? On the treetops!”

Travelling with her to various places was always a pleasure, with lots of new learnings (e.g., observing her making copious notes at every session in workshops and meetings or ensuring that the stay arrangements were comfortable for all present.)

She was also a great sport – coming on stage and dancing with the staff impromptu on institute day at TISS – had a tremendous sense of humour and the ability to laugh at herself and with others. She was a great storyteller and shared freely of her own experiences. As a young student in the United Kingdom, when she once misplaced her passport, she went to the police station and refused to leave, saying, “I am from the land of Satyagraha, and I will not leave till my problem is solved.”

Her concern about the needs of the staff prompted her to appoint a Campus Social Worker for the staff and a creche for children. She was extremely thrilled when the first person to enrol in the creche was a male staff member with a working wife.

Personal life

At home, she was a wonderful daughter, and even when her aging parents had limited mobility, she ensured that they attended all the cultural functions at TISS. She was equally effective as a homemaker and loved cooking (though later, time did not permit her to indulge in this activity). When a colleague asked her for an appointment on a Saturday, she responded, “Oh, I had kept that morning for making pickles.” She was the impeccable hostess, and we were always treated to a wonderful spread of varied dishes, and of course the famous Parsi pudina chai. Till the end, when I visited her, she had told her staff to include vegetarian dishes for me.

Her stress buster was being in nature, especially with her plants. She would say, “My plants are my children.” “She used to invite students, staff, and faculty at TISS to her house at night to watch the blooming of the Star of Bethlehem in her residence!” says Vijay Raghavan.

Over the decades of an amazing life, her core remained unshakeable – grace, dignity, respect for all, and grit. She has been a role model to many in so many ways – as a social worker, facilitator, mentor and someone who showed me how to balance personal and professional lives. She will always be my moral compass in my actions towards humanity.

Lata Narayan had a long association with Armaity Desai at TISS.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.