Amita Dhanda is an Indian academician and activist. She is a Professor of Law, at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. She was appointed as a member of the strong 14- Member National Advisory Council for the implementation of the RTE act in 2010. She is also on the Academic Council of Tamil Nadu National Law School. She started her career as a researcher at the Indian Law Institute, Delhi and since then has gone on to become a full-time Professor at NALSAR. She has contributed to the research of Mental Health and disability studies in India and is the head of the Centre for Disability Studies in NALSAR. Amita Dhanda identifies as a feminist and has written several papers based in gender. She has authored three books and is also a guest writer for Kafila, along with few other online news magazines and national dailies. Early life Amita Dhanda pursued LLM and then completed her PhD from Delhi. In 1984, she started as a researcher in Indian Institute of Law, Delhi. Justice Bhagwati, who was the then Chief Justice of India decided to have her clerk for him based on her capabilities. She worked at the Institute for 15 years, that is from 1984 till 1999. She learned how to write, research, edit and teach with the assistance of renowned scholars. In her time with the Institute, she did hands on research on the mental health of prisoners in West Bengal and also suggested amendments to the Disability Act of 1995. From 1999, she joined as a full-time professor in NALSAR, where she teaches Administrative Law, Law and Poverty, Law and Literature and Judicial Process. Career Amita Dhanda teaches Legal Theory, Law and Poverty, and sexually-disoriented courses on pedagogy and inclusion. Dhanda became a professor of law and Dean (Academic) at National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) at Hyderabad after a five-year stint as a research faculty at the Indian Law Institute, Delhi. At NALSAR, she is head of the Centre for Disability Studies. She has written extensively on the legal position of persons with mental disability. Legal Order and Mental Disorder (published in 2000), Dhanda's book on the legal status of persons with mental illness is a pioneering effort in the field. She is also the Author of Decolonisation of Legal Knowledge and Engendering Law: Essays in Honor of Latika Sarkar. She has also edited N S