Vidya Patwardhan

Founder

Founder of Parisar

Vidya Patwardhan is the founder of Parisar [1], an Indian non-profit working on environment and road safety & civic from Pune.

Vidya Patwardhan is an Indian educationist and anthropologist and a founder member of Parisar, a Pune environmental organisation formed on 5 June 1981. She is treasurer of Parisar's managing committee.

Career

Parisar was established on 5 June 1981, at a time when environmental science barely existed as a discipline in India, and was set up by a group that included Ravi Bhagwat, an industrialist; Sujit Patwardhan, a businessman; Vidya Patwardhan, described by the organisation as an anthropologist and educator; Vijay Paranjpye, a professor of economics; Prakash Gole, formerly of WWF; and Dr Ghare, president of AFARM. The founders were influenced by deep ecology and took the view that environmental concerns ran through biology, biodiversity, air quality, gender, climate change and food systems. Parisar has since worked on environmental awareness, education and advocacy in Pune, with a particular emphasis on sustainable urban transport.

Patwardhan brought out special issues of Parisar's publication Parisar Varta on the environment and education. She is also the founder and secretary of Akshar Nandan school, run by the N. G. Naralkar Foundation in Pune.[2][3][4]

Parisar

Parisar is a Pune-based civil society organisation working since the early 1980s on sustainable urban transport, air quality, heritage conservation and road safety. It publishes research audits and policy recommendations, and partners with the Pune Municipal Corporation and India's National Clean Air Programme.

Parisar reports the following, on its own site:

Performance review of Pune Municipal Corporation's footpath grievance redress system found 114 of 302 filed complaints reached full resolution (Feb–Mar 2026, #MyWalkMyRight campaign)
Audited 35 km of Pune's cycle tracks across 19 roads (Cycle Track Audit Report, 2024–25)
Surveyed 540 women commuters on PMPML bus safety and accessibility in a dedicated study