Smarajit Jana

Smarajit Jana (21 July 1952 to 8 May 2021) was a public health scientist of the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Kolkata. He is notable for his work for the rights of sex workers in Sonagachi. He was an epidemiologist and member of the Indian National Task Force on COVID-19 but ironically died due to Carona.

Early life and education
Jana was a medical doctor and completed his MBBS in 1978 from Calcutta University. His married Madhulina and has a daughter, Samaita, and son, Sambit.

Career
He is the founder of SHIP, an organisation to prevent HIV and collectivise women in Sex Work. He also played a great role in starting the National Network of Sex Workers and later after he was disillusioned withe same and was instrumental in starting the second National organisation for Sex Workers, the All India Network of Sex Workers (AINSW). He died on 8 May 2020 due to Corona. In 1992, as a researcher at the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health he worked on the Sonagachi Project. Later, he is also one of the founders of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), a sex workers collective which presently has over 65,000 members. Working with CARE Bangladesh from 1999 to 2003, he helped HIV interventions among sex workers and people who inject drug. Later, he came back to India and served CARE India as Assistant Country Director.