ABSTRACT
In 1965, the Indian government sponsored a seminar in Madras on the role of voluntary agencies in public health and family planning. Of 123 participants, only one, Tehmina K. Adranvala, was a nurse.1 This illustrates the extent to which the association between the state and the nursing profession has been radically underdeveloped. This rocky relationship has to a large extent determined the problematic post-colonial experience of Indian nurses, who have continually suffered dangerous workplaces, low salaries, stagnant careers, and an inadequate and exploitative educational system.
