[5] She is a well-known scholar of gender studies, authority on the political economy and social history of Haryana state in India.
She has provided expert commentary to news media, including to The Guardian about the impact of prejudice against having a daughter in India;[12] to The Guardian,[13] Associated Press,[14] TIME,[15] and Reuters[16] about "honour killings"; to The Statesman about the Haryana social structure;[17] to NPR about the Haryana social structure and how it relates to the rape of Dalit women;[18] to The Indian Express about the political history of Indian cinema;[19] and to Reuters about inheritance rights for women in India.
[20] Her 2004 Modern Asian Studies article "Private Lives, State Intervention: Cases of Runaway Marriage in Rural North India" was cited by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada in 2006.
[21] She has also written commentary in The Tribune, including about violence related to inter-caste marriages,[22] and advocacy for an investment in the education of girls to reduce poverty.
[26][27] She is the daughter of Hardwari Lal,[28] the educationist and Indian National Congress member of parliament for Haryana.