CHSJ was established in 2005 soon after the UPA 1 Government came into power in India. The coalition government adopted a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) with a strong focus on addressing the needs of the poor of the country. The government also established an advisory mechanism for seeking inputs from the civil society. CHSJ emerged through a series of consultations among experienced development sector professionals and public health experts for influencing public policy and services to further health and social justice. Health Equity and Governance became the first thematic focus of CHSJ along with Reproductive Health and Rights which was a thrust of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) that was being developed the government. CHSJ received support from SAHAYOG, a non-profit organisation based in Uttar Pradesh and Population Foundation of India (PFI), a Delhi based support organisation, to establish its credentials. Subsequently CHSJ started working on Men and Gender Equality, taking forward the pioneering work that the leadership in CHSJ had started while they were working in SAHAYOG, UP. In 2018 CHSJ started working on Women’s Leadership and Rights in Kolkata. Over the last fifteen years the work of CHSJ can be broadly described in three phases.