Pravin Patkar is an Indian academic and human rights activist. He co-founded Prerana, an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

working for child protection & anti-

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

. In 1999, he founded Asia's first Anti-Human Trafficking Resource Centre supported by the US Government. He has served as an expert on several national and international agencies working in the

anti-human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

sector. He has been in the teaching profession for over 40 years in both formal and non-formal education sectors. He has written books, published articles and created PSAs to prevent organized violence against women & children.

Personal life

Pravin Patkar was born in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. He completed his PhD in Social Provisioning in Prostitution from

Mumbai University University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...

. He is married to social activist Priti Patkar.

Teaching

Pravin Patkar has been in the teaching profession for the past 40 years. He was part of the teaching faculty at TISS Mumbai for 20 years teaching social work and guiding research. He took voluntary retirement in 1995 as associate professor. He is currently adjunct teaching as a professor at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Ettimadai,

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

. Patkar began a migrating education system and managed a residential school for children of tribes in bonded labor for 25 years.

Activism

*He fought against tribal bondage and environmental destruction in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats through a platform named Pariwartan-84. He closed down illegal activity and rehabilitated 70,000 families of seasonally migrant tribes. *Under Prerana, he initiated comprehensive 24–7 field action to protect children born in red light districts from second generation trafficking into the sex trade. *He made the first case to close brothels in India. *He started Fight Trafficking a resource portal on anti-trafficking.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patkar, Pravin Social workers from Maharashtra Living people Writers from Mumbai Year of birth missing (living people)