Changing Lives, One Village At A Time: How PRADAN Is Empowering Women In Rural India
Poverty is arguably the most pertinent affliction in our country. The stark gap between the haves and the have-nots widens as time passes. Most of the elite thrive in their bubbles of privilege and are completely disconnected from the daily woes and struggles of the common person. In such trying times, it becomes the foremost duty of every citizen to aid those less fortunate than them. After all, what is the use of privilege if one does not use it to uplift the underprivileged?
This brings me to the brilliant initiative PRADAN, created in 1983 by two young professionals, Deep Joshi and Vijay Mahajan. They firmly believed that the persistent and widespread poverty in rural India could be resolved or at least drastically alleviated. They were convinced that educated professionals had the necessary understanding and expertise to uplift the lives of impoverished individuals by actively engaging with the rural communities. Joshi and Mahajan’s noble dream was to change the India they lived in.