Sunitha Krishnan’s Prajwala celebrated its silver jubilee

 

Sex trafficking as well as human trafficking is one of the oldest crimes in the world and is at present a $150 billion industry annually. In India, 16 million women are victims of sex trafficking in a year. Most often the victims are illiterate and belong to very poor families. Forced into the trade of prostitution, they are again exploited with low wages, harassment, and torture by traffickers, customers, and society with reduced life expectancy. Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) or sex trafficking is a ‘rape for profit’ trade, in which victims are kidnapped, coerced, deceived, transported, or detained to be sexually exploited for commercial gains. This heinous crime denies millions of women and girls their basic rights to liberty and education and causes serious health problems. 

Standing upon five pillars of prevention, rescue, rehabilitation, reintegration, and advocacy, Prajwala is a pioneering anti-trafficking organization working on the issue of sex trafficking and sex crime. Prajwala (eternal fire) began as a rehabilitation center in a converted brothel in Hyderabad. The organization extends moral, financial, legal, and social support to victims of trafficking and ensures that perpetrators are brought to justice. In its 25 years of journey, the NGO has assisted the police in rescuing more than 24,000 women and girls from sexual exploitation and facilitated their journey for recovery. The organization has also helped rehabilitate a total of 14,800 women. 

Sex trafficking is a criminal offense under Article 23 of the Constitution of India. If the victims are minors, perpetrators can also be tried under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Irrespective of the laws, sex trafficking is on the rise in this country. Prajwala is working in this sector for more than the last two decades to end sex crime. Founded by Sunitha Krishnan and Jose Vetticatil in 1996, the organization now has a 300-strong team and has educated over 8,000 children who are the children of prostitutes, children of vulnerable communities, and children at risk of being trafficked. To add to that, Prajwala’s community-based education program has influenced millions of people in gender relations. The organization’s grassroots rescue work is strengthened by the Rape Victim Support Programme (RVSP) provides a framework, so that the police, the courts, and activists can coordinate to rescue victims of trafficking. 

In its 25 years of glorious journey, Prajwala has been successful in setting up several milestones by rescuing, rehabilitating, and directing the victims to a normal flow of life. In 2015, because of the NGO’s efforts, a PIL (56/2004) filed in the Supreme Court of India enabled government to issue comprehensive anti-trafficking guidelines for the entire nation. Its Plastic Toy making unit set up in 1997 is considered the first economic empowerment of the women rescued from forced prostitution.

 

During the beginning of this century, Prajwala set up its first Safe Home for Adults at Engine Bowl and started expanding its transition centers. At the request of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, this organization pioneered the setting up of Voluntary Counselling & Testing Centers (VCTC) for Andhra Pradesh AIDS Control Society in 2002; 1500 HIV Counsellors were recruited, trained, and deputed to the VCTCs as a result of this effort. As a new innovation in prevention, 11 drop-in centers in red-light areas were set up and used as the learning centers for the children. To add to that, the corporate social partnership was explored to provide employment opportunities for the survivors. The first corporate partner of the NGO - Amul India Action Research “The Shattered Innocence” paved the way for an Anti-Trafficking Policy (GO MS 01/2003) in Andhra Pradesh and a state-wide campaign was initiated targeting adolescent girls. In the same year, Prevention programs expanded to sensitization efforts, and Anti-Trafficking Program was set up. First Crises Counselling Center with Police Department was established at Afzalgunj Police Station and the first docu-fiction “Of Freedom & Fear”/Swecha Kani on HIV/AIDS was released. 

In 2004, the organization felt a need to establish an economically viable and sustainable economic unit with non-conventional trades for women. At the same time, Economic Rehabilitation Unit with printing, welding, and carpentry was also established at Falaknuma and a number of documentary films on sex trafficking were also released this year. Nine more Corporate Companies joined the mission to provide employment opportunities to survivors in 2009 and the government-appointed ‘Prajwala’ as the state nodal agency for economic empowerment of survivors. In the year 2016, Prajwala introduced “Swaraksha,” a community awakening caravan to counter trafficking in Telangana, Odisha & Andhra Pradesh. Later in 2017, the organization Joined hands with Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi for Bharat Yatra, a nationwide movement for Safe India. 

The NGO and the films made by it have received several international, national, and state awards and accolades. Krishnan has been awarded the fourth highest civilian honor, the Padma Shree, in 2016 by the Government of India. “We will continue to fight for a safe world for our women and children having complete faith in your trust and solidarity. Together we will end sex slavery across the Globe!” Krishnan shows her firm belief on the home page of her brainchild, Prajwala.

Barnwal's Saga of constant struggle against sexual shame and prejudice

 

Sex educator, intimacy coach, and TEDx speaker, Pallavi Barnwal is a visionary who is in a constant struggle to create a world where sex can be accepted as a normal act of human life rather than something to hide from others. In 2006, being a fresh college graduate, Pallavi idealized but could not find the smooth and accessible ground to educate Indian people about the safe sex norms, the role of men and women in an intimate relationship, and the need of educating children about sex to ensure a long and happy conjugal association in future. The year 2018 was a U-turn for her, as society became more open towards discussion and giving priority to individual thoughts. She completed a sexuality education course from TARSHI in that year and started working as an educator guiding people on their intimate journeys. Sex, often considered taboo and only a duty to reproduce, has seldom found limelight in Indian society. Pursuing a career as a sex educator was not an easy job for this small town girl, but the daunting social rules could not extinguish the fire of determination inside this girl hailed from Steel City Bokaro. In her Ted Talks session, Pallavi mentioned a time when she was leaving for her college hostel and how her father was wrapping the mangoes freshly plucked from their garden. That process of careful plucking and wrapping inside soft papers tells a lot about Indian girls and how they are raised in an overprotected traditional setting. In India, women need to be guarded and guided by the men of their houses. Leave alone sex, they mostly are trained to not have an opinion on anything under the sun. Irrespective of men and women, talking about sex openly and letting others know about their sexual desires and choices was a dark dungeon in Indian society Barnwal put the light on.

 

In her interview with Times of India, Barnwal said “In a sex repressive, patriarchal society like us, where there is a complete absence of sex education, the approach to sex is fear and judgment-based, and porn is the de facto learning material for sex and pleasure. Consent is almost non-existent. Unfortunately, the taboo around the world is so ‘high’ that the minute you read the word sex, it blurs your judgment and you cannot differentiate between sexual education and sexual solicitation!” This traumatic situation because of the orthodox thought process encouraged her to start RedWomb, a platform featuring uninhibited talks of sexual and intimate pleasure. RedWomb works towards bringing happiness into a relationship through their informative discussion and psychologically aided tools. Founded in 2019, RedWomb took a pioneering role in educating parents with knowledge and communication skills to become primary sex educators for their children. Along with launching these sensitization and awareness drives, this wellness platform has also published an FAQ compendium on commonly misunderstood aspects of sexuality.

 

Barnwal believes that sex education is essential for our mental fitness and health. If taboos and stigma are not associated with sex-related discussions, people can express their inner thoughts more easily and can find a solution more constructively and positively. A guided approach can only help them land into a healthy and intimate relationship.

In one of her articles, Barnwal portrayed her journey as a sex educator as widely criticized, condemned, and unaccepted even by her partner and close relatives. Her immediate family did not object as she was determined to come out of a dead marriage and remained firm in her decision of continuing as a relationship counselor, but her relatives and close ones cut all ties with her. In a society where hiding the ignorance and confusion about your own body is considered normal and initiating the most intimate relation with a stranger in the name of arranged marriage is celebrated through centuries, Barnwal’s role as a sex educator raised a lot of eyebrows. In her article, Pallavi narrated how the shroud of disapproving silence that hangs on sexual expression had affected the lives of her and the dear ones. Her classmate ran away from college, leaving her education midway, as pictures of her sexual encounter with another classmate got ‘leaked’. The engineer-brother of her roommate took his life immediately after his relationship ended. Sexual repression, especially in a country like India, has jeopardized so many lives but could not alter the mindset of a conservative society.

After completing her MBA in Marketing, Barnwal continued with a corporate job and had no distinct plan of becoming a sex educator. However, she used to write blogs on unconventional ideas and poetry. Motivated by one of her friends, she penned her real-life saga about a sexless marriage. In her own words, “my unfiltered rendering was massively shared and many people (men and women) both reached out to me and said they lived and are living in a similar state but unlike me cannot own this for fear of social judgment, for the fear of being seen as a failure! I started writing more on sexuality and with the monumental outpouring from people I received, I decided I have to step in and take the plunge to do something to clear the mess in this sexually unhealthy society.” 

        

 Her saga of success continues, as they have joined hands with a leading contraceptive company to do the event titled #righttopleasure. Apart from several interesting as well as enlightening activities of an intimate relationship, their panel discussions celebrated sexuality in its most authentic, natural form, sharing their personal stories of confusion on vaginismus, penis performance, and sexually awkward adolescence while growing up in a Brahmanical family in Banaras.

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible. Pallavi understood in her early days that most Indian women are detached from the importance of sex and its connection to happy married life due to their prejudice. They consider sex as a duty like other household chores. Pallavi had written several blog articles in the last few years to eradicate this idea of shame and self-denial. She has discussed issues like faith in marriages, polyamory, desire, and many such things on her personal Facebook page. Her spreading awareness through diverse social media platforms is gradually opening the closed doors of minds. She also conducts private and group counseling and awareness sessions offline across age groups and genders, and is also reaching out to schools and colleges throughout India.

 

Doctor Couple Helped Millions of Covid Patients by Collecting Unused Medicines

The pioneers of social reforms show us how a simple idea can be proved benevolent for millions of people who are suffering due to a shortage of medicines and the absence of any possible means to earn a livelihood. Despite being the most fatal disaster of the century, COVID 19 and its possible impact brings out the stories of a number of heroes who did not think twice to devote their time and spend earnings during this difficult time to help the people in dire need of food and medicines.

Mumbai-based doctor couple, Dr. Raina Ranney and Dr. Marcus Ranney, are two such good Samaritans who used their knowledge of the medical field and zeal to aid helpless people to create a Covid relief platform called MedsForMore that is aimed to collect excess medicines from Covid survivors and provide them to the patients who can’t avail those medicines because of their high price range. Meds for More collects all types of unused medicines including paracetamol, Fabiflu, antibiotics, inhalers, pain relievers, steroids, vitamins, and antacids, among others that are being used by doctors to treat COVID-19 patients.

 

In a country like India where the population is close to 1.3 billion, a pandemic like COVID 19 no doubt drains the medical professionals and healthcare resources. As a result, several cities of India had to experience an acute shortage of medicines, vaccines, hospital beds, and oxygen cylinders. On the other hand, these expensive medicines and injections go to waste as soon as the patient recovers from the disease. This thought influenced the doctor couple to make a bridge between the needy and surplus. With the help of its more than 1000 ambassadors, this initiative spread across 12 cities has been able to recover more than 500 kg of medicines to date. 

It started when Dr. Marcus was working as a BMC doctor in the slums of Mumbai during the first wave of COVID and was really touched by the plight of underprivileged communities who were suffering due to the inaccessibility of basic facilities. He discussed this sad situation with his wife Dr. Raina Ranney and together they started this initiative on May 01, 2021, after their domestic worker’s son was tested Covid positive. To help him out, they sent a message to their building WhatsApp group asking for surplus medicine as there were three patients in the building who came out from their isolation at that time. When the leftover medicine helped that guy to survive, they wanted to start it on a large scale and within ten days of its launch, they had received contributions from at least 100 buildings and collected 20 kg of medicines. At the same time, they received lots of requests from across the city to implement the same in their neighborhood too.

 

The procedure of collecting and segregating the medicines was not an easy task at all. Starting with only eight volunteers and 45 buildings, Meds for More, initially known as Robin Hood Army, collected the required medicines, checked its quality and expiry dates, and sent them to the NGOs from where it is sent to the health centers to donate to the underprivileged. Donors from across the cities can visit the website, register with their addresses, and can donate anything mentioned in the list of medicine and equipment that the project is accepting. The medicines can be collected from a donor’s house through a logistics and transportation partner. Volunteers are welcome from any of the societies and buildings. Once they sign up for the project, they will receive a starter pack with all the instructions on how to collect the medicines from their respective buildings and drop them at the collection center.

Presently, Meds for More has partnered with a number of NGOs like Goonj, Doctors for You, Ratnanidhi Charitable Trust, Karnataka Health Promotion Trust, and Rotary Club Queens Necklace to ensure these collections reach primary health care centers in rural India.