Pravin Patkar
Pravin Patkar is an Indian academic and human rights activist. He co-founded Prerana, an NGO working for child protection & anti-human trafficking. 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 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. He completed his PhD in Social Provisioning in Prostitution from Mumbai University. 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. Patkar began a migrating education system and managed a residential school for children of tribes in bonded labor for  25 years. Research and recognition. Recognition In August 2018 Power Brands awarded Patkar the Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar (Indian Humanism Development Award) for his nation-building initiatives through “Prerana” and fighting the good fight against human trafficking, protecting thousands of women and children and rehabilitating several hundred of them and for being a guardian angel and change-maker for women of all ages, who are victims of sex trade and trafficking.