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AWARDS AND HONOURS

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 10/15/2019 10:57:08 AM

Sunitha Krishnan: Recipient of Padma Shri

Sunitha Krishnan (born 1972) is an Indian social activist and chief functionary and co-founder of Prajwala, a non-governmental organization that rescues, rehabilitates and reintegrates sextrafficked victims into society. Krishnan works in the areas of anti-human trafficking and social policy. Her organization, Prajwala shelters rescued women and children and set up one of the largest rehabilitation homes in the country. She is making it possible for NGOs organizations to manage jointly a range of protective and rehabilitative services for women and children who have been trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2016. Early life Krishnan was born in Bangalore, to Palakkad Malayali parents Raju Krishnan and Nalini Krishnan. She saw most of the country early on while traveling from one place to another with her father, who worked with the Department of Survey which makes maps for the entire country. Krishnan's passion for social work became manifested when, at the age of eight years, she started teaching dance to mentally challenged children. By the age of twelve, she was running schools in slums for underprivileged children. At the age of fifteen, while working on a neo-literacy campaign for the Dalit community, Krishnan was gang raped by eight men. They did not like that a woman was interfering with what they claimed as “man’s society.” They beat her so badly that she is partially deaf in one ear. This incident served a s the impetus for what she does today. Krishnan studied in Central Government Schools in Bangalore and Bhutan. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in environmental sciences from St. Joseph's College in Bangalore, Krishnan completed her MSW (medical & psychiatric) from Roshni Nilaya, Mangalore. Career In 1996, Krishnan, who had become an ardent activist, was arrested–along with more than a dozen other activists–for protesting against the staging of the Miss World competition in Bangalore, her hometown. As she had a leadership role in organizing the protests, Krishnan was in judicial custody for two months. Krishnan has stated that her parents were never on the same page with her. Krishnan was associated with Brother Varghese Theckanath, a social activist, a member of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel, who founded People's Initiative Network (PIN) in Hyderabad to work with slum people. Krishnan had become acquainted with Varghese Theckanath during a conference on Globalisation he had organised in Mumbai.