By IANS,
Washington : Prayas, an Indian NGO that works for street children and marginalized youth, has joined hands with Charity Network Inc (CNI), a US organisation seeking to prevent the trafficking of children.
The partnership between the two organisations was announced at an event here Sunday by Prayas president Shatrughan Sinha, an Indian actor and its founder secretary, Amod K. Kanth, a former Indian Police Service (IPS).
CNI was founded by Indian-American businessman Pramod Sharma, president of Criterion Systems, a technology consulting company for the commercial, defence, and intelligence communities. Another Indian American, Lavika Bhagat Singh, president, Indian National Overseas Congress, Washington DC chapter, the overseas wing of the Indian National Congress, is the chief operating officer of the US organisation.
Sinha and Kanth, who are on a two week tour of US and Britain, inviting contributions from Indians abroad, said a $250 donation could look after the education and upbringing of a deprived child for a year. Prayas, he said, will provide a complete progress report of the child to the donor.
“We will be reaching out to not only to NRI’s (non-resident Indians) but to people from all walks of life for advocating for less privileged population,” Kanth said.
Sinha and Kanth plan to meet lawmakers, social activists and NRIs in the US to garner support for the organisation.
Established in 1988, Prayas has 227 community-based centres across India that work for neglected and disadvantaged street children, besides for the economic empowerment of marginalised youth and women. It also runs integrated programmes of alternative education, vocational training, health, shelter and interventions against abuse and exploitation of children.