As the year draws to a close, we at Prerana look back at some key stories and articles that were published on our blog. Here is a  list of 13 pieces that you must read to understand the situation of trafficking and child protection in India –

1. Child Protection in Madhya Pradesh – Interview with Archana Sahay

Over the past few years, our Anti-trafficking Center has been instrumental in documenting the accomplishments, challenges, and insights of anti-trafficking activists and service providers in India. In this interview with Azra Qaisar from ATC, Ms. Archana Sahay, co-founder of Aarambh, Bhopal, shares her experiences of working with child rights in Madhya Pradesh.

 2. 30 years in G.B. Road, Delhi – Interview with Lalitha S.A.

In 2019, a team from Prerana visited Delhi to better understand the situation of sex trafficking in the capital. We visited the red-light area, Garstin Bastion Road (G.B. Rd), where we met with Ms. Lalitha S.A, the founder of Mashal Shiksha Kendra (now known as SMS Centre). This is an excerpt from our interaction, as shared with Flarantxa Pereira of our ATC team.

3. One day In Prerana: Crisis sees no Clock 

In this series, our team members share what a day in the life of a social worker at Prerana looks like.  In this blog, Megha Gupta from our Sentinel team writes about a crisis that occurred when a child in a Children’s Home could not be transferred to a new facility.

4. Education and COVID 

This four-part series by our co-founder, Dr. Pravin Patkar along with Azra Qaisar from our ATC team, focused on understanding the challenges in the education of marginalized children amid the COVID-19 lockdown. This series covered challenges faced by students of Ashram Schools, the multiple roles of a school, and the cumulative inequalities brought by the digital divide.

5. Open Letter to BMC on Accessibility to Public Toilets in Mumbai

Access to public toilets is a major issue for many communities that belong to lower-socio economic groups. We observed that many of the communities with who our Sanmaan team works were unable to access public toilets as they could not afford to pay for them. In our open letter to BMC, Prerana urged the authorities to take note.

6. Children’s Homes and COVID-19

Running a child care institution is a major responsibility, and this responsibility increased significantly in the current crisis. In this series, Kashina Kareem and Azra Qaisar from ATC discuss the impact of the lockdown on children and staff at the child care institutions, especially Children’s Homes.

7. Using the term ‘Survivor’: Facilitating Conceptual Clarity in the Anti-Trafficking Domain​

Over the past decade, we have come across an increased use of the term survivors to refer to victims of trafficking. Various platforms, organizations, institutions, individuals use the term ‘Survivor’ widely differently and there has been little effort to put these usages in a comparative and analytical perspective for better understanding. This note by Dr. Pravin Patkar is an attempt to facilitate conceptual clarity on the use of these terms in the anti-trafficking domain.

8. Demystifying the Yale Study on Extended Closure of RLAs in India to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19

Dr. Pravin Patkar, our co-founder along with our Assistant Director, Kashina Kareem, share our reflections on the Yale Study linking COVID-19 to red-light areas, based on our work spanning over three decades in the RLAs of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

9. (mis)Identifying Traffickers as per Indian railways ​

A public awareness poster on human trafficking that is often used by the Indian Railways, and has been in use for at least two years now, has steered us to discuss the issue of identification of traffickers and victims, and the politics of the image. Azra Qaisar from ATC shared observations on the politics of the image.

10. One day In Prerana: Working in the Red Light Area amidst the pandemic

A social worker working in the red light areas of Kamathipura and Falkland Road, Mumbai shares what his day looks like through the pandemic. Reehan Mirza, an outreach worker in our Night Care Center, shares his experiences, excerpts of conversations, fears, and struggles of the community.

11. Day 6: Understanding Violence in the Red-Light Area – An Interview

Through the course of their work, the NCC team often comes across many situations of domestic violence within the community. Ms. Mugdha Dandekar, and Ms. Prachi Naik, Institutional Placement Programme) shared their observations and experiences on domestic violence within the red-light areas as part of 16 Days of Activism.

12. Day 13: Working with Victims of Sexual Violence – An Interview

Prerana’s Sentinel team shares their observations and insights on the link between domestic violence and the vulnerabilities of victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Aaheli Gupta, Jyoti Jangir, and Priya Ahluwalia from our Sentinel team share their experiences.

13. Through the Looking Glass with Priti Patkar: Psycho-social Interventions Explained in 8 Questions

In this series, our co-founder Priti Patkar shares her thoughts, learnings, and challenges of working with child protection for over 33 years. In this edition, she answers some questions that we often receive on Prerana’s psycho-social interventions in cases of commercial sexual exploitation.

We published over 70 blogs in 2020. You can read them here