Pravin Mahajan—Janarth
The Impact
Janarth’s Shakharshala project. Photograph by Prashant Panjiar, courtesy of the American India Foundation
Janarth has successfully turned the spotlight on seasonal distress migrant communities; communities that traditionally find no space in the government’s planning agenda. 102 Sakhar Shalas are operational in 33 factories. Teaching is transacted through 480 teachers. Janarth runs 15 village hostels and plans to launch 80 more in 2007. Parents are now demanding contractors to be taken to factories with Sakhar Shalas—a demand that can be bypassed only at the risk of losing the labour force. More than 40,000 children have benefitted from this initiative. Janarth is now spreading its solutions to two other states in partnership with local organizations.
The Entrepreneur
“It is not because of migration that children drop out of school, but it’s because of the absence of schools at the place of migration.”
Pravin Mahajan
Pravin Mahajan has applied 20 years of experience in grassroots transformation to develop the Sakhar Shala initiative. He worked in different capacities in
organizations like OXFAM and Action Aid India before launching Janarth in 1986.
In 1998, he set up a chain of agriculture service centres in partnership with farmers which now report annual sales turnover of INR 10 million. In 1995, he pioneered an agri commodity marketing initiative—the first successful effort in the Indian Civil Society Sector. Pravin has also been engaged with the agro commodity processing sector since 2000.
