Sashakt Foundation Director, Pratik Kumar reaches out to the needy amidst COVID-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit India’s poor extremely hard. With the government declaring multiple lockdowns starting from late March this year, economic activities have come to a grinding halt, leaving more than 12 crore individuals fending for themselves and their families. Moreover, lack of access to food, water and other essentials has constantly been on the rise.
Pratik Kumar, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi (Electrical Engineering Batch of 1988), was deeply moved and decided to dedicate himself to the noble cause of providing food and ration to some of the most underprivileged sections of society. The 54-year-old who has spent three decades of his career working initially for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and then at the United Nations, started out on his own and established two non-governmental organizations – Prayatna and Sashakt Foundation to work for marginalized communities.
During the pandemic, Pratik and his team went the extra mile by helping the poor with food and grains. On March 25, 2020, Pratik started off by setting up a few kitchens in Mayur Vihar. By the end of April, he had started eleven of them across India and distributed more than two lakh meals. Besides this, Pratik has also been in the forefront of handing out ration kits to thousands of families.
“All in all, we managed to give away around 85 tonnes of ration across seven states. Since many hospitals were facing a shortage of PPE kits, we began to arrange for those as well. We worked with the health department to identify the needs of around 120 healthcare units in India and helped with the provision of 25,000 masks and face shields as well as 11,000 PPE kits,” says Pratik.
One of the major challenges that have been standing in the way of Pratik during this social drive is the lack of funds. Although they have received Rs 50 Lakh in donations, it is quickly drying up. If Pratik is able to garner more funds and resources in the future, he intends to pave the way for the establishment of micro and nano enterprises. He is already laying out plans to launch an employment program specifically for migrants who have returned to their hometowns.
