Meet Pragya Prasun who built NGO for acid attack survivor

Image Source – Boss

Pragya Prasun Singh became an acid attack victim in 2006, just after marriage. But, instead of giving up she built an NGO, called “Atijeevan Foundation.” The NGO facilitates free-of-cost surgeries and provides avenues to help acid attack and burn survivors to earn a living. Atijeevan Foundation trains these people to make handicraft products and provides them with skill and vocational training. It also places the acid attack survivors in the industry as per their capability.

Pragya is a social worker with a heart of gold and the mother of two lovely girls. She organizes free surgery and non-surgical therapies for acid attack and burns patients through her NGO, Atijeevan Foundation.

Pragya has supported critical surgeries for over 250 acid attack survivors. Over the last six years and counseled many more to make a new start in life. Donations from individuals and corporations fund Atijeevan Foundation. The vast majority of Atijeevan’s recipients are survivors from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR, and West Bengal.

Pragya aims to cover all important operations and medical costs for any survivor, from skin grafting to hair transplant and even critical reconstructive surgery. She also leads skill-building workshops for survivors in their 30s and 40s who have been struggling with depression and trauma for decades.”

Pragya has become a ray of hope for acid attack survivors. She officially founded the Atijeevan Foundation in 2013, and it has since assisted hundreds of acid attack survivors.

How Pragya Prasun’s inspiring story started

Just 12 days after her wedding, Pragya, then 23, was on her way to Delhi. Begins from her hometown of Varanasi to seek a job in garment management. A man, whose marriage proposal she had turned down, sprays acid on her face at 2 a.m., while she was sound asleep.

When the police subsequently apprehended her attacker.  They discover that he had been stalking her for days since her wedding. Been waiting for an opportunity to perpetuate the horrible crime. When she recalls the brutal assault, Pragya feels she owes her life to her co-passenger, a doctor!

Pragya would have had fifteen surgeries in the years following the attack. The incident has taken away her vision in one of her eyes. Prompt medical care helped preserve the vision in her other eye.

Pragya spent frenetic hours in hospitals in Chennai, Bengaluru, and Delhi. Despite all this, she maintains an essentially cheerful outlook on life, which astounded her doctors. They began to ask her to inspire more survivors. Many of whom were on the verge of giving up on life. She eventually became a hospital counselor for acid attack or burn survivors.

One of her doctors in Mumbai inspired Pragya to create a forum for such patients. He informed Pragya that she was fortunate to be able to afford the sequence of expensive surgeries and treatment, but most survivors came from lower-income households.

How Pragya Prasun helps acid attack survivors through Atijeevan Foundation

Pragya envisions a society that accepts acid attack survivors with grace and compassion. She says, “People should recognize them as human souls with dignity and call them Bravehearts rather than survivors.”

Pragya gathered Rs 30,000 for Rachna, her first beneficiary, with the help of her loved ones. Another woman, Deepmala, a teacher from Lucknow, became a victim of an acid attack in 2014. For months, she lay helpless, with severe pain in a hospital bed and practically blind.

Deepmala says, “Pragya Didi came to her as a blessing. Her staff contacted me on their own. They took me to Shankara Nethralaya in Chennai and arranged for my eye operation, which they paid for entirely.” Deepmala has recently resumed teaching after a two-year hiatus since her eyesight has improved.

Another acid attack survivor is Reshma, from West Bengal, who also has a poignant story to tell. Five years ago, a man she had spurned threw acid in her face without hesitation. Became fully blind as her flesh melted away.

Reshma claims, “I was blind in a day. My entire life was in disarray.” But, guardians of the law released her assailant bail after only four months. It was at this point that her buddy suggested Pragya Prasun’s name. Pragya’s NGO covered the cost of Reshma’s otoplasty (ear surgery), hair transplant, and a few more medical treatments.

Further, Reshma says, “I underwent approximately 23-24 procedures. But quickly realised that simply enhancing my beauty would not transform my life. So I visited Pragya Didi in Bengaluru. I learned spoken English and basic computer skills under her tutelage. Now I work in a high-end hotel in Delhi.”

Pragya Prasun’s awards and recognition

Pragya holds a postgraduate degree in Fashion Management. She has received numerous Indian and international awards and plaudits for her excellent work in the field of social welfare.

Pragya is the Pinkathon Mascot and Ambassador, as well as the Ambassador of the ASFI South India Chapter. She serves as an honorary advisor to a number of non-profit organizations and the social welfare sector.

Pragya Prasun won the prestigious ‘Nari Shakti Purashkar’ from India’s President in March 2019. The honor has inspired her to broaden the scope of Atijeevan. Invite more survivor(s) into a safe space where they can dream of a life beyond their repeated dreams and suffering.