Suhani Sardi, the revolution which was started two years ago by a group of like minded individuals under the able leadership of Udaipur’s Praveen Ratlia bore fruits in not just putting smiles across the faces of thousands of under privileged children, but also got the initiative global recognition.

Praveen Ratlia was awarded the Youngest Social Activist of Asia Award at the Middle East Asia Leadership Summit that concluded at Dubai on 23rd February.  Praveen, he founder of Platinum Group, has been an entrepreneur in the education sector and while doing this, he understood the need for providing winter protection to children from under privileged areas, so that harsh cold does not result in fatal conditions for children and children are motivated to attend school.  Beginning the interaction with Government schools, Praveen and his team decided to target distribution of 10,000 new sweaters to these children every year.  Important to note, that in the last two years, no child in the city has succumbed to harsh cold.

This initiative also includes collecting used winter wear from people in the city and distributing those to residents of the internal tribal areas.  This year 8,654 winter wear were distributed to these people.  Praveen and his team had decided, that under the initiative, they would continue to wear the Suhani Sardi sweaters unless they achieve the target of 10,000 sweaters each year.

Alongwith the Suhani Sardi initiative, Praveen also launched Raktveer Abhiyan, which ensures Blood donation and supply of blood units to those in need.  Under this initiative blood has been collected in 7 phases and includes a Raktveer Helpline, where those in need can call.  A Mobile App was launched a few months ago, which allows people to connect with the Raktveer Abhiyan and blood is made available in under 20 minutes.  Blood availability is also ensured to nearby villages and tribal areas under this model, to ensure that the villagers or tribals do not face shortage of blood when required.

Under Mission MJ, used shoes, stationery, books, bags, etc are collected from people and distributed to the underpriveleged to ensure that no child is kept away from school.

Another initiative under Praveen’s social service belt is the Vraksham Abhiyaan under which 5,000 trees are planted every year in safe areas and the neighboring families are assigned the responsibility of ensuring that the saplings are looked after and grow in hygienic conditions.

Praveen’s initiative and achievement make Udaipur and India proud.