Chacko Paruvanany

Founder

Founder of People's Rural Education Movement (PREM)

Chacko Paruvanany is the founder of People's Rural Education Movement (PREM) (1982)[1], an Indian non-profit working on tribal welfare, healthcare and education from Berhampur.

People's Rural Education Movement (PREM)

PREM is a secular voluntary society founded in 1982 and headquartered at Mandiapalli near Berhampur in Ganjam district, Odisha. It works on education, healthcare, livelihoods, governance and the rights of women and children among Adivasi, Dalit, fisherfolk and other marginalised communities. Its health work includes mobile health units and community awareness programmes aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality in remote villages, alongside literacy campaigns and agro-forestry programmes in Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal.

People's Rural Education Movement (PREM) reports the following, on its own site:

Through a network partnership of over 150 independent voluntary and people’s organizations, PREM reaches more than 5,000,000 people in 16 states of India through various development programmes, networks and campaigns.
Under a major DFID-funded project, 223 communities planted 4.5 lakh fruit-bearing seedlings across 30,000 acres of shifting cultivation area and barren lands
A historic 100-day mass movement across 1,000 villages in Ganjam, Gajapati, and Kandhamal to achieve functional literacy among marginalized communities