P. Lakshapathi

APSA began in 1976 as an action group of young people who took up the case of hamalis, the workers who loaded and unloaded goods wagons at Secunderabad railway station in what was then Andhra Pradesh. The group's work in Hyderabad between 1976 and 1985 led to requests for help from urban slum communities elsewhere, and in 1981 it was formally registered as a society, the Association for Promoting Social Action, in Hyderabad.

While working with migrant construction workers in Hyderabad, the founding members found that many of these families had relatives working in Bengaluru, some as bonded labourers, whose children were on the streets. APSA opened an administrative office in Bengaluru in 1985, and from 1991 broadened its work to urban slums generally, including street children, women, men and youth groups.

Under Lakshapathi's direction APSA has grown to work in around 125 urban settlements across Bengaluru and Hyderabad through more than twenty projects. Its work includes the Dream School, the Nammane open shelter, an after-care shelter, a shelter for girls and women in crisis, Childline services, skill training and livelihoods, early childhood care, right-to-education work, women's self-help groups and collectives of domestic and construction workers. Its tagline is 'Development Without Exploitation'.

Lakshapathi received the Rotary Club's award for Outstanding Achievement by an Individual in 1999, and the Bhale Bharath Award of Excellence from the Bhale Bharath Mission in March 2017. APSA itself has received a number of state and national honours for its work on child labour and child protection.[2][3][4]