Praveen Nair

Praveen Nair is a founder trustee and chairperson emeritus of the Salaam Baalak Trust, the Delhi organisation for street and working children that grew out of her daughter Mira Nair's 1988 film Salaam Bombay!

The film, made with children who were themselves living on the streets of Mumbai, drew public attention to a population that had until then been largely invisible in policy terms. Nair took up the cause in Delhi, and the Trust was established in December 1988 with proceeds from the film. Her involvement in development work already spanned decades by then: she had spent long periods in Odisha and had headed committees for the Red Cross, DAV Public School and an association for deaf and mute people, work she has continued in one form or another over six decades.

Within the Trust she has been an advocate for the rights of street and working children in the policy and legislative forums of Delhi, and her close involvement in day-to-day operations shaped its child-centred programmes: full-care residential homes, outreach contact points at railway stations, a round-the-clock child help desk, mental health and nutrition services, education and vocational training, and a performing arts programme. The Trust, which began with three staff, now employs more than 280 people. Its trustees take no salary or honorarium and meet weekly.

Her contribution to the sector was recognised when the President of India gave Salaam Baalak Trust the National Award for Child Welfare in 2011.[2][3][4]