Prayatna means ‘Endeavour’. Prayatna has its origins in the rural India. It started operations in 2003 in a place called Bharwari, a rural hamlet close to Muzaffarpur in Bihar. It was founded by Prabhat Kumar, in Muzaffarpur, Bihar after he observed widespread destitution and imbalance in the neighbouring rural villages as a young college graduate. He saw the state of communities, particularly where the lower castes were living for ages. In the wake of seeing the issues in the communities, he was resolved to have any kind of effect as opposed to being a by stander. In 2003, Prabhat Kumar and his colleagues set up Prayatna. He started to give his time and assets into helping the marginalised population around him. He began free classes for street children and started to work for the livelihood of needy individuals. He made individuals mindful of their rights and connected them with the administration programs. Gandhian qualities and Gandhian method for rustic improvement has constantly propelled him to proceed with his work in this field. Organizations began to be shaped with the legislature and different offices. In 2017, Pratik Kumar assumed the role of President Prayatna and has expanded the nature and scope of work being done by the NGO. Currently Prayatna has programmes operational in Bihar, UP, Delhi, Jharkhand and Odisha.
Praytana is a grassroot level organization. The President is an Ex IITan and Civil servant who is well versed with most govt. regulation, programmes and schemes. With more than 30 years behind him, he is has a good sense of how to work with State Rural Livelihood Mission, NABARD, KVIC, KVKs, etc. Besides the President, the board and advisors have very senior people who have been associated with local officials and are aware of regulations.