Prakash Kaur

Prakash Kaur is the managing trustee of the Bhai Ghanayya Ji Charitable Trust, which runs Unique Home in Jalandhar, a home for orphaned, abandoned and poor children. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2021 in the field of social work, from Punjab ^[1].

Inspired by seva

Prakash Kaur was born on 1 January 1959 ^[2]. She was inspired by the work of Bhagat Puran Singh, whose service she saw at close hand, and made daily seva at the gurdwara part of her life ^[2].

At 18 she began working at an orphanage, cooking the children’s meals ^[2]. Unhappy with how the children were treated, she stood up to the powerful people running it and fought for the children’s dignity and rights ^[2].

Unique Home

In 1993 she opened a home of her own for such children, now known as Unique Home ^[2]. At first there was no money and no building, and she struggled to find food, milk and medicines until donors came forward ^[2]. She has made it a place where children are cared for as a parent would care for them ^[2].

Since 1993 her mission has been to rescue unwanted and abandoned newborn girls and give them a safe home and a future ^[2]. She is mother to more than 70 girls, all of whom get a good education, and the home now stands on two and a half acres of gardens ^[2]. She still cooks for the girls, washes their clothes, combs their hair and helps with homework ^[2]. She has arranged the marriages of more than 20 of the girls and performed the rites as their mother ^[2].