Daya Bai (born Mercy Mathew) is an Indian social activist from Kerala, working among the tribals of central India. She lives in Barul village of Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh.

Early life

Mercy Mathew hails from a prosperous Christian family in Pala, Kerala. She had a happy childhood with a strong faith in God.

Social work

She left Pala, Kerala at the age of 16 to become a nun, and later gave up her habit, to work for the tribal population in the midlands of India. She has been delivering inspirational speeches, holding satyagrahas and campaigns to press local authorities to open schools and empower neglected villages in the interior and tribal Madhya Pradesh. She was associated with Narmada Bachao Andolan and the Chengara struggle, apart from her solo struggles representing the forest dwellers and villagers in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh,

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

and West Bengal. She also lent her services to the common folk in Bangladesh during the war there. Daya Bai, who practises the theology of liberation, settled down among the Gonds of Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh. She set up a school in the Barul village. Daya Bai teaches each village she visits how to take care of itself and then moves on to the next village.Face of compassion
/ref> She started the Swayam Sahayatha Group in the late 90s, as a tool for the eradication of poverty. This earned her the wrath of the middlemen, the money lenders and village chief. She asked female officers in the bank to use their position for the uplift of the downtrodden and the distressed poor. Daya Bai in a Village

Awards

Daya Bai received the ''

Vanitha ''Vanitha'' () is an Indian magazine published fortnightly by the ''Malayala Manorama'' group. It is the largest magazine in India by circulation according to Audit Bureau of Circulations, with average qualifying sales of 687,915 copies (as of D ...

'' Woman of the Year Award in 2007. She was awarded with the Good Samaritan National Award (instituted by the Kottayam Social Service Society and Agape Movement, Chicago) in January 2012.

Legacy

''Ottayal'' or 'One Person,' is an hour-long documentary on Daya Bai by Shiny Jacob Benjamin.

Nandita Das Nandita Das (born 7 November 1969) is an Indian actress and director. She has acted in over 40 feature films in ten different languages. Das appeared in the films ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth'' (1998), '' Bawandar'' (2000), '' Kannathil Muthamittal' ...

, the film personality, wrote a tribute to her in 2005, as the one inspiration of her life.

Films

She did lead role in the 2018 Indian Malayalam-language film ''

Kanthan – The Lover of Colour ''Kanthan – The Lover of Colour'' is a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written by Pramod Kooveri and directed by Shareef Easa. It is produced by Shareef Easa under the banner of Rolling Pix Entertainment and has Prajith and social act ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bai, Daya Malayali people Living people People from Chhindwara district People from Pala, Kerala Indian women activists Indian women's rights activists Indian nuns Founders of Indian schools and colleges Indian women philanthropists 21st-century Indian philanthropists 20th-century Indian educators Activists from Kerala Adivasi activists Activists from Madhya Pradesh Social workers from Kerala Actresses in Malayalam cinema Social workers from Madhya Pradesh Adivasi women 21st-century Indian educators Women educators from Kerala Educators from Kerala Women educators from Madhya Pradesh Educators from Madhya Pradesh Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Indian women educators 21st-century Indian women educators