Daya Bai
Daya Bai (originally Mercy Mathew) is a social activist from Kerala working for the upliftment of tribals in central India. At present she lives in Barul village of Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh.
Early life
Mercy Mathew hails from a prosperous Christian family in Pala, Kerala.[1]
Social work
Leaving Pala at the age of 16 to become a nun,[2] she later she gave up her habit to work for the tribal population in the midlands of India. Her inspiring speeches in a language that reaches out to her audience, her satyagrahas and campaigns to press local authorities to open schools and her efforts to empower almost forgotten villages in interior and tribal Madhya Pradesh emphasise how Daya Bai has improved the life of the tribals. She had been associated with Narmada Bachao Andolan and the Chengara agitation, apart from her solo struggles representing the forest dwellers and villagers in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal. She had also lent her services to the common folk in Bangladesh during the war there. Daya Bai, who practises the theology of liberation, has settled down among the Gonds of Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh. She had set up a school in the Barul village.[3]
Awards
Daya Bai received the Vanitha Woman of the Year award in 2007.[4] She was awarded with the Good Samaritan National Award (instituted by the Kottayam Social Service Society and Agape Movement, Chicago) in January 2012.[5]
Legacy
Ottayal or 'One Woman-Alone,' is an hour-long documentary on Daya Bai by Shiny Jacob Benjamin.[1] Nandita Das, the film personality, has written a tribute to this lady in 2005, as the one inspiration of her life.[6]