>Simeon at 12:26, 9 January 2022

2022-01-09T12:26:40Z

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{{Short description|Indian social activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Daya Bai
| image = Daya Bai.jpg
|image_size = 200px
| alt =
| caption = Daya Bai
| birth_name = Mercy Mathew
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1940}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = Indian
| other_names =
| occupation = social worker, activist
| years_active =
| known_for = tribal upliftment
| notable_works =
}}

'''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, born in 1940, hails from a prosperous Christian family in [[Palai|Pala]], Kerala.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Suneetha|first=B.|date=2010-11-26|title=Face of compassion|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/Face-of-compassion/article15715934.ece|access-date=2021-02-26|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> She had a happy childhood with a strong faith in God.<ref>{{cite web|title=daya bai,lady of fire|url=http://infochangeindia.org/other/changemakers/dayabai-lady-of-fire.html}}</ref>

==Social work==
She left Pala at the age of 16 to become a nun,<ref>[http://www.humanistassociation.org/policies-of-church-contrary-to-christ/ Policies of Church contrary to Christ]</ref> 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 agitation, apart from her solo struggles representing the forest dwellers and villagers in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra 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 [[Gondi people|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.<ref name="doc">[http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/article913686.ece 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=One-woman army drives financial inclusion in rural Madhya Pradesh|url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/onewoman-army-drives-financial-inclusion-in-rural-madhya-pradesh/article2848066.ece|agency=The Hindu|publisher=Vinson Kurian|date=31 January 2012}}</ref>

[[File:Daya Bai in a Village.png|thumbnail]]

==Awards==
Daya Bai received the [[Vanitha]] Woman of the Year award in 2007.<ref>[http://news.oneindia.in/2008/03/25/kiran-bedi-calls-for-change-in-indian-education-system-1206419631.html Kiran Bedi calls for change in education system]</ref> She was awarded with the Good Samaritan National Award (instituted by the Kottayam Social Service Society and Agape Movement, Chicago) in January 2012.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article2842873.ece Good Samaritan National Award presented to Dayabai]</ref>

==Legacy==
''Ottayal'' or 'One Person,' is an hour-long documentary on Daya Bai by Shiny Jacob Benjamin.<ref name="doc"/> [[Nandita Das]], the film personality, wrote a tribute to her in 2005, as the one inspiration of her life.<ref>[http://www.nanditadas.com/nanditawrites22_inc.htm Mercy Mathew]</ref>

==Films==
She did lead role in the movie [[Kanthan – The Lover of Colour]] 2021.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite web |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/151228/lifestyle-offbeat/article/how-mercy-became-daya-bai |title=How Mercy became Daya Bai |last=Nair |first=Shreejaya |date=2015-12-29 |website=Deccan Chronicle |language=en |access-date=2019-09-18}}

== External links ==
* {{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wk5aqCm9Ys |title=A Documentary about Daya Bhai. |publisher=M TV Orthodox TV |language=en |access-date=2019-09-18}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bai, Daya}}
[[Category:Social workers]]
[[Category:Malayali people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Chhindwara district]]
[[Category:People from Pala, Kerala]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:Indian women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Indian nuns]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Indian women philanthropists]]
[[Category:Indian philanthropists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:Activists from Kerala]]
[[Category:Adivasi activists]]
[[Category:Activists from Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:Social workers from Kerala]]
[[Category:Actresses in Malayalam cinema]]
[[Category:Social workers from Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:Adivasi women]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:Women educators from Kerala]]
[[Category:Educators from Kerala]]
[[Category:Women educators from Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:Educators from Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]
[[Category:21st-century women educators]]

Daya Bai - Revision history

>Simeon at 12:26, 9 January 2022