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.

Mercy Mathew hails from a prosperous Christian family in Pala, Kerala. She led a happy and harmonious childhood life,and she had astrong faith in God made her to overcome all the struggles.

Leaving Pala at the age of 16 to become a nun, 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. Whenever Daya Bai goes she takes the opportunity to help the village people and this mission continues form one village to another village. Daya Bai teaches each village she visits; how to take care of itself and then moves on to the next village, which makes her different from many other so-called social workers She started the Swayam Sahayatha Group in the late 90s,as a tool for the poverty eradication. It earned her the wrath of the middlemen,the money lenders and village chief. She asked lady officers, on the bank to use their position for the uplift of the downtrodden and the distressed poorThe social worker,Daya bai was allegedly harassed by the crew of a KSRTC bus while she was travelling from Thrissur to Aluva.He used harsh words and said that he won’t even consider my age.

Daya Bai received the Vanitha 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.

Ottayal or 'One Woman-Alone,' is an hour-long documentary on Daya Bai by Shiny Jacob Benjamin. Nandita Das, the film personality, has written a tribute to this lady in 2005, as the one inspiration of her life.