<![CDATA[Niruta Publications - Social Workers]]>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 13:10:35 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[A GREAT LOSS TO SOCIAL WORK IN THE DEMISE OF PJ.NAIDU (PU JAY NAIDU IN FACEBOOK)]]>Fri, 26 Feb 2016 16:23:16 GMThttps://www.nirutapublications.org/social-workers/a-great-loss-to-social-work-in-the-demise-of-pjnaidu-pu-jay-naidu-in-facebook​A great loss to social work in the demise of PJ.Naidu (Pu Jay Naidu in Facebook) .I heard the sad news from M.H.Ramesha with disbelief. But he reconfirmed.Shocking .
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​Jayachandran ,that was his name,was a student of Madras School of Social Work in the 1970s with specialisation in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work.An interesting student. He used to argue with me on many matters.He had a sharp mind.After the social work course, he secured employment as a psychiatric social worker in the Institute of Mental Health, from where he retired on superannuation. He was very passionate about introducing professional social work support in schools (school social work).With that objective ,he started a monthly Journal of School Social Work,which he ran singlehandedly almost with his own resources .Some years ago he invited me to receive an award for which a committee under his leadership chose Dr.Sarada Menon(Psychiatrist) and me.But I disappointed him by refusing to accept the award as I was not in favour of seeking and receiving award. I used to be in touch with him once a way.Some months ago he asked me when he could visit me.I told that I would inform .But I postponed as I did not take his message seriously .When Ramesha informed me of Jayachandran's demise I did not believe that first. Now R.Narasimham informed that P.J.Naidu donated his whole body to the Ramachandra Medial College .It was his wish. What a noble gesture?He devoted his whole life for social work and even in his death his mortal remains serve society. I pray God for his soul to rest in peace and to give strength to the bereaved family to bear his loss. All his friends including me will miss Jayachandran, the person and the social worker.

T K Nair 
]]><![CDATA[CRUSADER OF DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS]]>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 10:20:46 GMThttps://www.nirutapublications.org/social-workers/crusader-of-dalit-human-rightsNamala Paul Divakar joined the MSSW in his early twenties with a mission to work with the oppressed communities. Son of a CSI Bishop, Paul was fully aware of the inequalities in our society. Today after nearly four decades, Paul is a well known advocate and activist of Dalit Rights.

​More than 250 million Indians are Dalits. Dr. B.R.Ambedkar, architect of the Indian Constitution, guaranteed Fundamental Rights to all Indians in the Constitution. But the inhumanity to Dalits  perpetuated by the other majority communities with the Indian state remaining a passive observer continues unabated
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Paul ,in the early years after his MA/SW, worked with an INGO on the humanitarian concerns of the refugees of the Eritrean War in Somalia. He then worked with the indigenous communities in West Papua. It was here he felt the urge to return to India to work with his own community of DALITS..

Paul and his classmate Annie Panicker were in love during the college days itself, which had a happy ending in marriage with some resistance as it was an alliance between the ultra conservative Syrian Christian and the Dalit Christian. Annie and Paul are a formidable team in the struggle against atrocities against Dalits. Annie is now Director of the Delhi-based Centre for Social Equity. Paul and Annie were together at Prajwala, an organisation to unionise Dalit agricultural workers in Andhra Pradesh.from 1985 to 1991. In 1998,Paul co-founded .the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) of which he was the National Convenor till 2008 from its inception. NCDHR was awarded  the prestigious RAFTO Human Rights Prize in 2007 in Norway. Paul has been active in setting up Dalit organisations, networking, advocacy, and campaigning at the grassroots, regional, national and global levels. A landmark achievement of Paul was the presentation of a memorandum to the Prime Minister of the previous government with 2.5 million signature from Dalit men and women. Paul led the Indian Dalit team to the United Nations Conference Against Racism (WRAS) in 2001. Paul also addressed the heads of states at the WRAS.

Paul was a member of the Steering Committee constituted by the government of India to formulate the 11th and 12th Five Year Plans.He has been a member of the National Monitoring Committee for the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes headed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

It is impossible to summarise the many sided contributions of  Paul  to secure the human rights  and dignity of the millions of DALITS in the Indian society and polity in a limited number of paragraphs. The struggle  in which he has been engaged will be long , intense and protracted . At 58 ,Paul is young and the Indian nation expects great results from him and his fellow activists for a future society free of  caste-based  inequality and injustice.

T.K. Nair
]]><![CDATA[My Mentor's Story]]>Fri, 18 Dec 2015 08:18:25 GMThttps://www.nirutapublications.org/social-workers/my-mentors-story
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An exceptionally self-effacing social worker who shuns publicity despite his phenomenal services to the elderly in India. He is my mentor Prof. T.K. Nair. He pioneered services for the betterment of the life of India's aged,but remains incognito without seeking any recognition of his work.At a time when the only form of service for the aged in the country was old age homes, he initiated community-based elder care services like day centres, self employment through skill upgradation, family counselling, geriatric social work in hospitals, domiciliary health care, etc.For this purpose he founded the Centre for the Welfare of the Aged (CEWA) in 1979, when I was not even born. The newly established Helpage India in 1978 extended funding support.
"We are particularly pleased to be acting in partnership with the new Centre for the Welfare of the Aged, Madras, to undertake an entirely non-residential service to the aged of that city. This project is pioneering a new field of social service which  we hope others will follow "(Helpage India Annual Report, 1980). A strong advocate of "Ageing in Place", he says that institutionalisation of the aged should only be the last option when other alternatives are not available. Even before the United Nations declared October 1 as the International Day of Older Persons, CEWA used to organise Elders' Days. While the Government of India formulated the National Policy on Older Persons in 1999, CEWA formulated a national plan of action in 1985 which was referred to in the Lok Sabha by MP Mr. Basudev Acharya. Prof.Nair facilitated the formation of elders' associations in different communities which were enabled to manage the day centres. CEWA also organised the first national seminar on Elder Abuse. The first national directory of organisations caring for the elderly was also published by CEWA.
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First Day centre was at MGR Colony, a slum community
Late Mrs.Tara Cherian, Chairperson of the Tamilnadu Social Welfare Advisory Board, who led a committee of the Central Social Welfare Board in January 1985 made the following observations : 

"The members very much appreciated the day centres run by CEWA. They wanted to run such centres all over the country and I am very happy that the programme of yours is very much appreciated".

The Chairman of the Central Social Welfare Board (Mrs.S.Srivastava), who visited one of the day centres on 23-9-1986, observed as follows:
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"More such centres are needed not only here but also all over the country so that our older citizens can contribute to the life of emerging India. The CSWB together with organisations such as CEWA will strive for it ".

Ramesha M.H.
Editor
Social Work Foot Prints
]]><![CDATA[​Social worker with a mission.]]>Mon, 28 Sep 2015 10:37:59 GMThttps://www.nirutapublications.org/social-workers/social-worker-with-a-mission
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M.H.Ramesha is an ordinary young man with extraordinary commitment to social work. He completed MA (Social Work) from Bangalore University in 2004. In about ten years , his contribution to social work is outstanding.He founded Niratanka, a trust to work for social causes, in 2007. 
He adopted Niratanka as his surname and has been known as Ramesh Niratanka since then.He started Niruta Publications which is primarily a publisher of social work books,perhaps the only one such publishing company in India.In less than a decade, Niruta has published more than 25 books in English and Kannada.The books are marketed by Amazon.in and other distributors. One book of Niruta "Social Work Profession in India :An Uncertain Future "is listed in the world's number one library:Library of Congress in Washington. Incidentally I am also involved in that work as it is my book. Ramesha brought out the UGC Net - Social Work and KSET-Social Work which have been of immense help to many social work postgraduates to pass the NET at the national level and to clear the eligibilty test at the Karnataka state level.A directory of NGOs in Karnataka is another publication of Ramesha. These three are his personal social work initiatives.His signal contribution in promoting social work is the quarterly bi-lingual journal Samaja Karyada Hejjegalu OR Social Work Foot Prints founded in 2010 by him under the guidance of Prof.H.M.Marulasiddaiah.It was a monthly magazine in the initial period. Now it is a peer-reviewed social work journal of good standard ,which has been subscribed by reputed libraries.Editing a journal is a challenging task and Ramesh Niratanka has been working earnestly to develop the journal still further.Ramesha is an editor-publisher- social worker ,besides being busy with other professional and social commitments.His latest venture is the creation of a credit society to help the marginalized and the lower income households.In order to replenish energy because of his many pressing commitments,Ramesha has been a regular Yoga practitioner. At 34 Ramesha is a role model for India's youth.

T.K. Nair
]]><![CDATA[​Social Worker Par Excellence]]>Mon, 28 Sep 2015 10:34:46 GMThttps://www.nirutapublications.org/social-workers/social-worker-par-excellence
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Stephen Vidyaakar , on completion of his social work course , chose working with the "wretched on the streets" to borrow from the title of Frantz Fanon's book "The Wretched of the Earth", while his contemporaries were craving for high paying corporate assignments.
A dehydrated ,tiny,wailing baby boy was taken to Stephen by a rickshaw-puller ,who found it abandoned in a cinema hall after the late night show. Stephen received the baby with open arms. That marked the beginning of a long journey with the founding of Uthavum Karangal (Helping Hands) by him in 1983 to look after hundreds of human beings thrown in the streets : new born babies, children ,differently abled,sexually abused women, mentally challengd, aged men and women, patients with HIV and other ailments ,dying destitutes,and others who are not wanted by families. With shortage of funds, Stephen used to stand on the Marina Beach with a collection box "seeking alms" to raise funds for caring for the human lives awaiting succour from his organization. No social worker in India has gone to that extent for a cause close to his heart. He never bothered about the controversial social work theories on development versus charity. Human beings of all age groups needed help and he extended that unhesitatingly ignoring personal happiness. Stephen remains unmarried, but he has a very large extended family of different generations and many children for whom Vidyaakar is the surname.It is heartwarming to see Stephen ,whom the children call appaa (father) , performing Kanyadanam of his daughters ,whom he brought up from infancy, in the traditional Hindu style with all Brahminical rituals.
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Stephen Vidyaakar's services can be compared with those of Mother Teresa. But the Mother enjoyed global support and patronage of the State and central governments.She had a big order of Missionaries of Charity spread across the globe to be part of her work. Stephen ,in comparison, is restricted in many ways in carrying out his mission.His work is unblemished with no controversy unlike the ones the critics raised with regard to the Missionaries of Charity. Awards went in search of Mother Teresa including the Nobel Prize and Bharat Ratna. But Stephen Vidyaakar still is not favoured by the Indian state . A very distressing fact.Uthavum Karangal

T.K. Nair
]]><![CDATA[OLINDA PEREIRA KARNATAKA’S SOCIAL WORK'S FINEST ICON]]>Mon, 03 Aug 2015 07:41:05 GMThttps://www.nirutapublications.org/social-workers/august-02nd-2015
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Born into a Catholic family in Falnir at Mangalore as the youngest of the three sisters, Rita Olinda Periera embraced the religious order of the  Daughters of the Heart of Mary (DHM). Dr. Olinda Periera pioneered social work education in the state of Karnataka by setting up the School of Social Work "Roshini Nilaya" in 1960 under the auspices of the Institute of Social Service which offers BSW, MSW, and PhD besides other courses affiliated to the  Mangalore University. 
As its Founder-Principal, Dr.Periera was an outstanding mentor and a role model. She was not only a great social work teacher, but also a social work practitioner of eminence. She founded the Urban Community Development Centre, Home Science Institute, School for the Blind, Family Service Agency, and Working Women's Hostel. She is keen to promote education and empowerment of women. She has now been engaged in creating a Golden Age Eco Village for the comprehensive community-based care for the elderly as Director of Vishwas Trust. Dr.Periera says that "there should be a law which enables Right to Dignified Death on the lines of the Right to Education and Right to Information". Olinda Periera has been a tremendous source of inspiration to hundreds of young men and women. Olinda Periera is synonymous with selfless service to humanity, and has been a recipient of many awards in India and abroad. In her 90 th year, Olinda Periera's birthday falls on the Indian Independence Day : a befitting coincidence .

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Tribute to Olinda Pereira 

Henry J. D'Souza*
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Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again, and you will be filled with joy."
- Buddha

If persons can be considered as musical instruments, then their contributions to society are the melodies that emerge. Dr. Olinda Pereira's life has been such a sweet melody that has brought joy and comfort not only to those around her but also to those who are touched by the organizations she founded and programmes she initiated. 

I first met Dr. Pereira when I started my master's degree in social work at the Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work in Mangalur (also spelled as Mangalore in the anglicized phonetics and Roshni Nilaya means house of light) in 1975.  Unlike typical nuns with distinctive garments as a mark of their congregational identity, the Daughters of the Heart of Mary (DHM), an international religious society that was founded in France in 1790 during the French Revolution, the religious society that Dr. Pereira belonged to, wore sarees that blended with the traditional attire of the women in India.  My first impressions of her were, that she was kind, friendly, full of joy, and easy to approach.  She, instantaneously made one feel at ease.  Dr. Pereira was a professor and the principal of the Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work, affiliated to the University of Mysore at that time. I was a student in her classes where she taught Abnormal Psychology.  Dr. Pereira was the first one to introduce me to various types of mental illnesses and the symptoms that accompanied each, occasionally pondering whether I had those psychopathic symptoms myself, during her lectures.

Born in Falnir, Mangalur, she turns 90 in 2015 on the day of India's independence. She made her First Profession, an expression for, becoming a DHM nun, in 1962 and was a pioneer to establish the DHM Society in India along with Paiva Couceiro.  She is one of the founders of the Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work in 1960, one among the early schools of social work to be established in India.  As a result of her tireless work—mobilizing the support of the helpful bureaucrats, academic and community leaders and her supporters in the DHM, she jumped through bureaucratic hurdles, raised funds, and set up a number of community outreach service agencies such as the Urban Community Development Centre, the Fibre Centre, School for the Blind, Home Science Institute, Family Service Agency, and Anganwadi Training Centre in and round Mangalur.  Over the years, these agencies have served thousands of poor and needy people.  Besides offering B.A. degrees in a number of disciplines, Roshni Nilaya offers Bachelor's in Social Work, Master's in Social Work, Counseling, Criminology and Forensic Science. The doctoral degree in social work was introduced in 1983.  The National Assessment and Accreditation Council of India has accredited Roshni Nilaya with 'A' grade.  The social workers who graduated from the School, are serving all over India and around the world.

After 20 years as a principal, Dr. Pereira retired in 1984, but she did not stop working.  The plight of the elderly in Mangalur drew her attention.  With the changing family structure—two-child families, erosion of the traditional way of taking care of the elderly by children who stayed in the parental home, has exacerbated the problems elderly face. Marriage and jobs result in children moving away leaving the elderly parents to tend for themselves without any social support or assisted living facilities as in many developed countries.  Recognizing the plight of the elderly, Dr. Pereira founded the Vishwas Trust in 1998, to train caregivers for the elderly and setting up a 24-hour helpline and developing comprehensive care giving facilities.  This, indeed is an indispensable service to the people of Mangalur, a city that was ranked 13th in elder abuse based on a survey by Help age, India in 2013.

The Mangalur community has expressed its appreciation to Dr. Pereira's long service, by conferring her the prestigious Abbakka award by the Veerarani Abbakka Utsava Samitiin January 2011.  The International Institute for Public Policy (IIPP) recognized her as the Outstanding Community Leader for the 2013-1014 year.  Dr. Pereira was alsohonoured with the privilege of inaugurating the International Day Against Drug Abuse on June 26, 2014.

I have admired Dr. Pereira's work from far; I wish I could have observed it up close.  Dr. Pereira wasn't pleased about my leaving India after getting married to my classmate, Eliza, who had immigrated to the U.S., and to pursue my doctoral studies.  One ends up where the random events in our lives, which the Indian culture recognizes as, 'Adrishta' the unseen, invisible, and fate, take us.  When I was a student, Dr. Pereira helped me far more than I realized at that time.  I joined the School of Social Work after leaving the St. Joseph's Seminary in Jeppu;'jumping the wall' as such acts are reproachfully labeled, gave much anguish to my mother who wanted me to be a Catholic priest.   Changes like these are distressingand turbulent at that young age.  Dr. Pereira was a strong support during those difficult years.  I would not have completed my Master's degree in social work, if she had not secured me a scholarship from the Indo-German Social Service Society.  She counseled and guided me through my youthful injudiciousness when I was a student and during my first jobs at the Mukka Welfare Society and the Madras School of Social Work in Chennai.  As anindebted recipient of her generosity and grace, I am, and will always remain, grateful to Dr. Olinda Pereira.  She is, indeed a blessing—Punya Athma—not only to me, but also to the community of Mangalur and has exemplified the Roshni Nilaya motto adopted from Tagore:  "Love is made fruitful in service" in her life that keeps on giving ever so joyful melodies.

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

- Albert Einstein

Dr Henry J. D'Souza
Professor Grace Abbot School of Social Work , University of Nebraska at Omaha , USA 
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