Matters India Reporter
Krishnagar, March 30, 2020 – A nun who could be the first religious sister to complete doctoral degree from prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi is no more.
Sr. Julia Narayan Majaw, the elder sister of former state finance minister of Meghalaya, late Martin Narayan Majaw, passed away last Saturday in Krishnagar, Nadia district, West Bengal.
She was 91 years old and was buried on Sunday, 29 March 2020.
Late Sr Julia’s other younger brother is living in Canada, North America.
Born on 23 May 1928 young Julia left Shillong for Krishnagar in rural West Bengal and joined the congregation of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate on 10 February 1950, and was one of the first batch of sisters to have joined the congregation started by late Salesian Bishop Louis L. R. Morrow of Krishnagar.
She completed her doctorate in educational psychology in 1982 from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
She could be one of the first few nuns to have completed PhD from JNU in 1982.
In 1986, Sr. Julia became state coordinator for voluntary agencies in the successful implementation of a biogas scheme in rural areas of Meghalaya for which she was selected as a recipient and awarded the Meghalaya State Mahatma Gandhi Award in 1995.
In a statement, the relatives of the deceased nun said that late Sr Julia’s cousin Josephine Majaw, resident of Malki, Shillong; and nephews former Khasi Student Union leader and former Member of Parliament Robert Kharshiing, John F Kharshiing, Francis Kharshiing, M. Kharshiing and niece Agnes Kharshiing were unable to attend the funeral held in Krishnagar on Sunday 29 March 2020 due to the on-going nationwide lock-down.
The nuns, from Generale of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate in Krishnagar have informed that the last rites and funeral was held on Sunday at 9 am in Krishnagar, West Bengal and the district administration, in view of the Covid 19 situation, allowed only seven nuns for the funeral.
The Institute of the Catechist Sisters of Mary Immaculate Help of Christians, commonly known as the Sisters of Mary Immaculate (SMI) was founded on 12 December 1948 in Krishnagar, by Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, SDB, the fourth Bishop of Krishnagar, West Bengal, India.