By Irudhaya Jothi
Aizawl, June16, 2023: Capuchin Father Nithiya Sagayam, who works among gypsies in southern India, has been conferred with a lifetime achievement award by the federal Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
The ministry gives the “Atal Bihari Life Time Achievement Award” to those with the record of consistent commitment to social justice and empowerment of the powerless.
Father Sagayam was among 17 people from different walks of life who received the lifetime achievement award June 15 at Raja Sir Annamalai Mandram, Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu.
Father Sagayam is currently a director at Thalir Solanus Casey Centre, in a village near Villupuram, some 170 km southwest of Chennai.
Father Sagayam was selected for his overall work in various fields in empowering the poor and the rejected. He works for the welfare of the rural poor, especially gypsies, a primitive tribal group named ‘Irular.’
A Tamil Movie, ‘Jai Bhim,’ was made on this community.
Asked about the latest award, Father Sagayam told Matters India, “There is a long way to go, millions of people have not tasted real development and so the work will continue with a new vigor.”
The Capuchin priest is a renowned motivational speaker, impressive preacher, and spiritual animator of Catholic religious congregations. He is known for taking the Food Security Act to slum dwellers and rural poor.
The 65-year-old priest trains the religious social workers and orients youth for a better tomorrow.
During Covid, he launched international online programs in 43 countries covering more than 40,000 people.
He has a master’s degree in Gandhian Thoughts and another aster’s in human rights. His M. Phil is in peace science and his doctorate in interreligious relations.
Father Sagayam was secretary of the International Commission for Justice and Peace of the Capuchin Order in Rome for five years.
He was the director of the Office of Justice, Peace and Development under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India for nine years.
Later he served as the executive director of the Office of Human Development of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) for four years.
He has coordinated the Franciscan Congregations for the past 11 years conducting several annual national programs.
As an executive secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission, he encouraged many religious congregations to engage in the movement for food rights after training them in the Rights Based Approach to development.
He took to publishing various government welfare projects in the form of Ten Commandments which were a hit in 15 states in as many languages. He worked on programs such as pensions for the elders, widows, spinsters and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and their redress mechanism.
Immediately after the pogrom Kandhamal in Odisha Father Sagayam trained the youth with trauma counselling to help the scattered people, both Dalit and tribals.
Thalir (buds) is a social outreach center of the Capuchins of Trichy Amala Annai province. The center promotes total excellence through motivational seminars, counselling and formation by following the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi and Blessed Solanus Casey (1870-1957), a renowned American Capuchin preacher.
During and after the pandemic, Father Sagayam adopted several villages in Villupuram district, especially those with Dalit and primitive tribal people, and offered them relief materials and medicine, besides helping them fight their fear and anxiety.