National Dalit Christian Watch Names its First National Secretary

By Robancy Helen –

A Carmelite nun from Hyderabad has been named as the first national secretary of the National Dalit Christian Watch (NDCW).

Sister Manju Devarapalli, a Carmelite Missionary, assumed the new position since January 16, said Dr. Vincent Manoharan, the chairperson of NDCW, in a press note.

The five-year-old organization, NDCW is a civil society body that promotes, advocates, and champions the rights of Dalits in India.

Sister Devarapalli hails from a remote village in Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, South India. She was born into a traditional and faith-filled Dalit Catholic family, inspired by her saintly parents, affectionate brother and sister who are known for generosity, charity, and uprightness.

The nun joined the Carmelite Missionaries, an international congregation in 1988 at the age of 16 and professed by the age of 21.

Ever since she has been into various grass-root undertakings with Dalits and Adivasis who are vulnerable and striving to bring about justice and equality, adds Manoharan.

She is a lawyer and a social worker by profession. At present, she is pursuing her Master’s degree in Business Administration at St. Joseph’s College, King Koti, Gunfoundry, Hyderabad.

She has a Diploma in Catechism of Catholic Church at St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bangalore, and a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in Wollongong Diocese, Sydney- Australia.

Sister Devarapalli was conferred the ‘Best Social Worker Award’ from District Magistrate, West Godavari in 2011 and ‘Archbishop Oscar Romero Brilliant Star Award’ for the outstanding work among the Dalits by Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, Office for Dalits and Backward Classes.

Besides, the All India Christian Federation conferred the ‘Bharat Ratna Mother Theresa Award’ on her in 2021.

She will be the ‘Admin and Program Face’ of NDCW, which stands for the rights and space of Dalit Christians within the Church and society.

She is based in Hyderabad but will anchor and monitor the interventions of NDCW across the country, says Manoharan.

Her areas of work have been for Dalits and Tribal rights and their education, rural women, girl child education, human rights, slum dwellers, housing rights, formation of micro-financial groups for men and women and youth, pastoral and catechetical needs, and promotion of donation of body organs through Project Vision at Ahmadabad – Gujarat.

“I have always been passionate about less fortunate, vulnerable, and downtrodden. I look at this appointment as an opportunity to serve better my brothers and sisters in raising their worth and dignity as God’s beloved creation with their due rights and duties,” Sister Devarapalli added.