The well being of our society depends on all its members, each one being an integral and valuable component of it, but most of these ‘components’ are in scattered villages, living in abject poverty, being marginalized, disadvantaged and downtrodden. It is important that we recognize the worth of these people and train them to stand on their own, making them independent and getting them involved in their own development. If our attitude changes towards these people, if we share of our knowledge with them and if we learn from them, there will be a change in society, a real just and sustainable transformation. A catalyst in such a social transformation is Rev. Dr Ronald Cutinha, the founder director of the Mangalore based Samanvaya.

 

Rev. Dr Ronald Cutinha is a multifaceted personality. He is a scholar, writer, historian, resource person and above all a dedicated social activist who firmly believes that social changes can be effective only with the help of the integrated view points of the disadvantaged themselves. He has the necessary qualifications and experience in the field of his choice, and the social work started by him at various places still continues.

Born in 1959, Dr Cutinha did his B.A. from Mysore University and M.A. in History at Karnataka University. The Urban University, Rome conferred on him the Bachelor of Theology degree in 1986. Pursuing his studies further, he completed Diploma in HRD from IGNOU in 1994 and a Diploma in Social Development from the Coady International Institute of St. Francis Xavier University, Canada. To cap it all, the Mysore University conferred on him a doctorate in history (Ph.D.) in 1998.




His work in the developmental field has been well received and appreciated by people. Wherever he has worked, he has left an indelible mark on the minds of the people. Deeply involved in social development activities, he has worked among the under-privileged in Bidar, Dakshina Kannada and Kasaragod districts. He has also worked towards the empowerment of women and women’s forums in Kasargod area are the testimony to his work. He is a quiet worker. “Social reform is not to be secured by noise and shouting, by complaints and enunciations, by the formation of parties, or the making of revolutions, but by the awakening of thought and the progress of idea”. These words of H. George aptly describe his work and he has awakened the marginalized people into coming together in groups in order to develop themselves. Recognizing his service in the socio-developmental field in Kasaragod area, the
Kerala State Konkani Prathishtana awarded him the prestigious “Jana Seva Nidhi Puraskar 1997-98”. During the Karavali Utsav 2000, the Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes,


felicitated him with a shawl around his shoulders. He has been honoured by Lions Club Millennium, Mangalore in November 2001 for creating awareness and capacity building



among the people and supporting the cause of Lionism. The Lions, Lioness and Leo Clubs of Lalbagh, along with the 8 other clubs of the Region X of the Lion District 324-D4 have unanimously selected him for the Award of Seva Bandhu in January 2002 for the meritorious


service through developmental trainings and activities, awareness and capacity building, workshops and seminars in the districts of Dakshina Kannada of Karnataka and Kasaragod of Kerala State.

The multifarious activities in social development at Samanvaya aim at the empowerment of the marginalized section of the society irrespective of caste, sex and creed. A resource person himself, Dr Cutinha also makes use of other resource persons in various developmental fields. Samanvaya is an NGO dedicated to the promotion of inter-religious, cultural harmony and peace. Samanvaya also does the social development and educational activities through watershed management; awarding scholarships; value based developmental trainings and publishes books and articles. In the field of training 46,465 have benefited so far through 617 training programmes.

Dr Ronald Cutinha has conducted more than 500 trainings on the following themes:
1. Animation for Social Change –Social Awareness
2. Communication and Feedback
3. Dignity of Labour
4. Knowing Self and Others
5. Motivation & Development
6. Parish Activities Planning & Implementation
7. Participatory Programme Planning
8. Women Empowerment and Gender Equality.
9. Communal Harmony, Inter-Religious Dialogue
10. Globalization and its Effects.
11. Watershed Management


12. Personality Development and Leadership
13. Social Development
14. Social Values and Social Justice
15. Team Building.
16. Time Management
17. Human Resource Development
18. Alcoholism and its effects, Social evils and liberation.
19. Gospel Values.
20. Struggle for justice.
21. Need and importance of S.C.C.
22. Effective ways of Christians Mobilizing and organizing themselves.
23. Environment degradation – Protection and Promotion.
24. Role and responsibility of youth in society.
25. Role of SVP members in the development of the society.
26. Path to excellence
27. Parent’s role in the formation of the children.
28. A new way of being Religious, Religious life in III Millennium.
29. Evangelization 2000.
30. Value based life and development
31. Job Opportunities
32. Anti-Corruption
33. Integrated Rural Development
34. Environment protection and promotion
35. Awareness on Plastic

As a research scholar, his articles have been published in various journals. An in depth socio-economic study has been done by him in The History of Kaifiyats of south and North Kanara Districts. He has authored Training of Trainers for Social Transformation, dealing with social justice through emancipatory adult education. He has edited ‘Empower’ a comprehensive directory of NGOs of D.K. and Udupi districts. He has edited and compiled The Directory of Christian Churches, Chapels and Places of worship in D.K. and Udupi Districts. This ecumenical directory contains 285 photographs in multicolour of churches/chapels of all Christian denominations.

Dr Ronald Cutinha holds the view that it is much more important to train the under-privileged, and also dedicated social activists to work among them than just help them to improve their living standards. “Only then will they be able to develop themselves and build up a just and equitable society”, he says. On women’s self-help groups he says that the development of the society depends on the advancement of women through self-help groups. He is of the opinion that to have communal peace and harmony, we must bring all the people together in a dialogue and solve the problems facing them amicably, without resorting to violence. Samanvaya does a lot in this regard. “We can involve ourselves in social action without reference to caste and creed and help our distressed brethren,” he adds.


He wants to see children, with the help of Samanvaya, reach pinnacles of their careers and success. “I do hope these children through continuous training will light the torch of inter-community peace and love in their own community and build a future of amicable relationships,” he hopes.

He has successfully guided 3 students for M. Phil. in their studies in History under Alagappa University of Chennai. Presently he is the director for SSVP, Legion of Mary and DCCW of Mangalore along with Samanvaya.



A well-travelled, well-read and well-spoken Rev. Cutinha has served the society and its poor masses with zeal and still continues to do so. He does this in addition to his priestly duties. He echoes the words of Cecil Rhodes: “So little done, so much more to do”.

Konkaniworld.com recognizes the quality work of Rev. Dr Ronald Cutinha for the upliftment of poor, marginalized and weaker sections of the society through trainings and developmental activities, appreciates his zeal for inter-religious harmony and environmental concerns, notes down his academic excellence, achievements and publications, salutes for his innovative idea of ‘Samanvaya Trust’, Konkaniworld is proud to be associated with Samanvaya. Those who have benefited from Samanvaya had recommended us to visit them, our first visit and meeting with Rev. Dr. Ronald Cutinho was worth to mentionwith, since then Konkaniworld has been giving exclusive coverage to the programmes of Samanvaya. Its been two years now since we have been associated with Samanvaya. We are satisfied!!! Konkaniworld family wishes Rev. Dr. Ronald Cutinho good luck, cheerfulness and success in all his activities. We honor him with the title Konkaniworld Super Star.

By: Prof. Gilbert Miranda, Bajpe