“Be content with what you have, but be discontent with what you can for others”.
Mr. T.K. Mathew (TK), the well-known Indian Social Entrepreneurship Pioneer, passed away in March 2025, at the age of 89.
TK served India’s poor and marginalized exceptionally well for over sixty years. The small and unpromising beginning of his efforts in his own village in Kerala, led to his becoming the founding Secretary and Chief Executive of Deepalaya, currently the largest operational Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in the Delhi National Capital Region.
A fascinating account of all that is in his inspirational and insightful memoirs (“Memoirs of TK Mathew, A Pioneer Social Entrepreneur”, Sam K Chacko, PRADAN, Delhi, 2019).
His father, K.M. Koshy, worked for the Kerala State Electricity Board; while TK’s mother, Saramma Koshy, raised the family. TK was the eldest child. He had three brothers—the Padma Bhushan laureate Dr. T.K. Oommen, T.K. Abraham, and T.K. Simon) and three sisters (Chinnamma, Annamma, and Ammini).
TK started his formal education in the village of his birth, Venmony, in the Mar Thoma Secondary School and continued it in the nearby Kodukulanji High School. He did his Intermediate studies in Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum (Kerala), after which he decided to study agriculture, as he loved nature and believed that India’s progress depended on the development of agriculture – that is what sustained the majority of the population. Completing an Honors Bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the Bansilal Amrithlal College of Agriculture, Anand (Gujrat), TK’s first job was Fruit Assistant at the Fruit Research Station in Periyakulam (Tamil Nadu). That is the place that TK met his life partner, Mary Mathew; they were married for ~60 years, until her passing in February 2023.
Since the Tamil Nadu Government job did not provide a sustainable career, TK left after three years. He moved to Jaipur (Rajasthan) as the Garden Superintendent at the Jaipur Metals and Electrical Company, but left after twelve months, dissatisfied. He joined the DLF (Delhi Land and Finance) Group in Delhi next, advising their farmhouse owners.
However, since DLF was focused on real estate development rather than agriculture, TK left after three years to join Caritas India— a development agency of the Catholic church. Caritas had been trying to fill the position for quite a long with a member of its own church, but the remuneration was not attractive. Anyone who was properly qualified and experienced and therefore fit to lead the organisation would have had to take a pay cut. But that was not the main cause of TK’s main initial hesitation. Rather, it was that the Roman Catholic Church was not his church. However, TK worked at Caritas for fourteen years, coming to fully embrace that as “God’s call for a life of social service”, so that it came to mark the start of what he considered a “serious chapter” of his professional life, and he was in fact able to both grow and transform the organization. As he was not Roman Catholic, this was a tremendous personal and professional achievement for TK. Moreover, through his experience of Caritas, he developed a great admiration for the Catholic Church due to its “commitment to humanity” and its “vigor and enthusiasm” for pastoral care as well as social service. He also wrote a book on project management for training social workers, published by Caritas India (“Project Planning, Formulation and Evaluation: A Manual”, T.K. Mathew, Caritas India, Delhi, 1979).
In July 1978, TK was invited to become the Executive Coordinator of ASSEFA (Association for Sarva Seva Farms), a Gandhian NGO, which focused on helping those landless families with farming who had received land through the voluntary Gandhian land reform program (Bhoodan). TK was impressed by ASSEFA’s work for poor communities, by its application of Gandhian values, promotion of grass root approaches, simple life, and results-orientation. ASSEFA’s co-founders were S. Loganathan and Giovanni Ermiglia, an Italian living in India. They were instrumental in recruiting TK, who spent nine years at ASSEFA leading it through a period of “phenomenal” growth for the organization.
However, TK’s magnum opus, marking the pinnacle of his philanthropic initiatives, was the founding of Deepalaya (“Abode of Light”), a Delhi-based NGO on July 16, 1979. It had a start that was “humble” but also “full of sincerity of purpose, commitment and sense of proportion”. It was also “the beginning of a journey (yatra) based on FAITH, practice of distributive justice, and contribution to Nation Building.” In retrospect, it was a good example of what Paul of Tarsus says in his letter to the followers of Jesus in Rome, verse 28 of chapter 28: “We know that God is deeply concerned about us, and causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.” Whether or not we accept that statement, it can hardly be doubted that TK had been, first, prepared through his various professional commitments and experiences; and then had his steps providentially ordered.
The genesis of Deepalaya dates back to the 1977-79 period, when three of Deepalaya’s seven founders, TK, Y. Chackochan, and P.J. Thomas, were office bearers at the St Thoms Mar Thoma Church in Karol Bagh (Delhi) as Secretary, Trustee, and Accountant respectively. During the course of their frequent discussions about everything to do with the world, with their work, and with the church, they became disturbed by their Christian faith being “isolated from the public” and not “fully relevant”, since the faith practices of church members were limited to believers “within the church” – exactly the kind of so-called faith which the Apostle James described as dead faith, faith which does not impact and improve some aspect of the world (see verse 26 of the 2nd chapter of his Letter to the Churches, which is included in the New Testament part of the Christian Bible).
The Deepalaya Trio asked and pondered three questions: (i) How was their faith relevant to the people of Delhi? (ii) How could they practice distributive justice; and (iii) How could they give back to society what they had received? They were cognizant of their own Sunday School lessons, based on Jesus’s teaching that a Christian must be: (i) salt of the earth; (ii) light on the mount; and (iii) seed in the soil. They also recognized that the principles of “Love thy Neighbor” and “Distributive Justice” were the foremost of the commandments of Jesus. These considerations are also at the heart of TK’s life motto: “Be content with what you have, but be discontent with what you can do for others”.
The trio was later joined by four other friends and fellow-members of their church—Grace Thomas, C. M. Mathai, Punnoose Thomas, T. M. Abraham – as founder members of the Deepalaya Education Society, with TK as the Secretary and Chief Executive. At the very start, the school had only five children, two teachers, and an investment of merely Rupees 17,500 – from the seven founding members, contributing Rupees 2,500 each—providing pre-school education. The overarching objective of Deepalaya was facilitating access to education, given the power that education has to transform lives and empower people, as experienced personally by the Deepalaya founder members from Kerala, the Indian State with the highest literacy rate and related Human Development indicators.
Deepalaya has grown by leaps and bounds during the course of its history of 46 years so far, expanding beyond education, and Delhi, into other sectors and states. Deepalaya has supported projects in:
– Andhra Pradesh,
– Haryana,
– Kerala,
– Maharashtra,
– Punjab,
– Telangana,
– Uttar Pradesh, and
– Uttarakhand.
And Deepalaya’s projects span the following sectors:
- Education (Formal/Non-Formal/Remedial);
- Women Empowerment (Reproductive Health, Self Help Groups, Livelihood, Microfinance);
- Institutional Care;
- Community Health;
- Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD);
- Vocational Training;
- Environmental Sustainability; and,
- support for the Differently Abled.
As per the 2023-2024 Deepalaya Annual Report, the beneficiaries of Deepalaya projects include:
– education and other benefits for 3,78,145 children;
– vocational training 24,870 adults; and
– formation of 1,616 self-help groups with 17,892 women who have established 8,431 micro enterprises.
Deepalaya’s operating model is based on collaborating with State governments and other agencies. As a result, Deepalaya projects impact State-level policy making in various areas.
Over time, Deepalaya has diversified its funding sources, moving away from its initial dependance on donations/ sponsorships by Indians and from organizations abroad. As per the 2023-2024 Deepalaya Annual Report, of the total donations of INR 105, 918, 591 during 2023-2024, foreign contributions made up only 17.2%, with the remaining 82.8% coming from domestic contributions. Further, only 14.0% of the contributions came from foreign individuals, with nearly twice that much (27.6%) coming from individuals within India. The emergence of Indian corporate support through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives has been a game changer for Deepalaya and other NGOs.
Following retirement from Deepalaya, TK and Mrs. Mathew returned to their roots in Venmony about 10 years ago. They immersed themselves in the affairs of family, church and community. TK served as the President of the Keerikattu Kudumba Yogam (family association), volunteered in the Pakal Veedu (Day home) for the elderly, and participated actively in the activities of the local Christian community. At the time of his passing, TK was serving as the Finance Committee Chair for the Venmony Mar Thoma Higher Secondary School Building project, raising funds through his extensive network of family and friends. It’s truly remarkable that TK continued to bring his global knowledge for solving local problems.
TK’s charitable spirit and action has also been a guiding force for the extended Tharayilethu Kizhakkethil Family through the family trust, TKS (Tharayilethu Koshy Saramma) Nidhi—established in 1980 as an endowment and registered as a trust in 1998—for honoring the parents K.M. Koshy and Saramma Koshy, when they celebrated their 70th and 60th birthdays respectively. The TKS Nidhi awards scholarships to students on a merit-cum-means basis, and supports other needs of the less privileged, with the fund corpus expected to receive one-day-income donations annually from the earning members of the Family.
During his lifetime, TK received numerous awards in recognition of his enormous contributions to the Indian NGO sector, including: Rotarian of the year, Karamveer Puraskar, Malankara Mar Thoma Church Manav Seva Award in 2007 for service to Humanity, Platinum President Award of the Rotary Club under Rotary District 3010, Cancer Foundation Award, Vijaya Gujral Award for excellence in Education, Man of Achievement Award, Man of Courage Award.
TK’s enduring legacy as a pioneering Indian social entrepreneur may also be seen from the successful NGO leadership that has emerged from his tutelage and mentorship. A good example is PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action), founded in 1983 by Deep Joshi and Vijay Mahajan—the latter, a well-known Indian social entrepreneur, currently serving as the Secretary and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Both Joshi and Mahajan believed that well-educated professionals working within communities can bring both the empathy and knowledge to help India’s poor. Vijay Mahajan was an IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Delhi and IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Ahmedabad graduate interested in Gandhian organizations working on rural development issues, who worked for TK at ASSEFA in 1982, establishing a Technical and Management Services cell. Afterwards, Vijay expanded the initiative by placing other young professionals like him as “Action Consultant”, who could work with ASSEFA even when they were not employed by it. In his Foreword to the TK Memoirs—published by PRADAN—Vijay describes TK as “a man of action”, who “always believed in what he preached” in “little acts and big”. Vijay also refers to TK’s “moral authority and courage” to “raise large sums of money” at Caritas, ASSEFA, and Deepalaya. He commends TK both for his understanding of development and his mastery of related organizational matters.
TK played a major role in establishing PRADAN. Under the Chairmanship of Padma Shri Laurate Aloysius Fernandez, pioneer of the microfinance and Self-Help Group (SHG) concept in India, TK joined the founding Board and served as the Treasurer for nine years. TK also served as the President/Chair of PRADAN for three years.
TK was also instrumental in the founding of SRIJAN (Self-Reliant Initiatives through Joint Action) in 1997 by Ved Arya, who worked at ASSEFA first and then at PRADAN. Like Vijay Mahajan, Ved Arya was an IIT (Kanpur) and IIM (Ahmedabad) graduate, interested in social entrepreneurship and rural development issues. When Ved Arya left PRADAN to establish his own NGO, he sought out TK as the settlor of the Trust he was forming, believing in TK’s golden touch with the organizations he has been associated with, as they all had flourished.
The TK Memoirs also elaborates the Development Paradigm that TK formulated and refined, based on his pioneering social entrepreneurship journey spanning six decades, refined and honed at Deepalaya. The Development Paradigm is anchored in the principle of catalyzing from within the community through internal change agents, resulting ultimately in an enlightened community capable of independent planning and decision making. The Community Empowerment model has three elements: (i) Planning cum Micro Realization (PCMR); (ii) Social Entrepreneurship (SE); (iii) Phase out and Phase in. The PCMR process engaged the community by identifying, motivating, training, and embedding the Social Entrepreneur in the community. The Social Entrepreneur is the grass roots professional within the community who assists in the formation of Community Based Organizations (CBOs), supported by the NGO. The PCMR facilitates peoples’ participation in the development process and establishes the structure for sustaining the community’s collective interest. Over time, the expectation is that: the CBO become autonomous; the NGO becomes an advisor; and the social entrepreneurs manage the project. As a result, the community can become self-reliant, leading to the eventual redundancy of external assistance, and the CBOs assuming ownership.
TK’s unexpected passing is a great loss. May his motto of being content with what we have, but being discontent with what we can do for others, inspire us. May it spur us into action to love and serve others.
TK’s dedication to the Mar Thoma Church, and to family, community, and nation, was exemplary and enduring,
May his soul rest in peace. And rise in glory.
Dr. Cherian Samuel
