Miss. Judith Mascarenhas is a name for fruitless service.  She is the mother for the thousands of poor and downtrodden people of Mangalore.  Being a Corporator she was the Deputy Mayor of Mangalore City Corporation for two terms.  Once a teacher, she is one of the Directors of MCC Bank.  Melvyn Rodrigues, spoke to this great personality on various issues.

Q. You have been giving committed service in various social work fields.  At present what is the social service work you are involved in?
A. Wherever and whenever a genuine need arises I involve myself in reaching out to help.  For instance the number of suicides were in sharp increase, which led to the starting of the round the clock 24 hour D'Stress Help line service on January 26th 2000, at Y.M.C.A. Mangalore.  The number of persons in distress who are contacting the Help line has proved conclusively the need of such a service, which costs about Rs.15,000/- per month.  This is met by donations as the Government i.e., Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as well as the Social Welfare Board have not responded to our appeal for finance.

So also the Preethi Neethi Trust was started 10 years ago in answer to the need of rehabilitating leprosy patients rejected by their families or society and roaming the streets begging.  This work is going on and has now expanded to include all others in dire need.
 
I also join hands with other N.G.O's., Associations & Organizations working for the old, helpless, downtrodden people, street children, environment protection, pollution control etc.  Especially I join hands with Organizations where people of all religions, castes and creed are involved like the Abhaya Ashraya, The Nava Bharat Educational Society & Night School, The link Anti-Addiction Citizens Committee & Center, The Mahila Sabha, The Hind Kusht Nivaran Sangh, The Suchitva Sadhana Samithi, The Nairmalya Samaithies Okkoota, etc.
 
For the cleanliness and all round development of any country, as well as for the success of any Democracy the citizens have to be awakened, shaken from their lethargy and made to shoulder their responsibility of involving in the all round development of their respective area.  This need is best fulfilled by the formation of self-help groups in each neighborhood.  Hence this is another area where I am giving my special attention.  This is a difficult job as our people are so accustomed to take things lying down, expecting them to be done by blaming or criticizing others and not getting down to concrete action together, which is hard work.

Q. Being in Politics, is it possible to be successful in social work?  Don't people consider your social service as just a selfish means for political gains?
A: Usually it is said, one projects one's thinking and attitude on others.  In other words one judges others by their own standards.  A jaundiced person sees everything yellow, so also here.  Some do mistakenly think that all this work is done for political gains, but this does not bother me in the least as my motive is to follow Christ's command to go about doing good and work for the establishment of God's kingdom of justice, love, peace and happiness on earth.  The aim of a good politician has to be the establishment of a welfare state or Ram Rajya or better still Dharma Rajya.  Hence a good politician has to be a genuin