Nationality Indian Name Prasant Palakkappilly Religion Syrian Christian | Education Ph. D in Social Work Ethnicity Nasrani | |
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Born 29 September 1964 (age 59) ( 1964-09-29 ) Perumanoor, Thevara, Kerala Other names Johnson Payyappilly Palakkappilly Relatives Varghese Payyappilly Palakkappilly Alma mater Rajagiri, Tata Institute of Social Sciences | ||
Prasant Payyappilly Palakkappilly (born 29 September 1964) is a Syro-Malabar priest, social activist and environmentalist from the Indian state of Kerala. He is currently serving as the Principal of Sacred Heart College, Thevara.
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Family
Palakkappilly was born on 29 September 1964 at Perumanoor near Thevara to Payyappilly Palakkappilly Lonan Xavier and Thresiamma. He hails from the Palakkappilly branch of the Payyappilly Nasrani family which is an ancient Saint Thomas Christian family in India tracing its origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the first century. The word Payyappilly, translated as "beautiful building" or "beautiful house", is derived from the Syriac ܦܐܝܐ Payya "beautiful, radiant" and the Malayalam word പിള്ളി Pilly, a variant of പള്ളി Pally, "church, building". Servant of God Mar Varghese Payyappilly Palakkappilly was his paternal uncle.
Early life
Fr. Palakkappilly did his schooling at Sacred Heart High School, Thevara. Later he decided to join C. M. I., a Syro-Malabar congregation for men. He did Philosophy and Theology studies from Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, Bangalore and was ordained a priest on 28 December 1994. He took Master's degree in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences in 1997 and Ph. D in Social Work from Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in 2007.
Activities
Fr. Palakkappilly served as the head of Rajagiri College of Social Sciences from 2007 to 2010. During his tenure in Rajagiri, he turned around 22 acres of land to lush greenery and named the whole project, Environmental Lesson. He was also instrumental in starting several environmental initiatives like setting up of micro forests and other forestation efforts, water conservation projects and introduction of waste management systems. As a result, in 2009, Rajagiri College won the Haritha Award by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board for the best environmental initiatives in the state.
In 2010, Fr. Palakkappilly was appointed as the Principal of Sacred Heart College, Thevara. He started a new trend in the college by cultivating paddy in a small piece of land, and now it has practising organic farming on four acres of land. In 2014, under his leaderhip, the college became one among the first five autonomous colleges in Kerala. Fr. Palakkappilly is also part of numerous human rights, child rights and environmental organisations in Kerala.