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Sangthankima
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Social work · Mizoram

A shelter built with bare hands

Sangthankima had no money and only five years of school. In 1988 he and his friends did labour work to pay for a shelter. It grew into a network of homes for orphans, people with addiction and people whom no one else would take in.

Sangthankimaसंगथनकिमा
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Sangthankima. Photo: via India Today NE

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Born
18 October 1958 (official Padma citation)
State
Mizoram
Field
Orphan care, mental-health shelter, de-addiction, care of the destitute
Honours
Mother Teresa Memorial International Award 2014; Mizo Award 2014; Padma Shri 2024
1988starts TNT in Champhai
3,535residents at the time of the citation
2024Padma Shri

No money, only resolve

Sangthankima’s story is less about formal education than about compassion and building institutions. According to his official Padma citation, he was born on 18 October 1958 and could study only up to Class V.

Even so, in 1988 in Champhai he started Thutak Nunpuitu Team (TNT), to give shelter and rehabilitation to orphans, destitute people, people with addiction and people with mental illness. The citation says that at first he had no capital at all; he and his companions did labour work to raise the money.

A house with many rooms

Over time TNT ran homes in Aizawl, Lunglei, Kolasib, Champhai and Tahan in Myanmar. The government citation gives a figure of 3,535 patients and residents across its children’s home, mental-health home and de-addiction centres at that time.

That is a dated snapshot of one moment, not a lifetime total.

Care as a structure

TNT received the National Children Award in 2013, and Sangthankima received regional and national honours. The 2024 Padma Shri gave national recognition to a grassroots institution-builder who tried to meet several kinds of need (addiction, mental illness, orphanhood and destitution) within one network of care.

Sources