This auto-rickshaw driver helps leprosy patients lead a dignified life

Agencies
October 15, 2017

Kalaburagi, Oct 15: Setting an example of selfless service, an auto-rickshaw driver, Hanmanth Huvanna Devnoor, helps leprosy patients lead a dignified life.

Setting aside eight hours of his day for the patients, Hanmanth has been treating the patients for the last 20 years.
Hanmanth shared his story about how his life changed after his mother got leprosy.

"My mother had leprosy. When my father took her to the doctor, they asked us to not stay with her or eat with her. My parents came home crying. My father in fear of getting affected left me and my mother and went to another village. He never came back. My mother did not have the money, so she begged at the temple to feed me and my sister," said Hanmanth.

"The people of the leprosy colony saw my mother crying and asked her to live with them. No one used to come to stay with these patients, who left their villages and settled here," he added.

It was Hanmanth's mother who inspired him to serve these people.

"Before my mother passed away, she asked me to help and serve these patients. The colony people asked me to work so I took loan and drove auto rickshaw. I keep a part of the money I earn aside for the leprosy patients."

Hanmanth saves a portion of his earnings everyday and provides help to the leprosy patients by dressing their wounds, giving them first aid and also taking them to the government offices to help them in getting benefits of schemes for leprosy patients.

A leprosy patient, Kondabha, who got leprosy in 1972, also entailed how he met Hanmanth.

"Whatever life we are living now, it is because of Hanmanth. As we are not able to work, my wife and children work; Hanmanth also looks after us. It is because of him only that we are living here. Earlier there were small huts, but now we have our homes. And this is because of Hanmanth. We have not got any help from the government."

In 2002, Hanmanth opened the Mahatma Gandhi Leprosy Dispensary Centre in the colony to provide regular dressing to the leprosy patients. He even took basic training from a doctor at the Leprosy Treatment Centre.

India has the world's largest number of persons affected by leprosy.

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News Network
February 24,2020

New Delhi, Feb 24: India has deeply appreciated the Senegal government's decision to extradite fugitive gangster Ravi Poojary to India, official sources said on Sunday.

Facilitation of transit provided by the Government of France has also been acknowledged, they said.

Ravi Prakash Poojary, accused of committing a number of serious offences including murder and extortion in multiple jurisdictions, was extradited from Senegal on Saturday.

The probe agencies have persistently pursued the case for his extradition with the authorities in Senegal. India had made a request with Senegal for his extradition in early 2019, sources said.

Poojary was associated with gangster Chhota Rajan, but he also worked for fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 19,2020

Udupi, May 18: As many as eight fresh coronavirus positive cases have been reported in coastal districts of Udupi and Uttara Kannada. 

No fresh positive case was reported in Dakshina Kannada since yesterday.

According to Health and Family Welfare Department, two men aged 38 and 24 years, an 8-year-old boy and a 24-year-old woman tested positive for coronavirus in Udupi district today. 

All of them were under quarantine after returning from Maharashtra recently. They were shifted to covid-19 hospital for treatment. With this the number of covid-19 positive cases in Udupi district mounted to 15.

Meanwhile, Uttara Kannada district also received a jolt with four more cases. Yesterday it had reported eight cases.

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News Network
July 17,2020

Bengaluru, July 17: The government of Karnataka has decided to issue caste and income certificates to Brahmins in the state to reduce the socio-economic inequality faced by the community.

“A notification has been issued to tehsildars in all 30 districts to issue caste and income certificates to Brahmins so that they can also benefit from the government schemes and scholarships,” a Revenue Department official told said.

The notification comes a month after the Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board on June 10 appealed to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to issue the certificates to the traditionally dominant community, which accounts for 3 per cent of the 7 crore state population.

“Though Brahmins are in ‘minority’ in terms of their population across the state, they need caste and income certificates to benefit from the welfare schemes meant for the economic weaker sections such as SC, ST and OBC groups,” the official said.

The board was set up in March 2019 as a state-run company with Rs 5 crore authorised capital and Rs 5 crore equity and is registered with the Registrar of Companies.

The notification was issued to the local bodies and taluk offices after several members of the community complained to state Revenue Minister R. Ashoka that they were unable to benefit from the welfare schemes in the absence of the certificates.

The certificates will also help students from the community to avail scholarships for higher studies from the state-funded board if their gross annual family income is less than Rs 8 lakh per year.

The board has also urged the state government to implement the 10 per cent quota for its community members under the economically weaker sections, as applicable for Central government jobs and admissions to central institutions.

Noting that every community has people who are forward and backward economically for various reasons, including historical, the official said the board would be empowered to serve the Brahmins.

“The board will provide interest-free loans to the financially weaker sections of the community,” said its Chairman H.S. Sachidananda Murthy.

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