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Harekala Hajabba, the orange seller who set up school for underprivileged, chosen for Padma Shri 2020

News Network
January 25, 2020

Mangaluru, Jan 25: Orange vendor Harekala Hajabba, popularly known as 'Akshara Santha' (the saint of alphabets), who went on to build a school at Newpadpu village on the city’s outskirts in 1999 is among this year’s Padma Shri awardees.

When Hajabba received the call on being nominated for the award, he was standing in a queue to buy rations.

As he is not fluent in Hindi, Hajabba handed over the phone to an auto driver, who conveyed the news that the Padma Shri award will be conferred on him.

The unlettered achiever set up a primary school from his meagre savings of Rs 150 per day,  selling oranges in Mangaluru. 

“The first time I felt bad for being an illiterate was when a foreigner enquired about the price of oranges in English. I did not know what he meant. So, I decided to start a school in my village,” Hajabba had said during a felicitation programme.

When Hajabba decided to start a school, he did not get any support. He started the school with 28 children.

The school today has been upgraded to a composite high school and is catering to the educational needs of hundreds of children in and around Newpadpu.

He ran from pillar to post in the Zilla Panchayat to make his dream come true. All cash awards he had received went into building the school. The United Christians Association, moved by the sight of his dilapidated house, built a 760-square-foot house costing Rs 15 lakh for him. 

Hajabba’s life was prescribed for the syllabus of three universities - Davangere, Kuvempu and Mangalore. His success story is also included in a Tulu textbook.

He won the Karnataka Rajyotsava award in 2013, Real Heroes award from TV channel CNN-IBN.

Hajabba, when contacted, said he could not believe his ears when told about the award.

New dreams

The frail vendor, in his 60s, humbly declared that he could achieve all this because of the support of all. Hajabba now dreams of upgrading the school into a full-fledged PU college.

Comments

Meethal Kasaragod
 - 
Sunday, 26 Jan 2020

A big Salute to him!

Great effort,

fairman
 - 
Sunday, 26 Jan 2020

Where there is will, there is way

May God help him.

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coastaldigest.com news network
April 27,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 27: Two more people including an elderly woman have been tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Dakshina Kannada. 

With this the total number of covid-19 cases in the district reached 21, though most of them have recovered and returned home. 

In its today's bulletin, the health and family welfare department confirmed that a 45-year-old man and his 80-year-old mother tested positive for the deadly disease. 

It is learnt that one of them had undergone treatment at a private hospital where a woman from Bantwal, who died of covid-19, was being treated for breathing difficulties, before she was shifted to Wenlock Hospital which is now converted into covid-19 hospital.

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 4,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 4: Karnataka on Tuesday reported its biggest single-day spike of 6,259 Covid-19 cases and 110 fresh deaths, taking the total infection count to 1,45,830 and the toll to 2,704, the health department said.

The day also saw a record 6,777 patients getting discharged after recovery, outnumbering the fresh cases. Out of 6,259 fresh cases, a total of 2,035 cases were from Bengaluru Urban district. The previous biggest single-day record was on July 30 when the state added 6,128 cases.

A bulletin from the department said cumulatively 1,45,830 Covid-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state and it included 2,704 deaths and 69,272 discharges. Out of the 73,846 active cases, as many as 73,212 patients were stable in isolation at designated hospitals while 634 in the intensive care units.

Among the fresh deaths, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 30 followed by Dakshina Kannada (13) and Mysuru (9).

Most of the people who succumbed either had a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI), the bulletin said. Besides Bengaluru Urban, the other districts which reported higher fresh cases on Tuesday are Mysuru 662, Kalaburagi 285, Ballari 284, Belagavi 263, Dakshina Kannada 225, Davangere 191, Dharwad and Hassan 188. Bengaluru Urban district continued to top the list of positive cases with a total of 63,033 infections, followed by Ballari 7,638 and Dakshina Kannada 6,388.

Among discharges too Bengaluru Urban tops the districts with 27,877 discharges, followed by Ballari 3,724 and Kalaburagi 3,470. A total of 14,89,016 samples had been tested so far, out of which 42,458 on Tuesday with 29,488 being rapid antigen tests.

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News Network
April 23,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 23: The scarcity of water in Kukkavu area of Belthangady town in Dakshina Kannada district has forced school-going children to dig a well with their hands.
The children studying in primary schools were seen lifting the heavy buckets of water from the well.

The residents were facing the water shortage from the past couple of days, amid the coronavirus lockdown.
A group of five adolescents managed to dug the well as deep as 12 feet within just a span of four days.

" We are facing water problem now. With the support of my five more friends, we dug this well. At the beginning we just found soil, then in the deeper layers, we also found stones. We got access to the water at 10 feet down," said Dhanush, a class 9th student, while speaking to news agency.

The shortage of water during the summer months is a perennial problem in across several states in India, and the growing population has only added to the woes.

In extreme conditions, poor have to draw water from small water holes.

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