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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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News Network
August 5,2020

Shivamogga, Aug 5: Karnataka Minister KS Eshwarappa on Wednesday hailed the laying of foundation stone (bhoomi pujan) for a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and said "Kashi Vishwanath and "Krishna Janmasthan temples have to be liberated".

"It is a good day that the foundation stone for Ram Temple has been laid. A beautiful temple will come up, but there are Kashi Vishwanath and Krishna Janmasthan temples which have to be liberated," Eshwarappa said.

The minister said that there is a "sign of slavery" at Krishna temple in Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.

"The whole nation is dreaming of Shri Krishna temple in Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath temple. I have visited the two temples. 

There is a sign of slavery. Mosques are there at holy places. When I visited the place at Mathura, I witnessed the wall. When we look at the wall, we feel like we are still slaves," he said.

"While visiting Kashi, there is also a structure of slavery. Dream of Hindus is fulfilled in Ayodhya. One day, it will be fulfilled in Mathura and Kashi. Mathura Sri Krishna and Kashi Vishwanath will be freed and temple will be built," Eshwarappa added.

The Places of Worship Act, enacted in 1991, says that religious character of a place of worship existing on the August 15, 1947 shall continue to be the same as it existed on that day. The Act kept Ayodhya case out of its purview.

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News Network
July 22,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 22: As many as 184 people from Karnataka stranded in UAE arrived at Mangalore International Airport.

According to sources, the chartered flight, which landed on Tuesday night, was arranged by the UAE Karnataka Cultural Foundation and Beary Cultural Foundation for Kannadigas who had been stranded following the lockdown and also those who had lost their employment.

A team of officials with Puttur Assistant Commissioner Yathish Ullal and Horticulture Department Assistant Director Praveen who were in charge of quarantine facilities for international passengers verified the documents and sent them for institutional quarantine.

Of the 184 passengers, 141 had remained quarantined in Mangaluru while 42 left for Udupi and one to Honnavara in Uttara Kannada, said sources.

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News Network
May 22,2020
Bengaluru, May 22: Evacuation planes from Male in Maldives and Doha in Qatar landed in Bengaluru with returnees from Karnataka after they were stranded for two months due to suspension of international flights since March 23 and the extended lockdown, an official said on Friday.
 
"An Air-India flight (#0266) with 152 passengers from Male and its subsidiary Express flight (IX-0822) with 177 returnees and 5 infants from Doha landed here safely at 6.50 pm. and 9.05 pm respectively," an airline official told media persons in Bengaluru.
 
Both the flights are first from their respective countries to Bengaluru, bringing in returnees to the southern state in the second phase of the Vande Bharat mission, being carried out to evacuate Indians stranded the world over.
 
"As per the standard operating procedure and guidelines of the state health department, all the passengers were screened with thermal device and tested to ensure they were asymptomatic before leaving the airport," a nodal officer said.
 
The returnees were given a spare mask to wear all the time and a sanitiser to wash their hands.
 
"The luggage of all passengers was screened and disinfected before handing over to them after they completed formalities such as filling the self-declaration form and downloading of the Quarantine App for contact tracing later,” said the official.
 
The passengers were ferried from the airport in state-run buses in batches for 14-day institutional quarantine in hotels and resorts across the city.
 
The flights were the 6th and 7th flights to Karnataka, of the national carrier and its Express arm, which are operating the service to repatriate thousands of Indians, including distressed workers, migrants, students, senior citizens and tourists, stranded overseas.
 
Five flights have flown about 650 returnees till date from May 18-21 under the mission's second phase to Bengaluru and Mangaluru on the west coast. The passengers have been brought from Dubai in the UAE, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Muscat in Oman, Dammam in Saudi Arabia and San Francisco in the US.
 
The remaining flights to Karnataka will land in Bengaluru and Mangaluru over the next 12 days till June 3 from 9-10 more destinations the world over.
 
In the first phase of the mission from May 7-17, the airline and its arm flew 6 flights to the state from May 11-15, bringing in 800 passengers, including 623 to Bengaluru and 177 to Mangaluru from London, Singapore, San Francisco and Dubai.

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