#GoodNews: K’taka Orange Seller Wins Padma Shri for Educating Poor

Harekala Hajabba has received the Padma Shri for his efforts towards educating poor children.

Harekala Hajabba has received the Padma Shri Award for his efforts towards educating poor children.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@PraveenKaswan)

An orange seller from Karnataka, Harekala Hajabba, has been named as a recipient of the Padma Shri Award for 2020, for his efforts towards educating poor children.

A tweet by an Indian Forest Services officer says that Hajabba was waiting in the line at a ration shop when he was alerted about receiving the fourth highest civilian honour in India.

"Harekala Hajabba was in a line on a ration shop when authorities informed him that he got Padma Shri," IFS Parveen Kaswan tweeted on Sunday, 26 January.

"This fruit seller from Dakshina Kannada is educating poor children in his village of Newpadapu from a decade in a mosque. Doing all the efforts including spending his savings," Kaswan said.

Hajabba had set up the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Higher Primary and Composite High School in 2000, according to a BBC report. The school houses about 130 students, the report said.

Hajabba had set up the school from the money he had saved from selling oranges. Reports suggest he makes about 150 rupees a day selling oranges in the city of Mangalore. It is from this money, that he has set up his school.

"The first time I felt handicapped because of my lack of education was when a foreigner asked me the price of the fruits in English. I didn't not know what he meant," Hajabba was quoted by BBC as saying.

Further, he told the news channel that this was when he thought of setting up the school, so that the children in his village don't go through similar problems.

(With inputs from NDTV and BBC)