Padma Shri: Orange vendor Harekala Hajabba receives award for opening school in village

Harekala Hajabba a person who used to sell oranges received the 'Padma Shri' civilian honor from the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. He has been awarded on Monday, November 8 in New Delhi. Hajabba got this award for creating a revolution in the field of education by opening a school in his native place which is Harekala. He opened the school from his savings and is also contributing to its growth year after year. 

On January 25, 2020 it was announced that Hajabba will be awarded with the Padma Shri award. The function was not held at that time due to the Covid situation. He received a letter that said that he will be getting certificate signed by the President in March 2020 but as mentioned above, the ceremony was delayed.

"I have been in touch with the office of Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel to make necessary arrangements for my travel to New Delhi for the ceremony. The government will take care of all my expenses. I will be leaving on November 7. I will preserve this prestigious honour bestowed on me in my house along with other awards, mementos, and certificates that I received from more than 500 organisations,” he had said.

Y Satya Kumar who is National Secretary of BJP tweeted about the Padma Shri 2021. He tweeted, "A real hero. Meet Harekala Hajabba Ji. A illiterate fruit vendor who devoted his entire life and earning’s towards educating others. He also built a ‘Primary School’ for underprivileged children in his village. Congratulations to him on being conferred with #PadmaShri". Twitter user Ankit Jain who calls himself columnist also tweeted about this. He tweeted, "Orange seller Harekala Hajjaba from karnataka… saved a part of income to fulfil his dream of starting a school in his village. Awarded padmashri by Modi sarkaar"

About Harekala Hajabba

Hajabba is 65 years old orange seller and is popularly known as Akshara Santa which means Saint of letters. He was concerned by the fact that he could not study as his village did not have a school. He took this as challenge and began his journey towards making school in 1995. He got the land for school and got approval from the education department too. His dream turned into reality when Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat sanctioned a school in the year 1999.He received Padma Shri 2021 on November 8, 2021.