“Akshara Santha” Hajabba's saga now a textbook lesson at two universities

February 6, 2012

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Mangalore, February 6: Harekala Hajabba, the unlettered educationist who built a primary and secondary school in Newpadpu village near Konaje, has created history yet again by entering into the textbooks of Shimoga and Davangere Universities.

The 50-year-old man's unusual saga of struggle and success has been included in the Kannada textbook for the fourth semester students of the Davanagere University under the title “Sahitya Spandana, Bhaga 2'.

The life and achievements of Mr. Hajabba, who has already won a number of accolades including the Kannada Prabaha Person of the Year award (2004) and CNN-IBN Real Heroes Award (2009), has been chronicled by Ismath Pajeer in a book published recently by Kanthavara Kannada Sangha.

An orange vendor by profession, Hajabba took the unusual plunge about a decade ago after seeing the dismal situation of the Muslim community in terms of education. His journey started after he convinced the villagers to start a primary school at the local Madrasa.

Hajabba has used his hard-earned money to build the school, literally brick by brick. Despite leading a life of penury, he has donated all his prize money, including the five lakh rupees he got from the CNN-IBN, towards realizing his dream.

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Interestingly, Hajabba's story has been included in the Kannada text book for commerce undergraduates instead of arts students. The Shimoga and Davangere Universities comprise a geographical area that includes CHikmagalur and Chitradurga districts, besides Shimoga and Davangere.

The number of students pursuing gradation in commerce in the colleges under the two universities is much more compared to arts and science students. “We just don't want these students to become number crunchers. We want them to develop pro-society attitude than just keep their studies to calculating profit and losses,” said a source in the Shimoga University.

Besides Hajabba, the Kannada text book also includes brief biographical accounts of Cherkadi Ramachandra Rao, the organic farmer, writer Anupama Niranjan, forlk artiste Sukri Bommanagowda and Salu Marada Thimmakka.

'Sahitya Spandana Bhaga 2'will remain as the textbook until 2016 in the two universities. The book has 132 pages and around five to six pages have been devoted to each personality. Na. Karantha Peraje, editor of 'Adake Patrike' has authored the lesson on Hajabba.

Despite hitting headlines every now and then, Hajabba remains his usual humble self. “He (Mr. Peraje) had come to this poor man's house (badavana mane), but I did not know what he wanted to do by collecting details about me. Now I am getting calls from people from across the State congratulating me on being a textbook topic. Even H.R. Venkatesh from CNN-IBN had called me to say welldone. But, I have not read the reports yet,” said Hajabba over the phone.

Unfortunately, Hajabba who lives just few miles from the Mangala Gangotrhi is yet to get any recognition from the Mangalore University. But, the noble soul is not worried about such things and continues to think about building a pre university college. “I had been to Bangalore recently, where I was felicitated by Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda at a function organized by Tulu Koota. I have raised the issue of building the PU College before him,” Mr Hajabba said.

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News Network
March 15,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 15: Former Karnataka chief minister and senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act on Thursday for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor at his residence in Bengaluru last month.

Yediyurappa, 81, was booked after a woman lodged a complaint saying that she visited his residence on February 2 seeking justice in a rape case against her daughter and sought that a special investigation team (SIT) be formed to look into the case.

According to the first information report (FIR), Yediyurappa allegedly took the minor to a room, closed the door and sexually assaulted her. The woman further alleged in the FIR that when she confronted Yediyurappa, he said that he was checking if the girl was raped or not. Yediyurappa later allegedly apologised and asked the woman not to reveal the matter to anyone.

The Sadashivanagar police in Bengaluru have registered a case under Section 8 (commit sexual assault) of the Pocso Act and Section 354 (a) (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Reacting to the allegations, the former CM said that around one-and-a-half months ago, they (the victim and her mother) had come to his house seeking help and he had taken them inside. 

“After listening to her, I called the city police commissioner B Dayananda over phone seeking to address her problem. Later, they spoke against me and I then suspected that there is some health problem with her. I sent them to city police commissioner’s office. I even gave her some money as they were in distress. I came to know that an FIR has been registered and will look into it. But this is what I get for helping someone,” he added.

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News Network
March 17,2024

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Beltangady, Mar 17: A three-year-old boy was crushed to death under the wheels of an auto-rickshaw in front of his house at Panakaje Mundadi in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada. 

The gut-wrenching tragedy took place on Saturday, March 16 morning when the boy ran out of home to the road. 

The victim has been identified as Kaushik, the son of Chandrashekhar and Usha couple. Their home is situated adjacent to the main road at Panakaje.

It is learnt that the auto-rickshaw failed to notice the boy who suddenly darted towards the road and hit him. 

Even though the injured boy was rushed to a private hospital in Ujire and later to Mangaluru, he breathed his last. 

The Beltangady traffic police have registered a case in connection with the incident.

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News Network
March 19,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 19: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that the Congress will split in three months after the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and its impact will be visible on the Siddaramaiah-led state government.

"Due to internal squabbles, the state government will not last long," the BJP leader said.

Talking to reporters on Monday, he said the sitting MP from the Gadag-Haveri constituency, Shivakumar Udasi, has done a lot of development work and implemented the Central government's schemes effectively.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will surely become the PM for the third time. The overall response has been good in the Gadag-Haveri Lok Sabha constituency," the former Karnataka chief minister said.

Asked if he was contesting the election in a half-hearted manner in the Gadag-Haveri seat, Bommai said "such a question does not arise when the party's high command gives instructions".

He said he would respect his opponent and not take anyone lightly. 

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