New Delhi, Jul 16: It is rightly said that you can take the soldier out of Army but you cannot take the Army out of the soldier. Meet 74-year-old CBR Prasad, a retired airman who has donated almost entire savings of his life to the Ministry of Defence.
"After 9 years I left the Indian Air Force (IAF) because the Indian Railways offered me a good job. Unfortunately, I did not get that job. I started a small poultry farm for my livelihood. Fortunately, I did well," he told news agency.
"After fulfilling my family responsibilities, I thought I should give back to the defence whatever I got from there. I decided to give Rs 1.08 crore to the defence forces," added Prasad.
He met defence minister Rajnath Singh here on Monday and handed over the cheque to him.
Prasad started poultry farming and worked hard for 30 years. With the aim of helping society, he has also set up a sports university.
Prasad served in the IAF for around nine years before he left it.
Asked if his family approved the idea, the retired air-warrior says, "Absolutely, no problem. I have given my daughter 2 per cent of my property and one per cent to my wife. Rest 97 per cent, I am giving back to the society."
Despite donating his entire life saving, he tries to underplay it.
"Rajnath Singh was happy to see that such a small sepoy was giving his entire savings back to the defence," he says.
So, how did he get the idea to donate his savings to the Defence Ministry? It is a big story, he says.
"When I was 20 years, and I was working in the Air Force, my officers called one gentleman GD Naidu from Coimbatore as a Chief Guest. He said that India was a great country because our sages thought that we should give back to our society, once our family responsibility is over," he said.
"You should not take back anything because you did not get anything while coming. Give that minimum needed to your family and the rest to the society and rest of the life work for the society," he added.
Recalling his days of struggle, he says: "I left home with Rs 5 in my pocket and earned 500-acre land with my bare hard work. I have given 5-acre to my wife and 10-acre to my daughter and rest everything, I am utilising for the society," adds the retired IAF man.
Prasad says that once he dreamt of winning an Olympic medal but could not do so. So now, he was training kids.
"I established one sports university like campus in about 50 acres of land. In another 50 acres of land, I am building another sports university. My ambition is to build two sports universities -- one for boys and one for girls. As a child, I had the ambition to win Olympic medal but I could not. So, for the last 20 years, I have been training children," he adds.
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