His name is Harekala Hajabba.
For decades he has sold oranges from a small cart near the bus stand in Mangaluru, Karnataka. He earns around a hundred and fifty rupees a day.
He has never been to school and cannot read or write. By every measure the world uses, he is a poor, unlettered fruit seller.
One day, sometime in the 1990s, a foreign couple stopped at his cart and asked him, in English, the price of his oranges. He could not understand them and could not answer. They walked away.
The moment did not anger him. It shamed him. Then it changed him.
He decided that no child in his village should ever have to stand there the way he had, unable to understand a simple question, locked out by language and the lack of a school.
His village, Newpadpu, did not have one. The nearest school was about seven kilometres away.
So an illiterate orange seller earning a hundred and fifty rupees a day set out to build a school. He saved his coins, approached officials and donors, and donated his own land.
In the year 2000, the school opened with twenty-eight children in a place that had never had one.
Today that school teaches up to Class 10 and has around a hundred and seventy-five students. Children from his village now study in classrooms he helped build from the price of oranges.
People began calling him Akshara Santha, the saint of letters.
In 2020, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, one of the nation’s highest civilian honours. He walked up barefoot, wearing a plain white dhoti, to receive it.
He said it was not his award. It belonged to the school.
He still sells oranges and has said he wants to use whatever he earns and receives to build a college next.
A man who could not answer one question in English made sure thousands of children after him would never be left speechless the same way.
Follow for stories India deserves to remember.
He ranked 4th in the IIT entrance exam.
Became a Computer Science gold medallist from the @IITKanpur.
Spent nearly two decades at @CreditSuisse
Went on to become one of India’s most respected economists and market strategists.
And now, he has been appointed as India’s Executive Director at the @WorldBankGroup.
He’s none other than @neelkanthmishra.
But what makes his journey even more interesting is not just the positions he has held.
It is the way he thinks.
At a time when oil prices are high, the rupee is under pressure, global supply chains are breaking, AI is disrupting jobs, and investors are worried that “something is going to break” in India…
He says something very different.
The pessimism around India is perhaps the worst he has seen in a very long time.
And still, he believes India’s story is not broken.
It is only getting reshaped.
According to him, the world is moving from “efficiency” to “resilience.”
Earlier, companies wanted the cheapest supply chain.
Now, they want the safest one.
And this one shift can create a massive opportunity for India in manufacturing, electronics, semiconductors, materials, defence, and deep-tech businesses.
He also breaks one common myth:
India is not a negative AI trade.
AI may disrupt some jobs, but it can also help India solve hard problems in education, skilling, productivity, exports, and small-business growth.
While most people react to noise, he explains the bigger picture.
And while many are questioning India’s future, he reminds us that uncertainty itself can become India’s biggest opportunity.
Watch the full conversation only on The India Opportunity Show. Link in comments.
Nothing exposes the distance between elite politics and civilizational reality more brutally than this letter (attached snippet from SELECTED WORKS OF JAWAHARLAL NEHRU, SECOND SERIES, VOLUME 47).
Hindus were fleeing East Pakistan amid persecution. Their lives, honour, homes, lands, temples and futures were becoming increasingly uncertain. They crossed the border seeking safety in the only country they could call their own.
And Nehru’s concern?
“My anxiety is that we should not do anything which encourages people to migrate to India…” as he writes himself.
The Hindu victims of Partition were treated as the problem. The persecution that produced them became secondary. In contrast, when Sardar Patel made similar demands for Punjab and even proposed to use vacated houses of Muslims and mosques to house refugee Hindus, Pandit Nehru repeated the same anxiety. There were many reasons why the gap between Patel and Nehru had widened so much that the former had chosen to resign (we have the draft letter which wasn’t submitted). He had gone to see Gandhi to convey his resignation but was pacified by the Patriarch. Gandhi had proposed a meeting between the two (Nehru and Patel) which would never happen, as the day Patel visited him was 30.01.1948.
For generations, Indians were taught a carefully curated version of history. Then the archives opened.
Paper has a habit of preserving truths that propaganda cannot bury.
Yes, comparing Modi era with Nehru’s is right. Not to do so would be injustice to millions who suffered because of Nehru.
For example, Hindu Bengali refugees. Their children, grandchildren must never forget that their people were abandoned and thrown to the wolves by Jawaharlal Nehru before, during and after Partition.
Nehru despised dark-skinned Hindu Bengali refugees, among them my father, his siblings, their widowed mother and grandmother, fleeing rapacious and murderous Muslim League mobs in East Bengal; he did not want them to seek shelter in India.
Nehru wrote to CM BC Roy, instructing him not to let Hindu Bengali refugees enter West Bengal. Push them back from the border, Nehru said, don’t let them in.
Nehru insisted Hindu Bengalis of East Bengal / East Pakistan were coming to India for free-loading at the expense of Indians. He cut back Central funds for West Bengal to stop the meagre refugee assistance by way of a couple of kilos of inedible worm-infested rotten rice for Hindu Bengalis.
Hindu Bengali refugee women and children separated from their families, or widowed and orphaned in the Noakhali genocide and subsequent Partition Massacre of Hindus, rummaged in garbage bins and pitifully begged for morsels of food.
Hindu Bengali refugee children in rags with dark large sad eyes greedily licked on used banana leaves dumped on the streets by eateries, also known as ‘pice hotels’ in Kolkata parlance, of which there was a profusion in the post-War years. Emaciated babies and rickety children of Hindu Bengali refugees huddled with stray dogs on pavements.
Many Hindu Bengali refugees lived on ‘rice water’ or ‘fan’ (the starchy water that is thrown away after boiling rice) collected from homes of compassionate Bengalis who had little food to share.
In the morning and evening there were pheriwallahs hawking their wares; in the afternoon there were Hindu Bengali refugee women in tattered sarees that barely covered their bodies and naked children with battered and bruised aluminium pots going from house to house, begging for ‘rice water’: “Ma, fan daao Ma…”
Those voices of has hunger were to haunt Hindu Bengali refugees like my parents for long, often till death.
Driven by hate for Hindu Bengali refugees, Nehru ordered horrifyingly, nauseatingly squalid and disease-ridden refugee camps to be named ‘Permanent Liability Camps’ or PLCs — PLC 1, PLC 2… — reminiscent of the ‘Permanent Solution Camps’ of the Nazis.
When despite his best efforts Nehru failed to push back the Hindu Bengali refugees to be slaughtered in East Bengal/East Pakistan, Nehru brought his devastating Freight Equalisation Policy which collapsed industry in West Bengal. Tens of thousands of jobs were destroyed and the Hindu Bengali was rendered jobless: Those who lost their jobs and businesses began turning on Hindu Bengali refugees just as Nehru had hoped.
Yet Nehru could not break the spirit of the Hindu Bengali refugees who were grateful to Bharat and determined to help rebuild this great nation savaged by invaders and colonisers especially John Company.
Through generations we Hindu Bengali refugees toiled, we built, we paid taxes, we sacrificed for the Nation, our Nation, we succeeded in establishing ourselves as dutiful, law-abiding, loyal citizens of India. Having lost our home and hearth, we had no other home but India.
We Hindu Bengali refugees were hived off to malaria-infested inhospitable Dandakaranya and we cleared forests and made the soil fertile. We were packed off to Andaman and we rebuilt our lives there. When we tried to set up home at Marichjhapi we were slaughtered: the estuaries turned red with our blood.
We grieved, we got up, we overcame that setback.
We lived with dignity and honour, we earned our food, we were not freeloaders. We were poor but we were honest: we had integrity.
Cut to 2026.
So who have proved to be India’s ‘Permanent Liability’ cadging off the state and living on unearned money? Nehru Dynasty.
Captured WW2 German General Hermann Ramcke arrived in Britain with a stash of brandy... and refused to talk.
So the British gave him a fake Iron Cross, plied him with drink, and let the hidden microphones roll.
What he revealed next was pure gold for Allied Intelligence:
(🧵)
The Indus Water Treaty, signed in Karachi by Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani president Ayub Khan on 19 September 1960, allowed only 19.71% of the total discharge of the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Satluj to India and gifted 80.29% to Pakistan. Not only this, for the 10-years transition period (1960-70), India had to give the water from Ravi, Beas and Satluj to canals in West Pakistan's eastern part until Pakistan developed a canal system to carry the waters of the western rivers Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. And for building that canal system, India had to give FOREIGN EXCHANGE EQUIVALENT OF 125 METRIC TONS OF GOLD. In 1965, India was forced into a war against Pakistan but continued to give it waters from the eastern rivers Ravi, Beas, and Satluj, and, more shockingly, also forex equivalent of 12.5 metric tons of gold every year until 1970. Nothing in the world comes anywhere close to this great generosity and magnanimity by an upper riparian nation for to a lower riparian one.
.@prafullaketkar .@RatanSharda55 .@MumbaichaDon .@ARanganathan72 .@NBDwrites
Bus Massacres of Hindus of Punjab by Khalistani terrorists.
1. Muktsar Bus Massacre (July 1986) - Militants stopped a bus and ordered Sikh passengers to exit the vehicle. They then fired upon the remaining passengers. The attack resulted in the deaths of 14 Hindus and 1 Sikh
2. Hoshiarpur Bus Massacre (November 1986) - Four heavily armed militants hijacked a public bus near Tanda in the Hoshiarpur district. They forced Hindu passengers to step off the bus and opened fire. The attack resulted in 24 deaths and 7 injuries.
3. Lalru Bus Massacre (July 1987) - Militants linked to the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) hijacked a Haryana Roadways bus near Lalru village in Mohali district. They opened fire, killing 38 passengers and injuring 33 others. Most of the victims were Hindu pilgrims traveling to Rishikesh.
4. Fatehabad Bus Killings (July 1987)- Militants hijacked a Firozpur-Delhi bus near Fatehabad in Haryana. The attackers shot and killed 30 passengers on the bus.
This is what Guru Nanak Ji had to say about Islam.
"Many paths and sects spread throughout the world when Muhammad became prominent, O friend.
The seventy-two communities (sects) came together, and in many ways enmity and conflict arose.
Through the observance of fasts (Roza), Eid, and prayers (Namaz), the world became bound by ritual actions and karmic attachments.
Pirs, prophets, saints (Auliya), Ghaus, and Qutbs adopted many different religious garbs and practices.
Temples were demolished, and in their place mosques were constructed.
The killing of cows and the oppression of the poor spread sin across the earth.
Infidels, heretics, Armenians, Romans (Rumis), warriors, and enemies engaged in conflicts; thus the influence of sin spread throughout the world."
- Janam Sakhi Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji - Bhai Mani Singh Ji (1644–1738)
Her only son
MAJOR ABHIJAI THAPA
Shaurya Chakra
39(I)ROF #IndianArmy
was immortalized in a helicopter crash in 2014.
Son was married so as per the policy matter she is not entitled to pension and no medical facilities for her.
Just pride to show in public and pain to bear at home.
Homage to Major Abhijai Thapa on his birth anniversary today.
#FreedomisnotFree a few pay #CostofWar.
Meet Smt Jaimani Mahto of village Masu in Tatisilwai telsil of Jharkhand. Her son
LANCE NAIK RAJ KUMAR MAHTO
5 RR - 12 JAT #IndianArmy
was immortalized fighting terrorists at Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir #onthisday in 2004.
MATA RANI keeps giving her strength.
#FreedomisnotFree a few pay #CostofWar.
🚨
If you remember, a few months ago I tweeted about MIDF,
a project dedicated to documenting, archiving, and making our inscriptions and manuscripts accessible.
The project is now live!
Please follow the page, retweet and help spread the word.🙏
Today is Jun 4
On this day ... back in 1942, the Battle of Midway was fought in the Pacific Ocean
The Japanese lost 3 aircraft carriers within 5 minutes
Yes, 3 aircraft carriers in 5 minutes!
The Imperial Japanese Navy never recovered: WW2 was decided in the Pacific that day
Side note: Chicago's Midway airport is obviously named after the islands where this great battle was fought. However, a lot of people do not realize Chicago's bigger O'Hare airport also has a WW2 connection. It is named after WW2 hero "Butch" O'Hare who shot down 5 Japanese planes in a spectacular confrontation in Feb 1942.
Netherlands created so many chances but did not take even one of them
Kuyt missed so many of them
Was waiting for Nistelrooy to come in and win it for the Dutch
But found out during the game he and Van Basten had a huge bust up
RVN never came on and the Dutch lost
Broke my heart
Daily reminder: This guy took 23 bullets and still captured Kasab alive. Otherwise they would have turned 26/11 into a “Hindu attack.”
Bro saved an entire civilization ,
Forever grateful 🕉️ !!
What an honour it was to spend this morning with Tony Hawksworth, a goalkeeper from the original Busby Babes team for @manutd.
The only goalkeeper in history to win three FA Youth Cups, and one of only five Man Utd players to do so.
Just because there are a few terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, Indian Mujahideen, Students Islamic Movement of India, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Afghan Taliban, Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Al-Badr, Al-Umar Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, Ansarullah Bangla Team, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh, Neo-Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province, Islamic State Khorasan Province, Islamic State Sinai Province, Islamic State Central Africa Province, Islamic State East Asia, Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, Ansar Dine, Katibat Macina, Al-Mourabitoun, Ansar al-Sharia, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, Mujahidin Indonesia Timur, Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia, Ansar al-Islam, Ansar al-Sunna, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Khorasan Group, Jund al-Aqsa, Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Fatah al-Islam, Islamic Army of Aden-Abyan, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Islamic Jihad Union, East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Turkistan Islamic Party, Caucasus Emirate, Riyad-us-Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs, Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade, Ajnad al-Kavkaz, Armed Islamic Group, Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Takfir wal-Hijra, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Maute Group, Khalifa Islamiyah Mindanao, Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, Ansaru, Jundallah, and Jaish ul-Adl, it doesn't mean Muslims need any reform or introspection.
Rajkumar ji, sitting on the chair in the picture, is divyang. He is paralysed from waist down and walks with great difficulty
But last week, he sat at a police station till 2 am to get a paedophile Mohd Parvez (35) booked and arrested for assaulting a 12-year-old girl
The girl studies at Rajkumar ji’s free educational centre for underprivileged kids. After somehow escaping from Parvez, she ran straight to him and told him what happened. Rajkumar ji took lead and called police
I visited him and his centre in Delhi today
Around 100 children study here and also receive free meals. Classes begin with Gayatri Mantra and Om, and conclude with Hanuman Chalisa
Those who refuse to do these prayers, are not given admission
@sewanyaya has provided financial assistance to both the survivor and Rajkumar ji’s centre
Deeply moved by the courage of the little girl and the spirit of people like Rajkumar ji
Meet Smt Darshan Kour who today completed 19 years sans her son DySP SHELLY SINGH who was immortalised fighting terrorist at Bhaderwah in Jammu & Kashmir #OnThisDay in 2007. DySP Shelly Singh an ardent worshiper of LORD SHIVA was about to get married when all this happened.
In 1993 she has lost her husband INSPECTOR UDAYVEER SINGH fighting terrorists in Jammu.
Presently her younger son is proudly serving as a DySP with @JmuKmrPolice.
Imagine being both a #VeerMata and a #VeerNari.
MATA RANI keeps giving her strength.
#FreedomisnotFree a few pay #CostofWar.