Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the 44th edition of his radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat, he mentioned Devarapalli Prakash Rao from Odisha who is helping children from underprivileged backgrounds. While Rao has been doing this job for the past 18 years, his joy knew no bounds when he the Prime Minister mentioned his name in the speech.

Rao is a tea seller in Cuttack, and he has been teaching young slum children with the earning. He has been helping over 70 slum children with not just education but also food. He spends more than 50 percent of his daily wages on them. Modi also took to Twitter about his meeting with Rao and the children he mentors. According to a Hindustan Times report, Rao was ecstatic on knowing that PM mentioned his name in the speech.

Here is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted:

He said that he was an ordinary tea seller and was extremely delighted to know that the PM praised him. Rao began the 'Asha O Ashwasana' school in 2000 after seeing how the street children did not have a good upbringing and often found themselves involved in petty crimes and mischiefs. A school dropout himself, it was Rao's father, a World War II veteran who encouraged him to start the school.

Rao’s wife is a nurse in the SCB Medical College and Hospital whose income is spent on the household needs. Apart from running the school, Rao is also known as a well known blood donor. He has donated blood 214 times and platelets seven times after recovering from a paralysis in 1976. After recovering he understood that someone had donated blood to save his life, so he decided to do the same.

Rao wanted to ensure that while he was never pressurised by his father to complete school, he thought the slum kids needed proper guidance. It was hard for Rao to convince the children's parents to send them to his school as kids would work odd jobs with the parents, slight addition to their income. However, he persuaded them, and now he has students up to Class 3 where besides teaching he provides them milk and biscuits as a midday meal. The students are also given uniforms and sandals.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 28, 2018 03:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).