Bahrain PM Donates Funds to Manjhi

The Kingdom of Bahrain offered a red carpet welcome, and donated Rs 8.87 lakh to a Odisha tribal who was forced to carry his wife’s body for nearly 12 km, en route to his village, after she died at a hospital last month. A video of Dana Manjhi walking with a wailing daughter and his wife’s body over his shoulder, after help eluded him, went viral, sparking national outrage. The video caught the attention of the international media too. Moved by the plight, Bahrain prime minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa offered help to Manjhi, who received the cheque at the country’s embassy here. An illiterate marginal farmer from Kalahandi district, Manjhi has so far been struggling to earn Rs 2,000 a month and has never even visited Bhubaneswar. Dressed in a wrinkled shirt and a dhoti, Manjhi told reporters: “I don’t know how many zeros are there in nine lakh. I will educate my daughters. They should have a better life. If I had the money, I would not have suffered this much.”