Shiv Khera is an Indian author,
activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fr ...
and
motivational speaker
A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk.
Motivational speakers ...
, best known for his book, ''You Can Win''. He launched a movement against
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural ...
-based reservation in India, founded an organization called Country First Foundation
Early life
Khera was born in a business oriented family that operated coal mines, which were eventually nationalized by the Indian government. In his early years, he worked as a car washer, a life insurance agent, and a franchise operator before becoming a motivational speaker. While working in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, he was inspired by a lecture delivered by
Norman Vincent Peale
Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24, 1993) was an American Protestant clergyman, and an author best known for popularizing the concept of positive thinking, especially through his best-selling book ''The Power of Positive ...
and claims to follow Peale's motivational teachings.
When ''Freedom Is Not Free'' was published, Amrit Lal, a retired Indian
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
, accused Khera of plagiarism, alleging that content from that book directly came from his own book ''India Enough Is Enough'', published 8 years earlier.
Additionally, he found that numerous anecdotes, jokes and quotes in Khera's other books were also used without acknowledging proper sources. Khera countered that he took notes and inspirations from numerous sources, and that he was unable to keep track of all of them. Lal finally accepted an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum of money (reputed to be 25
lakh
A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ...
according to Khera), which he said he would donate to the
Missionaries of Charity
The Missionaries of Charity ( la, Congregatio Missionariarum a Caritate) is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women
established in 1950 by Mother Teresa, now known in the Catholic Church as ...
.
[
]
Activism and politics
Khera founded Country First Foundation, a social activism organisation whose mission is "to ensure freedom through education and justice".Lal Krishna Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
, a senior member of the party.public interest law
Public interest law refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor, marginalized, or under-represented people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on 'not for profit' terms ( ''pro bono publico''), often in the fields ...
suits in the Indian Supreme Court, and he unsuccessfully contested the 2009 general election in India on an anti-corruption platform.[
Shiv Khera was one of the speakers in Bhagavad Gita Summit (from 10th - 14th December 2021) during Gita Jayanti at ]Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, US along with other notable personalities such as Swami Mukundananda Ji, Dr. Menas Kafatos, Kiran Bedi
Kiran Bedi (born 9 June 1949) is an Indian social activist, former-tennis player who became the first woman in India to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972 and was the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry from ...
, Brahmacharini Gloria Arieira and others.
Books
You Can Win: Empower Yourself And Grow
You Can Achieve More: Become Unstoppable And Achieve More
Winners don't do different things;they do things differently
You Can Sell: Grow By Mastering The Art Of Selling With Integrity
See also
* List of Indian writers
This is a list of notable writers who come from India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous dem ...
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khera, Shiv
Living people
Indian self-help writers
Indian business speakers
People from Dhanbad district
Activists from Jharkhand
Writers from Jharkhand
Indian motivational speakers
1951 births