Shiv Khera is an Indian author, activist and motivational speaker, best known for his book, You Can Win.[1][2][3] He launched a movement against caste-based reservation in India, founded an organization called Country First Foundation. [4][5][6]
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.[7] While working in Toronto, he was inspired by a lecture delivered by Norman Vincent Peale and claims to follow Peale's motivational teachings.[8]
When Freedom Is Not Free was published, Amrit Lal, a retired Indian civil servant, accused Khera of plagiarism, alleging that content from that book directly came from his own book India Enough Is Enough, published 8 years earlier.[9] 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 according to Khera), which he said he would donate to the Missionaries of Charity.[9]
Activism and politics
Khera founded Country First Foundation, a social activism organisation whose mission is "to ensure freedom through education and justice".[5] In 2004, he stood as an independent candidate from the South Delhi constituency in Indian general elections and "lost badly".[5] In 2008, he started the Bharatiya Rashtravadi Samanata Party.[10] During 2014 polls in India, he supported the Bhartiya Janata Party and campaigned for Lal Krishna Advani, a senior member of the party.[11] Khera has also filed several public interest lawsuits in the Indian Supreme Court, and he unsuccessfully contested the 2009 general election in India on an anti-corruption platform.[4][5][6]
