Dakshana Foundation

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in india have the most objective selection process of any undergraduate engineering program worldwide. There are no essays or legacy priorities. One just has to do exceedingly well on two ultra tough tests. The IITs admit just 1.1% of applicants! It is 3-4x easier to get admitted to @mit, @Stanford, @Harvard and @Princeton! I am excited to share that this year one of our @dakshanaindia Scholars, Godavarthi Harshit Visweswar, got a rank of 39 (out of over 1.5 million applicants!) in the first IIT selection test. He is a sure shot to be admitted and get the campus and major he prefers. His friends call him GHV and I’ll do the same. GHV grew up in the remote hinterlands of Prakasam District in the State of Andhra Pradesh in India. His father is a farmer and the family somehow survives on $5/day. When GHV was in 8th grade, a @dakshanaindia alum, Keshava Chandra, who used to be in the same school as GHV delivered Dakshana’s Inspire session at the school. Each year our alums visit hundreds of schools to inspire the next generation of students to aspire to be @dakshanaindia Scholars. GHV was impressed that Keshava was a student at @iitkgp and understood that if he wanted to go to IIT, he needed to be accepted as a @dakshanaindia Scholar after 10th grade. If there was no @dakshanaindia, the closest location for GHV to get coached for the IIT entrance exam is over 150 miles from his home and the costs of $4000+ would have been completely out of reach. Sometimes all we need is a gentle nudge in the right direction. I received a similar nudge in 8th grade and it totally changed my life trajectory. GHV was the only kid from his school accepted by @dakshanaindia in 2024. We relocated him to Dakshana’s Center of Excellence in Bengaluru and he was coached for two years at The Charles T. Munger Hall. Charlie would be proud! Congratulations to GHV, his family and his teachers. The future for GHV and his descendants looks very bright. This is @dakshanaindia at its very best!

@MohnishPabrai Please see full Q&A session video on YouTube at youtu.be/I7bt37aXu4c

@MohnishPabrai's Q&A session with @DakshanaIndia scholars at JNV Pune, Maharashtra, India on December 25, 2025

@MohnishPabrai Please see full Q&A session video on YouTube at youtu.be/5y-Dyy0IELA

@MohnishPabrai 's Q&A Session with @DakshanaIndia Scholars at Dakshana Valley, Pune on December 26, 2025

🌟 JEE Main 2026 Outshining Success! In a field of 1.3 million students, the Dakshana Scholars have once again proven that talent is universal, even if opportunity is not. The Dakshana Foundation Impact: 8 Scholars achieved a 99.9+ percentile. 84 Scholars scored above the 99 percentile. An incredible 98% (458 out of 467) of our scholars are eligible for JEE Advanced (based on 2025 cut-offs). Congratulations to all the scholars! #Dakshana #InfiniteGood #JEEMain2026 #SocialImpact #LifeTransformed #IITJEE

@DakshanaIndia hosts a grand Felicitation Ceremony every year on the 26th of December to celebrate the outstanding achievements of its scholars and acknowledge the unwavering support of its founders, donors, mentors, and well-wishers. This annual event serves as a heartfelt tribute to the hard work, resilience, and aspirations of students who have demonstrated exceptional potential and perseverance in their academic journeys.

Dear Mr. Pabrai and the Dakshana foundation Team, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks for considering me for this noble cause and for sharing the Dakshana Foundation Annual Report 2024. It is truly inspiring to witness the impactful work the foundation continues to deliver in transforming the Lives of talented students across the country. Your unwavering commitment to creating meaningful opportunities and fostering educational excellence is deeply admirable. Thank you once again for your generosity and for the invaluable contribution you make toward shaping a brighter future. @DakshanaIndia @MohnishPabrai

@kaloyanpenov @MohnishPabrai No.

Wonderful to be at Charles T. Munger Hall in Bengaluru, India on Christmas! When I had sought Charlie’s permission in 2012 to name the facility after him, he scribbled back, “It is a weird request Mohnish, but something good may come out of it. Go ahead!”

I very much enjoyed my Q&A session with Dakshana Valley’s Class of 2026 on December 26, 2025 in Pune, India. Most of these kids will join the best engineering and medical schools of India next year.

Q&A session with Nisaba Godrej & Omar Momin and @DakshanaIndia Scholars at Dakshana Valley on July 25, 2025. Watch Full video on YouTube at: youtu.be/in3iIN43oXU

The Warren Buffett bronze bust auction ends in less than three hours! This bust is identical to the life size bust of @warrenbuffett at Berkshire Hathaway HQ in Omaha! All proceeds benefit @DakshanaIndia, which is an excellent organization to support. The winning bid currently is $26,201. Your job is to make it truly expensive for the winner! ebay.us/m/Yw8Vpd

The 2024 @DakshanaIndia Annual Report is out! dakshana.org/wp-content/upl… In my letter, I mentioned one of our scholars, Ms. Muskan Soni, starting on Page 4. Here is an excerpt: The state of Madhya Pradesh (MP) has run a small magnet school program known as Super 100 since 2019. One of the two scholars we accepted in 2024 from the MP Super 100 is Ms. Muskan Soni from Mirgauti village, which is in a remote and desolate corner of the state. Muskan did well enough as a Dakshana Scholar to get a government medical college seat. In 2017, when Muskan was 10 years old, her father was paralyzed on the right side of his body as a side effect of undiagnosed high blood pressure, diabetes and a lack of proper medical facilities in their village. He lost his ability to provide for his family. The family was left in dire straits with no income and seven mouths to feed. Muskan’s mother had an old sewing machine and taught sewing to Muskan’s two older sisters. The sisters supplemented these basic tailoring skills with countless hours of watching tailoring videos on YouTube. Both became expert tailors and started offering custom tailoring services in the village. Their uncle bought them a 2nd sewing machine so both sisters could work at the same time. The girls have been able to increase their earnings every year, but it is still only a trickle. The family somehow survives on the less than $2 a day that the girls are able to earn. During the wedding season, this increases to about $4 a day. The girls have been able to fix both sewing machines themselves whenever they have issues. This too they learnt from watching YouTube videos. Long live YouTube! Tailoring needs math skills and an above average IQ. Dakshana’s smartest scholar ever is Ashok Kumar Talapatra. Ashok was ranked 63 (out of over a million kids) in the IIT entrance exam and works for Google in Switzerland. Ashok’s father is also a tailor and Ashok is a math whiz. Muskan and her sisters are smart because the parents are smart. However, only Muskan has been able to break through and will become a doctor in a few years. She is the hope of the entire family and has the drive and tenacity to get everyone to the promised land. The word Muskan means smile. When I recently saw pictures of Muskan and her sisters, what struck me most was the Mona Lisa-like smile each of them had. Beautiful half smiles that masked some of their struggles. In a few years, their daily battles to survive will be over and I look forward to seeing their full, unrestained smiles. You can help transform the lives of many more Muskans by supporting Dakshana: dakshana.org/donate

It is always a joy to visit Dakshana Valley during the monsoons. Nisa Godrej and @omarmomin79 from the @GodrejFdn took a day off from their busy schedules to spend time with the Dakshana Valley Class of 2026. Red earth and pouring rain coupled with cutting chai and poha made our conversations with the scholars that much more fun!

Anubhav Pandey, from a remote village in Madhya Pradesh, lost his father due to lack of medical help. Today, he ranks 79 out of 2.2 million students and is headed to India’s top medical college — AIIMS Delhi. This is the impact Dakshana creates. Thank you @MohnishPabrai

Dakshana trained 442 scholars for #NEET2025. ✅ 75% (333) are set to join Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) ✅ 25% (109) are eligible for AIIMS ✅ 65% (286) will join MBBS in GMCs Incredible impact, thanks to @MohnishPabrai

JEE Advanced 2025 results! 🎉 329 out of 489 Dakshana scholars (67%) secured IIT seats, and 428 (88%) qualified for IIT+NIT based on 2024 data. Top Ranks: AIR 901, 915, SC-PwD 1, ST 36, SC 46 & more! Inspired by @MohnishPabrai’s vision, Dakshana continues to transform lives.

Dakshana Scholars Rise to the Top Again! ✅ 96% qualified JEE Main 2025 ✅ 80% secured seats in NITs Best Rank: Vimal Kumar (AIR 387)! Proud of our scholars aiming for IITs next! 🚀 #JEE2025 #Dakshana #InfiniteGood @MohnishPabrai