HP girl meets her ‘Messiah’ in DC

Una (HP) girl meets her ‘Messiah’ in DC, transforms lives of other eight.

...Profiles of courage and compassion

The Indian Express in its February 9 edition carried a story from Himachal’s Una district where women are offered training as nurses under the ‘Ab Beti Aage Badao’ campaign.

The storyline starts with gritty Ritu Rani, whose mother is bedridden, father and brother both died long ago, younger sister ailing, took the roller coaster route to success. Nurturing big dreams, this 21-year-old native of Raipur Marwari village (Una) walked up to Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kumar’s office to share her passion with him, saying “Job chahiye uske liye padhna hai” (I need a job for which I want to study).”

Impressed by Rani’s lofty mission, the DC visited her home the following day and worked on a solution to extend a helping hand to Rani to live her dreams. There were other eight girls who were facing a similar situation as Rani. She is among the nine others the district administration has ‘adopted’ for enrolment in a three-year General Nursing Midwifery course, all expenses paid.

This is what this Messiah of the children of  lesser God has to say about the new found mission “Abb Beti Aage Badao” (take the daughter forward) carrying forward the government’s flagship mission “Beti bachao, beti padhao”.

For this kind-hearted bureaucrat, charity begins at home. He has adopted two girls from humble backgrounds for bearing their education expenses. One of them is pursuing nursing course at Hamirpur while the other is studying for a tourism and hospitality course at Phagwara in Punjab.

Adding to the story, the owner of Nanda Hospital here offering courses in mid-wifery, Dr S K Nanda, said “When the DC sahib approached me with the new project I, without batting an eyelid, agreed to cut the fees by the half. The remaining half is being borne by the administration.” saying it was a way of repaying to the society.

Among those offered the course is Kanchan Chaudhary (18), a native of Nagonli village, being looked after by her grandparents as her father remarried after her mother passed. Her grandfather is dependent on MNREGA wages.

Nikita Thakur (17) of Sanghnai village is an orphan, while Dehlan village lass with big dreams Praveen Kumari (18) lost her mother following which her father abandoned her and her sister. “I wanted to be a banker, but God had other plans for me” says Praveen holding back tears. She lives with her grandparents.

Rajandeep Kaur (18) is another brave heart of Sanoli village, had to fight odds. Her father remarried after the demise of her mother. She is happy to pursue nursing course for free. “My dreams appear to be coming true” she says with a ray of hope.

Another Sanoli village girl, Amarpreet Kaur (18), lost her father in an accident and mother has been missing since. She says. “I wanted to join the Army, but now I am happy with what is in store for me”.

Ritika Sahota, who is 18-year-old from Heeran Thara village, also an orphan, says “Things have started panning out as per my wishes after joining the course”.

Another girl among the shortlisted is Sheetal Bhatia (20) of Dangoh village, whose father has been bedridden for years. Her mother works for MNREGA and earns too meagre to sustain a family of three, including her son and daughter, both studying at school.  Sheetal nurtures hopes to support her mother after landing a job after completing the course.

Deeksha Patial (17), also an orphan, lives with her grandmother at Amb village, near here, along with her two siblings, both at school. Deeksha has plans to pursue post-graduation in nursing as that would ‘guarantee’ a good job to her.