Her mother bedridden, father and brother dead, younger sister ailing, Ritu Rani could have given up. Instead, she chose a different route. The 21-year-old from Raipur Marwari village in Una district of Himachal Pradesh walked up to Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kumar’s office and told him, “Job chahiye aur padhna hai (I need a job but I want to study too).”
Impressed by Rani’s gumption, the DC visited her home next day and, soon, worked out a solution for Rani and eight other girls in similar situation as her. Now, the district administration has “adopted” the nine and has enrolled them for a three-year General Nursing Midwifery course, all expenses paid.
“Beti bachao, beti padhao. That’s fine,” says Kumar. “Now the next step should be, beti aage badao (take the daughter forward).”
For the DC, charity begins at home. He has been sponsoring education of two girls personally. While one is doing a nursing course at Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, the other is enrolled in a tourism and hospitality course at Phagwara in Punjab.
Una-based Nanda Hospital is conducting the midwifery course, and owner Dr S K Nanda says it was his way of giving something back to society. “When the DC sahib approached me, I straightaway agreed to cut the fees by half. The remaining half is being borne by the administration.” Nanda said the hospital additionally gives a discount of 10% to 20% in fees to deserving candidates.
Read more of this in a report by Rajesh Chander Sharma published in The Indian Express... (Link given below)
