With the removal of the age cap for NEET, Pradeep now stands a chance at gaining a government college seat and he is filled with fresh new determination.
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Photo Source: Pexels[/caption]
"It would have been impossible for me to pay such a huge amount of tuition fee and study. But I have kept my dream alive. Every year, I have found a berth but never have I been able to make it to a government medical college," Pradeep told the Times of India.
Pradeep works as a farmer ploughing a hired agricultural land in his village. Currently there are no doctors in the village. If any of its residents require medical attention, major or minor, they face a 20km journey to the nearest primary healthcare centre. Pradeep hopes that by becoming a doctor he will be able to help his neighbours receive medical treatment right there in the village and not have to travel so far.
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The Central Board of Secondary Education had previously fixed 25 as the upper age limit for candidates taking the common entrance test (NEET) for medical colleges, a move that was supported by the Medical Council of India (MCI). The MCI told the Supreme Court that a student below 25 years is capable of undertaking medicine course because it requires rigorous study, which sharp young minds can absorb easily, suggesting that the exam would be too much for a more mature person. Last week, however, the Supreme Court scrapped the age cap, allowing students like Pradeep the chance to become a medical practitioner. It also allows students wishing to take the exam the option of filling up forms through the online portal of the CBSE till April 5 for the next NEET exam, which is scheduled to take place on May 7. Pradeep reported to the TOI his preparation plans for the upcoming exam, "Had I got the chance to concentrate only on studies, I may have done better. Last year, I had dedicated three months to preparations by taking off from my job of a daily farmer. I had gone to Kolkata and stayed in a rented accommodation and studied for three months. I had achieved a better score as well as rank. This year, too, I plan to shift to Kolkata and concentrate on the preparations till May 7." Pradeep is supported by two daughters, a son, his wife and mother who he says are extremely encouraging of his dream of becoming a doctor, and now thanks to the Supreme Court’s latest move he is one step closer.
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Gazi Jalalluddin[/caption]
But was always on his mind, the many young boys back in his village still trying to make ends meet. So he formed ‘Sundarban Driving Samiti’ and started giving driving lessons to the young boys of the Sundarbans so they could start living their lives with dignity.
Sundarban Sikshayatan Mission[/caption]
He then kept building one room every year with some donations offered by his passengers and with his savings. By 2012, Gazi managed to build 12 classrooms, 2 washrooms and a mid-day meal room in his school. Without any help from the government, this school dropout was now giving free education and a meal to the underprivileged kids.
Abhishek Singhania[/caption]
He was deeply pained by the situation of farmers in our country. He would often wonder about a sustainable model that could keep farmers from bankruptcy and taking extreme steps like suicide. However, the focus was on studies, and he could not do much at that moment.
Once he finished his engineering in 2012, he was placed at PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai. The company sent him to Saudi Arabia for a project for six months, creating a huge prospect for a bright future and hefty salary for Abhishek. However, Agriculture was always in his mind and he kept thinking about it now more often, he realized that since the farmers are giving up farming, a big gap would be created in the demand-supply of food and he wanted to do his bit to help bridge that gap.
Sowing the seeds of hope[/caption]
He would reach out to the farmers and ask just two questions – 1. What are you doing? 2. What are the problems you are facing? Abhishek realized that unlike Maharashtra, Bengal had water in abundance and the soil was fertile. But the farmers were misusing the water by growing rice three times in a year.
Abhishek travelled across the country to meet natural farmers.[/caption]
Abhishek at the Amritsar farm[/caption]
In these eight months Abhishek understood that these natural farmers had gone through loss of about 50% less yield in the first year when they shifted from chemical to natural farming. However, after four to five years the yield is much more than what would get from chemical farming. The input cost was almost zero and hence they would profit significantly more. And of course there was a huge difference in the quality and quantity of the products grown by natural farming methods.
Echoes - Abhishek's farm and the little hut where he stays currently[/caption]
For the first few months Abhishek would travel everyday to reach his farm from his home at Kolkata. However as he wanted to save the travel time he started living in a small hut made in his farm.
The yield ![/caption]
“Currently we sell health supplements like wheat grass, aloevera, geloy, amla, tulsi etc. grown at Echoes under the brand name Naturista – a Spanish word meaning Naturist –because this defines who I am. In future, they will be used to make juices using cold pressed method, which ensures the nutrition remains intact in the juices,” he informs.
Abhishek uses complete natural farming method and makes his own fertilizers and pesticides using cow urine and cow dung. The best seeds and saplings collected from the farmers that Abhishek visited are used in his farm and hence the input cost is very low and he is satisfied with his yield. Once his model starts gaining profit, Abhishek plans to invite farmers to replicate this model across West Bengal and then across the country.
