May 7, 2016:
handigarh: At a time when distressed farmers killing themselves has become a major concern in Punjab, a survey has revealed that children of peasants and landless labourers are educating themselves to get out of the cycle of debt and death.
According to a report prepared by Institute for Development and Communication (IDC) of Chandigarh, at least 60% of the scholarships for minority children are being availed by these kids.
As much 93% of the overall scholarship is availed by Sikhs while and Christians take 2% each.
However, many of the families are forced to give fake certificates to become eligible for the scholarship. To become eligible for the scholarship ranging between Rs. 100 and Rs. 1,000 per month, families have to show an income of between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh. The income limit condition for applying for this scholarship also creates problems particularly in rural areas to God fearing honest parents," IDC report says. "In farmer families, their income is not known to them in exact money terms, being earned partly in real commodities and partly in money. As a result, either they have to submit a false certificate or get dissuaded from making the application."
The study was sponsored by Punjab's planning department. The farm crisis can be gauged from the fact that the Centre had recently told Parliament that Punjab has seen the second highest number of farmer suicides in the first three months of 2016. As many as 56 such tillers have killed themselves in a short span.
The survey has shown that these determined kids are getting the required marks minimum of 50% in their final exams so that they get the scholarships and support their education in a small way . The results are based on interaction with students, their family profiles, and interview of teachers between 2013 and 2015.
Twenty-five-year-old Kamalpreet Singh from Sangrur and 22-year-old Sumanpreet Kaur from Takhtpura village in Moga have struggled hard to get an M Tech and bachelor's in dental science with their parents' income not more than Rs 2 lakh annually. But this amount drops when there is a pest attack of their crops or the rains fail. Both have been on scholarship throughout.
"But the amount is a pittance. If you don't want to increase that, at least start the scholarship from the BPL limit of Rs 27,000. Most of government schools have no teachers and money is spent on private coaching," says Sukhdev Kohkri, president BKU (EKta Ugraha), who earns not more than Rs 50-70,000 annual income from his 2.5-acre land. The report also reveals that more than 80% of parents of kids own TV sets and fridge and least 40% have bikes or scooters. Not more than 14% own a car or jeep. "This re-asserts the fact that today Punjab's farmer is not rich at all. In fact, most of our money goes into buying agricultural tools and tractors," says a single mother Manjeet Kaur, whose daughter had last year cracked JEE mains but could not clear JEE advanced.