Chhattisgarh Govt. fulfils dream of tribal girl affected by Maoist violence

The tribal girl, whose father was shot dead by the Maoists at Sarandi village in 2010 forcing the family to migrate to Kanker district leaving behind their 25-acre agricultural land, has made it to the Indira Gandhi Agricultural University in Raipur with the help of Chhattisgarh Government's scheme for the Naxal-affected children.

The mother of the girl Ulsi toiled and worked as a labour to get her kids educated.

"When we came here, I was studying in Class 6. My mother toiled hard to educate me," Ulsi told ANI.

"After completing Class 12 I appeared in the pre-agriculture test, but my rank was not that good. But I went to the agriculture university during the counselling and produced a 'Naxal-hit' certificate issued by the office of the Kanker Superintendent of Police before the dean, who assured me of admission ," she said.

"Earlier, we were living at Sarandi village in Antagarh block of Kanker district, but we shifted to Bhanupratappur after the Naxals killed my father Ram Kumar Bhoyar ," said the girl.

When asked about her inspiration behind joining the agricultural university, she said, "We had a big land holding at Sarandi and the people used to call us big farmers that was inspiration behind my joining agricultural university."

Ulsi wishes to be an agriculture officer at Sarandi.

Jhaduram Bhoyar, the girl's grandfather, expressed his delight over Ulsi making it to the agricultural university.

"We were at Sarandi, but we shifted here when the Naxals killed my eldest son," he added.

Her grandmother Sunhai Bai looked ecstatic as she hoped that Ulsi would have a better future.

Ulsi's mother Mangli Bhoyar, who broke down during the interview, said: "I worked as a labourer to educate my children. They should now concentrate on their study and earn money to look after their mother."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier assured the people that the "drama of death" being played out in the Maoist-affected areas of Chhattisgarh will end.

Addressing a public gathering in Dantewada earlier in May on his first visit to the region since becoming the Prime Minister, he appealed to the extremists to spend just "five days" with a child who has lost his parents to the violence to realise that "if there is any future, it is in peace".