Gas Oven Mechanic Daughter From Durgapur Became AIIMS Topper

DAYA News Bureau, 4^th December 2022: Saraswati Rajak, daughter of a CPI(M) activist in Durgapur who earns his livelihood by repairing gas ovens, has made her family, city, district and state proud by securing the top spot at the prestigious AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Science) exam 2022.

22 year old Saraswati with a 5600 rank at the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) cleared the AIIMS exam process at the top with a score of 100 percentile in the reserved category. She had already taken admission to the foremost medical institute in New Delhi on Friday (2^nd December)

Coming from a modest background, the topper tag helped Saraswati win a scholarship that made her eligible to study at AIIMS for free.

Saraswati’s journey to the most coveted and sought after medical institute in Delhi was not easy.

Her father Nitai Rajak doesn’t earn much to support a family of four. Nitai, who is the sole earning member of the family, and an active CPI(M) party-man, goes around town repairing gas ovens and that too only when he is not busy with the political events of his party. Family’s monthly income is not in excess of 12,000 INR. Saraswati, her brother Mithun and their mother Meena lives in a small two-room home in Durgapur’s Deshbandhu Nagar.

Despite such a financial limitation, Saraswati wanted to be a doctor since her childhood. A bright student, she was aware of the family’s financial difficulties. Unlike most medical college aspirants, she struggled on her own to fulfill her dream as her parents were unable to provide her with private tutors.

Her rank in 2021 made her eligible to study in a private college in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur. Saraswati had to give up the chance as her parents couldn’t afford the Rs 12 lakh admission fee.

“Initially, I broke down but later realised that only a good NEET rank will help fulfill my dream. I started to study harder. As my father could not afford expensive books and tuition, I took the help of Internet and online coaching,” she said.

After clearing the Class XII exam in 2017, Saraswati enrolled herself at the TDB College in Raniganj to study botany honours which she completed in 2020.

All along, Saraswati did not withdraw herself from her social and political commitments. Coming from a family of Left activists, DYFI member Saraswati taught underprivileged children at study camps run by the CPI(M)’s youth wing.

The success of their daughter who fought against all odds to secure a berth in AIIMS has left her parents shed tear in joy.

Saraswati’s father 54 year old Nitai, said, “My daughter needs at least 80,000 INR every year to meet her hostel fees and other expenses. It is a heavy amount for us. I don’t know how to meet that”.

It is further known from Nitai, that his party comrades have already been trying to ensure every support for Saraswati. “Our party members and youth wing leaders are trying to arrange funds for Saraswati,” said CPM leader Pankaj Roy Sarkar. At a time when securing a place in medical colleges without coaching in premier coaching institutes seems a distant dream, Saraswati’s achievement once again proved that, for fighters the word ‘impossible’ finds no place in their dictionary; for them the word actually is “I am possible”.