This story of a farmer's daughter, who cracked IIT-JEE even as her family reeled under Maoist threat, will leave you truly inspired

Meet Savitri Kashyap, a young tribal girl belonging to a small farmer family from Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district who has become the talk of the town lately, after she recently cracked the highly-competitive IIT-JEE (Advanced) exam this year.

Before we tell you more about her and her feat, it’s important to throw some light on the city she hails from. Just 2 days back, at least 45 Maoists surrendered before police and a total of 240 of them have given up since the start of the year. Living in this place, where crimes like fake encounters, cold-blooded murders, and rapes are rampant, it’s as close as one can get to hell. Maoists here have taken up arms against the government and urge many like Savitri’s family to either join them in their violence, or be ready to be tortured or killed. The women are raped at their own will. Fear runs through this society day and night. These extremists are also against any kind of education being given to children, especially if its state-sponsored because their fight is against the government.

In such circumstances, for Savitri to be able to secure an All India Rank of 1135 in one of India’s toughest competitive exam when her family is not financially sound enough to afford her education, is a huge feat.

The humble girl credits her success entirely to the government assistance she received in being able to arrange the resources to study and prepare for the exam. "Had it not been for my teachers, I couldn't have done this," she says.

The government programme she enrolled herself in is called 'Prayas Programme' which was started back in 2010 by the state's tribal welfare department. Students from the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) districts and other tribal areas are kept in tribal hostels in the capital Raipur and are imparted coaching along with the regular studies at the higher secondary level. However, this too didn’t come easy for Savitri, as she had to appear for an entrance exam and qualify it to be able to avail the benefits of the programme.

But, once she got into the program, she could get the books to study and guidance from her school teachers to prepare for the exam. Soon, she became the lone kid from not only Bastar, but Chhattisgarh to crack IIT-JEE (Mains). Time flew, as she continued studying hard with a newer self confidence, only to crack the JEE Advanced as well!

Savitri’s father Mahadev Kashyap, is entirely dependent on his 10 acres of land for providing a basic life to his six daughters and a son. He is a proud father as three of his daughters are already well placed in decent government job, and Savitri is scaling newer heights.
This little girl has already made her village proud, and dreams to study in IIT Kharagpur.

We wish her all the very best in all her endeavours! Way to go, girl!

(Image credit: ANI)