17-yr-old girl's US dream becomes reality after Sushma Swaraj intervenes

Jaipur: A major hurdle in the dream of a 17-year-old girl to pursue her higher education in the USA was cleared after Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj intervened to facilitate in getting her visa confirmed from the US Embassy.

The visa was confirmed on Thursday after the intervention of the Union minister, a Rajasthan government release said on Friday.

Bhanupriya Haritwal of Jalalpur village, who was one of the three girls given a Rs 1 crore scholarship by the Rajasthan government to study abroad for securing a rank in the Class 10 state board exams in 2015, will now pursue computer science from the California State University in the USA, it said.

She had secured second rank in the examination following which she got the scholarship for the four-year course, the release said.

Haritwal, whose father Sohan Lal is a teacher at a private college in Sikar district, had applied for the visa, but the application was rejected twice by the embassy, it said.

"The girl had cleared the internal test conducted by the California State University and then applied for the visa. But, it was rejected twice by the US Embassy. The family had approached me, and I took up the case with the external affairs minister who helped her securing the visa yesterday," Sikar MP Swami Sumedhanand told PTI.

The girl is talented and will now pursue her higher education from the university, the MP said.

Haritwal after clearing her class 12 board exam had secured good scores in SAT and IELTS to secure admission at the California State University.

From a middle class family, she completed school education in Hindi medium, the release said.