Jaipur: Minister for external affairs Sushma Swaraj has won many hearts for helping many Indians in times of trouble. Once again, her rescuing act has saved a young talented girl's dream of studying in the United States. Her intervention helped 17-year-old Bhanupriya to get US visa.
Bhanupriya Haritwal of Jalalpur village in Sikar Rajasthan had won a state government scholarship of Rs 1 crore to study abroad for getting into the top three in the merit list for class X. She had cleared the entrance test to study a four-year engineering degree programme from California State University.
However, even after clearing the entrance test, Haritwal was denied visa twice due to ‘unknown reasons.’ Her dream of studying abroad were crashed after she learnt that her visa has been denied again. Haritwal, whose father Sohan Lal is a teacher at a private college in Sikar district, had applied for the visa, but the embassy rejected it twice. Her family then approached Sikar MP Swami Sumedhanand who approached Ms Swaraj for help.
After Ms Swaraj's intervention, the US embassy granted visa to the girl who did her schooling in Hindi medium. Soon after her class XII exams, she had prepared for Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and IELTS. She secured good scores which paved way for her admission.
The scholarship programme for top three girls from government schools in the merit list was initiated by Ashok Gehlot in 2011. However, only four girls have availed its benefits.
