Drought forces students to juggle studies and work

PUNE: From taking up a part-time job as a security guard or waiter, to surviving on just one meal a day, students from drought-hit regions of the state are facing trying conditions.

Vikram Shinde is pursuing a postgraduate degree in social work at the Bharati Vidyapeeth, but he also works as a security guard at Symbiosis Society’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Library. Shinde hails from the Satara district. His parents are old and cannot work. The family owns no agricultural land. Shinde’s parents took up jobs as farm labourers until old age and lack of work prevented them from working anymore.

“The entire area is drought-hit and there is no work. My college is located in Kothrud and the timings are from 9am to 5pm. I cycle to my rented room at Gokhalenagar from where I head for my 12-hour duty as a security guard that begins at 7pm,” said Shinde. The salary of Rs10,000 helps support Shinde’s family back home too. “I wanted to do an MBA, but I cannot afford the fee for the course. I have joined MSW so that I can do a course in human resource and get a similar job,” he said.

Nivrutti Tivote is an MA economics student of SP College. He works as a parttime waiter. “I hail from Nanded. My brother works as a driver and he earns for the entire family. Whatever little we used to earn from agriculture, we haven’t been able to get that either this year. I can’t burden my brother any more,” Tivote said.

Kajal Fall also hails from the drought-affected region. She lost her father when she was only 9 months old. “I have always been independent. I wake up at 6am, attend college from 7am till 10am, work two jobs until 7pm. Then, I study and do my daily work,” said Fall, who hopes to take up a postgraduation course at the Tata Institute of Social Science in Mumbai. “I have a younger sister and I want her to study well. I want to help my mother and grandparents live a better life,” she said.

Pallavi Ranade from Buldhana has money to pay for only one tiffin a day so she saves a little food from it for dinner. She skips breakfast entirely. “The condition at home is very bad. My father had taken a loan for my education. He is already stretching himself. I am doing whatever I can to reduce my expenses,” said Pallavi, who is studying MCom at the SPPU.