Maharashtra: Scholarships, a good samaritan help farm labourer’s son achieve Isro dream

PUNE: When Somnath Mali (28) was a student at the Zilla Parishad School in Solapur, he did not even know what a scientist did. His parents are farm labourers and his elder brother is a Std IV dropout.
Mali’s interest in education, the mammoth effort by his parents to pay for his education and a private tutor, who taught him gratis, helped him get an offer letter for the position of a senior scientist at Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
He shared that if the OBC scholarship didn’t fund his college fee and he hadn’t received a stipend during his stint at IIT, Delhi, completing his education would have been tough.
Mali completed his primary education at a local ZP school followed by an aided school till Std X. For junior college, he travelled to Pandharpur. “We were four boys staying in one room. My father would send my tiffin in a state transport bus coming to Pandharpur. At college, I came to know about the Common Entrance Test for engineering courses. I had no money but I went to a coaching class and told them about my condition. My life changed when Vinayak Paricharak sir agreed to teach me free-of-cost. He would even give me notes and other study material for free,” he recalled.
The village boy did well and got admitted to Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute in Mumbai. “The OBC certificate helped cover a large portion of the fee. The remaining tuition, mess and hostel fee still added up to around Rs 60,000. My parents and elder brother would work as daily wage labourers, then come and work in our own two-acre plot to pay for the expenses. They also took loans from friends,” he said.
After completing his MTech from IIT, Delhi, Mali and then took up a job in the private sector. “I had already appeared for the Isro exam once but I didn’t clear it. After a year, I decided to go for civil services and worked hard. However, I was unsuccessful. I again appeared for the Isro written exam in 2019 and the interview in April this year. On June 2, I came to know that I have been selected for Isro,” said Mali.
Looking back, Mali shared, “When I was a student, I had no clue about engineering or a career as scientist. If I had not gone to Pandharpur or if Paricharak sir had not helped me, it would have been really difficult for me to get a decent job. I think every ZP school must have regular career guidance lectures. We need to give rural children some exposure. Education and knowledge of opportunities is the only way to lift villages from poverty,” said Mali, who will be joining Isro’s Thiruvananthapuram centre next month.