Tribal girl from Chandrapur raises the bar, gets Maharashtra govt grant for LLM degree in London

CHANDRAPUR: A 24-year-old tribal girl, Priya Yashwant Tadam's story, is one of determination and community support. Priya who hails from nondescript Bhanapur village in Chandrapur district's Saoli tehsil, aspired to become a lawyer and study LLM from London. And, as luck would have it, she received a ₹37.61 lakh scholarship from the Maharashtra government recently.

Bhanapur village is nestled amidst lush forests and comprising just 40 families. Since there was no school in their village, Priya and her younger sister Shivani used to walk to a primary school in Asolamendha in Saoli tehsil which was nearly two kilometres away. "Later we shifted her to one of our relatives place in Bramhapuri and then to Gadchiroli to complete matriculation," Priya's father Yaswhant Tadam - a marginal farmer - said.

After completing her Std 12 education in Saoli 22 km away, Priya came to Nagpur to pursue BA-LLB degree at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar College of Law.

"Our father toiled hard to provide us with good education. While I completed my law degree, my sister completed her BTech in Nagpur. While doing internship under advocate Sachin Zoting at the district court and high court at Nagpur, I nurtured my dream of studying LLM in London," Priya told TOI.

An acquaintance in Nagpur Dinesh Sheram helped Priya with the admission process in Queen Mary University of London. Another acquaintance Umesh Uike helped her in getting her marksheet, transfer certificate and provisional degree in quick time as her results were a bit delayed.

Priya Tadam’s scholarship proposal faced several weeks of delay. “October 9 was the last date of my enrolment at the Queen Mary University and my scholarship proposal was not cleared by the Maharashtra tribal development department. I frantically sent mails to the university urging for extension. Even as extension came, my scholarship proposal remained in limbo, as the meeting of tribal development department scheduled to be held on September 29, was cancelled as it was declared holiday,” Priya explained the hurdles she faced. Chandrapur guardian minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and leader of opposition in state assembly Vijay Wadettiwar intervened. “Wadettiwar directly took us to the chief minister’s chamber and apprised him that I could lose a chance of studying abroad. CM immediately issued directives to hold a meeting. Mungantiwar, in London on an official tour, called his OSD in Mumbai and ensured that I get all the help in the secretariat and my sanction letter of `37.61 lakh scholarship was issued on the same day,” Priya said. Priya claimed that the fortress of her dream had her family as a rock-solid foundation. “It was quite difficult for my family to gather the deposit amount necessary for enrolment, but my father, despite financial constraints, somehow managed it. My sister who worked with a private firm as engineer resigned from her job to ensure document processing for admission and necessary preparations, while I went to Pune to complete my visa formality,” she said. Priya thanked local leader Alka Atram who helped in apprising minister Mungantiwar about her problems. She also expressed gratitude to her friends advocates Nikita Bahadure, Dhiraj Nikure, Tejaswini Bahadure who stood steadfast with here during two years of struggle and kept her motivating. Priya is now awaiting visa – which she hopes to get it in a day or two and to fly to London immediately. Priya’s inspiring story only highlights the immense potential hidden in remote corners of our nation.