The Hindu Business Line : Dreams do come true

They may have been women who hailed from homes where there was little money and education, but they were also individuals with `drive and integrity' and the will to achieve.

Archana Ganesan, one of the winners of the scholarship from the Fair & Lovely Foundation. — Picture by Shaju John

I wanted to do B.E. But due to a financial crisis, I could only apply for B.Sc (Mathematics). Now, thanks to the scholarship, I am able to pursue an MBA degree from a reputed institute in Chennai. After my post-graduation I intend to work and see that my sister's dreams are fulfilled," says Archana Ganesan, who has won a scholarship from the Fair & Lovely Foundation, set up under the aegis of the Hindustan Lever Educational and Welfare Trust.

The foundation aims at encouraging economic empowerment of women in India in the areas of education, career and enterprise through its various projects spread across the country.

The educational project, Project Saraswati, provides support to women students who have the aptitude, drive and the ambition to come up in life, but lack the financial resources to do so. The project works in two phases — rural and urban. Scholarships are given to girls in rural areas who have passed their Class X examinations and who want to continue their education. In the rural phase, the foundation has awarded scholarships to 100 girls (20 from each State) from the five States of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

In the urban phase of the project, 47 girls have been awarded scholarships up to Rs 1 lakh.

"I applied for the scholarship after seeing a newspaper advertisement. And I was short-listed for the interview from 5,000 applications. The interview, by an eight-member panel, focussed mostly on my family, my financial background and my aspirations," says Geetha Rani, a B. Tech graduate now doing her M.E. from Anna University, Chennai. Hailing from an agriculturist family from a village near Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, all she had was one big dream: to complete her Masters and become an IAS officer. And despite all odds she was determined to achieve her goal in five years. Says Dr Ordetta Mendoza, Head of Department - Biotech, Stella Maris College, Chennai, "The scholarships will definitely help them to pursue their education at ease, without having the extra burden of forcing their parents seek financial help from all quarters. It would also help many of them to have access to textbooks and other resource material as well as afford them a more comfortable means of travel." Above all, it is a motivating factor that will continue to drive them to become real go-getters in life, says Ordetta who was one of the panellists at the scholarship interviews.

Priya Sathyananthan, another winner, agrees. Currently, pursuing her Masters in Pathology, she says it was difficult for her to even consider continuing her education, especially after her father's retirement. Her aim is to do her doctorate and research in medicines/vaccines for livestock. She also wants to start a veterinary organisation to give free treatment to animals.

Dr Nilima Chandiramani, Dean - Faculty of Law, Mumbai University, and one of the interview panellists, feels that the dream of empowering women cannot be achieved without providing them with education. And an educational scholarship is a step in that direction.

The selection process for awarding the scholarship made sure that the winners were, nevertheless, `great dreamers' and would, one day, become `great achievers.' "As part of the selection procedure, we were asked to write a 500-word essay on our family background, what we wanted to achieve, the bottlenecks that we would face on our way to our goals and basically how we would go about achieving our goals," says Archana.

That these young women were headed in the right direction was evident from the way they were confident and enthusiastic. "First of all receiving such scholarships makes them more confident of themselves. It also gives them that initial financial support to set them on the right path. Finally, it gives them the right exposure to professionals and a chance to interact with them," says Lila Poonavala, Founder and Chairperson - Lila Foundation and a panellist for the interview. She adds that most of the candidates were very enthusiastic and confident of what they wanted to do and how they planned to achieve their goals.

Ordetta says, "Their enthusiasm regaled the panellists and their thoughtfulness to urge other young students to apply for the scholarship was laudable. The students were definite about becoming financially independent in the future and wanted to be pioneers in their own right. They had a balanced approach to work and family and were optimistic about the future," she says.

Geetha Rani says, "It's good encouragement for people like me. I am the first graduate in my family. And I am sure there will be many girls in my village who now know that dreams do come true."

In an editorial in Femina, Sathya Saran, Editor, who was also a panellist, says, "They were, for the most, women with drive and integrity. Women, who despite coming from homes where there was little education and money, had not only excelled in their studies, but had dared to dream of life beyond the fringe and were working to make that dream real."

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