Two years ago Pankaj Pundlik’s father accepted defeat and asked one of his two sons to give up their studies and support the family by working as a farm labourer and earning money. Both his parents have been working as farm labourers for years and manage to earn Rs 150-200 each in a day.

But this amount is too less for a family of four which means if their parents do not work on any given day, they have to go without food or manage with whatever leftover food they have. The family is under deep debt as they have borrowed money with people, sometimes also on heavy interest.

Pankaj’s voice breaks as he talks about his financial condition and the ordeal that his parents have to go through. “We have to face a lot of insult from the people who have lent us money but we cannot do anything about it,” he says. Whatever money is left after spending on daily expenses is used to pay back to the lenders in instalments. This means that the family is not left with any savings for a rainy day. Paying for the bus ticket from college to home is also impossible for the two brothers at times.

22-year-old Pankaj is a resident of Chadikapur Village in Dindori and wants to become a college teacher. He is preparing for the NET and SET examination for the same. The two brothers work as labourers too whenever they get free time from college. For now, the scholarship that Pankaj has received will help him in paying his dues at college, buy more study material, and also pay back some of the loan amount.