CHENNAI: Braving many an odd, U Chandran, a tribal from Sudaipodu village in Burgur in Erode is set to join B.Sc Agriculture at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), thanks to the special interest shown by Chief Minister MK Stalin. Chandran will be the first graduate from his village, and is all set to join a private college in Erode.
TNAU Dean (Agriculture) and Chairman of Admissions, M Kalyanasundram, said reservation was extended to accommodate Chandran. “Out of 6,175 seats, as many as 2,565 are in government colleges. Earlier, five per cent reservation was given only for government seats in four streams. After the intervention of CM’s office to ensure a seat to Chandran, we passed a resolution at the academic council, extending reservation to private colleges as well,” he said.
Belonging to Cholagar tribal community, Chandran lives in Sundaipodu in a remote part of the village. Though he wanted to pursue Bachelor of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry in TANUVAS, Chandran could not get through in 2019-20, despite securing first rank among Scheduled Tribe community and 146th among all the vocational stream candidates. At that time, TANUVAS allocated only 5 per cent (18 seats) of its 360 seats to students studying vocational courses. “Out of these 18 seats, only one per cent is allocated to tribal students, making students of ST category ineligible for admission,” they said.
The situation at TNAU, where only 5 per cent of the seats in 14 government colleges were allocated to vocational stream students, was also no different. To accommodate Chandran and to help other students studying vocational streams, the 5 per cent reservation has been extended to 28 private colleges in the current academic year. Kalyanasundaram added Chandran will be given the seat on March 29.