Girl’s battle for community certificate brings cheers to tribal settlement

Girl’s battle for community certificate brings cheers to tribal settlement

19/05/2020, STAFF REPORTER,COIMBATORE

M. Sangavi

Two years of struggle for community certificate by M. Sangavi, a 19-year-old girl belonging to Malasar tribe from Rottigounden Pudur village in Coimbatore district, ended on a happy note on Sunday. Her toil did not only get her the much-needed document to pursue her higher education dreams but also brought relief to nearly 60 families who lack documents such as Aadhaar card, family card, community certificate, and ration card.

Ms. Sangavi, an MBBS aspirant and also the first person to have completed Plus Two from the settlement, was not issued community certificate as her parents and she did not have any official document as proof to prove their community. She applied for the document five times and her applications were rejected by the village administrative office due to lack of proof.

Members of Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam (DVK), who recently visited the settlement to distribute COVID-19 relief materials, came to know about her plight which came to the attention of Coimbatore District Collector through mediapersons.

As per Collector K. Rajamani’s instruction, Madukarai tahsildar on Sunday handed over the community certificate to Ms. Sangavi.

“My dream is to become a doctor since I have been seeing the struggle of people around me. I plan to prepare for NEET for one year. I felt heavy hearted as I received the certificate because my father could not see it,” said Ms. Sangavi, whose father Muniappan died of cardiac arrest a week ago.

The girl uses a plastic sheet to wrap around her study materials and certificates to protect them from water as even a moderate rain can drench the thatched hut and that of others in the settlement.

After completing Plus Two, Ms. Sangavi joined engineering course in a private college where she went only 20 days as she lacked the community certificate.

Advocate R. Silambarasan, Coimbatore district vice-secretary of DVK who alerted the media to Ms. Sangavi’s battle for community certificate, said that her father ventured into bonded labour for an annual sum of ₹25,000 in a farm to meet her educational expenses while mother Vasanthamani stayed with the daughter at their thatched single room house.

After hearing Ms. Sangavi’s story, Prasanth Uthaman, State chief commissioner of Hindustan Scouts and Guides, assured to bear the NEET coaching and medical education expenses in future.