Shekarappa, the father of deceased Naveen – the Indian student who died in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, said that his son could not get a medical seat even after scoring 97 per cent in his MBBS entrance in India, prompting him to go abroad to pursue his education in Ukraine. Shekharappa, a retired mechanical engineer, regretted that the caste-based reservation and the menace of donations have pushed intelligent and meritorious students out of the country.
“For MBBS In India, donations are very bad. Due to this, intelligent students are going abroad as they have to spend crores in India. Seats here are being allotted based on caste-based reservations and not on merit,” said Shekharappa, who lost his son in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine clashes.
The father of the deceased Indian student said that his son could not secure a medical seat despite scoring 97% in PUC. “It became inevitable for us to send him to Ukraine for studies. But we lost him,” he added.
Naveen, a fourth-year MBBS student who died in a shelling incident in Kharkiv, was a native of Chalageri village in Ranebennur taluk of Haveri district.
Gangadhar Gyanagoudar, a relative, recalled that Naveen was a bright student from the beginning, but his family could not afford the cost of medical education in India. So he was sent to study medicine in Ukraine. Speaking to the media, Shekharappa urged the Indian government to end the menace of donations and caste-based reservations to enable meritorious students to pursue their education in the country itself. He also urged the government to make all efforts to bring his son’s mortal remains to India.
Naveen died in shelling at Kharkiv
Naveen Shekharappa, the 21-year-old MBBS student in Kharkiv, lost his life on March 1 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, when he was out of the shelter to buy something from a nearby store.
The final year medical student from Karnataka’s Haveri died when Russian soldiers blew up a government building on Tuesday.
According to the TV9 report, Naveen was standing in a line for food outside Governor’s house city hall. A Russian individual grabbed the phone found near the body and took it to Indians, which helped identify Naveen. The mortal remains have been shifted to the local morgue. Around 3000-4000 Indian students are stuck in Kharkiv.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi confirmed the death and tweeted, “With profound sorrow, we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The Ministry is in touch with his family.”