M Rakesh Kumar is a bright student pursuing his MBBS at Karpagam Faculty of Medical Sciences and Research (http://www.karpagam.ac.in/), Coimbatore. He is in his 4th year and has only one more year to fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor.
He and his family are personally known to me and I can vouch for their financially weak situation. He hails from a family of traditional temple priests (archaka-s) and hence has had to face immense hardships to get this far. His parents being determined to get him educated (he and his cousin brother Venkatesh who graduated as a lawyer recently will be the first generation from their family to have a college degree), have made huge sacrifices such as selling their family heirloom and land, as well as taken loans from moneylenders to enable them to pursue their education. Loss of income due to the pandemic also hit them hard.

Rakesh did well to secure a merit seat in medicine after his schooling, but even a merit seat in a private medical college entails significant costs. Annual tuition fee amounts to INR 3,90,000. In addition, the annual expenditure includes development fees, autopsy fee, and hostel/mess fees, amounting to around INR 4,00,000. This fundraiser is aimed at collecting funds for the hostel/development/autopsy fee which needs to be paid by the end of June.

I request your generous contribution to this noble cause of enabling an underprivileged student to achieve his potential, stand on his own feet and redeem himself and his family from poverty