Polio was not a deterrent for this NEET topper

Kalaburagi boy scores 95.61 percentile and tops the physically challenged category

DIFFERENT AND ABLE:Shivananda Sonavane, who bagged the first rank in NEET this year in the physically challenged category, along with his parents in Kalaburagi. Photo: Arun Kulkarni

Shivananda Sonavane has bagged the first rank in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) this year in the physically challenged category.

The test in conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Eduation (CBSE).

Mr. Shivananda, hailing from a lower middle class SC family in Kalaburagi, is the eldest son of Gaddeppa Sonavane and Ambubai Sonavane. Mr. Gaddeppa works as a bus conductor with NEKRTC in Surpur taluk of Yadgir district.

His percentile

Mr. Shivananda scored a percentile of 95.61 in NEET and emerged the topper in the physically challenged category.

Incapacitated on the right side of the body owing to polio at a tender age of seven months, Mr. Shivananda pursued his early education in a Kannada medium government school and later joined Navodaya School in Raichur. He scored 86 per cent in his matriculation exams.

Mr. Shivananda finished his PU from the Sri Guru PU College and secured an overall score of 86 per cent and 96 per cent in the physics, chemistry and biology.

Mr. Shivananda secured a rank of 1,345 in the Common Entrance Test (CET) and bagged a seat in the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) under the physically challenged and SC quota this year. According to Mr. Shivananda, his hunger for achieving higher laurels, made him to prepare harder for NEET.

He wanted to get a good rank to join the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

“Now with the first rank I want to join AIIMS … but the financial condition of my family, which depends solely on my father’s salary, is posing a serious threat for me to achieve my dream,” he said.

Mr. Shivananda’s father had availed a loan of Rs. 50,000 from a private moneylender to pay the initial fee at BMCRI.

M.B. Ambalagi, president of the North Eastern Teachers’ Forum, helped Mr. Shivananda’s parnts to meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya, Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil and requested them to fund the fee at AIIMS.

Later, Mr. Ambalagi and the student’s family met the former Chief Minister, H.D. Kumaraswamy, who paid Rs. 15,000 to the family and assured that if the State government failed to fund Mr. Shivananda’s medical course at AIIMS, he would take care of the entire expenditure.