Ukraine crisis
No talented person should be born to poor: Killed student's family responds to minister's 'study abroad' remark
New Delhi/IBNS: Union Minister Pralhad Joshi's remarks on students opting to study medicine abroad "after failing to qualify" in competitive exams in India drew a sharp response from the father of Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagowdar, who was killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv on Tuesday.
Naveen, 21, was an intelligent student who simply could not afford to study medicine in India and so went to Ukraine, his father Shekharappa Gyanagoudar told NDTV at his home in Karnataka's Chalageri.
"No talented person should be born to a poor family. There is no value for talent in our country...no value for talent," his mother Vikayalakshmi said.
In a controversial statement, Joshi told reporters on Tuesday that "Ninety per cent of Indians who study medicine abroad fail to clear qualifying exams in India."
However, he added that it was "not the right time to debate why students are moving out to study medicine".
Pralhad Joshi had made the controversial statement in response to a question on Indian students studying in Ukraine.
More than 9,000 students have been flown back as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, but tens of thousands remain in cities like Kyiv and Kharkiv, waiting for a chance to escape while hiding in bunkers, underground metro stations and basements.
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