Andhra Minister Nara Lokesh Answers WhatsApp Message, Helps Students With Admissions

Andhra Pradesh Minister Nara Lokesh on Monday met 25 specially-abled students, whom he helped by issuing a government order (GO) recently, which enabled them to procure admission in prestigious engineering colleges across the country.

Responding to a WhatsApp message from one of the students - Maruthi Prithvi Satyadev who got admitted to IIT Madras - the Minister for Human Resources directed officials to issue a Government Order (GO) which awarded the specially-abled students a marks memo with a fifth subject in their intermediate examination results by taking the marks of the four subjects for which they took the exams.

"As per Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) norms, specially-abled students are exempted from studying and appearing for any one of the two languages. Due to this exemption, Satyadev didn't appear for his second language exam, and went on to score an A grade," an official working with the Minister told NDTV.

For specially-abled students, the marks memo displays five subjects but the fifth subject is highlighted as exempted but IIT-Madras requires a marks memo for five subjects with marks awarded for all.

So, Maruthi Prithvi Satyadev reached out to the minister over WhatsApp on June 22.

Nara Lokesh, a Stanford graduate, replied to the student's message within half an hour and followed it up with a meeting with the student and his father.

The student explained to the Minister that IIT Chennai authorities had directed him to get a Government Order (GO) released by the Andhra Pradesh Government. The Minister intervened and got the authorities concerned to release the certificate with immediate effect. He also instructed officials to speak with IIT officials in Chennai. After the order was released, Satyadev's admission into IIT was confirmed.

"I secured a seat in IIT Madras and because of some technical issue about my intermediate marks memo, my seat had been cancelled. I Immediately texted to our honourable Minister sir Nara Lokesh and he responded within half and hour and issued a Government Order to us within a week. He further called us and felicitated us and gave us laptops," said Maruthi Prithvi Satyadev, a resident of Vijaywada.

The Minister instructed officials to award marks for a fifth subject for specially-abled students by calculating an average of the four subjects, thereby enabling the students to meet the necessary requirements of colleges like IITs, NITs, IIITs and other leading institutions.

"I am from Tirupati and I got a seat in IIT Guwahati. I am very thankful to Minister Nara Lokesh. He reacted so swiftly I did not expect this. I was crying literally for three days and he responded very quickly. I am very happy for it," said an elated Teesta.

"I got 88th rank in PWD (Persons With Disability) category. After round one, I got IIT Kanpur. We got an enquiry regarding fifth subject which was an exemption for PWD candidate in Andhra Pradesh. We approached Lokesh Sir, he immediately took the steps regarding the problem," said another PWD candidate from Nellore.

All 25 students met Minister Nara Lokesh at his residence in Undavalli, Amaravati to express their gratitude.

"It's a very proud day in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It just shows how if the government is responsive we can solve a lot of the problems. This is what we call a responsive government," said Nara Lokesh.

The Minister wished them well and asked them to contact him directly for any need.

"As a Minister, it is my duty to serve our people. The NDA Govt led by Hon'ble CM @ncbn Garu aims to make education accessible to all. I firmly believe that there are no disabilities, only different abilities. Everyone is equal, and everyone deserves equal opportunities. I am happy to have helped these brilliant youngsters secure their IIT seats. I wish them all the best," the Minister later posted on X.