



Hailing from Kerala's Kasargod, Bineesh is a Scheduled Caste from a poor background. He had received a Rs 45 lakh scholarship from the renowned London School of Economics to pursue MSc in Social Anthropology.

Bineesh's father Balan, and mother Girija, are daily wage labourers. In a home, where a battle is fought to survive on a daily basis, there came the news of the additional burden of an IELTS test as well as expensive plane tickets.

Almost Rs 1.5 lakh was to be shelled out in order for Bineesh to take the IELTS course and give the test, apart from spending on flight tickets. This was when he sought help from the Kerala government.



Media Focus

The issue got media attention and the news that he might miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity was covered by local dailies.



When Kerala's Minister of Welfare of SC, ST and OBC -- A K Balan -- came across this news, he called Bineesh personally to meet him at his office on Tuesday to help him out.

After the meeting, Balan assured Bineesh that if the scholarship does not include his travel charges, the government would take care of it.



Help On The Spot

The fee for taking the IELTS course from British Council in Chennai and the fee for the test was around Rs 26,500. After learning of this, the minister handed over the amount to Bineesh on the spot. Balan asked Bineesh to leave for Chennai the very next day and the amount was credited to his bank account.

Local reports claim that Bineesh is said to be among the first persons from the scheduled caste to secure a scholarship at LSE.

Acclaimed Malayalam movie director Aashiq Abu shared Bineesh's story on his Facebook page and the post has already received over a 1,000 shares.



