Students working as newspaper hawkers get scholarships

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Hoshiarpur, May 29

To mark the 38th death anniversary of socialist thinker and former Hoshiarpur MLA Principal Omprakash Bagga, a scholarship distribution programme was organised under the chairmanship of political thinker Prof JS Badyal on Sunday.

At the programme organised at DAV Senior Secondary School here, 15 students were awarded scholarships who also work as newspaper hawkers. On the occasion, a seminar was organised on the topic ‘Life is a struggle’ in which Tibetan Buddhist monk Wani Yeshi Negi from McLeodganj, Dharamsala, discussed about life struggles and the importance of hard work to overcome them.

He said: “Difficulties in the path of life seem to be obstacles only until we are determined to overcome them.” He said in order to be victorious in life it was necessary that we first set our goals and then work hard with a sincere heart to achieve them.

Prior to this, Retired Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Bagga, son of Principal Bagga, welcomed the guests and gave information about the life of Principal Omprakash Bagga. He said his father had come to Hoshiarpur from Chiniot (now in Pakistan) after the Partition of India in 1947 and during this time, he started working as a newspaper hawker for his living and simultaneously continued his studies. While doing the work of distributing newspapers, he did BA, BT and MA in Hindi and political science. After this he was appointed as the principal. He became the principal of DAV Senior Secondary School as well as got elected as the Hoshiarpur MLA.

“In 1984, terrorists fired bullets at him outside the school and he sacrificed his life for the unity and integrity of the country,” he said. Dr Ajay said like Principal Bagga achieved success by starting his life as a newspaper hawker, he wishes that all these students, who are receiving this scholarship being given in his memory, achieve success in the same way. He provided scholarship of Rs 500 per month to 15 newspaper hawker students. During this, Dr Ajay gave them the amount of scholarship for two months, while the balance amount for the year would be deposited in their accounts.