Chaya Jadhav was quite & numb. She just heard her name being called out. No, she wasn’t in her class fearing punishment nor was she playing in the lawns. Chaya was being called out to be given the Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan Scholarship of INR 10,000/-, for her to pursue her dream of studying further, something that she thought would never happen. Chaya walked gingerly onto the stage amidst a cheering crowd. There was one man’s cheer in that room which was the loudest. It was her father, Rakhamji Jadhav, a truck driver.
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ike Chaya, more than 26 such Truck Drivers’ Girl children were offered the Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan Scholarship to help them for their higher education. Little did any of these kids imagine that their father’s will & zest to educate them would lead to recognition of this nature. In today’s time we believe that women empowerment and girl child education is of primary importance not only for the safety & development of women, but for the cause of nation building at large. The drivers have challenges of their own and education of the girl child doesn’t seem to feature in the priority list. With this initiative we intend to applaud and appreciate their foresight in getting their daughters educated. As a pilot the scholarship was launched in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Rajasthan and Haryana. The first felicitation ceremony was held recently at MTBD’s Head Office in Chinchwad.
It was indeed heartening to see the daughters along with parents come onto the stage with great pride to receive the Scholarship Certificate and a Token of appreciation from the dignitaries - Mr. Nalin Mehta, Mr. R. C. Mangal and Mr. Riyaz Inamdar, Managing Director, KGN Motors, our Pune Dealer. Speaking at the felicitation ceremony, Mr. Nalin Mehta MD and CEO – Mahindra Truck and Bus, and Chairman of MAHINDRA SAARTHI ABHIYAAN Governing Board said, “True to its philosophy of driving a positive change within the transport ecosystem, through this pioneering effort we are striving to improve the life of drivers at a grass root level as they are one of the most important stakeholders in our business. There are more than 70,00,000 truck drivers in India today and I look forward to that day when every truck driver’s daughter is highly educated and self-sufficient. Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan, is a salute to these drivers who, despite all odds, have shown great mettle in educating their children, especially daughters. Through this initiative we salute these heroes who have ensured their daughters become the next engineers, IT professionals, Teachers etc. This is our way of thanking them, showing a sense of gratitude for this exemplary effort!”
MTB’s constant efforts for betterment of the transport ecosystem, with each program targeted sharply at improving specific beneficiary has been lauded by the industry. We are confident of ‘Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan’ will ensure that not only the drivers but their daughters too will travel that extra mile. And this initiative will certainly endear the brand MTB to various constituents of our ecosystem.